Jun
10
Tuesday, June 10th
Filed Under Me
Went off the diet today, and no, it wasn’t because the video game called me fat.
I’ve been dieting for about 6 weeks now and I’ve lost almost 30 pounds (I can’t imagine what the game would’ve called me then!). I’ve been doing the Atkins diet, or at least my own interpretation of how the Atkins diet should work. I realize I’m about five years behind the whole “low carb” craze, but I understood how the Atkins diet worked and why it worked. I was basically at a point where I needed to lose a lot of weight, so I went with a diet that I knew would work.
While I did follow the Atkins plan, I wasn’t stupid about it. When most people think of Atkins, they picture three meals of steak and eggs with a side of bacon and a stick of butter, and there are people who do lose weight dieting like that, but it’s extremely unhealthy. I was quite sensible about it, and I ate more lettuce than I did meat over the course of my Atkins experience. I finally decided to end the Atkins phase of dieting due to the severe muscle cramps I was getting. Even though I was taking a multivitamin, I still wasn’t getting enough potassium and such to prevent cramping in my calf muscles. After a week of waking up at 3am with severe pain in my calves, I decided it was time to eat a damn banana.
Since I’m still not finished dropping pounds, I decided to phase off the low carb and into a more conventional calorie maintenance diet. Well, after one day of splurging.
Went to the barn again tonight to bring in the girls since it’s probably going to thunderstorm tonight. Sassy had wriggled out of her halter again, so I had to loop the lead rope around her neck to get her inside. Lilly just ambled into her stall, no issues. Night and day, the attitudes of these animals. When we got Lilly we hoped that some of her laid back persona would rub off on Sassy but it hasn’t. Basically, Sassy just pushes her around in the pasture, which is quite a feat considering Lilly has her by at least 18 inches at the shoulder and a good 700 lbs. She’s just too easy going to push back is all.
Oh, and speaking of horses, we might be getting another one. Funny thing how that works. This time last year I had zero horses, with no intentions of buying horse one. Less than a year later I have two and am looking into the possibility of a third. She’s an 18 month old blue roan mare, and despite not having the best start at life, she’s a beautiful animal with a great temperament. Another boarder at the stables purchased her with the intent to bulk her up, train her and sell her at a profit (aka Flip this Horse), but met with a few unforeseen financial obligations and can’t afford to keep her. We also can’t afford to keep her, but my wife’s mother also was taken by the horse and wants to help out. So technically it will be her horse and we’ll just train it, ride it, and look after it.
I’ve claimed dibs on naming her if/when we actually go through with this. I’m leaning towards either Trillian or Zooey. Yes, they’re both from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Trillian from the book, Zooey from the actress who played Trillian in the movie). Pretty much all of my other science fiction based names were vetoed. Willow was in the running until my wife figured out it was from Buffy.
Well, that should wrap things up for tonight. See you tomorrow.