Crashing Hard... Thursday, November 25

Was going on minus levels of energy today, this usually happens mid-week. Waking up at 4:45am during the weekdays for my brutal early morning tutoring kills me, seriously. Today I woke up, did the whole walk Mi Nam, cook my protein-packed pancake, get dressed, and then head out the door. Blazed it to Samsung in Asan, a drive that takes about 20 minutes, only to arrive and get a text message from my student that he slept in so he won't be having class today. It's not that I don't mind getting paid for canceled classes but dang, it's cold outside!

Arrived back at Ggum Guum, ate my apple and homemade almond butter -- a little piece of Heaven that I'll be damned if I ever am forced to share with someone... hahaha -- talked to Snickers for ten minutes and then crashed.

It was lights out till about 11am when I woke up for meal number three, a tuna-veggie stirrfry with brown rice on the side.

I only work one hour on Thursdays and had anticipated getting in a good run, heading off to boxing early, and then meeting up with Cheeto Girl for dinner.

No such luck.

Did absolutely nothing today beyond roll over and turn off my phone. Although I must admit that I did in fact get out to do some grocery shopping, that was a given I had to do regardless of my twindeling brutal energy level. Mind ya, no sooner did I return from grocery shopping but then it was back to sleep for me.

Snickers has been getting on my case lately about wanting me to get a "normal" job because waking up super early for tutoring and all my daily traveling does take a toll on me, hence the mid-week crash I usually get. But I had a normal job, I worked at Dankook and I resigned. I hated the politics of the job and didn't care too much for some of the people I worked for and with, or should I say worked against. Nowdays I only work 19 hours, which isn't much less than the hours I pulled at Dankook, but the pay and flexiblity of my work kills that of Dankook. Not to mention the only stress of the job, and by job I'm referring to here is my tutoring, is the traveling to and from. I feel so much more successful as a private tutor because I have actual solid relationships with the people I tutor and those I work for.

The Samsung VP that I tutor in the morning is super easy going and often tutoring time with him consists of chatting the hour away about running. My other Samsung VP, the one I tutor Monday and Wednesday from 11am to 1pm always amazes me with his insanely high intelligence. He self-taught himself Japanese and his English level is very impressive. My Tuesday night group class consisting of a handful of Samsung workers is a lot of fun. They're all guys around my age so it's a super relaxed class and our two hours together is filled with lots of joking and chatting. And as for my Church Kiddies, they're just flat out adorable. They laugh at my silly jokes and they think it's funny when I threaten to punch them for whatever. I really feel like an older sister to them so we have a pretty close relationship.

But enough rambling about that... I really don't care to get back to a "normal" job. What's normal anyways?!

So ya... today I totally crashed. Trying to juggle my tutoring hours and my boxing training is quite a task that often is overbearing. As it stands, I've got about three weeks to lose about 10lbs. Yesterday I pretty much killed myself at boxing. I had pushed myself way too hard, to the point where I literally had to stop to shake my head and relax a bit. I'm not a diabetic but am somewhat on the verge of almost being considered one. It was something I found out back when I was on the cross country running team in high school. I use stash cinnamon hearts near the side door in my house for when I returned from a long run. My blood sugar level would drop so much and I'd get the shakes if I didn't eat a small candy upon returning. Today I got the same shakes so Junior Mint stopped and made someone grab a chocolate bar from the club's fridge. A couple of pieces was all I ate but boy did I feel so much better after.

I've never been one to over indulge in food but whenever I am in game fight diet mode I do get the strangest cravings and I've been known to over eat one particular food in attempts to not only satisfy a craving and keep me sane but also to shock my system. I like to lean on carb-cycling at the start of my game fight diet and then in the last two weeks prior to my fight I lean on weighing my food. Sounds odd, I know, but trust me it works. It's not the healthiest but hey it's a sure way to make the weigh-in.

Side note here on carb-cycling:

Carb-cycling is great for kicking a plateau or when you have to drop fast weight, like for a wedding or competition. It's very tough but very effective, however, it isn’t meant to be a prolonged eating routine. It’s is based on a three day rotation: high carb day, low carb day, and no carb day.

High Carb Day -- 4/6 of your meals consist of a carb (50-60 grams) and a small fruit (50-100 calories). The meal before and after your workout MUST have a carb in it.

Low Carb Day -- 3/6 of your meals consist of a carb (38grams) and a small fruit. Make sure the meal following your workout has a carb. Your other three meals consist of just protein and veggies.

No Carb Day -- All your meals consist of ONLY protein and veggies. NO fruit and NO carbs. (It's impossible not to eat carbs but by 'no carbs' I mean no obvious carbs like sweet potatoes or grain products)

The key is to rotate these three days. Never put two high carb days or two no carb days back-to-back. For example, Monday no carb, Tuesday low carb, Wednesday no carb, Thursday high carb, Friday low carb, Saturday no carb, and Sunday high carb.

As for my carb-cycling, me overeating one particular food, usually some kind of carb, is then followed through with either a day of no carbs or one really long run. Oddly enough, during my game fight dieting, I crave milk and bread as if they're going out of style. I've been known to down a full 2 liter carton of milk and once I ate a whole loaf of bread and, though it left me ultra thirsty and it wasn't particularly tastey, it felt so good to just feel so incredibly full. Today it was crossaints from Lotte Mart. I ate six large plain crossaints. It left me feeling like a stuffed pig ready for roasting but boy did it ever feel good... hahaha.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What do you crave?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
It's not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you’re not.
-- Author Unknown