A Lost Month? Maybe...

Well folks, it's been a while since I wrote, and things haven't been going nearly as well as when I was writing every day.

I don't mean to suggest I've dropped off this fitness plan entirely, but I've been far from consistent over the past month, especially with the eating.

For a quick recap, on May 11 I weighed 238.2 pounds. Now, for a guy my height -- 5'10" -- with a generally medium-sized build, that's way, way, way overweight. However, it represented a 41-pound loss in just 9 weeks (well, okay, 9 weeks and 2 days). I recently went to see my doctor and she was amazed (my normal disclaimer goes here: for my family, who believe every time I mention the word "doctor" I must be suffering from a dozen different diseases and be on the list for a quadruple organ transplant, this was a regularly scheduled check-up).

Heck, the nurse kept asking me question after question after question about my eating, my exercise -- not out of professional curiosity either, she simply said whatever I was doing, she needed to do as well.

Over these past four weeks, though, I've not been eating terribly healthy, at least not with any consistency. I've fallen back into my old habits of eating badly for a few days, or eating healthy at work then eating bad at night. I went two weeks between cardio sessions at one point.

The long and short of it is I've gained back a bit of weight. I stepped on the scales this morning and was surprised at how much I'd put back on -- I weight 250.2 pounds. Yep, I've gained 12 pounds in four-and-a-half weeks.

Remember all those times I said I was the king of yo-yo dieting? THIS is what I was talking about. It's just so easy to fall back into old habits, and those old habits don't take long to wreck everything.

What frustrates me most is not just the fact that I'm 12 pounds heavier, but I'm 20 pounds heavier than I could have been at this point. Maybe more.

If I had just stayed the course, even with an off day every week, at the rate I was going I think it's safe to assume I would have continued losing 2 pounds a week or so, maybe more. It's not unreasonable to think I could be sitting here talking about being 230, 228, even 226 pounds at this point, That's still a fair bit off my goal of 199, but at that point it's within sight -- almost within reach.

Instead, I've still got 51 pounds to go. Heck, I'm closer to where I started (279 pounds) than my goal.

The news isn't all dire. I did get back in the gym last week for three full weight workouts, and two cardio sessions on Thursday and Friday. I played a little basketball yesterday and felt pretty good. Heck, I even managed a nice little acrobatic lawnmower maneuver yesterday that would put some Cirque Du Soleil performers to shame (and I discovered my mower turns a lot faster on sharp corners than I had anticipated). None of which I could have done three months ago.

So it's not as if I've fallen all the way back to where I started.

But I could, easily enough, I suppose, though that might be harder this time. I've said before one of the things that inspired me to do this blog as I make another attempt at losing weight and getting in shape was the Dude Who Ate Like The Rock for a month, Mark Webster. I thought it would be kind of fun to chronicle my successes -- and failures -- along the way.

I also thought that if I put this out there, writing most every day, it would be more difficult to fail because people would know who I am, know what I was doing, and know if I fell short. You know, it's not the failure that bothers us sometimes, but the idea that everyone knows we failed is most troublesome.

And guess what? It's kind of worked. Over the past week I think I've had about a dozen people who asked me what was up, what was happening, why haven't I been blogging. Even Mark, The Dude, sent me a tweet to check on how I was doing. The director of our gym, who follows my blog, ran into me the other day and asked. One of my sisters called me to see what was up with the missing blog. Several others, most of whom only know me from this blog, have done the same.

So, you know, if I'm not going to have to look down in shame every time I see these people, it's time to get back to it, which I started today. I've finally made it all the way through a whole day on my healthy eating plan, and I think one good, solid day will get me back on track. Now my goal is to see how fast I can get back to where I was at 238, and then charge on back toward my original goal.

Can I get back to that 238 in a week? Two?

We'll see.

But for now, here's what I did today.

Workout
(No cardio -- back's still a little sore from the lawnmower acrobatics)

Chest/shoulders/triceps

Chest
Dumbbell Bench Press
60 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps
85 pounds -- 2 sets, 8 reps each

Flat Bench Barbell Bench Press
185 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps
195 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps (If we'd known the bench was going to be open so soon, we wouldn't have done the dumbbells).

Incline Barbell Bench Press
105 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps
115 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps

Flat bench dumbbell flys
40 pounds, 1 set, 10 reps

Shoulders
Seated Barbell Shoulder Press
95 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps
105 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps

Machine rear delt flyes
125 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each

Machine seated side raises
110 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each

Triceps
Tricep cable pressdown
150 pounds -- 1 set, 12 reps
140 pounds -- 1 set, 12 reps

Seated Tricep Machine Dips
255 pounds -- 1 set, 15 reps

Machine Crunches
110 pounds -- 1 set, 20 reps

Eating for the day

Breakfast
Eggs -- 1 whole jumbo, 2 regular whites
Lean ham -- 1 ounce
1/2 cup blueberries

Lunch
Boiled chicken breast -- 4.5 ounces
Rice -- 1/2 cup
Mixed Veggies -- 1/2 cup
Sesame Seed Oil -- 1 teaspoon
Reduced Sodium Soy -- 1 tablespoon
Fat Free Greek Yogurt

Snack
1 cup red grapes

First dinner
Boiled chicken breast -- 4 ounces
Rice -- 1./2 cup
Mixed Veggies -- 1/2 cup
Sesame Seed Oil -- 1 teaspoon
Reduced Sodium Soy -- 1 tablespoon

Second Dinner
Lean ground turkey -- 4 ounces
Mixed veggies -- 1 cup

Snack
Raisin Bran -- 1 cup
Almond Milk (unsweetened) -- 3/4 cup

Totals for the day
1,380 calories
40 grams fat
132 grams protein

Water -- 74 ounces
Diet soda -- 24 ounces

That's it for the day! Thanks for stopping by, and I'll be back to this every day for a while now, so come on back!

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!

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!

A Day Off? What's This?

Well, Day 12 is coming to a close, and I decided to take the day off, both from exercising and dieting.

Many weight-loss plans suggest an off day or meal here and there. The old Weight Watchers, way back before they started the point system, suggested a meal off each week. Body for Life, which I happen to think is the best, most complete nutrition and fitness plan around (if you ignore all the attempts to sell the mostly worthless supplements that you really don't need), suggests a full day off each week.

I had thought about waiting until Easter to take an off day, but decided now, after 11 solid days on the program (and about 16 pounds lost), to take an off day, and then take another one on Easter (big family gathering and lunch planned that day). Afterward, I'll probably do two weeks or so before another one.

Why are off days important?

Well, for a number of reasons. On the exercise front, this would have been a cardio day today. My plan was to do cardio today, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday this week. Now, I'll do Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. So, overall, I won't be doing any less cardio.

My legs were a little fatigued after this past week, and I know from experience (remember, the KING of yo-yo weight loss and gain), that it's okay -- even good -- to be worn out and sore from hard work, but when you start to feel that fatigue that comes from repeated use over days, it's time to take a break. Besides, even the best workout programs will tell you that the rest and recovery from exercise is as important, if not more important, than the actual exercise. And, since one of my sisters thinks I need to take it easy because I'm old (even though I am the baby of the family), I'll now be able to tell her I took her advice.

As for the food, when you say off day, a lot of people immediately think "pig-out" day. An off day can be that, but you have to be careful about pigging out -- you can undo a lot of hard work if you really, really go overboard.

As much as an off day is a time to eat a little more, or some bad stuff you can't eat on the strict healthy days, it's also a time to just relax. On my eating routine, I plan out my meals, measuring and weighing the food, keeping track of what I'm eating, when, how many calories, how much protein, and so forth. That will get even stricter a month or so down the road, once the initial weight loss has slowed.

So an off day can just be a break for you mind as much as anything -- not worrying about planning the meals, measuring everything out. Just eating.

Did I eat too much today? Yes. Though today's too much was far, far less than I would have eaten in a normal day just a couple of weeks ago. My off day for food consisted of a few cookies, a couple of pieces of pizza, and a trip to a Mexican restaurant for dinner.

Along with a banana for breakfast, that's all I had today. I have to say, though, even though I got a smaller meal at the restaurant than I usually get there, I was still STUFFED afterward -- I've gotten used to eating smaller meals!

But, off day is over. I'm cooking and planning out the food for the week, and tomorrow morning I'll be at it again.

First Week Weigh-In...

Well, I'm guessing the little graphic there is a clue that it was a good weigh-in. I wasn't sure, especially after coming off of no exercise yesterday and eating that popcorn last night, but still, when I stepped onto the scale this morning the little digital numbers came up at 266.8 pounds -- that's exactly 11 pounds lost in one week!

Needless to say, I was happy with that result. I'm not getting too excited, though -- I've done this before. Remember, I'm the KING of of yo-yo weight loss. I've dropped 10, 15, 20 pounds many many times, only to gain that back, and then some.

But this might be the first time I've lost 11 in a single week, so I'm off to a pretty good start, I'd say.

Now, for my workout and food for the day. I had initially had a weight training workout planned for today, but I workout with my son often, and he wasn't able to go to the gym today, so I switched and tonight did the cardio I would have done Thursday, and tomorrow I'll do the weight lifting workout I was going to do tonight.

Make sense?

It's just as well, because I've been dragging all day. Long, long day yesterday (it was primary day in North Carolina, where I work), and I'd already been running way short on sleep all week, so I've been really tired. As much as I dislike cardio, it's easier than going down to the gym and lifting weights when you're dead tired.

So, here are the stats for the day:

Workout -- Cardio
Stationary Bike
33 minutes (13 minutes at lvl 5, 20 minutes at lvl 4)
11 miles
355 calories burned

Food for the day

Breakfast
2 whole eggs
1 ounce lean ham
Coffee

Lunch
Chicken breast -- 5 ounces
Homemade BBQ sauce
Rice -- 3/4 cup
Veggie -- 1/2 cup

Snack
Lowfat Greek Yogurt

Dinner
Chili verde

Second Dinner
Lean ham -- 6 ounces
Bake potato -- 5 ounces
Diet butter -- 1 tablespoon

Water -- 60 ounces (though I'll probably have some more before bed)
Diet soda -- 36 ounces (caffeine!)

Totals for the day
1,300 calories
35 grams fat
123 grams protein

Overall, low on protein, low on carbs, probably a tad low on calories.

Thanks for stopping by!

My LATE Day 5 Report

Well, I'm running way behind with this end-of-day report. Kinda busy for a Sunday, so I'll be short and sweet and to the point.

Workout for the Day
Cardio -- Stationary Bike
40 minutes
12.5 miles
401 calories burned (because the first 400 are nothing, it's that extra one that counts!)

I was going to just go until I hit 12 miles, but I was close to the 400-calorie mark, and, well, I couldn't just stop at that point.

Diet for the day.
Way low on overall calories, but I guess if I'm going to be off one way or other, being too low is best.

Breakfast
Coffee
Yep, that's it.

Lunch
Lean pork chops -- 6.15 ounces
Baked Potato -- 7 ounches
Diet Butter

Dinner
Fried pollock -- 4 ounces (coated with a batter made up off corn meal and egg-white)
Pinto Beans -- 1 cup

Snack
Salmon Patty -- 4 ounces

Total for the day
776 calories
22 grams of fat
105 grams of protein

70 ounces of water
30 ounces of diet soda

Day 4 check-in: Losing weight and, well, still sore...

Today is the first day of this new plan where I'm not in my regular routine of getting up, going to work, being there all day, coming home, etc. That can be a more dangerous time when starting a new diet. It's not like we have tacos and pizza lying around the house in some buffet line ready for me to gobble it all up, but it's just different, easier to get off schedule with eating.

And it's also easier to sit around and watch basketball tournaments, which is okay except my old habits have always been to eat while watching basketball. Eat while waiting on the games to start. Eat after the games are over...

For now, though, I'm heading down to the gym to do some cardio. After that, I have some writing to do, some work for my regular job, and some basketball to watch (not to mention some laundry to do, cooking and planning for the week coming up, but that might wait until Sunday).

Anyway, just checking in for the morning...will be back later to outline my eating and working out for the day. Oh, yeah, I weighed myself today to see how it's been going since I started this and...oh, well, maybe you guys should come back later to get those results!

Day Three -- tired and sore

Just a quick update, with more later, but Day 3 can be summed up in two words...Sore and Tired.

The soreness actually isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Most of the soreness from the chest workout on Wednesday has faded, but my triceps (back of the upper arm) are sorer today, partly from Wednesday's working and partly from Thursday cardio on the stationary bike. Sometimes, just to be different, I'll climb on the bike upside down and pedal with my arms.

Okay, not really -- but I had you wondering, didn't I?

The bike workout did contribute to the arm soreness, though. Just think -- when you're on a bike, you're leaning down on the handlebars, your weight on your arms. You're not really giving your arms a workout, but you are tensing and using the muscles. So, that's why my triceps are a little sorer today.

As for being tired, that's mostly from lack of sleep, which is one of the really bad habits I need to break. Did you know that long-term lack of sleep is a major contributing factor to high blood pressure and heart disease? Some studies have even shown it to be one of the MAJOR factors in heart disease. One day, I'll write a blog about it, citing some of those studies.

Unfortunately, I'm one of those people with too much to do (or sometimes just stupid stuff to do, like binge-watch a television show on Netflix). I'll often think "I'll just go short on sleep, what's the big deal?" Yeah, I might be sluggish and tired the next day, or have a headache, but so what? I'll just make it up on the weekend.

Well, that's actually a bad, bad thing to do from a health standpoint, and it's something I need to change. But this week I've already started tackling the bad eating habit and the lack-of-exercise habit, so the sleep will have to wait. Besides, this week is the ACC basketball tournament, and...well...come on, it's BASKETBALL! I'll work on the sleep next week, after the tournament, because, after all, it's BASKETBALL.

That's all for now, I'll post later regarding today's workout and eating. Thanks for stopping by!