My ramblings

The last time I wrote was 5 days ago, which was Thursday. It’s now Tuesday. I’ll just break it down by day. It’s easier that way.

Friday- I drove into work because we woke up late. That sucked. I hate driving into work, but I had missed two buses. If I waited for the third, I would have been crazy late. I ended up getting to work on time by driving. You probably wonder why I don’t just do that daily. Well, parking is more expensive than taking the bus, plus putting wear and tear on my car, and using gas. It adds up fast. I’d rather take a 65 minute bus trip than have to drive myself for 45 minutes. Either way, it’s sucky to have to commute that far, but I like taking the bus. Anyway, since I drove in, I decided to just get my run in early. It was dark out, which was kind of scary, but no one bothered me. I always have this fear that a homeless person is going to attack me, while I’m running under a bridge, or overpass. My run kind of sucked though. I had a cramp in my side the entire time. I couldn’t get rid of it. I only ran 2.3 miles. A total flop in my mind, but any exercise is better than no exercise. I went back to the gym, showered, got ready for work, then headed to my desk. Not a bad start to the morning. I had several meetings set up, so I handled my biz, then left work at 3pm to beat traffic. On the way home, I stopped at the store. We needed wipes, toilet paper, and some food to get through the weekend. I picked Em up from daycare, then we went home for our usual routine. My sister gave me some teeth whitening trays to try out. She didn’t like them, so I decided to give them a whirl after Em went to bed. Wow, my gums were SCREAMING. I couldn’t even make it through the entire 30 minutes. They cause sensitivity, but on an already sensitive mouth, it was overload. Luckily, the sensitivity didn’t last very long.

Saturday, we had big plans. We had a play date with my friend and her son.  After chocolate chip pancakes, Em and I headed to the mall. We found they took out the kid’s play place. I guess they’re remodeling it. I had no idea. Luckily, we had a back-up plan. We headed to giggles and smiles. Em had a blast. It was nice meeting up with another mom and her son too. The kids had a great time. We stayed there for about an hour and a half. Em was so tuckered out that he fell asleep in the car on the way to my parent’s house. We hung out there for a while, then went to the grocery store to grab a couple mini pumpkins, then home for Em to nap. Em took a long nap. While he slept, I cut out some pumpkins, so that he could finger paint when he woke up. I also did an amazing leg/glute workout. After Em got up, I sat him at the table to do his crafts. He wasn’t as interested in finger painting as he was playing with the paint bottles. He occupied himself for at least 2 hours! I was able to make dinner, and to clean up uninterrupted, which was nice. We had dinner, played, then did our usual night-time routine. After Em went to bed, I rented Magic Mike XXL. Wow. It was an awesome movie and left me wanting more by the end of it.

We slept in until after 8am on Sunday morning! Wow! What a treat! I woke up so confused when I saw my clock read 8:06am! That’s just not normal in our house. I guess giggles and smiles really wore Em out. We played at home for most of the day, then went to visit my parents. We stayed there for a while and did our laundry. When we got home, Em played in the yard until dinner time.  After bed, I watched all of my shows (Kardashians included), then went to bed.

Monday, I took the day off because daycare was closed. They follow the school closures. Our district was off for Columbus Day. Em and I played at home most of the day. After nap, we headed to the store to get our weekly groceries. Afterwards, we played in the yard, had dinner, played some more, then Em had a bath, then went to bed. I stayed up until a little after 10.  I ended up over sleeping today though, which sucked. I didn’t drive in though. I wasn’t paying more money to park after I had already loaded my bus card.

I got my flu shot this morning. My arm is sore, but nothing major. I’m hitting the gym shortly for shoulders, then abs. I’m sore from the bis and tris workout I did yesterday, and from the chest/back workout from Sunday. I meal prepped for the week last night too, so I’m all set. I’m trying to find a good balance between wanting to be lean, but wanting muscles. It’s hard. You can’t really get muscles unless you gain some weight and cut some cardio, but you can’t stay lean by doing that. I haven’t figured out what direction I want to go in yet. I know I want to grow a little. Nothing insane, but to do that I do need to pack on some pounds. I’m not fully ready to commit to gaining yet. Most people gain, stop all cardio, power lift, then cut like crazy to bulk up. I’m just not comfortable getting fluffy in the process. I’m slowly adding in calories every week and decreasing some of my cardio, so that it isn’t a BIG shock. Instead of running 3 times a week, I’m reducing it down to one time outside, and a job on my treadmill. I’m also upping my weights, so that I can actually grow when I lift. I’ve derailed from my 21 day fix program and have navigated towards the hammer and chisel programs that are available through my beachbody on demand mixed in with just some dumbbell workouts that I have. So far, I’ve been sore every single day, so I know that signifies change in some aspect. I just need to keep with it, keep upping my weights, and add in some healthy calories. More protein, healthy fats, complex carbs.

I was figuring out my macros the other night and had a hell of a time. I was overshooting the protein, but coming well under with my calories, and carbs. How is that even possible? I think I try to eat TOO healthy at times. I’ve rearranged my meal plan a bit, so I can support my goals, but I am still finding it very difficult to meet my required calories of 1750, but keeping at 112g of protein! Protein has so many calories in it. You’d think if I’m overshooting that total, I’d be hitting my calorie mark. I’m not though. I’m having a hard time consuming 1200 calories. I need to add 100-125 calories a week too. This is going to pose a challenge for me, especially to my wallet. I don’t want to have to buy more food. I’m giving it a fair shot though. I know I need to eat if I want to see any progress. The good thing is the more I weigh the more protein I can eat. It’s 1g per pound that you weigh. That excites me! I know a lot of people follow a flexible diet that are into powerlifting. I like that, but it also leaves the door open to interpretation of how you view the flex dieting. IIFYM (if it fits your macos) basically means you can eat whatever you want. Poptarts, cake, cookies, etc. As long as you’re eating within your fat, carb, and protein range it doesn’t matter what you eat. I don’t condone this though. I think sometimes it’s okay to do this (moderation), but not every day. It’s crazy though because a lot of bodybuilders do this and they are absolutely shredded! I don’t want to gain burgers and fries though. I’d rather gain healthy weight. It’s tempting though. Bad food is cheaper than eating clean, but I don’t want to live that way. I made this change four months ago and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed eating healthy. I don’t want to go backward. I guess we’ll see what happens over the next month. I need to take some before pics to measure against my first bench mark of November 13th. I’m not sure what I want to achieve by then. Maybe gain 3-5lbs, but to put on some good muscle on my back, legs, and arms.  Okay, I’ve gotten completely off track here.

Sorry! I hope you guys all have a good week!