Day 18: 5 lb down!

Slow & steady wins the race. I was kind of hoping I'd drop 10 lb in the first week, but that's definitely not possible while you're also trying to build muscle - 5 lb in 2 and a half weeks is awesome, even if the scale bounces back up a little bit tomorrow. And it probably will, if I actually end up going out on this date and eating salty, delicious vegan restaurant food. That's a whole other story. However, I'm going to say that the movement on the scale that I've seen in the past week or so has to do with the added cardio. I'm going to keep that up, to the extent possible, and so far it's not too tough to cram in 25-30 mins of low/med intensity cardio after a BFL workout. Today I decided to push my workout back a couple hours so I could have breakfast first. I can deal with stomach rumbling during a cardio-only workout, but it worries me when I'm trying to lift weights. I wouldn't want to get light-headed. Also, yesterday the gym was less busy when I left (around 8 I think) than when I got there (7).

Improvised dinner yesterday when I didn't have time to go buy broccoli or cook rice: whole wheat couscous (takes 5 min), steamed zucchini and tofu. I was worried that steamed zucchini would taste like nothing, but I liked it and the texture was great. And the couscous was nice, fluffy and filling. So, that's a possibility again for the future, especially since it's so quick.
Tonight I'll either be eating out or I guess otherwise I'd make scrambled tofu or my favorite soba dish with broccoli and tofu. We shall see - I do want to go out with this guy, so I've prepared myself for the idea of eating out.

The only person I've explained the full extent of my fitness plans to is my sister, who's coming to visit this weekend. I emailed her about my eating schedule, so my plan is just to alter my meals slightly so that she can eat the same thing. She's a fitness nut, so I'm sure she'd be happy to have low-cal, high fiber little meals provided to her. I'll have to talk to her a bit more before she gets in tomorrow, and probably do a little shopping to make it work. But I'm glad we can share that so I don't have to be a weirdo about it.