Robert Ford Fiction

Category: Phase 6

  • Mutant Diet Phase 6 Day 51

    Mutant Diet Phase 6 Day 51


    An Avengers group shot makes me feel better. Let’s go to Charlottetown.

    Mutant Diet Phase 6 Day 51
    Yes, despite it being Tuesday, it’s definitely an I’m-starting-my-diet-again Monday. I won’t bore you at all with how terrible yesterday was (yes, donuts were involved) but I’m pretty much pleading the universe for some mental strength to try to do the smaller meals more often technique.

    Of course I should just try to get through the day without shoving donuts and cookies down my pie hole.

    Meanwhile at the gym, I did a full personal trainer workout and am getting stronger. I have to forcibly stretch out the pecs, traps, lats combo so I don’t hunch over. An old problem courtesy of a frozen shoulder from the 90s.

    Today I may switch it up and do a Bulgarian Bag routine. I don’t think I’m ready for the high intensity workout again two days in a row.

  • Mutant Diet Phase 6 Day 50

    Mutant Diet Phase 6 Day 50


    She-Hulk and Deadpool would be great. Maybe one day. Cold Lake Alberta. Every been there?

    Mutant Diet Phase 6 Day 50
    Coffee and donuts. Well, maybe.

    The plan today is not to do stupid things, but I can’t warranty my behaviour. One thing from the Diet Fix book that makes some sense to me is the diet-by-snacking. In other words, reduce the overall caloric intake by having small amounts of food throughout the day so as to keep cravings from overwhelming you.

    I’m working on setting that up.

    I do have a trainer session later today that will force me to snack earlier.

    There’s a guy coughing a lot at the office that I’m trying to ignore.

    The yoga class last night was really tough and I nearly punched through a wall. Ommmm.

  • Mutant Diet Phase 6 Day 49

    Mutant Diet Phase 6 Day 49


    Black Panther and Spider-man from a comic I own. Bet you there’s good skiing in Whistler today.

    Mutant Diet Phase 6 Day 49
    Yesterday was a mess again. Fatigue does not help eating. But we did get to see Black Panther. One thing that was truly radical was the sheer number of really cool super strong female characters.

    I Googled “women’s rights in Africa” and this factoid pops up:

    “More than 1 in 3 women (36.6%) in Africa report having experienced physical, and/or sexual partner violence or sexual violence by a non-partner. Six African countries have no legal protection for women against domestic violence: Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Lesotho, Mali and Niger.” http://nawmagazine.com/the-true-state-of-the-state-of-womens-rights-in-africa/

    Anyway, I ate a lot of crap yesterday and this morning am trying to reset.

  • Mutant Diet Phase 6 Day 47

    Mutant Diet Phase 6 Day 47


    I needed a classic image for today. Delta BC. Not just a bedroom community.

    Mutant Diet Phase 6 Day 47
    There’s no question this is going badly but there are lessons.

    Rest is important. We went to bed earlier than normal and I was so tired I slept through the alarm. This is not a breakthrough in diet/fitness advice, but we always seem surprised when it’s true.

    A death in the family makes you that tired. And it does so for unforeseen lengths of time.

    Don’t exercise if your form is failing. I nearly hurt a knee yesterday.

    I tried an experiment today. I reduced the size of my bacon and eggs breakfast. If I can ever find a minute to read it, the Diet Fix book suggests the many small meals but the reasoning is to reduce total intake without spiking the hunger or craving urges.

    Please let me have the energy to read the book this weekend!

  • Mutant Diet Phase 6 Day 46

    Mutant Diet Phase 6 Day 46


    I just like Groot and Rocket. Swift Current Saskatchewan anyone?

    Mutant Diet Phase 6 Day 46
    In the department of how not to stay on a diet, booking a beer night with friends three days into the restart of a diet may not have been the smartest thing.

    I soldier on.

    I had chocolate for breakfast today.

    Yes, I totally effed up.

    And for a mid-morning snack? Expensive peanut butter cups. They were good.

    I don’t want to go to the gym, but if I don’t I’ll feel even more of a total eff-wit later.

  • Mutant Diet Phase 6 Day 45

    Mutant Diet Phase 6 Day 45


    Wonder Woman 2 is supposed to involve the villain Cheetah. Should be interesting seeing she doesn’t wear much. On my Canadian bucket list is St. John’s Newfoundland.

    Mutant Diet Phase 6 Day 45
    My brain is mush. I’m not sure what that has to do with diet/fitness, but it’s taking time getting into the swing of ultra low carb. Where Monday was a derailment, yesterday was simply spotty.

    There personal trainer session helped make sure I was doing stuff with proper form. (As reminder the routine is reprinted below.) But I’ve moved to green kettlebells instead of purple for the burpees and red for the swings at the end.

    Compassion is an interesting tool. I am refusing to beat myself up (much) over this. I think of Dory from those movies. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming.

    Today is yoga, which may help me refocus. And take inventory of my sore muscles from yesterday.

    Current Gym Routine (high intensity interval training HIIT)

    40 second work rounds with 30 second break – alternate between two exercises
    6 exercises back to back then a longer 1-2 minute break.

    1. Kettle Bell Burpees – purple kb – around 7 burpees
    2. Kettle Bell mountain climbers – roughly 30 knee ups
    3. Step ups on bench or plyo box – about 15 per leg
    4. Slams – 20 lb wall ball (not bouncy!) about 10 reps
    5. Walk outs – about 5 with push ups
    6. Kettle Bell swings – green kb – roughly 17 reps

  • Mutant Diet Phase 6 Day 44

    Mutant Diet Phase 6 Day 44


    I’m feeling a bit retro today. This is from a 1964 cover. There are relatives in Baddeck I want to visit.

    Mutant Diet Phase 6 Day 44
    Good grief. It’s taking everything I’ve got not to throw in the towel. Train wreck diet-wise. Started at 2 PM. The small amount of chocolate almonds would have been OK except that I was delayed at work. I forced myself to walk home, which honestly felt like walking through mud.

    Then I realized I did not have enough time to even heat something up before going to a meeting at my son’s school. I wasn’t hungry at that time. But by 7:30 PM, I was hungry and I took my daughter to the local bagel place, where we met my equally hungry wife and son. This wheat fest led to the tanking of the evening.

    Wine helped with the muscle pain. I have concluded that workouts make no sense. Late last week, I dragged myself to the gym and wondered if I’d even get up the stairs to the locker room. Next thing I know I did 98% of my workout homework. Yesterday, I felt like I had normal energy and by the time I hit the last third of the workout, I was a mess. I gave the workout a 75%.

    I therefore conclude that you can’t give up on a workout until you’ve gone to the gym and changed. If you still are a mess, then you can quit.

  • Mutant Diet Phase 6 Day 43

    Mutant Diet Phase 6 Day 43


    I feel like restarting this phase is like a Hulk battle. Vacation plan: what about Tofino?.

    Mutant Diet Phase 6 Day 43
    Well, that was a bit of a gap. But when your mother passes away, I think it’s OK to let your diet go sideways. I know she’d not want me to use her as a permanent excuse.

    The fact I kept some fitness going is a good thing because I’m still able to do that hard core workout that my trainer devised earlier in this phase.

    On the diet front, it’s time to remove the refined carbs as much as possible. The real kicker was to have enough clean food in the house and to remove the bad foods before starting this.

    The real challenge comes at midafternoon. That’s my Waterloo with respect to the demand for high sugar stuff.

  • Mutant Diet Phase 6 Day 32

    Mutant Diet Phase 6 Day 32


    It’s at times like these that being able to imagine possibilities is good. Like a vacation in the Dominican Republic.

    Mutant Diet Phase 6 Day 32
    In the “no shit Sherlock” department I can say definitively that a death in the family effects your eating habits.

    I go to a funeral on Sunday and I’ve been eating poorly since my last blog post. Sometimes I’m on track and sometimes I’m not. I’ve been keeping the fitness going with some decent workouts.

    The Diet Fix book that I’ve been slowly reading I can tell is going down the many small meals route. This is compelling in that I might be able to reduce overall intake and manage cravings. I suspect though I will have a challenge with overhead – i.e. measuring weighing and planning.

    But for now I have to adjust to a change in circumstances. And try not to stress eat myself to death.

  • Mutant Diet Phase 6 Day 26

    Mutant Diet Phase 6 Day 26


    Earth 48 is a place where everyone is superpowered. It’s cold in Vancouver, let’s try Netherlands Antilles.

    Mutant Diet Phase 6 Day 26
    I was reading the Diet Fix book and the author used a term. Bioavailable calories. This term covers the fact that some folks (i.e. skinny bastards) can eat whatever they like and stay the same weight while other folks (people like me, fat bastards) look at sugar from across the room and gain weight.

    Kicker: there’s no way to measure bioavailable calories. It’s not known why some bodies react differently to the number of calories. So, the author of the book is using calories as a measurement because there’s nothing else better.

    One bit of advice I like is that just because you had a cheesecake incident the night before, doesn’t mean that you jump off the wagon and let you and your diet be crushed by the horses’ hooves.

    For example, this morning I made sure to have my bacon and eggs because I have a coffee shop meeting at a place with very nice pastries that I could easily ignore because I had no hunger.