February 17:

30 minutes on the bike when I woke up.

Food:

Can of chicken noodle soup after the bike. Jello salad. Three light tacos. Protein bar: new one that Mike turned me on to--EAS AdvantEdge Carb Control, the blueberry and the apple spice flavors. Mike had told me that they were damn good, but I was surprised to find that they really are! (Most supplements are somewhere between Choke-It-Down and Fairly Palatable.) And while these aren't so wonderful that I immediately want to have another (e.g. Snickers bar!), they are good enough to taste like Real Food. I looked at the ingredients and realized why they don't taste like shit: instead of aspartame, they used sucralose--the new sweetener (the one used in Splenda.) And sucralose tastes a helluva lot better than nutrasweet! Anyway. Also had an orange, and a large chicken breast.

February 16:

30 minutes on the bike when I woke up. I like doing the bike after leg day since it seems to work out some of the soreness. Was supposed to meet Mike at the gym at noon, but I got there about 11:30 and did a pretty intensive ab workout, with extra emphasis on my obliques. Then did stretching until Mike was done warming up--trying to regain the flexibility I once had ad also working out the soreness from leg day. Also started working on some of the strength moves that are required in fitness competitions--those are Hard! I have far to go. After Mike finished warming up we did shoulders, beginning with military presses on the Smith machine (4 sets), then side laterals, then an exercise I'd never done before for rear delts--consists of lying on your side on a bench and lifting the dumbell up in front of you and up. Really burns those rear delts! Followed by another rear delt exercise on the pec-dec machine. Then we hit triceps: pushdowns, then french presses (also known as nose-crunchers)and after the last set we burned out the triceps with as many close-grip presses as we could do. Then went to reverse grip pulldowns (just like pushdowns, except with a curled bar, with palms facing away from you), and then did tricep dips until we couldn't do any more. (I do those on the gravity machine.) Excellent workout.

Food:

Fake eggs w/chicken, then some of my jello salad. Protein shake about an hour before working out, then another when I got home from the gym. Fish filet and green beans before work. Protein bar and a sliced chicken breast during work. Ran home at one point to put long johns on under my uniform pants--a front came through and the temperature plummeted--and managed to sneak several bites of my jello salad.

February 15:

Leg day, and no cardio. This was also Lunge Week. I should have driven my "company car" to the gym, since it's an automatic. Driving a stick shift after a heavy leg workout makes for unsteady driving.

Food:

Oatmeal in the am, and a peanut butter sandwich on the way to my detail. Snuck a protein bar during the detail, then had a can of chicken noodle soup when I got home. Went out to eat with the intent of splurging some since I've had several days this week of very sparse food, and besides, I wanted to eat. Ended up having grilled catfish and green beans, and realized that I was Not splurging... so I ordered bread pudding for dessert. Only ate about 2/3 of it--wasn't terribly good bread pudding. So much for splurging.

February 14:

Worked traps and back today. Worked out by myself, and will again tomorrow; Mike's schedule and mine are not meshing well this week. Ah well.

Food:

Protein bar shortly after midnight. Two pieces of toast w/peanut butter after waking, then a ham sandwich, long break--too long--without eating, then a fish filet and green beans, and hot chocolate. Not enough food today.

February 13:

The adrenaline rush I got when I had the gun pointed at my head, and the following foot pursuit, and then the hour and half crouching behind a police car for cover during the standoff when the bad guys barricaded themselves in a house and supposedly had hostages (they didn't and they eventually surrendered) should really go under yesterday's activities (talk about some cardio!) since it happened around 6pm Monday night. For today, we did weight training: chest and biceps. We went heavy, but we were all kinda distracted. Current theory as to why I didn't get shot was that the gun probably jammed. Works for me. Bad guys went to jail, and I went home at the end of the night, as did the other deputy who was shot at (missed his head by two inches.)

Food: Had a Snickers bar and a Mounds bar after I finally left the scene of the standoff. Needed comfort food bad. Didn't really eat anything else all night--stomach too tied up until I got home and could relax some, and then had some of my jello/cottage cheese dessert. After I woke up had oatmeal, two low-fat tacos, more jello, then chicken breast and green beans, an orange, another chicken breast, and a protein bar. (Not all at the same time.)

February 12:

Cardio at the gym--15 minutes on the elliptical and 30 minutes on the bike.

Food:

Orange before going to the gym, then fish filet and green beans when I got home. Then made some jello(sugar-free) with sliced peaches and a couple of cups of fat-free cottage cheese mixed in. I remember my mom making something like that when I was a kid, and I adored it back then. With the sugar-free and the low-fat, it's actually a terrific snack; the cottage cheese is pretty high in protein. I also think my body has become used to not as much sugar, because I'm able to satisfy my sweet-cravings with either fruit, or artificially sweetened products. That's a big step for me, since my sugar intake prior to the beginning of this year was staggering. Another filet and the rest of the green beans before work.

February 11:

Day of Rest today, though I did work on some gradual stretching. Weigh and measure day as well, and I was pleased to see that I continue the slow-but-steady loss on my hips. I'm hoping that the reason my thigh measurement hasn't budged is because I've been building up the muscle there. Arms and calves have gone down, but I do think that is fat loss and not muscle loss, since I do see more definition there, and do not seem to be able to grab quite so much spare flesh on the back of my arm.

Food: Kinda lost track, to be honest. Oatmeal in the am, a couple of oranges, a cup of hot chocolate, a bag of popcorn, three low-fat tacos, pasta with parmesan, ham sandwhich. Some miscellaneous fruit snacks thrown in there as well.