Rachel was not a morning person to begin with.

Yes, its true. ---- Shocker, I know.

Day 1 of the new me: complete.

Hmmm, I don’t feel different yet. When does the feeling different part kick in?

I stuck to my diet plan today:

Breakfast – homemade Greek yogurt, healthy chocolate chip muffins (2) and a banana.

Lunch – bacon, lettuce, tomato, turkey unwich (wrapped in lettuce instead of bread) and an apple

Dinner – Heather’s Buddha Bowl

Who the heck is Heather and why did she name her bowl after an enlightened religious figure of antiquity?

No idea, I just do what the diet plan tells me.

Heather’s Buddha Bowl = roasted butternut squash, onion and broccoli on top of rice with avocado, a fried egg and nuts.

I made the muffins the night before, and they were easy enough, taste good too, which is more important. I liked that the recipe used cake flower, an ingredient in my cubbard I barely use. It made the muffins have a lighter consistency. The recipe makes 12 muffins, and I ate one as part of my dinner. I can now have two each day for breakfast with a piece of fruit during the week with one left over for a snack or indulgence.

I decided to make the lunch in the morning because lettuce tends to get soggy when it mixes with the water of tomatoes, and no one, I mean no one, likes a soggy bottom sandwich. I did cook the bacon the night before.

I am not a morning person, this should be noted from the beginning. A Christmas Carol starts with the words, “And Marley was dead to begin with.” Well, my blog should have started with the immortal words, “And Rachel was not a morning person to begin with.” ‘Tis true, I admit it. I woke up about 45 minutes earlier than normal to prepare lunch, eat breakfast and get ready for work. Trying to separate individual lettuce leaves from the head without tearing them is not a morning job. I also learned that parchment paper and tape are not good friends when I tried to package the thing up. Instead I used my trusty (and singular in the whole entire house) rubber band to keep the wrapping in place. Unwich was ok, but I sort of felt like a rabbit.

Prepared the Buddha bowl with my boyfriend after the gym.

Days without injury = 0.

Alas, while skinning the butternut squash, I skinned my own finger as well. When you get cut cutting, you get cut from the cutting team (I’m an idiot, I know.). That is to say, I no longer had to cut vegetables for the evening, hooray! The recipe wanted chopped pecans, but we are both cashew fans, so opted for those roasted with a little cayenne pepper. I was worried the dish would be tasteless with no seasonings other than the salt, pepper and onion, but the egg added a lot of flavour.

All in all, a good day of eating. Did not feel hungry throughout the day, and did not even have to use the emergency granola bar stashed in my purse.

So, it looks like you have this diet thing down for now, but what about all those other things on your list?

What list?

Ohhhhh, that list yeah.

Exercise

My goal is to exercise at least three times a week for one hour, moving toward more.

We know, you said that already yesterday.

Thanks.

Went to the gym today with my gym buddy. I have fallen on the stairs twice for no apparent reason and have injured my ankle, so I must do exercises which will not put strain on it until it figures itself out.

Due to that and my puny muscles, I am not so sure that it was quite an hour, maybe more like half an hour. In that time, I did 30 squats, 30 curls, 30 benchpress curls, some wing span weight thingys, some over-the-head lift thingys, and some bend over and lift backward thingys. I also did some leg lifts, some downward dog, and some superman-mismatched arms and legs thingys (yes, these are all trademarked technical terms). By the end of all that, my body said no more. I planked (I think) as I counted to 10 and said fín.

Gyms are kind of weird these days. Well, everything is kind of weird these days, but especially gyms. People are trying to work out, but they have to wear masks and try to social distance, which means no locker rooms. There are some other lockers at the front of the gym that people fight for. Otherwise, you just have to carry your stuff around as you move to different stations. I always feel super self-conscious at the gym, because I’m fat and I’m weightlifting with the lightest weights they have. I probably look ridiculous. There were a bunch of high school kids in there training tonight, and they probably look at me and think, “Yes, this is the reason I am here right now: so I don’t look like that in 10 years.” Happy to be of service kids, happy to be of service.

Welp, I have more to say, but must get to bed, so goodbye for now. Another great day of change awaits us tomorrow.

See ya later dames and gents!