We have met stress, and kicked it right in the 'nads

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

I was not looking forward to today at all, because I knew it was going to be frantic, hectic, and a couple of other words ending in -tic due to things involving me wearing metaphoric white armor and carrying a blaster. I also knew that getting lunch at the regular time would probably not be happening due to said activities.

Before now, this would have resulted in me pounding down enough sugar to send a rhino into a diabetic coma just to handle the day, and feeling absolutely run down and lousy as a result. So I planned ahead -- I ate my meal bar first thing in the morning, then indulged in a walnut muffin mid-morning because I was going to damn well need the carbs by 2:00 PM. Which I did, as it turned out, but as a result of said carbs I did not have a meltdown, threaten to stab anyone or grab a couple of beers from the fridge and pop the emergency exit slide, so that was all good.

After the inital crisis was over, I had my usual thai chicken wrap and salad (cucumber/tomato/onion this time, and I have no idea where they get their tomatoes from but the damn things literally taste like plastic -- eurgh) for a late lunch, then came home after more work and had a couple of peanut butter sandwiches and an ounce of the yummy spicy popcorn for dinner. I may well have a protein shake as well later on, I don't know. I do know that I feel a heck of a lot better than I have after previous days like this.

That's all well and good, Mel, you point out, but don't you think you're overdoing it on the food a little in reaction to the stress? Actually, no -- having taken a look at my food intake yesterday (see, there's a REASON why I write everything down), I realized that I'd brought my calorie intake down a little too low by 600 calories or so. Yes, it's possible to bring your calorie intake down too low, especially if you're working out at the same time -- your body tends to think there's a famine going on and goes into lockdown mode. So today I stayed pretty much right around my target caloric intake, and I can feel the difference in my mood and energy level.

In fact, I was feeling so spandy, I went for a rather lovely walk, as we had something of a sprinkle here that did a nice job of cooling the temps down to reasonable levels (I mean, it's 8:30 PM and it's already down to 90 F -- that's just crazy cool). Since I could go outside without melting, I strolled around the neighborhood for a bit, checked out the local park and bike trails, then hightailed it home and set up the sprinkler in our front yard (which I have to go move in a bit).

This is a huge improvement on being curled in a fetal ball, let me tell you.

WEIGHT: 308.2

FOOD FOR THE DAY: 1 SB meal bar, a banana walnut muffin, a Thai chicken wrap, a small cucumber/tomato/onion salad, 2 peanut butter sandwiches with homemade marmalade, 1 oz. of Hotch chili con queso popcorn.