Day 20: THREE WEEKS IN.

Hey! Three weeks! BAM. I can't believe the challenge is half over.  I'm keeping the regime up for two weeks past the actual challenge, as two weeks after it ends is when filming begins, so I want those last two weeks to be the final push.

But. Taking a second here.  I've been doing this for three weeks.  I don't think I've ever been this disciplined about something, ever. I know I've said that before, but holy shit, it's really sinking in.  I'm killing it.  And I feel absolutely confident that this will, as it has been doing, continue to sharpen the other aspects of my life.  I get shit done.  Very little dillydallying going on anymore.

Just finished morning workout; 3 and 1/2 circuits of 20 Squats, 3 Push Ups (CORRECT FORM!), 30 Sec Plank, and 10 Bent Over Dumbbell Row.

Grand total of 60 Squats, 9 Push Ups, 3 Planks and 20 Rows.

Because my legs get worked out virtually all day when I'm working, I took particular care to pay attention to how my knees were feelings etc, being careful to listen to how my muscles were feeling, and where I was focusing my weight.  Helped a lot.  Today should be an easy work day, so hopefully tonight I'll have enough energy to get some acting stuff done, as well as tidy up a bit.

FOR THE REBELLION!

-C

Day 19: Urgh tired.

Okay I know it's technically Saturday, but for my intents and purposes, it's Friday.

SOOO I went out with two friends on Thursday night and absolutely broke a lot of the rules of my diet. WHOOPS.   But I had a rad time, so I'm okay with it.  Back on track now; and though I slept the day away, I got home from work not long ago and managed to squeeze in a teeny tiny workout.  At 2 AM. What. UP.

Literally:

3 Push Ups
30 Sec Wall Sit
30 Sec Plank
10 Seated Tricep Dips
2 Push Ups
30 Wall Sit
30 Sec Plank
10 Seated Tricep Dips

Sleepy time, and bed early tomorrow night for sure.

DAY 18

Whoo! So, Tuesday morning I strained my left knee a bit in a workout, promptly freaked out and thought I'd sprained it, calmed down, rested it yesterday and today my workout was all upper body stuff.  Tomorrow I'll see how it feels because doing any full body stuff.

Yesterday was my sort-of "Cheat Day" which may or may not have involved treating myself to dinner (Guac and fried calamari with chipotle mayo! Wine!) and then getting tipsy on hard cider and yelling at my laptop while watching Supernatural (-gasp- DEAN! NOOOO! SAM! SAM! SAMMMYYYYYY!!!).

Though I was not hung over this morning, my body aches from the alcohol, which is odd, though unsurprising.  My weekly alcohol intake is very low, so when I do drink my body gets angry with me.  Which is good, because is discourages me college-style pointless partying and hang overs.  I am wimp about hang overs. I would rather never drink again than be hung over and have to do stuff. It sucks.

Just finished working out; I created a new circuit for upper body and light leg stuff.  I'm working on perfecting my form on push ups; realized I was not going down as far as I ought and my elbows were pretty far out.  So I only did 3 per set, but damn they were hard.

Push Up [3]
Wall Sit [30 sec]
One Arm Bent Over Dumbbell Row [10 per arm per set]
Plank [30 sec]

Completed 4 circuits in fifteen minutes.  Broke a sweat! And my knee is feeling much better, though I may wear my ace bandage when I go out tonight, just in case, as I have to waitress tomorrow.

I also think I need to buy new running shoes.  I wear the same sneakers for work that I do for working out, so they're probably shot (bought them in March-ish).  I need to buy new ones and ONLY wear them for exercise and walking around, NOT at work.

Also, I started some serious research for acting stuff and realized I have A LOT of work to do.  More on that later.

-C

Week 3; Day 15: Refocus

I've started Week 3 off well; just finished a low impact circuit workout; 3 and 1/2 circuits of 20JumpingJack/10Lunges/10PushUps/30SecPlank/10SeatedDips.  It's funny what a night of good sleep can do a body; I swear I look more cut up this morning than I did before going to sleep (though I'm sure there are many potential reasons for that, ie water weight etc).  Anyhow, I feel utterly badass and am making myself take some bigger steps this week.

I have been diligent with my work outs. I am on the strictest diet I have ever tried and it is going swimmingly; aside from a few daydreams of mocha frappaccinos, I have not strayed.

But. I have done nothing about Goal #4; reaching out to agencies.  Time to do that.  I don't want to leave it until Week 6 and be all rushed.  So this week will be Research Week! I will comb backstage; bust out my business class notes (if I can find them), and perhaps call up a few old professors. I am going to use this solidified confidence in my ability to Get Shit Done to fuel my career as well as my fitness goals.

-C

Day 14: Week 2 Completed!

You guys.  I have been doing this for TWO WEEKS. IN A ROW. I worked out on ten on the fourteen days.  Not bad for a big comfortslug like moi, eh!?  And not only have I been sticking to my diet and work-out regime but I have also been super duper productive on the acting front and in general.  

Yesterday I rearranged my entire room (not an odd occurrence for me, really, I do it about every six months) and because my brother left an awesome metal clothing rack here I have twice the space for my hordes of clothes.  So I finally organized almost ALL of my clothing.  I have far too much.  I have the main stuff I wear, most of which I bought in the last year, then I have all these clothes from high-school that I either wear -very- rarely but still wear and thus justify keeping or has too much nostalgia attached to to throw away.  Then there's clothes I accumulated from house guests, old roommates, etc.  I have found plenty of t-shirts that I never thought I would wear because I went through a phase wear everything I wore had to be black or red and sexy, but thankfully I got through that alive and now wear other colors again. Phew.

BEHOLD THE GLORY

All my crap. But on shelves/in drawers/on hangers!

My classy, classy, DIY shoe rack

So I spent a lot of today just looking around my room, being generally impressed with myself.

Then I had an audition/interview view via Google+ Hangout, which, while I usually feel awkward about video interviews, seemed to go very well and I will say no more than that, except I hope I get the role because it seems like a really cool project and the two guys running it seemed rad.  Fingers crossed, people!

Now, for the final day of Week 2 of Operation: Beast Mode, I battled cravings for sugary drinks all day long and contented myself with a peach.  Though maybe the sugar in the peach was what triggered the craving? Egg, or chicken? Whatever, I didn't cave. I have made  it this far, and I would love to be able to go up to people in bars and say "One time I went six weeks without a single mocha frap. Why, yes, you may buy me a drink, how nice!"  They will be so. Impressed.

Anyway, before the interview I was not looking forward to working out, but the audition seemed to go so well (I read a bit from the script) that I was full of adrenaline after and practically leapt into exercise.  There have may have been some Ricky Martin inspired impromptu sexy dancing. 

I did four and half circuits of 20Squat/7PushUp/30SecPlank/10DumbbellRows.  I felt a weird, er, spasm, in my right quad in the second to last circuit of squats.  I paused, and nothing hurt; it was almost like an electric current ran through my leg. I don't know how else to describe it.  I finished that set with no issue but then it happened again in the last set. I paused again, waited a few seconds.  I checked my breathing to make sure I was taking full, deep breaths, and finished the circuit, only going MUCH slower than before.  Does anyone know what I'm talking about? It was really weird.  Anyway, I'm going to just make sure I take my time in future squat sets. AND I made sure I stretched A LOT after.

Alright, bring on Week 3!

-C

Day 12

Almost to the two week mark which means a third of the Six Week challenge is almost over.  I cannot believe -- CANNOT-- believe that I have been this consistent for so long.  I am super proud of myself.

On the flip side, I am fucking beat right now and have to head to work in less than an hour. Normally this would be fine except I have been up since 8 AM because I filmed all afternoon; which consisted of walking around the park in stilettos (NOT FUN OR EASY) and dragging my suitcase full of costume changes around. I had a great time overall, I'm just wiped out  because I went to sleep around 2:30 AM last night because of work.  And I have to be up early again tomorrow for more filming (different project) though I get an early evening. Fortunately I shouldn't be working past 10 30 PM, which puts me home around midnightish at the latest (fingers crossed). And I have all Sunday off, thank god.

This morning I wasn't feeling doing squats, so I created a new circuit which was

Jumping Jacks - 20
Lunge - 10 /leg
Push Up - 10
Plank - 30 sec
Seated Tricep Dip - 10

Completed it 3 1/2, so I got in 40 lunges, 40 pushups, and 60 JJs and 30 Dips.  Not half bad.  Tomorrow will be a rest day methinks; I'll just got for a walk in the evening because my body is already hurting from the workout and unexpected traipsing in the park in heels.

Loading up on food now; and eating again in like an hour or so when i get to work where I will be sure to get a burger or something high protein.

Been doing well on the diet still; sugar intake is very tricky to control/abolish.  My mom brought me peaches from Pennsylvania and they are so fucking good I have to eat them all.  I didn't even know I liked peaches. Anyway! Definitely sleeping hard tonight.

Rah!

-C

Day 11

Yesterday, Day 10; my mom drove up to pick up my little brother and move him out of my apartment where he's been staying for the past two months, so I took a rest day.  Though I technically had a rest day on Sunday, I was up at the ass crack of morning and walked/ran around ALL DAY, so it was hardly restful, and as I mentioned before; working on on Mon and Tues was incredibly difficult. My muscles weren't particularly sore, I was just running on fumes. Bad.  So yesterday instead of working out I slept in, then got up and cleaned my place in prep for La Madre.  We went out to eat with some of my friends a bit on the late side, so I vetoed my No Eating After 7 PM rule. I ate mostly really healthfully; had a little sangria and tequila, but nothing crazy, so I felt great this morning even though I was up late and woke up early to see my fam off (7 AM).  Now it's only noon and I already worked out, swept and rearranged my room and started some organization projects.

Also just worked out, and I FELT. AWESOME. And strong.  I did my Superhero Circuit and almost completed a sixth circuit, meaning I did THIRTY. BURPEES. THIRTY. Yes. I feel awesome. Now, I have to clean myself up and get on with my day, but I am incredibly boosted in my confidence in my workouts.  Oh, also, I improved my sprint time by a skosh.  Of the four sprints, my first time was 25.6 and my last was 21.05. SUCKA PLEASE.

I now know the power of taking your rest days seriously. Phew.

-C