Analysis Paralysis

[itsagoodday]

I did take a photo of my ass yesterday, but I have the opposite of the usually body dysmorphic disorder - I think I look better than I actually do

LOL, this never happens to me

The group is actually called "Stitch n B*tch" - it is mainly girl time You can stitch and bitch, you can stitch or you can bitch, but you gotta at least do one! Hahahaha!

Haha, I love the name! Always jealous of people who can do stuff like that, I'd be accidentally jamming knitting needles into my eyes or something.

If only they made wine with some protein. That would be awesome!

Oh, if you figured that one out, you'd be a billionaire. Get cracking!!!!

[anandagirl]

Oh, if you figured that one out, you'd be a billionaire. Get cracking!!!!

I bet the bottled isopure stuff would be good in a cocktail! A little vodka perhaps?

[anandagirl]

Thursday, May 5
Calories: 1988
Carbs: 216
Protein: 117
Fat: 58
Fiber: 37
Steps: 11,676
Workout: Strong Curves glute activation test, dog walk

Happy Cinco de Mayo! I had an extra quesadilla, one margarita and extra guacamole No guilt!

Glute activation test - I did great on all the exercises UNTIL the one leg bridge. Holy hamstring action I was lazy in almost all other aspects. I don't feel guilty for not doing my weight workout since I'm supposed to take a break between stages, but I didn't really do any cardio. Oh well, I can make that shiz up tonight. I even slept in this morning! It felt good.

Got my cholesterol results from my blood donation Tuesday. Of course they only look at whole cholesterol, but 190! That is GREAT for me because I'm usually in the 200-250 range. Of course my LDL and Triglycerides are usually low and HDL is high, but sometimes the docs hassle me. I was so down on my body last year and my bad habits that I didn't even make a physical appointment... This year I will

I was looking at the rest of my health history on the donor website, and realized that I gained 20 pounds in one year. The year I was working with the spawn of satan. At least that's behind me!

Happy Friday!

[anandagirl]

I have totally forgotten to post photos!

I had breakfast envy for Phoenix's food

Pancake - there were bubbles!



Finished project with runny yolky goodness


What I woke up to yesterday morning:


For Cinco de Mayo, homemade Carne Asada tacos with homemade guacamole

Marinating


Eating

[phoenix4444]

God I love tacos. Fabulous. And hello perfect egg. You rocked it woman!

[NoCarbsNoSugar]

the food looks grand!

[IrishLassie78]

I love carne asada. Seriously one of my favorite meals on the planet. I could eat it every day.

[gobbles23]

I love hiking too! It’s the best, we hike a lot

Awesome job at staying consistent with your diet! It can be so hard sometimes but you’re doing a great job and it’s really motivating me to tighten up my diet

You are so talented at knitting! Jelly, hahaha!

Good job on the weight loss too Loving the pictures, beautiful place you live. Food looks soooooooo good!!!!

[anandagirl]

God I love tacos. Fabulous. And hello perfect egg. You rocked it woman!

Muah! I have you as inspiration

the food looks grand!

Thank you!

I love carne asada. Seriously one of my favorite meals on the planet. I could eat it every day.

Yeah, carne > steak. It's one of our normal go-to meals that actually fits my cut

I love hiking too! It’s the best, we hike a lot

Awesome job at staying consistent with your diet! It can be so hard sometimes but you’re doing a great job and it’s really motivating me to tighten up my diet

You are so talented at knitting! Jelly, hahaha!

Good job on the weight loss too Loving the pictures, beautiful place you live. Food looks soooooooo good!!!!

Thank you! I've been trying to stay on track for sure. It's been slightly easier to stay on track diet wise than exercise wise lately. I'm taking a half-week break on lifting so, cardio. Blech.

[anandagirl]

Friday, May 6
Calories: 1765
Carbs: 133
Protein: 137
Fat: 74
Fiber: 36
Steps: 10,044
Workout: 22 Minute Hard Corps Cardio, Dog walk, Strong Curves Glute Activation

I must have sat on my ass most of the day yesterday since we took the longer walk route and I still barely broke 10K even with the cardio I did NOT want to do the 22 minute Hard Corps cardio, which probably means it's good for me. Effing burpees though. Can't I just do hill sprints

I slept horribly last night too. I didn't listen when hubby told me pup was shaking his head and scratching his ear. He has terrible allergies and I just looked at his ears a few days ago, so I thought he was overreacting. Fast forward to 1:00 am when pup could not sleep because his ear was hurting so bad I got up, took him outside and put some ear medication in it, then gave him benadryl so he would hopefully stop itching and go to sleep. Thank goodness we didn't end up going out of town! I'd hate to put a dog sitter through all that!

Hubby is screwing with my schedule again. This weekend's trip was canceled but now we have to travel again next weekend. First I only needed Friday off, because it was going to be a turnaround. Yesterday he says he wants to leave early on Thursday, and then come back Saturday, which means I can no longer take a day off between now and Thursday. :cry: At least I still have a half day to take somewhere, and we can take the dogs on this trip.

I guess since I don't have a day off to enjoy and leisurely go to the gym to start stage 3, I can start it anytime. I miss lifting, even if it has only been 4 days. Sounds like I should go today, Monday and Wednesday to get my gym time in and then I'll figure out what I'm doing for cardio, likely just dog walks, or maybe I'll take advantage of low elevation and extra oxygen and try a run for the first time in over a year. Guess I better pack the running gear.

[itsagoodday]

Poor pup, hope his ear feels better soon! He's such a cutie

Yeah, carne > steak. It's one of our normal go-to meals that actually fits my cut

I've been on a roast beef and sweet potatoes kick, but that doesn't photograph well because it looks like sludge lol.

[anandagirl]

Poor pup, hope his ear feels better soon! He's such a cutie

I've been on a roast beef and sweet potatoes kick, but that doesn't photograph well because it looks like sludge lol.

Thank you! I hope so too. Poor baby.

All my beef stew things look like crap but taste good! I feel your pain

[the15thdoctor]

Woooow food porn AND doggie pics..this must be heaven
Hope the lil guy feels better!

Haha must be so neat to go from high to low elevation..oxygen upgrade!

[anandagirl]

Woooow food porn AND doggie pics..this must be heaven
Hope the lil guy feels better!

Haha must be so neat to go from high to low elevation..oxygen upgrade!

He's getting there slowly - I figure we'll have to medicate him for at least a week to make sure it's all gone. Thanks for stopping in!

Higher oxygen is fun, but then I usually slow down due to heat Or I'm just lazy regardless to how well my lungs feel!

[anandagirl]

Saturday, May 7
Calories: 1763
Carbs: 137
Protein: 145
Fat: 58
Fiber: 18
Steps: 11,672
Workout: NROL4W Stage 3 workout A, Dog walk

Darn, my fiber is down because I'm out of black beans. Time to hit the crock pot again. I also pulled out the multivitamin and some probiotics. Look at me and my supplementation! I was able to fit some pasta carbonara in yesterday! Ok, maybe I didn't put in as much bacon as I would have enjoyed and I had to use milk instead of cream, but CARBS!



The workout was challenging, balance wise. I know it's probably a good thing, trying not to second guess the program. But I miss back squats. I've been told my squat will be stronger when I get back to them after these other stages of the program. Other than that, I spent a lot of time today getting walks every hour at work. Trying to get to 4K steps daily before I leave work. NEAT please.

Work is so painfully slow right now. I did some meal planning since I won't have an off day to laze around planning and shopping midday when there are no crowds. Trying to avoid the store as much as possible. I also wanted to get a plan together for the my trip next weekend. I've decided I'm going to track to the best of my ability, BUT I'm not going to kill myself to stay under my daily goal, nor am I going to cut calories even lower the rest of this week to make up for any overages on the trip. Maybe I'll count it as a refeed or something.

Speaking of refeeds, I have been EXTREMELY hungry for a couple days now. Maybe it was my high carb Cinco de Mayo. Maybe I'm just hitting some weird roadblock/body is catching up. Maybe 1800 is too low, but I'm not ready to decrease my deficit quite yet. Trying to stay strong for one more week, and then I will reassess with the TDEE calculator I use. Keeping my eye on the prize, even though the prize seems so far away currently. That's the way it should be though. This is the hardest part, staying focused when it goes so slow. To have a goal that is 6 months (or more) away. I'm trying to focus on my mini goal of staying on track until my conference in June. That will be about 8 weeks of focus at that time.

Last topic - Mother's Day. Some of you might already my story, but in case you don't, here's the cliff notes. Tried to get pregnant for years, then sought out IVF. One year+ of hormone bullsh*t plus doctor's orders to stop working out started me down the path of fat, and I just kept going. I'm finally on my way back! And I'm happy to report that the only angst I feel today is missing my mom because I only get to see her once a year. This is huge for me guys! I never wanted to be one of those bitter women that dwelled on this crap every year. so WIN!

Don't you just love my daily brain download? Maybe all this crap is better posted in my blog

[IrishLassie78]

That pasta looks so good. I could seriously eat broccoli on/with everything.

RE: the single leg stuff, yes your squat will thank you for it. I just started adding it back in because my left knee is a piece of crap, which means my left leg doesn't want to do any work, which means my right leg ends up doing most of it, which fuks up my right hip, which has its own issues. If I'm not really paying attention to what I'm doing, when I squat, my entire body lists to the right like a drunk staggering down an alley hugging the wall. So yeah, when you get back to the squats, they should be stronger over all because you'll be more balanced.

Piles of carbs always make me ravenously hungry for 3 or 5 days after I eat them. Especially when cutting. Keep at it. It is hard not to get discouraged when things don't move as fast as our minds tell us they should. But it's like you said, "Eye on the prize." You'll get there. And I think it's good to have short-term goals in place, like staying on track until your conference in June. Makes the long-term goals easier to deal with if you can bite them off in smaller chunks.

Also, brain dumps are good for the soul sometimes. Seriously, congrats on the positive mind space. That isn't always easy. Actually, for some people it's never easy.

[NoCarbsNoSugar]

That broccoli...
I sometimes just wash it and eat it raw, right off of the platter.

What multi are you using?

[phoenix4444]

Broccoli is gross people

[jsari23]

What I woke up to yesterday morning:

sorry stuck on this cuttie!!!

[anandagirl]

That pasta looks so good. I could seriously eat broccoli on/with everything.

RE: the single leg stuff, yes your squat will thank you for it. I just started adding it back in because my left knee is a piece of crap, which means my left leg doesn't want to do any work, which means my right leg ends up doing most of it, which fuks up my right hip, which has its own issues. If I'm not really paying attention to what I'm doing, when I squat, my entire body lists to the right like a drunk staggering down an alley hugging the wall. So yeah, when you get back to the squats, they should be stronger over all because you'll be more balanced.

Piles of carbs always make me ravenously hungry for 3 or 5 days after I eat them. Especially when cutting. Keep at it. It is hard not to get discouraged when things don't move as fast as our minds tell us they should. But it's like you said, "Eye on the prize." You'll get there. And I think it's good to have short-term goals in place, like staying on track until your conference in June. Makes the long-term goals easier to deal with if you can bite them off in smaller chunks.

Also, brain dumps are good for the soul sometimes. Seriously, congrats on the positive mind space. That isn't always easy. Actually, for some people it's never easy.

Thanks for reading! It's also helpful to know others are paying attention to the brain dumps, Makes them twice as effective The single leg work is killing me, but I'll keep at it

That broccoli...
I sometimes just wash it and eat it raw, right off of the platter.

What multi are you using?

Garden of Life Raw One for women. I try to pick the most natural chemicals to put in my body

Broccoli is gross people

Of course! LOL You never fail to crack me up

sorry stuck on this cuttie!!!

Thank you! He's a pain in the ass, but he's my pain in the ass

[anandagirl]

Weekly update:

Weight lost this week: 1.5 lbs
Calories eaten last week: 12,721 (average 1817 per day)
Fitbit calories burned: 18085
Difference of 5364 which is 1.53 pounds if all this is correct - seems pretty right on track to me!

Sticking with the plan. Will have hubby help me with the calipers this evening and see if I can get a bodyfat estimate

[anandagirl]

Sunday, May 8
Calories: 1837
Carbs: 151
Protein: 144
Fat: 57
Fiber: 25
Steps: 8753
Workout: More of a rest day than I anticipated since it rained all afternoon and night. No dog walk, aside from a quick 20 minute walk in the morning.

Was reading a bb.com email blast a few days ago and saw an article about post-transformation. Ha, nowhere near that! But it was interesting, especially how to not get burnt out now that you no longer have a goal. Gotta have goals, or else there's nothing to work towards! Here were some of their suggestions:

Go on an adventure:
Obstacle race
Mud run
Climb a mountain
Go on a long hike
Enter a triathon, marathon, or 5K

Sad (great?) thing is I've done all of these things! I have been thinking about goals for the summer, and since I don't have any strength related goals other than complete NROL4W and start a new program, I thought I would come up with some summer goals, mainly activites and hikes I want to do.

Camping - We didn't go camping once last year and I want to make sure we get out there at least once.
Thousand Island Lake, 18 miles round trip - love that hike!
Minaret Lake, 16 miles round trip - I've never made it
Mono Pass - this time from the Yosemite side since I'm 0 for 3 from the June side.

Speaking of goals, I have to say how annoying I think the Bodyspace Goal Wizard is. Has anyone tried it? No matter what my "goal" selection is (aside from bodybuilder) it has me losing a LOT of muscle and giving me a lower BF% than I am shooting for, at least now. I know not losing any muscle is really hard but still, why can't my goal be based on trying to minimize muscle loss? Here are my "options", according to the Wizard:

Fashion Model - Lose 38.2 lbs fat, lose 28.6 lbs LBM, final weight 124.2 lbs and 20% BF
Swimsuit - Lose 39.6 lbs fat, lose 21.1 lbs LBM, final weight 130.3 lbs and 18% BF
Fit Woman - Lose 41.9 lbs fat, lose 17 lbs LBM, final weight 132.1 lbs and 16% BF
Fitness Model - Lose 45.8 lbs fat, lose 12.7 lbs LBM, final weight 132.5 lbs and 13% BF
Bodybuilder - Lose 49.5 lbs fat, gain 8.9 lbs LBM, final weight 150.4 lbs and 9% BF

Are the guys' goals any less ****ed up?

Anyway, now for puppies and food porn.

Dinner last night was a BBQ beef roast with BBQ tomatoes, roasted potatoes, and a bean and chard salad, with chimicurri sauce. Chimichurri is the god's sauce. I packed some of that Shiz for my salad today.



Here's the beast chewing on a toy, on the couch of course. He's the little prince. And he is so damn mad at me for effing with his ears twice a day. I, of course, have to be the bad guy.

[NoCarbsNoSugar]

You went on a mud run?

That steak looks amazing!
Why is your dog so sad?

[NoCarbsNoSugar]

Garden of Life Raw One for women. I try to pick the most natural chemicals to put in my body

Not familiar wih it, but it sounds great.
Good for you.

[anandagirl]

You went on a mud run?

That steak looks amazing!
Why is your dog so sad?

Yes, a couple times! The one at Camp Pendleton. it was years ago when I was much lighter and running marathons. It was fun but I've been there, done that, no longer holds any appeal to me. The steak was amazing, the chimichurri even more so. I'm making chimichurri all the time from now on.

He has an ear infection and he's not a happy camper. It's still bothering him and now he's mad at me for the meds 2x a day. Literally cries and runs from me. Makes me so sad. I might need to take him in to get it checked out if he's still feeling crappy.

Not familiar wih it, but it sounds great.
Good for you.

I get it from Vitacost but I know so little about vits. Not sure I'll ever go to a mainstream commercial brand though, I'm a little goofy in that I don't trust most mainstream anythings....

[the15thdoctor]

Great job so far! I like the goal oriented approach..those sound like some nice hikes
Never really understood the "mud run" thing..what's the purpose of the mud? Haha I just don't see why people want to get their clothes and shoes all dirty..

Food and pup look great as always

[NoCarbsNoSugar]

You got a picture of you on that mud run?

[anandagirl]

You got a picture of you on that mud run?

I think the photos of me don't do the mud run justice - the mud was wet so you don't seem that muddy

Here's a couple photos of the river crossing:



Pictures are blurry on that one because I used a waterproof disposable camera, which got all scratched up on the outside from the mud and dirt

And here's a photo from a few years later when someone put mud on my face

[anandagirl]

Great job so far! I like the goal oriented approach..those sound like some nice hikes
Never really understood the "mud run" thing..what's the purpose of the mud? Haha I just don't see why people want to get their clothes and shoes all dirty..

Food and pup look great as always

At the time, it made me feel "HARDCORE" - Now I'm like, meh. I've done other things that make me feel harder core

Thank you <3

[phoenix4444]

Anyway, now for puppies and food porn.

Dinner last night was a BBQ beef roast with BBQ tomatoes, roasted potatoes, and a bean and chard salad, with chimicurri sauce. Chimichurri is the god's sauce. I packed some of that Shiz for my salad today.

Holy god yes beef and chimicurri!

Here's the beast chewing on a toy, on the couch of course. He's the little prince. And he is so damn mad at me for effing with his ears twice a day. I, of course, have to be the bad guy.

Poor puppy