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So, today’s goal is not to have a mess like yesterday. However the work on the hip has paid off in pain reduction and increase of mobility. Free food at work is tough to ignore. Tasted great, I have to say. (The worst is cheating on a diet with stuff that doesn’t taste good.)

My steps and biking numbers are about to go down the drain as we have a week’s worth of storms coming.

I finally took my BP and pulse. The top number is a bit high and I was having trouble with relaxation to lower it. I have to add proper yoga breathing (count four for inhale; hold 1; exhale for 4) throughout the day and see if I can knock this down.

Much to do today. Double karate this evening. I can test out hip movement for sure.

An unintended act of self-torture is going to Costco to pick up desserts for a team lunch. I wasn’t hungry until I arrived there. Then gasp. And it was mid-morning. I had no business being hungry.

I will document my carb failure today in tomorrow’s post.

I had a massage therapist appointment today because the hip and lower back was starting to lock up. It seems my hip flexor jumps to action before my dumb glutes can figure out it needs to help. A couple of new exercises were suggested, which I’m going to try out when I get to yoga class.

At least I’m riding today. Storm comes tomorrow which will make things less fun.

OK. Thanksgiving was a feast and I ate too much and now it’s time to be better focused. I have placed the idea in my head that I can’t go to Urban Fare except first thing in the morning for coffee. Even that it too risky so tomorrow I’ll go further afield.

It was definitely chilly this morning for the bike ride and it looks like a big storm is coming in Wednesday evening. The chart below shows a reduction in the average number of kilometres ridden. The step count is keeping on pace with the original Mutant Diet.

Given that mental fatigue is what leads me to the carbs, I figure that preset mental messages (e.g. the prohibition on Urban Fare) should help keep my hands away from the extras. I also need to pre plan substitutes. For example when the inevitable 2 PM snack attack happens, what am I going to do? I will either eat more of the chicken or the salad I brought today.

I see the trainer very briefly today to review the kettle bell stuff. I’m not 100% certain I’m doing it correctly.

It’s time to dig in because if I don’t I won’t have anything to show for it on December 13.

Happy Thanksgiving! There’s much to be thankful for in our lives right now. We need to stay in the reasonable zone because there’s so much that isn’t all around us.

Wish me luck today as I’m cooking a vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner and will try not to damage Plan D too much. I am however fully stocked up with meats and salads so the coming week can be better.

It’s one of those days. Frustration with things like fax machine settings on the new device that scans, prints, takes faxes, julienne fries, whatever goes weird. I had the conversation with the children that in school, as in life, there are often things we have to learn or do that we don’t want to. The consequence of not learning things is later feeling stupid. At some point, especially living on the west coast, you’ll have a discussion about plate tectonics and if you paid attention in school you might be able to participate in the conversation.

So, what does this have to do with diet/fitness? Not much except that almost all of the work in a diet/fitness process is made up of things you’d rather not do. (E.g. eat cucumbers rather than cake.) I think there are a few people who truly enjoy the diet/fitness regimen, but I can safely say those folks are in the minority.

Open question: if there’s something you have to do, but don’t enjoy how do you stay motivated?

Well, I’m 1/3 of the way into Plan D and to make things fun my mother is in the hospital. The term “small heart attack” seems like the difference between a cyclist being hit by a Mini versus Lincoln Navigator. Mom is in hospital, stable and there’s a bunch of testing going on.

The challenge to focus, not give up, and not over think the process is intense. Since the urge to eat the wrong things comes from the subconscious, I figure I have to preset the right behaviours from the conscious mind.

I did head to Costco and I have some more supplies which will help with staying on track. Jerry once again to the rescue for stinky cooking.

Well, that was a mess. I lost my s**t over a grilled cheese sandwich last night. Thursdays are interesting time management challenges because we have karate from 6-8 PM. Tuesday we should go but it’s often too much for the youngest family member.

So I’m making early dinner and one of my two frying pans is old and screwed up and it wrecks one of two sandwiches. I lose my temper, scare the kids and make another one in the better frying pan. Then I figure since I don’t have a lot of food for myself (low on supplies) I take the mangled grilled cheese sandwich, and heat it up and I eat it.

Then of course I’m pissed off because I ate wheat. Never underestimate the power of being raised in a context of making sure you don’t waste food. I can’t imagine what my parents went through being raised by people who survived the Great Depression.

For context (no excuses) I was in singular pain yesterday from the kettle bell workouts (classic 48-hour recovery period) and was forcing myself (and my kids) to go to karate.

Has anyone done the work on connecting mental health and diet? I think they should. Speaking of “shoulds” I noticed that the stigma with depression, characterized by a “just get over it” sensibility is actually similar with being overweight. “Just go on a diet” or “if only you could control yourself.”

When I had a wrap at Subway the other night due to a time challenge and trying to make sure children were fed prior to extra-curricular activities, I literally forgot the trick of skipping the bun/wrap part and asking them to shove everything into a bowl. This wasn’t the case of me thinking “F you, I want the bun.” If that had been the case, I’d have had a tastier bun. It wasn’t until my trainer called me out on it that I remembered the bowl trick.

Mental strength, if not actual health, is needed for this process. I felt shame at being so stupid when the bun mistake was pointed out. And don’t forget the formula around shame. The amount of shame is directly proportional to the risk of obtaining a chocolate fix.

Now onto physical pain. Today I have to do my new kettle bell workout. I was so sore from the Trainer session on Tuesday that yesterday’s yoga class was super challenging. I’m still sore all over but I don’t care. If I don’t try this out I’ll forget how to do it.

The good news is that the intensity is high and leaves me with enough time to warm up to start and roll out at the end.

Kettle bells look like this.

All I have to do is be sure not to whack myself in the head with them.

Today I have a personal trainer workout. I’m hoping Victoria can inspire me to up my game. Yesterday was one of those days where I’d planned to go to the gym but my son had other plans by being home sick from school.

The weather today was just too wet and I’ll be walking home. I had to take the bus *gasp* and because I was up so early it wasn’t too jammed and it was a really new bus. I mention this because normally my occasional bus rides are nasty.

Food wise, there was a small improvement yesterday and I’m hoping today is cleaner.