Wednesday, Sept 4, 2019

Hello! I've been trying to figure out a "beginner" workout program that will prime my body for doing some hardcore Triathlon training (eventually). I'm not going to get into swimming until all of my Monday nights are free so that won't be for a year or so. So I don't have to figure out where and when I'll be swimming. There is a place in the town where I work that has a pool but I'm only in that town on Monday, Wednesday, Friday so that limits the days. The college in the town where I live lets the community get a membership and they have a lap pool but they only let community members use it from 6-10 am during the week and I think I'd rather swim after work.

So I decided for now, I only need access to a treadmill, a stationary bike and weights. And I already have a monthly yoga pass and I want to do that pretty regularly. So I'm thinking a Planet Fitness membership will be GOOD ENOUGH.

Starting next week it will be:

Monday

Before Work:
Chest & Biceps

Walk treadmill

After Work:
Yoga

Tuesday

BW:

Quads & Hamstrings

Stationary bike

AW:

Yoga

Wednesday

BW:

Shoulders and triceps

Walk treadmill

AW:

Yoga

Thursday

BW:

Back, Calves& Abs

Stationary bike

AW:

Yoga

Friday

OFF

Saturday

Yoga

Long Bike

Sunday

Long walk

Yoga (restorative)

Friday: August 30, 2019

FRIDAY!

Weigh In: 291.6, down from 293.8 from last week.

I bought some new shoes!

I went to the local running store in town and got fitted for some shoes. Everything I read online said I should do that so I did! Also supporting small business!

Last night I FINALLY went back to yoga and today I am wrecked. Yoga is hard, you guys. I was going to go walking this morning but when I woke up, it was dark as HELL outside. I complained online and someone directed me to the light she wears on her morning runs and I ordered one. Should I have looked for something like this at the running store, now that I think about it? Probably. As I buy new gear, I'll try to find more local answers for things.

Starting next week my training plan is EVERY DAY when I wake up, go for an hour walk. I can do this while I'm travelling so I shouldn't have any excuse not to do it. And the plan is to do Yoga every night during the week (except Fridays, because there's nothing at the Yoga studio that night I'm interested in). And then on Saturdays and Sundays when I'm home during the day. I figure if I PLAN for every day and then when I need to skip a couple due to scheduling, I'll still have gone those other days. EH?? 

AIP is going strong. I'm kind of bummed that I don't get to slack off this weekend but ALL IN DUE TIME. I really want the new Popeye's Chicken Sandwich, which if you're reading this in the future, is VERY popular right now. I'll get one when AIP is over which will be in a couple of months. It seems like A VERY LONG TIME

I decided that my first race will be next year. I want to do the Mini-Sprint Triathlon at the Tri Goddess Triathlon, which is on June 28, 2020 (my mom's birthday!). It seems like a good one to start with and it will be about a year since I started this lifestyle change so it'll be a nice little anniversary.

Autoimmune Protocol diet

Alright so I decided to just go forward with an elimination diet to figure out what kind of eating works best for me. I've been doing OMAD (One Meal A Day) for like 3 weeks now and I LOVE it. It's so much easier to plan, shop, cook and clean after only one meal. I can eat a nice large meal with easily staying within my TDEE. I eat it at night so I can just eat and relax after work. Now I'm making that meal an Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) guidelines to see if I have reactions to stuff.

The idea is that once I figure out what I'm allergic to (allergist appointment on Tuesday) and anything I have a reaction to via AIP, I can configure my ideal custom food plan. And that may change once I start training for races, depending on my needs.

For Monday-Thursday dinners, I bought sweet potatoes, chicken, asparagus and frozen cherries.

The first night, I just threw everything in the rice cooker and steamed/ boiled everything/

The chicken was good and the cherries were good but the sweet potatoes and asparagus tasted like crap. Watery garbage! I didn't finish it.

Tuesday I decided to try something different and cook the chicken the same way but pan fry the sweet potatoes and then make the asparagus into a salad with parsley and orange. This time around I used 2 tbs of olive oil for the potatoes and then another 2 tbs of oil for the salad so it was an extra FOUR HUNDRED AND SEVENTY calories!!!! So I had to cut the cherries out this time.

It was good! The sweet potatoes were MUCH better and the salad was AMAZING. The only downside is that shaving asparagus is time consuming and you end up wasting a lot of asparagus in the process. Next time I'd just use zoodles instead of shaved asparagus and see how that is. Also I set my fire alarm off for a long time, pan frying those sweet potatoes. They were good but some of them were pretty burnt. (I am not a cook)

Tonight I'm going to roast sweet potato rounds and the asparagus spears in the toaster oven. My oven is broken and I've been putting off doing anything about it for like 7 months. So toaster oven it is!

Figuring out food

Have you ever noticed that 95% of all nutritional information on the internet is a bunch of bullshit? Nobody seems to know what they're talking about and nothing works for everyone. Well maybe that's the answer? There is no objectively correct way to eat that is optimally healthy for every individual? That seems to be the case but I keep looking.

To me, it seems like a "Whole Foods" type diet is the way to go. No dairy, no added sugar, low sodium, high fiber... I'm a little skeptical of grains. I don't have celiac disease or any other allergy to grains (that I know of) but maybe it makes me feel like crap in other ways??? Hard to say.

I'm thinking about doing an elimination diet (whole30 style) to see if I have any specific foods or food groups that make me feel like trash.

This is NOT related to losing weight. As long as I stay in a caloric deficit, I'll lose weight. It doesn't really matter WHAT I'm eating if I'm only concerned about losing weight.

But I want to find my own optimal food plan for my body and my needs. As I ramp up my triathlon training over the next few years, I want to fuel my workouts effectively and minimize inflammation or digestive issues as much as I can.

And it's important that taking a break from it every now and again is no big deal. I figure if I'm sticking to it 80% of the time, the other 20% is for social/ fun moments in my life and that can be easily absorbed.

I set up an appointment to get allergy tested first, to see if there are any obvious things I should avoid eating. Then I'll try an elimination diet. Then I'll come up with something and tweak it as I go, depending on how I feel.