Lazy Sunday

This afternoon I’m going to watch the hockey game at a friend’s house. I just finished baking a dozen scones to civilize the occasion a little! I’m not much of a hockey fan and I’ve somehow managed to miss the Olympics entirely up to this point. I’m not actually sure which teams are playing this afternoon…? I’d probably be more interested if the athletes competed naked as they did in ancient Greece!

This is (yet another!) new recipe. They look good and smell awfully tempting but I can’t fit one into my diet today so I’ll have to report back on how my friends like them. I hope they’re okay!

Big News! Big Excitement!

In the sidebar to your right you’ll notice a new addition: a countdown to my first powerlifting meet! The competition is on August 21 and I couldn’t be more excited! My main interest is still in physique competitions, but I figure that I might as well compete in powerlifting until I’ve got the size I need for bodybuilding. And when I found a pink belt and knee wraps I was sold! I would really like to get my bench press up to 135# by August. I’m not sure how realistic a goal that is, but I like a challenge.

Self Sabotage

Tonight I watched Julie and Julia — that movie about the woman who blogs about cooking every recipe in Julia Child’s cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. When the movie was first released I read about all the work that went into the food styling on the set here, on MattBites. Such an interesting read! And the food — all of it — looked amazing. By the end of the movie I wanted nothing more than to eat mountains of rich, decadent French food. Not conducive to dieting success! Hence the title of today’s post: Self Sabotage.

That said, the diet continues to tick along quite nicely. I’ve lost just enough weight that none of my clothes fit me properly any longer. A little awesome, a little not awesome.

Still, as I promised in my last post about dieting, I’ve been trying one new recipe per week in an attempt to broaden my repertoire. So far I’ve tried tandoori chicken, jerk chicken, and (rather unimaginative) chicken skewers. I was planning to document my efforts in photographs but I can’t seem to make chicken look photogenic. I’m no food stylist! Still, I can make a bowl of edamame look pretty appealing. I could go for some right now!

V is for…

Valentine’s Day! I’m up for any excuse to wear tarty underwear and eat cinnamon hearts! Three more days!

V also stands for v-taper. I’ve got a little lower-case v-taper going on (Times New Roman FTW!), but I think bigger is better. Hold the roses — give me muscles! Sometimes I feel like I’m going to be little forever. And then I remember that I won’t be little forever, because I’m nothing if not motivated!

Day of Rest

I should preface this by saying that I’m already moderately fit. This workout probably sucks a lot more if you’re a beginner!

I don’t mind winter running — it usually takes a temperature well into the double negative digits to deter me from hitting the pavement. But today I was feeling lazier than usual so I decided to try out the Jillian Michaels DVD, 30 Day Shred, which I’ve had kicking around since Christmas. I did level three because I’m a masochist, but it wasn’t as bad as I’d expected. By the end I’d worked up a pretty decent sweat, but twenty minutes of cardio feels like slacking. My biggest complaint is that every time my heart rate was elevated, Jillian moved on to a less challenging movement. It was also surprisingly repetitive for a very short routine. Still, it was so worth it to get my cardio done without having to bundle up in jogging tights, wool socks, a tank top, long-sleeved shirt, sweater, hat, and gloves! Those first few minutes of running in the winter are painful! I’ll probably use this DVD again in the future just due to the convenience factor, but I think I’ll try doing two levels back to back to get in a longer workout than I did tonight.

Now I’m going to get into my pajamas and curl up with a blanket, a movie, and a bowl of delicious popcorn. Yum yum!

Fanmail!

My mother is obliged to send me fanmail because she’s my mother. I love how that works! Check out this gem:

“Blimey! These muscles are really popping out! Don’t hurt yourself, wee one!”

“Wee one” isn’t a very badass nickname but I still appreciate the sentiment. It’s the thought that counts and all that. (I just Googled “badass” because I wasn’t sure if a hyphen belongs in the middle and one of the top results was this list of badass Bible verses. I love the Internet.) My friends are pretty good about humoring me by telling me I look jacked too. Thanks guys!

But yesterday was a big day! I got fanmail from a musclegirl enthusiast — a complete stranger with no obligation to be nice and encouraging. Amazing! Did I mention that I love the Internet?

Today was a big day too. I’ve been growing my hair out from a buzz cut for six months and this afternoon I got my first real hairstyle in a long time! Compliments are welcome from friends and strangers alike! (Why yes, I did just file a post with a picture of myself under the “beauty” tag. Zing!)