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!

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!

Yet another milestone, and so much to say!

Over the past few days I've had a great deal I wanted to write here about my weight loss, a few articles I've read about weight loss in general, and a study that shows a bleak future for those of us who are a little more rotund than we'd like.

My biggest obstacle in all of that is simply time. Long hours at work, writing at home, working out, doing things with the family, and trying to squeeze in a little sleep tends to leave the blogging time in short supply.

So today I'll just tell you I've reached another milestone in the long saga of the belt. Yep, that little leather strip meant to help hold my pants up, the one I couldn't even come close to wearing just nine short weeks ago, the one that even the wise old Mr. Miyagi thought had no significance, is now holding my pants in place while buckled on the fifth hole (with the sixth and final hole being the tightest setting).

I've had this belt for a couple of years, ever since I outgrew the last one, so it's kinda fun to see myself actually shrinking to the point I might not be able to use it much more.

Of course, with every milestone, there's a reminder I still have a long, long way to go. Remember when I talked about the Danger Zone of Dieting (also known as The Delusional Zone)? You can click on the link to see what I'm talking about, but in short, that's the time when you start to feel really good about your weight loss, you're noticing differences, seeing major progress, and you start to think you're thinner and more fit than you really are.

That's why I call it the Delusional Zone. It's also a dangerous time, because it's far, far too easy to figure you'll just skip a workout because, you know, you're tired, you want to do other stuff, and you've done so well it's not going to be a big deal. Or, you might decided to take an extra meal off the diet, or an extra day -- again, because you're doing so well, dropping all that weight, have gotten so skinny.

Well, I've felt that little bit of delusion creeping in here and there lately. It's been easy enough to hold it at arm's length because I had committed to 30 days of clean eating, with no off meals or days, so going off the eating plan simply wasn't a temptation. And other than altering plans for the weekend of my daughter's college graduation and Mother's Day (which actually turned into taking care of the sick wife day), I had determined I'd do workouts of various sorts at least six days every week during the 30-day period. So, in that respect, it was also easy to avoid falling off the workout plan.

So what's the little fail-safe now?

Pictures.

Let's face it, when you drop 40 pounds, that's a lot of weight, and I'm closing in on the 40-pound mark. When you have clothes that you couldn't wear because they were too small that are now actually too big, that's a lot of positive change.

But, when you're 40 to 50 pounds overweight, that's just awful. I mean, who wants to carry around an extra 40 pounds of fat every day? Who wants the damage that does to your heart, you joints, and the other issues that come with being that far overweight?

And there's nothing like seeing pictures of yourself for a really good, semi-objective view of what you really look like, and how far you still have to go.

So, yeah, seeing myself in the mirror and how much I've lost, feeling the clothes get loose and knowing I'm making progress is great, but for now I'm still trying to focus on where I really am in relation to where I need to go -- and I'm still a long way toward really being able to get comfortable with my weight and fitness level.

Now for today's action:

Workout
Cardio
Stationary bike -- 53 minutes, all on level 5
18.5 miles
730 calories

Eating for the day

Breakfast
Coffee

Lunch
Lean ground beef -- 3 ounces
Bake potato -- 4.5 ounces
Mixed veggies -- 3/4 cup

Snack
Lean ground beef -- 2 ounces
Cheese -- 1/8 cup
Salsa -- 1 tablespoon
Salad

First Dinner
Lean pork -- 4 ounces
Mixed veggies -- 3/4 up

Second Dinner
Lean ground beef -- 1 ounce
Kidney beans -- 1/2 cup
Cheese -- 1/4 cup
Salsa -- 2 tablespoons
Two whole wheat tortilla wraps

Totals for the day
1,100 calories
42 grams of fat
107 grams protein

Water -- 80 ounces
Diet soda -- 24 ounces

Thanks for stopping by!

A Big Day!

Forget my little daily reports about weight loss, eating healthy and working out. Today, it was all about this:

This was the crew celebrating my oldest graduating from college. Well, this was a few hours after graduation, at the conclusion of dinner at Kabuki's and the restaurant staff came out with a little cake for her. The happy grad is front and center, and the rest of the crew are my kids, son-in-law, sister and brother-in-law. Big Day!

And yes, I stayed on the eating clean plan, though probably a few too may calories (and I did NOT even touch the cake).

More later about my eating and calories for the day, but for now, this is what we did today!

Belts, Shirts, & Missing Meals

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

I got a couple of those today.

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

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

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

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

So, yeah, I had a good day.

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

Here's what I did today:

Cardio

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

19 miles

610 calories.

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

So, my workout for the day was:

Back

Seated rows

130 pounds - 1 set, 10 reps

200 pounds - 2 sets, 8 reps each

180 pounds - 2 sets, 8 reps each

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

125 pounds, 2 sets, 10 reps

Straight-arm pulldowns

100 pounds, 2 sets, 10 reps each

Abs

Seated machine crunch

110 pounds - 2 sets, 15 reps each

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

Now for my eating today

Breakfast

Coffee

Eggs (1 whole, 2 whites)

Oatmeal (1/3 cup dry)

Lunch

Lean pork -- 5 ounces

Baked sweet potato -- 7 ounces

Snack

Half a protein bar (left over from last night)

Fat free Greek Yogurt

Dinner

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

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

Mozzarella -- 1/4 cup

Salsa -- 3 tablespoons

Totals for the day

1,485 calories

45 grams fat

153 grams protein (a little low)

Water 95 ounces

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

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