Still On Plan… and Oh So Busy!

I’m still on plan but I actually feel fatter than ever. In fact, I stepped on the scale this morning and was HORRIFIED by what I saw… I’m hoping it’s just my body adjusting to the new high-protein plan and things will be different by next week. My stomach has been bothering me a bit and my energy (which is never off the charts) is a little lacking, but my mood is good and I varied my diet today so I’m feeling more satisfied. EDIT: I didn’t have a chance to post yesterday, and this was actually saved in draft from Wednesday. Today I feel much less fat AND saw a dramatic drop in scale weight this morning! However, my energy is not so great.

For the past year I’ve used EAS’ 100% Whey Protein purchased from Vitamin Shoppe (my Ukrainian friend pronounces it: Shoppey – so cute. Oh, she also says Wacation, Wote, Wirus rather than Vacation, Vote, Virus. I love it.). ANYWAY, the price has been anywhere from $29.99 to $31.99 over the past year. This past week I had to restock and the price was $39.99 for the same 5 lb. tub. That’s a HUGE jump and I’m still a little tweaked over the way they “compensated” my boss for his bad RTD shake (they sent him a pack of 4 to make up for his horrible experience) so I decided it was time to make a change in protein products. I’d heard Optimum Nutrition’s 100% Whey was pretty tasty and it has almost the exact nutritional content as EAS’ but with an added gram of protein per serving so I thought I’d give it a try. The taste is actually very good.

My mid-morning meal consisted of celery and peanut butter and a double rich chocolate protein shake. The combination was fabulous. My last bite of celery and PB was washed down with a drink of protein and the flavor in my mouth was reminiscent of a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. This could be dangerous for me. I have to watch my self-control with the PB as it is.

I took some photos of Max the other morning and loved the close-up so much that I decided to use it as my profile photo. He’s such a fascinating little dog. I don’t know how possible reincarnation is, but I sometimes wonder if he’s a man reincarnated into a dog or if he’s a dog about to be reincarnated into a man next go around. I’d love to get into his little head.

Did you guys know Karla is “back”? At least she teased us via her blog that she was coming back – that was back on June 6 but there hasn’t been a peep since. Wouldn’t that be fabulous if she returned to blogland???? I miss her, darn it.

I’ll have to comment on your comments as soon as I get a few more spare minutes.

xo, Rachel

Hungry

I already miss carbohydrates – especially my oatmeal, blueberries and cottage cheese meal. It may sound gross, but it’s quite delicious and very satisfying. If you haven’t tried it, I’d encourage you to give it a go. Simply mix equal parts (I use 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup depending on how hungry I am) of old fashioned oats, cottage cheese, blueberries (frozen works fine) and water and microwave for a couple minutes. Sprinkle on liberal amounts of cinnamon and a tiny bit of Splenda if needed. It’s soooo good. Darn. Now that bowl of delicious oatmeal and berries is all I can think about. Let’s change the subject.

A sad and weird thing happened at work yesterday… we have a fairly new staff member who just doesn’t seem “right” to me. She’s always very flustered, anxious, hyper and just a little off. My boss and I had to enter her office after hours and we discovered what we believe to be a methamphetamine bag – it was pretty much empty, with just a small amount of powdery residue remaining. This explains her very erratic behavior. We called the police to see if they could test the residue so we’d know for sure, but there isn’t enough left in the bag to test. The policeman who came to our office said he was 99.99999% sure it was meth. He sees this stuff every day and felt confident that’s what we found. It's sad to me because it's such a shame to see someone with so much potential throw it away. It's weird because we have such a rigorous interview process and it's hard to believe we didn't notice any clues during the interview process... After she was hired I noticed many things I thought were odd, but I never would've guessed drugs could be the cause. Anyway, we have a strict drug policy and we can’t continue to employee her.

Here’s an interesting link with photos showing the “faces of meth” – if this doesn’t scare someone from experimenting with methamphetamine, I don’t know what would:

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/photos/gallery.ssf?cgi-bin/view_gallery.cgi/olive/view_gallery.ata?g_id=2927

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Comments on comments:

Matt, I know about carb cycling, but it’s not something I’ve ever tried. I bet you’re right. Cool. I’ve wanted to try cycling carbs, but have been too lazy to research it properly and now I don’t have to do the research. Yay!

Chantal, I know you’re curious. I’ll share details as soon as I can. Thanks for your vote of confidence!

Tom, good idea with the bubble wrap. My clumsiness is pretty legendary.

Kim, we MUST get together the next time you’re up in my area!!!

Erin, what sage advice you give! Thanks for the reminder! I have not forgotten about our deal. ;)

Pamela, sticking to a strict diet during summer is going to be a HUGE challenge for me. We have get togethers nearly every weekend and there’s always lots of delicious foods and much alcohol to be had by all. If I didn’t waste the winter and spring floundering around and searching for my mojo, I wouldn’t be where I am today (un-hot). Bah!

My Quest for HOTNESS

Today is Day 1 of my Joel Marion 8-week test group plan. I think I’m going to take this week off from weight training because my diet includes little to no carbs and I just don’t think I’ll be able to continue with my heavy full-body workouts till I start getting some carbs in me (starting next week). I did the new cardio this morning and it was a killer – got that weird acidic burning sensation in my stomach which didn’t make getting through it any easier, but at least it’s done and I didn’t slack off.

I’m really excited to see what this new plan can do for me. I’ve needed something to rev me up for months… it’s only day one, I know, but right now I feel “ON”. Whew. I just want to be HOT. I don’t want to look good for 33 years old. I don’t want to be almost HOT. I just want ultimate HOTNESS. I work with way too many beautiful women. Which wouldn’t be so difficult to deal with, but my husband and I work together, so he also works with way too many beautiful women. These beautiful women wear some skimpy clothes sometimes. Several are 5’ 9” and wear stilettos on a daily basis. It’s starting to get to me a little. I need to get HOT!

The weekend was nice. We hung out with friends at their pool on Saturday. Yesterday was spent grocery shopping and preparing for the week ahead… I helped J hang a ceiling fan… nothing too exciting.

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Since I love how Tom and Chérie comment on comments, today I thought I’d give it a go…:

Matt, as always, you are just so encouraging. It’s kind of amazing what an encouraging word does for someone! Thank you!

Pamela, can’t wait to finally talk to you. I can talk about details of my plan in conversation, but I’m not allowed to post on any forum or blog… but I can TALK about the details. ;)

Jim, Not really a secret routine, but I agreed not to share the diet. Oh, I’ll be updating with what I hope is some awesome progress. Like I said earlier, I MUST GET HOT!

Hi Leslie,I’m actually in Central California (Fresno to be exact) and it was bloody HOT this weekend. I hope your runners were OK. I actually saw a woman running at 4:00 yesterday afternoon. It had to be at least 110 and I don’t know how the heck she was doing it. I thought I was going to melt just from the short walk from my car to the grocery store.

Tom and Mari: My finger is much better. However, I did slip down my stairs the other morning. Bump, bump, bump. Bumpity bump.

Melissa, you’re welcome for the nice comment. I meant every word. And I don’t mind at all if you post my blog link. =)

Chérie, I’d love for someone to plan my meals and do the grocery shopping, too. In addition to that, I’d like them to unpack the groceries, pre-prep any food (wash veggies, etc.).

Jennifer, yep. I’m a little klutzy. See above. Always have been. ;P

Irene, hope you made it through your sticky, hot weekend. We’re only a few days into summer and I hope this isn’t a sign of things to come!

Nothing Blog Worthy

Not much goin’ on that’s blog worthy. I think I sprained my middle finger. Not sure how I did it – I helped a friend demolish a wall on Saturday (fun!) – so that’s probably when it happened. It’s not too bad, but my grip is definitely affected. Let’s see… what else? Oh, I signed up to be part of a test group for a new diet. Some of you may have seen it posted at T-nation or on another forum. It’s from a former BFL Grand Champion, Joel Marion. I start on Monday with the new diet and will continue on with my current training routine, with a small adjustment to my cardio… I can’t disclose any details, but I’m looking forward to giving it a try. I know what to do with my eating, but it’ll be nice having someone give me a prescribed plan without having to think about things too much. Photos of me won’t be updated till late summer.

I think it’s supposed to be 106 degrees today and the forecast calls for 112 by this weekend. Bah. Hellooooo Summer.

I love the way Chérie and Tom always respond to comments people leave on their blogs… I’m not so great about doing that, but just want to say thanks for commenting and I do appreciate your blendship.

A Little Inspiration

I stole this idea from the lovely and talented JunoJen. She mentioned the blog of someone who inspires her with her fitness tenacity and dedication (Stacey). Stacey is amazing and inspires me, too. In fact, because of Jen’s post, I added her link to my blog list so I would remember to read her blog more often.

Someone’s blog that I read on a regular basis is Evie (Evielee at tracker). This girl is so physically beautiful it makes me want to puke. I’d die for her face. But what knocks your socks off just as much as her drop-dead gorgeousness is her transformation. It’s one of the most stunning I’ve ever seen. If you’ve never seen her profile on tracker, you must STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING NOW and go check her out: Evielee. Simply breathtaking. Phenomenal. Her drive is unbelievable and she’s on a quest to be the very best she can possibly be – isn’t that what it’s all about? Being our very best self? She’s a true inspiration. My only complaint: she doesn’t update her blog nearly as often as she should… =)

Quick Update

Things are so busy for me right now. We’ve hired a new PR person at work, we’ve expanded our office space, and I’m in the middle of a new project. Lots of stuff to do.

I also recommitted myself to a full-on fitness challenge starting last Monday. Unfortunately, I had three unplanned business lunches to attend (I did the best I could ordering at restaurants) and my busy schedule helped me miss a few meals here and there, but such is life. I’m still plugging away.

Will post more as time allows. Just didn’t want anyone to think I fell off the wagon or the face of the earth!

xo, Rach

Still have lots of work to do…

I have a bit of a lull in my workday (weighting [OMG, see how I typed “waiting” – is that a Freudian slip?] on someone else to finish a part of a project so I may proceed) so I thought I’d do a little blogging.

After looking at the photos of our new home, I’ve come to the conclusion that there is no part of my personality in the décor whatsoever… I try not to get caught up on the little things – like whether or not I HATE those curtains or whether or not I think things look a little too hard and masculine. I try to take on the stance of a Buddhist monk, because in the big scheme of things, it really doesn’t matter much. I literally say to myself, “I am a Buddhist monk” and it brings me to a peaceful place and I think about the big picture vs. the small details. I know, I’m a nutcase… but I’m telling you, it works! What’s important is that we’re both happy and healthy. We have a lovely roof over our heads. Who cares if my personality doesn’t come through in the decoration of our home?

Or does it matter? Should I take a more dominant stance and create something that reflects both of our personalities? Will I lose myself if I step back and allow J to make the decisions? Hmmmmm. See, I confuse myself when I over-analyze…

OK, I’m back to it doesn’t really matter. Remember my greatest fear being that J would inherit his mom’s early on-set Alzheimer’s? That’s another motivator in my letting J make the decisions… what if his time is limited? His mom is in her mid 50’s, has been diagnosed for about 8 years and is already to the point that she no longer has lucid moments. She’s a shell and doesn’t even recognize her children or her husband. Her and J were as close as mother and son could possibly be… I’ve spent 10 weeks with her over the last two years, but her disease is so advanced and she’s so far gone that I don’t even know if she would like me as a daughter-in-law. It’s really the saddest thing I’ve ever experienced.

On to the photos…

If you look to the lower left of this first photo, you can see my little dog, Max.









We bought the masks, elephant head, black and white artwork, black and white Balinese doll prints (my husband has a thing for black and white art) and most of the stuff hanging on the walls while we were visiting Malaysia. The sailboat was my gift to J for our first anniversary.

When we got married, I sold most of my furniture and most of my stuff because I was under the impression we would buy things together with both making equal decisions… sigh. I am a Buddhist monk.

The artwork I brought into our marriage is currently located in one room of our house – it’s the polar opposite of J’s taste (which is why he’s relegated it to the spare room which will eventually become our home gym) and full of vibrant colors. It’s a little over the top. I bought it from a local artist as a gift to myself to celebrate the one year anniversary of breaking it off with my ex-boyfriend. We’d been together for nine long years (he’s the same man that I allowed to come between me and my best friend – why do some women make the worst decisions about certain men???). Anyway, the artwork kind of represents life and fun and freedom to me. I’ll take photos of the artwork in there and you can see for yourselves how completely different it is from the rest of the house. The mirror on the easel stand is mine from my single days, but I really think it looks atrocious where it is right now and would prefer to replace the existing console in the entryway with a much longer console and get rid of the mirror all together. It just doesn’t work as it is.



We’re temporarily trying out a Japanese style dining table (floor cushions need to be purchased) because the coffee table we have is too large for our living room and it’s such a beautiful table that I didn’t want to get rid of it. On an episode of Great Hotels, Samantha Brown stayed in a hotel that had a Japanese style dining table and it looked so cool, but I’m not really excited about the way it looks in our dining room…



J is so sweet. He bought me a little TV for the kitchen so when I’m spending all my time cooking separate meals for each of us I can be entertained…



Our current plan is to buy the Greenwich sectional from Pottery Barn and I’d like to replace the console with the Raleigh Console (also from PB). My beloved J has already decided upon our bedroom furnishings… it’s beautiful, but wouldn’t be my first choice. I am a Buddhist monk. I am a Buddhist monk. I am a Buddhist monk.

More photos to come soon.