Wifey put together a care package for me awhile back, consisting of several favorite treats of mine. She arrived for her visit around the same time I retrieved the care package from the post office, so I was good about rationing said goodies over the weekend. Then, as soon as she leaves yesterday I binge on what remained throughout the evening. And I wake up feeling like……. yeah.
So, to continue that horrible feeling, I decide to have a breakfast of the following:
- veggie omelette (not bad, off to a good start)
- extra scrambled eggs (yep, need the protein for Starting Strength workouts)
- turkey sausage (processed, but could be worse)
- bacon (maybe don’t need that kind of protein)
- biscuit & gravy (I’m a sucker for it)
- cinnamon roll (aw crap…)
- fresh strawberries (as if I can redeem myself at this point)
- really good coffee (I’ll just call this one neutral)
It tasted incredibly good… and the satisfaction is disappointingly brief. Yes, I’m in good shape. No, I’m not at risk of becoming obese anytime soon. But a few weeks of deteriorating nutrition choices has left me quite frustrated with myself. It all started with a week in the field, which gave me an “excuse” to eat poorly for one day upon return… which turned into a few days… which turned into a week+… which combined with likely excess cortisol release due to unique stresses of training creates a bad situation.
Move on, screw regrets. Eat well for lunch today, and go from there. As I said in my previous post, the next few months offer an as-ideal-as-possible opportunity to “dial it in” and attain some strength & wellness goals.
(By the way, the excellent coffee I had: Thomas Hammer Sumatran, a local coffee roaster here in Spokane, purchased at a steal of $7.99/lb at my new favorite store: Huckleberry’s)
Favorite quip from my morning reading comes from a man who says what he wants, how he wants, when he wants, which is why I like reading his rants: Mr. Fred Reed
But you have to understand that people are not born stupid. They have to work at it. When they come from similar backgrounds, and work in semi-isolated bureaucracies with distinct ideologies that don’t match how the world really works, you get bright, dedicated idiots.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
update:
Listening to the Paleo Solution podcast always helps get me back in line. The most recent podcast (#68) featured organic chemist Mat LaLonde, and the last 15 min applies perfectly to my recent thoughts & goals. Insight gained that I’ll gradually apply to my plan of action:
- eat Paleo, plus occasional fermented dairy
- a bit of fruit, some nuts/seeds, moderate starchy & leafy vegg, lots of meat/fat
- DO NOT do metcon training while strictly adhering to Starting Strength
- gradually try throwing in Intermittent Fasting in the form of 16hrs off, 8 hrs on (noonish – 2000). LaLonde does this typically on weekdays, and then eats massive breakfasts on weekends. I’ll try throwing it in here and there once I’m off to a solid start with SS.
- once in a blue moon go low protein… non-training days? He discussed a process of giving our cells an opportunity to clean house. I need to look more into this concept before applying it, which would be much further down the road as I try to fine tune things. Now is not the time for significant experimentation.
- And though he had a negative experience with it, I’d eventually like to try fasted training in mornings 1 or 2x/wk (lift in am instead of pm). Perhaps combine with some BCAA’s or whey? Sounds like this is a reasonable approach if not taken to an extreme (aka doing it every day).
Glad to get these jumbled thoughts & musings down so I don’t have to keep them fresh in my head for later application. That was a great podcast with lots of info… bookmarked for future reference, especially 53min+.
