On Hump Day, I Acted Like a Hump

Early to bed, early to rise, makes man healthy, wealthy, and wise.  So said the man who graces our $100 bill. Well at least I arose early.

This morning I had a 7 AM training session. Now that takes a little extra effort - to get out of bed and go down to the gym for sunrise boxing. I was happy that I am getting more conditioned, and I felt like I could go longer after the hour was up. Also, I am getting a little bit better at the speed bad, which made me feel great.  Note: As I wrote these previous words last night I fell asleep in mid-typing. The last time I did that it was not from mere exhaustion.

Clearly, the rigorous work-outs caught up to me last night, and my body is still not used to going to the gym at 7 AM. Also, my food intake was not the most pristine yesterday -- didn't I say I wanted to lose another 6.5 lbs by the weekend? Jeez!

I think what happens is that I see myself in the mirror, happy with the progress, throw some shadow boxing punches, see some muscle definition in my upper body that last saw the light of day sometime during the Bush Administration...Bush, Sr. And I feel less guilty about eating food, although pretty healthy, not the best for my continuous weight loss.

Yesterday, a lunch cancelled on me, so I went downtown to eat with a girlfriend. We went to Lemongrass for Thai. I had the vegetable platter, and she the broccoli and peanut sauce. Both were quite good, and even though the entire meal was vegetables, and brown rice, there was plenty of oils and sauces to register quite high on the calories count. But, again, still sore from a tough boxing work-out that morning, I justified it.

What is not justifiable, what is not defensible, was my childlike desire for some Red Vines licorice - at a 160 calories for every 5 strands it is certainly not as bad as other candy that qualifies as vegan, but it is still sugar, and empty calories. Why not a piece of fruit? Why not a smoothie? It was stupid that I could not get this gravitational pull for my taste buds out of my head. I sometimes have this reward mechanism in my head that says since I have been so good on this diet, and working out, I am going to reward myself and shove crap in my mouth!

There has been some significant activity buzzing around in front of my office building the last few days -- a massive stage had gone up in Times Square with camera equipment and lights to rival New Year's Eve. It was a secret concert put on to promote Samsung's new 3D TV, and the special band were The Black Eyed Peas. Walking outside my building I stood beneath the Military Recruiting building on the island at 43rd Street. The massive screens on the Nasdaq and Thomson Reuters buildings showed the event live. James Cameron was introduced first, claimed that he used these Samsung cameras for Avatar, then the BEP's came on to sing 4 of their biggest hits. And then that was that.

Some friends and I walked up to the Mexican restaurant Rosa Mexicana in Lincoln Center. The goal was to feast on their famous guacamole which is made right in front of your table using all fresh ingredients. I had guacamole with chips, and black beans - but they were fried black beans. I definitely had too much fat yesterday - it was vegetable fat, but still fat since I did not balance it out with more nutrient dense food. It must have been from all the intense exercise I have been doing but I was ravenous. I was stuffed, and I know damn well a meal based on guacamole, refried black beans, and chips are not the healthiest alternative. Again, did I mention I wanted to be more Spartan in my diet and exercise this week? I have been good on the work outs, but my food intake yesterday was way below par.