Cow Share Beef Green Curry

Back in October, a bunch of us at the gym split a cow.

No, really. I thought I posted about it, but I skimmed my posts and I guess not - but there's not really much to it. A fellow CFCC'er organized a cow share through Philly CowShare. For just under $350, I got an eighth of a cow - about 50 pounds of beef total. I'd estimate half of it is ground beef, whether in patties or in one-pound blocks. The rest of it is a split between roasts, steaks, and stew meat.

I will definitely do this again. I was worried initially about freezer space, but once I got rid of a lot of the freezer-burned shit I had in there (ancient steam-in-bag veggies, a sad caving-in box of Dr. Praeger's veggie burgers (incidentally, as much as I WANTED to like those, they were really kind of gross and soggy no matter what I did to them), a Costco-size bag of bagel thins from god knows when), I had more than enough room for everything and then some.

But the best part is that it's forced me to have a lot more variety in my diet. Which is not something that comes easily to me.

The other night, I took advantage of something I'd normally never have - beef cubes - and made something I'd never made before - Thai green curry.

I got the inspiration from Modern Paleo Warfare (by the way, if you don't read him, you absolutely need to). Since I had pretty much none of the necessary ingredients on hand, I perused a few other sources (Nom Nom Paleo and good old Google) and added a few things to my shopping list.

Not all of this is new to me - fish sauce has been a pantry staple for me since the first time I went to Vietnam (the restaurant, not the country) about five years ago, and I've been using coconut oil since sometime in October. However, this the first time I've ever bought coconut milk, and I recently swapped out my dusty bottle of soy sauce for this new, shiny bottle of coconut aminos. And, of course, the star of the show: green curry paste.

And the fresh stuff: about a pound of cow share beef cubes, red pepper, snow peas, and (lazy) pre-shredded cabbage.

This is only the third or fourth time I've had the chance to use my beautiful Le Creuset 5.5 quart dutch oven, but holy crap do I ever love this thing. I snagged it at the Le Creuset outlet, and it's worth every penny of the seriously-reduced price (about $130, I think).

I browned the beef in coconut oil with some salt and pepper.

Once the meat was browned, I put it aside and added a tiny bit more coconut oil to the bottom of the pot. I fried a couple tablespoons of green curry paste in the coconut oil and beef drippings for a couple minutes ("until fragrant" - or at least until MORE fragrant, since I think this stuff's pretty fragrant to begin with). I added the coconut milk and whisked thoroughly until it was completely combined, with no chunks of cream or curry paste, before adding the fish sauce and coconut aminos.

Once the sauce was mixed, I added the veggies (including half an onion that's not pictured), except for the cabbage, and the beef back to the pot.

I combined everything well and ended up adding about half a can's worth of beef broth so that there was sufficient sauce to cover. Next time, I'd probably get a second can of coconut milk and just make more. I brought the entire thing to a boil before covering and popping into the oven for an hour at 300 degrees.

When there was about ten minutes left, I pulled the curry out, dumped in the cabbage, and put it back into the oven. The remaining time was enough to soften the cabbage without it getting mushy.

Dinner is served.

This shit was BANGIN'. And so, so easy. I ate two bowls, which was just about half the batch. I just got done eating another bowl of leftovers for lunch, and let me tell you, it (like most soups/stews/chilies) just gets better and better as it sits.

Recent workouts: Not too much.

As I mentioned, Wednesday's classes were cancelled for a nutrition seminar. Thursday my office was incredibly stuffy, and I was just dragging and exhausted. I ended up deciding to skip deadlift night (!! my favorite!) in favor of this curry, which was clearly a good choice.

Friday, January 6: Strict press, peak of one. 45x3 - 55x1 - 65x - 70x1 - 75x1 - 80x1 - 85F. So frustrating, because 80 goes up without TOO much trouble, and then 85 I just can't get past my nose. GAH. Still shooting for this at the total. Metcon was 21-15-9 American kettlebell swings (1.5/1pood) and burpees. This flew by, though I wish my burpees were a little faster. 4:52 as RX'ed.

Saturday, January 7: some skill work on the squat clean and the ab wheel rollout. I was lucky and snagged one of the good ab wheels - with actual handles, not just a bunch of electrical tape wrapped around a thin piece of metal. Metcon - 21-15-9 squat clean (135)/ab wheel rollouts. I used 85pounds, which blew. Or, to be more specific, my oly technique blows. Since I have SO. MUCH. TROUBLE. pulling under the bar, I ended up power cleaning and then doing a front squat...which is pretty much twice the work. So my 21 cleans took for-freaking-ever - I was the last one still going. I decided to switch to power cleans for the 15/9 rounds, which I (as usual) now think was stupid. I should have just finished what I started, even if it meant being the last one moving. Oh well. At least I can do ab wheel rollouts now, which I couldn't do without band assistance before. Anyway - 16:33.

Got measured in this afternoon for the next round of the BCCC. While my weight was back up a couple pounds (to 157.4 from my recent low of about 152), I'm very proud to say that my waist is down another inch from the end of the last BCCC, and three inches total from October 1. THREE GODDAMN INCHES. DO YOU HEAR ME, PEOPLE? EAT PALEO!

...and on that note I'm off to get ready for a birthday dinner tonight. Happy weekend! And do yourself a favor and MAKE SOME CURRY.

GBAAAST

Can you call this "fusion?"



Part imitation-PF Chang-lettuce wrap, part taco.



Chicken, corn, mushrooms, onions, and a whole lot of cumin and chili powder. With a salsa blanket, chillin' in little romaine lettuce boats. These were quite messy to eat, but tasty nonetheless.



With a side of Scrabble. PhillyGuy and I play at least a couple times a week. He always seems to get 7-letter words. I get GBAAAST. Quite unfair.

Yesterday, I went with a bunch of CFCC'ers to the grand opening of a new crossfit affiliate in south Jersey - Crossfit 1Force. They're down in Deptford, near where I went to college. Naturally, I took a bunch of pictures, and naturally, I put them all on my laptop and deleted them from my phone...BUT didn't upload them to picasa, so now that I'm posting from work, I'm SOL. Oh well.

Anyway - 1Force. is. AWESOME. The space is amazing - a high-ceiling warehouse/garage style setup with a massive floor. They have shiny new equipment, a pull up bar with varying heights, a buttload of bars and stacks and stacks and stacks of plates. AND they let us play around with everything and led us in a killer 9/11-themed metcon, AND then we got to watch our coaches and some incredibly strong members do the official 9/11 throwdown workout. AND AND AND we had a paleo feast afterwards, with ribs and chicken and pork and copious amounts of Frank's Red Hot.

As we used to say on the Knot (yes, I frequented that website when planning my wedding oh-so-long ago), TPIWWP (this post is worthless without pictures). I know, I know. So let's just recap the rest of my workouts from this week, huh?

After I left off the other day:

- Thursday - KB skillwork and front squats for a peak set of 3. My form is slowly improving, but I seriously need to focus on doing things RIGHT instead of just being like, "ok imma lift some weight now." 65-85-85-100-110 (!). For a set of three, 110 is a 5lb PR for me. I've done 115 for two but failed every time I've attempted it for three. Soooooo I'll take it. Metcon: Tabata american KB swings. Went RX'ed at 1 pood; 85. The high score of the day was 118 and I seriously do NOT get it.

Stayed for gymnastics. More muscle-up work - GOD this highlights how weak my upper body is compared to my lower body. I have got to work harder on this. I suppose I need to get pull ups first, huh? I did this metcon also, because it seemed fun AND to get the extra muscle-up practice. AMRAP in 15 minutes of 4 jumping muscle- ups, 5 tuck ups, 10 rocking hollows. I did 7 rounds even. I also learned that my body simply does not know how to do a tuck jump unless I do it cheerleading style with the arms and everything. I am sure I looked amazing and not like a jackass AT ALL.

Friday: some brief(ish) skillwork on the good morning and the ab wheel rollout. Which was just fantastic because my abs were quite sore from the 70 rocking hollows I did on Thursday night. Metcon: 3 rounds for time of 600m run (twice around the short loop), 50 good mornings (25lbs), 25 ab wheel rollouts. I scaled the rollouts with some band support, which made all the difference in the world, but sweet jebus did they hurt anyway. My goal was to finish in 21 minutes, but I made it in 21:24...which was sort of frustrating, because I had WAY too much gas left in my tank at the end of the third run. Bah.

Sunday: 9/11 tribute WOD at Crossfit 1Force. AMRAP in 9:11 of 9 DLs (225/155), 11 wallballs (20/14), 9 bar-facing burpees, 11 dumbbell thrusters (35/20), 9 wallball slams (20/14), 11 parallel jumps over bar (1 each side = 1 rep). I went RX'ed on all but the DL's, which I scaled to 135 at the advice of Erin. I completed 1 round + 40 reps, or through the thrusters in the second round. I was SHOCKED at how tough the thrusters were, and how many times I missed reps on the wallballs (by not hitting the wall at all - so, so embarassing).

Sunset Grille

I can't say it enough - the Outer Banks were SUCH a great idea.

I've been waking up between 6:45 and 7:30 each morning - no alarm, just naturally - and taking the dogs for their morning constitutional. We're probably half a mile or so away from the beach, which is just fine with my pups - it probably won't shock you to hear that the same dog who is afraid of the backyard is also afraid of the ocean.

After our walk, I pour myself a giant glass of iced coffee - I made a pot our first night here and then chilled it in the fridge, rather than my usual method of relying on starbucks Via and cold water - and then hang in bed catching up on the internets indefinitely.

Tuesday, PhillyGuy and I started the morning off with some P90X Chest & Back. As a refresher, here's what that entails:

Standard Push-ups (for me - 12-15, on knees)

Wide Front Pull-ups (8-10 on the assisted pullup machine with a 70lb counterweight, OR 15 "pullups" using a resistance band stuck on the top of a doorframe)

Military Push-ups (12, on knees)

Reverse Grip Chin-ups (narrow grip, palms facing in - 8-10 on assisted pullup machine, 70lb counterweight, OR 15 "pulls" using the band)

Wide Fly Push-Ups (12-15, on knees)

Closed Grip Overhand Pull-ups (narrow grip, palms out - same as the others, 8-10 pullups or 15 "pulls" with the band)

Decline Push-ups (I still cannot do more than one of these, so I do what I can, followed by 8 "real" pushups here)

Heavy Pants (two-armed back rows - I do 10 with 20-lb dumbbells)

Diamond Push-ups (hands spread and close together with thumbs/forefingers forming a diamond under your chest - 12, on knees)

Lawnmower (single-armed back row in a side lunge - I do 10-12 on each side with a 25-lb dumbbell)

Dive Bomber Push-ups (downward dog to upward dog and back again - the booklet describes it best, "like going back and forth underneath a fence." this is murder on my shoulders. I do about 6 before failing and finishing with 8-10 standard pushups)

Back Flies (8-10 with 10lb dumbbells)

...then repeat the entire set. Since we're traveling, we don't have access to a gym, and brought our resistance band instead. I strongly prefer doing the back exercises with the pullup bar and dumbbells, but the band is better than nothing. We followed that up with the super-toolbox-titled Ab Ripper X DVD, which involves 15 minutes or so of ab and hip flexor burning in the form of 25 reps each of the following:

In & Outs (standard crunching movement, starting in a V with legs bent and back straight, then extending legs while leaning back)

Seated Bicycle (forward and reverse for about 30 seconds each)

Crunchy Frog (hate this name - it's basically In & Outs, but with arms up, extending to the sides while you extend your legs and wrapping around to the front when you bring your knees in)

Wide Leg Sit-ups (laid out flat with legs wide, full sit-up followed by a twist over to one foot, repeat)

Fifer Scissors (lay back, one leg straight up at 90 degrees, the other hovering over the group - switch every couple seconds)

Hip Rock n’ Raise (too stupid to describe, but it burns - see video here)

Pulse Ups (laid back, legs up at 90 degrees, raise hips straight up)

V-up Roll-up (blah blah blah - full situp followed by V-up, repeat)

Oblique V-ups (side crunches)

Leg Climbs (here's the hip rock & raise dude doing leg climbs)

Mason Twist (these make me really, really dizzy, so I replace with static oblique holds - laying flat on my back, with my legs held over to one side a foot or so off the ground. I switch every 10 "mason twists")

It felt really, really good to get a decent sweat in...before I proceeded to spend the next several hours napping and watching TV. Yup, that's right.

Later that evening, we headed down Route 12 to the Sunset Grille for a couple beers and some snacks.

The view truly can't be beat...

...but I wasn't expecting too much of the food.

And I wasn't let down.

I started off with a Fat Tire while we waited for our conch fritters and jerk wings to come out.

After that, I got excited about the prospect of some nice, simple steamed seafood, so I got a raw/steamer combo of crab legs, peel & eat shrimp, oysters and clams. The shrimp were really tasty and the crab legs were decent, but please explain to me WHAT I was thinking when I ordered raw oysters from a place that serves fruity rum drinks in plastic parrots.

Ew.

Thankfully, I'm none the worse for the wear. And really...the view WAS awesome.

Two More Days

until my week of freedom. Good god, I can't wait.

I've been plowing through my to-do list at a decent pace this week, which is always a good thing. But I'm not going to lie -- it's taken a pretty good amount of self control to keep myself focused. My distraction levels are way up.

Also way up is my tendency to get songs stuck in my head. Right now, it's a great little number from the classic Bloodhound Gang CD "Hooray for Boobies." Great. Let me just draft a bunch of important documents while the lyrics "Nowhere to go, I can't wake up late, just sit around and wait for my Old Spice to activate" bounce through my head. (Look, I never claimed to be cultured, OK?)

Last night PhillyGuy and I managed to hit the gym together for the first time in a good week or two. We motored through our buddy Tony's Chest, Shoulders and Triceps, which is one of my favorite workouts from P90X. I'm actually improving -- I can do a couple of one-arm pushups. On my knees, of course. And I can only go down a few inches before my chest and arm threaten to collapse on me. But it's definitely deeper than when I first tried it, and I bet within a couple of weeks I'll be able to do at least one full-depth pushup. (On my knees, of course. Let's not get crazy.)

We didn't lug the laptop to the gym with us, since the booklet of written exercises is perfectly fine for this workout. A lot of times, I actually prefer going with just the book -- I get the workout done much faster. At first, you don't realize how much time Tony kills between exercises with his incessant chattiness and "instruction" -- but add an extra 20-30 seconds between every set, and that starts adding up. I also find the initial "warmup" exercises excessively long. Do I really benefit that much from marching in place for 45 seconds before doing pushups? I'm not convinced. So, I skip most of that. I do a few stretches and get to it, and I end up shaving a good 15 minutes or so off the workout time, while still blowing up my arms and chest.

After we headed home, we set up our yoga mats in the living room to do Ab Ripper X. Which the dogs were not all that happy about. Sophie was convinced we were trying to have fun without her and didn't really understand why we were on the floor, if not to play with her. Trying to do roll up/v-ups with a twelve-pound dog running underneath your back and barking at your head is challenging...just not at all in the way it's supposed to be.

I'm really looking forward to my run tonight -- a five-mile tempo run. I haven't done a tempo run in forever. I'm debating whether to run on the treadmill or outside...it's humid as crap out, and they're also calling for thunderstorms later. BUT...knowing how bored I got the last time I did five miles on a treadmill? I'm just not at all sure I want to deal with that.

PLUS, if I run outside I can wear my new running skirt. I somehow don't think it's OK to wear a running skirt at the gym. Don't ask me why -- a lot of my "rules" are not necessarily based in logic.

No Creative Titles

This week at work continues to be pretty brutal. I stayed up late Monday night working on a document, stayed in the office late on Tuesday to draft a billion different documents, and came back in less than 12 hours later on Wednesday morning to attend a "speed networking" breakfast session that we hosted.

I'm off tomorrow, but am less than completely enthused about that as the only reason I'm off is that we need to drive eight hours south to my sister-in-law's graduation.

I'm not going to lie, I'm feeling pretty beat up this week. I finally, FINALLY got the chance to get to the gym last night after having to skip Monday and Tuesday, and I cannot even describe how good it felt to sweat.

Last night was chest, triceps and shoulders. It burns and it beats me up and I love it. Did you know that it's far easier than it looks to do pushups with a clap in between? I mean, I do them on my knees and all that, but I was pretty certain I'd never be able to do them at all, and I can do a good 12 or so without much issue.

Tony Horton, on the other hand, is absurd. He does "plyo pushups." What does that mean? Well, when the rest of his crew is doing these "simple" and "easy" pushups with a clap in the middle, Mr. Horton is actually getting his ENTIRE BODY OFF OF THE FLOOR. That's right. He starts in your normal, standard pushup position, and then some kind of crazy magic happens and he explodes off of the ground. Hands, feet, everything. Like it's nothing. It makes my on-my-knees-clapping action look kind of pathetic.

And then there is the truly pathetic: my attempts at one-arm pushups. Right now, I can sort of bend my elbow a little bit and straighten again. I get about an inch or two down towards the floor and that's the extent of it. IT. IS. HARD. And I kind of like it.

(That's what she said.)

Ab Ripper X was...well, Ab Ripper X. I have a really weak core. It's getting stronger. I can now do at least 15-20 of each exercise consistently. Except for the Mason twists at the end -- the issue there is not the actual oblique piece of it, but the fact that I get incredibly dizzy and am certain I'm going to vomit. I need to come up with an alternative oblique exercise to do there.

On the plus side, while I'm sore this morning, I can do things like "sit up in bed" and "laugh" and "sneeze" without being very concerned that my stomach is actually about to split in half.

My plan for the weekend is to bring Tony on the trip with us. We'll do biceps and back tomorrow morning before we leave, which will leave Yoga for Saturday (will be a challenge, but not impossible, in the hotel room) and legs and back for Sunday (shorter workout, lends itself decently to whatever gym the hotel might have). Hopefully, this won't be a repeat of the last time we went away -- but we'll see.

Can't Win 'em All

Last night's workout was a bust.

Chest, back and abs were on deck. I usually take this one to the gym, so I can use the assisted pullup machine -- since I can't even do a single "real" pullup (yet). For whatever reason, I just wasn't feeling the gym yesterday -- something about the idea of having to interact with actual human beings during my workout made the privacy of my guest room seem much, much more attractive.

So, I planned to take my laptop up there and pop in the DVD. Except, in a repeat of the Week 1 would-be Plyo workout, PhillyGuy had forgotten to take the DVD out of his laptop before he left for class. That's OK, since chest & back is a bunch of normal moves (variations on the pushup and pullup) that even my uncoordinated ass can do without following the leader.

Here is the lesson I learned: if I expect check & back to be an effective workout, I simply CANNOT do it at home.

Here is why, in the form of a list of things I cannot do, at all:

- Pullups, on a real pullup bar, without assistance. This is a total non-starter right now.

- Pullups, on a real pullup bar, with the assistance of a chair. I CAN do these, but I'm obviously doing them wrong, because I don't feel it in my back at ALL. Instead, I feel it in my forearms and biceps. Which might have something to do with why I can't do an unassisted pullup.

- Variations on the pullups, using a resistance band secured to the doorway. Our resistance bands are not particularly "resistant" and I need to do like 40 billion pulls before I feel it at all.

- Back flies using a resistance band. Or, well, I can't do back flies using a resistance band with only written instructions, because I just can't translate the written instructions to whatever I'm actually supposed to be doing. No matter what I tried, it didn't work my back at all.

- Decline pushups. This has nothing to do with the location or the video -- I just flat out cannot do them. I try to do one and just can't get myself up. WTF? Since I do all of the other pushup variations on my knees, I substitute "real" pushups here. I get through like 4 or 5 before failure.

Sorry to be such a Debbie Downer about this, but my workout last night was the epitome of lame. I broke a sweat, but not like I would have if I'd done my workout at the gym, and I was so frustrated by my inability to do things properly that it got me really down. I'm not one to "dial it in" at the gym -- if I'm working out and not really feeling it, it's pretty much a waste of time. I could have not worked my back while taking the dogs to the dog park, you know?

GAAAAAAH. So, last night was a bust. It's fine. It happens. Time to move on and focus on the next day. Inexplicably, my SHOULDERS are sore today. Why? I don't know. I wasn't supposed to be working shoulders. What-eva. Hopefully, my sore shoulders will distract me from the fact that I'm being a whiny cry-baby about this.

PhillyGirl Fails at Abs

...again.

On deck for yesterday was a shoulders/biceps/triceps DVD, followed by another round of "Ab Ripper X."

I really enjoyed the shoulders and arms workout. It was organized in about six rounds of "supersets" with 30-second stretch breaks in between. Each "superset" included six moves, with no rest or break in between -- one set of a shoulder move followed immediately by one set of a bicep move followed by one set of a tricep move, with the whole sequence immediately repeated.

As with most of the resistance DVDs, you have the option of using resistance bands or dumbbells. Since we've been working out in our guest room and don't own dumbbells, resistance bands it was. I was definitely feeling the shoulder and tricep moves, but the bands didn't provide enough resistance in the lower portion of the bicep moves. PhillyGuy and I decided that we'll be taking the (oh so helpful) workout booklet to the gym next time, and doing this workout there, where we have access to dumbbells.

But then. Oh, then. It was time for Round 2 with "Ab Ripper X." And god, that name is so, so dead on. Not because I'm going to "get ripped" in the sense that they want you to think -- in the rippling, rock-hard 6-pack sense -- but in the sense that, every time I tried to complete one of the abs moves, I was completely certain that my abs were, in fact, going to rip open. That's also the same feeling I get when I have to sneeze or cough or try to sit up in bed.

I'm really looking forward to improving. I didn't think I had a particularly weak core, but apparently I do. Blech.

Caitlin at Healthy Tipping Point had a really interesting post today on your "secret rebellious side." I loved reading the comments, and this is a topic that sort of hit home for me. I may have mentioned before that I'm a biglaw attorney -- which means that I keep a certain appearance. I like to think that I have a "classic" style -- I like nicely cut suits and handbags, I wear makeup and pearls. I'm pretty infamous around my office for my penchant for high-heeled shoes (I have 5 or 6 pair under my desk, with heels ranging from 4 to 5 inches), but that's about as "funky" as I get, at least outwardly.

You'd never know by looking at me that I am a punk rock fanatic. When I was in high school and college and law school, I had plenty of piercings. In addition to the 90s/early 2000s standard of two holes in each earlobe, I also had my left tragus, navel, and tongue pierced. (I may or may not have had piercings in less visible places, as well...) I retired the tragus ring when I started interning for a federal judge after my 1L year, but did not say goodbye to the tongue ring until the bar exam.

I'm now down to a more "normal" set of mods -- one earring in each each and my navel ring, which I don't plan to take out anytime soon. It's funny to think that, just a few years ago, I was much more heavily decorated -- and I certainly wasn't a different person! I still go ballistic when Green Day comes to town, and I still rock out to NOFX and Rancid in the car (when PhillyGuy lets me -- since he's not so much a fan). When I was 18, if you'd told me that one day I'd be voluntarily taking out my piercings to fit a more corporate image because I wanted to (NOT because "someone made me!") -- I would NEVER have believed you.

Crazy how things change, isn't it?

OW OW OW OW

OW OW OW.

THAT is how I felt this morning when I woke up. An hour of pushups and "modified" (i.e. done 100% with a resistance band) pullups followed by the lamest attempt at 15 minutes of abs ever is no freakin' joke!

My chest is sore -- a little more so than I typically am following a chest workout, but nothing ridiculous. My ABS, though -- ooooh boy. Not only did my 15 minute "ab ripper X" shenanigans burn like crazy, I could really feel everything clenching during the pushups. Because, you know, I have the weakest abs EVER.

We'll get there! I'll improve. That's the idea.

Today is plyometrics. PhillyGuy did his this morning, and gave it stellar reviews -- he had trouble completing it. I think -- HOPE -- I'll do better with it, but we'll see. I'm working out at night, which is what I prefer.

I can tell eating is going to be a struggle with this. P90X gives you a diet plan to follow. As I've mentioned before, I do significantly better when I have a specific plan laid out for me, and so I'm planning to follow this to the letter. Unfortunately, like most commercial "diets," this comes in three phases, the first of which is quite restrictive. Unlike -- I'm sure -- a lot of people, I don't mind and sort of appreciate an initial, brief restrictive phase. I've "officially" done the South Beach diet a few times -- it's how I lost weight the first time and how I lost my law school 20 during my 1L year. In theory, I intend to live my life on Phase 3 of that diet -- eating whole, normal, good-for-you foods. That is theory. In practice, I eat a little of this and that here and there, until suddenly I realize I've just been eating whatever I want for long enough to have completely fallen away from eating reasonably.

Anyway -- I don't mind the idea of that initial "Phase 1" restrictiveness. You can't deny the motivational kick from seeing the number on the scale drop quickly as you lose your water weight, of course, but more importantly, I find that quitting crappy food "cold turkey" is significantly more effective in making sure I don't overdo it. Moderation and I are not the best of friends, and while I never miss chocolate once I break my habit, I find that "just one ounce a day" turns into "one ounce at work after lunch" plus "a couple small handfuls of mini chocolate chips at night after dinner" plus "just a spoonful of almond butter to go with them" and BAM, I've just dedicated an extra 600 calories to stuff I don't AT ALL need.

Regardless, though, this phase is super restrictive. Like every Phase I that I've seen, it's very low-carb, high-protein. Calorie-wise, it's pretty standard -- about 1800 per day. But the types of foods I have to eat are, at least initially, unsatisfying. Here's yesterday's eats:

- Breakfast: "protein shake." They call it that, I'll call it my Green Monster (woo, now I feel like a real blogger!). 1/2 banana, 1/2c berries, handful of spinach, scoop of protein powder, 1/2c milk, ice.
- Midmorning snack: Clif Builder's Bar
- Lunch: tuna salad made with 6oz tuna, plain Chobani, stone-ground mustard, dill and various spices over salad made with 2c spinach and 1/2c total of chopped red pepper, tomato and portabella mushrooms
- 5pm "snack:" 6oz plain Chobani
- Dinner: 6.5oz grilled chicken, 1/2 sweet potato with Texas Pete and plain Chobani, 2/3oz reduced-fat cheddar "snack cheese"

Let's be clear: I am NOT hungry on this diet. I get more than enough food in terms of calories and fuel, and it's GOOD stuff...but my dinner left me feeling full, but unsatisfied. I wanted something else to eat -- a side of veggies would have done the trick. Alas, I get X number of "servings" (e.g., 3oz of chicken breast is one protein, 1 cup of cooked veggies is one veggie), and I had used up my veggies by frontloading them in my lunch. I've learned my lesson and made sure to save a veggie for tonight. It's going to take some getting used to, but I can do it for two weeks -- I get to add in more fruit and veggies in a couple weeks, so I can live. Also, it ain't going to kill me to learn to just STOP EATING when I'm full, instead of mindlessly continuing to much just because I feel like there should be something else there.

(It does, however, make me want to punch PhillyGuy, who gets about twice as much food as me and complains that he doesn't know just how he's going to manage to eat all of this protein!)

Also, I should really buy stock in Chobani. How did I live without Greek yogurt? Yet another thing I owe to the blogworld. Thanks, guys :)

There are so many things that are a regular part of my life now that didn't occur to me before I started reading blogs. What has the blogworld introduced to you?

Isn't it brutal...

...how taking even a short vacation never fails to leave you needing another vacation?

I. Am. Tired.

PhillyGuy and I went to NYC for a nice three-day weekend. We had a bunch of hotel points to use up, so we stayed gratis at a great Marriott right across the street from the Waldorf-Astoria. Fabulous location, perfect weather...so what did we do?

Friday night, we had reservations at Del Posto, one of Mario Battali's restaurants. We spent the equivalent of our "free" hotel on dinner, and I am NOT SORRY. Not even a little bit. We did a five-course menu, including an antipasto (I had clams with fried artichokes; he had roasted winter veggies), two pasta tastings (homemade pumpkin ravioli-esque filled pastas with a cream sauce; fresh penne-type pasta with a bison bolognese), entree (pork for PhillyGuy, ribeye for me) and following up with dessert and cappuccino. I'm flaking on the details now, and honestly, that might have a LITTLE BIT to do with the bottle of wine we shared...or the martini I had before that...or the gin and tonic(s) I had afterwards next door at Collicchio and Sons. Oops. (STILL not sorry!)

We spent the vast majority of Saturday lazing around in bed. Honestly, I can't picture a better, more necessary way for me to spend some time off than that. I slept for hours, and hours, and hours, waking up only to lazily stroll down the street to a deli for a quick sandwich and return to blissfully nap until I woke up panicking -- it was 7:15 and we had 8pm tickets to Rock of Ages!

By some miracle, we threw ourselves together and made it with perfect timing -- about five minutes before the curtain. And let me tell you -- that show was hysterical. I love, love, LOVE the whole Big Hair Band/"power ballad" era, and this did it up perfectly.

After a lazy weekend away, I'm finding myself struggling to get back into the swing of things today. I had a filing kicked back and I'm trying to get it fixed, I have documents to review, and I had a bunch of voicemails that I still need to return -- I really, really need to get some caffeine in me, since my peppermint tea just ain't cutting it.

Probably not helping matters much is the fact that PhillyGuy and I dragged our sorry butts out of bed this morning at 5am for the first day of P90X. (I'm still sort of ashamed to be associating myself with this, since it is unforgiveably tool-box-y.) But, d-bag advertising or not, this is no joke. This morning was back, check and abs -- I'm sorry, "AB RIPPER X." We basically spent an hour doing various types of pushups, modified pullups (since neither PhillyGuy nor I can actually complete a single unassisted pullup) and a few other pull-type exercises using resistance bands, and followed it with a nonstop 15-minutes of various ab exercises. The chest and back was tough, but doable -- I felt nice and sore and happy and sweaty afterwards. The abs? F that mess. It calls for 25 reps each of probably 7 or 8 exercises. I could only complete all 25 reps of MAYBE one or two. The others, I pulled out maybe 15 or so...and there was at least one where I could not even manage more than 3 or 4 reps. THIS is going to be brutal.

Oh well. I'm looking forward to improving to the point where I can at least complete what I'm supposed to, you know? Such is life. Right this second, though, I am heading STRAIGHT downstairs for an iced coffee.