Day 5: The Path to Recovery

Today I watched my ankle grow in size by about 50%. The pain is reduced, but I'm continuing the R.I.C.E. treatment and will definitely be off it for a week or so.

I didn't find (or really look for : -) a way to do cardio today. I did my usual chest and shoulders weight training routine. That went well. I moved up to doing sets with 175lbs, but I'm probably a few weeks from moving beyond that.

The diet continues as planned. Here's my wisdom, to that end, today:

If you can stay disciplined in the grocery store, you'll stay disciplined with you diet. Sure, there are still a thousand ways to blow it and damage your progress, but you can stem your temptations by buying a nice variety of products that make grazing convenient and easy. I buy a lot of the following:

Balance bars. These aren't cheap (unless you use eBay or find them at a discount store which I always do), but they are an excellent source of delicious protein and at about 200 calories a piece, they make eating small meals regularly a breeze.

6 to a package crackers. I'm talking about the Keebler/Nabisco variety or similar stuff. If you get sick of sweet stuff, these are a 200 calorie salty alternative and an excellent value.

Budget Gourmet frozen dinners. You're probably picking up on my cheap eating streak. It was derived from necessity, but even though I'm no forced to eat cheaply anymore, I still like the convenience and yes the taste of these. Lasagna Alfredo is my fav.

Frozen burritos. If you're thinking this doesn't sound very nutritious, remember my philosophy on restrictive diets. I love these things and they are EASY to prepare. They're also about 200 calories and cheap.

Baby carrots. These are kind of sweet and a really good palate cleanser. I often eat these late at night when I'm hungry, but don't want to consume many calories. They're almost calorie neutral.

So, I keep my home stocked with this sort of stuff and spice it up once in while with soups, stir-fry noodles, apples, potatoes, melons, and popcorn (about 300 calories in a whole bag) so that I don't get sick of any one thing. I try never to go to the store hungry (or let myself get hungry during the day) and say no to all the stuff that is short-term pleasing, but long-term damaging.

OK, enough diet talk. Here's today's shot and stats:

Weight: Calories consumed: Aerobic time logged: Bench Press: Max Pull-ups: Mile time:

175lbs. 1935 0:00:00 175lbs (10, 8, and 5 reps) 3 x body x 9 reps ~6:30 min