*WEIGH IN WEDNESDAY*

In the name of mental sanity, weigh in Wednesday will only be happening 3 out of 4 weeks a month (feel free to interject your own assumptions as to why).  So, this Wednesday is out.

Heading back to Dallas this weekend. Should be doing a travel post as to how I make the trip healthy! Stay tuned for that!

*MUSE ALERT* - Phoenix Marie

The internet is full of new, wonderful people to discover! I stumbled across Pornstar Phoenix Marie through an unlikely source (as her genre isn't REALLY my thing). I followed her on Twitter because she cracked me the hell up, and though she has never failed me in that endeavor, I have discovered that she is also a great fitness muse, as well as a body positive preacher!

Hope to be back to this shape by tomorrow... Currently laying in bed resting... Photo courtesy of @Brazzers pic.twitter.com/V1lcptYz
— Phoenix Marie (@PMarizzle) November 20, 2012

I'm cycling- watching these girls doing these Booty Growing Exercises -And I ate candy for my Pre-workout 🙌😂- #JiggleGains #Curves ☺️😂🙈
— Phoenix Marie (@PMarizzle) July 10, 2014

Sidenote: If I see you staring & talking shit about a Thick'ems/BBW chick at the gym I will slap you in the back of the head!! #FuckEmLadies
— Phoenix Marie (@PMarizzle) May 23, 2014

Sometimes you feel like: http://t.co/H5RTaXdKlO pic.twitter.com/XYsYKu10mY
— Phoenix Marie (@PMarizzle) February 26, 2014

I am absolutely in LOVE with the fact that she is gorgeous, hot, sexy and NOT A TWIG. We should all be striving for these things instead of just 'being skinny.' Being skinny is overrated, I'd much rather be hot and sexy!

Do you have any unlikely muses? Share them in the comments below!

Add blog to blog directory at OnToplist.com.

Weigh-In Wednesday!

This weeks measurements:
Weight: 210.8
Arm Cir: 17in
Waist: 46in
Thigh Cir: 30in

Weight went up slightly(1.2 lbs) from last week, which I refuse to concern myself with as I am building muscle which I need to destroy the fat. I lost a half of an inch off of my arms, an inch and a half off of my waist, and my thighs stayed the same.

That's pretty good progress for only one week! Had I only been looking at my weight I would be concerned, but the measurements are the more important part right now. Week over week I'm looking for loss of mass, the weight is just a byproduct.

BONUS ROUND
So I was trying to explain the route of acceptance yesterday to a friend who does not get Steel Panther. I thought about explaining it in Freudian terms, that Steel Panther is the "Id" to many peoples "Ego", and I couldn't quite get that across. So I said this. I liked it so much I turned it into a picture:

New Workout!

A week into the last workout and I decided that I wanted to modify a couple of things. Mainly, though the cardio I was doing was making me sweat - I didn't feel it was enough intervals, so I am upping my intervals to 10 minutes of 30/10 with a one minute warm up and a one minute cool down. Im just shy of middle resistance, so my plan is to increase to 10 minutes total next week (30/10 intervals with 1 min each of warm up/cool down) and then start increasing the resistance. You will notice a good portion of Shoulder exercises, as that is one of the muscle groups that lands me in the chiropractors office the most. I added a Bicep group, and I have upped the Side Leg Raises to 4 sets of 15 reps each (2 sets per side). Even so - I am still neglecting the following muscle groups:

Lats
Neck and Upper Traps
Obliques
Quads

I will be adding one of those a piece going forward with every workout modification, as I increase my endurance.

Strawberry Metal Workout, Version 1.A (this is the printable from workoutlabs.com with all of the pictoral exercises!)


On the motivation front, I actually do feel pretty bad ass when I am dripping with sweat......which lasts only 10 minutes before I jump into the shower :)

Foodie Fridays!

A couple months ago I stumbled across Whole Foods Cranberry Tuna Salad in their deli.

OMG its so freaking tasty! I was eating this every day for lunch until I realized exactly how much money I was spending in this endeavor ($5-$7 a day on just the container of Tuna Salad!) However, I did happen to have a bunch of Tuna in my pantry, so I figured I could work out a way to make it at home. I elected to not make it dead on, and instead I beefed it up with crunchy vegetables - which helped the calories stretch and fill me up more for lunch. It is super friendly on the pocketbook too, as the only more expensive item in it (IE - items more than $2.00) are the cherries. One bag of cherries will last me at least a month of making tuna, so I encourage you to not leave them out of the recipe. Additionally, If you are following a Gluten Free diet - this recipe is Gluten Free by nature!

Strawberry Metals Whole Foods Cranberry Tuna Salad Hack

7 oz. Low Sodium Canned Tuna (The large can that looks like a double can. If you can find No-Sodium Tuna, even better!)
1/2 raw onion, chopped (yellow or red, entirely up to you)
2 stalks raw celery, thinly chopped
1 Large Hand full of Dried Cherries, chopped
4 tbsp. Light Mayonnaise
1/4 tsp. Granulated Sugar or Sugar Substitute
Juice of 1small lemon

Finely shred canned tuna till no large chunks are left. Put in bowl and set aside. Add chopped onion, celery, and dried cherries along with the rest of the ingredients to the tuna and mix well. Serve on a sandwich, with crackers, or with salad greens.

4 servings. Per Serving - 128 Calories, 4.5g Fat, 9.6g Carbs, 12.2g Protein

I have been eating it with Whole Foods Baked Woven-Wheat Crackers (their brand of Triscuits). I'm kind of addicted to this for lunch at the moment. Enjoy!

Text Exchange of the Week

Strawberry Metal on why it is best for the universe that I was not old enough to participate during the excess of the 80's :

"Dude- me in my 20's during the 80's? Bad juju. I would have sex, drugged, and rock-n-rolled all the way to my grave. Jani Lane would have ended up locked in my basement and Warrant would never have gotten to the Cherry Pie album, and it would have ruined rock and roll as we know it. "

Weigh-In Wednesday!!

Been a rough couple of weeks. Other than my neck (ow) it feels great to be back on, though. I definitely have more energy (except for the mornings!). This is the first time i have done measurements every week, so I will be interested in seeing what the numbers look like week over week.

This weeks measurements:
Weight: 209.6
Arm Cir: 17.5in
Waist: 47.5in
Thigh Cir: 30in

'Tunes Tuesdays!!

I present for your inspection, my playlist for my workouts this week:

Black Veil Brides - In The End

Lorde - Team

Steel Panther - Ten Strikes 

Black Veil Brides - New Years Day

Ed Sheeran - Don't

Steel Panther - The Burden of Being Wonderful

Maroon 5 - Maps

Steel Panther - Eye of the Panther

Ariana Grande - Problem

New Day!

Now that I have got some things in my personal life kind of in order, we are back on track!

Last night I did some cardio on my Stationary Bike, as well as worked what seems like every muscle in my body. I made this workout, and my cardio (since Im starting fresh again) is currently at 6 minutes (1 min ea warm up/cool down and 4 minutes of 20/10 second intervals). Everything feels fine today but my neck - I fuckered it up REAL Good.

I need to keep reminding myself this. I actually got a tattoo on my wrist, so its always in my field of vision, and It can always remind me that I can be whoever I want to be, as long as I keep going.

Today is a new day!

Weight Loss Tracker - Satchel Edition

So, I've been bored. That is to say, I was on my lunch hour and I GOT bored, and I glanced over at my weight loss tracker (which is remarkably phallic, truth be known) and wished for a moment that I could have a cooler pic up there. Now, have you ever had one of those moments, where your mind goes, "Wouldn't it be cool if....."? Well, I had one of those moments than answered myself, "Why not?"

I give you Weight Loss Tracker, the Satchel Edition.

Now, I am less than a whiz with Photoshop - so no critics. The idea is that you get to fill in Satchels guitar with color as you progress :)

Use it, abuse it, please give me credit if posted elsewhere, and PLEASE for the love of god don't post it on Steel Panthers page - I'm still to fat to deal with that shit yet :)

Game on.

Starting picture.

So I am at a point in my *DR MANDATED* low fiber diet, that i can start phasing in cooked fruits and veggies. I only lost 3-4 lbs in the last month (from when the dietician weighed me in her office), which is a bit of a letdown for me. However, she insists that this is great progress given my current menu.

I was getting super tired during the day, so I am now having to have a snack of either yogurt, or peanut butter on bread before bed to keep my energy levels up during the day. I was pretty bummed because it means an increase in my caloric intake, but at least it means that my gut is healing - which is good news for my health.

I have not been exercising as much as I should. Only once or twice a week. Bedtimes have been later than I would like as of late for various reasons, which has also zapped my energy supply. Since this is the main aspect that I have the most control over at the moment, I am going to try to re-emphasize the exercise aspect with myself. At the bare minimum, make it a point everyday to do a weight session and crunches.

In this endeavor I am posting a starting (as of today, 5 minutes ago) picture of myself. As of this morning I weighed 204.6 lbs.

I dont like to say 'before' picture. Before what? This is a starting picture. This is what I look like now, on my nasty low fiber diet, doing absolutely minimal exercise.

Lets see where we end up.

Healthy Fast Food!

So, little did I know that El Pollo Loco actually has some pretty darn awesome healthy choices!! Check this out: Mango Taco Plate. Its super healthy (Clocks in at around 350 cal), tastes great ("Tastes Great, Less Filling!") and most importantly is fresh and I can grab it and go.

Its important for me to have some grab and go options out there, because lets face it - I'm a lazy mother fucker. Whole Foods Deli isle is my friend.

Carry on.

Twitter and various crap

I had a long post written. It was eloquent, and meaningfull......everything you want in a written piece of art. Unfortunatly my app died and I lost it. Bottom line : I now have a twitter. If you stumble across this or that feel free to follow, but im not knocking myself out about followers until my life evens out and im more on track. @metalberries berries......like boobs........some  fucker stole strawberrymetal. Anyways, go watch the new video for fucking Steel Panther, Burden Of Being Wonderful. They should leave us presents like that every morning, its better than the money I found on my dresser last time.

Diets and Ailments.

I have been starting to phase good food back into my diet slowly so as not to make my tummy hurt.

Turns out its harder than hell to eat what I'm supposed to eat and eat healthy! No whole grains, no raw veggies or fruits... what do you do?

This is today's lunch. The drink is Kefir water, and as long as I can suppress the scientist in me and  the mental images that it promotes I can drink it. Is it bad? No - its actually quite tasty, and comes in at 20 cal for the 16oz bottle! It has quite a few live and active cultures, which is great for you! (It just has a bunch of little wormy things swimming around if you look at it under a microscope!) Score health wise, though. Will have to get a couple at the beginning of the week to keep in the fridge at work! Low in sugar, and no fake sugar!

The sandiwchy thing is a Bolani. It has two per container, and each come in at around 280 cal. It is whole wheat, but I'm making that concession.

Seat covers & Salads

Last night I got these totally Glamtastic seat covers, matching floor mats, and steering wheel cover. I heart them. The only way they would be better is if they were Leopard print!

Also last night I was able to have a cucumber salad and sushi for the first time in 3 weeks! Everything settled OK, so I had a mini salad for lunch today. Its amazing how much you want something that you cant have. In this case, I have been craving a salad something fierce.

So, a couple salads, the start of a new semester (Abnormal Psychology and Introduction to Global Health for this section!), and once I can get through this weekend, hopefully starting back walking on Sunday or Monday.

Lets do this.

Sorry-lets try again?

So, I thought I had posted a declaration of taking a leave of absence - evidently I had neglected to do so.
Two things happened in regards to the lack of posts. #1 is that the eve of Thanksgiving my father was taken to the hospital by ambulance, and has been touch and go ever since. He is currently in a Veterans Rehabilitation Center, with hopes of returning home this Friday. My leave of absence was also from work for this timeframe.
Additionally, Christmas Eve I landed myself in the hospital with a raging pain due to Diverticulitis. The down side is that even though I was eating crappy, for the recovery period from this ailment I was told to eat EVEN MORE crappy. Essentially, nothing but mushy cooked veggies, white flour, and protein.  I was able to start phasing good food back into my diet this week (thank god!) you have no idea how much I want a salad!!!

I am pretty sure I gained back ALL of the weight that I had previously lost. The good news is that as things start getting back to normal for me, this blog will also start to get back to normal.

Heres to re-boot in 2014 :) Im not one for new years resolutions, I think they should be made at any time of the year. However, it happens to be the new year and things are slowly getting back to normal for me - so the timing just happens to be coincidental.

As a gift, here is a screen shot of the cover art from the forthcoming album that Steel Panther debuted today. Spread the disease, y'all.