Ready, set, GO! Day 1 of 60 in 60...

My scales on Day 1, this morning.

Well, day one of my 60 in 60 program is coming to a close, so I figured I'd log on an let you all know
how it's going.

First, I know, I know, I said my goal is 48 pounds in 60 days, and that remains the plan. But you gotta admit, 60 in 60 sounds better than 48 in 60. Right?

Okay, I started out day 1 with measurements, to see just where I am, and I'm telling you it's bad. I tipped the scales this morning at 288.6 pounds.

Wow.

And I'm not about to tell you the rest of the measurements. Later, after I've lost a bunch of inches, we'll revisit what day 1 was. For now, I'm targeting 11 pounds in seven days. That's all that matters -- 11 pounds the first week.

The way I'll do this is I'll go through my day's eating, give totals for calories and certain micro-nutrient counts, then I'll give you the scoop on my exercise for the day.

This is Day 1, and I'm still feeling my way through this some. After completing the day, I realize my fat content is high, though the total calories aren't so bad. Still, that's something to work on.

Here's how my day went in terms of nutrition.

Breakfast
2 whole eggs
1.7 ounces lean ham

Lunch
Boiled chicken breast, 6 ounces
3/4 serving whole wheat penne noodles
3/4 cup mixed veggies
2 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce.

Snack 1
1/2 cup low-fat cottage cheese
1/2 cup canned pineapple

Snack 2
Fat free Greek yogurt

First Dinner
5 ounces ground chicken
3/4 cup mixed veggies, onions, papers

Second dinner
Two hamburgers (low-fat meat, 2.5 ounces each)
Two whole wheat buns
Super-thin cheddar cheese on the buns, along with tomato slices

Totals for the day
1,640 calories (not bad)
52 grams fat (kinda bad)
170 grams protein (okay)
Diet soda -- 48 ounces
Water -- 54 ounces

Okay, not a bad first day. More than half my fat came at second dinner. I had planned on a lower-fat meal, but when I returned home from the gym my wife had already cook the burgers on the grill, and they were made with low-fat ground beef, so I went ahead and ate them.

Tomorrow I'll do better.

As for the exercise, this was a cardio day. I'm not that big of a cardio fan, and you have to realize I'm starting from ground zero here with cardio -- I haven't done any real cardio in close to a year, so this will be pathetic, at least in the beginning. I enjoy the weight training days, and even through my fatdom, I've been doing a bit of weight work here and there with my sons, so I'm not actually starting as a beginner there.

Anyway, for today's workout:

Stationary bike (levels 3 and 4)
32 minutes
10 miles
365 calories burned.

I'm feeling pretty good right now. It's late -- nearly 11 -- and I have about an hour's worth of proofreading to do on a novel. Actually, a lot more than that, but that's all I'm going to get done tonight.

Any questions or comments, please feel free to post them here and I'll answer.

Thanks for stopping by.

I'm Still Around, Working Harder Than Ever...

Okay, that headline might be a slight exaggeration, but I AM still around, and still pursuing my weight loss and fitness goals.

I just took a little detour over the past week or so.

Of course, some of it was planned. I workout at the Carroll Wellness Center, and they were closed last week because of some rather significant upgrades the facility folks were making there. Virtually all of the cardio equipment has been replaced with nice, new, sleek-looking machines; the broken dumbbells and weights have been replaced, and we even have some new benches and other material.

Along the way, the folks there put in new flooring and painted the walls -- it's actually looking pretty slick looking in there, almost like being at a whole new gym.

Of course, that mean no working out last week. I did take a couple of shortish walks (20 minutes) and did a little bit of stationary biking one night with an old bike I had set up on a stand to keep it from taking off, but mostly last week was simply no exercise.

And since I wasn't working out, I might not have eaten as healthy as I should have.

I don't want anything to think I just lost it and ate a dozen tacos and a pound of hot wings every night. Most days last week I actually ate like I was still on the weight-loss plan during the day, and went off at night. Still, as much as I hate to admit it, I believe I picked up a few pounds last week. I was actually afraid to step on the scale this morning when I went back to the fitness plan fulltime.

Maybe I'll weigh myself tomorrow, I don't know.

Anyway, I'm back, full force, ready to spend the next 10 to 12 weeks seeing how close I can come to finishing off my goal of dropping 80 pounds. Even a week off isn't going to derail this -- I've come too far, and worked too hard, to fall completely off the wagon.

So today I was back, fully, and other than a birthday dinner coming up on Friday, I don't know that I'll be off the eating plan more than a couple or three times over the next couple of months.

So, here's the school on my day today -- because I haven't worked out in more than a week, I did take it easy, doing lighter weight and, in some cases, fewer sets. I'll be back to the my previous levels within a week or so.

Workout -- Chest, shoulders and triceps

Chest
Barbell bench press
135 pounds -- 10 reps
185 pounds -- 8 reps
205 pounds -- 8 reps
195 pounds -- 8 reps

Incline Dumbbell Bench Press
60 pound dumbbells -- 2 sets, 1 at 12 reps, 1 at 10 reps

Shoulders
Seated Barbell Overhead press
95 pounds -- 2 sets, 8 reps each

Seated machine side raises
95 pounds -- 2 sets, 12 reps each

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

Triceps
Seated Dumbbell Overhead Extension
60 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each

Machine Triceps Dip
255 pounds -- 1 set, 15 reps

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

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

Lunch
Whole Wheat Noodles -- 3.2 ounces
Boiled Chicken Breast -- 4 ounces
Mixed veggies -- 2/3 cup
Sesame Oil -- 1 teaspoon
Soy sauce -- 1 tablespoon

Snack
Seasoned Chicken Breast -- 4 ounces
Mixed greens salad
Fat Free Greek Yogurt

Dinner
Chicken breast -- 4 ounces
Sandwich bun
Cheddar Cheese -- 3/4 serving

Totals for the day
1,085 calories
27 grams fat
119 grams protein

Water -- 68 ounces
Diet soda -- 34 ounces

Wow, I haven't eaten much today, and I'm still hungry. I might have a little late-night snack before bed. If I do, I'll update everything.

Thanks for stopping by!

My Tuesday Blog on...Wednesday?

Okay, I know I said in my early "Miss Me?" blog yesterday I said I'd be back on later Tuesday to update that day's eating, exercise, and maybe say a thing or two about the rest of May. You know how it is, I got busy (doing some writing), and the next thing I knew it was late and I was simply too tired to stay up and blog.

So you get a short little Wednesday-only version of my Tuesday blog, to let you know what I ate yesterday and what workout I did. Nothing big.

For the workout on Tuesday:

Cardio -- stationary bike
60 minutes (known in some parts of the world as an hour).
21.75 miles (that's an odd figure to stop in, but remember, the gym bike is now measuring in kilometers, and I stopped at 35K).
800 calories burned

Eating for the day
Breakfast
Coffee
Eggs (1 whole, 2 whites)
Lean Ham -- 1 ounce

Lunch
Lean ground turkey -- 3 ounces
Bakes potato -- 4.5 ounces
Kidney beans -- 1/2 cup

Snack
Salad (1/2 cup kidney beans, 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese, 2 tablespoons salsa, on a lettuce/spinach mix)
Fat Free Greek Yogurt

First Dinner
Tilapia -- 4 ounces
Rice -- 1/2 cup cooked
Mixed veggies -- 1/2 cup

Second Dinner
Eggs -- 2 whole
Lean Ham -- 1 ounce
Whole Wheat Tortilla
1/2 tablespoon spicy mustard

Total for the day
1,340 calories
37 grams fat
118 grams protein

Water -- 60 ounces
Diet soda -- 28 ounces

And that's about it for the day, folks. Well, for yesterday. Back later with the Wednesday Blog on Wednesday.

Half-way there! I've lost 40 pounds in 9 weeks

Okay, way back when I started this weight-loss effort, I said my eventual goal was to get healthy, fit, and be at a weight I was comfortable with. Having spent most of my adult life in the decidedly overweight category, I really wasn't sure how much weight to set as a goal, so I selected 199 pounds as my target.

That would be dropping 80 pounds. Yep, you might remember, the day I stepped on the scales and decided changes had to be made, I was 279 pounds.

Well, I can now say I'm more than half-way there.

This morning I tipped the scales at 238.2 pounds -- that's 40.8 pounds lost in nine weeks. Well, okay, I didn't officially start this until March 9, so technically it's been nine weeks and 2 days since I weighed in at 279. Either way, that's a lot of weight, in a considerably shorter time frame than I anticipated.

Truthfully, when I started this I wasn't entirely sure I'd see any success. I've done the up and down, up and down weight loss and weight gain so often, usually coming out heavier at the end than when I started, that I had to question whether this would be just another one of those failed attempts at getting fit.

I still haven't met success -- I have 39.2 pounds yet to lose to reach my target -- but I can actually see it on the horizon now, and not as distantly as I once thought. It's not going to happen overnight; heck, it's probably going to take a lot longer than the first half of the weight loss took, but it is within sight.

There are also some potential pitfalls along the way, the old "ah, one piece (of pie, cake, pizza, etc., etc.,) won't hurt," Or the "I'm just so tired, and I'm doing so well, I can skip tonight's workout (or this morning's cardio).

The truth is, either one of those statements would be true, and eating one bad thing or missing a single workout wouldn't really be the end of the world. Problem is, when you do both one day, or you end up eating something bad two or three times one week, and next thing you know you're right back at eating bad food all the time.

And that ain't going to happen.

The weight's come off much faster than I anticipated, so far, but it's still been a lot of work. Sometimes it's been fun, it's almost always felt rewarding, but it's also been a ton of work, and if nothing else, I'm not going to let all of that work and effort and sweat go to waste.

So it's on to the next 40 pounds (or 39.2)! And after that? We'll we figure that out as we start getting within grasp of that 199-pound mark. For now, it's back to the gym, back to the food planning, back to the weight loss pursuit.

Toward that end, today I sorta combined a couple of workouts. This was scheduled to be a back and biceps workout, with no cardio. But, if you've been reading along you may recall because of this past weekend's planned events, I knew I wouldn't get a Sunday leg workout, so I did a partial leg workout last Thursday (okay, about 80 percent of the normal leg workout), with plans to get a shorter leg workout in another day this week, followed by a full leg routine on Sunday.

Well, today was that day. I did a good portion of the usual leg routine, along with my normal back workout tonight, but skipped the biceps. They get a secondary workout with back work anyway.

So, here's my workout for the day:

Legs
Squats
135 pounds, 1 set, 10 reps
185 pounds, 1 set, 8 reps
225 pounds, 1 set, 8 reps
255 pounds, 1 set, 6 reps
225 pounds, 1 set, 8 reps

Leg curls
90 pounds, 1 set, 10 reps
100 pounds, 1 set, 8 reps

Standing calf press
450 pounds, 1 set, 12 reps
500 pounds, 1 set, 10 reps

Back
Seated machine row
130 pounds, 1 set, 10 reps
200 pounds, 2 sets, 10 reps each

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

Dumbbell bent-over row
65 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each

Weighted machine crunch
125 pounds -- 1 set, 20 reps
125 pounds -- 1 set, 12 reps

Eating for the day

Breakfast
Coffee
Eggs -- 1 whole, 2 whites
Lean ham -- 1 ounce

Snack
Powerbar (yes, yes, I know, dubious health benefits at best with all that sugar)

Lunch
Boiled chicken breast -- 4 ounces
Rice -- 5/8 cup, cook in sesame oil
Veggies -- 1/2 cup, cook in sesame oil

Snack
Fat free Greek Yogurt

Dinner
Boiled chicken breast -- 4 ounces
Rice -- 5/8 cup, cook in sesame oil
Veggies -- 1/2 cup, cook in sesame oil

Snack

Haven't had that yet, but will update when I do

Totals for the day

Calories -- 1,160

Fat -- 33 grams

Protein -- 94 grams (wow, that's really low. I'll add to that in a bit with my snack)

Water -- 70 ounces so far

Diet soda -- 36 ounces

Day 28 of Clean Eating!

That's right, four weeks ago today is when I started my own self-challenge to eat clean for 30 days. While I've had a couple of days where I had to really watch what I was doing, but overall it's been easier than I anticipated.

More on that later this week, after I've actually crossed day 30.

For now, let me just dive into today's workout and eating, and then I'm hitting the hay -- that clock rings awful early for these morning cardio routines! I will say the gym was extremely busy tonight -- 19 people all in the weight area, and not a soul on the cardio equipment and only one person using the nautilus machines. After my son and I finished our chest workout in the weight section of the gym, we ended up doing shoulders on the machines because all of the free weight shoulder stations were in constant use. No complaints, though, because every one of those people were working tonight, no playing around or talking.

Workout
Cardio
Stationary bike
48 minutes -- all on level 5
17 miles
630 calories

Weight training -- chest, shoulders and triceps day.
Bench Press
135 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps
185 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps
215 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps
205 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps
195 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps

Incline Bench Press
135 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps
135 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps

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

Shoulders
Nautilus seated shoulder press
110 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each

Seated side raises on the machine
110 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps
110 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps

Rear delt flyes on the machine
135 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each

Triceps
Cable press down
150 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each

Seated machine press down
245 pounds -- 1 set, 15 reps

Abs
Seated crunch
125 pounds -- 1 set, 15 reps

Eating for the day
Breakfast
Coffee
Eggs (1 whole, 2 whites)
Lean ham -- 1 ounce

Lunch
Lean ground beef -- 4 ounces
Baked potato -- 4.5 ounces
Veggies -- 2/3 cup

First dinner
Lean pork -- 4 ounces
Veggies -- 2/3 cup

Second dinner
Eggs -- 1 whole, 1 white
Homemade southwestern hashbrowns (spicy!) -- 1 cup
Lean bacon -- 3 slices

Total for the day

1,000 calories
39 fat grams
104 protein grams

Yes, that wasn't enough calories or protein, but there was a point in the day when I was a little afraid I was getting the stomach virus my wife had -- I was feeling kinda queasy around lunch time, so I skipped the Greek yogurt, and skipped the afternoon snack. Whatever it was passed by the end of the day, though, and I'm feeling pretty good right now.

Water -- 70 ounces
Diet soda -- 12 ounces

Ready For The Big Weekend (Or, How Many Times Can Plans Change?)

All those plans I outlined yesterday to shift things around to get all of my weight training and most of the cardio this week, in light of the weekend plans (YEAH ERICA -- my oldest getting her bachelor's degree Saturday!!!)?

That's changed again. We're having to leave earlier than I had anticipated tomorrow, and the gym doesn't open until 8 on Saturday mornings, so no cardio tomorrow or Sunday. Oh, well, I still managed to get the weight training in -- even a little extra on the legs this week. My biggest challenge, of course, will be on the eating front this weekend. Somehow, some way, I'll stay clean -- I'm just a few days away from that 30-day cleaning eating mark!

Today was a pretty blah day -- long day at work, normal workout (though having to make a few concessions to a sore forearm), and lower-than-normal eating.

Here was my day:

Workouts

Cardio

Stationary Bike -- 52 minutes

18 miles

675 calories

I did this a little differently today. Usually I select a "manual" program, and punch in just a constant level of resistance and go all-out most of the time, bumping the resistance up a little higher for a few minutes during the session.

Today I selected the "interval training" program, and while it was okay, I really didn't feel like I worked as hard. It started out at level 2 for a minute, level 3 for two minutes, and at the end went to level 3 for two minutes and level 2 for the final minute. In between, the program would have me at level 4 for three or four minutes, followed by level 7 for four minutes, then back to 4, repeating that cycle. 

I might try it again, but if I do I'm going to set it for slightly higher levels.

Weight training

Back and biceps

Back

Seated machine row

130 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps

200 pounds -- 2 sets, 8 reps each

Wide-grip row

160 pounds -- 3 sets, 8 reps each

Bent-over dumbbell row

60 pounds -- 1 set 10 reps each

Biceps -- didn't do much here, just a token set, because of the forearm.

Curl bar curls

50 pounds,1 set of 10 reps

Abs

Seat machine crunch

125 pounds -- 2 sets of 15 reps each.

Food for the day

Breakfast

Eggs -- 1 whole, 2 whites

Lean ham -- 2 ounces

Lunch

Lean pork loin -- 4 ounces

Mixed veggies -- 2/3 cup

Fat free Greek Yogurt 

Snack

Fat Free Greek Yogurt

Dinner

Chicken breast cook in olive oil -- 3 ounces

Cheese -- 1/4 cup

Salsa -- 2 tablespoons

Salad mix

Snack
Granola -- 1 cup
Almond milk -- 1 cup

Totals

1,095 calories

30 grams fat

96 grams protein 

Wow, I had no idea I was that low on everything until calculating it all here. Well, I did say I was trying to cut down a bit over these past several days, just in case we have a few extra calories tomorrow.

Water -- 80 ounces

Diet soda -- 24 ounces

That's about it. Very light day on eating, though I'll probably have another snack before bed -- if I do, I'll update the list.

Thanks for stopping by!

Altering The Routine for a Big Weekend Ahead

One of the things I'm learning through this process of losing weight and getting fit is that one of the keys to success is planning.

It's hard to eat right during the day if you haven't plotted out your menu, cooked the food and packed everything up in the appropriate-sized servings. And starving when you arrive home from work, or after a workout, without having planned what you're going to eat -- and ensuring it's ready or can quickly be prepared -- are recipes for disaster.

Working out is similar -- you can't hop out of bed at 6 in the morning to head to the gym if you didn't go to bed until 2 that morning. And you have to look down the road at potential obstacles to your regular workout routine, occasionally making some changes to your normal schedule to accommodate those obstacles.

This weekend is one for me -- a big obstacle in sticking both with the 30-day clean eating plan and my regular workout routine. Saturday my oldest daughter is graduating from Radford University (YEAH!!! -- more on that in a later blog), and then Sunday is Mother's Day. 

Thankfully, Radford U. is less than an hour's drive from where we live, but we'll be hitting the road somewhere between 9 and 10 that morning and won't be back until sometime late that evening. Since Saturday is normally my off-day for workouts, that shouldn't matter, right?

Well, on Sunday we'll be taking my wife out for Mom's Day, and since my oldest son has to work that night, we're limited to lunch. And since the gym is only open 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, that means I can't get in for my regular leg workout -- and there's no way I'm going to go two weeks between workouts (from last Sunday until the Sunday a week after Mother's Day).

That's where planning and shifting things around a bit come in. Thursday is usually one of my two long cardio days. However, today I did a leg workout. A little bit lighter than normal for a Sunday, but still a pretty good, taxing workout. Afterward, I did a light, easy cardio workout (probably ridiculously easy for most people). 

Tomorrow, Friday, I plan to do my regular morning cardio and evening weight training, then Saturday I'll go down to the gym as soon as it opens, get a quick, hard 30-minute cardio routine in, and use Sunday as my off-day.

Then, next week, I'll probably do another, abbreviated leg routine either Tuesday or Thursday, followed by full legs that Sunday, and then I'm back on the regular schedule.

In re-arranging the schedule like this, I'm probably sacrificing a little in the cardio work, and maybe even getting a tiny bit more work for legs. If I didn't do this, though, I fear I'd end up missing legs altogether this week. At this point, I'm willing to give up a little on the cardio in exchange for keeping the weight training on target. 

I'm also doing a little advance work on the eating front, as well. I'm not going to slip on the 30-days of clean eating, although it's likely I might end up taking in a few more calories each day than normal. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow I've tried to cut my calories a bit, just about 100 to 150 fewer calories each of the three days, from what I might otherwise take in. 

I've also checked out nutritional values on the menus of the places we'll eat (both my daughter and my wife long-ago made it known where they wanted to go on their respective big days), so I'll know what I'm going to eat before getting there. And, at the reception my daughter's department will have for their grads after the ceremony, when everyone else is munching on cookies and punch, I'll be sneaking bites of a protein bar (though, if they have any fresh fruit among the refreshments,, I'll probably partake of a few bites).

See, just a little bit of planning and these things can be handled just fine.

Now, for today's workout and eating!

First, let me note that I did some treadmill walking today, after doing the leg workout, for my cardio. I've learned the hard way to take it easy after a leg workout, so I did the walking instead of the bike. I have to be careful with walking, however. I'm so big and fat when I try walking fast, or for long distances, I get terrible shin splints! I mean, some serious soreness and pain in the shins that takes a long time to go away. And it's not muscle soreness, not the good kind of soreness. 

Anyway, I've lost enough now I can throw in an occasional walk, and I plan to do that from time to time to vary the cardio a bit, but when I walk it'll be short, relatively slow, and not all that difficult, until I lose more weight and build up to it. The folks at The Carroll Wellness Center tell me the new cardio equipment will be in late this month, and I'm looking forward to having a working stair climber. I actually enjoy doing the stair climber, and I can do that without any shin issues!

Workout

Cardio

Treadmill walking

22 minutes

1 mile

155 calories (yeah, not a lot)

Weight training -- legs

Squats

135 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps

185 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps

225 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps

245 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps

205 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps

Leg extensions

110 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each

Lying leg curls

70 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps

100 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps

Standing calf raises

450 pounds -- 2 sets, 12 reps

And that's about it!

Eating for the day

Breakfast

Coffee

Eggs -- 1 whole, 2 whites

Lunch

Lean center cut pork loin -- 4 ounces

Sweet potato -- 5 ounces

Mixed veggies -- 1-1/3 cups

Snack/first dinner

Chicken breast cooked in a bit of olive oil --4 ounces

Salsa -- 2 tablespoons

Mixed salad -- mixture of multiple lettuces, spinach, and other green stuff)

Second dinner

Chicken breasts again, cooked in a bit of olive oil -- 5 ounces

Cheese -- 1/4 cup

Salsa -- 3 tablespoons

Mixed salad -- bunch of green stuff again

Snack (which I haven't eaten yet, but I'm going to do that as soon as I post this)

Granola -- 2/3 cup

Almond milk -- 1 cup

Totals for the day

1,260 calories

34 grams of fat

119 grams of protein (far too few, but it's hard to get enough protein on less than 1,260 calories).

Water 60 ounces
Diet soda -- 24 ounces

Eight-week Weigh-In And Meeting a Blog Reader!

Today marks exactly eight weeks since I officially started the weight loss efforts, and I weighed in this morning at 245 -- that's 34 pounds less than when this started. That's a lot, at least to me. I still have a long way to go, with a goal of losing 80 pounds of fat, but I'm getting close to the half-way point!

I also met someone in real life who's been reading my blog. Well, I mean other than relatives. When I walked into the gym tonight the center's director, a guy named Greg Hampton, was working with a new member, walking the person through a workout on the Nautilus machines. But when I walked in he stopped for a minute, told me he'd been reading the blog and enjoyed seeing my progress. (I would put a link to him here, but some folks don't like that, and since I met him in real life and not online, and didn't ask if it would be okay, I'll forgo that).

A little bit later, after Greg was done with the new member, he came over to where I was working out to chat a few minutes, mostly just to see how it was going, make a few encouraging comments on my work and progress, that sort of thing. I have to say I really appreciated him doing that. Devotees of my blog will know that I've made little comments from time to time about a piece of equipment there not working, or some other little problem, but all in all it's actually a really nice facility. I work out at The Carroll Wellness Center, and it's really more of a community center than strictly a gym. 

Don't get me wrong, they have a lot of weight equipment, and some big dudes working out hard, just like you'd see at a more hardcore gym, but they also have an indoor swimming pool, a gym, indoor and outdoor walking tracks, and a lot of activities for kids and families (they even have a child care service so parents can get a break from their kids to workout).

It's not perfect -- but then whatever is -- but it's a good center and some really friendly staffers. It's hard to go in or out of there without getting a smile and a hello from at least two or three of them. Anyway, I'm not trying to turn this into a commercial for the center, but it is a nice place to workout, with a load of alternatives for whatever you want to do -- my wife and youngest do Zumba there three or four nights a week, and several of our crew occasionally utilize the basketball courts, so we definitely get a lot out of the center.

For today, I was on my own working out -- my son was a little under the weather so he decided to sit out. 

Today's schedule:

Workout

Weight training -- chest, shoulders, triceps

Chest

Flat bench barbell press

135 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps

185 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps

210 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps

200 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps

190 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps (just barely -- not having a spotter is great motivation to finish off that last rep!)

Incline barbell bench press

135 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each

Flat-bench dumbbell flyes

40 pound dumbbells -- 2 sets, 10 reps each

Shoulders

Seated barbell press

115 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps

100 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps

Machine side raises

115 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each

Seated machine rear delt flyes

140 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each

Triceps

Lying curl bar tricep extension

50 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each

40 pounds -- 1 set each

Seated overhead dumbbell extension

60 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps

Abs

Seated Machine Crunch

125 pounds -- 2 sets, 15 reps each

Food for the day

Breakfast

Coffee

Eggs -- 1 whole, 2 whites

Oatmeal -- 1/3 cup dry

Lunch

Chef Salad (not in the plans for the day, but I rarely get to eat lunch with my wife, so yeah, I went out today for lunch because she was around, and the chef salad was the ONLY thing on the menu that would qualify as healthy, clean eating)

Note: The salad was about 3 ounces turkey, 3 ounces ham, 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, lettuce, some grape tomatoes, and a few onions. NO dressing.

Snack

Fat free Greek yogurt

First dinner

Center cut pork loin, 4 ounces

Mixed veggies -- 1/2 cup

Second dinner

Garlic chicken -- 5 ounces (and I do mean GARLIC --I could walk through a room full of vampires right now and be safe)

Baked potato -- 5 ounces

Diet butter -- 1 tablespoon

Total for the day

1,270 calories

45 grams fat

124 grams protein

water -- 65 ounces

diet soda -- 30 ounces

I might get a little snack before bed, if I do I'll update. If not, that's it for the day.

New Habits Die Hard

There's an old myth about forming new habits, that you have to do something 21 times for it to become a habit, such as working out every day.

That's a load of baloney. For something to truly become a habit, it takes a lot longer than 21 repetitions. My doctor once told me it actually takes a full year of doing something before it starts to become a habit. (And let me add a quick disclaimer here for my family, many of whom immediately think there must be something seriously wrong with me every time I mention the world "doctor": she told me that a long time ago, not recently -- I haven't been to the doc since I last spoke with all of you!).

Having said all of that, I seem to have fallen into a bit of a habit since adding leg work to my routine a few weeks back, choosing Sunday's as the day to do legs. My thinking was that legs take a little longer to do, and Sunday afternoons would generally be days where I wouldn't be up against any time constraints.

Prior to adding the leg work to my exercise routine, I had begun doing my cardio in the mornings, usually every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. The week immediately prior to starting legs I also did a Wednesday morning session.

However, that first week after doing legs, I managed a Monday morning cardio routine, but by Tuesday morning my legs were so sore and tired I slept an extra hour Tuesday and did my cardio for that day in the evening, after I got home from work. Of course, that meant no cardio on Wednesday -- there's no way I can climb on the stationary bike Wednesday morning, less than 12 hours after the Tuesday night session -- and I do a session of weight lifting on Wednesday nights.

Of course, the second week I did legs on Sunday, I fell into the same schedule, a Monday cardio session followed by some leg and knee stiffness, so I did cardio Tuesday night instead.

Last week, the same thing.

This week, however, was going to be different -- I was determined to be up early Tuesday morning, no matter what, so that all my cardio sessions were back to mornings.

Well, guess what? I was up too late last night, much later than I had planned, and just a couple of hours after going to bed I awoke again because of some pain in that knee, so I ended up skipping the morning cardio. By tonight, though, I was feeling okay, and with no weight training slated I ended up back at the gym for some cardio -- and it turned out to be a pretty good, hard-paced session.

So I don't know, have I now formed a new habit, always doing my Tuesday cardio at night for various reasons? I'd rather do the mornings -- fewer people crowded around at the gym, and that gets the work out of the way first thing, leaving my evenings free for writing.

But is just doesn't seem to work out for whatever reason. So maybe I've formed a new habit, after just three or four weeks. It certainly wouldn't be the worst one I've ever developed.

Anyway, enough of that...now for the details of the day!

Exercise
Cardio -- stationary bike
62 minutes (20 on level 6, 5 on level 4, the rest on level 5).
22 miles (or, on the gym's bike, 35.5 something or other -- I think kilometers)
805 calories

Food for the day

Breakfast
Coffee
Eggs -- 1 whole, 2 whites
Fresh cut pineapple -- 1/2 cup

Lunch
Roasted chicken breast (cooked in olive oil) -- 4 ounces
Brown Rice -- 2/3 cup cooked
Mixed veggies -- 1/2 cup

Snack
Fat Free Greek Yogurt

First Dinner
Roasted chicken breast in olive oil -- 4 ounces
Cheese -- 1/8 cup
Salsa
Salad mixture (lettuce, spinach, etc.)

Second Dinner
Sesame chicken and noodles (3/4 serving of whole wheat noodles, 5 ounces of chicken breast, 1/2 cup mixed veggies, all cooked in sesame oil)

Late snack
Real fruit, no-sugar added popsicle

Totals for the day
1,230 calories
33 grams fat
119 grams protein

Once again, I'm getting far too little protein, partly as a result of simply not eating enough, and partly from a result of not planning properly to have a higher protein-to-carb ratio.

Water -- 100 ounces
Diet soda -- 24 ounces

Well That Didn't Go As Planned...

I didn't blog yesterday (Saturday) because there wasn't a lot to write -- the cold was still lingering, well, no, that's not true, it's lingering today. Better, but I still am sneezing and coughing. Yesterday was the worst day of the cold -- sore throat, feeling really bad. 

Saturday, of course, is my off day from working out, so the wasn't affected, but I didn't eat a lot early in the day simply because I didn't feel much like it, and what I did eat isn't exactly bodybuilding food (tomato soup and crackers).

Still, by the latter portions of the day I was back to eating normal, and today I expected to go a little light on the leg work, but once I got into the gym things felt pretty good, so I actually went heavier on a couple of lifts. Kinda funny how that happened, and that's what I was referring to with the title of today's blog. 

Even before I was sick I had thought about dropping some in weight or sets in leg day, because I'd been so tired and sore afterward the past couple of weeks. And yesterday, when I was really feeling bad, I figured there was no way I'd do a full leg workout.

But once I was in the gym, doing that first set of squats...I don't know, things just kinda happened. I did go a little lighter on the leg presses, but did heavier squats, and an additional set, and it felt really good. Maybe tomorrow will be the real test, when it's time to crawl out of bed and head to the gym for some early morning cardio.

Otherwise, it was mostly a fairly sedate weekend -- not doing much Saturday but editing and writing (not for work, but for my fiction), and today mowing, working out, getting back into the swing of everything.

I'll go into my work, then today's eating, then yesterday's eating for those of you who like reading that sort of stuff.

Sunday workout -- legs

Squats (in the order I did the set)

135 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps

165 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps

225 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps

255 pounds -- 1 set, 6 reps

225 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps

185 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps

Leg press -- 380 pounds

2 sets, 8 reps each

Leg extensions

115 pounds, 2 sets, 10 reps each

Leg curls

70 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps

90 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps

95 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps

Standing calf press

410 pounds -- 2 sets, 12 reps each

Food for the day (Sunday)

Breakfast

K-cup cappicino

Lunch

Baked chicken breast, 4 ounces (cooked in a little bit of olive oil)

Long grain rice -- 2/3 cup cooked

Snack

Protein Drink with a banana chopped up in it

First Dinner

Lean center-cut pork loin -- 5 ounces

Baked potato -- 5 ounces

Diet butter -- 1 tablespoon

Snack

Lean center-cut pork loin -- 3.5 ounces

Total for the day so far (I'm sure I'll have something else before the night's over, I'll update when I do)

1,095 calories

30 grams fat

121 grams protein

Water -- 53 ounces

Diet soda -- 24 ounces

Saturday eating

Breakfast -- coffee

First Lunch 

tomato soup

crackers

Second lunch

Taco flavored grilled chicken -- 2 ounces

Cheese -- 1/8 cup

Salsa and corn -- 2 tablespoons

Kidney beans -- 1/4 cup

Salad mix (lettuce, greens, etc.)

Dinner

Baked chicken breast -- 3.75 ounces

Red potatoes baked with olive oil and rosemary

Second dinner

Bake chicken breast with olive oil

Cheese -- 1/4 cup

Tomato

Salsa (2 tablespoons)

Salad mix of lettuces and greens

Snack

Granola -- 2/3 cup

Almond mild -- 3/4 cup

Totals for day

1,435 calories

41 grams fat

105 grams protein (way low here)

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

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. 

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!