2 weeks meatless (almost), good numbers, bad numbers

So we now have been doing the juice thing for around 2 weeks so I feel like I can give a report card thus far.  I just realized that besides the single slice of lunch meat I put on my daily sandwich for lunch at work I have also not eaten any other meat during these two weeks which wasn’t really a goal going in but a nice side benefit.  I could easily swap over to a PB sandwich instead and actually be taking in more protein.

If I would have decided to go with my original idea of a total juice fast I am sure the transition would have been more dramatic and harsh.  I’m glad we went down the road of moderation where I basically replaced my dinner with a juiced meal as well as fruit juice I have been downing after the gym as a recovery drink.

Physically I haven’t had any negative side effects that I have noticed.  In fact over these past two weeks I have set several PR’s in different areas, how much of that has to do with the concentrated nutrition I am getting via the juice is unknown.

So going forward I  intend to keep juicing as a permanent part of my diet, maybe just not my exclusive dinner.  I’d like to still mix in my tilapia once or twice a week but I am going to really try to stay away from the microwave meals that have been a staple of our diets for the last decade or more. Yes they are a good way to practice portion control and lower your caloric intake.  The trade off with preservatives, chemicals and sodium is not all that great. I also plan to continue consuming almond milk with my lunch instead of cow skim milk.

The other day I pulled up the results from my health screening I am required to take as part of our insurance plan.  They take body measurements, blood pressure and do extensive blood screening.

The first thing I noticed was they had my weight wrong.  When I was weighed the woman said I was 172, the report listed me at 192, maybe she has sloppy looking 7’s. My waist measurement was almost down to hot chick level, measuring in at 29 inches. My overall health score was 87 out of a possible 100, a good score but I was curious what would have cost me 13 points.

All of my blood numbers were all solidly in the good range, then I saw the culprit.  My blood pressure was listed as 114/94.  The 94 is outside the good range which is supposed to be 80. Hmm that’s odd.

When I was going through my thumb ailment I had my blood pressure read each time I was in the clinic and all three times by BP was right around 120/80 so I’m not really sure why my diastolic number would have been higher that particular morning.  I also wondered if the woman who evidently misrecorded my weight could have also flubbed my BP reading?  Who knows.

Ali whom underwent the same screening last year and scored 100 was very excited.  She crowed she must be healthier than I am, even going so far as to brag on FB about the score disparity. I had to laugh.  I’ll be happy to test my fitness/health against her in any way she would like, I won’t even post the result on FB.

I had some good numbers last night in my 2nd Bar-barian forums normal mode attempt.  I was a bit hesitant about doing it the day after trying the hard mode version the prior day.  I managed to increase my total amount of diamond push ups by 13 reps over the first attempt, netting 118 total over 5 sets. It’s a pretty good number that moved me up a few spots on this month’s scoreboard.  My GUTS routine surely helped me there.

This weekend will be a crazy one with Ali’s race going down tomorrow.  Sign ups for the event have been very strong, we will probably set a new record in attendance.  Both Randall and Jeremy are coming over for the event.  Jeremy will once again serve as event photographer, a role he has excelled at the past few years. Randall will just be helping us hold everything together as well as doing data entry for the runners entering the day of the race.

Randall will be staying over until Sunday.  We are talking about going biking at Bird Rookery Swamp which will be fun.  I also hope to crack the seal on Kinect Sports 2 and dominate as I normally do.