Archive | October, 2011

Love in the Fowl House*

/ October 20, 2011 / Uncategorized / Permalink

Wow, a while since an update. I had really bad sinus trouble on my 24 hr break, and basically didn’t get out of bed for the whole day, that was back on Saturday. Friday afternoon the fowl house arrived, and today assembled it.
I haven’t done an LHT for a while, but I did manage to get to Tues and Weds martial arts classes, making progress there. With this ongoing sinus, I was wondering whether I may have the low carb flu, but I’ve been primal for months now. I was really tempted to have a big bowl of rice and potatoes with pasta just in case it was low carb flu. I was that sick of it.
I did have plans to make the paleo buffalo wings again on the 24 hr break but didn’t make it out of bed. By the time I was ready to face it after another two day shifts, the chicken still seemed ok, but had been in the fridge a good 3 days after the Best before date. Not wanting to take a chance with it, I fed it to the dog. They have different systems to us, and seem only too happy to eat days old road kill. He was in seventh heaven.
I did get Lamb’s fry (liver) and bacon & eggs for lunch on Tuesday, and today I had my usual at scoffer’s cafe – bacon, 2 eggs, chorizo, black pudding, tomato, and I leave the toast and most of the hash browns (old school style) on the plate. Yesterday lunch wasn’t so strict, but really the only slip was one bread roll with my quiche roast beef & salad.
After putting the fowl house together yesterday, today I schlepped around town getting some tucker & pine shavings for them, then went out to the free range egg place to pick up some chooks. They told me that they made their last sale of live chickens on Monday and won’t be selling any more until February. Typical.
Anyhow I have sourced 4 red shaver pullets from a little further afield, and all going well I should be able to collect them tomorrow morning. Yay. Mollie gets to name them. I wanted to just call all four ‘Doris’ but apparently that just will not do .

* http://folksong.org.nz/love_in_a_fowlhouse/index.html

Listen here:

http://www.myspace.com/garnerwayne/music/songs/love-in-a-fowl-house-82290415

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Small arms, guns & bazookas

/ October 10, 2011 / 1DO, Fitness, Lifestyle / Permalink

First day off today and this morning, once again my wife points out that while I have lost a lot of fat, the fat that has gone from my left arm has left behind a rather flabby bicep.  I was actually feeling kind of good about having done the LHT the day before, and so flexed my right bicep for her.  I have to say while no Charles Atlas, I am kind of pleased with the way it is coming along.  Today was to be a move slowly day, and she was to be having lunch with a friend of hers, but that got cancelled, and so we decided to go to lunch together.

I had the super scoff, which consists of 2 fried eggs, bacon (the english kind for you americans out there), black pudding, fried pieces of real potato and really thick toast.  I left most of the potato and all of the toast on the plate.  I also had a long black coffee, or what some people call a coffee americano, yeah, some people.

After that I decided we should leave the car parked where it was and wander down to the discount store and pick up some large recycled plastic pots, so that I could plant the chilli seedlings I bought last week.  The seedlings have been quite happy on the kitchen counter, and I have been taking good care of them.  The weather has gone quite windy and I don’t think they would have made it if I planted them out now anyway.

Once I schlepped the pots back to the car and home, it was time to take the dog for his walk.  I like walking in a forest park on the other side of town, where I used to enjoy doing the couch to 5k runs as well. so off we went.

2011-10-10 14.30.31_WEB 

Here he is trotting off down the track.  I was actually feeling very energised when we got there and vaulted over the gate with a spring in my step. Woohoo!

I have often thought that I should bring a bag or a backpack along and collect pine cones along the way, either for the open fire during winter, or the outdoor brazier during BBQs in the summer.  All of the small  backpacks we have at the moment are too good to get trashed on that task, so I will need to keep an eye out. for a cheapy somewhere along the way.  Maybe the salvation army when I take all of my fat clothes down there. :)

Dog & I wandered along the trails and I was still wondering what to do about my flabby arms.  Maybe my form is just terrible when I do the push ups?  It doesn’t feel like bad form.  Maybe my form is terrible because of the fact that my left arm is so weak?  Around this time I formed a small kernel of an idea.

I found a tree branch that would have been a little over a metre long, and that my hand would only wrap half way around.  It was quite wet, and I estimated that it would be approximately 7 kg (15 lbs).  It had a few smaller spiky branches sticking out of it.

2011-10-10 15.04.32_WEB

I decided that I would carry this stick for the rest of the walk.  There needed to be rules for this carry though.  This was inspired somewhat by a WOW Mark posted some time ago on MDA.  The rules were relatively simple. Carry the stick any way I could, but only with the left hand, and walk at least 5 km.  I did stop once, only long enough to remove my sweater, since I’d worked up a good sweat, and to take this picture.  I completed the 5km and while the last km or so was getting quite difficult.  At one point as I was holding one of the short sticks, with the stick over my shoulder, I wondered if anyone that saw me would wonder if I was playing at toy soldiers with a pretend bazooka on my shoulders.  No sooner did the thought occur and I was just about ready to charge off into the undergrowth and assault a pretend bunker.  A bit like ‘Shogun’ in Boy the Movie:

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It would probably be a breach of some anti-terror law though.  Full movie scene here:http://www.flicks.co.nz/trailer/boy/1847/#TB_inline?height=455&width=730&inlineId=moviePlayer

Go watch the movie, it’s a crack up.

At the end of the walk, I stashed the branch by the start of the 5km section, hopefully out of the way of sniffing/pissing pooches, ready for use next time.  Then I spent 20 minutes or so getting in some karate practice before class.

Karate class was good, and thankfully the warm up did not include a beasting on the press ups.

Dinner was steak and vegetables.  Lovely.

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It Burns!!

/ October 6, 2011 / 1NS, Lifestyle / Permalink

Yesterday was the start of my shift rotation again. An 8pm start so the day is one of mostly rest. Woke up and schlepped the garbage out for collection. Had a couple of HB eggs, and went and checked on my newly planted seedlings. Not too much slug/snail carnage observed, all good. Boiled up another 10 or so eggs for the coming roster week, the odd one or two always crack in the pot.
Lunch was a can of sardines on 3 pieces of whole grain toast. Before primal I always thought this was a super healthy meal, and I’m still not ready to give away the toast with my sardines yet. Any suggestions for a fast, easy accompaniment for sardines, other than salad? Next time I may try scrambled or mashed HB egg with them.
After that came a piece of real resistance:
1 clove of garlic (home grown) finely sliced
2 dried chillies (home grown) finely sliced
a drizzle of olive oil
Into the slow cooker with them
Cube up 600 grams of grass fed gravy beef and mix it in with everything else.
Drizzle over a liberal quantity of Kaitaia Fire.
add a cup or so of boiling water and set to high for a few hours.
I did a few more chores then turned in for a pre-shift nap. On waking 3 hours later, turn the slow cooker to low add a cup of hot beef stock and serve up with nuked broccoli, cauli and carrots.
A couple of cups of coffee, 2 apples, 2 HB eggs a handful of almonds, a sugar free energy drink and a hot chocolate around 6am saw me through the 12 hr shift and I was home in bed by 9a.

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As ye sow, so shall ye reap

/ October 4, 2011 / Uncategorized / Permalink

Last night was grilled chicken, mixed veg, a small helping of rice for dinner, and a chocolate ice cream for dessert.
Today I had left over grilled chicken straight from the fridge for breakfast, along with a big drink of skim milk.
Snacked on a HB egg some time around 11 then went shopping for seedlings since it’s spring downunder.
Planted:
6 cauilis
6 Broccoli
6 broccoflower
1 pickle
3 cherry tomatoes
6 spinach
still to plant, when I sort out the best location:
6 chillis
untold spring onions
Pulled a few weeds out too. Spent most of the time doing this with shirt off soaking up the rays. It felt very grok-like man-handling a plastic 30 gallon drum that was half full of compost.

 

A quick shower, some more cold grilled chicken and then an hour and a half of aikido class. Both the senior student present, and one of the instructors remarked on how much weight I’ve lost.
Tonight’s dinner is curried local farmed beef sausages with mixed vegies.
Drank a lot less diet coke today than yesterday, and have filled an old coke bottle with water, and placed it where the coke usually sits. I’ve done this before, and it works for a few days until I go back to coke. I’m ready to make it stick this time.

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Just keep swimming

/ October 3, 2011 / Heavy Things, Uncategorized / Permalink

Substituted some diet coke with black tea yesterday, so I drank less than usual, but still more than I’d prefer. Did an LHT this morning, felt pretty bad during/immediately after and thought I might throw up. I’m not sure why, maybe too soon after my 2 HB eggs?
I felt a little let down that my 1st set of press ups was 5 short of what I did in the previous session, but looking back over the numbers it seems that the last session’s figure was unusually high, maybe I was just having a good day that time? I consoled myself that the total of the two sets for today was still 1 press up higher than the total for the 2 sets in the previous session. Yay!!

Exercise Level Set 1 Set 2 Target
Pushup 1.4 25 26 50
Pullup 2.4 15 15 15
Squat 3.4 50 50 50
Overhead Press 4.4 15 15 12
Plank Front 5.4 90 45 90
Plank Side 5.4 45 45 45

Karate tonight, our warmup usually includes press ups and crunches/bicycles etc. If we have to stay in horse stance for any length of time I will pay again for the squats too. Never mind, one day the squats will mean I can hold the lowest horse stance for the longest
I also had my progress pictures taken and took my measurements and body fat calculations. I felt like it was a little bit of a cheat to do this right after an LHT but never mind, I hadn’t done it for a while and decided doing it then was better than not doing it at all. Sorry but the progress pictures aren’t for publication yet.

While I know that the body fat caliper I have is cheap, inaccurate, and the measurements are subject to fluctuation even with good ones, I’m a little concerned that the 2kg (4.4 lb) that I lost in the last month seems fairly evenly divided between fat and lean mass. I’m fairly sure I’m eating enough and sufficient protein. I’m not trying to pack on muscle mass at the moment, but I’d prefer to conserve what I do have. Keep at the LHT I guess and see how things progress. Weight & waist measurement seem to be the only ones that are progressing steadily. All of the others bounce around a lot and and some – like chest and bicep – I’m not sure whether it’s better to be going up or down. Once all of the extraneous fat is gone, I’m sure any increase is good, but until then I just don’t know.

Anyway, the kettle has boiled and I am going to make a big pot of gen mai cha tea, instead of pouring a coke.

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October 1–3 months of primal today

/ October 2, 2011 / Lifestyle / Permalink

Saturday here, and I worked 8a – 8p. I only had 2 hardboiled eggs left in the fridge so saved them for a workday snack and had a chorizo sausage and some smoked kahawai for breakfast. Got to work and had my coffee.
Coffee and the 2 hard boiled eggs for morning tea.
Big bowl of mixed vegetables and some more smoked kahawai for lunch. A sugar free ‘energy’ drink.
A big handful of almonds and an apple between 2p – 6p. 2 cups of black tea no milk or sugar.
A large glass of diet coke <=== This. This is my current challenge and the least amount of coke i’ve drunk in a long time by a long chalk.
8:30p a bowl of stir fry chicken & broccoli with some (probably non-primal) sauce. 2 large mugs of chamomile tea.

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