It would be the day I have a few floor exercises when a bunch of ‘guys’ (read: douches) decide to drop by. It would also be on a day when I was the only woman there, so I got to work out through a bunch of patrolling predatory males.

The upside to this – if there can be an upside – is that I felt a little more driven to use heavier weights on a couple of exercises to make sure I look like I can take care of myself. I didn’t feel safe around these guys!

The downside to this is that I couldn’t bring myself to complete the last part of my day’s routine. Prone on the floor doing bicycle kicks? No thanks. I’ll add that to later tonight – before or after Zumba.

So, today!

Squats: 4 sets of 8-10 reps (10+15kg – added weight because I can already do squats forever.)
Leg Press: 3 sets of 8-10 reps (10@55kg)
Leg Curls: 3 sets of 8-12 reps (12@2×33kg – machine is very uncomfortable and cannot be properly adjusted for my leg shape. I had to slip my hands under the thigh pad because it hurt too much!)
Calf Raises (standing): 4 sets to failure (12+15kg)
Calf Raises (sitting): 4 sets to failure (30@2×12kg)
Ball Oblique twist: 4 sets to failure (30@5kg)
Leg raises: 3-4 sets to failure (4×12)
Bicycle Kicks: 3-4 sets to failure (I’ll do these later.)

Now I’m getting ready to blitz through some marking, but figured I should start making sure I eat enough after workouts. I tend to go through my day just nibbling on fruit and forgetting about meals. A quick salad and some sandwich tuna mixed with couscous, corn, blackbeans, lemon juice, herbs, spices, oil, etc.

Should keep me going through Zumba!

Again, really tired today. Also, I’ll be painting an external wall when I’m done with post-workout snack and posting this entry, so I decided I should probably go easy on myself. I don’t want to be falling off my ladder, or have arms like noodles so I can’t even hold a paintbrush.

That being said, even going ‘a little’ easy on myself, my shoulders are sore!

Military Press: 4 sets of 8-10 reps (10@15kg starting)

Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 4 sets of 8-10 reps (10@2×6kg – could go heavier with fewer reps)

Lateral Raises: 4 sets of 8-10 reps (10@2×3kg – could go heavier with fewer reps)

Front Raises: 3 sets of 8-10 reps (10@2×3kg – way too light but I was too tired to swap for heavier lol)

Situps: 4 sets to failure 10@max incline 3 sets due to steep incline

Crunches: 4- sets to failure 10@max incline 3 sets due to steep incline

Planks: 4 sets of failure.

Okay! Time to paint!

I’ll try to keep this post short and sweet after the last one. This doesn’t really need a novella, and it’s more to keep track for myself.

However, a little context for context’s sake.

Mid-late 2016 I started a regimen of Prozac for managing my anxiety – a topic for another blog post. There were the usual side-effects for the first month or so, but as soon as they settled down everything was pretty darn awesome. I liked to call myself ‘almost psychologically bulletproof’. The source of the ‘almost’ in that statement is also a topic for another day.

Early-mid 2017, however, I noticed some weight creep that couldn’t be explained by anything other than the medication, as nothing had changed in my diet and exercise regime. I spoke with my GP about it when it came time to renew my prescription, and we agreed we’d give me another couple of months to see if I can get on top of it before we decide whether or not to wean off.

A couple of months later and I felt like a bloated hippo, so we started weaning off. It took two months to wean down to nothing, and it’ll take me another two months to get it entirely out of my system due to the half lives of the active ingredient (fluoxetine) and its metabolite (norfluoxetine), 4-6 days and approximately 16 days respectively.

Right now I feel like the drug is trying to hoard all the fat it can before it’s gone, like a squirrel storing nuts before it forgets where and never comes back.

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