Heyo there! It's finals week (and by week I mean 3 weeks.. 12 tests in four weeks, with the last two weeks containing 3 tests a piece) over here in Houston, and spring is in the air!
First order of agenda: Food. 80% Raw vegan diet made me FEEL much better... until my stomach started to churn about it. I actually gained weight, a significant portion (5 lbs) which I didn't know was even possible since I was eating less calories but still getting a recommended amount of them AND eating whatever I want for dinner. Also none of it was muscle--which I knew I was going to atrophy a bit since I haven't been grinding at weights like usual, but this is crazy. Also my stomach started to get upset constantly.. so much fiber, and my stomach actually wasn't adjusting to it. Too much raw foods throughout the day. It was super convenient this semester, since I could grab cold stuff from the fridge and run, but at the end of the day my stomach cannot tolerate it. I have no idea what I did wrong--I ate enough calories, did stomach-help guidelines, hydrated, and I got enough protein...
Since I still want something sustainable and enriching, I'm looking at the idea of combining a few concepts: trimming things down to farm-fresh foods, and eating an anti-inflammatory style diet. Mostly because I want my mother to go on one, and we eat/cook together, but the food selection is much more open and offers a lot more protein. I'm still eating tons of veggies, but now I'm trying to break them down and cook them more than I was before--eating quiches that are 70% vegetables sauteed, using veggies in place of noodles and boiling them, etc. I'm not eating 100% healthy yet and we're no where near farm-fresh foods, but we're scooting our way closer to it all.
(As a quick side note: My parents sucked at the week where they had to start drinking a glass of water when they woke up. However, they're giving it a shot to cut down their caffeine consumption and we made a series of coffee containers with different levels of decaf mixed into them. By the time they're done with the containers they'll have switched over to only drinking 25% caffeine. And we're still jamming with other two points: only drink sweet tea we made at home, and only use salt to cook--we use herbs and spices only at the dinner table now. So that's chugging along fine.)
Exercise: I ran twice this week, even if it costed me some study time to do so--whenever I got a headache from it all I got up and ran. I was talking about two-a-days before when I started this challenge.. and I signed up for this May Challenge here at whoever-the-eff Betty Rocker is, and it seems like her exercises are anywhere between 15-30 minutes long, with longer durations if desired. My idea is to do this girl's workouts in the morning, and complement it with a P90X3 workout of the same body system (or do a cardio x3 if the betty rocker workout calls for cardio after) in the evening.. and get out and run at least twice a week. I felt myself getting stronger again--I felt like Birdman, my wimpy shitty running was getting longer in stride. I had a guy running slowly that I was passing, and I waved him to follow me. Later, on my way back, I saw him still going, and I said "you're doing great!" and he said "You're really fast!" and I replied "It doesn't actually take anymore energy to lengthen your stride. A baby step takes as much effort, if not more, than a longer stride. Come with me next time, even for a little while." I hope I see him again so we can run together even if it's for only 10 feet.
http://fuel.thebettyrocker.com/30-day-challenge-registration/
Also, I joined a Houston meet-up group. I'm going to start playing Volleyball on Sundays here in the Houston area. My idea right now is to get exercises that make me just as accountable as my school work. I think a weekly meet-up, running with my mom, and doing this challenge will be a good combo, and I hope to gain some muscle back.
Body: I still have my before photos that I'm holding onto until the end of the summer when I'll take more photos.. but my idea was to get down in weight in April for a baseline, and the diet I was using to do that just didn't fit my body type. So, I actually did the opposite of my goal and gained non-muscular weight. While no one else has noticed it, I definitely have. Can't a girl just catch some muscle tone around here?! I hope for May to be a more productive season of shredding up some muscles, and to finally kiss cold, icky weather goodbye and embrace how sweaty I get after running in the summer. I want some dents in my legs, and some muscles in my arms!
