Some days, the force is not with you.
This morning, for example.
I was at the gym by 6:40 a.m., intent on doing a biceps/triceps workout. (I have a case of string bean arms that I’m trying to remedy.) So, I do some curls with an EZ barand super-set them with rope pulldowns for triceps. Normally, that would be fine, but last night this guy in my self-defense class pulled a sweetheart move on me by getting my arm in a variation of a hammerlock.
My shoulder and upper arm were throbbing for the rest of the class. I’d forgotten about it by this morning, but was promptly reminded when the stabbing feeling returned to my shoulder after that first super-set.
I may have been a sado-masochist in a past life. The masochist part, because I kept trying to lift weights despite my shoulder pain. The sadism I’ll get to in a minute. After two sets of dumbbell curls super-set with dumbbell skullcrushers, I threw in the towel. My shoulder was not having it. Defeat number one. I figured I could at least get some cardio in, so I hopped on the stair stepper for HIIT (high intensity interval training). After two minutes I decided I wasn’t in the mood to bring myself to the brink of puking, and opted for a leisurely walk on the treadmill. Defeat number 1.5?
With no ipod to distract me, I was subjected to the annoying clucking of a hen walking on a treadmill behind me, i.e. an older woman who speaks like she just inhaled helium. I didn’t really mind it up until she started talking about politics very loudly. Let’s just say she and I do not share the same opinions. Her shrill voice and political exclamations were getting on my nerves. Cue my sadism. I’m not going to repeat my train of thought because it wasn’t very nice. I tried to make up for it by telling myself that it’s okay if people don’t think the same way I do, and that the thoughts I was having were bad juju. But geeez!
Agitated, I moved to the farthest possible treadmill from her, and could still hear her loud and clear. Man, someone really doesn’t want me to workout today, I thought. But I know that’s just an excuse. I wasn’t going to let this be defeat number two, so, amped up with annoyance, I got back on the stair stepper to do HIIT again. Did it. Kicked its ass. Actually, I think it kicked mine, but yeah. I was glad I at least did something despite several things not going my way.
Day 5
Still no added sugar. Still not craving it. In a way, it’s kind of disappointing. I was expecting a more dramatic change than just, uuuh I feel the same? Maybe I need to give it more time.
Today was the holiday luncheon at my job. Another instance where I could say the force was not with me. But I FORCED the force to be with me. There was a buffet of salad, bread, something like five kinds of lasagna and chicken francaise. I figured the pasta stuff had to have sugar in it (and would undoubtedly give me a food coma), so I had salad with vinaigrette and a small piece of chicken francaise. Not too bad, considering the temptation. I looked up the ingredients and there wasn’t any sugar in any of the recipes for the chicken francaise. Of course I can’t be 100% sure, but I feel pretty confident about it.
I’d say today was a good day for willpower, but then I came home and ate a ton of almond butter. I love almond butter. *sigh*
