Yesterday finished up just fine, so another great day in the books. I had some trouble falling asleep last night – I think I finally drifted off at about 11:00PM. No real issues, like worries or anything like that. I just wasn’t sleepy. Insomnia has been an issue for me on and off for most of my life. At least when I did fall asleep I STAYED that way. Always a plus.

BUT, when the alarm went off at 4:00AM I did NOT want to get up. No really… I hit snooze TWICE and finally forced my body out of bed at 4:20. I was kind of noisy in the kitchen as I threw some eggs into the microwave. (poached eggs.. YUMMY!) I was surprised to find my honey hadn’t fallowed me out of bed so I made my way back to the bedroom. He was still DEAD asleep. Let me tell you I it took all my willpower not to flip off the hall light and crawl back into bed with him. Instead I walked in and kissed him awake. He did me (us) the favor (I guess) of not dragging me back into bed, but instead turned on his bedside light and forced himself out of bed.

We rushed through our morning preparations and still managed to get out of the house by 4:35…being prepared the night before really comes in handy on mornings like this. And amazingly enough – when we hit the car I was fully awake.

Once in the car I gained an even deeper appreciation for my car. My butt and low, lower back (like the muscles around my tailbone) and parts of my back were feeling stiff and sore. I snuggled into my car’s seats and turned the ‘bun warmer’ on high. Ahhhhh It was like spending 30 minutes with a body sized heating pad. Most of the tension and stiffness were melted away.

My workout was good. I’m finding it hard to be enthusiastic about cardio days. I was trying to figure out WHY last night. I mean, I like running. I like getting all breathless and sweaty but it doesn’t ‘turn me on’ the way that lifting weights does. Last night I had a small idea as to why… You see, I’m not GOOD at cardio. In fact, I suck at it. I waddle my way through my HIIT. I am not graceful, nor am I fast. I hit my ‘10’ at 6 Miles per hour – where most folks are warming up.

Now, while I realize that working out should be all about me: Setting goals for myself, reaching my full potential, making every day my personal best, and that I really should keep my eyes on my own treadmill and not compare what I’m doing to anyone else, BUT I do have this itty bitty competitive streak. No, I don’t even know if it’s that. It’s more like a ‘center of attention’ streak. It’s what drives me to stand up and sing karaoke. What makes me volunteer to do public speaking. What helps motivates me to get up at 4:00AM and push myself to the point that\makes other people say, “Holy Shit, look what that chick is lifting!” That doesn’t happen in cardio. The only exclamation I could inspire while on a treadmill would be, “Holy shit, look how much that chick is sweating!”

Aside from that – there is the fact that, as I said – I’m no good at cardio. I struggle, I sweat, I pant: Ok so I do that while weight lifting. The big difference is – it seems like I hit a personal best every day I pick up a weight. Not on every exercise, but on SOMETHING. But cardio? Nope… I struggle day after day and don’t see any improvement. I still can’t even run a 12 minute mile! (for an entire mile)

So – I’m struggling with getting excited about cardio. I’m trying to figure out how to set up a challenge for myself so that I can get excited about showing up for my date with Treddy.

Last of all – I’ve got a new challenge starting – I need to figure out goals, plans, rewards – etc.

Weight training is easy. I’m going to continue to do what I’ve been doing – I’ve got a plan, it’s working I’m happy. I’ll reevaluate at the end of October.

Cardio, as I said earlier, is an issue. I know I need goals, I just have no idea what to make them.

Food is another issue. So many freaking choices! Do I do ‘pure’ BFL with 6 meals fist/palm portions and a free day? Do I do Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle? Do I do the ABS diet?

So let’s evaluate these one by one.

ABS diet

Pros: Simple, versatile, no planning involved
Cons: Too unstructured, No portion controlling, too easy to ‘make excuses’ and eat things I shouldn’t
This may work for a man or someone who’s not dieted before but for a metabolism challenged person like me – I don’t think so. Although I love the idea of every meal needing to contain three of the Power 12 foods

BFFM

Pros: Effective
Cons: Mucho Planning, Inflexible

While I think this is an excellent plan there are some things I have to think about. 1 – do I really need this level of control over my diet right now? Seriously, I doubt it. I’m 65 lbs from my goal – hardly in the need of any of the ‘extreme’ measures this diet offers. (if you go to the extreme side of things) There’s also the fact that I don’t have a lot of time. Yeah, yeah I realize that I could do a whole lot of pre-planning – but there are some days when I just want to be spontaneous. Go to lunch with the boys… whatever… and this plan doesn’t really allow for that.

BFL
Pros: Simple, Flexable, Minimal Planning
Cons: Ever expanding Fist/Palm, little structure – left to wonder ‘am I doing this right?’ when there’s no progress

I love this plan for it’s simplicity. If you’re ever caught without a pre-made meal you simply run into some store grab a fist full of carbs and protein and you’re set! But, there’s the whole ‘not knowing’ that frightens me. Did I do that right? Did I get enough protein today? Did I eat too much? Too little? (and yes eating too little has been an issue with me and BFL before)

So, I think I’m going to do a ‘hybrid’ program. Here are my ‘rules’.

Mon – Saturday meal planning done through Ediets ‘Eating for Life’ program. I’ve got a resource that I can use to keep my meals ‘interesting’ I may as well use it!

Monday’s through Friday’s Meals will be prepared on Sunday to avoid the ‘I don’t have time’ factor.

IF (for whatever reason) I don’t eat one of my ‘planned’ meals then I will stick to the BFL fist/palm portions and the ABS diet power foods. The ‘penalty’ for eating off plan (but still ‘authorized’) will be that I have to enter my daily intake into FitDay to determine my ratios.

The ‘penalty’ for eating off plan and ‘unauthorized’ will be that I have to enter my daily intake into FitDay AND do an appropriate amount of cardio to offset any caloric differences (even if this takes several days)

Sunday is free day – Provided: 1) I’ve done 6 days of workouts the week before and 2) I’ve either lost lbs, inches or Body Fat %

And – I’ll be evaluating this whole thing the end of October.

Now to go work on the rest of my plan!