Still Around, Still Working Out, Still Losing Weight

Everyone miss me? Wonder where I've been?

Well, I'm still hard at it, eating healthy, working out, and...well, mostly anyway.

I decided to take a few days off, but not from everything. On Friday, which was May 13 I believe, I was just really, really tired, so I skipped the workout that day, and did no working out on Saturday, either, but that's normally an off day for me.

Saturday and Sunday I took a bit of a break from the healthy eating. I didn't pig out or anything, but I ended up with some pizza, and a little food from Taco Bell, as well as just general stuff from around the house.

As for the blogging? Well, I took what's amounted to a four-day break on that, so let me bring you up to day.

I did do a regular leg workout on Sunday, even though my eating that day might not have been the best. And yesterday, which was Monday, I was back at it with the regular healthy eating, cardio in the morning and a back and biceps workout at night.

So, let me bring you up to day quickly on my eating and working out these past two days, and then I'll be back on later with my regular Tuesday blog to talk about some things coming up this month.

First, Sunday's workout, which was legs. And let me say I may have discovered something, or at least rediscovered something I recall from years ago. I've been doing legs on Sundays now for a while, and you may recall I've complained about being a little sore and stiff the next day or two afterward. With the graduation and Mother's Day weekend throwing the schedule off, I did a full leg workout the Sunday before Mother's Day, then another leg workout the Thursday before Mother's Day, then another leg workout the Wednesday after Mother's Day, followed by one this past Sunday.

No soreness to speak of, and that reminds me of years ago, when I was working out regularly. If I did squats every 4 to 5 days, I rarely had any soreness or stiffness, unless I went really heavy. If I waited a week between workouts, I was always sore. So, unless I want to continue to deal with stiffness, I may have to do TWO leg workouts every week. Hmmm....avoiding pain by inflicting more pain. Something doesn't sound exactly right about that. Anyway, I'll let you know what I decide. For now, Sunday's workout:

Squats
135 pounds -- 10 reps
185 pounds -- 8 reps
225 pounds -- 8 reps
275 pounds -- 6 reps
245 pounds -- 8 reps

Leg Press
400 pounds -- 2 sets, 8 reps each

Leg Curls
90 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps
100 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps
100 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps

Standing Calf Press
450 pounds -- 2 sets, 12 reps each

Seated Crunch, 125 pounds
1 set, 20 reps
1 set, 15 reps

And now for Monday's workout, back and biceps

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

Wide-grip seated row
160 pounds -- 3 sets, 10 reps each

Lat pulldown
100 pounds, 2 sets, 10 reps each

Dumbbell Bent-over row
60 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps

Curl-bar curls
40 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps
50 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps
60 pounds -- 1 set, 6 reps (that forearm issue reared it's head again, with some significant pain there starting on about rep #2, so I decided to quit at 6).

Seat Crunch (abs)
125 pounds -- 20 reps
125 pounds -- 15 reps

Cardio
Stationary bike, 52 minutes
18 miles
650 calories burned

Now, for Monday's eating (gotta cut back here a bit to make up for the weekend!)

Breakfast
Coffee
Eggs -- 1 whole, 2 whites
Lean ham -- 1.5. ounces

Lunch
Lean ground turkey -- 4 ounces
Rice -- 1/2 cup cooked
Veggies -- 1.2 cup

Snack
Salad, consisting of 1 ounce lean ham, lettuce and spinach mixture, fat-free Thousand Island dressing
Fat Free Greek Yogurt

First Dinner
Talipia -- 4 ounces
Rice -- 1/2 cup cooked
Veggies -- 1/2 cup

Second dinner
Salmon -- 4 ounces
Baked potato -- 9 ounces (kinda big)
Diet butter -- 1-1/2 tablespoon

Totals for the day
 1,275 calories
31 grams fat
121 grams protein

Water -- 90 ounces
Diet soda -- 28 ounces

Thanks for stopping by! I'll have more later tonight!

Eating Clean Isn't Always The Same As Eating Healthy

Today didn't go anywhere near as planned.

As you may know from past blogs, we had planned a big Mother's Day celebration with my wife and most of our kids (our oldest and her husband were going to be gone, but the rest would be here).

That changed about 3 in the morning, when my wife woke up sick ... REALLY sick, as in losing throwing up, fever, aching -- all the bad stuff.

So, Mother's Day celebration in our house, including eating out at one of my wife's favorite restaurants, has been put on hold. We still had the crew in, and I grilled chicken breasts, hamburgers and hot dogs, along with baked potatoes. I, of course, passed up the hot dogs, and I had a hamburger, but it was that super-lean, 95-percent ground beef, with no mayo, no ketch-up, none of the bad stuff. Just a slice of tomato.

I have to say that made it a little easier to stick to the cleaning eating plan, but it certainly was not the way I'd want. 

Even though I stuck with the clean eating both yesterday for my daughter's graduation, and today with the muted Mother's Day gathering, I can't say I ate exactly healthy. Eating healthy means regular, small meals, every two-and-a-half to three hours. Healthy meals with lean protein, veggies, complex carbs. And it means a heck of a lot more protein than I took in.

Saturday I took in more calories than any other day since I started the 30-day clean eating program, and the bulk of that was in one meal. Again, today, I actually only ate twice. Not exactly the way I should be eating, I know, but I can still honestly say I'm still on my 30-day healthy eating plan (just three more days to go as I write this)!

Anyway, here's the scoop from the past couple of days. No working out either day, as planned, although, I bet I walked a solid 30 minutes, at a decent pace, before and after my daughter's graduation -- most of it before. Walking from the parking lot to the building where the ceremony was held; walking from there afterward across campus to the building where a "little" reception was planned, but we skipped it after seeing a line a mile long; followed by walking to the campus Starbucks because we have two Starbucks addicts among our family;  then walking all the way across campus to get back to our car. So maybe, just maybe that counts as a teeny tiny bit of cardio?

Saturday, May 7.

Breakfast

Coffee

Fat Free Greek Yogurt

Lunch

Small, tiny, little burger of lean meat

Bun

Tomato/lettuce

Dinner

New York Strip Steak -- 5 ounces

Rice -- 1-1/2 cup

Veggies -- 1-1/2 cup

Shrimp -- just a handful

All cooked in sesame and soy oil

Chicken broth soup with mushrooms

Salad (tomatoes, lettuce, onions)

Salad dressing -- 2 tablespoons

Snack

Raisin Bran

Soy milk

Totals for the day--1,730 calories

56 grams fat

90 grams protein (way, way too low.

Water -- 65 ounces

Diet soda -- 24 ounces 

SUNDAY

Breakfast -- nothing, skipped it

Lunch

Super-lean hamburger meat -- 5 ounces

Whole wheat hamburger bun

Provolone cheese

Baked potato -- 6 ounces

Diet butter -- 1 tablespoon

Dinner

Lean pork -- 4.25 ounces

Provolone cheese

Rye bread (2 slices)

1,035 calories

38 grams of fat

90 grams of protein (again, far too little)

Water 60 ounces

Diet Soda -- 24 ounces

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.