Ragrets

Yesterday was easter, and I planned to take a cheat day for the past six weeks for a pierogie party.  First it was only going to be sunday, but Dave woke up and heated up sausages and grilled pineapple, so, welp.  I realized A LOT of things that made me feel gross and just not worth it.

BAD

- GF GS cookies - too sweet

- home made peanut butter eggs - meh, again too sweet

- candy - why bother?  There are great SF versions I can eat a piece a day

- cupcakes - never that fond of them, just tasted boring

- HFCS rootbeer - for as much as I love SF Barqs, the regular stuff left me nonplussed.

Mostly, what made me feel gross was the drive sugar produced in me to eat everything in sight.  So while maybe one cookie would have been ok, I had to rip myself away half a sleeve in.  I also found that I needed salt in everything, and that unsalted sweet things just didn't appeal to me, but that's pretty standard for me.  Unsalted butter is for animals.

GOOD

 - Pierogies - duh.

 - Chinese Wok

 - Pizza - yes, even bad pizza is better than no pizza

 - Bailey's

 - Cake batter - really good when mixed with vodka >.>

 - Peanuts and chips - aaaaaalllll of the chiiiiips is not the right answer

 - Krupnic - again, in sips, not half a glass

 - Ice cream - I can probably be more discriminate with this

 - Beer - I nursed a Winter Warmer for two days.  It was odd. It might be different with other kinds.

 - Jello - So. Many. Shots.

The things I did like were also impossible to put down, and I definitely felt worse and worse the more I ate them.  I don't know if this is more caused by the caloric restriction or the keto.  The next scheduled day off I have is in four weeks and will be War Practice, at which I have been invited to the Brewer's Guild Party. I plan on eating whatever I want, just forcing me to not snack or binge.

These last two times I've gone off keto I've jumped from 159-170-161-170.  It takes me about four days to get back to the bottom weight, and even then I didn't get all the way back to pre-binge.  I think I'm plateauing at 160 and definitely need to amp up the exercise.  Luckily I'm on Review Week and I get time back to myself soon!

Progress

I didn't make the final roster for BotAS (first alt), but I've decided to keep going with the diet for a while, at least Rollercon.  There hasn't been much progress, but it is existent.  The five pounds I gained in Columbia didn't stick and left with the glucose flush (~10lbs?), and I've managed to lose a legitimate five pounds in the past 2.5 months.  I think I was a bit slow in january because I found way too many excuses to drink vodka.  Cheats have only been Dave's b-day/cabin trip and Mardi Gras; next one will be easter. I'm also starting to lift again, and today is finally warm enough that I want to go jogging outside!  So despite the diet shamers, I'm going to keep with the progress.

Oh! And I managed to wear the dress I bought for Fer's wedding Oct 2017 that I had hulked out of that winter, and I think it fits me better now than when I bought it.  I'll update if I find a picture.  Mostly I think I like how the lack of glucose looks on me and gives me a better shape, more than the actual weight loss.

Also, fuck guys who always brag that "a 30x34 is always a 30x34" when talking about pant sizes.  I keep trying them on because I want pockets, damnit, and they still fluctuate (admittedly less drastically) from style to style.

Tall Collar Cranach pt 1

This weekend was the Region One 12th Night: Fire & Ice celebration and it was amazing!  I spent twelve hours in the kitchen with some great people, stood through court while Cas got awarded arms, and all in all had a fabulous time with all the shenanigans.  What I didn't do was wear the Cranach gown I made in six days >.>

I'd never previously made a Cranach dress (nor researched them) nor had I ever made anything with a collar, so I was very neurotic trying to get started.  I figured I could try to modify a Simplicity pattern for an Elizabethan coat/gown, but still just continued to freak myself out through Saturday.

I then decided to roll pleat my skirt Sunday until I could find knowledgeable help. Five yards of silver velvet that I found at Surplus City for $1.99/yard, minus 20% through January. Yay!

Monday I finally managed to pounce on the most wonderful Kiera (aka Baroness Seley (aaka my favorite Feathertwat)), who makes Cranach dresses in her sleep, borrow her basic bodice pattern and get it perfectly fit in a matter of hours.  

The next few days I proceeded to encase the front of the bodice and realized just how much I hate encasing.  And I managed to shove a needle into my finger, eye first, 1/4", and bleed on the fabric >:[

I decided to help myself out with the sleeves and use Elmer's fabric glue before cutting the slashes so that the fabric wouldn't fray.  After my final fitting on Wednesday, I decided to only slash the elbow and not the shoulder, but there's always a chance that might change in the future.  

The last thing I made was a "back up Brusefleck" just out of the contrast flocked satin, in case I didn't have time to bead the one I wanted to make out of black velvet.  Which of course I didn't make because I got home at 1 am and woke up at 7 Friday to get things ready and on the road.  I don't have a finished picture of the dress with the sleeves attached or of me wearing it, so I guess I'll just have to find another event to go show it off!

There is also something to be said about Landsknech and miles of linen protecting my crotch from incinerating while making grilled cheeses for 160? people for a whole hour.

Hello Keto, it's me, Margret.

Welp, here I go again.  Last weekend they announced the 27 person charter for the PAAS and I managed to get a spot again.  Who knows how this will fare with the actual rostering for the games, but at least I'm going to give it my best shot.  Again.

So I started keto again.  It's probably been a good four or five years since I tried last, and there are so many things I'd completely forgotten about.  Especially about the first week!

1) Pissing like a motherfucking racehorse! For about three days, dropped seven pounds.

2) Exercise is weird.  Monday and wednesday practices were totally ok, but jamming was a bitch.  I got through it, but my body was confused as hell.  

3) PAAS practice friday went well (day 5), but every time I got off the track I had to pound water so that I could forget the feeling of complete and utter lack of fuel.  The weird thing is that I had eaten a lot of salami and cheese on my drive to Reading, so there's no reason for me to not have had any fuel.

4) Saturday was very uneventful.  I had a bunless burger for breakfast and wasn't hungry until nightfall.  And then I was famished.

5) Sunday I woke up and went to the gym.  20 minutes on the treadmill, alternating jogging and running, was hell.  I barely managed to run in 1.5 minute spurts.  Then I tried side lunges up the stairmaster and hated myself at ten minutes.  Side-to-side wonkers? Would be better if the machine's software wasn't asssssss.  And then I walked half an hour on the hamster wheel treadmill and didn't even feel it.

Tomorrow we start Dolls tryouts for the season.  It shouldn't be too terrible, but I should probably pack some string cheese or something.  In my infinite laziness, I've been mixing up a scoop of protein powder with an ounce or two of half n half and eating it like pudding.  It is surprisingly better than just drinking it.

A friend asked me last week if I meal prep >.>

Uuuu... I bought a bottle of salad dressing?  And a couple dozen eggs.  And a block of cheese -_-

Pretty Pretty Pain Cave

I started a Six Week Shred that Dan suggested I do.

nnnnnnngngngngnggnnnggggggggggg

It is designed as a six days for six weeks lifting routine where you do 8-10 exercises a day for 10x10 @ 50% of 10/15RM (50% of the maximum weight I can lift ten or fifteen times) or three sets of 10/15RM.  I really like it, except for the part where I need to do 100 reps of a single exercise and it takes FOR FUCKING EVER.  I'm five days in (sporadically since 9/25) and doing as much as I can for 1.5 hours.  

Finding my max weights has been a trial, since I haven't lifted regularly since I can't remember when.  But now that I'm starting to repeat exercises, I'm doing much better.

Today I squatted 115 (10 10 10) 95 (10 10) and did a hundred fucking calf raises at 130 lbs because fuck you that's why.  My calves are freaks.

So far, these are the maxes I've found:

- Bench press 65x12

- Incline dumbbell press 20x11

- Cable crossover 15x14

- Lat pull down 55x26

- Bent over barbell row 75x9.5

- Straight arm pull down 30x18

- Deadlift 155x11

- Squat 185x1 136x6

- Leg press 180x20

- Leg curl 90x18

- Leg extension 110x15

- Calf raises 130x15

- Seated calf raises 90x45

- Overhead press 25x7

- Lat raises 7.5x11.5

- Bent over delt raise 7.5x15

- Shrugs 27.5x23

- Bicep curl 12.5x20

- Incline curl 15x3

- Incline flyes 7.5x15

- One arm rows 15x20

- Reverse crunches 10

- Lunges 27.5x3 fuck lunges

- Romanian deadlifts 95x5 grip won't hold

- Tricep pulldown 25x10

- Overhead tricep extension 15x15