Burnet Bramblerose

Arm still hurts. Weird. I've laid off the dumbbells for now and have been doing planks and squats instead. I can do a plank on my elbows and toes for twenty seconds, three times! Not bad. I feel it mostly in my lower abs. I think I'll take gym clothes along to school tomorrow, and if I'm not completely wiped by the end of the day I'll check out that gym and find the exercise bike. Now that I know what bike sprints are, I realize I was doing them every day the last time I lost a lot of weight. My commute was only about 2 miles each way, but on the way home it was mostly low inclines, occasional coasts, and then a few tough hills.

This is a banana bread with lots of stuff in it. You can basically put all your favourite trail mix toppings in it, and fruit for fibre. I wonder how much stuff I can put in and crowd out flour before it just falls apart. The one thing that is not in it is extra sugar. Most banana breads have a cup of sugar in a loaf, but honestly, if there's bananas you don't need that. I did put semisweet chocolate in but even that much extra sweetness isn't needed. Combine dry ingredients in one bowl: 1 3/4 c. flour 1 t. baking soda 1 t. salt Combine wet ingredients in another bowl: 2 eggs 2 mashed bananas 1/2 c. oil 1/4 c. milk 1 t. vanilla or almond extract Blend both together with a spoon and fold in some mix-ins. I used about 1/2 c. frozen cherries and 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips. I'm thinking next time I might just leave out the chocolate and add some pecans or something. Scrape into greased loaf pan and bake at 325ºF for 50 minutes. Some or all of the banana can be swapped out for some other kind of mashed fruit, like applesauce. I used half banana and half pumpkin this time.

Hit a slight snag -- my right bicep and tricep really sting when I do overhead presses. The left is fine and getting stronger. I think this is because of my school bag. Fortunately I have a week off school, so maybe I'll lay off training the right arm to give it some rest and healing, and then when school starts up again I'll carry the bag differently to keep it from happening again.

Ooooo, thanks! Yes, that's useful. Names are good if I want to get on Youtube and figure out what proper form is.

I'm right-handed. The bag is... really not that heavy. I have a couple of small notebooks, my tablet, and a stuffed-full three-ring binder in it at any one time, plus various other small items. In the winter when I have a coat on I tend to carry it only on the right shoulder with my hand on the strap, because it's awkward to get the strap crossed over my chest. I'm doing 3 sets of 10 reps with 3 different exercises right now: one-handed overhead presses, one-handed bent-over rows, and then bent-over barbell presses with a 20lb weight. I do it every other day. Like I said, the left arm, which is my non-dominant one, is fine. I can't think of anything I'm doing with the right arm other than wrangling the book bag that would make this much of a difference.

When I say noob, I mean I'm using a ten pound weight at the moment for the exercises in question. The RSI isn't from lifting weights. I think it's from my school bag, which I carry over my right arm. My right bicep really burns every time I do overhead dumbbell presses. The left one is fine and getting stronger, or at least I can keep form more easily than I could a week ago. Soooo... what should I do? I'll figure out a better way to carry the book bag, although it's not like I even have to carry it a long way. It's never more than a five minute walk with it over my shoulder. As for the weights, should I just train with the left arm until the right arm is better, and then go back to both and let it catch up?

Avocado protip: guacamole isn't just for texture, you can mix stuff into it that preserves it a little. Lemon or lime juice seems to slow it down from going off too fast. If it looks brown the next day, stir it up because it's just the surface exposed to the air that's oxidized. It'll be a perfect bright green again. Bring it to work in a little sauce tub alongside the heatable parts of your burrito bowl and add it after microwaving. I don't know about you, but an avocado's worth of guacamole doesn't last two days around me.

I like the dumbbells. My brother-in-law left some at his parents' house when he moved out and I yoinked them. They're just two bars with a pair of 10 lb plates and a pair of 5 lb plates. I liked dumbbells and freeweights when I was going to the gym, but going to the gym was ... something that took a lot of spoons out of me. Keep a bag of gym clothes clean, and indoor shoes and a lock, drive there, change, work out with other people around, get changed, drive home. Maybe when I get to the point where I want to spend an hour working out, it'll be worth it. But it was 45 minutes or an hour out of my day for much less actual exercise time than that. But having weights at home means I come home from school, put on comfy loafing/housework/exercise clothes, and lift weights in between doing the laundry and playing some games, or when I need to stand up and take a break from studying. I want more dumbbells, I should see what some small plates cost so I can build them up in little increments.

Awesome video, thanks. I was trying to do bent-over rows with my big dumbbell today. I think for proper form I really need to have a longer bar between the weights. This does more for my back than the standing rows did anyways, I can feel it in my lower back (which I know suffers when I'm sedentary, because of all the sitting and also the gut weight in front) as well as the shoulders and upper back.

You had me at beef and rutabaga. I need to try this.

I think I just invented the best protein salad ever. The trick is in how to boil the eggs. 2 eggs 1 can tuna > 1 T. mayo or oil 2 stalks of celery with leaves on Put the eggs in a pot of tap-hot water. Turn on the heat and set a timer for eight minutes. When it dings take the eggs off the heat, drain off the boiled water, and put cold water in the pot to cover the eggs and stop them cooking further. When the eggs aren't too hot to handle anymore, shell them carefully. The whites will be cooked through but the yolks will be runny! You don't need to prechop the eggs because they'll mash nicely with a fork. Mix them with chopped celery and the drained tuna. The yolk is like built-in salad dressing. If it's still too dry add a bit of mayo or oil. I put in 1 tablespoon and it's actually too much. Next time I'll cut back drastically. You could also add pepper, onions, mustard, whatever else you like in your tuna salad. But the half-boiled eggs really make this. It should be refrigerated (or in my case, left in a cold car during class) and probably eaten the same day it's made.

Woo hoo! I have a suggestion for the deep water fear and the breathing thing: learn to float on your back. You can even start by sitting on the pool steps up to your neck and just experimenting with it. But if you have your lungs full of air you can relax your limbs pretty well and still stay face-up. This way if you do scare yourself by getting tired when you're swimming over the deep end you can roll over and rest rather than flailing.

I should probably record what I'm actually doing for exercise regularly. 3x10 one-hand overhead presses, 10 lb 3x10 bent-over one-hand dumbbell rows, 10 lb 3x10 standing barbell rows with one dumbbell, 20 lb I do that every other day. On the days in between I do squats or planks. Not very good at planks yet -- I can hold it for fifteen seconds with my back straight but I'm trembling the whole time. Also I'm not sure how to plank and breathe simultaneously. I used to be able to do much heavier weights than that with the overheads especially. Part of it is that I'm out of shape right now, and partly it really is harder to do them with only one hand at a time and still keep good form. Food-wise: I'm not craving tons of junk. During the school day I do need to have multiple small meals or snacks rather than expecting a big lunch to carry me until the evening. The idea of making food at the beginning of the week and taking it for lunches all week is nice in theory but I get sick of the food halfway through. There's noodle salad left but I think today's lunch and snack will be mini tuna/celery sandwiches just to mix things up a little.

Heh. I started doing standing barbell rows this week. Well, it's with a 20 lb. dumbbell because that's what I have at home, but it just means the bar is shorter, right? Actually, the weights sort of roll up my gut and my titties if I don't make a point of holding it a little further out. Maybe bent-over rows would be better.

This is my first challenge thread. My challenges may be hobbit-sized because I got off to a late start this month. But I can talk your ears off about them anyways. Diet challenge: Planning and cooking ahead of time. My weakness food-wise is the tendency to think "I can last without food until I get home" when I had lunch at 12:30 between classes and then have to go to work until 7. What invariably happens is my brain hits a wall halfway through the afternoon and I end up buying a giant cookie or some nasty cafeteria food to keep me going. Or I stop on the way home after work and buy junk food and then pig out once I get home because I let myself get too hungry. The plan is to find recipes that will keep me ticking over throughout the day, make them ahead of time, and remember to bring them. Breakfast: this is easy. Something carby, and some protein. Usually a hash brown patty and an egg, or herring and cream cheese on toast. Lunch: something that doesn't need to be refrigerated or microwaved, since I'll be eating it outside my locker between classes. Going to scout out some recipes for salads with things like root & green vegetables with a bit of protein. On Sunday I cooked up a big batch of noodle salad with buckwheat soba, peppers, snow peas, and zucchini ribbons, and a bit of ginger-soy dressing. (Note: who needs a spiralizer when you have a good potato peeler?) Not bad except I overcooked the noodles. But lunch is covered for this week because I made that. Snack: carbs are needed to keep the brain at full steam. This is only a problem on Tues/Thurs when I have work until early evening. I'm either going to portion out some nuts and dried fruit into little boxes to take with me, or make some muffins (if I can find the recipe, I have one for muffins with frozen fruit and a little dark chocolate, and no other added sugar). Dinner: if I had a snack in the afternoon and I'm not starving when I get home, I can take the time to make a decent dinner that isn't based on a box of mac & cheese or a can of soup. If all this works out... I still like my takeout food and my chips once in a while, but I won't be tempted to buy them several times a week because I forgot to bring a meal and got hungry sooner than I thought I would. I can plan when I want to have this stuff and not overeat it. I will also probably end up drinking less coffee because I won't be having glucose crashes and mistaking it for needing caffeine. Fitness challenges: 1) Figure out the school pool schedule so that I can get in at least one and preferably two endurance type workouts per week, until there's enough daylight and warmth to bike on the park trails. Depending on how long I can swim they could be after work on Tuesdays and Thursdays, or I might just have to make the extra drive and do them in the mornings on two other days. I suspect the latter. I hate this bus-free bike-unfriendly city sometimes. (Fitness gear goal for the summer: install Ben-Hur-style spikes on my bike hubs for the cars that get too close.) 2) Do home workouts with body weight or dumbbells on the other days. I'll make a point of having two rest days during the week. Or do I need a rest day after every workout day? Anyways, the home workouts are easy to schedule at this point. I've been doing 3x3x10 with the dumbbells (standing overhead presses, bent-over rows, and ... what do you call that thing where you hold the weight in front of you with your arms straight and then lift it to chest level? Those things.) Life challenges: 1) Get a new doctor at a clinic that takes my insurance. The guy at the insurance-free clinic is a weird old quack and I can't really talk to him. If I have insurance now I'm going to make the most of it. 2) Finish up the stuff for the little wee book I'm writing. I have to write the introduction and acknowledgements and source some photography. That's IT. Geez. Why is the last bit so hard.

Honestly, yeah, still too subtle. If he's the same kind of romantic that you are he'll figure out that you want a romantic proposal, and do it. If he's not the same kind of romantic but understands and acknowledges that it's important to you, and loves you that much, he'll figure it out and do it. The problem with the little nudges is that it IS pressure, in a passive-aggressive sort of way. If he gets lots of little nudges and does nothing with it, it means he isn't ready to do it or doesn't want to. So you need to decide whether you want to ask him, or continue to wait for something that may never happen. It's not fair to either of you to live with the uncertainty that your needs -- both the long-term ones (like having kids or not) and the short-term emotional ones (like little romantic touches that make you feel special) -- may not be compatible with each other's. It's also not fair to either of you to expect the other one to bend, if your needs are really that incompatible. That's why talking clearly is better than nudging and hoping. I was in the opposite boat, I'm a woman and I never wanted kids, and the first guy I dated had the 2.3-kids-and-a-dog-in-the-suburbs fantasy. I told him I didn't want kids, and he seemed to understand, but then he would air out these fantasies about me being his wife and the mother of his children and all this stuff. It hurt worse when I eventually left because I knew this would always be a point of contention between us and he wasn't acknowledging that there was even a problem. And no, he wasn't happy when I left. But we wouldn't have been happy together because one of us would have ended up having to give up on goals and dreams to fulfill the other one's goals and dreams. It would never have been anything but bitter and one-sided.

Ask him! Don't wait for him to do the classic pop-the-question. If marriage is something you want, tell him you want it. And state your position logically -- you have some valid points here, like if you want to have babies you can't wait forever like a guy can, so if he wants babies, and he wants them with YOU, you guys need to get moving. I think it's entirely appropriate to want marriage as a prerequisite for banies, if just for the financial security - tax benefits from being married, and also some cushioning if the marriage doesn't work out. Tell him in clear words that you don't want him to feel pressured, and there's a good reason - you don't want to hear a yes for its own sake. You want the yes to mean that his goals are the same as yours. So if he doesn't want marriage and babies, or doesn't want them yet, that means he won't get to have them with you because you need them sooner. ... I'm really pragmatic about this crap, not much of a romantic. If there are logistical reasons for getting married or not getting married they need to be laid out on the table by both of you. And if either of you have reasons that clash with the other one's reasons, love will not conquer them. Sometimes guys think they want kids but don't think about the practicalities of it the way women do. If that's how he thinks, or if he's still stuck on wanting them "someday", he is likely not ready to have kids and be responsible for them now, or be an equal partner in parenting. If that's the case, it's sad, but you want a guy who is as committed to being parent as you are. Don't settle for less.

Some of those are pretty sugary, so look out for what is actually in them if you're watching your sugar. I like to squeeze half a lime into my water bottle or peel a slice of fresh ginger and stick it in there. They have sugar but not too much compared to how much favour you get.

I got the Witcher trilogy from a Steam sale over the holidays. Finished the first one, getting into the second one now. For some reason I decided to play them in Polish with English subtitles. Good grief, Geralt's Polish voice is sexy. I don't even speak Polish.

DOMS, yes, that's what it is. Not sure what kind of warmups and cool downs I can do for those muscles when all I can do is ten bodyweight squats just below parallel.

It's not tightness, just feels like overwork. But once it stopped hurting I did squats again and there's no problem today. So maybe it'll repair and rebuild fast. I also noticed that even if I do dumbbell presses to failure, I don't hurt the next day at all. Does that mean I should do it every day, or increase the weight even if that means failure happens at fewer reps?

Bike sprinting?! This is a thing? What do I do, ride at a normal pace to warm up and then go hard when I have a clear track in front of me? How long should sprints be?

Herring is one of my new favourite breakfast meats. Get the stuff in a can that's just fish and spring water. I like some carbs in my breakfast (because the first thing I do every day is go to school, and brain needs glucose) so I usually have it with potatoes. But it's seriously as tasty as bacon, wherever you would have bacon.

Yes, I should have said sugars and starches, or sugars and more complex carbs. Definitely not avoiding those, I'm a student and my brain needs glucose at regular periods during the day.

Addendum to yesterday: while today is a rest day, my arms don't hurt, even though I could not get that dumbbell over my head one more time yesterday. Hmm. Does that mean I can go more often? Or do I still need rest days?