Suck it Up

Today has been a hectic, yet relaxing day at the same time ... does that make sense?

First of all, you'd think that I would be able to stay in bed and get a good night's sleep after submitting my thesis -- ya, that's not the way insomnia works.

I had nothing prepared for my class so I had to take some time to get that done, even if it was going through old files to look for lessons to recycle from last year ... but that totally threw me off schedule.

I didn't have time for breakfast, so I quickly put together a protein shake and grabbed an Eat Natural bar. Ate half the bar on the way to the gym ...

Had a terrific weights workout. I'm making good progress through my NROL4W. I did my entire workout in the big weight room today! I love how strong I feel each time I increase my weights. Today one of the trainers decided to stay with me while I was working out and he said my form was excellent and that I was doing really well -- it was good to hear, especially with the doubts that I've been having lately about pushing myself etc. For one of the exercises - cable reverse woodchops - I complained that the handle hurt my wrist and asked him what I should do to stop the discomfort, also wondering if it had to do with the way I was gripping the handle. He took a look at my wrist and the handle and realized that the only problem was the proportion of my hand to the handle -- two things which couldn't be changed, so his advice to me was. Suck it up.

I had to stop and laugh when he said that ... because it hit me that, yes, I just have to suck it up. There are going to be parts of exercises that hurt (not in an injury hurt way, but more of a challenge hurt way) - such as squats!! You just have to suck it up and get through them anyway.

My matrix of squats and lunges went really well after the weights workout. It's fantastic seeing the effects of my weight training pay off in other areas - my poster is straighter, I can lift things easier, my legs and arms are definitely stronger.

I had my protein shake and the rest of the Eat Natural bar on the way to work ... it was an absolutely gorgeous day, so after work I met a friend for coffee. We sat outside and enjoyed the warm sun + cool breeze ... it finally started to sink in a little that I didn't have to rush home and do some writing or data analysis ... it was good to just be able to enjoy the moment without the lingering guilt that I should really be doing something else!

Once I got home I only had an hour to turn around and head back to the gym for Zumba. Had a bowl of vegetable soup, got changed, and headed out again.

Since I didn't have time to prepare dinner beforehand, I resorted to getting food from a company called 'Diet Care.' All their foods are made with low fat ingredients etc. and their calories are specified on the top of the box. Although I think the concept is great, I have realized that not all their stuff is as nutritious as it should be -- but still, for today I was more concerned with eating something that wasn't high in calories (and was quick). So, even though it was carbs, I had a 310 calorie meal of pasta with some mushrooms.

Ugh. No protein today!! Well, hardly any protein ... not good. I didn't even hit 1,000 calories today, which is not good on a day that I worked out for 3 hours ... but still, it's just one day. Having a few hundred less calories on one day isn't going to kill me. It's the way the day turned out so I just had to suck it up and roll with the punches!