Belt Tales and New Pants

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here's what I did yesterday.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Now for the food!

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

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

Snack
Fat free Greek yogurt

Snack 2
Protein bar

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

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

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

Totals for the day

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

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

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

Eventually, Even Mr. Miyagi Agreed...The Belt DOES Matter

Some of you may remember how I took issue with Mr. Miyagi in an earlier post, explaining that the belt does matter, even though he said it didn't (See Mr. Miyagi was wrong -- it IS all about the belt).

Eventually, though, the wise old Mr. Miyagi even came to understand there are times when it's all about the belt, as illustrated in today's video.

What's that got to do with me, other than demonstrating I may have an unhealthy obsession with 80s movies?

Well, I'm hear to talk again about the belt. In that earlier post, you may recall, I was happy because I was able to squeeze (and I do mean SQUEEZE) into my belt, on the first hole. It had been several weeks since I could even wear a belt, so getting it around me and buckling it -- not matter how hard it was -- was a major achievement.

Today I notched that same belt on the second hole -- and comfortably, too. I'm down to the second hole!

Sometimes, when you're trying to lose weight, a scale can be a poor indicator of your progress. I do my weigh-ins first thing out of bed in the morning, presumably meaning day-to-day comparisons should have some validity. Still, all sorts of factors can throw those day-to-day checks. If I eat too late the night before, if I'm retaining a little more fluid one day -- there are all sorts of factors that can throw the weigh-in off a bit. In my case, even though this is Wednesday, I still have the effects of Sunday's off-day (and the unplanned off-night the evening before).

So yeah, when I stepped on the scales this morning, I wasn't all that happy.

And seeing your weight fluctuate the wrong direction can be a diet-killer. You think, "Heck, all that work, all that dieting, for THIS? Why bother," then you go off and eat a half-dozen tacos.

There's a better way -- while the scale might not always be the best indicator of how you're doing, the measuring tape doesn't lie. If you're losing inches, you're losing fat. And even without an official measuring day, the one quick indicator of how you're doing is the lowly BELT.

So when I slipped into the second hole -- comfortably -- I didn't much care what the scale said, I knew I was still doing right. The Belt always tells the truth!

Now for my workout and food for the day.

Workout
Weight training, chest, shoulders and triceps

Chest
Dumbbell Bench Press
55-pound dumbbells, 1 set, 10 reps
85-pound dumbbells, 3 sets, 8 reps each
85-pound dumbbells, 1 sex 6 reps

Incline Barbell Press
115 pounds, 2 sets, 8 reps each

Flat-bench Dumbbell Flyes
40-pounds, 2 sets, 8 reps each

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

Machine Lateral Raises
105 pounds, 2 sets, 10 reps

Rear Deltoid Machine Flyes
125 pounds, 2 sets, 10 reps each

Triceps
Lying Curl Bar Extensions (also known as nose breaks if you don't do them correctly)
50 pounds, 1 set, 10 reps
60 pounds, 1 set, 8 reps

Cable press down
150 pounds, 2 sets, 10 reps

Abs
Seated Machine Crunch
110 pounds, 1 set, 15 reps
110 pounds, 1 set, 10 reps

Now, for the food component of my new healthy plan.

Breakfast
Eggs (1 whole, 2 whites)
Mushrooms

Lunch
Denver steak -- 5 ounces
Mixed veggies -- 2/3 cup

Snack
Salad (lettuce, boiled egg, tomatoes/carrots/mushroom)
Dressing

First Dinner
Boiled chicken breast -- 4 ounces
Mozzarella cheese -- 1/4 cup

Second Dinner
Chicken Fajitas (No, NOT the fajita mixture I mentioned last week, the really BAD-for me stuff) These consisted of a total of four ounces of chicken breast, onions, peppers and salsa, along with a little bit of mozzarella cheese on two whole-wheat tortillas.

Snack
More fajitas mixture (2.5 ounces chicken, onions, peppers, salsa, mozzarella), but NO tortilla.

Total for the day

1,415 calories
57 grams of fat (a little high)
155 grams protein

Water -- 75 ounces
diet soda -- 24 ounces

Well, folks, that's it for the day. Later this week I'll do an official weigh-in/measurement, and maybe talk a little about some of the changes I'm seeing and feeling as I move toward the fourth full week of this!

Thanks for stopping by.

Mr. Miyagi was wrong -- it IS all about the belt

Those of you of a certain age (or those of any age who have good taste in movies) will recall this scene. I'm here to tell you Mr. Miyagi was 100 percent wrong about the belt. It DOES matter.

Okay, I'll admit that, for the purposes of Mr. Miyagi's lesson to Danielson, maybe brown, black, or a canvas belt from JC Penney doesn't matter. But for my purposes, the belt matters most right now.

Let me explain. I have a plain brown leather belt (Wal-mart instead of JC Penney, and I'm not even sure it's real leather). I don't really know the size, other than it's BIG -- it has to be to fit me. Like many belts, it has multiple holes -- in this case 5 holes.

Well, a while back I grew out of my belt. It simply wouldn't go all the way around me enough in order for me to buckle it. A few weeks earlier my wife had gone out to buy me a few shirts that were larger, since I had grown out of many of the ones I'd been wearing.

I wasn't going to get a new belt. I decided I was going to either just keep getting so much fatter all I could do was wear sweat pants with an elastic waist band, or I was going to fit back into that belt. I went the wrong way on that for a couple of weeks, gaining a couple of more pounds before finally starting this exercise and weight loss plan, but I finally managed to get rolling, six days ago.

Yesterday, at the start of Day 5, I decided to slip the belt on and see how much further I had to go before I could wear it. Guess what? I wore it to work yesterday, and again today.

Now, to say it actually fits would be stretching things a little (almost as much as I'm stretching the belt right now). It's a tad snug, even on the first hole. That's okay. Being uncomfortable is a great reminder that I need to stay focused on the diet and the working out.

And the fact that it fits at all is a milestone I hadn't expected to reach for another week or so.

But yes, I'll say again, the belt DOES matter.

If you're working on weight loss goals, pick out an article of clothing, like I did. Don't get so caught up in your body weight as simply finding some tangible thing you can measure by that means something. Pick belt, a shirt, a pair of pants, anything that you're just a little too big for, and then hit the exercise and workout plan as hard as you can, with that article of clothing in mind.

Don't pick something that's three sizes away, pick something that's one size away, or maybe a half-size, that you honestly can't wear at present, and then work. In a week, or two, or maybe three, you'll feel really good about fitting into that item, and that will help give you motivation to keep at it.

For me, I'm now thinking toward hole #2 on the old belt.

Now, for my workout and diet today....well, just as soon as I tell you all about how great things are going, I come to this and have to say I FAILED today.

Sort of.

My plan has been, at least for the first couple of weeks, to do weight training three days a week and cardio the other four. Today was one of those other four, and my intention was to get up early this morning and head to the gym for 30 minutes on the exercise bike.

I knew I was in trouble when I woke this morning and there was light filtering in through the blinds. Seems I turned off both of my alarms this morning when they went off, never really waking in the process. I wasn't late for work or anything like that, but the cardio was shot. I would have done it at night any other night, but we went to see some Irish singers and musicians tonight, so no cardio. :(

Even worse, while I was there, I had a small bag of popcorn. No butter, of course, and it was a smallish bag, but it was popped like the old-time theaters used to do, in oil that makes it really good even without the butter.

Having said all of that, here was my food for the day:

Breakfast
Eggs -- 1 whole, 2 whites
Ham -- 2 ounces

Lunch
Whole wheat noodles -- 3/4 of serving (about 3.2 ounces on a scale)
Lean pork -- 4 ounces
Veggies -- 3/4 cup
Sesame oil -- 1 teaspoon
Soy sauce (reduced sodium) -- 1 tablespoon

Snack
Banana

Dinner
Boiled chicken breast -- 4 ounces
Mozzarella cheese -- 1/4 cup


Total for the day so far (I'll probably eat something else before I go to bed, and I'll update this if I do).

964 calories
28 grams of fat
89 grams of protein
60 ounces of water
34 ounces of diet soda

Plus the dreaded popcorn! (most every source I check say a small bag of popcorn has around 250 calories and 20 grams of fat, which would leave me within the total calories that are acceptable, but certain way too high on the fat and too low on the protein for the day)

Well, that's all for now folks. Thanks for stopping by. If you have any questions or comments, put them down in the comment section and I'll respond!