Day 5

Well here we are at day 5. I'm not sure if it feels like it or not ...

Food

I am still wrestling with the concept of half-portions. It's interesting to realize how little awareness I had/have on portion sizes - with the exception of breakfast ... it's easy to remember how many eggs I'm likely to have - and how little my "usual" (meaning not-at-all) menu is amenable to regular sizes. It would be a whole lot easier if I had a sandwich for lunch. The hardest meal for me is dinner - when I'm tired and the most hungry is not a great time for making honest evaluations of what a normal sized portion would be. But I'm trying.

But enough whinging. Today I had:

Blueberry and Almond milk smoothie

3 cups of tea

1/2 bowl oatmeal

1 bowl vegetable soup

1/2 chocolate turtle

1/2 serving cabbage and pork

I think I'd be a little preoccupied by food today if I hadn't been so busy at work.

Exercise

I'm beginning to wonder if I'm ever going to have a clean sweep of jump-roping reps ... I'm enjoying them, but I feel like an idiot catching my feet so often. Like maybe I shouldn't have graduated from kindergarten ...

I've been doing my jump-roping on the sidewalk outside of my apartment because my ceilings are too low to do them inside, it's nice and cold outside, and there's a streetlamp to see what I'm doing. My rope is beginning to get a bit fuzzy where it strikes the concrete ... I'm curious to see if it makes the 90 days!

The lunges and sit-ups so far are less of a challenge - but the push-ups are my wall of shame. If these exercises measured fitness imbalances ... well I'd be the anti-Popeye. So I expect to see the most progress in my upper body. The leg lifts run a close second.

I think I've found a place to do pull ups in the children's playground down the street. Though I'm not sure the equipment was designed with adult use in mind. I'll keep my eyes open for an alternative.

Overall

It's not so much of a surprise to see that I'm finding the diet portion of the plan so much more of a challenge than the exercise. I love exercise and going to work out. I've always been active: skiing, figure skating, and swimming in high school; running and springboard diving in college; running and Tang Soo Do in graduate school; running and hiking as a post-doc; running now.

But I've loved cooking and eating almost as long - and I keep finding myself tempted to cook - even though I've already prepared meals for the week (thinking to save time and limit my opportunities for nibbling). I think that I use cooking to relax and relieve stress.

I guess that I'll need to find something else to serve the same function