Transformation 2011 - Day 8

I got off to a rocky start today.  

I overslept and didn’t have time to eat breakfast, so I ran out the door armed only with a stomach full of coffee. Not the best idea, but I have enough experience in this kind of thing to know that it doesn’t really mean the end of the world, or even the end of my progress, when I screw up.  We all do it and it’s not a big deal.  What matters is how quickly I can get myself back on track. 

I grabbed and ate a handful of almonds at about 11:30, which prevented me from starving. And when I got out of the office at 1pm, I went to Energy Kitchen and got a Thai Chicken wrap.  This is cabbage, carrots and cucumbers, with chicken breast and a peanutty sauce all in a tortilla. If you live in New York and you don’t know about Energy Kitchen, you should check it out.  There’s one right across the street from my building and I eat there all the time.  I love having a place that serves healthy food, quickly.

Around 4:30 I made my dinner, which consisted of roasted salmon, sauteed carrots & kale and a mixed green salad with olive oil and vinegar. 

Then I taught my Energy Flow class at 6pm and then went uptown to work out at my friend’s house. After my workout I ate two hard boiled eggs and a glass of chia gel. We socialized for a couple of hours and then I was pretty hungry by the time I was leaving his place.  It was one of those times when I had to be strong and to make a choice between stopping at the corner market for something quick and easy (which usually means unhealthy and fattening) or waiting until I got home where I had the kitchen stocked with healthy snack foods. So, I waited. Again, I give a lot of credit to this blog for keeping me honest.  If I didn’t know I either had to confess to eating the junk food or lie on this blog, I might have chosen to buy something and immediately satisfy my hunger. But I waited, and I’m happy to report that I can honestly say I only snacked on bananas, kiwis, nuts and yogurt with cinnamon sprinkled on top. 

The whole key to this eating healthy thing is planning.  It’s all in the planning.  It also feels a bit like I have to divorce myself from society in a way. I am surrounded by convenient choices that don’t serve my purposes here.  In fact, every Saturday, when I allow myself my ‘cheat day’ I am struck by how easy it is to find what I call “junk” food. I often laugh and describe my cheat days as living “like regular people” and I can really relate to how it can be so tempting to live that way.  Fortunately, I’m more motivated by being healthy and fit than I am by convenience; otherwise I don’t know how much luck I’d have against all of the choices around. 

Today was also an intense workout day. I’m still working on the same movements I’ve been working on, and I’ll be using them all month before I come up with new ones. Each time I go through the intensity cycle, I’m a bit stronger and more confident.  This is my third time through the cycle, so my workout today felt really good.  I got a good pump, and had a good sweat. And I had my friend videotape me so I could see my technique and coach myself, but I was pretty impressed with how good my form was. 

Today’s video is a demonstration of the difference between my Moderate workouts and my Intense workouts. I’m going to show about twenty seconds of an exercise I call Running Plank. Yesterday, I was doing my moderate workout and that’s the clip in the black shorts. And then today was my intense workout, so it will cut to me doing the same exercise but with about twice the intensity.  The second day is in the white shorts. Notice how I’m moving about twice as fast on the second day, but using the same basic form. Yesterday I was concentrating on executing perfect form.  You can even see me stopping momentarily or looking around to make sure I was using good alignment.  But today I was just blasting through and going for speed.  All of the detail work I did yesterday was still in my body, as you can see by the near perfect form I used today. 

You may notice that I work out in my underwear.  The way I see it, this is one of the benefits of home workouts. I used to wear my clothes when I worked out at home, but I started doing them in underwear when I realized that I don’t actually need workout shorts on. Plus, the less I wear, the less that gets all sweaty.  So I’m doing less laundry and saving water and detergent and energy.  My ‘naked warrior’ workouts are actually good for the environment!  I was careful to choose a clip that is fairly modest, and I certainly don’t think it’s obscene. (You’d have to pay extra for that)  :)   But be forewarned, if you are uncomfortable with the male form or seeing a man sweating and grunting in his underwear, then you should not watch this.