Category: Phase 12

Harley Quinn with Batwoman. Apparently in West Vancouver there are restrictions in some areas based on race which are so offensive, even the local mayor is trying to fix it.

Mutant Diet Phase 12 Day 16
There are just too many ways to diet. I have focused on one way that, when I think about it, I would not recommend to anyone.

Why? Because I am nearly four years into a custom design that might be working. This is hardly the basis of an endorsement.

What have I learned?

1. Exercise doesn’t make you lose weight, but it makes you feel stronger and more in control of your appearance.
2. Not eating bread won’t kill you unless you aren’t eating anything else.
3. You can recover quickly from a whoops if you go back to it right away. E.g. a dinner out that had too much bread and dessert doesn’t grab hold as much if you are back to your plan the next day.

I’m only barely confident that the last one is universal. The first two I have 100% confidence. But that’s it. Everything else is it confusing shit-show for absolutely everybody who is trying to get rid of anything more than, say, 20 lbs.

I say this because if untangling the body chemistry and mental issues around diet/fitness were easy, we would not have so many diet plans and doctors warning us about their risks.

IHarley Quinn with Power Girl. This new virus in Ontario begs a panic test. If you are worried about that, did you get a flu shot?

Mutant Diet Phase 12 Day 15
There’s enough negative stuff in the world so I’ll start with something positive. Last night, unexpectedly, I noticed an improvement in my yoga ability due to have less lard in various places on my body. The reason for “unexpectedly” is that I was feeling stressed out before yoga class and my intention for the class was “not to freak out.” Therefore I was expecting more resistance in the body. Considering this was only two weeks into a post-Christmas period, and only the third 75-minute yoga class of the New Year, it’s a bigger change than I’ve noticed in the past. Furthermore, the weekend’s eating was hardly on plan.

Of course, the one completely predictable feature of my diet/fitness journey is how weird it is. It feels like I’ve changed something in the body to somehow convince it that it’s safe to use stored reserves to fuel the body. In the past, and I’m sure if I waded through all the diet sheets, I’d see less progress with the same calorie in/out difference.

What changed? Not sure but I have to keep this feeling in mind because in a couple of hours my head is going to go stupid and want to go off the plan. I need to chill out and work this through to mid-March and then properly assess where I am.

Note to self: don’t try to recover from a cheat day by starving yourself until lunch.  It’s a rookie mistake.

I’m now doing a Harley Quinn series in honour of the new movie. Apparently no more solo climbs of Mt. Logan in the Yukon.

Mutant Diet Phase 12 Day 14
Two weeks into Phase 12.  Wow.

Despite the treats yesterday, I don’t feel like I cheated that badly. There was a sense of taking the pressure off. The pressure now is to return to the wagon and start pushing it again.

I am required by the principles of positive thinking to list the good things that are happening. I am once again losing weight off my face. The middle is dropping a bit too, but of course not as fast as I’d like. Important tip to anyone trying a diet/fitness effort: you will notice change before anyone else, because almost no one else is looking at you that closely. Of course, I can think of a couple of careers where that’s not the case, but for people like me who dress boringly at offices, it will take a huge change before anyone will notice. Furthermore, I was pondering in today’s world how on earth would you compliment anyone on their appearance? I am thinking men-talking to women mostly. The last thing I want to do is make anyone feel uncomfortable.

Last Wonder Woman and Green Lantern from the Silver Age. Apparently a wolf was spotted in downtown Victoria. I told my relatives there that the deer problem needed some wolves.

Mutant Diet Phase 12 Day 13
Today is a Saturday that did not go according to plan. Details tomorrow.

Yesterday involved a lot more steps because I walked into Stanley Park to try to figure out how far 3,750 steps was from the office for a workplace health campaign. Plus, the sun was out for once and I desperately needed the light at the back of my head.

Here’s what I saw.

More Wonder Woman and Green Lantern. Apparently, it’s -43° C in Eureka, Nunavut.

Mutant Diet Phase 12 Day 12
The battle against dinner time carbohydrates continues. If you follow the thinking that practicing self-compassion is better, I should throw the feelings of anger, disappointment and embarrassment into a box and put it aside.

If I do that, I’m left wondering what mechanisms in the body are causing the discomfort that seems to demand the intake of whatever carbohydrates are lying around. (Obvious process improvement: don’t have them lying around.)

The self talk and planning from early in the day went out the door when I arrived home. I did manage to shut down intake by 8 PM.

One thought is to use the meditate app before dealing with anything in the kitchen. I had an interesting experience with the app. I had taken my son to dance class last night and was sitting at the Starbucks with a course chapter to review. My mind was all over the place, so I plugged into the app and tried to do a meditation even though I could not fully close my eyes in such a public space. 13 minutes later I was calmer and able to focus.

Despite my trouble sticking to plan, it seems that I’m changing for the better. My size 42 pants are not staying up at all without a belt, which means when I next shop, I need to buy size 40. I can’t tell you when I last even attempted to try on that size.

I still want Wonder Woman and maybe a woman Green Lantern to show up on TV. Alberta worries me.

Mutant Diet Phase 12 Day 11
I compiled the numbers for yesterday and the activity in steps was off. Totally due to weather. It sucks right now. But in the evening, the carbohydrate attack is still ongoing. I simply can’t touch anything like an organic corn chip. I need to deal with this or I’m going to be very mad when I don’t perceive results.

This is boring, but when I get home, I have to simply grab what I’m allowed and then stay out of the kitchen. I’ll have to repeat this to myself multiple times throughout the day in order to achieve it.

This is really embarrassing. To have to admit that your own will and planning power can’t beat the cravings is stupid. What is going on in my head at 5:30 PM? It’s not like I’m going to starve to death.

There’s enough embarrassment in my life. I don’t need more.

Oh, for the record I ate 190 calories of good chocolate over a 30-minute period and it lessened the craving discomfort. However, I was hungry again shortly after and a small amount of peanuts helped.

Someone can explain the bio chemistry to me and I’d listen.

I still want Wonder Woman and Green Lantern on TV. Regina made the news for arresting some union leaders.

Mutant Diet Phase 12 Day 10
As insane as this sounds, I need to invest in high quality chocolate in small pieces. Yesterday when the 2 PM craving and headache occurred, I took a couple of pieces of high quality chocolate that a co-worker had and boom. Huge improvement when mixed with my normal handful of peanuts.

Considering by my estimates I’m still in a calories-burned / calories-eaten deficit to the tune of a 1000 calories per day, I don’t think this is a big risk. The risk is binge eating what I get, hence the high cocoa content.

However, today, I have to watch the random carb intake. I let myself get too hungry and I ate too much and some of the wrong things last night.

Let’s see what I can do today.

The next Wonder Woman/Green Lantern image. We need TV versions. I heard that Trudeau bought some donuts in Winnipeg.

Mutant Diet Phase 12 Day 9
Do I enjoy this? No.

It was a question from the RMT, who is also a Life Coach. Apparently there’s a way to enjoy a diet/fitness process.

I agree that if I enjoyed this process, it would be easier. I also suspect that, were I someone who enjoyed exercise and low calorie food, I wouldn’t be in this mess.

Change is uncomfortable. Even good change.

All is not lost, because I enjoy results. I feel the change in the body and there’s a feeling of accomplishment in filling in the diet charts honestly and illustrating that I’m following a plan I designed. There’s a good feeling in being in control of the process that tackles a serious challenge.

My last Infinite Crisis image. Vancouver weather is now normal wet yucky.

Mutant Diet Phase 12 Day 8
Today starts with the massage therapist who I hope will tell me what to do to fix the left shoulder where it connects to the arm muscles. It can’t take the pressure from bench press or pop pushing myself from the floor or planks when you try to do a slow pushup.

Turns out my bicep tendon is inflamed and I need to do some stretches that open the shoulder and not use it if hurts. Dang those sessions hurt.

Sunday was leaning toward complying with the diet plan, but not enough.

With a normal-ish work week presenting itself, I hope to pick up from the success of last week.

Maintaining a good attitude is key. That sounds so fluffy. I wonder if that can be quantified. There’s a combination of “try not to think about it,” “focus on the process” and self-compassion that is hard to do let alone quantify.

My first in the Wonder Woman/Green Lantern series. To make you feel better, it’s 9°C in Sechelt.

Mutant Diet Phase 12 Day 7
Super cheat day is over. The question is can I revert to strict without wavering?

At lot of this seems to be setting intention without setting negative conditions. Even though literally no one else but me cares, there’s a tendency toward guilt. When that happens, I try to substitute how good it felt to be at our friend’s place for a decadent meal and wine. Then say, it will feel good to be on the plan again. Considering my digestion clearly said last night “Whoa nelly! That was a bit much.”

By the way, I’m assuming almost no one reads these. This is fine. The point of documenting is to help keep me on track. But if you are reading it and enjoying it, thank you very much.

Happy Sunday.