Heh. I has a DOMS.

Yep. Them there kettlebell walking lunges really got my hams, glutes and quads yesterday for sure. :o) It'll be interesting to see how I feel after tomorrow's session. I usually ache only after the first time I run through a routine, or if I dramatically increase a weight, but I get the feeling that I've not done lunges for a while now, so this time might be different.

I decided on some porridge for breakfast as it's a cold day and a girl needs -some- variety in her breakfast; oats, water, raisins and a splash of milk, cook for 3 minutes in the microwave, add 1 scoop chocolate and 1 chopped banana. Nom:-


Mid-morning snack was one of those really yummy Dorset Cereals "3 berries and cherries" whole nut and fruit bars and then lunch (spinach, sweet peppers, celery, capers, roasted chicken fillet and lemon juice):-


Beef jerky for an early afternoon snack:-


and then pre-gym snack of an apple and some cashew butter:-


Cardio gym with leg DOMS. Hah. Fun. Or something. Followed by a shake of 1 scoop chocolate in semi-skimmed milk ('cause we don't do skimmed at home :o)).

Dinner was the old favourite of beef chilli topped with vegetable (sweet potato and butternut squash) mash, finished off under the grill with a slice of Leerdammer:-


So warming and comforting. I love it!

Exercise - 58 minutes various: 04:30 rower (1km, L7), 10 minutes wave (L7), 33 minutes cross-trainer (some intervals), some stretching and a little bicep work as it got missed yesterday.

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1772 2281]
Protein (g)	165.2 (38.2%)
Carbohydrate (g)	184.6 (40%)
Fat (g)	41.0 (21.3%)
Fruit & Veg	11.2

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain wieght (inc. exercise)	1673 2281]
Protein (g)	157.1 (38.5%)
Carbohydrate (g)	177.5 (40.8%)
Fat (g)	36.6 (20.2%)
Fruit & Veg	10.8

Niggly leg

After the surprise high kcal burn during yesterday's run through, my leg started to feel niggly last night and this morning it was definitely sore at the back, but so is the right one now, only less so. I'm hoping it's "just" DOMS and as such I've planned a gentle run tomorrow to kill half an hour while hubby is doing the The HELL of the Ashdown ride. Tell you what, finding a 5ish km running route around there that has any less than a total climb of about 100m is not easy! I've had to find a flattish bit with a loop I'll have to do twice and that'll give me a total climb of around 45m. Not quite the gentle run I was looking for, but given that Mr TOTKat will be cycling for 4 hours or so I've got to find -something- to keep me occupied while I wait.

Brekkie today was scrambled egg and egg whites on a toasted High Bran and Seed bagel, with Marmite. Lunch, mmmmlunch... one of my favourites, though it is quite low protein so I sneaked in some extra in a scoop of unflavoured whey powder - roasted, spiced butternut squash soup with a slice of unfruited malt loaf:-



After fighting with the garden for all of about 20 minutes before deciding that it was way too cold and my fingers hurt too much from the cold (couldn't wear gloves to do weeding as it requires too much fine-grained finger control) we sat down for an afternoon snack of more of that heavenly banana and raisin malt loaf (with an apple on the side for me 'cause they're really nice and we have loads at the moment):-



I've been wanting to try out Clearspring's buckwheat soba noodles for a while as they're a "healthier" alternative to the Amoy Straight to Wok ones we usually use; they're higher in fibre, have no added oil to keep them moist etc.; so it was a fabulous excuse for a (chicken) BEEP:-


Exercise - rest day

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1640 1797]
Protein (g)	113.1 (28.4%)
Carbohydrate (g)	203.4 (47.9%)
Fat (g)	42.0 (23.7%)
Fruit & Veg	8.7

Good gym

Apart from the skinny little diva who showed up in microscopic gym shorts (Abercrombie and Fitch dontchyaknow!), a teeny vest, trainers and no bra; and proceeded to spend 10 minutes in front of the mirrors, making sure her baseball cap was on perfectly before throwing gym equipment around because it was in her way (though she could barely lift much of it, so hah!) and then struggling to do some puny hanging bent-leg raises. It was veeeeery difficult resisting laughing at her. Yeah it's good that she's actually in the gym doing some resistance training, but the -attitude-!

Me, I burned off a very respectable 499kcals in 52 minutes whilst being careful with my leg. I kept the weight lower on the lunges and leg curls and made sure to warm up gently first. For the first time, I managed 10 pressups in a row with no rests in between and I've changed my planks to be straight arm planks - mmmm, much harder! :o) Shame I ran out of time, 'cause it'd be nice to have done 3 sets of 10 pressups rather than just the one. Ohwell. Rest day tomorrow (and using the foam roller for 15 minuts at home, following Rachel Cosgrove's foam rolling exercises/stretches to get the kinks out of my legs and shoulders, might squeeze in some pressups there too) and then new trainer on Friday!

Nice eggy salad for lunch today (shown here in unmixed state - I like my eggs to sit on top so they don't go mushy during the morning):-


This is becoming one of my favourite evening meals; lightly smoked salmon fillets are so incredibly flavoursome:-



B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop vanilla, fruit compote and flaked almonds
S - banana
*gym*
S - 1 scoop chocolate in skimmed milk
L - salad - spinach, tomato, capers, walnuts, 2 boiled eggs and lemon juice
S - a pear and a mini Babybel Light
S - beef jerky
D - salmon fillet with couscous, peas and sweetcorn
S - slice of banana and raisin malt loaf

Exercise - 52 minutes gym (HRmax 184 HRavg 158)

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1800 2231]
Protein (g)	157.7 (36%)
Carbohydrate (g)	164.6 (35.2%)
Fat (g)	56.1 (28.8%)
Fruit & Veg	8.0

's not fair

I was 250kcals under maintenance overall last week, but I'm a kg heavier. I know I said I wasn't going to beat myself up about it, but this plain isn't fair! Where did an extra 7,000kcals to create a kg of weight -come- from if I was 250kcals -under-?

So, if it's not real weight gain, what is it? Water retention? Unlikely, given the amount of water I've been drinking in the last 24 hours. Transit? Mmm, possibly. Actual fat? Very unlikely in that time period plus there weren't enough kcals to make that much fat without me sleeping through the whole weekend and not moving at all. It's gotta come from somewhere though! Meh. Anyway.

Leg rehabilitation is underway; after a week of using lifts rather than stairs, not walking/running up escalators, no gym, no running, no cycling, no swimming and some deep-tissue massage. I made sure to do a gentle warm up on the rower, taking it gently for the first 500m then a bit harder for the last 500m and then going gently for 5 minutes on the cross-trainer to see how it felt before going quite a bit harder for 12.5 minutes, gently again for 2.5 minutes then 2 minutes cool down and some actual stretching for once. It feels OK; a bit "scratchy' on the inside as if the middle was having rough wool rubbed on it, but no pain at all and no straining feeling. So, I think I'll try some gentle resistance training on it tomorrow, with lighter weights than usual and a slow build up rather than straight into working weight.

Brekkie was my usual greek yogurt creation, with a scoop of whey, fruit compote and some flaked almonds:-


I had a banana before today's little trial gym trip and a protein shake afterwards to fuel up those poor neglected muscles.

Lunch is getting a bit standard, spinach, capers, a few walnuts, tomato (usually sweet peppers) and chicken. Tomorrow it'll be eggs instead :o)


I had a pear and some carrots and houmous to keep me going through the afternoon without killing people or chewing my own arm off. I do so -love- houmous and I even actually seem to like raw carrots now. Me! Raw carrots!

There were a few veggies to use up after Burns Night dinner last night, so I boiled 'em up and mashed 'em to go with some beef chilli:-


And I just -had- to try some of the Stilton which was part of our Christmas hamper at the weekend, and how better to serve it than on top of some toasted, fruity, home-made malt loaf with a big mug of tea:-


Exercise - 1km warm up on the rower; 3 sets of - plank (60s), pulsed side planks (10) and press-ups (5); followed by 22 minutes on the cross-trainer.

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1828 2131
Protein (g)	152.8 (34%)
Carbohydrate (g)	191.0 (39.9%)
Fat (g)	51.1 (25.6%)
Fruit & Veg	14.6

Hoorah for eggs!

Almost 2 weeks of making packed lunches every single day I'm at work now; I usually give in once or twice a week and get a soup from EAT or pod. I'm quite pleased that I've not cracked yet, despite the odd little setback and really not feeling like it a few times.

Today's lunch protein was in the form of boiled eggs, for a change, which I cooked while eating brekkie this morning and they were absolutely lovely even though they were cooked, peeled and cut up this morning, 4.5 hours before I got to my salad. Nice change from the alternating between chicken fillets and goats cheese. Ohyes indeed.


B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop whey, fruit compote and flaked almonds
S - Nakd bar; Cocoa Loco
S - tall, skinny caramel macchiato
L - salad - spinach, sweet peppers, sugar snap peas, celery, 2 boiled eggs and a dash of honey & mustard dressing
S - tangerines
S - beef jerky
D - salmon fillets on couscous, lettuce, sweet pepper and a dash of salad dressing

Exercise - enforced rest

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1446 1797
Protein (g)	128.3 (36.5%)
Carbohydrate (g)	127.1 (33.9%)
Fat (g)	46.3 (29.6%)
Fruit & Veg	7.9