Allow me to tell you a little story... I recently moved to a place I refer to as "protein land". This is one of those places where you think "that would be a fun place to visit" but once you do you find out it's not somewhere you necessarily want to settle down and raise a family. The odd thing though is that people who live in protein land seem to have a very close connection and understanding of one another, they can relate to each other and how it feels to spend a Sunday afternoon cooking in bulk for the entire week, scrambling to quickly clean up the kitchen before the whole house smells like eggs, chicken breast, broccoli, asparagus and fish. Protein land isn't necessarily somewhere that smells great (kinda like those towns you drive through that have a 'paper mill').

Here is one interesting thing I have learned in protein land... there is great tension between here and the neighboring city "carbville" and even more tension between a suburb of carbville called "sugartown". There are often dirty looks between those that live in protein land as they grow increasingly angry while grocery shopping as they watch loaves of bread and an abundance of refined carbohydrates flinging into the grocery baskets of those who live in the next county over "refined foods county" (the majority of those that live in this county reside in carbville and sugartown, although some live in the town named "frozen foodland").

I know my stay here in protein land is temporary (I only signed a 4 month lease) but while living here I have noticed that my life and eating in particular became much more simple, but very methodical and controlled. Some of those that live in protein land are near mathematicians! They can rhyme off all kinds of numbers regarding nutritional value and calculate the most complex caloric expenditures between food consumption and energy expenditure. I find myself starting this little neurotic journey, joining the ranks of these protein calculating, muscle pumping, hydrating, carb-restricting, veggie overloading, cardio capturing, perfect posing residents of protein land. Those of you reading this may choose to venture into protein land one day too and you'll understand everything I just wrote...

Woke up this morning first thing for a bootcamp workout. Today between each exercise we had to do a set of 10 full
Burpees (these were the REAL Burpees, where you have to touch your chest to the ground and explode up into a jump). There were 6 sets of exercises and I got through two rounds... which means I did 120 Burpees this morning. These are a great little exercise but they can get sooo tiring! Following bootcamp Em and I took a Zumba class - I was looking pretty disgusting through that whole class having come from bootcamp right before. I was looking around at all the smiling, energetic faces and thinking to myself "Ya, I bet none of you just did bootcamp or 120 Burpees... stop smiling!"

Lets just say that my shower afterwards felt like dessert - yes it felt sooo good it was like I was eating dessert...

All I have to say for today is... I was in Starbucks this afternoon and what was in the shiny little case?!?!? Ohhhh just a little Red Velvet Cupcake topped with a surplus of cream cheese frosting - only my favorite freakin' type of cake!!!! I kept thinking to myself will they still have those in four months? How can I take it home and preserve it for four months? I wonder what that tastes like? (Oh ya, like I've never had one... haha!) All I gotta say is those masterminds at Starbucks better knock that "perfect showcasing of my favorite pastries" off!

Whoooo-wheeeee! Wow, today was a hardcore workout day... felt good. Allow me to paint you a small picture. It started out with the alarm going off at 5am, this was to allow me to get all of my stuff together for work, etc. before meeting Emily at her studio at 6:30am (for those of you who are never up at that time, yes, it IS still dark). Today was a plyo's workout. Em and I are alternating putting the workouts together, this week was mine so I guess I have no one to blame but myself. At some point I will post the workout, but let's just say that it leaves you feeling like your legs drank a bottle of tequila themselves. As if that wasn't enough for me today, I found myself driving back to the Y this evening for a cardio session. This consisted of a 50 minute running workout with speed and hill intervals. I guess the best way to sum this feeling up would be to say I now feel like someone tied my legs in a pretzel, left them that way for an hour and then untied them and sent me on my way. You get the picture, it was a good workout day - which I have to admit felt pretty good ;)

Ok, now for the title. You are probably wondering, "what the heck is she talking about?" Well this is kinda funny, at least to me anyway. This morning after the plyo's workout Em brought her competition shoes so I could try them on for size, style and to just get a feel for them (they are ordered online so sizing can be tricky). I kept telling Em, "I'm good with heels, I wear them all the time at work". I'm not sure she believed me... so I gracefully slipped my foot into one shoe and then the other (haha! ya right! this was AFTER the plyo's workout). Anyway, got them on my feet and all of the sudden I was a different person! I proceeded to do a runway walk for Em and 'strut what I was workin with'. I kinda felt like a Disney character who is transformed when a shoe or article of clothing is placed on them. Well, that's exactly what happened... I was transformed into the 'diva on the runway'. I always knew I was one... hehehe!

Well... you might be able to tell by the title of this entry that I am frustrated! I am still fighting a bit of a cold... decided that maybe I need to take a complete day off today from working out. Plus, Em and I are meeting first thing in the morning for a workout so it probably isn't best to do a workout late this evening and one first thing in the morning with a cold. The diet hasn't been going too bad - mostly just having trouble eating enough throughout the day. I am so busy during my work hours and travel between facilities so frequently that sometimes I just forget to eat or don't bring food with me. Usually when this happened I would just grab a snack from the coffee place inside the Y but those snack aren't exactly "figure friendly". Even without a workout today I ate well, so I don't have to feel too guilty I guess???? Gonna hit the sack in a few minutes... hoping one more good night of sleep will do the trick...

Well, Emily and I met first thing this morning for our first workout. We did legs at the studio, it was actually nice to be able to workout together in a "focused setting". It was great to workout with Emily.
I am still fighting a cold, seemed to be better this morning during the workout - I hardly coughed and didn't have too bad of a runny nose. Shortly after our workout though I started feeling bad, I left work just after lunchtime and headed home for a nap. I have the remnants of a cough and still seem to be running a slight fever. I was planning on heading back to the gym after my nap to do cardio, but as much as this kills me I am not going to complete my cardio today. I am concerned that my chest congestion and fever will only get worse with cardio. I feel like I am getting better (or at least at a breaking point) and just don't want to regress! I am hoping that by getting a great nights' sleep and drinking a ton of fluids I will feel better. Tomorrow I will be up early (5am, yikes!) to complete another strength workout and may also do my cardio then depending on how I feel (fingers crossed that I am feeling better tomorrow!).
Update on the food portion: So far the diet is going great! I haven't been hungry or had too many aggressive cravings so that is good. The one thing I definitely noticed is how much junk I really did eat! I see stuff everywhere that I would usually just have shoved in my mouth and I have to remind myself that I can't eat those chocolate covered ritz crackers (oohhhh but they looked so good, and I haven't tried them yet!). Hopefully tomorrow will bring a post that says, "Woohoo! I'm not sick anymore!"...

Well... here it is, my second post. It's a Sunday evening and I am realizing I need to do some cooking for the week (so I don't eat crap!). I have been battling a cold, woke up this morning with chest congestion and a major cough... been trying to take it easy so that I am 100% tomorrow. Emily and I will be meeting first thing for a legs workout, we will be alternating who gets to design the workout (hehehehe... this should be fun!). My legs are actually still a bit sore from bootcamp and skiing on friday and sat, so they may feel like noodles after tomorrows workout - oddly I am looking forward to the punishment. Tonight I am going to be taking my "baseline" photos. I may post them at some point, but will probably just keep them to myself for a while. No one needs to share in that disgust! haha! My main priority right now is to have a plan. We mapped out our workouts and diet on sat after bootcamp, so I am good there. I am also trying to focus on eating at the right times, and getting enough sleep! All of my friends have been so supportive, I feel blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful people. Until next time.... and, uh ya, I am planning on posting some photos soon!