I just figured out I had my time zone set wrong… Wow, how long did that take me? lol Anyway, I’m so zonked out from my allergies going all berserk on me. So my day was no where near as productive as I would have liked it to be. I did do battle with one giant black widow, she had made herself a swanky little home under a broken flower pot. She must have been eating well, cuz she was the size of a quarter. -_- But after trying to coax her out of the pot and into the neighbor’s yard didn’t work, I resorted to a can of hairspray… The old girl went out a wee bit wobbly and dare I say a little sozzled.

I managed to freshen up a couple of flower beds, step in a squishy tomato, yank the dead plants out of my front yard, plant a few seeds, and pick off the stray weeds. Things are still a right fine mess, but they’re slowly shaping up. I think if I take the yard on in chunks one day at a time I can have it under control by the time the weather warms up. Hopefully this won’t take too much time out of my workouts and cooking. I only managed to get in four miles today. :/

Mood: Peppy, but out of it.

Motivator for the day: Get the yard into shape!

Walking mix for today: All AFI:

Torch Song

End Transmission

Beautiful Thieves

Too Shy To Scream

Veronica Sawyer Smokes

Okay, I Feel Better Now

Silver and Cold

This Celluloid Dream

Girls Not Grey

Death of Seasons

Medicate

Darling, I want to Destroy You

I Am Trying Very Hard To Be Here

Miss Murder

Summer Shudder

Love Like Winter

The Missing Frame

The Killing Lights

The Lost Souls

The Days Of The Phoenix

A Winter’s Tale

6.06 miles, 692 calories, 13433 steps, two weary lungs, and one angry little calf… I feel so out of shape with that said. I used to be able to go ten to twelve miles without even batting an eyelash at a steady jog. My mix of walking and jogging still felt cathartic in spite of the pitfalls. I met my nutritional goals for the day and broke a cardinal rule. -____- No, it wasn’t sodium, I consumed 765 milligrams of that. It was the cholesterol, I went over by a solid hundred points. I should have planned for that better, I know I could have avoided that. It could have been worse I suppose, I could have gone over that by three hundred grams and broken my sodium intake. 

Mood: Fatigued but determined.

Motivator for the day: Burn off some extra energy, so I can sleep tonight.

Walking mix for today:

Kick In The Teeth by Papa Roach

I Almost Told You That I Loved You by Papa Roach

…To Be Loved by Papa Roach

Hollywood Whore by Papa Roach

Kickstart My Heart by Mötley Crüe

Saints of Los Angeles by Mötley Crüe

Mine by Taproot

Poem by Taproot

Bat Country by Avenged Sevenfold

Beast And The Harlot by Avenged Sevenfold

The Diary of Jane by Breaking Benjamin

So Cold (Remix) by Breaking Benjamin

Rain (Alternate Single) by Breaking Benjamin

In The End by Black Veil Brides

Days Are Numbered by Black Veil Brides

Shadows Die by Black Veil Brides

We Don’t Belong by Black Veil Brides

New Years Day by Black Veil Brides

Help Is On The Way by Black Veil Brides

Make It Stop by Rise Against

Satellite by Rise Against

Gentlemen’s Coup by Rise Against

This is War by 30 Seconds to Mars

Kings and Queens by 30 Seconds to Mars

So I took a day off from the physical stuff. I was just so burnt out that one day, I could barely find the energy to do what I needed to. I hope working in the yard for a couple of hours makes up for it. Aside from that, I have been doing alright with the exercise and nutrition…sort of (I’m still falling short). I took a walk for a bite of sushi before heading over to the grocery store. I’m working on a lentil salad that’s low in sodium and fat, so I can couple it with a tasty but fatty dish. If it turns out really well, I’ll share the recipe, if not…it wasn’t that great. lol I’m just trying to get out of the habit of eating imbalanced meals, like what you get with restaurants and the pre-made stuff at the store.

I think our bodies have learned to adjust to larger portion sizes and monstrous amount of calories, sodium, carbohydrates, lipids and proteins. So most of us find ourselves constantly hungry or constantly eating our way into a larger pair of pants. :/ I won’t lie, there are hunger pains with a new diet, especially when you hack off a few hundred calories. Your stomach won’t shrink with a smaller caloric intake, but your appetite will learn to reset itself. The trick is to be patient and give it time to sort itself out.

You also can’t lop out all of “the bad foods” straight out of the gate, you set yourself up to fail with a move like that. Instead, evaluate the item and reinvent it. Take something like pizza and rework it into a healthier dish. I whip up a little pasta sauce, then it to some cottage cheese, basil, roasted garlic, and some cubed baked chicken. Sure it’s not pizza, but it’s a more balanced dish that gives you wiggle room for the rest of your day.

 If you blow most of your carb, fat, sodium, and cholesterol in one meal; you’re going to be cranky, crashing, and craving. Which probably means you’re going to deviate from what you should be doing. But don’t go reaching for that ‘diet’ food you see on a store shelf. Most of it is full of toxins! Look at aspartame; it’s made up of two amino acids (one essential and one nonessential) and methanol. The first two things are alright, but the methanol is what makes this dangerous. Methanol is both flammable and highly toxic to humans, it is also responsible for a fair share of deaths during prohibition. What happens when your body sees methanol is it starts to turn it into formaldehyde with some enzymes from your liver. That formaldehyde is then converted into formic acid, which has a low toxicity, but it is still toxic none the less. Formaldehyde kills brain cells, while formic acid can cause irreversible kidney and optic nerve damage. Specialist still swear aspartame is safe in small doses, but when it makes up everything you eat, or you’re guzzling tons of diet coke you’re jacking up the toxin levels in your body. Some scientists are pulling together data from studies, that is showing artificial ingredients that are for weight loss have the reverse effect anyway. 

With that said, I only eat things with the really bad ingredients in a dire situation. There has to be nothing else around for me to eat and I have to be crashing fast. It’s only happened a handful of times, but that’s what I get for not paying attention to my body. My thyroid has messed up a few of my normal bodily functions, like hunger. Sometimes I can go a whole day without feeling hungry, but get all of the other symptoms of hunger as the day rages on. And by the time I remember the only thing I had was an Americano, I’m already shaking and getting extremely dizzy. :[ I’ve actually gotten better at hiding snacks in my purses and my car. With that said, I’ve also become better about not eating them on a whim. Every now and then I have to actively tell myself, “hey now, that’s for an emergency. If you eat that now, you’ll regret it later!”

Mood: Crampy…

Motivator for the day: Sushi. <3

Walking mix for today:

You’ll Come Crawlin’ by The Creepshow

Take My Hand by The Creepshow

Rock ‘n’ Roll Sweetheart by The Creepshow

The Garden by The Creepshow

Zombies Ate Her Brain by The Creepshow

Get What’s Coming They All Fall Down by The Creepshow

Run For Your Life by The Creepshow

Miss Take by Horrorpops

Thelma & Louise by Horrorpops

Hit ‘n’ Run by Horrorpops

Crawl Straight Home by Horrorpops

Pain by Tiger Army

Forever Fades Away by Tiger Army

Rose Of The Devil’s Garden by Tiger Army

Outlaw Heart by Tiger Army

Oogie Boogie’s Song (remake) by Tiger Army

Annabel Lee by Tiger Army

Who Killed The Cheerleader by Nekromantix

Bats In My Pants by Nekromantix

I’m A Hellcat by Nekromantix

It Happens Every Night by Koffin Kats

Red Alert by Koffin Kats

Wild Ride by Koffin Kats

Don’t Take me For Granted by Social Distortion

I Wasn’t Born to Follow by Social Distortion

King Of Fools by Social Distortion

Like An Outlaw (For You) by Social Distortion