The ELFF Diet

Tuesday is the New Monday

Monday looked like this.

• Breakfast - 2 crunchy granola bars, a cut up apple and coffee. Lunch, whole wheat penne with sauce (not the best choice) green beans and bread (see also, not the best choice - look no further as to why the black jeans of choice are beyond tight), dinner 1/2 of a small steak (product review, not exceptional, which is why I only ate 1/2), grapes and broccoli. I did not have the coffee I usually have in the middle of the day. I drank 64+ ounces of water.
• Exercise was 20 minutes of weight training, 1 hour of boxing class (not the hardest level of class, more like a moderate level of intensity), 50 squats, 25 sit ups and 25 push ups outside of class.  35 seconds flex arm hang. (insert smilie face icon here!)

So far, this is Tuesday.

• Breakfast  - 1 piece of whole wheat bread with 1 T peanut butter and 1T pumpkin butter. 16 ounces iced coffee. One apple for snack. Diet To go 400 calorie lunch - short ribs with mashed potatoes and green bean medley. One fruit smoothie - frozen mango, strawberry and pineapple blend with low fat frozen vanilla yogurt and V-8 Fusion juice with one scoop of protein powder. Dinner was two small pieces of cheese pizza and green beans. I also ate one thin slice of tureky while I was making lunches for tomorrow.
• Exercise - I walked an hour by myself - 4 miles - and I took Muay Thai class tonight.

I'm Not Dead (Yet)

My favorite song from my favorite musical SPAMALOT

Well, hello, there. I'm not quite sure that anyone even reads here anymore - I mean, I am so sporadic here that I had my ads pulled for a while. But putting on my winter pants this week has snapped me back to reality in a HURRY and it has become embarrassingly apparent that I need to change up what I'm doing. Boxing class is awesome and wonderful and I thoroughly enjoy it - but it is not enough. Either that or I need to eat way less, but I do not handle being hungry well. It's clear to me that I've gotten lazy and I need to snap out of the downhill slide before it becomes a full scale landslide.

So tomorrow I pick up my shoes and begin again.The pulled piriformis still aches. I think it always will. Regardless, I'm going to pick myself up and start the Couch to 5k program YET AGAIN - I know, I know, I can here the laughter already, Sure you're starting it again, we've heard THAT before.

I'm pledging to get on this site every evening and just put up a quick note up about what I ate, both great choices and not so great, and my exercise. I know I can do this. I just need to be accountable, and this is the place for me. Even if no one reads here, at least I know I'm here.

A reader asked a question, and my response is below the fold...

Fun with the Flex Arm Hang

Cross posted from Mom to the Screaming Masses

Way back in the day, I hated PE class with the passion of a thousand burning suns. It was no fun. I especially REALLY hated the stupid President's Physical Fitness tests. I think that the President should stick to foreign policy and not be all bothered about how many sit ups I can do, but whatever. I don't make the rules.

Interestingly enough, I have a kid who gets all of the stupid awards for President's Physical Fitness every stinking year. At her school, she gets a patch to sew on her PE uniform - and so now all of the siblings younger than her who wear her hand me downs can be total posers - that's MY way to get the stupid President's Physical Fitness award.

Not like I'm bitter or anything.

Walking Away From The Running

So I've almost completed week two of the couch to 5k program, and I don't know if I'll go further.

I wonder if there will ever come a day when I'm not battling an injury, using a foam roller, icing a sore spot or begging for a massage from my favorite masseuse? (seriously, if you are a local, ask for Doreen - she gives an AMAZING sports massage.) I ended up just walking for an hour today and doing the mountain steps for three tours, but I badly wanted to run.

The crappy piriformis injury is still progressing - it's gotten better, but I'm still in an awful lot of pain if I run for more than a minute or two at a time. Cap that with the fact that my damned calf cramps if I run for longer than two minutes, and, well, you can see why I'm pretty much stuck at two minutes, can't you?

Sigh.

Guess this is what it's like to be on the very peak of turning 40...

A Non-Guest Post Guest Post

Amy - a faithful reader - left me a great comment that she agreed I could post for you all.

The motivation to get out of the house? Don't think about it. It's easy to excuse yourself out of it. Focus on how it feels AFTER you're done. Seriously nothing feels as good as accomplishment and then you don't have to mentally beat yourself up all day for NOT doing it and tossing in the towel and think you can begin tomorrow. If you don't have a safe space to walk but your drive your kids to/from school everyday or go to the Post Office to pick up your mail...park a mile away (or a half mile) and walk to the school with your kids and back. That gets it in. I always read about these great programs in Prevention mag but seriously need some sort of timer that I can pre program for the walk/fun intervals. Having to slow enough to read a watch is for the birds and really trips me up. If I had something I could pre program would make training a lot easier for me. Or I walk and run from one telephone pole to the next, walk for two, run for one. I can't keep a steady 60 second count in my head because I tend to count to my breath and not actual time. I also don't go for speed but for distance. So even though my 13 yo size 00 daughter whooped me speed wise when we did the running portion of our walk Sunday a.m. I didn't give up and walk before getting to where I needed to be. Slow and steady wins the race right?