Every Friday, a group of my friends gather together at someone’s house to watch movies—and eat. Pretty much it’s a potluck dinner anytime we socialize with each other. Sometimes we seem to non-verbally coordinate very well and have a healthful spread fit for a king. Other times it’s not so good as it is desserts as far as the eye can see. Tonight was a mostly healthy night.

My indulgence really didn’t take on the typical quality of craving something sweet or salty—items that are usually associated with junk food. Strangely enough, I had the desire for eating more than my 140 grams of veggies for dinner.

Ever since I went vegetarian, my friends have been pretty good about bring some sort of veggie dish for me. Over the past few months, the number of vegetarian items have increased as many of them have been on a health kick—going to the YMCA or the gym. I don’t know if my success from PCP had anything to do with their motivation, but I like to think it did.

The way the spread was set-up, we didn’t have to walk very far to grab something to eat while the movie was playing. In fact, we didn’t need to walk at all. We literally covered this rather large coffee table with food which we then proceeded to sit around. Although some items did need to be eaten off plates, most were pretty much of the finger-food variety.

The evil about this kind of grazing is that a person can have absolutely no idea how much food they have put into their system. The movie is playing, people are talking and having a good time, and you’ve only eaten one carrot stick—or at least you think that’s all you’ve eaten.

I’ve shrunk a number of sizes since last summer and I’m a bit more conscious about what I’m eating. I allowed my self a little extra helping of pasta salad; noshed on roasted parsnips topped with cheddar cheese, sour cream, and chives; took a bit more of the artichoke dip; and hit the point where I could say that I was 100 percent full.

Meanwhile, I’m watching everyone else eat. And eat. And eat. And eat some more. I’m not sure if their cognizant of how much food is going into their bodies, but I am. Granted, there were a lot of distractions going on with veritable smorgasbord before them that required no energy whatsoever to retrieve. It was the total opposite of “mindful consumption” which could be best described as “mindless grazing”.

Unfortunately, my partner and I couldn’t stay there much later than 10pm. We had a bit of a walk ahead of us (yes, we hoofed it to our friend’s house) and I wanted to be home early enough so I could get some sleep before needing to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at work the next morning. (Yay Saturday work schedules.) Plus I wanted to hit the farmer’s market for my weekly supply of veggies before I needed to clock in.

And now it’s time for me to punch out. Goodnight all!

I cheated and looked ahead. Tomorrow is indulgence day. I’m not looking forward to it. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I haven’t been the paradigm of diet perfection the past few weeks. This was so unlike PCP-me who remained vigilant and faithful throughout the entire program. KFB-me seems to be a cheater. Oh, it’s never anything big or horrendous—just little items like a cookie here or a bit of extra carb there.

Because of those slip-ups, I don’t feel I deserve to have an indulgence day. That’s suppose to be a treat for being good, not for slackers like me. But I know that I’m going to allow myself to indulge anyway. That’s pretty sad.

Who knew the two late nights and a pretty killer walk over the past three days would whup my ass today? At work, I was dragging like anything and the clock advanced ever so slowly. Then I got home an did the exercises—still dragging and time was moving at a snail’s pace. Dinner and soon I’m going to bed. How does a day fly by and creep at the same time?!? Maybe tomorrow will be better.

I think I have found a new exercise that will replace the love/hate relationship I had with the Plank. “I have given a name to my pain, and it is Horse!”

The Horse Stance wasn’t that bad in the beginning, but at a hold of 40 seconds it is a killer. Which probably means that I’m doing it correctly.

The first set was no problem. The second set was a little harder. Set three found me starting to quiver during the last few seconds. The last set started my legs shaking and almost giving out. Pretty much the same experience I had way back when the Plank was introduced into the routine.

Someday we might be on speaking terms, Horse, but not today. Definitely not today.

At the time it sounded like a good idea. Well, actually it didn’t. It was more of an okay idea which I decided to go along with. Little did I realize that by the end of the night it would prove to be a really horrible idea.

After the meeting last night, a couple of our friends decided that they wanted to go out and grab some dinner. I hadn’t planned on dining out and I really didn’t want to stay up late, but my partner wanted to socialize with them and they promised it would be an early evening, so I acquiesced and a decision was made about where we were going to eat.

Now Friendly’s really doesn’t have the best menu in the world, but that was where they wanted to eat. I hadn’t been in that restaurant in quite some time, but I figured I could probably find something vegetarian and relatively healthy to munch on. So off we went to the nearby location.

Much to my surprise (not really), they offer little options for a vegetarian. Every salad is covered in meat, they don’t offer any veggie burger alternates, and about the only thing that came close to being somewhat vegetarian just so happened to be deep-fried. There wasn’t even any fruit offered! How sad is that?

Well, needless to say, I sat there while every ate their meals, sipping my tall glass of water. One friend apologetically offered some of their onion rings and I knew I would feel guilty if I refused them, so I took a couple and ate them.

After the dinner was finished, they all decided to get ice cream sundaes. Well, by that time I was feeling a little peckish, so I placed my order for some too. I knew it wasn’t going to be the greatest stuff, but it was at least something. The desserts arrived and were devoured in short order.

About 15 minutes later my stomach felt like someone had just kicked it. The most unpleasant cramps started settling in too. I was a little surprised to experience it, because I hadn’t felt that way for the longest time! But I knew what it was and what was going to happen.

I quickly urged my partner to pay the bill and we dashed out the door and flew home, all-the-while my stomach making the most horrific sounds and convulsing. We pulled into the driveway, I leaped from the car, into the house, and rushed into the bathroom—which is where I remained for the next half-hour or so.

One would think that would be the end of the story. Ha-ha! My body had other ideas.

Although things were mostly quiet throughout the night, when I got up this morning my stomach once again proceeded with more cramping and I had to spend a bit more time in the bathroom. This has actually gone on throughout a good part of the day. I have eaten very little in the way of any kind of food—diet or otherwise. The stomach wouldn’t handle it.

It finally started to quiet down this evening. The weird noises have stopped, and I haven’t had to spend a lot of time on the toilet. I’ve actually started feeling hungry now, so I’ll get something to eat. Everything should return to normal in a little bit.

I will say this—that is the last time I’m going to Friendly’s for quite a while. This whole experience made me remember why I hadn’t eaten there in a long time—it’s because their food has made my stomach do this before. Much of this occurred before I started living a healthy lifestyle and had been written off as quirks with my body. Now I know it’s just bad food. I am sure this experience will be firmly burned into my memory, and that will definitely remind me I’m never walking into that place again.

I am skipping out on KFB today—no workout whatsoever. This was not the original plan I had this morning. Unfortunately there were a number of circumstances that went way beyond my control.

As some of you read a couple days ago, I had a deadline to finish a newsletter. Today was the actual printing date. I knew there would be very little time for me to race to the printer, pick up the copies, run home, assemble it, have dinner, and fly to the meeting. So it seemed that KFB for today would be a bust.

Then I had this brilliant idea! My partner had the day off! I quickly called him this morning, told him to pick up the newsletter for the meeting tonight. In my mind, it all worked out—the newsletter would be finished which would leave me just enough time to workout, grab a little dinner, and then go to the meeting.

When I arrived home, I discovered that all plans had been thrown out the window. First thing I discovered was that the newsletter pages were spread out all over the table. That meant my partner didn’t assemble it. Of course, I realized that I never specifically told him to put it together—I just inferred it.

The second thing I noticed was that all of the pages were wet. When asked, he told me that he had walked to the local copy store to pick up the printed pages. Once he had paid for them, he put them into his backpack and walked home. Unfortunately he also had his water bottle in the backpack, and it leaked.

Seeing that everything was ruined, it was an emergency dash to go back to the printer, have the whole thing reprinted, fly home to assemble, quickly grab something out of the refrigerator, and—as soon as I finish writing this—zoom to the meeting.

So no KFB today. That sucks.

The message today indicates that a change of footwear is suggested. The big clunky sneakers are good for jumprope, but hinders the other movements. A light shoe is recommended, especially one with a flat sole, or we can go barefoot (depending on the ground/floor condition). What I’d really love to get is a pair of Robin’s toe-boots!

It’s amazing how much shoes really affect the stances! With the big clunky sneakers, I had no problem balancing on one foot. It almost felt like I was anchored to the floor.

I have a pair of deck shoes that I decided to try out. They are lightweight and have flat bottoms—and they launch like anything when you kick! Luckily all breakables and cats were not in the room when that occurred!

Then I went barefoot. I couldn’t believe how wobbly I was! It’s just so weird that I felt more stable in the big clunky sneakers than I was barefoot. I’m sure that will change over time as I get use to little to nothing on my feet when practicing.

Although I am thoroughly enjoying the KFB workout, my day has been feeling a little off since the first day I started off on this adventure. I pretty much dropped every exercise I had been doing previously in order to experience this one much as a newcomer might when they signed up. The problem I starting running into was that my body wanted to do more.

So, as I am wont to do this time of year, I added my lunchtime walk back into my day. It’s only for half-an-hour and because I work downtown there’s a lot of stops along the route as I must wait for the crossing signal to (more-or-less) allow me to walk in front of the impatient motorists, but it was better than not doing anything.

After two weeks of that, my body gave me the signal that it wanted to do even more. A brief chat with Patrick later, and my pre-KFB morning routine has been returned to the mix. Fifteen minutes of jumproping plus 8-Minute Abs plus a healthy KFB breakfast means that my morning feels now complete!

I’ve either got to be a sicko or a health-nut to actually want to do more exercise. I’m going to vote for sicko.

I have spent much time with family the past couple of days. We were with my partner’s family yesterday, and then I saw my family today. Amazingly enough, there was one theme that seemed to resonate with both groups that I got to hear repeatedly over the two days: “You’ve lost a lot of weight!” or “You look so skinny!” which almost always culminated to a “You’re looking real good!” Nothing boosts the ego more than a few simple statements like that!

My partner’s parents are getting up there in age. His father just got out of the hospital a few days ago after a nasty bout of pneumonia. They needed help digging up some dead bushes and planting new ones, so we went over there to assist because neither parent really has the capability any more to do manual labor like that anymore. Strangely enough, neither is my partner. He’s tall and skinny with no muscle strength whatsoever. So it was up to me to dig up the bushes.

Although this wasn’t something beyond my capabilities before PCP and KFB, as I had much experience pulling stumps out of our backyard for a number of years, this felt a whole lot different. I could feel a strength that I don’t think I’ve ever felt before as I ripped those bushes out of the ground. Energy was at a premium and it just felt totally amazing! Will the wonders never cease?!?

And although I had a real late night, the energy lasted through a long drive today, when I visited my own family at the campground where my brother has a seasonal pass. I brought my workout sheet and jumprope with me and proceeded to show them what exercise program I was on now. Needless to say, I think they were impressed. (Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to complete all the sets and reps, as I did get bombarded with questions as to what I was doing and how I was doing it. On the other hand, I was stuck in some positions for far longer than a few breaths!)

It was actually a pretty restful day. I had the opportunity to sit and socialize with my family, which I don’t often get to do because I live far away from them. There was nothing that needed my attention, no impending deadlines, no nothing. Just chillin’ with everyone. Just being there in the moment with them and not worrying about anything. Sometimes, I think that’s almost as good as sitting and meditating.

And now I’m home, tucking another long drive and late night under my belt. I really need to quit this whole staying up late thing.

I will say that I’m lovin’ the KFB exercise schedule, mainly because it mimics my old PCP schedule—Friday is the “end of the week” and therefore the easy workout day. This is perfect for me because Friday is the day that me and my friends gather for a potluck dinner and a movie of some sort (usually a bad one). These “easy workout days” gives me enough time to leave work, get home, exercise, make something fresh and simple, and meet everyone by 7pm.

This is a great time of year to begin a program like KFB. All the little farmer’s markets are starting to pop-up like daisies in a field. It’s the one thing I miss in the wintertime.

Now, I’m not totally opposed to the big supermarket chains as they have their own niche to fill, but there’s just something disconcerting about overpriced food! I don’t like how they seem to take advantage of everyone. The farmers suffer because the supermarkets don’t pay them enough to grow the food, the town suffers because the supermarkets usually don’t support local farmers, the environment suffers because the food has to be transported large distances, and the consumer suffers because they jack up the price to outrageous levels.

But then comes summer and the playing field starts becoming level again.

On Saturday, the huge Regional Market is open for business. That’s the first day of the week I buy my vegetables. (Amazing how my food buying has synced up to our diets and exercise “week”.) The Regional Market is doing quite well this year as they have had to expand to allow more farmers to sell their produce.

Next will be Tuesdays, as that is when the Downtown Market opens. (Only a week to go before it begins!) It’s quite a bit smaller than the Regional Market, but you can still get a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. As an extra bonus, it is close to where I work. A quick ten-minute walk gets me to the market, another ten minutes to do two circuits around it (one to view the produce, the second to buy) and then a final ten minute walk back to work with my purchases. Exercise and food! Woo-hoo!

Then there is the CSA that we belong to. “CSA” stands for Community Supported Agriculture. The basic idea behind it is that we pay a local farmer a certain amount of money in March with which he buys everything he needs for that season’s crops. Around June we go to a nearby pick-up point weekly to get our share of the produce that he has grown. It’s a little hard to plan meals around this type of program, but I will say that it’s fun to get a box of food that you have no idea what’s in there until you open it up. I guess you might call it “Vegetarian Christmas”.

That’s the beauty of summer—fresh food for three to four months. If I work it just right, I will not have to take a step into a big chain supermarket for much of this time. What a way to “stick it to da man”!