<p>I don’t think NMINN is much of a meat eater, but for the rest of us, pork roast is a surprisingly good diet protein. It’s become one of my staples. I think I like the entire center cut boneless roast better than the tenderloins, which tend to be a little dry.</p>
<p>Keeps great for several days and reheats well in the microwave or, even better, sear the slices quickly in a non-stick skillet to reheat leftovers. </p>
<p>Of course, the 12 ounce rib eye steak I grilled last night along with some grilled yellow squash for a side, was pretty good. I had to have a treat since I passed up my annual ritual of eating ham and cheese sandwiches (exactly like they make them at the Masters concession stands) during the Masters. Oh, the sacrifices I make in the name of low-carb! </p>
<p>Yesterday was my splurge day…too much roasted garlic hummus and then glasses of wine which led me to peanut M&Ms! :eek: Now I am fighting the rebound hunger/cravings
today. Trying to fight through! ;)</p>
<p>Took back a pair of the pocket-less adiddas running shorts from last fall to TJ Maxx and lucked into another pair of these plain black Nike running shorts with actual pockets for the same price ($14.99). If anyone is in need of tech shirts, TJ and Marshalls have racks of short sleeve and sleeveless tech shirts in the $9.99 to $12.99 range. addidas, reebok, fila, new balance, avia, etc. Lots of colors and styles. I don’t need any, but the selection is huge right now.</p>
<p>Yes. I should stay away from those. I’ve finally just decided that there is no place in my life for candy. If I’m going to pig out, better to pig out with something that at least has some plausible nutritional value – like dry roasted peanuts or tangerines or a piece of good cheese.</p>
<p>I guess the one saving grace with M&M is that you can buy a small bag at the checkout counter and at least contain the damage. Still, it’s just staggering how quickly you can polish off 400 or 500 calories with a bag of candy and how little you have to show for it when it’s gone.</p>
<p>I recently had a coupon at BJs for a bag of Ghirardelli chocolates – the ones with a very high cacao percentage. I find one or two of those does it for me – it satisfies my sweet tooth, and they feel very rich on the tongue. The damage of two of those babies isn’t horrible.</p>
<p>But one must be careful and know when to stop! I know that for some people, simply having them in the house would be license to eat them.</p>
<p>Yeah, the individually wrapped chocolates would probably be the safest option. I’m trying to “learn” how to have a jar of dry roasted peanuts in the house and only grab a handful of ten or so for a snack instead of tying the damn jar around my neck like a feed bag. I can’t believe I used to eat them from the jar like taking a swig from a water bottle. Probably 100 calories at a pop.</p>
<hr>
<p>Back to NROL4A workouts today. I bagged the Turkish get up and instead did a sequence of two 25 second front plank holds and two 25 second side plank holds with my feet up in the suspension trainer straps. No dizziness at all, even doing bench presses on the stabilty ball.</p>
<p>I did make one huge mistake. I misread my notes. I’ve been doing the rear foot elevated split squats with a 30 pound DB held goblet style. I thought my notes said two 30 pound dumbells, so that’s what I picked up for the first set. I did my six on each side but I couldn’t believe how much I was struggling – which is a real problem when you are doing ten sets in ten minutes. I corrected the mistake for the subsequent sets, but was really paying the price. I threw in the towel on that superset after eight sets and eight minutes. It’s a really hard superset under the best of circumstances.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I felt like I really started to get the hang of the medicine ball slams – bracing the core and slamming the ball straight down to the floor. I did those with much more force than I had been generating.</p>
<p>Overall, felt really good to get a hard workout in. The time off (almost a week) actually seemed to help a little.</p>
<p>My husband brings me back fancy chocolates whenever he goes to a meeting. Luckily I am quite able to eat just one chocolate. I find eating a chocolate a day keeps me from feeling deprived. I had leftover porterhouse steak for lunch today - probably only 3 oz or so was left, but was it ever good!</p>
<p>We had roast pork for dinner. (The fat boneless ones tied together with string, not the skinny tenderloins.) I cut up two onions and cooked them till they were soft, added a couple of apples and continued cooking then browned a pork loin and added apples and onions and a good amount of vermouth, a cut up piece of candied ginger and some sage, thyme, salt and pepper and roasted it for about an hour.</p>
<p>–Bulgarian Split Squats with 25 pound dumbbells in each hand
–Single Arm KB Swings with 30 pound KB
5 on each side for these activities; 5 sets</p>
<p>2 sets of 10 KB swings with the 50 pound kettlebell</p>
<p>5 sets of 5 reps per side using a 30 pound kettlebell of Step Ups with a 20" plyo-box. Apparently I wasn’t doing these right so my co-worker tried to “help me.” Then she gave me a hard time because I “was a sweaty mess.” Well, duh!</p>
<p>Finally, I finished off with 10 sets of 2 reps each Push Press with 85 pounds on the bar.</p>
<p>Ran my planned 4 miles. My legs were still sore from the Saturday run, but I managed to do OK. I’m supposed to take a break from running tomorrow and continue on Wed., but I will have to accompany DH on a business dinner. At least I had a say in what restaurant we will be eating at and reserved us a table at a great seafood place. The sensible portions served during Dine Around Seattle will not let me gorge myself to death. Maybe I will run my Wed. workout tomorrow. </p>
<p>I can easily walk past a dish of M&Ms and not eat any. I find most mainstream candy disgusting, but I cannot resist a piece of good chocolate once in a while. I’m looking at a box of Sanders chocolates as we speak, but I’m not eating any tonight. :)</p>
<p>I forgot to mention I got new running shoes this afternoon. I found me a pair of Saucony shoes on sale at the local Hibbetts Sporting Goods. I got them for $43 bucks :)</p>
<p>I did a short run/walk tonight to try them out…</p>
<p>Your pork roast sounds fantastic. The apples and sage and ginger combo must be deliciious. I usually do mine outside: either Italian style with slivers of garlic, salt, pepper, and a little olive oil. Or, pseudo bar-b-q style with bar-b-que rub.</p>
<p>I did chicken breasts on the grill tonight.</p>
<p>hops scout:</p>
<p>Why I just can’t believe that you actually sweated during that workout! Your co-worker wouldn’t want anything to do with me in the middle of a workout. I sweat like an – uhhhm – ol’ (formerly) fat guy.</p>
<p>I don’t know how you are finding them, but when you start piling on the weight, those Bulgarian Split Squats sure do work the front leg like crazy. I’m struggling with them a little in these timed interval supersets because it takes me a while to get in position and complete six on each side. I find that it really helps me to start the set from the bottom position, with my knee on an Airex pad in front of the bench.</p>
<p>I’m doing another exercise in today’s workout that is fantastic. It’s reverse lunge – stepping backwards into a lunge – while pulling a resistance band (or cable station) down and across the body with both outstretched arms.</p>
<p>No workout yesterday as I was too busy and had a headache from a cold or flu that has been going around. My daughter has it pretty bad as sh has been dragging for four days. I feel much better this morning and feel like sneaking to the Y for an early run. I usually never run early in the morning.</p>
<p>Just got back from the Y - now I remember why I don’t run there - they can’t control the temperature. It was about 80 degrees in there. Ran 3 miles - felt good but it would have been better about 10 degrees cooler. Still, it’s nice to run before my day starts.</p>
<p>Was coughing during the run - still have the cold - but it was manageable.</p>
<p>Ran 2.25 miles, walked for a while and then ran another half mile + (at a slightly slower pace). It all felt pretty good – and I’m sure the woman running on the treadmill next to me at a 7.5 mph pace was AT LEAST 20 years younger! (Not that I’m competitive, or anything …)</p>
<p>HA! I ALWAYS sneak peeks at the person next to me! I agree, CBBB, it makes me push harder.</p>
<p>Rode the bike and then walked on the dreadmill. Spent almost 2 hours as I lost track of time talking with my workout friends. Whew! I am a sweaty mess!</p>
<p>CBBBlinker, awesome job!
(One experienced enough in treadmill running can estimate pretty well without peeking at the display how fast the person next to them is running (by the humming sound made by the treadmil belt, their breathing, and how fast their legs are moving). 7.5 mph = 8 min pace. That’s pretty fast running on a treadmill!)</p>
<p>I know but a lot of treadmills have the speed in big numbers. That’s part of learning how to do treadmill running - dropping back a little and then wiping your brow with a little turn of the head to see the display.</p>
<p>OK, after several days of walking, hops_scout has shamed me into metabolic intervals for today.</p>
<p>Six minute sets. 12 kettlebell swings (30 lb DB) alternating with 5 burpees, starting one or the other every minute on minute. Basically 30 seconds of very hard work, 30 seconds of rest.</p>
<p>2 minutes between sets. Total of three sets. 108 kettlebells swings. 45 burpees. I’m toast. Crispy. That is a tough 20 minute workout for an ol’ (formerly) fat guy.</p>
<p>I hauled my yoga mat, dumbbell, GYMBOSS timer, Masters golf towel, and water bottle out on the deck and tortured myself outside for change. I might have to submit it for Zuzanna’s burpees everywhere feature. Next time I do this indoors, I may throw chinups into the mix, just for kicks and giggles!</p>
<p>On to chicken caesar salad with a grilled chicken breast from last night. Speaking of which, I think I forgot to list my stats from yesterday. It was a lo-cal day despite having three strips of thick cut bacon and three eggs scrambled in a little bacon fat for lunch! Man, this diet business is such a sacrifice, huh?</p>
<p>Got new shoes this weekend – supposedly the same model Gel Kitano, though now the detail is pink, but now the outside of one ankle hurts a bit. Aargh. No good deed goes unpunished. </p>
<p>Today’s workout included skull crushers using a weighted Body Bar, and geeze was that work. I can not think of any other exercise I’ve done so far that has so thoroughly wiped me out. The weight wasn’t too heavy; but the motion was hard, hard, hard. No idea why my triceps are so week in that range of movement. The trainer says she’s noticed that I’m definitely stronger on pulling vs. pushing. </p>
<p>The tight pants have definitely gotten looser, which is even more gratifying than the scale, though more off the back than the front, unfortunately. I did the major cabinet clean out over the weekend – actually cleaned like a demon – and the only thing I kept picking up and then putting down again was the package of brownie mix. Ultimately I decided that it was really not a good idea, but it was the first thing were I had to just force myself to turn away, because there’s no way I’m stopping at one brownie. So at least a small victory on that front.</p>
Maybe I will run my Wed. workout tomorrow. </p>