Just another manic Monday...or is it?

Good Monday morning!  

It's a beautiful start to the day here in our fair city of Victoria, British Columbia.  I woke up a little late, but I am excited for the start of this new week...Why you ask?  Well, it's manic Monday - rewritten.

So why are Mondays good?  Let's see...it's the start of a new week...and this week is particularly important because it's the week after the end of TC Health Challenge 2014.  So rather than throw in the towel a mere 3 months after-Christmas and after celebrating Troy T-Bone Wilson's 70lbs lost during the challenge...I, like many other readers I'm sure, will be starting the week out right just as we've been doing for the last 12 weeks.  I declare my outright commitment to this healthy lifestyle.  Generally I do this on Weigh-in Wednesdays, but Monday is better than Wednesday, because it's sooner...and it's now...and there's no time like the present. 

It's good to reboot from time to time, set the bod and brain back to factory settings.  

My  hard-wire for diet is caveman-inspired, with a bit of agricultural revolution thrown in.  What's that they say?!  The archaeologist is always right?  Haha...whatever...I try not to eat processed food, I love lean animal-proteins (former vegetarian turned omnivore...woopsy), I munch on nuts and seeds for their good fats, I enjoy unlimited amounts of fruits and veg (I like eating A LOT...so these add bulk to my meals), I have portioned whole grains - it's pretty much that simple.  I shop for groceries every few days, and always have fresh produce in the house for spur-of-the-moment stir-fries and gorgeous gargantuan salads.  I do my best to eat cleanly, and mechanically.  I pretty much have set "feeding times" so that I am never too ravenous...that lessens the chance that I will over-eat.  I still have a tendency to do that, even after 15 months on programme, but I am learning.  For this reason, I still journal EVERYTHING...even when I indulge in a treat or two.  I also try to be prepared, carrying food in my bag at all times and taking a few minutes on Sundays to plan my dinners for the week.  That keeps me in check.

My fitness regimen does not include running away from sabre-toothed tigers and/or mammoths...though that is great exercise...it remains almost exactly the same as when I started with the TC Health Challenge.  I do slow-burn cardio in the mornings 6 days a week - Monday through Friday I also walk to and from the Crystal Pool, or at least I try to do so, I sometimes ride my bike.  My double-up days are Monday (MIJO Sport Taekwondo), Tuesday (evening cardio followed by Taryn Strong's Anahata Moon Yoga for Recovery at MokSana), Wednesdays (MIJO Sport Taekwondo) and sometimes Thursdays (Taryn Strong's Anahata Moon Yoga - Hatha class at Hemma) and Saturdays off...two of my morning workouts are ninja training sessions i.e. personal training sessions with Jonathan Carpenter of MIJO Sport.  I love my gym time.  It is a time when I disconnect with my kinetic monkey-mind and just sweat everything out.  When I'm done, even after all that hard work, I feel recharged, refocused, refreshed.        

After a fabulous weekend where I may have imbibed some BEvERages and eaten some bacon on Friday evening, quite possibly had a Dynamite Roll lunch with T-Bone Troy and Korean BBQ for dinner with a bunch of ninjas on Saturday, and had a Sunday Funday supper of rustic French food, including 3 gorgeous slices of whole wheat crusty baguette and drunken beef stew (yes, I ate bread and there may have been a smidgeon of butter on each piece)...after all that, I, SUZIE SPITFYRE, commit to clean.  Eating that is, I still believe in training dirty...and it's probably the only reason that I am not beating myself up mentally for the treats I had this weekend - I hit the gym every day this past week. 

Monday, oh Monday...you and I used to have such a sordid relationship.  I would have wild weekends and then I would promise to never stray again.  Then I would break my word and cheat on you...numerous times.  And then I would swear up and down that the next time you came round I would stick with it, but it never happened.  Until January of 2013 when I embarked on a brand new love affair with health and fitness, what a threesome we make!  We've only been together for 15 months, but it's been really working out.  We spend almost all our time together and I have gotten a lot of really nice meals out of it.  So today, I'm going to make some similar statements, Monday...but, this time it's more of an affirmation that after a year and 3 months of eating a healthy diet and getting lots of exercise, I can do this...even after a bit of mild flirtation on the weekend.  I know, I know just as long as not every Thursday is thirsty, every Friday is fitness-free, every Saturday is saturated-fat-filled, and every Sunday is sugary.  Monday, I'm using you to reboot...you are now Moderation Monday instead of Manic Monday.