Well, this wasn't in the plans...

Today was a bit of a struggle, with a bad cold. Actually, it started yesterday, and by the end of the day I was feeling pretty bad, and it only grew worse overnight and into today. Bad sore throat, stuffed up sinuses...you know the drill. Haven't felt like eating as much either, though I forcing it down.

Anyway, as you can imagine, the workout wasn't the greatest. I had already decided to forgo cardio this morning because of the knee (which is doing much better), but I went a little lighter with weights tonight as well -- fewer reps in some cases, fewer less weight in others, and just not as much as I normally do. I thought I'd be able to do a regular workout, but about two-thirds of the way through the chest portion of the work, I was already feeling like I was running out of gas, so not a great day with the weights.

I did weigh again today -- 246 pounds, or THREE more pounds lost since Sunday (well, 3.5 to be specific)!

That's about it for the day. Here's my workout and eating:

Weight training -- chest, shoulders and triceps.

Chest

Dumbbell bench press

60 pounds -- 1 set of 10 reps

90 pounds -- 2 sets 8 reps each, plus 1 set of 7 reps

Incline barbell press

135 pounds -- 2 sets, 8 reps each

Machine seated chest flye

125 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each

Shoulders

Seated Barbell press

115 pounds -- 1 set, 6 reps

95 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps

Seated machine side raises

110 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each

Triceps

Press down 

150 pounds, 2 sets, 12 reps each

Abs

Seated weighted crunch

125 pounds -- 1 set, 15 reps

Food for the day

Breakfast

Coffee

Eggs -- 1 whole, 2 whites

Southwestern hash browns -- 2/3 cup

Lunch

Ground chicken -- 2 ounces

Kidney beans -- 1/2 cup

Cheese -- 1/8 cup

Salsa and corn

All on a mixed green salad

Snack

Fat Free Greek Yogurt

First Dinner

Lean pork -- 4.3 ounces

Brown rice -- 2/3 cup cooked

Second dinner

Baked chicken breast -- 3.75 ounces

Red potatoes baked in olive oil -- 6.5 ounces

Totals for the day

Calories -- 1,220 (plus whatever might be in Dayquil and cough drops)

Fat -- 31 grams

Protein -- 120 grams

Water -- 85 ounces

Diet soda -- 24 ounces

WOW...I rode a lot of "miles" today...

Well, after all the excitement of showing off my before and in-progress pics yesterday, today's blog is ... well, probably kinda lame.

I did head off to the gym early this morning for cardio, only to find the stationary bike is even more broken today than it has been. The way the bike works is you plug in your weight, and then you take off. Based on how fast you're pedaling, how high the resistance, and how long you go the bike gives a rough approximation of how many calories you've burned. I don't know how accurate it is, but I figure as long as it's using the same standard from day to day, it should be good for comparison purposes.

Until today.

First, the weight would not go any higher than 180 pounds. So, according to the bike, I've long-ago met my weight loss goals -- imagine that, 99 pounds in just 7-1/2 weeks.

Second, once I started pedaling, I noticed the mileage was really moving along quite nicely. Too nicely. I'm still not entirely sure, but I think it was counting in kilometers. When I clicked to the screen that showed my speed, it definitely was registering in kilometers per hour, so I'm guessing that 34 I finished at was kilometers, not miles -- particularly since I've never done more than 22.5 miles in an hour before today.

Of course, no one there had a clue how to reset the bike back to miles, or even knew it could be set to kilometers. The most promising answer I got was "Well, we'll have new equipment here some time in May."

That's been the pat answer to most everything in recent months. As cardio equipment and weight equipment breaks, rather than get it repaired, we hear about some nebulous date that no one can actually pinpoint when everything will be replaced with all-new stuff.

That's great, I suppose, but for those of us who used the equipment that keeps breaking, we're left with fewer and fewer choices. Wonder if they'll take fewer dollars for our membership during these months when everything keeps breaking?

Nah, didn't think so.

So, I guess that's my rant for the week. Just frustrating, especially when combined with the fact that about half-way through the biking my knee really started giving me some pain, and it's been a little off all day since then, so I fear I may have to skip cardio tomorrow. That'll be twice this week.

Other than that, things have gone just peachy!

Now, for my day...

Workout
Cardio
Stationary Bike -- 1 hour (55 minutes at level 5, 5 minutes at level 40
21 miles, I'm guessing
785 calories

That's it -- no weight training today.

Food for the day
Breakfast
Coffee
Eggs -- 1 whole, 2 whites
Southwest hash browns (no oil, nothing bad)

Lunch
Taco soup -- 1-1/2 bowls
A few tiny little corn chip strips in the soup
Fat Free Greek Yogurt

Snack
Powerbar Triple Threat (not the best choice, but I was out of protein bars)

Dinner
Taco-flavored ground chicken -- 5 ounces
Kidney beans -- 3/4 cup
Cheese -- 1/4 cup
Salsa -- 2 tablespoons
Corn -- 1/4 cup

Snack
Ground chicken -- 2 ounces
Kidney beans 1/4 cup
Cheese 1/8 cup
Salsa - 1 tablespoon
Corn -- Not much


Totals for the day

Calories-- 1,500
Fat -- 45 grams
Protein -- 130 grams

Water -- 85 ounces
Diet soda -- 36 ounces

I'm getting a little slack in my eating, not eating anything that's not clean, but simply not planning to ensure I'm higher on protein. I think I'll have to make sure there's more chicken breast and fish showing up in the diet over the next few days.

That's it for the day. Thanks for stopping by.

A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words (Or At Least 30 Pounds)

For tonight's blog, I'm going to share a couple of pictures -- one of me shot a couple of weeks before I started this little fitness pursuit, and another shot today.

The first picture, on the left (the one that looks like I have a basketball hidden in my shirt where my stomach should be), was shot on Feb. 28, when I was probably around 276 or so pounds. Ten days later, when I decided something had to change, I was actually 279 pounds.

The second picture, on the right, was shot this morning (April 27), and while I didn't weigh this morning, I'm somewhere between 247 and 249 (249 was my weight two days ago). I'm trying to stand as much in this picture as I can like I did in the first one for a good comparison.

For those of you who have been reading my blog a while, please note the lack of a belt in photo No. 1, and the use of one in photo No. 2 -- on hole No. 4! (If that means nothing to you, you'll need to go back and check out some of my older blogs.)

I get that I'm still a FAT boy -- I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 pounds yet to lose. These are definitely not before and after pictures; they're more like before and in-progress pics But, I believe I can actually see a difference. What do you think?

I know I've been writing about all the ways I've measured my progress -- weight loss on the scale, inches melting away, clothes fitting that I couldn't wear before (and the good old belt as well), but seeing the pictures, actually seeing what I look like from a different perspective, shows there is a noticeable difference.

And I'll tell you something: I'm far from the most disciplined guy in the world; I'm far, far from the hardest working guy in the gym; and I certainly don't have the best genetics in the world for this type of stuff (not to mention that, as much as I hate to admit it, I have a few years on me). I say all this to lead into my next statement: if I can do this, anyone can.

I had two main reasons for writing this blog -- not just tonight's installment, but the whole thing.

First, to help keep myself accountable and motivated. People I know in every day life read this, as well as others who have commented here or on my Facebook account or on my Twitter account (look me up, send me a friend request, follow me and I'll follow back). I did not want to go on a blog, tell everyone what I was doing, talk about big weight loss plans, and then fail! Knowing I'm going to blog about how well, or how badly, I did is quite a bit of motivation to stick with it.

Second, I'm hoping that other people might see this -- folks who have gained weight over the years and can't seem to get healthy; people who need to take control over their lives again but don't know how; people who have tried one fad diet after another; or maybe folks who are doing okay but simply want to get a little fitter, in a little better shape. If you read my blog, if you see my progress -- especially knowing where I started, hopefully you'll take a few steps in the right direction in weight management and fitness.

I can tell you it really does feel great to be setting a goal -- what I think has been an ambitious goal -- and then start to see definitive, measurable progress. And even if I weren't after some major weight loss, exercising and eating as I have been certainly has me feeling much, much better on a daily basis.

Want to get started for yourself? Read through some of my blogs, back from the beginning, for some ideas on eating and working out. Drop me a comment or question here, or look me up on Facebook or Twitter -- I'll be glad to give a few pointers, or at the least show you some resources you can check out to see how you can make changes in your own life.

Now, for my day today.

Workout
Weight training for back and biceps

Back
Seated Row
130 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps
200 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each

Wide-grip seated row
160 pounds -- 2 sets, 8 reps each

Nautilus Lat Pulldowns (as opposed to the regular wide-grip bar, which puts too much stress on my forearm).
140 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps
140 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps

Bent-over dumbbell row
65 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps

Biceps
Curl-bar curls
50 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each
I'm still taking it easy here, not stressing the forearms, but this was a slit increase in weight and sets/reps, and if I do them really slowly. toward the end I actually started to feel the burn a little in the biceps. That felt good! I'm still limited on these, though. For now, anyway.

Seated weighted machine ab crunch
125 pounds -- 2 sets, 15 reps each.

That's it for the day. Pretty good back workout, but I still can't do a lot with the curls, and no cardio today.

Eating for the day


Breakfast
Coffee
Eggs -- 1 whole, 2 white

Lunch
Lean pork -- 5 ounces
Brown Rice -- 1/2 cup cook
Mixed veggies -- 2/3 cup

Snack
Protein bar

Snack 2
Fat Free Greek yogurt

Snack 3
Powerbar Triple Threat
Note: I ended up messed up on my meals today, resulting in three snacks instead of one snack, an early dinner and a later dinner)

Dinner
Lean pork -- 5 ounces
Southwestern hashed brown potatoes

Totals for the day
Calories 1,440
Fat -- 42 grams
Protein -- 158 grams

Water -- 90 ounces
Diet soda -- 24 ounces

Thanks for stopping by.

Changing Plans, Adjusting As I Go

My plans for the week, you might recall, were to forgo cardio Sunday after the leg workout, but do cardio every morning this week.

You know what they say about the best laid plans.

I did my cardio yesterday morning (Monday), but I was really tired all day, just worn out, feeling like I was running on about 4 hours sleep for two or three straight nights. Yet I've been getting about 7 hours' sleep the past three nights -- an improvement over what I generally do. Yet, I had the extreme fatigue. Even more puzzling, I was really sore, especially in the legs. Well, mostly in the legs. All day the soreness grew worse yesterday, and last night after my workout last night, I was simply wiped out.

Still, I figured another good night's sleep would have me good to go this morning. Only thing was, I didn't get a good night's sleep. Twice I woke up because of some knee pain. Or I should say the pain is what woke me -- yeah, it was strong enough to wake me up, send me scurrying to the medicine cabinet for a packet of Goody's (the pain killer, not doughnuts or hot wings). That second time I woke up I figured biking this morning was out. 

Funny thing, though, through the day I started feeling better, the soreness and extreme fatigue mostly went away and I was able to do some cardio on the bike tonight. That's great for getting cardio today, but there's no way I'm turning around in 10 hours and doing it again early in the morning, and I have back and biceps work tomorrow night, so I suppose I'm back to four cardio sessions this week -- assuming I get it done on Thursday and Friday.

That's not too bad, but I'm still puzzled about the soreness and fatigue. I expected that after my first leg workout, and after my second, but I really didn't think it would be this bad after the third leg workout. If you've been reading my blog, you know the name Mark Webster, better known as Some Dude Who Ate Like The Rock for 30 days. Early on in my weight loss and fitness plan he commented on my blog, suggesting I try some fish oil -- he thinks he had no soreness during his 30-Day Rock Workout plan because of all the cod he ate, an oily fish, along with the other food he took in. I haven't done that, but I'm thinking more and more about giving it a try. 

And now, for the day's results....

Cardio

Stationary Bike -- 1 hour, 12 minutes (10 minutes at level 4, 12  minutes at level 6, rest at level 5)

25 miles

800 calories

Food for the day

Breakfast

Coffee

Eggs -- 1 whole, 2 whites

Flatbread (I had an egg sandwich with that bread that's made of quinoa, whole wheat, millet, and some other bird seed or something)

Lunch

Lean pork -- 4.5 ounces

Mixed veggies 3/4 cup

Sweet potato -- 4 ounces

Snack

Fat Free Greek Yogurt

First Dinner

Ground chicken (taco flavored) -- 2 ounces

Cheese -- 1/4 cup

Black beans -- 1/2 cup

Salsa

Lettuce/Spinach mixture

Second Dinner

Sirloin Steak -- 5.3 ounces

Sweet potato -- 5.3 ounces

Diet butter -- 1 tablespoon

Snack
Granola -- 2/3 cup
2% milk -- 6 ounces

Total for the day (so far, may have a snack later, will update if I do)

Calories -- 1,635

Fat grams -- 44

Protein -- 167 grams

Water - 120 ounces 

Diet soda -- 24 ounces

A Milestone In Weight Loss, and...KRISPY KREME!

Yesterday (Sunday) I stepped on the scales and found I'd hit a couple of milestones in this little weight loss and fitness effort I've taken on.

As of Sunday, I had lost exactly 30 pounds since that day six weeks and six days ago, the day I woke up and found I was FAT...the day I decided I had to change some things. While I didn't officially start until two days later, on March 9, it was that Monday when I really got the sense I needed to make some changes. So, almost seven weeks ago I was 279 pounds, and Sunday, I was 249. 

That's the even, 30-pound milestone. The other milestone, of course, is dropping into the 240s. Truthfully, 249 pounds is appallingly heavy, but at this point it's felling pretty good, and 30 pounds lost is definitely motivation to keep at it.

Another motivation is yet another milestone -- I'm making another move into smaller pants. You might recall from my earlier blogs I had gone from barely fitting into my largest couple of pants to being able to wear them comfortably, then they were too large and I moved down to another couple of pairs. Well, I'm happy to report both of those are not too large, and starting this week I'm down still another size in pants. 

Good thing I have all of this motivation going, because last night, after we had the steak and corn for dinner (all still on the 30-days clean eating plan), my wife ran to the store to pick up...well, honestly, I'm not certain what she was pretending to go get. What I know she returned with was two boxes of Krispy Kreme donuts -- one jelly filled and the other chocolate iced.

Oh man, if that had happened in one of my weaker moments, who knows? But not last night, I was feeling far to good after stepping on the scales and trying on smaller clothes to even think about tasting one.

Today, however, I'm doing okay with the food, but feeling really, really wiped out. I don't know if it's the leg workout yesterday -- my legs are really stiff and sore from yesterday's working, and I'm just fatigued today. Maybe that's just going to be what happens after leg days, I don't know. I'll give it another week or two and see how it all shakes out.

My workouts today were cardio in the morning and chest/shoulders/triceps in the evening. Here's the rundown:

Cardio

Stationary Bike -- 52 minutes (10 minutes on lvl 4, the rest on lvl 5)

18 miles

770 calories

Weight training

Chest

Flat bench press

135 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps

185 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps

210 pounds -- 1 set, 6 reps (not really failure, but I was just too tired to push too much here)

200 pounds -- 1 set 8 reps

190 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps

Incline barbell press

135 pounds -- 2 sets, 8 reps each

Seated machine flye

140 pounds, 2 sets, 10 reps each

Shoulders

Machine shoulder press

110 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each

Seated machine side raises 

110 pounds, 2 sets, 10 reps each

Seated machine rear delt flyes

140 pounds, 2 sets, 10 reps each

Triceps

Okay, I did something different here tonight. I set up the triceps push-down with the bar on one machine and the rope on the other machine, and went back and forth between the two with NO rest. Here's the way that went:

Bar pressdown -- 150 pounds, 12 reps

Rope pressdown -- 100 pounds, 10 reps

Bar pressdown -- 150 pounds, 6 reps

Rope pressdown -- 100 pounds, 4 reps

Ab work

Seated weight crunch

125 pounds, 1 set, 10 reps

Food for the day

Breakfast

Coffee

Eggs -- 1 whole, 2 whites

Oatmeal -- 1/3 cup dry

Lunch

Lean pork -- 5 ounces

Sweet potato -- 4 ounces

Veggies - 1/2 cup

Low fat Greek yogurt

Snack

Low fat Greek yogurt (If I eat enough yogurt, maybe I'll be like Michael Weston)

First dinner

Chicken -- 5 ounces

Veggies -- 1 cup

Sesame oil -- 1 teaspoon

Teriyaki sauce -- 1 tablespoon

Second Dinner

Sirloin steak -- 4 ounces

Sweet potato -- 4 ounces

Diet butter -- 1 tablespoon

Snack

Lean pork -- 5 ounces

Totals for the day

1,500 calories

43 grams of fat

196 grams of protein

Water -- 100 ounces

Diet soda -- 24 ounces

That's all for the day. Thanks for stopping in!

Being Lazy IS Good For You...And A Tiny Little Miscalculation

Today was leg day, and I decided to change things up just a bit. Regular readers will probably recall two weeks ago I decided to add legs to my workout routine, doing the workouts on Sunday afternoon.

That first week, I went pretty light with the weights, and didn't do too many reps and sets, along with about 20 minutes of cardio. Last week I added to the weight, the sets and reps, then followed by a pretty hard 40 minute cardio session. My legs were worn out after that, and weren't really back to normal until Tuesday night.

So, this week I decided to do the leg work but push the cardio off to another day. Last week I did cardio Sunday-Tuesday, then Thursday and Friday. This week I'll simply do it Monday-Friday. Sitting here writing this, I can already tell my legs aren't nearly as fatigued as they were last week, and I played about 20 minutes of basketball after doing legs today and am still feeling pretty good.

Now, for how the lazy is good thing, and my miscalculation. After doing squats, I went to do my leg press and there were four 100-pound discs on the machine. Moving those things are a real pain in the patootie, because there's very little grip room on them to grab when moving. I just didn't feel like wrestling with them, so I figured I'd go ahead and try doing leg presses with the four of them on there -- so for being too lazy to move the discs, I had to work harder to leg press more weight. About half-way through the first set, I was think this was a huge mistake, but the second set really wasn't that much harder to do.

And that's when it struck me. These past two Sundays, when I've been reporting here I'm doing leg presses of 200 and 240 pounds, it was actually 300 and 340 pounds. I'm not sure how I messed that  up -- I'm usually able to handle simple addition. So, anyway, I'm going to go back and correct those blogs, but that was my big discovery for the day.

Also, I'm combing Saturday and Sunday's eating and working out in this blog. Yesterday, Saturday, was my off day from working out, and it turns out I didn't eat nearly as much as I have been lately. I'll get to the Saturday food soon.

First, Sunday's workout -- legs.

Squats

135 pounds -- 10 reps

165 pounds -- 8 reps

225 pounds -- 8 reps

205 pounds -- 8 reps

185 pounds -- 8 reps

Leg Press

400 pounds (yes, I counted them right) -- 2 sets, 8 reps each.

Leg extension

115 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each

Lying leg curl

70 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps

90 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each

Standing Calf Press
410 pounds
2 sets, 12 reps each.

Seated Machine Crunch

125 pounds -- 1 set, 15 reps

Afterward -- basketball (which was difficult, since my legs were pretty dead for a while afterward.)

Eating for Sunday -- I'll get back to you on this, filling it out later tonight.

Breakfast
Coffee (yeah, that's healthy)

Lunch
Seasoned chicken breast on a salad (2.75 ounces chicken, 1/4 cup black beans, 2 tablespoons salsa, 1/4 cup cheese, lettuce/spinach mixture)

Snack
Protein Drink (protein power, 8 ounces of 2 percent milk, 1 small banana all blended together)

Snack 2
Powerbar Triple Threat bar

Dinner
Sirloin steak from the grill (delicious!!!) -- 8.5 ounces
Corn on the cob -- 1 ear
Diet butter -- 2 teaspoons

Snack
3.25 ounces sirloin steak from the grill (did I mention it was really, really good?)

Totals for the day
1,525 calories
39 grams fat
173 grams protein

Water 80 ounces
Diet soda -- 12 ounces

Eating for Saturday

Breakfast

Cappuccino (A k-cup made at home)

Eggs -- 2 whole

Home-made hash browns -- 1 cup

Lunch
Taco-flavored ground chicken -- 3 ounces

Cheese -- 1/2 cup

Black beans -- 1/2 cup

Salsa -- 2 tablespoons

Mixed lettuce/spinach -- 1-1/2 cup

Snack

Taco soup -- 1 bowl

Dinner

Chicken sandwich -- made of 2 slices whole wheat bread, 4 ounces boiled chicken breast, 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese, three olives, and 1 1/2 teaspoons chipotle mayo.

Totals for day

1,265 calories

44 grams fat

96 grams protein (really low)

Water -- 50 ounces
Diet soda -- 24 ounces

That's it for the weekend. Thanks for stopping by!

The Cravings Have Hit!

Any of you who have been reading my blog over the past couple of months knows that I started this thing on March 9, and for the first month I concentrated on working out and restricting overall calories each day as a means of losing weight.

I was happy with the results -- 21 pounds lost that first month -- and after taking a couple of days off from the diet, decided to change things up for the second 30 days. Instead of making it about total calories and taking an off day every week or so, I decided to simply eat clean for 30 days. No sweets, no high-fat food, a minimal of processed food. Just clean eating.

Yesterday (Friday) was day 12 of that, and for the first time I found myself really, really craving the junk food. I kept thinking of Big Macs, pizza, hot wings (and yes, a long time ago I extolled the virtues of tacos, even calling them my favorite food, but the truth is there is NOTHING I like better than good hot wings. In my mind, the perfect restaurant would be a combination of East Coast Wings and Taco Bell).

It was even worse last night. We were at the grocery store and I saw boxes of popcorn, and suddenly was craving popcorn. When my son put a pizza in the oven, I really, really want a piece (or five).

I didn't eat any of that stuff, but it's been along time since I had food cravings that bad.

My son thinks that will get worse as the 30 days goes forward, I'm wondering if it'll get easier -- the further out from having eaten anything like that, the less I should want it, right?

I suppose this is the very reason many weight loss programs include an off day. I know the old Weight Watchers (when it actually promoted healthy food choices instead of calories and points) always suggested an off meal each week. Body For Life suggests an off day each week.

I understand the psychology of that idea -- if you can have anything you want once a week, or for a whole day each week, that makes it more likely you can stick with a strict diet plan the rest of the week.

That makes sense. But from a practical standpoint, it can wreak havoc on your hopes to lose weight and get healthy. It really doesn't matter how strict you are the rest of the week, a really bad off day can destroy half of your work. What do you think three or four Krispy Kremes, a Big Mac and large fries, a big bowl of buttery popcorn, and a dozen hot wings (or three pieces of Pizza Hut pizza) do for your weight loss goals? That might sound like a lot, and it is, but it's not really too extreme. I suspect there are a lot of folks who eat that way several days a week. I know, as an off-day from a diet, I could pack all of that away, and then some.

Like I said, all of that hard work in the gym, the discipline in sticking to a healthy eating plan for six days, and then you do that? There goes half your weight loss for the week. Even forgetting the fat loss, do you know how bad each of those things are for you?

In my case in particular, not only can an off day be a disaster, but on many of my past weight loss efforts, I'll find myself taking an off day one week, then the next week (particularly if I'm doing well with the fat loss) I take another off day, but expand it a little. I might start eating badly on Friday night before an off Saturday, or take off half of Saturday before a Sunday off day.

Going strict for 30 days, while a little harder when it comes to not satisfying those random cravings, certainly makes life easier in many ways. A slice of pizza? Just one? Nope. Just a handful of popcorn? Sorry, does't fit. Just a taste (or two, or maybe three) of the mashed potatoes? I mean, it'll still work for total calories for the day. Sorry, that doesn't fly either.

See, it's easy. There's really no gray areas -- it's either part of the eating plan or it's not. Once committing to 30 days of clean eating, certain foods just don't fit, no matter what the total calorie intake is, because the 30 days isn't about total calories, it's not even solely about a certain amount of fat loss, it's simply about sticking to a healthy, clean eating plan.

Okay, enough of my soapbox for the day I suppose.

On Friday, I did no cardio (a planned break), but did back and biceps

Workout
Back
Seat machine row
130 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps
180 pounds -- 2 sets, 8 reps each

Wide-grip seated rows (first time I've tried these)
150 pounds -- 2 sets, 8 reps each

Lat Pulldown (with nautilus machine, less stress on the forearm)
130 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each

Bent-over barbell rows
60 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps each

Biceps -- Okay, I'm still not really doing anything here because of the forearm issue. I did one token set that wasn't so much about working out as it was just making sure I haven't forgot how to do them.
Curlbar curls
40 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps

Abs
Machine weight crunch
115 pounds -- 2 sets, 15 reps

Eating for the day
Breakfast
Coffee
Eggs -- 1 whole, 2 whites
Banana -- 1/3 of a banana (leftovers)

Lunch -- a big salad
Seasoned chicken breast (no sodium seasoning) -- 3.5 ounces
3 olives
1/4 cup cheese
Mixed lettuce/spinach
Fat free Greek yogurt (no, that wasn't part of the salad).

Snack
Banana

Dinner
Taco soup -- 2 big bowls
Note: My wife makes this with black beans, chicken breast, tomatoes, corn, and some seasonings. We got the idea from Applebees. Thing is, Applebees' version has more than 240 calories in a small bowl. Our version has just 95 calories in a big bowl. Another example of how eating at a restaurant is almost always gonna be bad for you.

Snack
Taco soup -- a big bowl (this stuff's really, really good)

Totals for the day
1,260 calories
26 grams fat
143 grams protein

That's it for the day. Thanks for stopping by!

Basic Gym Etiquette -- Use It Or Move

Still motoring along, with nothing major to report, other than it's getting increasingly harder to get a workout in at the gym. It's that time of year now when the weather's warm and everyone starts thinking about summer, trying to get their beach body ready.

Mostly, though, it's folks just sitting on equipment, talking about working out, kinda getting in the way and taking up space. Don't get me wrong -- I think it's great to see folks working out. I actually enjoy seeing people who are either working hard to maintain their fitness, or people like me, trying to change and improve themselves. I don't mind in the least if the equipment's being used by people who are working out.

I just get irritated at folks who take up the equipment, but spend a half-hour talking and posing in the mirrors and playing on their phones, while getting maybe three sets done. And no, I'm not exaggerating -- I regularly see folks get three or four sets done in a half-hour, roughly the same time frame my son and I get do 12 to 15 sets each. The other night I was going to use a seated bench for a couple of exercises, and some guy steps over and says "I'm using that."

Okay, so I adjust, do some other lifts. I did my entire shoulder and triceps workout -- 10 different sets -- and he hadn't yet done a single lift. He sat on the bench flexing in the mirror, spent 10 minutes on his phone, flexed some more, moved a couple of dumbbells from the rack to the floor, played on his phone some more....

Oh, well, such is life in the gym, right? Maybe one day I'll do a top-ten list of my least favorite gym practices.

For now, though, let me give you the rundown on what I did yesterday (Thursday). It was an off-day for weight training, so I did a longer cardio workout (also getting more difficult since we have a single stationary bike in the entire gym, and suddenly everyone's wanting to use it).

My workout
Stationary bike
1 hour, 10 minutes (1 hour at level 5, the rest at level 4)
24 miles
765 calories burned.

Eating for the day
Breakfast
Oatmeal -- 1/3 cup when dry
1/2 banana

Lunch
Chicken sandwich (3 ounces boiled chicken breast, 1-1/2 teaspoon of homemade chipotle mayonnaise, 1.3 cup mozzarella, 3 chopped up olives, two slices of whole wheat bread)
Fat Free Greek Yogurt

Snack
Salad (mixed greens) with 4 ounces of boiled chicken breast, 3 olives, and 2 tablespoons of fat free Thousand Island dressing

Dinner
Two flat bread tacos (each taco had 1.25 ounces of homemade taco-flavored ground chicken, 1/8 cup cheese, 1 tablespoon salsa; and the flatbread was made from a mixture of whole wheat, quonia, millet, and other grains).

Snack
Taco-flavored ground chicken -- 3 ounces
Cheese -- quarter cup
Salsa
Chopped tomato

Totals for the day
Calories -- 1.525
Fat -- 50 grams
Protein -- 135 grams

Water -- 95 ounces
Diet soda -- 24 ounces

That's all folks! Thanks for stopping by. 

Belt Tales and New Pants

Maybe my latest blog ever -- it's well after noon now, and I'm just now getting around to writing about yesterday. Blame Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina and the hour-and-a-half my wife and I spent on the phone with them this morning (with little resolved). I have for some time considered Comcast the absolute most incompetently run, customer-antagonistic company on the face of the earth (the link will take you to a story that shows they twice ranked lower than the IRS in customer satisfaction), but I gotta tell ya, BCBS of North Carolina is making a hard run for the title (that link will take you to one of numerous stories of THOUSANDS of complains against the company filed just this year).

Anyway, putting that aside for now, and combining a bit of news from yesterday and today, I have more belt news! (A Fat Boy Story aficionados will recall my other Mr. Miyago-inspired belt blogs here, here, and here) 

Yesterday I noticed my pants were doing that funny little thing again, when the top kinda rolls downward, and I realized my belt was too loose. Thinking I'd accidentally slipped the little belt thingy in the second hole instead of the third (what do you call that little metal belt part, anyway?), I check and...it was on hole three. So now, just six weeks after not even being close to being able to wear my belt, I'm on hole 4!

Of course, that makes my pants bunch up kinda funny, and I realized that they were too big as well (keep in mind, these are pants I couldn't even wear six weeks ago). So I pulled a new pair out of the closet, a pair my wife bought a couple of months ago that I couldn't even buckle then, and they fit!

This morning, armed with this newfound realization my clothes were all getting too big for me, I decided to do something I haven't done since the beginning -- take a few measurements. I won't bore you with all the details, but my waist is 5 inches smaller, my neck is a full 1 1/8 inches smaller, heck I'm even 2 inches smaller across the chest despite actually getting stronger in the weight room on lifts primarily involving the chest.

Yeah, this weight loss thing is going pretty good right now.

Yesterday I didn't do any cardio (by design), but I did a pretty decent chest, shoulders and triceps workout with my son. It was his second workout back since missing three weeks with a bit of a toe injury (well, TWO toe injuries), and I have to say he did quite well -- I'm doing more sets than I was when he went out, and he kept right up with me. Then again, he's more than 30 years younger than I am.

Here's what I did yesterday.

Weight training
Chest
Dumbbell flat bench press
60-pound dumbbells -- 1 set, 10 reps
90-pound dumbbells -- 2 sets, 8 reps each
85-pound dumbbells -- 2 sets, 8 reps each (well, maybe 7-1/2 on that last one)

Include dumbbell press
60-pound dumbbells -- 2 sets, 8 reps each

Seated machine chest flye
140 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each

Shoulders
Seated barbell press
95 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps
105 pounds - 1 set, 8 reps

Machine side raise
115 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each

Seated Machine Rear Deltoid Flyes
145 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps
140 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps

Triceps
Cable pressdown
150 pounds
1 set, 15 reps
1 set, 12 reps
1 set, 10 reps

Now for the food!

Breakfast
Coffee
Eggs (1 whole, 2 whites)
A pear

Lunch
Homemade teriyaki sesame chicken & noodles (4 ounces boiled chicken breast, 1 serving whole-wheat noodles, 1/2 cup veggies, 1 teaspoon of sesame oil, 1 tablespoon of teriyaki sauce all mixed together)

Snack
Fat free Greek yogurt

Snack 2
Protein bar

Dinner 1
4 ounces boiled chicken breast
1 cup salad/lettuce mixture
1 tablespoon fat-free dressing

Dinner 2
Tilapia -- 4 ounces
Corn on the cob -- 1 ear
Diet butter -- 1 tablespoon

Snack (I was really hungry today!)
Granola -- 2/3 cup
Skim milk -- 1 cup

Totals for the day

1,615 calories
36 grams of fat
154 grams of protein

Water -- 70 ounces
Diet soda -- 36 ounces (one day I'm going to cut these out)

Thanks for stopping by! Any questions? Leave those in the comment section and I'll answer!

Blogging A Day Late Again...

Well folks, I may have to change up my blogging schedule. Now that I'm getting up earlier to do cardio each morning, staying up late and blogging just isn't working so well. Yet, I hate to come on and write about what I did YESTERDAY, seems too old. Then again, posting late at night means most of the folks reading are doing so the next day, right?

I don't know, I'll have to give it some thought.

I will say that Sunday's leg workout and cardio session seem to be lingering with me this week. Monday I had a lot of leg soreness and was really, really tired. I went ahead and did Monday morning's cardio on the stationary bike, but my legs felt so fatigued Monday night I decided I wouldn't get up Tuesday morning to do cardio, so I put it off until Tuesday night.

That worked out relatively well, given that I had probably my best cardio workout yet, both in duration and intensity -- though I'm feeling it this morning. Of course, doing the workout that late on Tuesday meant no cardio this morning. (Wednesday).

Other than that, the workouts are going relatively well. The eating has been interesting. I'm on Day 10 of 30 straight days of eating clean. When I started, I had some serious doubts about it -- I've never gone 30 consecutive days of truly eating clean in my life. Even when eating healthy and dieting, there's always an off day or an off night or an off meal. Ten days in, I'm feeling pretty good, the weight has continued to drop, but I'm not feeling weak or tired or even hungry all that often. And, I'm not nearly as tempted as I expected to be to cheat -- though I had to confess my mouth was watering a bit when one of my dear sisters posted something about Krispy Kreme doughnuts being on sale (KRISPY KREME!)

I guess it's the mindset. When just watching calories, it's easy to slip in something bad here and there as long as it fits, but once I decided to eat clean, I just don't think about taking a bite of something that doesn't strictly adhere to the diet. (I wrote a little more at length about this on Sunday's blog).

Anyway. here's what I did on Tuesday.

Workout
Cardio -- stationary bike
1 hour, 5 minutes
23 miles
725 calories

Diet for the day

Breakfast
Coffee
Eggs (1 whole, 2 white)
Oatmeal (1/3 cup when dry)
Banana -- 1/2 of a small one

Lunch
Boiled chicken breast -- 6 ounces
Baked sweet potato -- 5 ounces
Veggies -- 1/2 cup

Snack
Fat Free Greek Yogurt

Dinner 1
Bake tilapia -- 5 ounces
Veggies -- 1/2 cup

Dinner 2
Spaghetti (1 serving whole wheat noodles, 3/4 cup sauce, mozzarella cheese)

Snack
More spaghetti (3/4 serving whole wheat noodles, 1/2 cup sauce, mozzarella cheese)

Totals for the day
Calories -- 1,425
27 grams fat (lower than I would have thought)
131 grams protein (too low)

Water -- 75 ounces
Diet soda -- 32 ounces

My MISSED Monday blog

Okay folks, I'm giving you a quick rundown on how I did yesterday, Monday, because I was just too tired to do it last night, and once the clock started inching close to midnight, I figured sleep was better than blogging.

I will say this -- the legs were really, really fatigued today after doing legs and biking yesterday and biking again Monday morning. Not sure if there's some answer here -- more food, more sleep -- or if I simply need to not do cardio on leg day. Of course, this is only the second leg workout I've done since I've been working out, so maybe I just haven't had time to get used to it. 

Anyway, here's the scoop on how I did Monday:

Workout
Cardio -- stationary bike
50 minutes (all on lvls 5 or 6, except the final five minutes, at lvl 4)
17 miles
565 calories

Weight training
Back and biceps, but because I'm still a little leery about the forearm, I did not do any bicep work. I did, however, return to some of my normal weights on a few of the back sets.

Back
Seated row
130 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps
200 pounds -- 2 sets, 8 reps each
180 pounds -- 2 sets, 8 reps each

Nautilus machine lat pulldown
125 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each

That's it. Feels like I didn't do much, especially with the cardio now in the mornings and the weights in the evenings. I did have my son working out with me though. Actually, on this night my youngest son and daughter worked out. The boy has been out the past three weeks with a rather severe foot issue (well, painful, anyway), but he went back to the doctor yesterday, all is good so he's back in the gym. The daughter? Well, she was just hanging around outside the gym while my wife was in Zumba class, so we got her to go with us to the weight room.

Eating For Monday

Breakfast
Eggs -- 1 whole, 2 whites
Oatmeal -- 1/3 cup dry
Banana -- 1/2 of one, chopped up in the oatmeal

Lunch
Bottom round steak -- 4 ounces
Sweet potato -- 5 ounces
Veggies -- 2/3 cup

Snack
Protein Bar

Snack 2
Fat-free Greek yogurt

Dinner
Steak wraps - consisting of 4.25 ounces of bottom round steak, 1/3 cup mozzarella, 2 tablespoons salsa, all mixed and spread out on two whole-wheat wraps.

Totals for the day

1,480 calories
38 grams of fat
160 grams of protein

Water -- 80 ounces
Diet soda -- 20 ounces

That's it for my Monday. Thanks for stopping in! 

Sunday's eating and working out

Okay, I've been busy today, and with an early morning appointment on a stationary bike tomorrow, I'm just going to jump straight into my workout and food for today. I did blog earlier today, though, about my food intake and some thoughts about eating. Just scroll on down to my last post to see those little kernels of wisdom.

Today, I did legs and a little cardio.

Cardio
Stationary Bike
35 minutes (3 at lvl 7, 7 at lvl 6, the rest at lvl 5)
12.5 miles
390 calories

Weights -- legs, though remember, this is only my second leg workout, so still a little lighter on the weights and sets.

Squats
135 pounds - 1 set, 10 reps
160 pounds -- 1 set 8 reps
205 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps
195 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps
185 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps

Leg press
210 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps
240 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps

Leg extentions
115 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps
110 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps

Lying leg curls
60 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps
80 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each

Standing calf raises
360 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each

Abs
Seat crunch machine
115 pounds -- 2 sets, 15 reps each

Food for the day...

Breakfast
Coffee
Eggs -- 2 whole (weekend splurge)

Lunch
Protein Drink (protein powder, 8 ounces skim milk, 1 banana)

Snack 1
Tilapia -- 4 ounces

Snack 2
Lean ground beef, taco flavored -- 2 ounces
Cheese -- 1/2 serving
Salsa -- 1 tablespoon

Dinner
Cedar grilled chicken breast with rice (we ate out)
Salad

Totals for the day
Calories -- 1,760
Fat -- 84 grams (WAAAAY high)
Protein -- 144 grams, kinda low, especially for the amount of calories

Water -- 60 ounces
Diet soda -- 24 ounces

More thoughts on food...and the realization I need to eat...well, even MORE!

Yesterday (Saturday) I stepped on the scale and weighed in at 251.6 -- exactly 26.2 pounds lower than the start day, 38 days ago. Just as importantly, that's 4.6 pounds lighter than I was 8 days ago.

Remember, this past week I wrote about starting on a new eating plan for the second month -- eating more each day than I did the first month, That started on Monday, six days ago, and that followed two days off of the diet, when I pretty much ate whatever I wanted, regardless of calories or content.

I was, and still am, a bit nervous about eating that much food and being able to keep the weight loss going. The weight loss efforts seem to be working anyway. I know I missed a couple of meals during the week because it was hard to adjust to eating more, but I feel that was more than countered by the fact that I know I weighed more than on Monday than I had on Friday, after that off weekend.

Needless to say, I was quite happy -- and a little surprised -- to see I had dropped the weight this week. At the same time, I noticed something as I went through the week. Early on, I had a lot of trouble getting all the food in. By the end of the week, I was getting hungry a lot during the day. I felt really good early in the week, but later in the week I was a little more tired, and on Friday night I even found myself struggling a bit to use the same amount of weight on the chest workout that I had used earlier in the week.

Part of that is the irritating habit I have of simply staying up too late each night, and that was exacerbated some by getting up earlier in the mornings to do my cardio first thing each day. Another part, however, was...believe it or not, I think I may not be eating quite enough.

I'm eating clean now, as opposed to eating for calories. What I mean is, during that first month, when I lost 21 pounds, I was watching calories more than anything. Yes, I was building my daily eating around mostly healthy food, but if the kids cooked some pizza rolls and I could fit them into my calories for the day, I might snag one or two. Remember that day someone at work was passing out those little candy mini-bites? I ate three (or was it four?), but managed to fit those into the calories. Same with the night we went to see the Irish musicians and I had some popcorn.

I went the first ten days of that month without an off day from the eating plan, but after that averaged about one off day every week.

Now, the plan for the second months is simply eating clean all day, every day for 30 days. Eating clean means lean proteins (chicken breast, lean pork, and red meat, egg whites, things like that). It means eating only healthy complex carbs -- things like brown rice, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, and on the rare occasions when I take in bread or pasta products, making sure they are whole wheat versions. It also means getting two to four servings of healthy veggies (carrots, broccoli, onions, peppers, green beans, snow peas, etc.) and a big old serving of green leafy veggies at least once most days, along with low-fat or fat-free sources of dairy and some fresh fruit along the way.

No pizza roles, no fatty meat, no sweets, and staying as far away from processed food as possible. The rice and oatmeal and the like are as close to their natural state as possible -- dry and uncooked, without any flavoring, preservatives and the like. The veggies are fresh or frozen (and not the frozen kind that have all sorts of flavoring and sodium added). The fruit is fresh or canned without added sweeteners.

And this is every day, seven days a week, no off days. The food, while it can be cooked and flavored (naturally, with herbs and sodium-free spices) so that it's enjoyable, is a fuel, plain and simple. It's made for fueling the body.

I've learned that when eating like this, the volume of food you take in increases dramatically, while the calories can stay relatively low. I've probably been a little too conservative with how much I'm eating, afraid it will slow my weight loss.

Of course, I've bumped up my cardio a lot over the past week, doing the stationary bike six days, 30 minutes one day, with all the rest of the days between 40 minutes and an hour. I think that's the other reason I've maintained my weight loss, even with the extra food.

So my goals this week are to continue with the cardio, but make an extra effort to ensure I get all the meals I'm supposed to -- 5 or 6 a day -- and see if I can get my calorie consumption in the 1,600 to 1,800 range and see where we go with that. Hopefully, that's enough to fuel my weight workouts and cardio without slowing the weight loss too much.

We'll see.

Anyway, that's the plan for this week. I'll check in later today to add my eating and workout for the day. Thanks for stopping by!

A day of rest...

Many of you will recall I said beginning Monday of this week I was going to eat clean for 30 days, no off days.

Well, the weekends are the hardest for that sort of stuff, and I'm happy to report halfway through the first week I'm still good...eating clean . But I did take the day off from working out, a planned day off. Tomorrow, on Sunday, I'll hit the legs and cardio again.

Here's what I ate for the day:

Breakfast
Eggs -- 2 whole
Homemade hash browns -- 1 cup
Cappuccino  (K-cup)

Lunch
Two wraps (one with 3 ounces of chicken breast cooked in fire-roasted potatoes, the other taco-flavored ground chicken breast. Both had an 1/8-cup of cheese, 1 tablespoon of salsa, rolled up in a flour tortilla).

Snack
Protein bar

Dinner
Bottom round steak -- 5 ounces
Sweet potato -- 8.25 ounces
Diet butter (my one luxury this week) -- 1 1/2 tablespoon

Totals for the day

Calories -- 1,675
Fat -- 50 grams
Protein -- 140 grams (a little low)

Water -- 75 ounces
Diet soda -- 30 ounces

That's all. Thanks for stopping by!

Never Put Off What You Can Do In The Morning...

That's a variation of an old saying, to never put off what you can do today. It's one I know well, and I've seen the wisdom in that statement over and over.

Yet I still don't always take heed. 

I've been hitting the cardio pretty hard this week, along with not getting nearly enough sleep, so today I decided to sleep in an extra hour, put off my cardio until Friday evening. Up until this week I've been doing cardio following my weight training, and given that Saturday is my off-day from doing any workouts, I figured doing the cardio at night would be no big deal.

Except I ended up working late, and you know what that meant -- I didn't have time for both a full chest/shoulder/triceps workout and a full cardio workout tonight. 

I compromised a bit, cutting the weight training session a little short and still getting in a good 30-minutes cardio workout, but this goes to show, when it comes to working out, never put it off. You just don't know what will come up to get in the way.

I want to talk a little bit about being tired and a little on the weak side in the weight room, too, but it's late, I'm tired, and that will have to wait for a  weekend post.

For now, here's what I did today.

Working out

Weight training - Chest, shoulders, tris (I actually left out the triceps, and went a little lighter and a few less reps in some cases on the others.)

Chest

Flat Bench Press

135 pounds - 1 set, 10 rep

205 pounds -- 2 sets, 6 reps each

195 pounds -- 2 sets, 8 reps each

185 pounds -- 2 sets, 8 reps each

Seated Machine Flyes

125 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each

Shoulders

Machine overhead press

125 pounds -- 2 sets, 8 reps each

Rear deltoid Machine flyes 

140 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps

Machine side raises 

110 pounds -- 1 sets, 10 reps

Cardio

Stationary Bike

32 minutes 

11.5 miles

360 calories

Food for the day

Breakfast

Eggs -- 2 whole ones

1/2 banana

Coffee

Lunch

Lean pork -- 5 ounces

Mixed veggies -- 1/2 cup

Snack

Protein Bar

First Dinner

Baked talipia -- 4.3 ounces

Rice -- 2/3 cup

Mixed veggies

Second dinner

2 Chicken wraps -- each wrap was a small flour tortilla with 2 ounces of chicken breast cooked in fire-roasted tomatoes, 1/8 cup cheese, 1 tablespoon of salsa, 1/2 table spoon of sour cream, along with a few chunks of tomatoes and lettuce.

Snack
More of the fire-roasted tomato chicken -- 3 ounces
Cheese -- 1/8 cup
Salsa -- 1 tablespoon

Totals for the day

Calories -- 1,775

Far -- 49 grams

Protein -- 174 grams

Water -- 80 ounces

Diet soda -- 36 ounces

Remember How I Complained About Being Too Full? No Longer

Okay, most of you reading this blog know I started a new plan on Monday that included two major points of emphasis: 1) Eating clean for 30 straight days, no off days or off meals; 2) Increasing how much I've been eating to include a lean protein source and a complex carb with each meal, along with veggies two or three times a day.

The first three days of the plan were difficult mostly because it was hard to eat that much at each meal. In fact, I missed a meal each of the past two days.

Well, I can happily report I seem to have gotten over that. I've been starving all day long! I guess I've adjusted to the new eating, because downing each meal has been no problem today, and I find myself ready to eat again before the next meal time rolls around. Which is making life a little difficult with some leftover pizza sitting out there on the stove top as I write this. But nope, not touching the stuff!

Yesterday I told you guys that I'm now down to the third hole on my belt, and my shirts are a lot looser. Today I stepped on the scales and I've dropped about 24 pounds now, so even with being a little hungry, things are going quite well.

My day went like this, in terms of working out and eating.

Workout
Cardio
Stationary Bike
60 minutes (20 at level 6, 30 at level 5, 10 at level 4)
20 miles

Eating for the day

Breakfast
Eggs (1 whole, 2 white)
Fresh pineapple -- 1/2 cup

Lunch
Lean pork -- 4 ounces
Brown rice -- 1/2 cup cooked
Veggies -- 1/2 cup

Snack
Homemade taco salad -- 3 ounces of taco-flavored ground chicken, 1/4 cup mozzarella, lettuce
Fat free Greek yogurt

First dinner
Boiled chicken breast -- 6 ounces
Brown Rice -- 2/3 cup cooked
Veggies -- 1/2 cup

Second dinner
Ground chicken meat -- 3 ounces
Mozzarella -- 1/4 cup
Salsa -- 2 tablespoons
Flatbread -- 2 pieces

Total for day
1,580 calories
46 grams fat
167 grams of protein

That's about it for the day -- short and sweet and HUNGRY.

Thanks for stopping by.

Belts, Shirts, & Missing Meals

Sometimes, when you're trying to lose weight, you get all kinds of little signs or indications things are going well.

I got a couple of those today.

This morning I noticed my pants were kind of loose around the waist and hanging funny. Mind you, these are the pants I couldn't wear two weeks ago. Anyway, I soon figured out it was my belt -- it was too loose! That means...I'm down to hole 3!

(For those of you who may not understand the significance of that, or you don't realize how lucky you are I'm not breaking out a snippet of an old 80s movie, see my posts Mr. Miyagi Was Wrong, It IS About The Belt and Eventually, Even Mr. Miyagi Agrees...The Belt DOES Matter).

Just a quick recap: When I started this five weeks ago, I couldn't wear my belt. Couldn't even come close to buckling that thing. Over the past five weeks I've managed to squeeze into it, then tighten it down to the second hole, and today I comfortably fit on the third hole!

Then, near the end of my day at the gym, I was taking a quick little breather between sets and I noticed my shirt was kinda loose. This shirt I could wear when I started, but it was quite snug. Now, it's actually hanging on me loosely.

So, yeah, I had a good day.

Except I missed another meal. I'm finding this idea of eating every 2-1/2 to 3 hours getting difficult to do, especially when the meals are larger than I have grown accustomed to. I had my lunch at noon, and at 2:30 I just didn't feel like eating again, so I put it off a bit, got really busy at work, and next thing I knew it was a few minutes after 4;30. So, I was eating what should have been my 3 o'clock snack at 4:30, and I sure as heck didn't feel like eating again at 6. That meant I was running low on calories and protein, and allowed myself to get far too hungry, so I probably ate a little much for my last meal -- though it was still all well within the "clean" eating category. 

Here's what I did today:

Cardio

Stationary Bike 55 minutes (47 minutes at level 5, the rest at level 4).

19 miles

610 calories.

Weight Training -- today should have been a back and bicep day, but I'm still taking it easy on the forearms. It's much easier to do a full chest, shoulder, and triceps workout without straining the forearms -- most of those lifts are pushing-type lifts, when you really don't have to grip the weights too tightly. With back and biceps, you're doing a lot more pulling and curling motions, requiring a harder grip and more strain on the forearms. As a result, I went a little lighter on weight and reps for the back work, and didn't do any bicep work today to avoid that.

So, my workout for the day was:

Back

Seated rows

130 pounds - 1 set, 10 reps

200 pounds - 2 sets, 8 reps each

180 pounds - 2 sets, 8 reps each

Lat Pulldown on the Nautilus (which is easier on the forearms than the regular lat pulldowns)

125 pounds, 2 sets, 10 reps

Straight-arm pulldowns

100 pounds, 2 sets, 10 reps each

Abs

Seated machine crunch

110 pounds - 2 sets, 15 reps each

And that's about all folks. Without the curls, it was pretty short,so much so I felt guilty about not doing more.

Now for my eating today

Breakfast

Coffee

Eggs (1 whole, 2 whites)

Oatmeal (1/3 cup dry)

Lunch

Lean pork -- 5 ounces

Baked sweet potato -- 7 ounces

Snack

Half a protein bar (left over from last night)

Fat free Greek Yogurt

Dinner

Ground chicken breast, flavored with cumin and peppers -- 4.5 ounces

Tortilla wraps -- 1 corn, 1 flour, 1 flatbread (no, it wasn't some screwy taste test)

Mozzarella -- 1/4 cup

Salsa -- 3 tablespoons

Totals for the day

1,485 calories

45 grams fat

153 grams protein (a little low)

Water 95 ounces

Diet soda -- 12 ounces (so that balances out yesterday!).

Thanks for stopping by. I'll be glad to answer any comments or questions you leave behind.

Month 2, Day 2...Dragging a bit today

Been a tad under the weather today, starting with this splitting headache that woke me up around 3 this morning. Several more times after that I woke, and each time I decided I just wouldn't be able to do the morning cardio whenever that alarm clock sounded.

But, I'm happy to say, when that irritating little beeper sounded, I rolled out of bed, headed down to the gym and did the work! I rode for 50 minutes, and strangely enough, those are the only 50 minutes today my head hasn't hurt. Too bad my legs and lungs didn't have another 12 hours of pumping power left in them.

I've felt pretty bad all day -- don't know if I'm getting something or not, though given that most everyone else in the house has been sick I probably am -- and I didn't really feel like eating. In fact, I actually missed a meal, so I'm off a bit on the calories today. But, if that's the worst thing I do these 30 days, I'll be happy.

Not a lot to talk about today -- just slogging through -- though I did find the missing sweet potatoes! I did have a momentary temptation when I arrived home tonight, a little hungry already from missing a meal, and found a big pot of what looked like a cross between a delicious Mexican casserole and baked spaghetti. It looked and smelled wonderful. Now, under my old eating plan, I could have had just a little taste or two and still fit it under my calorie limit for the day. But, since I've sworn to eat clean every day for 30 days ... NOPE! Didn't even lean over too much to smell it for fear microscopic food particles might sneak inside me.

 Here's how my day went nutritionally and exerciselly (and yes, that is now a word);

Workout -- Cardio
Stationary bike
50 minutes, 40 on level 5, rest on level 10
17 miles
550 calories

Eating

Breakfast
Coffee (that's homemade coffee with just a bit of artificial sweetener and 2 ounces skim milk)
Eggs -- 1 whole, 2 white
Oatmeal -- 1 cup cooked

Lunch
Lean pork -- 6 ounces
Brown rice -- 2/3 cup cook
Veggies -- 1/2 cup

Snack
Salad -- lettuce, 4 olives, 2.3 ounces chicken breast

Dinner
Baked Tilapia -- 5 ounces
Sweat potato -- 6.25 ounces

Snack
Half a protein bar

Total for the day
1,074 calories
25 grams fat
136 grams protein

Water -- 80 ounces
Diet soda 48 ounces (yeah, I know, I know...but it was a long day, with a headache...)

Wow, I had no idea I was that low on calories or protein until I sat here and added it all up. I guess missing that meal really does hurt. Need to be better about sticking to the eating schedule.

Thanks for stopping by. Comments? Questions? Leave them in the comment section and I'll respond. Thanks!

Sore, Stuffed & Sleepy

Those are the three words that best describe my day. Well, for the most part.

Let me explain.

First, the sore. If you read my entry yesterday, you know I started leg workouts. I did relatively light weight, and only did 11 total sets for the overall workout, yet my legs were quite stiff and sore this morning.

I knew they would be. I've had enough experience at this to know whenever I start doing squats, no matter how easy and light I take it, my legs get really tight and sore the next couple of days (and playing basketball afterwards yesterday probably didn't help). Today was no exception -- all day long, every time I've stood or sat down, my leg muscles protested, quite painfully at times. Generally, the second day afterward is even worse, then they start to get better, and as long as I continue doing squats at least once a week, I don't get that extreme soreness again.

Now for the sleepy.

One of the changes I'm making for the second month of my weight loss and get-fit program is moving my cardio to the mornings, before work. Up until now, I've been going to the gym at night for both weight workouts and cardio, and that's meant on nights when I'm doing both usually not getting home until 9 or later.

By moving them to the morning, I get home a little earlier, leaving me more time for other stuff and giving me a little more time to relax and get ready for bed. I have a hard time going to bed just two or three hours after doing all of that work, so maybe this will help me get to bed a tad earlier, though I'll still be doing my weight training in the evenings.

And now we come to the stuffed.

This new eating plan I'm on has had me feeling really full all day. Even when I start to feel a little hungry, I'm still feeling a bit bloated from eating so much. It's not like I'm pigging out or anything, but I've upped the protein sources a tad (going from four ounces of chicken breast to six ounces is an example), and I've added some healthy, complex carbs to most meals.

Whereas during that first month I would eat an egg and two egg whites for breakfast, sometimes with a little lean ham thrown in, now I'm adding a serving of oatmeal. At lunch, instead of four or five ounces of chicken breast and a half-cup of veggies, I'm eating six ounces of chicken, a half cup of veggies, and a cup of brown rice.

When you're eating clean, you end up taking in a large volume of food without necessarily taking in a lot of calories. By eating clean, I mean lean meats, plenty of veggies that are fresh or frozen, never canned (and even the frozen ones can't have flavoring, sauce, or sodium added). Carbs are things like brown rich that you boiled from a bag (not the boxed stuff that's loaded with preservatives and chemicals), sweet potatoes (not canned), whole wheat spaghetti noodles.

The idea here is to eat lean, healthy food that's as close to its natural state as possible, avoiding high-fat, processed foods. This is about more than weight loss, it's about making healthy choices, using food as a fuel.

And when you're eating clean, the sheer mass of what you eat can be a little daunting.

Take my first dinner tonight as an example. I had five ounces of lean pork, 2/3 cup of brown rice and 1/2 cup veggies. The total nutritional breakdown for that meal was 415 calories, 8.5 grams of fat, 46 grams of protein, and less than 200 milligrams of sodium.

Contrast that with, say, a Big Mac, medium fries and a medium Coke, which comes in at 1,090 calories, 44 grams of fat, 29 grams of protein and more than 1,200 milligrams of sodium. And I'd go so far to say there's not a healthy gram of anything in that McDonald's meal.

What's my point? You can eat a lot of food, without taking in a lot of calories or bad stuff, when eating clean.

In fact, I'm just not used to eating 400-calorie meals at this point, so both my lunch and my first dinner felt like I was stuffing in the food.

Something I noticed tonight, though. Even though I was dragging a little from lack of sleep, once I hit the gym tonight and really starting working, I found myself doing more sets, more reps, with heavier weight. Whether it just happened like that today, or it was because of the eating, I don't know, but I suspect it was from my healthy increase in food.

Anyway, enough of my soapbox for tonight.

Here is the scoop for today -- and yes, I'm still taking it easy on the forearms, choosing lifts that allow me to work the chosen muscle groups with a minimal amount of hard gripping or forearm strain required.

Cardio
Stationary bike -- 40 minutes (30 minutes on level 5, the rest on level 4)
14 miles
450 calories

Weight training -- chest, shoulders, and triceps

Chest
Barbell flat bench press
135 pounds - 1 set, 10 reps
185 pounds - 1 set, 8 reps
205 pounds - 2 sets, 8 reps each
195 pounds - 2 sets, 8 reps each

Incline barbell press
135 pounds - 1 set, 8 reps
135 pounds - 1 set, 6 reps

Seated Machine Chest Flyes
125 pounds - 2 sets, 10 reps each

Shoulders
Seated barbell press
115 pounds, 2 sets, 8 reps each

Seated machine side raises
110 pounds - 2 sets, 10 reps each

Seated Machine Rear Delt Flyes
140 pounds - 2 sets, 10 reps each

Triceps
Angled-bar press down
140 pound - 2 sets, 10 reps each

Tricep dips
Body weight only -- 20 reps

Abs
Seated Crunch Machine
110 pounds - 2 set, 15 reps each

And now for the food...

Breakfast
Coffee
Eggs -- 1 whole, 2 whites
Oatmeal -- 1 cup cooked
One fresh strawberry sliced up (that was my oatmeal sweetener)

Lunch
Boiled chicken breast -- 6 ounces
Whole Wheat noodles -- 3/4 serving (3.3 ounces cooked)
Veggies -- 2/3 cup
Sesame oil -- 1 teaspoons
Soy sauce -- 2 teaspoons

Snack
Protein Bar

First Dinner
Lean pork -- 5 ounces
Veggies -- 2/3 cup
Brown rice -- 2/3 cup

Second dinner
Baked Tilapia (seasoned with dill and ground pepper) -- 5 ounces
1 whole pear
(note, I was SUPPOSED to eat a sweet potato, but as sometimes happens around our house, they disappeared somewhere  between the grocery store and out kitchen).

Snack
Fat-free Greek yogurt

Totals for the day
1,635 calories (that's a little lower than I thought it would be)
35 grams of fat
179 grams of protein (wow, I'm still a little low there)

Water -- 70 ounces
Diet soda -- 24 ounces

Thanks for stopping by. As always, if you have comments or questions, leave them in the comment section and I'll respond to each one!

To Lose More Weight I'm Going To ...EAT MORE?

Okay, I resisted the urge to use a clip from Top Gun when I talked about Dieting in the Danger Zone, so forgive me if I use this clip now, but it's somewhat appropriate.

I'm changing things up for the next 30 days. First, let's recap my FIRST 30 days by restating that I lost 21.4 pounds. I started at 277.8 pounds, and on day 30 I weighed in at 256.4.

I was quite pleased with that result. While I had anticipated dropping around 18 or so, if things went well, 21+ was a very nice surprise.

If you've been reading my blog, you know I had a lot of days with total calorie counts in the 1,200 to 1.400 range. That's worked well for me, leaving me without too many issues of being hungry, while also allowing me to take in a fairly decent amount of veggies, protein, and dairy.

I've also noticed, the further I've gone, that increasing my workouts and cardio have become increasingly more difficult in terms of my overall energy, being tired afterward, and getting hungry at the end of the day.the

Some of you might remember when I mentioned Mark Webster, known as the Dude (Who) Ate Like The Rock For A Month. Eating like The Rock -- aka Dwayne Johnson -- meant he was taking in more than 5,000 calories a day. Follow The Rock's exercise plan meant he was also doing cardio 50 minutes a day, six days a week and weight training between 60 and 90 minutes both days.

I've read through The Rock's eating plan, and my first thought was if I ate like that, I'd balloon up to 300 pounds overnight (not that I was too far from that when I started this). I remember reading on Mark's blog he had the same concern.

I also think if I followed that exercise plan, I'd make it about 30 minutes before it was time to send me to the hospital for a few days of recovery.

Mark, who has been working out with some regularity for a few years, mentioned in his blog he thought he'd have some major soreness and recovery issues, but that was mostly non-existent during his 30 days. In one of his comments on my blog when I was talking about muscle soreness, he told me to try fish oil -- that helped alleviate any soreness he might have otherwise experienced (though he was getting his fish oil in the form of 2 pounds of cod every day).

That got me to thinking about another eating and workout plan I'm familiar with, the Body For Life program. I became familiar with this one a number of years ago, and for my money it's probably the best, most nutritionally and scientifically balanced way to lose weight and get healthy. The nutrition plan is simple and easy to follow (though you have to wade through a lot of worthless sales pitches for supplements you simply don't need), and the exercise plan is likewise strong and well-balanced, though it might be a little intimidating or confusing for someone new to working out.

Essentially, the nutrition plan calls for eating six times a day, with a mixture of lean protein, healthy complex carbs and unlimited green, leafy veggies each day.

While the specific foods and sheer volume might be different, at its core it's quite similar to what The Rock's program is.

So, I'm going to increase the food I'm eating every day, similar to the Body For Life program, with one caveat: The Body For Life program allows for one off-day every week -- you adhere to the eating and nutrition plan strictly six days every week, and on the seventh day you eat whatever you want.

I'm going to forgo the cheat day. I've mentioned many times I consider myself the King of Yo-Yo dieting. I've lost weight before -- 20, 30 pounds -- only to gain it back, and then some. I've stuck with exercise programs for four, six, eight weeks, maybe even longer in my younger days.

But I don't think I've ever truly eaten clean for 30 consecutive days. Even when I adhered to a strict program, there was always an off-day or an off-meal included in the plan.

Starting tomorrow -- Monday, April 11 -- I'm going to eat clean for 30 straight days. No exceptions. It won't be easy -- my oldest will be graduating from college during the period, so I'm sure we'll be going out to eat then; and there's always the occasional lunch meeting at work; or something else comes up.

But with proper planning, and a little self-discipline, I can do this. I do admit to a little nervousness. After dropping 21.4 pounds the first month, I don't really expect a huge weight loss the second month. Ten to 12 pounds is probably realistic, and I'd be okay with that. From having done this before, I know I can drop ten pounds -- if nothing else, I can always do a very-low carb high-protein diet for a week to jumpstart that, or get it back on track, with a 4-pound drop during such a low-carb week.

The last thing I want to do is to slow down my weight loss. So increasing the food does cause a little bit of anxiousness for me. But for now, at least for the next 30 days, it's not about what the scale says. Instead, it's about the process. It's about sticking to the plan, religiously, to see what sort of results I might achieve.

So, for the next 30 days, you'll see my calorie intake go up, hopefully that means bigger and better results in the weight room and on the scale.

Now for this weekend? Well, I took Saturday and Sunday off from the strict eating plan. On Saturday I probably ate a little much, and very little of that was healthy. Today I had planned to more or less stick to the plan, and found myself at a severe calorie deficit late in the day -- by 4 p.m. I'd had only my breakfast (1 whole egg, 2 egg whites and 2 ounces of ham) and a protein drink later in the day.

Since then I've kinda made up for that deficit. Haven't pigged out or anything, but not been strict, either, though if banana pudding could be considered a very close cousin to the fruit family I might be okay.

As for the workouts? I took Saturday off, but today decided to restart the leg workouts. I''ve stayed away from leg work since starting this, figuring it was about all I could do to keep up with the cardio, and doing more would just wear me out.

I haven't done any leg workouts for many months, so I took it easy today, with light weight, fewer sets and reps, followed by a brief cardio session. Cardio was supposed to last 30 minutes, but I had to cut it short at 16 minutes because of a family emergency -- a basketball game broke out among my brood, and the teams were uneven. I felt it was my fatherly duty to remedy the situation by stepping in and filling the open spot (something I simply could not have done a month ago).

Here was my leg workout

Squats
135 pounds
2 sets, 10 reps each
160 pounds
1 set, 10 reps

Let Press
190 pounds
2 sets, 10 reps each

Let extension
110 pounds
2 sets, 8 reps each

Lying leg curls
60 pounds
1 set, 10 reps
70 pounds
1 set, 10 reps

Standing Calf Press
270 pounds
2 sets, 12 reps each

Cardio
Stationary bike
16 minutes
5 miles
165 calories.

That's all for the weekend folks, Thanks for stopping by, and come on back tomorrow to see how the first day of the new eating plan goes!

As always, feel free to leave questions or comments in the comment section. I answer every one!

One Month -- Weigh In Day!

Well, today marked one month since I started on this, and I'm doing a happy dance!

Let's recap just a bit. When I realized something had to be done, way back on March 7, I tipped the scales at 279 pounds. Two days later, when I officially started this, on March 9, I was 277.6 pounds. HUGE.

Today, after 30 days, I'm not quite so huge. I came in this morning at 256.2 pounds. That's right, 21.4 pounds in 30 days!

I have to admit, it feels pretty good to know I dropped 21 pounds. It's not just the scale--I'm feeling better, clothes are fitting better (I wore a pair of pants today that I couldn't even close and button a month ago). I'm lifting more weight, for more reps, able to push much harder and longer on my cardio.

In all, it's been a good month.

But it's just a beginning. My goal, losing 80 pounds, is still a long way off, and the weight loss will be much slower. I've also run into a couple of obstacles. If you've read my blog over the past day or two, you know I've been having some forearm issues that may limit some of my weight workouts. My left knee gives me a little trouble, which limits how much I can do on the stationary bike.

But there are ways to work around all of that. For now, tonight, I'm just feeling good about the first month, and even better about prospects for the second month and beyond. I am going to change things up quite a bit, though, beginning this weekend, so come on back tomorrow to see what I'll be doing.

As for today, here's the scoop:

Breakfast
Cappuccino (the K-cup variety)
Eggs (1 whole, 2 white)

Lunch
Spiral ham (3 ounces)
Baked beans -- 1 cup

Snack
Salad (2 cups lettuce, 5 olives, 1/4 cup cheese, 2 tablespoons fat-free dressing)
Fat free Greek yogurt

Dinner
Boiled chicken thighs -- 5 ounces
Oriental veggies -- 1/2 cup

Water --50 ounces
Diet soda -- 24 ounces

Workout:
This one is hard. I did no workout today. I had every intention of doing a chest, shoulder and triceps workout,  but in the end, as much as I hated to, I decided to take the day off to let my forearms rest. I also skipped the cardio. After four pretty long cardio sessions over consecutive days, I decided to give the knee a rest.

I gotta tell you, usually when I'm working out, I look for ways to avoid going to the gym. Now, I feel like such a slacker. I absolutely HATE missing any kind of workout today. But, I'm trying to think long-term, and avoid anything that might keep me from working out over a longer stretch.

And, if it seems I didn't eat a lot today, that's because I'm relaxing some there tonight as well. I'm getting ready to change up my eating quite a bit for the next month, so forgive me if I take a few hours off.

Anyway, that's the report for today -- 21.4 pounds lost in a month!

Thanks for stopping by. Check in tomorrow to see what month two changes I have in store.

Day 29...cruising right along

Not a lot to write about today, other than more of the same. The biggest issue, I suppose, is my forearm. It's still pretty tender, and I've tried to be careful not to grip things tightly, and I've been especially careful with the angle I have my arm at when picking up things.

Typing's probably not great for it, either, so this blog will be short and sweet.

No weight training today, but it wasn't scheduled. I did do cardio, and the eating's been going okay, too, although I arrived home tonight to find little personal-sized Frito-and-chili pies for dinner. For everyone else, that is (even though, as I write this, there's still one out the the kitchen calling to me. Hold on a second, let me put some headphones on to drown that out....

Okay, better.

Now, for the food I DID eat today:

Breakfast

Coffee

Eggs (1 whole, 2 whites)

Lunch

Spiral ham -- 4 ounces

Baked beans -- 2/3 cup

Protein Bar

Boiled Chicken Thighs -- 5 ounces

Oriental veggies -- 1 cup

Talipia -- 6 ounces

Boiled Red Potatoes -- 6 ounces

Diet butter -- 1 1/2 tablespoons

Total for the day

1,340 calories

44 grams fat

137 grams protein

Workout for the day

Cardio -- stationary bike 

50 minutes (40 minutes at lvl 5, rest at lvl 4 as a cool-down)

18 miles

600 calories burned

That's all for today, folks. Tomorrow will by my one-month weight in, and then Saturday I'll tell you about some changes I'm going to make. Thanks for stopping in!

The Spirit Is Willing, But The Body...Sometimes Doesn't Cooperate

Today was less than the ideal day.

It was supposed to be Back and Biceps day. I think in one of my other posts I mentioned a forearm issue I have that crops up from time to time. A few years ago when my youngest son and I started working out a bit, I overdid it a little and started having some pain in both forearms. I thought it was just muscle soreness from starting a new exercise program, so I pushed through it, working out despite the pain.

Turns out there might have been something more at play than simple muscle soreness in my left forearm. I went for about a week where it hurt so bad I couldn't even hold a two-liter bottle and turn it up to pour. I wasn't able to do any sort of back or bicep work for a month (those exercises tend to put more stress on the forearm than some of the other body part work). I went another month before I could do any sort of light bicep work.

Since then the issue has flared up from time to time, never as bad as it was the first time, but I also try to back off whatever I'm doing that seems to be causing the problem. Because my left forearm has been bothering me a little lately, I had decided tonight I'd skip the bicep work and go a little lighter on the back work.

Just for tonight.

Only problem is, this afternoon my RIGHT forearm really, really starting hurting. I mean, it felt as if something had happened to it right there, while I was sitting at my desk. Even now, several hours later, it's tender and quite sore.

So guess what? No weight training today.

Having gone two relatively long and hard nights on the bike already this week, I hadn't intended to do any cardio tonight, but I was not going to skip all exercise today, so I went ahead and decided to do a cardio workout on the stationary bike.

It was hard -- my legs are tired from the past two nights, and I just didn't seem to have the energy to push hard. I got the workout done, and did okay in terms of total miles "covered" on the bike, as well as calories burned. But, it wasn't quite as intense a workout as I'd like. And, at times, I was sitting on the bike propping myself up one-handed because I couldn't put much weight on the right forearm.

I'm guessing, if I take it easy, it'll be okay in a few days, but this was a frustrating day from a workout perspective.

So here's the scoop for the day:

Workout
Cardio
Stationary Bike
45 minutes (35 minutes at level 5, the rest at level 4 during warm-up and cool-down).
15.5 miles
540 calories

Food for the day

Breakfast
Coffee (yes, wasn't that healthy)

Lunch
Boiled chicken thighs -- 4 ounces
Rice -- 1/2 cup
Oriental veggies -- 1/2 cup

Snack
Salad (Lettuce, olives, 2 ounces lean ham, 2 tablespoons fat-free dressing)

First Dinner
Spiral ham -- 4 ounces
Canned baked beans -- 1/2 cup

Second Dinner
Spaghetti noodles -- 1 serving
Spaghetti sauce -- 3/4 cup
Mozzarella cheese -- 1/2 cup

Totals
1,152 calories
31 grams fat
71 grams protein
That protein figure is really, really bad. I made the mistake of eating a high-carb, low-dinner on top of a relatively low-protein, higher-carb first dinner and lunch, along with skipping breakfast. In the gram scheme of things, being low on protein is hardly a major sin, but it's still a mistake.


Water 80 ounces
Diet soda -- 36 ounces

Day 28: Hungry, Anyone?

The weight loss continues, but I've noticed over the past couple of days I've felt hungrier. For a while I was able to get by on 1,100, 1,200, sometimes, 1,300 calories most days without really getting hungry, but so far this week I've been feeling hungry. I don't know if it's because I've increased the cardio, or what's behind it, but my calorie count has risen a bit as I've been eating a little more.

That's got me thinking a little about modifying my eating plan some, but I'm going to give that a little more thought and maybe blog on that later this week, once I hit the 30-day mark.

For today, everything went relatively well, both in eating and working out. It's late, and I'm overdue for bed, so I'll make this one a short post as well.

Today's workout -- cardio.

Stationary Bike

50 minutes: 27 minutes at level 5, 10 minutes at level 6, one-minute each at levels 9, 8, and 7, ten minutes at level 4 (warm-up and cool-down).

17 miles

570 calories burned.

My eating for the day

Breakfast

Eggs -- 1 whole, 2 whites

Ham (regular) -- 1 ounce

Lunch

Boiled Chicken thigh -- 4 ounces

Veggies -- 1/2 cup

Snack

Salad (Lettuce/4 olives, Lean ham -- 1 ounce, Boiled egg -- 1 whole)

Fat-free Greek Yogurt

First dinner

Bottom round steak -- 3.4 ounces

Rice -- 1/4 cup

Veggies -- 1/3 cup

Second Diner

Tilapia -- 5 ounces

Canned Baked Beans -- 3/4 cup

Homemade baked fries -- 1/2 service

Snack

Granola 2/3 cup

2 percent Milk -- 3/4 cup

Total for day

1,610 calories

47 gram fat

154 grams protein

Water 80 ounces

Diet Soda -- 24 ounces

Thanks for stopping by!

Entering The Danger Zone (Also Known as the Delusional Zone)

Okay, maybe that title's a little dramatic, but let me explain.

When you're trying to drop some weight, early success is a double-edged sword. When you start hitting that 15-pound, 20-pound mark for weight loss, you feel great. Clothes that fit are now loose, clothes that were too tight to wear now fit (though maybe a tad snugly). You start to think this just might work.

That kind of success breeds more success -- it makes you want to work a little harder, see even more success.

BUT...it's also dangerous. You know you're dropping weight, you know you're being successful, when you pass by a mirror you can see you're a little bit different. It's so easy to think "hey, I can eat an extra snack, I can have a candy bar, I can take an extra night off."

Why not? You're losing weight, you're feeling good, what's the big deal?

Here's where the "delusional" part comes in. I can tell you from that long-term yo-yo dieting experience, if you're as big as I am, dropping 20 pounds is great. It's worth celebrating. But, you're really not as "slender" as you think when you glance at that mirror, you're really not that much different than when you started. You really can't afford that extra snack, that extra off night, skipping that workout.

But it's hard to remember that.

No, this isn't a long-winded way to say I fell off the wagon today. I had a good day. But that's the point I'm at now -- I know I'm making progress, can measure it, see it, but this is the point where so many of my other weight loss efforts meet their end -- when I start finding it too easy to cheat just a bit here, a little there.

I suspect there are plenty of people who have had the same experience. What's the answer? Well, I guess it's simply just don't do that. Easy, right?

We'll find out.

I've had a pretty good day on the eating and a good day in the gym, so here's my results:

Weight Training
Chest, shoulders, triceps

Chest
Dumbbell Bench Press
55 pounds, 1 set, 10 reps
90 pounds, 1 set, 8 reps
85 pounds, 2 sets, 8 reps each
85 pounds, 1 set, 7 reps (yes, that was to failure)

Incline Barbell Press
135 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps
115 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps

Seated Machine Chest Flyes
125 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each.

Shoulders
Seated Barbell Press
95 pounds, 1 set, 8 reps
115 pounds, 1 set, 6 reps

Seated Machine Side Raises
110 pounds, 2 set, 8 reps each

Seated Machine Rear Delt Flyes
140 pounds, 2 sets, 8 reps each

Triceps
Seated Overhead Dumbbell Tri Extension
65 pounds, 2 sets, 10 reps each

Standing Tricep Pressdown
150 pounds
1 set, 12 reps
1 set, 8 reps

Abs
Seated Machine Crunch
110 pounds
1 set, 15 reps
1 set, 12 reps

Cardio
Okay, this is a little off tonight, because someone else was on the main stationary bike at the gym, so I did my first 10 minutes on a recumbent bike, which is those bikes where you're sitting back, almost lying down, pumping your legs without really having to do much of anything. I call it the lazy bike. I hate them (so naturally, our gym has FOUR of those and just one regular stationary bike). After 13 minutes on the recumbent bike I was able to get 27 more on the regular bike. Ten of those minutes were at level 6, the rest at level 5.

Total for both bikes
40 minutes
14 miles
435 calories

Food for the day
Breakfast
Eggs -- 1 whole, 2 whites
1 ounce lean ham
Coffee

Lunch
Boiled, skinless chicken thigh -- 4 ounces
Brown long grain rice -- 1/2 cup
Veggies -- 1/2 cup

Snack
Salad (lettuce, one boiled egg, 1 ounce lean ham, fat-free dressing)
Greek Yogurt

Snack 2
Greek Yogurt
Not-so-lean ham -- 1 ounce

Dinner
Tilapia -- 4.35 ounces
Baked potato -- 6 ounces
Diet butter -- 1 1/2 tablespoons

Snack 3
Cheerios --1 cup
Milk -- 3/4 cup

Total for the day
1,360 calories
32 grams fat
123 grams protein (way too low)

Water -- 85 ouncs
Diet soda -- 24 ounces