Big Cooking Streak

I have been on a big cooking streak lately. These days there is such great payoff from cooking because you can easily find and use recipes that hundreds of people have tried, rated and commented on.

Tonight I am making Chicken Tikka Masala, Naan, and Mango Lassis. I am taking some of the reviewers tips and putting them in this google doc so I remember them.

Stuff I'm learning:

• While looking up how to knead the Naan I found this nice vid that gives a science-y explanation for kneading near the end.
• I learned on wiki that the term proofing has 2 definitions. There is the "home cookbook" definition and the professional bakers definition.

Project back on track- Decreasing %body fat

For the past couple weeks I have been getting up at 6am and walking/jogging/sprinting along the Augusta Riverwalk. [dawn,dawn+2hrs] is the only time interval that is good for a nice cool walk.

Part of my motivation stems from my vibram 5 fingers shoes, which I am really enjoying the feel of. This is the video that piqued my curiosity about barefoot running. My legs and feet have had to adjust though. After a 2 mile jog +7 mile hike I experienced some pain on the top of my feet. I believe that my extensor tendons were inflamed a little. This happens to people who are switching to forefoot running. So I am taking it easy and just walking in the mornings so I can do my best with the FATS trail running group on Sunday. My goal is to do 2-4miles. I love trail running, the ground gives way nicely and I am out in nature.

Today plan to do a p90x biceps and back workout. I am waiting to adjust my calories till my body adjusts to this new level of exercise. I am taking almost daily video of my figure, but I am going to put off posting the "before pics" till I have some decent "after pics". Here is my weight log.

Interesting Dream Structure

I had an interesting dream structure last night, dreaming inside a dream. At times I would be exclusively inside the inner dream, and at other times I would wake up from the inner dream and be in the outer dream. When I woke from the inner dream to the outer dream I had that feeling of "realizing that I had just been dreaming". In the outer dream, I found out that I talked and even sung in my sleep while I was in the inner dream. In reality I did not talk in my sleep at all.

Lowering % body fat Revisited

Well I am starting to eat healthfully again. I would like to get down to 180lbs, but my first big goal will be to hit 200lbs. Right now I will be trying to get to 230lbs and then 225lbs. I plan to lose 2-3lbs a week. Here is my spreadsheet:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AjB5X6D8o5nodFZvM2VHWnhsQkFiSEFDVW1GSnNBUEE&hl=en

Playing with Comfort Zones

A friend asked me recently: Why do you play with people's comfort zones? Do you just like to see their reactions?

I do not know if I have the full theory yet, but here is my best shot:

I do like surprising people, I hope it amuses them and adds a little more flavor/fun to their lives. Comfort zones are interesting, there are some comfort zones that serve a useful purpose (ie. being uncomfortable with riding in a car where the driver has drunk some alcohol), and some comfort zones that are an impediment (ie. being uncomfortable expressing friendship affection as a male especially with another male). Sometimes it is hard to figure out what category a comfort zone falls into.

Learning someone's comfort zones helps me get to know them. It is like Green's Theorem in calculus, the boundary can tell you a lot about what is going on inside.

I play around with what I consider to be the impediment comfort zones. You have to do it very lightly, and let the person know you are playing. It's like an emotional vaccine, and if done well over time the person usually gets more comfortable and stronger in that comfort zone because they know how to process that discomfort a bit better. I think this kind of playing can be instinctual, something we do to one another playfully as friends though the evolutionary advantage is that everyone grows and gets stronger (rather like sports). Playing with comfort zones like this also seems to have a bit in common with Prolonged Exposure Therapy.

Though, just like Sports and Prolonged Exposure Therapy you have to go just a little out of the comfort zone or else you can do harm. Also you should not play sports injured and similarly playing with someone's comfort zones after they have had a really bad day is not a nice thing to do.

Lowering my fat % - records

Here is a public link to my weight tracking

Lowering Percent Body!

I have set up my diet and am tracking my weight. I am starting at 241Lbs and want to get down to 200 Lbs at least. The daily plate is a really nice website for tracking this stuff. I particularly like how I can track the calories burned from exercise. In the past I would try and diet, but after I exercised I would eat too few calories and I would feel like I was starving. In response I would binge and feel like I had no self control.

Tracking my calories burned and eating appropriately fixes this problem. Also eating low glycemic index carbs and eating 5 smaller meals rather than 3 larger ones really helps to eliminate those feelings of hunger.