Stuck

I think I need to make myself blog at least once a week. Maybe Sunday nights? I'll think of something. I'm just stuck in a rut right now. My weight hasn't moved on the scale in about a week, although on the brighter side I've been able to tighten up my belts by a notch. That honestly is a good feeling overall. I've decided that my weight training is actually going to be a circuit. I'm using the Men's Health Spartacus Workout (I mean, I watch the show weekly, so it only makes sense). It's 10 exercises, 60 seconds a piece, with 15 seconds rest in between. Once one circuit is done, you rest 2 minutes, then do it all over again twice more for a total of 3 circuits. It's a total of 41 minutes long from start to finish, but that 41 minutes is killer. I can see why they suggest having a rest day in between. I'll do it just 3 times a week starting out. As I get stronger, I'll add another day or so. I'll continue running, of course. I think I'll keep that up daily and do the interval runs. I seem to always feel better while I'm doing them constantly.

My eating hasn't been too bad. I did cheat one night and had Wing Stop with the family, then had the leftovers this past Tuesday. I had finished a double red blood cell donation a few hours earlier and had taken a nap. Needless to say when I woke up I was famished. The wings seemed logical at the time. I'm thinking I should have known better. This week the Hubster has been on a business trip, so being in charge of dinner has made it easier to eat better. Dorkenstein wanted to make grilled cheese on Monday, so I baked up some garlic fries. Tuesday was ranch chicken and peas. Yesterday was a cinnamon-spiced Moroccan chicken pieces with couscous and peas. Tonight I'm not sure what I'll be making. Eating at work has been really simple. I was eating a granola bar and a bowl of instant oatmeal for breakfast, but after dropping my caloric count to 1200 I'm just on oatmeal. Since I leave early all this week I'm having a protein shake for lunch. I bought some Jillian Michael's Whey Protein and mix it with some 2% milk. When mixed in the blender it's really not half bad. Just chill it in the fridge, then drink it while I'm taking calls. During normal weeks the shake is dinner since I run after work and I have a ramen for lunch. I found some really good instant soba noodle kits that I heat up here, then munch on (with chopsticks, of course) as I read or watch a little HBO Go.

I did do some baking over the weekend. I made some Italian bread mini sub buns that turned out really good, and I made a loaf of Italian bread using the same recipe that we sliced up and made French toast with. It turned out to be just amazing, really. I may have to freeze some of the buns though- it made a lot, and they aren't getting used as quickly as I would like.

I guess the rest of this week will be to keep running, stay on top of strength training, and see what I can do to retweak my diet. Something has to work better.

Update

I really am not good at the whole blogging daily thing, am I? I didn't meet my January goal- in fact, I lost 6lbs, then went up 2lbs by month's end. I adjusted my goals again, and am working furiously to stay on track this time. The hubster has decided to help, too, which is nice. I reaaaally want to see Henry Rollins perform at UNT in early March, so it has been decided that if I lose my allotted 12lbs and hit a weigh in of 194 by 29 February, I'll have tickets in hand to see him. If not, I'll be sitting at the house watching the Tate-Rousy fight on Strikeforce. Good motivation right there to keep on track.

I have been keeping pretty consistent with my running. I'm using the JogTracker Pro app to mark my time and distance to get my pace, then I'm using the C25K Pro app to get moving. I've found that if I do an Indian Run from the military, I do much better. The Indian Runs are just interval runs, with time spent at a light jog and some sprints thrown in. We used to run in 2 lines and the last 2 people would sprint to the front, then slow back to a jog when they got to the front. With the C25K program, I'm jogging during the walking portions and sprinting during the runs. I've felt better doing it, and I think my times are dropping. I'm trying to remember to log everything into my Runner's World profile as well. So many places to keep up with what I'm doing- there's no reason to fail again.