How Long Can This High Last?

I really am in it to win it. "It" is not first place in the figure competition. "It" is so much more. I feel incredibly strong and unbelievably dedicated to the cause. Before I get too mushy, though, let me say what I've been thinking after a weekend of cooking amazing food: if a man can keep me interested long enough to share a kitchen with me, he will be a lucky man! I'm currently drowning in food and storage containers, but I have so much self control that I'm going to go through it slowly.

This morning was a little rough to get started, I'm not going to lie. It was still pitch black at 7:15 when I walked into the gym. After peeling off the top layer, I was strutting in the same tiny blue shorts from the other day. Hey, I didn't sweat in them and they made me feel like a champ. I've been working out in the ladies only area for a bit because the weights and functional fitness area are usually open, but I took it back to the regular part today. One of the other reasons I don't usually use that area is because there are a ton of LOOKIE LOOS and a rude female trainer who constantly gives me dirty looks. What could of look did she give me today? A jealous one when she saw my legs. Score! She may have even kicked the stepmill up a notch after seeing me, but I can't verify that ;)

I upped weight on EVERYTHING, so it was something like this: 270 lb leg press, 110 lb leg extension, 25 lb db in each hand walking lunges, 20 lb one-legged stiff legged deadlift. I always do drop sets, so I worked my way down in weight in each set until I couldn't take it anymore. Two rounds of that with a round of db woodchops, russian twists and plank variations with elbows on a stability ball and I was doneskies. Except that I still had time. Hmm. 10 minutes on the stepmill? Why not? I'm one of the few people in the gym who actually doesn't lean her entire bodyweight on the handles, so I wanted to show the person next to me how it's done. I kept my headphones in ("Go Hard or Go Home" playlist, of course!) and did intervals of 130 steps/min for 30 secs, 110 steps/min for 30. I wanted to quit after about two minutes but stayed for the full 10. I've tried to step up my flexibility game and regain full splits on each leg (a throwback to dance team years), so I read while stretcing for a full five minutes.

I knew the scale would be my friend today, because I put on a pair of size 2 pants I hadn't worn in a while. Not only did they not have the tightness around the waist that they had before, but I got to cinch the belt in to a notch that I just recently achieved. 126 lbs, which means I'm down about two from two weeks ago. When you're already about 15% body fat, that's a pretty big deal. I couldn't be more happy that all my clean eating in the last week has already started to pay off!

I loved my Vega One vanilla chai shake after teaching class, and I had lots of other great food today. Broiled avocados with almond pepper jack cheez,



chickpea curry,



groundnut stew, a baked apple,



soy yogurt with blueberries/walnuts/coconut



and other stuff. I met some cool plant powered people on Twitter and got a retweet for an awesome vegan recipe I posted. My coworkers gathered around and talked about how they are going to make a cheering section for me on June 15, and my trainer is proud of me :) I even got word from the suit designer that she's going to start looking for lettuce leaf-like fabric.

Next item rolling around in my mind - buy gear from www.meatfreeathlete.com!

I'm off to do more deep stretching so I can walk tomorrow!