Day 4 of my 70 day Rampage

Well, today didn't go so well, and I'm a little frustrated and bummed. A friend unexpectedly came into town last night and you know how THAT goes. Dinner, Lunch, and dinner- out. Healthy- out. Exercise- out. Ice cream and other treats- Overboard. But not to worry! I decided while working today that it's ok, I am going to make a more refined plan for this 70 days than what I've been doing. Here's what I'm thinking:

For one thing, I've noticed everyone else is kicking it into high gear, and I think maybe it's time I do this as well. I've been doing a lot of cardio over the last few months, but not much else. Other than a little love affair with yoga, nothing else has been happening but straight cardio. I've purposely cut out weight lifting because I feel like my arms are smaller when I don't lift. Also, I'm not as hungry so I don't constantly seek out food when I'm not lifting. I can go several hours without constantly thinking of food. But I KNOW that weight lifting boosts your metabolism and helps you tone and drop more fat than if you're not doing it. And right now, it's all about dropping the weight, and doing it steadily.

I've also been trying to be more "vegan-ish" lately, because after reading and studying several studies I've felt that it's more in line with the kind of healthy lifestyle I want to lead. I've thought long and hard about including meats and dairy products back into my diet (because of the lifting) and I think for now it's the right thing to do. For one thing, I never became truly vegan for long anyway, I've just been trying to adopt it more. I want to continue to do this. It's already made a huge impact on how I feel and how much energy I have. Especially watching my dairy intake, it's made a huge difference for me. But I love cheese so much! If I'm going to go back to seriously lifting though, I just feel that the protein I get from meat cannot compare to the protein in beans and nuts. :) For another, my muscles have been aching lately, which is really strange considering I haven't been lifting or doing anything that would cause an ache. Today it felt like maybe I pulled my left hamstring; it just started hurting half way through the day and I didn't even workout today. So why it started hurting is beyond me, but it feels like I pulled it. Weird. I've been doubling to tripling up on my bean intake (I eat beans everyday, and lots of them) to get my protein, I'm wondering if the ache is coming from ingesting a different kind of protein. (In some of the studies I've read, the protein from beans and the protein from meat is not the same type of protein...so wouldn't it probably affect my muscles differently?) I'm not sure, because I haven't been "vegan" long enough to cause any long term affects at this point. Plus I end up eating meat or cheese once or twice a week. Maybe I'm just getting sick...who knows. It's just odd to me because I've never had issues with my muscles aching and being sore for no reason before. I feel like I'm rambling now...

In any event, I'm super excited about the new efforts I'm going to make as far as my workouts are concerned, starting tomorrow morning. It will be a fresh new day, my beloved friend will head home, and if anyone is looking for me, they can find me in the gym. :) :)

D