The post-Halloween Candy Diet

I bought a few bags of Halloween candy weeks before the actual event, and this year I only bought candy that I liked. Because I knew that we wouldn't have any "Trick or Treaters" even though we decorated. Because our road doesn't really have many young kids. My son was probably the only child on our road who managed to get candy from any of our neighbors. So we have a big bowl of candy in the kitchen. And we've been eating a few pieces every night for dessert. And oddly enough, I've been losing weight. Not a lot, but I was actually expecting to pack on a few pounds, especially after going to the Saturday night Halloween party with lots of great food. Great because I didn't have to cook it. And I could eat as much as I wanted.

Maybe because I started lifting weights again. Or because I started lifting heavy again. And upping my cardio again. I swear I look bigger in the mirror too. Maybe it's just my eyes playing tricks on me. Or a peculiarity of the Autumn lighting. I have noticed that sometimes my perception of how big something or someone is seems to change, especially proportions. I really thought my son's HW notebook was thicker and smaller than how it appears to be now. People I thought were much taller than me are maybe just a few inches taller than me. Perhaps just another weird thing to note and file away about myself and my perception of the world.

Today is Election Day and my son's school is closed for Voting. I take my son to school to vote (he finds this hilarious), get gas and then head to the gym. Oddly, school is in session in the town where my gym is located. I'm feeling more adventurous with my cardio lately so I play with the setting on the Precor elliptical until I have Intervals for 20 minutes. I can knock out a quick Back Workout between cardio (if I don't dawdle) starting with RG BB Rows. Then the Lower Back Extension machine. My tiny hands means my grip tires very quickly, so I use VGs on both the BB Rows and the One-Arm DB Rows. Since I haven't done DB Rows all summer, I just grab a 45 lb DB and do 3 sets. The DB area is ridiculously crowded so I lug my gear over to one of the Breaker Benches. No one's using any of them at the moment. I haven't decided whether I should just do 6 sets next time, or up the weights. I've done sets at 65 lbs but I'm not sure I want to go there that quickly.

I only do 15 min of Intervals afterwards because I'm running out of time. (I still need to shower and change!) Yesterday the gym scale surprised me with the 110.6 lb reading. Today I'm even more surprised when it wavers between 109.8 and 109.6 lbs. My son and his iPad are providing the only entertainment for two other kids in the Child Care room. He's loathe to leave but I'm so hungry I can hear my stomach growling and rumbling. And I did eat my oatmeal, egg and pomegranate breakfast this morning. My son wants a Banana Peanut Butter Smoothie and I have a 3-egg NY omelet (ham, bacon, cheddar, tomatoes) with buttered rye toast. My son eats almost all my toast because he's never had rye toast before. And then off to see The Book of Life. Because it's $5 Tuesday!

Tuesday Abbreviated Back Workout

Elliptical Training

Calorie :   183 CAL
Distance: 1.65 mile
Duration : 00:20:00

Barbell Reverse Grip Bent Over Row

232.5

Set 1 : 45x20
Set 2 : 115x12
Set 3 : 135x15
Set 4 : 145x15
Set 5 : 155x15
Set 6 : 135x20

Back Extension Machine

292.5

Set 1 : 195x15
Set 2 : 195x15
Set 3 : 195x15

Dumbbell One Arm Row

63

Set 1 : 45x12
Set 2 : 45x12
Set 3 : 45x12

Elliptical Training

Calorie :   142 CAL
Distance: 1.27 mile
Duration : 00:15:14