Day 25 and another day of planning and managing my food.

Day: 25 of 77
Date: 5/06/2013
Workout Day: 19
Weight (lb): Not measured
Body Fat %: Not measured
Health: Fine 10/10

For those that missed yesterday’s blog, I’ve spent today in Monte Carlo working and getting to see a bit of the sun.

Since I’m off the booze I had an early night yesterday, and feeling refreshed I hit the gym early this morning. I hadn’t planned on this, but the gym had installed some new equipment, including a Smith Machine which meant that I could perform an actual workout from the 12 Week Body Plan. Today was legs day, and whilst I did have some equipment, the limitations of what I had resulted in some changes to the prescribed exercises. Once you understand the method behind the programming and set/rep structure you should be able to select alternative exercises that won’t hinder your progress.

My view of the sea from breakfast

With that session completed I headed for breakfast, at which I managed to get an outdoor table overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and Monte Carlo. It was the usual breakfast buffet setup and so opted for the same as yesterday, with a load of smoked salmon, scrambled egg, bacon, and slices of turkey and beef. The food was fantastic, especially the eggs, for which I’m usually highly critical. I eat so much scrambled egg at home that I’ve become an egg snob, and am therefore rarely satisfied with it outside of Chez Gottlieb. Fortunately these 8 eggs were great, as was everything else, and the view topped it off.

I was fearful of another poor offering at lunch, hence the massive breakfast, and was once again proven right later on as I was confronted with a buffet of yellow sandwiches and pastries. I was however surprised with an offer of a separate lunch at one of the hotel’s outdoor restaurants (adjacent to the breakfast restaurant, so another sea view), at which I had a stunning fillet steak with vegetables. This lunch came completely out of the blue, and my gluttonous side managed to ignore my lack of hunger and I thoroughly enjoyed the meal.

In these kind of luxurious surroundings it is surprising how quickly they all become “normal”. One gets used to the great view, the facilities and the food, but then occasionally little things just remind you of the place you’ve arrived at. One of those in Monte Carlo especially is the cars. Whilst waiting for a taxi back to the airport a car drove up to the front entrance and parked just by the door. It was a particularly nice car. A Ferrari F40. And as we left in the taxi I noticed the two Ferrari 458’s parked just to my right, next to the Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4. The other two cars parked up were just Rolls Royce Phantoms. I assumed they were for taxiing people around town. Yes, there is a lot of money here in Monte Carlo.

Ferrari F40 (Not my taxi)

Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4

So before you all think I’m a fatty, the steak at lunch was another attempt to cover for the lack of dinner I knew I would get. Despite BA’s attempt to force a cheese sandwich down me for dinner, I was content that I’d eaten well enough for the day and would now hold out for breakfast. The last two days has been far from optimal for food, but considering I’ve been abroad in unfamiliar surroundings I’m happy that I’ve eaten fairly well and done a lot more training and relaxation than I would have expected.

As a final thought for the day I’m still surprised how easy it was not to drink and how much I still enjoyed myself at night. I’m seriously thinking about only drinking at special occasions. I’m just not sure if the pro’s of drinking are as good as I remember.