OK I'm puttin out the APB on NUNI!!!

Nuni!!! Where are you??? You haven't posted in ages, and your email account has been disabled!!! I miss you, I worry about you... please, let me know you're ok!

If anyone has any info on the Nuninator I would GREATLY appreciate it.

laughable

its laughable really... but then again it isnt... my body image right now is SUFFERING and yet the root of the issues isn't how my body looks, because I still feel like I look pretty ok when I'm clothed and fairly respectable when unclothed... the root of the issue is what I've lost in my strength and fitness level over the last 4 months.

When you're not TRYING to stay in shape its easy to believe that when you jump back on the horse it will all come flooding right back and you'll regain your prior fitness levels in no time flat.

reality is just a tad different my friends... just a tad.

From 30# shoulder presses I'm down to THREE MEASLEY POUNDS. Now granted I was not pressing the 30s 15 times in a row for three sets... it was more like 8/6/4... but I could get them up, and I could press them with good form... I don't think I could even get them over my shoulders at this point... it was last fall that I decided on the spur of the moment to run a 10k with my pal DW and I did, with no real issues... and yet I struggle to run 2 miles at a pace anywhere over 5 miles per hour now.

I've lost a LOT of my fitness and it pisses me off. It is SO much easier to maintain a fitness level than it is to regain one that you used to have. But it is laughable... because I knew this. I knew it before it began and I knew it as it was happening. I chose to allow my fitness to take a back seat while I focused on getting pregnant, and ya know what? That's OK by me. It is laughable... and being annoyed over what I've lost really won't get me anywhere.

So laugh with me, won't you? Laugh right over to the gym and work your own ass out while I work mine.

It will return, the fat will be shed, the cardiovascular endurance will improve. it always has, and it always will... because there WILL be a next time... I have no doubts about that.

up and at em...

Food has been spot on (check fit day, you'll agree!)... sleep was a bit lacking last night due in part to my frantic food-prep session that didn't start until 7pm... but some would be amazed at how efficient I can be in the kitchen... all of my prep actually took only an hour but it threw off the rest of my evening routine enough that I didn't get to bed till 10:30... oh well.

Just got back from my workout:

Treadmill, Hills, 60 minutes - 450 calories, 3.8 miles. Most of the workout was walking but I ran all of the flats and low inclines at a modest 5.2-5.5mph pace.

now I am snarfing more cottage cheese and pineapple and working on my resume.

yes, my soul sucking job pays me... but I'm not willing to trade my life for money any more... not after last week, so I'm looking elsewhere, and while I know I'll have to take a huge (at least 20-30%) pay cut to go anywhere else... and that it will set me back a year or so in my schooling plans... at some point I have to value my hapiness over my paycheck.

So there it is.

creating success

prepped a LOT of food tonight.

Laura's Lean Ground Beef (4% fat before you cook/drain it) made into taco meat with onions
Grilled Cajun Chicken
Stir-Fried pineapple-garlic teriyaki chicken
shredded chicken with taco spices

I bought two bags of pre-prepped romaine lettuce, baby carrots, cottage cheese and low-fat vanilla yogurt for my protein smoothies... I am going to try to make peanut butter protein fudge (pb mixed with vanilla protein powder until its almost as firm as a powerbar... can use some honey for sweetener if you need it but the powder is pretty sweet itself, so I don't think it will be needed, roll it into tsp. sized balls or roll out and cut into squares and refridgerate) maybe it will suck... maybe not... we'll see.

Protein: chicken, beef, eggs, yogurt, cottage cheese, whey powder, pb protein fudge.
Fruits: bananas, apples, berries (in smoothies).
Veggies: romaine, carrots, broccoli, cabbage (for lime cilantro coleslaw).
No more than 3 servings of WHOLE grains per day, small ammts of cheese and skim milk.

This is what I want to eat for the next four weeks... this is what I plan to eat for the next four weeks... this is what I will enjoy eating for the next four weeks.

This is me, creating success.

...update...

workout accomplished:

5min w/u tm.
Assisted p-u/pushup ss - 10/8/6
incline b-p/upright row ss - 15/15/15 @8#
shoulder press/lat-raise ss - 15/15/15 @3# (damn its humbling to be doing presses with 3# weights when I was doing 30# db presses about a year ago)
ez bar curl/ez bar french press ss - 15/15/15 (just the bar)
db curl/dip ss - 15/15/15 @5#
1 mile run on tm...

I know I can't expect perfection, but I'm done wallowing in self pitty and depression... I'm done. period.

oh... and I have a dentist appointment in 2.5 hours... yippee!!

I am struggling... (a post in which I curse mightily and frequetly)

I am having a pretty rough time emotionally right now... its not translating to good habits either... I'm telling myself I will do what I need to do each morning and by the evening I've resigned myself to my current emotional dissatisfaction and have not accomplished my goals for the day.

I tell myself that I need a challenge... I tell myself I need small attainable goals and rewards... I tell myself over and over that I'm perfectly capable of this, and yet here I am, struggling.

I am tired... a lot of the time.

I am unmotivated to do what I know is good for me.

I am whining like a pole-cat in heat (but for different reasons) and it pisses me off to no end to hear this shit comming out of my mouth/fingers...

woe is me

oh woe is me

what a pathtic lump of slovenly crap... at least I'm still going to dragon boat practice... right?

FUCKING HELL NOT RIGHT... there should be no "at least I" statements anywhere in my life. I don't want to settle for "at least I..." and I shouldn't HAVE to settle for "at least I..." This is COMPLETELY fucked up.

*insert primal scream here*

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!

I'm very good at being there emotionally for anyone who needs me but for some godforsaken reason I am completley unable to be there for myself. Too much pressure in my own pot I suppose, but it's just recockulous.

FUCKING HELL!!!

Dare me, challenge me, push me and I respond... I do, I accomplish, I win... but not now... not here... and not alone, and I'm pissed. I am ROYALLY PISSED OFF.

two months I have left... two months and I NEED to drop this 15-20 and it needs to happen now.

This is it. Grocery shopping tonight... prepping for the rest of the week... getting away from the computer and going to the gym RIGHT FUCKING NOW.

and on and on we go...

listenin to "girls" as I sit at my computer and contemplate the weightloss potential of puking every morning before going to work... (yes, it was that bad this morning).

Dragon Boating was again cold and wet and fabulous. I still ache in my mid/low back arms, shoulders and hammies. My sit-bones are noticeably LESS sore this week than they were last week, so perhaps my butt is toughening up already (we can always hope).

The last two weeks we've been going out in the "long" boats but starting this week we'll be doing practices in the big ornate Koshang boats which will be used for the actual Rose Festival races. They sit higher in the water and are about as hydrodynamic as a washtub. It is said that paddling them is not unlike trying to paddle a bathtub full of cement... hmmm...

Starting this week we jump up to 4 practices per week as well... Saturday 9:30-11:30a, Sunday 4-5p, Monday 7-8p, and Wednesday 8-9p. I will not be able to make the Monday practices, but I will be trying to make all of the rest... That's three honest workouts (resistance AND cardio all at once... yippeee!!!) per week dictated by dragonboating... now all I have to do is get my ass running again so I can pass the Personal Fitness Test which is required before the paddling teams for the races are chosen.

Weekend was good... last knitting class for now... Mother in-law was here playing with the boys and we had a great time watching them hunt for their little plastic eggs full of goodies for Easter. It really baffles me what ideas Val is getting about "God" these days... I know his dad is religious, but man... the stuff that comes out of this kids mouth scares me... he's not questioning anything they're telling him... just blindly accepting it, and it makes it SO clear to me how easy it is to influence a childs belief systems at this age. When he asks me questions about "God" I always try to give perspective and tell him he can believe what ever he wants, but that some people believe this and others believe this, but Momma and dad don't believe in "God" at all, and that's ok too.

Last thing I need is my kid trying to save me. *sigh*

Ok... that got off of fitness for a moment... I'm going for a run today DAMNIT... I AM!

ok... I need to make sure I'm not hurting any feelings here...

the post below is protected.

this is the first time I've written a protected post... it probably won't happen often but when it does there is a reason for it.

The one below is about my job primarily but there are some other things in there too... its not fitness related or relationship related or even sex related at all and is primarily a rant that I can't risk getting back to the people I work for/with.

If you have written me for the password and I have not given it to you I want you to understand that it is not personal. I have not given the password to many people... and I won't be giving it to many more than already have it... again, it is absolutely not personal.

I don't write protected posts to annoy anyone or make myself seem mysterious... I'm just not that drama-oriented... its just that I need a safe place to rant once in a while and for now, this is what I've got.

Thanks and again, if you ask and I say no, it is not personal, but do feel free to ask now and even again in the future if I do another protecte post... I may change my mind.

Restricted: FUCK!!!

This entry is restricted. Please enter the password below to view this entry.

Walking is good

baby steps...

1. Drink my water.
2. Get my ass moving.
3. Find somthing that motivates me.
4. Get my food in line with my goals.
5. Goto 1

This week has been fairly successfull on all accounts... I have been averaging 2.5-3 litres of water per day... my ass has moved no less than 3 times this week (walking 3+ miles per session, but hey... its somthing) and dragon boat practice is tomorrow... found dragon boating to be motivating me so far and I have done a very good job (except for Wednesday night when there was much wine, and pot du creme consumed) keeping my foods clean. I haven't been worrying about portion control right now because I went back and read my rant about just eating real food and realized I needed to take my own damned advice and so that's what I'm focusing on.

Now if I could just figure out where I added two stitches in the pattern of the blanket I'm knitting all would be right with the world.

OH... and if the Terri Schaivo case teaches you NOTHING ELSE let it motivate you to create a Living Will / Advanced Directive for your Medical Care AND a Durrable Power of Attorney assigning someone who KNOWS and AGREES WITH your wishes to make decisions on your behest in the case of somthing like this. I don't care how old you are... if you don't do this, someone may have to make these decisions for you and they may not decide to do what you would have wanted them to do.

Don't let yourself be the next Terri... just don't.

It is spring!

and I am in a fan-fucking-tastic mood today.

Not sure what did it exactly... slept well last night, got word that I'm healthy post-miscariage and we can move forward in a month or so, littlest one is FINALLY potty training himself (I don't believe its a good idea to force a kid to potty train, but now that he's ready he's doing great...) looking forward to my next practice with Zambo... found a GREAT deal on some clearance sheer curtain pannels for my house last night... sneaking off to the Benson hotel with the hubby tonight for a mid-week vacation wile MIL watches the boys (YIPPEE!!!) Getting to work on planting my garden this weekend... YUMMMMMY!!!

Lots and lots of good stuff...

And yet I still haven't done any real exercise. The scale is holding steady at the 170 mark (blah) but I feel like I need to really sit down and schedule my runs/workouts or this is just never going to happen. From the moment I wake until the moment my head hits the pillow I am going... I tried to watch CSI-Miami (TiVo'd)while doing the dishes last night and I think I caught that someone got killed and someone else was a porn star... but other than that I pretty much missed it all.

I tried... REALLY TRIED... to think of the last movie I saw in the theater... I belive it was the Pooh's Heffalump movie... with the kids... before that it was The Incredibles... (are you seeing the pattern yet?)

So tonight is about adult pursuits... coctails, a nice dinner, a quiet bed and a wonderful breakfast before heading off to work... I'm excited... spring is good.

Dragonboating

I wasn't prepared for my legs to be sore.

DW, April, Marya and I walked/jogged the waterfront esplanade loop (about 2.5 miles) before practice and then met at the marina... 9:30 am, its about 40 degrees... raining... miserable.

On the boat I'm placed near the back... right in front of the team captain and coach... he's an ex-marine special forces type... very intense, but also VERY motivational.

Zamboanga

Zamboanga is a well-respected competative Dragonboating team... they don't just do Rose-Festival... they do races up and down the west coast thru the summer. They've come close to taking the rose-festival title several times, this year they are intent on it. DW is the tiller, Marya is learning to be the caller... I just got in the boat and rowed.

and rowed.

and rowed.

and

rowed.

Alvin (captain) showed me how to sit and brace my hip on the side of the boat... how to angle my body and get the oar DEEP in the water. We rowed from the marina past the Sellwood bridge and back... according to the GPS - nearly 7 miles total. We were on the water for nearly 2 hours. I wasn't cold for a second.

Then we got off the water.

I couldn't lift my arms, my legs were sore and throbbing, but my @SS was the worst of all. Sitting on a fiberglass bench for 2 hours whilst rocking back and forth with your upper body to row and row and row can do a number on your sit-bones... and the soft tissues that surround them. YEOWCH!

Coffee, cinnimon apple french toast, a hair cut and a knitting class later I finally got home. Knitting was FANTASTIC. I've never taken a class before, but in 2 hours I learned more than I have in the last 8 months I've been knitting. The teacher was impressed that I'd only learned to knit last summer and she helped me a lot with reading the pattern and keeping count of my stitches... I'm not thrilled with the colors I picked for my blanket, but when its done I'm sure it will look great. That was before the muscle soreness set in tho...

Yesterday was an exercise in figuring how what I could do without having to lift my arms above waist level... some laundry got done, but not much else... even washing my hair in the shower was a comedy of errors (and pain).

For now my goal is to get SOME exercise (hopefully mostly jogging) every day this week. I seriously need to work on my endurance if I'm going to be rowing with Zambo until June... but man, what a blast.

Ok... I'd better get some work done! cheers!

Back in action!

Wow... so many changes, so much to talk about! First of all thank you thank you thank you Renee!!! Renee worked her butt off updating and fixing my site over the last couple of weeks and I'm just SO grateful to her for helping me out!

Now, on to the technical bits:

1. Commenter registration has been activated... what that means is that the first time you wish comment you'll be asked to sign in... once you click on the "sign in" link you'll be directed to the type-key website where you'll need to create an account, if you already have a type-key account just enter your username and password and you'll be good to go. If you don't, you won't be able to comment unless you create one. Type-key is a very reputable service and will not sell your info to spammers. The whole purpose of this is to keep the comment spam to a minimum while allowing all of you to comment freely without me having to moderate the comments full time. I will approve your first comment and from then on you'll be good to go.

2. Protected entries have been created... in the future when I have private stuff that I need an outlet for I may create a password protected entry... if you think you'd like the password, email me and I will decide if I'm comfortable with you having it or not... I may also change the password on occasion, but I will try to let those who have the password already know the new one before hand.

Some formatting things have been tweaked, you can now pull up entries based on the category I've assigned them and I may add more categories as time marches on, but for now I'll stick with what I have.

I am VERY VERY pleased with having these new things implemented, but if you have any problems PLEASE do email me and let me know.

(more about dragon-boating and such later... my arms are about to fall off from typing this entry and they need a break before I get into that!)

HEADS UP!!!

Hey Y'all!!! I know I don't usually post on the weekends, and this weekend will be no exception, but what will be different is that the site will be down for periods of time as some work is being done on it... I'm hoping that we can get commenter registration up and running as well as a couple of other formatting tweaks!

I hope y'all don't mind and I'll see everyone Monday when I update on the noodlearmathon!

Ever wanted to ride a Dragon?

It is no secret round here that I am having a HELL of a time getting back into the swing of exercising... nothing is inspiring or exciting me right now and thus I haven't hauled my ass to the gym or even put on the running shoes at all this week. Sure I've gone for walks and played with the kids but come on... this is comming from a girl who ran 10+ miles several times last year AND could deadlift her bodyweight not too long ago. I need to get my bike out and dust it off... I need to just put on my shoes... and I need some inspiration to get my ass moving again.

And then April asked if I wanted to row on a dragon boat.

And then her husband Doug asked as well.

And then the FULL COURT PRESS was initiated and it seems I am now showing up at 9:30 am on Saturday on the Willamette Waterfront to climb into a big heavy boat with 10-20 other people and paddle for 2 hours straight.

Inspiration...

Sometimes it comes at you from an angle you weren't expecting and sometimes its thrown in your face by your friends who see that you definitely need some and aren't comming up with it on your own...

Saturday looks like this:

8:30am - run the waterfront
9:30am - the boat leaves and I'm gonna be paddlin for 2 hours
11:30am - off the water - TIME FOR CANPAKES!
2:00pm - Hair appointment
3:30pm - Knitting class

Should be a good good time

(wish me luck!!! I hope my arms don't fall off!!!)

About the ring

So I mentioned that I discovered while on our trip to Vegas that I am allergic to platinum and that I can no longer wear my wedding ring because of that allergy. What I didn't mention is that ring is a beautiful, custom made, hand carved platinum band set with 5 diamonds and 5 rubies that I had made by a local jewlery artist more than a year ago. I LOVE THAT RING with every fiber of my being... it is EXACTLY what I wanted... it is well made and beautiful... and now I can't wear it. Jill Nasen (the artist) sat with me, drew it up, carved it out of wax, cast it, helped me pick the stones and set them into the band for me. Did I mention I love this ring? It wasn't overly expensive... but because I had it made specifically for me it carries a lot of significance for me.

I have another wedding ring that I am wearing now tho. When Mike and I decided to spend our lives together we went to the Mall and bought matching white-gold bands... simple, basic, no frills. We took the rings and while riding the escalator up to the second level he put mine on my fingers and said, "I marry you," and I did the same putting his ring on his finger and saying "I marry you," right back. In our minds/lives from that moment we were married and all the legal/religious stuff could be damned.

When we finally got around to making it official and flew off to Vegas I had the real ring made. I wanted to have one made for Mike too, but he wanted to keep the band he had, so he had his and I had mine... only... he forgot to bring his so we had to break a plastic ring off of a key-chain to use for the ceremony. It barely fit on his hand, it didn't match mine at all because it was this gaudy gold plastic and mine was platinum... but it didn't matter.

The problems with the ring started only a couple months into wearing it... the skin under the ring got itchy and kinda scaly and flakey... I looked it up, found "contact dermatitis" and took my ring off for a while to let it heal... from then on I could never wear my ring for more than a couple of days before I had to take it off again for a while to let the skin heal again... eventually over the course of the year the reactions got more and more severe eventually leading to blisters that would burst and reform within hours of putting the ring on.

There is no escaping it... I am allergic to my ring. I don't have many allergies, some mild hay-fever in the sping and fall... but otherwise, nothing really... until now.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do about my beautiful ring... maybe I'll ask Jill to remake it in white-gold... heck... maybe I'll just live with the plain band that I've had since the very begnning... I don't know... we'll see.

getting back up...

So one thing I have learned in the last couple of years is that there is no excuse for not getting back up.

In the interest of full disclosure: whenI got on the scale this morning it said 170.5; tho before the fast it was closer to 175. Yes that is WAY up from my low of 147.5, but I had been hanging out around 155 pretty hapily before the IVF stuff started. I am pretty confident in saying that illness, injury, and injected hormones do not a lean-mean-fighting-machine make. Honestly the extra 15 didn't start creeping on until the hormones started and while I can blame that a bit I was also forbidden from exercising and the REAL reason I gained so much so quickly is that I was eating a HELL of a lot of good, nutritious food, and "pampering" myself in times of emotional crisis with non-nutritive food items... and by "non-nutritive food items" I mean chocolate in all of its luscious, gooey, rich, creamy, delicious and varried forms... because there is NOTHING that sooths the estrogen savage beast like good, high quality, chocolate (and lots of it).

So there they are... 15 extra pounds in about 3-4 months. I don't SEE them so much as I feel them. I do not look now at 170 like I did HERE at 170 and that is a good thing... but my pants are tighter... my boobs bigger (again hormones+fat=bigger boobs)... and its not where I want to be.

I have at least 8 weeks before round two starts, and it is my goal to get rid of this extra 15 before we get there. I don't mind gaining weight for pregnancy... I think its a good and healthy thing to do... but I also want to be in good condition before I get pregnant and to that end I am running again. It is nice out, I have no excuse not to.

Time to bust out the mini i-pod and hit the bricks. I'll also be lifting 3 times a week (using the program Alissa created)... monday/weds/friday will be lifting, running will be every other day of the week... and diet WILL BE recorded in fit-day damnit!!! I've got a day and a half in there now...

join me?

Good day.

I woke up happy today.

Granted I didn't want to get outta bed because it was warm and cosy and snuggly and I was still a little tired because I got to bed very late after watching a movie with my hubby... but for some reason I was just... happy.

I have a followup with the doctor next week to make sure I'm ok, but I'm feeling good, and am excited to move on to our next phase.

Fitness wise I spent SO much of the weekend outside, but I ate for crap, so I know I'm bloated back up a bit again. I'm back on track this morning, did a lot of prep-cooking this weekend and I'm having a FANTASTIC taco salad (romaine, 4% lean ground beef taco meat) 1oz cheese and salsa for lunch... had eggs and turkey bacon for breakfast and I'm excited to get home and cook up some teriyaki chicken with veggies (for me) and rice (for the fam). I'm going to take a brisk walk this afternoon as well for at least 45 minutes and I'll be jumping back into the weights routine tomorrow morning.

Oh... and I signed up for a knitting class for the next four saturdays. I knit now, but this will be a more advance project than I have done in the past, so hopefully it will be challenging and fun. Wish me luck!

Fasting done.

6lbs in 3 days is not an unusual loss for a fast, but I had to cut it short yesterday and begin eating around 3pm so I wasn't quite at the 72 hours, but it was close. The reason I stopped the fast is that I began the miscariage process and I know that its not a good idea to be fasting during somthing of that nature. I had actually hoped that the fasting would bring on the miscariage tho whether it "worked" or not is really irrelevant... it was going to happen one way or another and if a juice fast helped to move things along then I'm glad it did.

So here I am, back on track diet wise... I'll be in the gym on monday and hopefully outside playing all weekend long. I've pulled the bike down off the wall of the garage and I'm ready to go for a spin or two... I miss being outside, winter sucks ass that way. Outdoor exercise is so much more satisfying to me.

Have a fabulous weekend everyone.

Juice Fasting

Ok...

Beth asked for some details on my juice fast and while I am an advocate of periodic detoxification I want to emphisize before I talk specifically about MY fast that I do not agree with fasting for weight loss, nor do I think that long fasts or water only fasts are healthy in the long run... I believe that those who fast for religious and spiritual purposes often go to an extreme that I would NEVER EVER advocate to anyone looking to fast for health... that being said, a water only fast of a few days to a week CAN bring spiritual clarity to many and has helped a few of my dear friends to break some toxic cycles in their lives (typically these were no longer than 5 day fasts).

In any case... I am not fasting for spiritual clarity, I am fasting to detoxify... and here is what I've done...

Typically a few days before you begin a fast you should start an elimination diet... getting rid of caffeine refined sugar, dairy, meat, etc... until you're eating fruit, veggies and legumes. I didn't do this part, but I have in the past and it does make the detox symptoms MUCH less severe. Since I don't have time to juice fresh fruits and veggies myself I stock up on Trader Joes organic and all-natural juices... I try to avoid too much citrus (only have it in blended juices) because it can irritate my tummy in large ammounts. Then for 3 days (72 hours) I drink filtered water and juice... I try to keep the water to juice ratio between 2:1 and 4:1 which keeps things in the digestive tract VERY dilute. When I'm hungry I drink about 8 oz of juice and chase it with 16 oz of water or so... and then continue to sip water until I feel hungry again. I also drink herbal tea sweetened with honey if I feel like it.

Fasting can help you break a cycle of poor nutrition that you may have fallen into... it can help you REALLY get in touch with your own personal hunger signals... and it can REALLY help to identify your non-nutrative eating habits... by that I mean that when you eliminate eating solid foods as an option, you may notice that you're spending a LOT less time eating than you were and you may gain some clarity on your habitual/emotional/stress eating patterns.

Here is a good generic non-religious article on juice fasting: http://altmedicine.about.com/od/detoxcleansing/a/juice_fasting_2.htm

I do need to reitterate once again tho, that when a person chooses to fast they are taking their health into their hands... if you are diabetic, have any sort of circulatory, respiratory or digestive issue that could be worsened by the removal of any specific nutrient from your diet or any shock to your system it is probably a bad idea to fast.

My fast will end at 10 pm tomorrow, but I may be asleep which will cause it to naturally extend into Friday morning when I will have a true breakfast of eggs and turkey bacon.

If you do choose to fast because of anything I've said here, please keep a journal as you do it to really explore how you're affected by it and PLEASE keep me posted... I'd really love to hear how it goes!

Several things...

If anyone invites you to road-trip from Washington State to Las Vegas... think LONG and HARD about how much you really want to go to Vegas before you commit. 18-20 hours of driving (each way) is a lot... a whole hell of a lot.

It turns out I am allergic to platinum... which makes wearing my wedding ring just about impossible.

Vegas is a VERY easy town to learn to get around in... but a very BAD town to actually get around in... traffic ALWAYS sucks.

I'm glad I took an extra day of vacation after we got home from our vacation because I needed it to recover.

For now my plan of action is this:

I'm currently in day 2 of a 3 day juice fast. This is a cleansing fast designed to flush toxins and such from my body... this is not somthing one should ever do for weight loss because while you will lose weight, it is nearly 100% water and will return VERY shortly post fast... it is, however, a very good thing to do in order to detox once in a while.

On Friday I'll be back on plan diet and exercise wise (exercising during a fast is contra-indicated). High protein, low carb and zero refined sugars is the plan... lots of veggies and fruits for healthy carbs tho. Then its back to the high volume plan that Alissa laid out for me all those weeks ago.

I have until May/June to get myself back to pre-hormone saturation fitness and that's the direction I'll head for now.

Hope all are well and healthy.

home...

so tired... lots of driving in a week.

Happy to be home.

Thanks for all of the support.