Author: Robert Ford

I found this cool Wolverine/Captain America image. Technically Logan was around during WWII.  It’s time to check in on St. John’s NL.

Mutant Diet Phase 10a Day 10
Good lord that was ridiculous. Yesterday I had the sore mid-back muscles. I went to the gym with the intent to do legs. But some of the leg stuff requires I hold my back in place. By the time I returned to work, I was a mess. Coffee, ibuprofen, chocolate. They work great.

Then of course came the ride home. Once I was warmed up I was fine. But at home I realized I was a wreck. So I lied on my bed and ordered myself to lie still like they do on sick bay beds in Star Trek. An hour or so later, I regained higher functions.

This morning I am nominally OK.

But, pain leads to bad food choices. Fatigue leads to bad food choices.

How do I stop the fitness efforts – which at the time don’t seem over the top – from clobbering the available will power? What a balancing act!

I needed a classic Spider-man today. Apparently the municipality of Saanich has a greater population than the City of Victoria.

Mutant Diet Phase 10a Day 9
Monday was more of a 2500 calorie day than 2000, but it was better than last week by far. We shall see what kind of focus I can muster today.

I went to bed last night surprisingly ache-free, but then in the middle of the night the mid-back was complaining. With the increased effort in weight training I must, must, must remember to do the stretch out work before bed. I find past 9 PM my brain turns into a puddle resembling a bad soup mix.

At the gym I’m supposed to do legs. I will try to be super uptight about posture.

From Amazing Spider-man 94. From the look of her, isn’t Aunt May really more of a Great Aunt? In Calgary, 6 horses dead in chuck wagon races. Yikes.

Mutant Diet Phase 10a Day 8
I would look for a big reset button image if I had more time. The failing mental focus and the access to tempting food products derailed me.  I still see the personal trainer today and weigh-in.  Sigh.

However, it has not made me give up. I’m hoping for a calmer more focused week. Although my To Do List of Things I Don’t Want To Do is itself distracting. I would also like to forgive myself for being a distracted (oh look a window looking outside) weasel and just calmly refocus and do the work.

(In all honesty, I’ve dropped writing this blog post at least four times since I started – all within a 10 minute period.)

OK, now I’m back. Last night our yoga teacher proved she’s the Queen of Original Transitions. She had us moving from a 90/90 pose (but folding forward) to a bent knee back twist (but the knees weren’t on top, you place one foot on the other knee).

From Amazing Spider-man 97. A friend of mine had breakfast in Kamloops.

Mutant Diet Phase 10a Day 7
The diet went to hell Friday night and I’ve not recovered. The whole thing is on me, of course, but if I don’t attribute weakness to specific influences, I can’t plan to adapt to them. So, today I blame mental and physical fatigue.

But what to do about it? Obviously, duh, rest. But as many of you who are dealing with anxiety, depression or stress understand, sleeping can be a tough slog. I have a number of tricks to quiet the busy brain, but the trick is staying that way. Then, during waking hours, there’s the guilt of not doing your chores. Or of not hanging with your kids, etc. This makes the mind race in ways not conducive to the necessary focus needed for diet/fitness and the chores you really need to do.

So, today is a reset with a plan to avoid recreational eating.

Green Arrow is preparing for a final season on TV. I haven’t done a shout out to BC’s Sunshine Coast in a while.

Mutant Diet Phase 10a Day 5

The calorie count seems a bit high in my estimates, but when free food with refined carbs are tossed around I tend to aim high on the calorie count.

The massage therapist appointment helped the back muscles but really made me loopy. For example, the chocolate almonds helped deal with a powerful sense of mental fatigue in the face of two meetings remaining in the day. I really need to find a lower calorie pick-me-up.

Back at it for now.

I needed some old fashioned comic book images. Did you see my piece on Vancouver Harbour tours?

Mutant Diet Phase 10a Day 4
I went to the massage therapist as my mid back was super tight. Holy crap that was intense. I was seeing tweety-birds when I got off the bench. It seems that my chest is curling forward and thus putting strain on the muscles connected to the spine. I have to imagine there’s a string coming from my sternum leading me forward.

The diet was on track yesterday and I think I dodged excessive damage from the dinner out Tuesday night.

I may skip the gym to let my body recover from the RMT.

This is a fake Spider-man getting whumped by Jessica Jones. Manitoba’s Falcon Lake UFO Mystery turns 50.

Mutant Diet Phase 10a Day 3
Day 2 went really well until we went out for dinner with an out-of-town guest.

However, my body this morning is not feeling too far off track because I jumped straight back into the process — and my bicycle. I have a chance to be totally on the mark for today. Tomorrow has another challenge, but that’s another day.

My workout was harder than I thought I could do. I have to find out about some strained muscles in the mid-back. Yoga today will be an inventory process for when I see the RMT tomorrow.

All the speculation on the last Spider-man movie had me wondering about other female characters. It took a bit to find a Black Cat image that wasn’t hyper-sexy. A man in Nova Scotia is very fond of his truck.

Mutant Diet Phase 10a Day 2
Good news I did a nearly textbook Day 1. I have to be super careful about tight spots. Mid back, calf, the gout joint and a couple more.

I tried to push the weights a bit to try to achieve this magic point where the muscles go into a slight inflammation that triggers growth. It’s taken three years of preparation to have muscles that know that more work is coming. They were couch potato muscles for so many years that they needed retraining.

But today is one of those social events involving food. Day 2 is damage control.

Oh, apparently if you have an anxiety disorder and you exhibit signs of self-hatred, it doesn’t help. Who knew?

I found this cool X-Men image. I never did get to see that last movie.  A beautiful day in Vancouver today.

Mutant Diet Phase 10a Day 1
I’m calling this Phase 10a because it’s only 26 days until family vacation where I don’t intend to do much diet/fitness. I hope to be active, but not actively trying to push myself to lose weight or gain strength.

I read somewhere online that no one wants to read about other people’s diets. I wonder why they are bothering reading a subject of no interest to them. I have no interest in English Football and I don’t read articles about it either.

But I do feel the need for more comedy in order to help those compelled to read my trite posts but don’t actually have an interest in the diet/fitness subject matter.

As you may know in diet/fitness, some planning is required. I looked ahead. I have three social engagements this week all revolving around food.

• An out of town guest buying dinner
• A free lunch provided by building management
• An invitation to a BBQ

This is like someone trying to break a pot-smoking habit and then winning a free trip to Amsterdam.