Challenge Two: Day Thirty-Eight

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Breakfast: 9am
1 Chocolate Visalus Shake

Mid-Morning: 11am
16oz. V8 (Low Sodium, Spicy Hot)
12oz. Diet Rite

Lunch: 2pm
1 Chocolate Visalus Shake

Mid-Afternoon: Nothing.

Evening: 7pm
1 Chuck Eye Steak (w/Pepper)
1 Cup of Steamed Vegetables (Normandy Blend)
64oz. Water

Walk-Count:


State of Being:
All the work and skipping-of-sleep caught up with me today.

I took three naps. One in the morning, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. Each lasting one-to-two hours.

My leg, is indeed very sore today. So, while I’m not going to stop working out, I am going to put a hold on any exercises that might stress or strain my legs. There was, as I'm sure you noticed, one walk today. But, that was because I was taking my trash out. lol

It’s not just my knee either. When I torqued it getting out of that car, I think I pulled or strained a bunch of tendons in various places, as well. I can feel sore muscles and ligaments in and around my ankle and on the underside of my foot, too. So, yeah… I’m just going to give it a rest for a while.

See you tomorrow!



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Challenge Two: Day Thirty-Seven

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Breakfast: 9am
1 Chocolate Visalus Shake

Mid-Morning: Nothing.

Lunch: 12noon
1 Cheeseburger Patty (w/Pepper)
1 Cup Steamed Vegetables (Normandy Blend)
32oz. Water

Mid-Afternoon: 6pm
1 Chocolate Visalus Shake

Evening: Nothing.

Walk-Count:

Shadow-Boxing: (Minutes)

Squats:

Planks:



State of Being:
I got to the store this morning!

Unexpected windfall. I won’t go into details here. Let me just say that I’m thankful that government jobs for some reason get the Monday after Easter Sunday off work. Given that and the fact that tomorrow is a Sunday, lots of stuff ended up getting processed through today, rather than Monday.

Food-card, however won't get refilled until Monday. So, I was only able to get about half the stuff I need for the month, but it's good enough to end the involuntary fast. I'll take it.

Worked out. Ate. Slept.

I was up all night last night, working. So, when I finally did sleep, I slept deep.

The working out today, I've gotta say... was rough. I mentioned in a previous post that I'd torqued my knee getting out of a car last week. It's still bugging me.

I say "knee," but really it's the entire leg from the knee down. It's achy in spots, throbbing in others and numb everywhere else.

Yes. I have thought about maybe putting off the walks and squats until it's feeling better. But, it's a frustrating line of thought. After all, I just got started back into working out after being sick all that time. Still, it is indeed better to be safe than it is to be sorry. So, I have stepped back the walking (pun) a little bit. I'm limping, so I only walk until it starts to hurt or go numb. Yesterday, I did three walks. My leg was very sore when I woke up. Today, I only did two. If I'm overly sore in the morning again, tomorrow then I'll just stop doing the walks, period, until my leg feels up to it. As for squats,... the knee doesn't really hurt while I'm doing them, so... I'm not sure. But, I think I'm going to err on the side of caution.

Again,... a marathon rather than a sprint.

See you tomorrow!



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Challenge Two: Day Thirty-Six

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Breakfast: 7am
1 Peanut-Butter-Cup Visalus Shake

Mid-Morning: 11am
1 Peanut-Butter-Cup Visalus Shake

Lunch: 2pm
1 Heaping Tablespoon of Peanut Butter
16oz. V8 (Low Sodium, Spicy Hot)
32oz. Water

Mid-Afternoon: 5pm
1 Chocolate Visalus Shake
12oz. Diet Rite

Evening: 7pm
1 Peanut Butter & Banana Visalus Shake

Walk-Count:


State of Being:
Starting to feel the lows (blood-sugar-wise) from the pseudo-fasting.

Only one-day in, that’s not so good.

Hangin’ in there.

See you tomorrow!



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Challenge Two: Day Thirty-Five

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Breakfast: 8am
1 Mocha Cappuccino Visalus Shake

Mid-Morning: Nothing.

Lunch: 12noon
1 Chicken Breast (w/Tabasco Sauce)
1 Cup of Steamed Stir-Fry Vegetables (w/Soy Sauce)
32oz. Water

Mid-Afternoon: Nothing.

Evening: 9pm
1 Chocolate Visalus Shake

Walk-Count:

Shadow-Boxing: (Minutes)

Squats:

Planks:



State of Being:
Feeling really great!
Really tired!
Really sore!
Really excited!

Workout went well today. Hard, but my joints cooperated with me (mostly) and I got through it fine.

Things are definitely back on track!

See you tomorrow!



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Challenge Two: Day Thirty-Four

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Breakfast: 9am
1 Butterfinger Visalus Shake

Mid-Morning: 11am
1 Butterfinger Visalus Shake

Lunch: 2pm
1 Chicken Breast (w/Black Pepper)
16oz. V8 (Low Sodium, Spicy Hot)
64oz. Water

Mid-Afternoon: 6pm
1 Sweet Cream Visalus Shake

Evening: 8pm
2 Heaping Tablespoons Peanut Butter
1 Can of Green Beans
64oz. Water

Walk-Count:


State of Being:
Feeling good.

Today was a walk-only day, workout-wise. So, it was definitely easier than yesterday, which, as I predicted, left me aching today.

My mom brought me some milk too. There was a really good deal on it at our local Aldi’s so, I now have milk for my shakes for my little controlled-fasting period, which starts tomorrow. Which is awesome!

See you tomorrow!



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Challenge Two: Day Thirty-Three

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Breakfast: 9am
1 Chocolate Visalus Shake

Mid-Morning: 12noon
1 Cheeseburger Patty (w/Jalapeno Slices)
16oz. V8 (Low Sodium, Spicy Hot)
32oz. Water

Lunch: 3pm
1 Chocolate-Covered Blackberry Visalus Shake

Mid-Afternoon: 6pm
1 Chicken Breast (w/Black Pepper)
16oz. V8 (Low Sodium, Spicy Hot)
32oz. Water

Evening: 8pm
1 Chicken Breast (w/Black Pepper)
2 Cups of Steamed Vegetables (w/Broccoli, Cauliflower, Carrots, Winter Squash & Zucchini)
32oz. Water

Walk-Count:

Shadow-Boxing: (Minutes)

Squats:

Planks:


State of Being:
I feel both good and worn-out after today.

And now, a Stream-of-Consciousness Narrative of my return to working out...

~Walking~

Finally! Ok, time to get back into this. I'll just knock out a few walks today. Maybe three or four. I'll do two now and then one or two this evening before dinner.

Huh... Was the dumpster always that far away? I mean, I've been down a couple months. It's possible they lengthened the parking lot since the last time I tried this.

No,... no... the parking lot's still the same length as the building and there's no way they added any units onto the building in just two months. Maybe it's the weather. This cold-snap is making things... OH MY GOD, my back hurts! What the...? Ok,... almost there... almost... Ok, made it.

Now, I just have to walk all the way back.



~Shadow-Boxing~

Ok, let's do this...

One, Two.
One, Two, Three, Four.
One, Two, Three, Four, One, Two.

Wow, man... thin-air is kicking your ass, and laughing at your feeble punches.

*****


~Squats~

Ok, now this should be simple. You're just standing still. You've got the cabinet to grab onto in case your right knee gives out like it did that one time... OK, like it did those four times...

HOLY! Really??? I wasn't even half-way down yet!

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~Planks~

AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Don't look at the stop-watch yet! NO! DON'T!!! SAVE IT!!!

OK... Ok.... Look! Go ahead!

WHAT??? ARE YOU KIDDING ME???

AND WHY DOES SLIGHTLY INCLINING MY HEAD MAKE MY HIPS HURT???

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Now, you might be thinking, at this point;
"Chris, if today was your first day back, you should have taken it slow and easy."

Well, HA HA! Joke's on you! That WAS "taking it slow and easy!"

Some good news, though... I was a little off in assessing how much food I had left. I think I have enough food to eat fairly-normally tomorrow and after that I’ll still have a couple 46oz. bottles of V8, half a jar of peanut butter, a can of tuna fish, two cans of Crushed Tomato, two cans of sliced green chilies, a can of Dinty Moore Beef Stew and a bag of frozen, sliced Okra. It's amazing what you'll find at the back of storage areas. Also, it turns out that I had another baggie of frozen banana slices that seems to have slipped behind the ice-bucket in my freezer. Those are great to thicken-up a shake in the blender along with some peanut butter. So, I’ll be stretching those things out over the course of the next five or six days.

I’m actually kinda looking forward to this. (That really wasn't sarcasm.) It’s like a mini-Challenge in and of itself. Not nearly so unhealthy as an actual “fast” and it’ll give me plenty to write about. lol

Another video coming soon!

See you tomorrow!



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Challenge Two: Day Thirty-Two

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Breakfast: 10am
1 Chocolate-Covered Blackberry Visalus Shake
32oz. Water

Mid-Morning: 12noon
1 Cup of Steamed Vegetables (w/Winter Squash, Zucchini, Carrots, Broccoli, & Cauliflower)
1 Chicken Breast (w/Every last fiber of avian-muscle-tissue, absolutely DROWNED in Tabasco Sauce)
64oz. Water

Lunch: 4pm
1 Peanut Butter & Banana Visalus Shake
32oz. Water

Mid-Afternoon: 7pm
1 Bowl of Oatmeal (what technically constituted 2 servings, according to the box, but since their measurements are clearly intended for gnomes, I kinda dialed it in for actual human proportions)
64oz. Water

Evening: 8pm
1 Chocolate-Covered Blackberry Visalus Shake
64oz. Water

(Click on image to enlarge.)


State of Being:
Feeling pretty good today. My knee is almost fully recovered from last week’s little snap-crackle-pop incident. Foot’s still occasionally going numb, though. So, definitely a pinched nerve, but the pain and swelling in the knee itself is pretty much negligible at this point. Surprising, considering that my knee usually throbs a bit when it snows, and it dumped about three inches on us last night.

The recovery couldn't have come at a more fortuitous time. Today was the last day of the "Arbitrary 5 Days" I was making myself wait, after feeling better from my two months illness.' So, my workouts resume tomorrow!

It's an excellent sign that I'm looking forward to working out again, right? Not just a sign that I've gone crazy with cabin-fever?

Did a lot of house cleaning today. Still a bunch to do, but I’ve set the bar a little higher than I normally would on a typical Monday. I’m going through and throwing out stuff I just don't want anymore. I have at least a couple hundred pounds worth of RPG rulebooks from games that I know I’ll never play again. I’m going to be putting all of it up on eBay. Most of the books in question are outdated, edition-wise, so I likely won’t get much for them. What I can’t sell, I’ll just give away to anybody who wants ‘em.

This week is going to be kind of an iron-hand experience, to borrow a term from Viet Nam War-era Marine Bomber-Pilot jargon. By about Wednesday, I’m going to be completely out of food and living exclusively on Vi-Shakes (mixed with water instead of milk) and Water. This will continue until Monday, when I can get to the store again.

I mentioned in my last video, about how all of my income and expenses have leaned heavily toward my detriment in the wake of this year’s governmental-policy-changes. Well,… this is just an example of how I haven’t yet been able to adjust.

I’ll get there, it’s just going to take a few months. But, I’ll be alright.

I actually went up to the Kent Outreach Foodbank last Friday and got some stuff. Unfortunately, just about 99% of what they have there consists of Salt, Sugar and Starch molded into various forms (ie: Ramen Noodles, Pasta, Cup-a-Soup, Apple-Sauce, Potato-Flakes, Cereal, etc.) It has changed for the better recently, though. You're still only allowed to go once a month. But, it used to be that they would just give you two shopping bags full of Ramen Noodles, Potato-Flakes and Cereal. Seriously. Now, at least, they have kind of an open inventory that you can pick things from, to fill the two bags yourself. I got a box of Oatmeal, a bag of yellow Onions and a Ziploc-baggie full of steaks that somebody had grilled and frozen. I also got a bunch of noodles, rice, frozen pizza and potatoes,... which I gave to a few of my neighbors, whom I know are having a tough time with the policy changes as well.

Not much stuff that I could use for myself, but it'll get me through Tuesday, anyway.

Given that the shakes only have about a hundred-fifty calories in them, without milk or berries or anything mixed-in, I’ll likely need to be drinking four or five a day. But, it’s only for a few days, so I’m looking at it as kind of a cleanse experience, a “Nutrient-Enriched Fast” if you will.

I hope this winter ends soon. I Love winter. I look forward to it every fall. But, by the time it’s over, each year… I’m really ready for it to end. While I do enjoy the season, I think it outlives my taste for it, by about one-and-a-half to two months, in Ohio.

I mention it, because my skin’s getting so dry that my CPAP mask is starting to chafe my face in the night. I’d use lotion, but whenever any kind of moisturizer so much as touches my face, I break out.

I’m not complaining, with all of this stuff. Just sharing what’s been presently on my mind, today.

P.S.: Yeah! In case you didn't notice in my food-log from today, I drank a TON of water. What's with that? I've just been incredibly thirsty all day. Weird. Must be the dryness of winter, finally catching up with me.

See you tomorrow!



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