February 24:

Worked shoulders and triceps today, continuing to emphasize my rear delts. Good workout. 30 minutes on the bike afterwards, and I feel like I have my wind back now.

Food:

Oatmeal w/protein powder. Ultra-lean ground beef and 2% cheese. Cottage cheese salad. (Had a long talk with the manager of GNC--he also works out at my gym--and not only did he give me all sorts of great nutritional advice and tricks on how to sneak more protein into my diet, but he told me about this "Pink Salad" he makes... exactly the same as my jello/cottage cheese/fruit thing!!) Isopure protein bar--I pretty much just buy the ones that are sweetened with sucralose now; they taste SO much better. The bar was good, but very RICH and I couldn't eat the whole thing. Since a whole bar has 31g protein in it, I figure I got about 20 before I had to wrap it up and save the rest for later. Went out for dinner and had half-dozen raw oysters, two catfish filets, and two yam patties.

February 23:

Felt a thousand percent better today after my day of much sleeping. Worked legs in the am with Mike. Luckily it's not Lunge Week. I kept up fairly well and had a pretty productive workout, but I could tell that my stamina was lacking and I had no wind. Still though, I think it was better for me to work out today--I felt like it got the blood moving in my body again. No cardio though, didn't have the energy or the time for that. (Got suckered into working two details today.)

Food:

Power energy breakfast of oatmeal w/protein powder and a grapefruit. Protein shake after the gym and fish filet and green beans. Satsuma, protein bar, tuna salad during my (first)detail. Extra-lean ground beef (drained and rinsed) with 2% cheese before settling down for a nap (my second detail starts at midnight.) Will do another protein shake before leaving for my detail.

February 22:

Called in sick to work today, and then did plenty of nuthin'. Slept 'til I couldn't sleep no mo'. Feel much better. I might actually live.

Food:

Hor chocolate, oatmeal w/protein powder (I figured it came out to about 22g of protein after adding the powder.) Pastrami sandwich. Large chicken breast and green beans. Chicken noodle soup. Made my cottage cheese salad with some protein powder (mixed the powder into the cottage cheese before adding it to the jello, worked out pretty well that way) and it actually tastes pretty much the same. I'm going to experiment with pudding next--see if I can make a protein-rich concoction that doesn't taste like shit.

February 21:

The cold has kicked my ass. I didn't sleep very well last night, but when I woke up this morning I didn't feel too awful, so I put my shirt and shorts on and climbed onto the bike. Made it about two minutes before I said, "[expletive deleted] this." Went to work anyway (I really detest calling in sick!) But my rhythm for the day was totally thrown off when I got to the office and was informed that I was going to have a trainee in the car with me. So much for going back home and getting a protein shake later in the morning. (I think I would have been better off if they'd just given me a little warning that I was going to be training today, so that I could plan my eating a little better.) Luckily, my trainee has a cold as well, so we both snuffled and coughed throughout the day--with both of us feeling worse and worse as the day progressed. But even so, would not have been quite so bad I think, if not for the fact that at 10:30, just as we were planning to go get a nice healthful lunch, an alert tone came out about a bank robbery in progress just down the street from us. The bad guy was gone before we got there, but he'd left behind a package that he'd passed off as a bomb--so that meant we sat there on a perimeter while the bomb guys did their stuff. And as first responders we (or rather, my trainee) got to do the report. We didn't clear from there until 3:30pm. I had a couple of satsumas (which I shared with other starving deputies) and I gulped down a protein bar at about 3, but basically spent most of the day with no food. And sick. I thought I was going to die. I will most likely be calling in sick to work tomorrow.

Food:

My bodybuilder pal told me to try adding a spoonful of vanilla protein powder to my morning oatmeal as a way to sneak more protein into my diet. Worked great--really did not notice any difference in flavor or texture. I'm going to experiment with how much I can add before it starts to taste weird. I'm also going to experiment with adding protein powder to various other foods. (Maybe my cottage cheese/fruit thing.) Had a banana a bit later in the morning, a small satsuma a little after noon, and a protein bar around 3. Not enough food! Akkk! Dying! When I got home around 6 I inhaled an entire can of minestrone (is actually 2 servings per can) and then a healthy serving of my cottage cheese/fruit salad, then some hot chocolate. Died on the couch for a few hours, got up and had toast w/peanut butter. Tomorrow I plan on Feeding My Cold. My food intake has been dreadful this week and my overall protein intake is too low for my ultimate goals. Must do Something about that.

February 20:

A cold is trying to get its hooks into me and I am fighting it tooth and nail. Felt lousy when I woke up, but I did my 30 minutes on the bike anyway, and it actually cleared out the stuffiness in my head for a while. After I got home from court I went to the gym and worked traps and back. Had my semi-annual lube & oil change in the afternoon (i.e. a checkup with my ob/gyn.) My BP was 100/60!! Woo! I'm going to go back next week and get a complete blood workup done--cholesterol breakdown, sugar levels, and have the thyroid checked as well. Would have done it today except I didn't think about asking for one until I got to the office, and best results are obtained when you fast first.

Food:

Peanut butter sandwich before heading to court, and a protein bar on the way home. Had a can of minestrone soup for lunch--not much nutritional value, but low calorie, and soup feels so very good on a sore throat. Protein shake after working out. Protein bar on the way home from the doc. Had the leftover taco meat with 2% cheese for dinner. Didn't feel like having the taco shells, so just had the meat and cheese plain. I plan on going to bed very early tonight to try and get a leg up on this cold. (Also since I'm back on daywatch now, and have to get up obscenely early in the morning.)

February 19:

I made something of a tactical error today as far as eating and exercise goes. I was so tired when I got home this morning, that even though I was fairly hungry, I just ignored it and went to bed anyway (I'll usually at least have a low-carb snack if the stomach is rumbling.) I slept until about 11:30, and when I got up I didn't feel hungry at all and so I only had some of the cottage cheese/fruit thing before going to the gym. (Side note: Couldn't work out with Mike today since he was working a detail during the day--but he called me up at 11:45 and yelled, "Get your lazy ass out of bed and into the gym!!") Anyway, I got to the gym with the plan of working chest and biceps, but about halfway through the workout I just died. No energy. I should have had some oatmeal or something more substantial before working out, because I could just feel that I was totally depleted. So I basically quit halfway through the bicep portion of the workout, didn't even attempt any cardio, and went home and ate.

It wasn't a total loss though, since Kelly--the resident bodybuilder/fitness goddess--was also working out. And not only did she comment that my waist was looking thin and that she'd noticed how much progress I'd been making (Woohoo!), but I also got the chance to pump her for some more information about contest preparation and diet stuff.

Food:

EAS bar, a banana, and two small oranges between midnight and 4am. After waking had the cottage cheese/fruit, then when I got back from the gym actually had a real meal with a large fish filet, green beans, and a piece of bread with peanut butter. Should anyone be laboring under the impression that I'm actually cooking this fish, let me remind you that I am a lousy cook!. Just ask my ex-husband! These are frozen fish filets that I slap on a plate and stick in the microwave. Not the tastiest fare in the world, but I'm 34 years old and have been eating my own cooking for most of my adult life (except when I was married and ate the marvelous cooking of my husband) and so am fairly used to it by now. Worked a detail in the evening and had a banana and a protein bar.

February 18:

Rest day today--good thing since it's been a long week and I'm whupped. Still have to work tonight though. And next week's going to just as busy, if not more so, between details, court, and work. Mike and I are struggling to find times to work out next week--not even necessarily together, just any time to work out. I may end up just doing a lot of cardio. We'll have to see. Today is also Weigh and Measure, and I was actually surprised to see that my 2 lb/week loss is continuing. (Not upset, just surprised!) Still steadily losing teensy amounts off my hips each week, and actually gained a tetch on my arms, which I'm hoping is some muscle. Like Linda, I'm getting another batch of pics made today so that I can try and see progress. I figure I'll do them at every four weeks--even after this 12 weeks is up--as I lead up to the contest. (Still trying to convince myself that I really can do a fitness contest. Yikes. What am I thinking??)

Food:

This is the cleanest my diet has ever been in my life. It's certainly my lowest sugar consumption I've ever had, and after 7 weeks (I technically started on the first) I'm finding that I don't have the cravings I used to--or rather, I can satisfy my cravings with alternatives to high-sugar foods. I definitely think I'm on my way to setting a life-long pattern with the lower sugar consumption (which I know will please my mother, because I know she's been worried about my high sugar intake, especially with all the adult-onset diabetes in our family.)

Anyway, Food: Orange after midnight, EAS bar around 3am, hot chocolate when I woke up 11ish, jello salad noonish, then 3 light tacos around 1. Didn't get the chance to eat again until 8pm when I came home to change pants (the others had mud splatters all over them) and then had chicken noodle soup and a ham sandwich. I never seem to be able to eat enough when I'm working. Good thing I carry the protein bars in my car, otherwise on some days I'd end up going the full twelve hours without eating.