Well, hello...

Just thought I'd ramble on a little tonight. Some not so good news? Today I felt slightly down. I could use the word "depressed" but I feel that that word gets thrown around thoughtlessly and sometimes in exaggeration. I definitely wasn't depressed in the literal meaning of it, however, was feeling quite down and slothly. Anyway, I didn't feel like doing a thing today. I didn't want to keep track of my meals. Didn't want to workout. I tried to go running, but quickly turned around. I picked up some weights, but shortly put them down. Now, I ate about three meals due to small appetite. I still ate good, considering I could have used the excuse to have eaten a pint of ice cream to increase my serotonin ;). Today, I had a turkey sandwich & cottage cheese, carrots, peanut butter & celery...I mean, my eating didn't get carried away, I know that for sure. Though, I'm thinking my calories were probably too low.

I had such a great start Monday - Thursday working out and feeling great. Then Thursday evening I noted a reoccurence of an old injury - I suffered from Plantar Fasciitis earlier this summer and it is back. An inflammation of the Plantar Fascia that supports the arch of my foot manifests itself as a knifing pain in the heel. Intuitively most of us walk on the ball of our foot when this happens which in fact makes the condition worse! Yesterday I bought an arch and heel support to put in my shoes but I now have to stay off my foot as much as possible until the inflammation goes down. I am icing it 3 times a day for about 20 minutes and do yoga stretching every day which should ensure the plantar fascia is stretched well.

Well, the week is almost over. I had completed 2 cardio days, and 3 workout days. Julia recommended strength training 4-days/week so I can gain muscle mass. Being a skinny guy all my life, I think it's time I have a makeover.

The workout so far is fun, although I tend to spend more time at the gym than at home. Also, yesterday at the gym, I forgot to warm up my biceps before workout, and now my biceps are a little sore. I'm not sure if I can do another biceps workout tomorrow. I'll see if the ache goes away tomorrow.

Chad recommended I stay on high carbs, so I can maximize my intake. I have to admit, the 5-meals/ day is really, really hard. Having a desk job, I have to find time to much on Meals 2 and 4. In the past, I used to have snacks (like fruits or cookies) in between, which I can multitask. But eating a real meal, now that's hard. I'm also not used to eating so often.

Well, I made my big batch of salsa the other day and I had my tomato shortage dilema leaving it too "oniony" tasting, even after I let it sit overnight. It wasn't hot enough either. Today, I went to the grocery store to buy one tomato to dilute the salsa. Any my brother, our "head gardener" said that I didn't need to buy any peppers because there we plenty at home of all sorts. Earlier today, there was just a big jalapeno in it. I wanted a hotter pepper, like serrano or something. I'd only heard about the hotness of the habanero pepper. So, I thought I'd try it. It's a cute little orange thing. It looks far too precious to be hot. I'll post a pic, so you can see. Well, anyway, I was adding the tomato, added another jalepno and some other pepper that wasn't hot, then I added the petite habanero pepper. I like to use the tip of my tongue to determine the hotness of the pepper, they all seemed fine. Well, I washed my hands and now came time to taste the masterpiece and it tasted AWESOME. Then, I licked my lips. Bad choice. When the habanero peppers juice hit my lips, they swelled up. Turned a bright coral color. It felt like I had a second degree burn on my lips. It's crazy because my tongue was fine. Well, then I rubbed my eye. An even WORSE mistake. My eye then swelled up a bit, nothing crazy, it just felt thick. It was red and tearing very badly. My other eye itched and I chose not to rub it with my fingers, so I rubbed it with my wrist...I guess the hotness traveled from my fingers to my wrist. Now, just imagine this picture. A helpless gal with both eyes clampped shut with tears pooring out and bright swollen lips, walking around trying not to touch anything. hahaa. Oh gosh. After the interior burn went away, my lids just felt like . I washed my hands again and again, but even when I itch my nose, I can feel a burn. CRAZY! I should have used gloves! But, lil' ol' me loves learning the hard way.