A Lost Month? Maybe...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We'll see.

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

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

Chest/shoulders/triceps

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Machine Crunches
110 pounds -- 1 set, 20 reps

Eating for the day

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

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

Snack
1 cup red grapes

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

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

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

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

Water -- 74 ounces
Diet soda -- 24 ounces

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

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!

I did it -- 30 consecutive days of eating clean!

Yesterday, Wednesday, May 11 was my 30th consecutive day of eating clean.

Some of you may recall the blog I mentioned when I started this. For a quick recap, I had just completed my first month of the weight loss efforts, and had lost a little more than 21 pounds and was doing a little bit of a happy dance. Actually, if you count the weigh-in just two days before I started my diet, my loss was closer to 23 pounds. That was about 23 pounds in 32 days.

I did that mostly through restricting calories a fair bit, eating mostly healthy foods, working out with weights consistently and doing cardio three or four days a week. On the eating front, I had maybe three off-days (and an off-night), when I didn't count calories or worry about what I was eating -- I just chowed down on whatever I wanted.

I decided to change things up just a little at the conclusion of those first 30 days. After a day off of eating whatever the heck I wanted, I dove into Month Two, this time determined to eat clean every single day, not even taking off or a bad snack. Never in my life had I eaten absolutely clean for more than two weeks at a time, so I felt like this was a pretty significant challenge, although once in the midst of it I found sticking to the plan surprisingly easy. Even though I had the occasional stray craving (hot wings, pizza, Big Macs), I was never really tempted to go off the 30-day plan.

I had also decided to actually increase my food intake on a daily basis, all in the form of more lean protein, more complex and healthy carbs, and more veggies, with very little in the way of processed food. That's the one area I fell down a bit -- not eating enough. Overall my daily average of calories was a little higher the second month, but there were a few days where I simply didn't eat more than 1,200 to 1,300 calories, and there were quite a few where I didn't go over 1,500 calories.

Still, i can't complain too much. In addition to really dropping the weight, I continued making improvements in my weight workouts, adding a fourth day each week to the weight training, and I experience strength gains in the weight room, as measured by being able to do more weight, for the same number of sets and reps, in most of my exercises.

I've also experienced increases in how hard and how long I can do on cardio workouts, so I'm guessing the calorie restrictions haven't hurt me too badly, while allowing.

The most amazing part of the second 30 days? Continued weight loss at a pretty good rate. As of yesterday, I was at 238.2 pounds, down exactly 18 pounds from the weigh-in at the end of Month 1. After dropping 23 pounds the first month, I really didn't expect to lost more than 12 or so pounds the second month.

I attribute that fast second-month loss to lots of working out and staying absolutely clean in my eating for the full 30 days.

Other changes I've noticed from 30 days of eating clean?
- My blood pressure has dropped. That first month it fell just a bit, but over the course of this second month it's dropped quite a bit. That could simply be the cumulative effect of all the weight loss, but I suspect it has a lot more to do with eliminating bad food, eating healthy, and cutting out most sodium from my diet.

- Headaches have disappeared. I've been plagued with the occasional migraine headache off and on over most of my life, since I was a teen-age. In recent years, those headaches had become much more frequent. I don't mean to suggest every day, or even every week, but they had become part of my life, sometimes lasting two or three days. Some were from lack of sleep and I suspect some were blood pressure related. Other than the one that came with my cold a couple of weeks ago, I don't know that I've had a single one this month, and I didn't have many last month.

- More energy, higher level of focus. I've written several times that I have many bad habits to change, and one of those is staying up far too late, getting far too little sleep. I'm making some progress in this regard, but i still don't get a healthy amount of sleep. However, I've found that I have more energy, more focus at work, and can more readily go on less sleep (not that I should). This might be a result of the overall increase in fitness or the cumulative effect of the weight loss, but I also have to believe it's from fueling up the body properly.

- Just a general better feeling all the time. I don't ever have that "too full" feeling, or never feel listless or bloated or any of the things that can sometimes follow a big meal, or bad food.

I'm sure there are others, but man -- these alone are reason enough to stick with clean eating on a consistent, long-term basis, even without the weight loss.

So, what's next? I don't know. I was going to write that I'm going to finish out the week strict and clean in my diet, but my wife showed up tonight, just about the time I walked in from the gym starving, with Pizza Hut pizzas. I, of course, had not planned anything for dinner and there was nothing within an hour of being ready, so I went ahead and broke the consecutive clean eating streak at 30 -1/2 days.

We celebrate my youngest child's birthday this weekend -- her 15th! -- so there will probably be some cake and ice cream involved. And my middle child has his 21st birthday ten days afterward, so there might be some more cake and ice cream and bad food on the menu. Outside of that, I don't know that there's any reason to change my eating from what it's been until Memorial Day. That'll be up to three off days between now and the end of the month. Other than that, I'm going to stick with the clean eating.

Why would I do anything else, with the results I've seen?

Anyway, that's my really looong post for today. Now, for my workout and eating today:

Workout
Cardio
Stationary bike
36 minutes, 15 minutes at level 6, the rest at level 5
12 miles
425 calories burned

Today's eating

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

Lunch
Boiled chicken breast -- 4 ounces
Mixed veggies -- 1/2 cup
Fat free Greek Yogurt

Snack
Fat free Greek Yogurt

First dinner
Boiled chick breast -- 4 ounces
Mixed veggies -- 1/2 cup

Snack
Power bar

Rest of the evening -- Pizza!

Totals WITHOUT the pizza
835 calories
16 grams fat
100 grams protein

Water -- 80 ounces
Diet soda -- 24 ounces

With the pizza? Who the heck knows. Anyway, tomorrow it's back on the wagon.

Thanks for stopping by!

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

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

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.

Day 26: Changes I'm Noticing...

Well, I've been at this for nearly a month, and in reviewing some of my earlier blog posts I noticed a few differences in my workouts, and that got me to thinking about other changes I've noticed. That's my blog for today, some of the changes I'm seeing -- and feeling -- as I approach the one-month mark.

First, the obvious. I started this as a way to lose weight and, by extension, improve my health. I have lost weight. I'll wait until the official 30-day mark to tell you how much, but I've dropped what I considered a good amount, certainly near the upper end of what I thought might be realistic within a month.

I've experienced an accompanying drop in girth and inches. Remember my posts about finally fitting back into my belt, and then moving down to the second hole? Well, it's not just my waistline that's shrinking. My legs are a little smaller, my chest, hips, even my neck and face aren't quite as flabby. Don't get the wrong idea, I'm still really fat, but there's a difference I can see, feel, and even measure.

I am sleeping considerably better. Before I started this, it wasn't unusual to eat really, really bad food late at night. I'm talking a big plate of nachos, or a Big Mac and fries, around 11, 11:30 at night, maybe even midnight. If that's not bad enough, that was usually on top of already having eaten badly all day long. When you go to bed that full, sleeping is uncomfortable. In my case, I'd constantly be waking up, never getting into a deep sleep, particularly those first few hours of the night. I'd sometimes find myself not breathing as easy as I'd like, waking up just to shift position so I could breath clearer, or be a little more comfortable. My wife would sometimes poke me to get me to wake enough to stop snoring, because I was so loud I'd wake her up.

All of that seems to have gone away. I still eat a little if I get hungry late at night (and yes, I include those in my daily calorie counts on my blog posts), but it's a small amount, and it's something healthy. I'm never feeling overfull after eating. I don't wake up multiple times during the night, I'm not waking my wife with the snoring, and while one of the things I still do a really bad job on is getting enough sleep, that's not because I'm waking up constantly during the night.

Other differences? It's hard to explain other than to simply say I feel better. Before, I often felt tired, listless, doing easy little tasks became chores that I'd avoid. Most of that's gone away now, too.

I don't mean to suggest I'm ready to hop into a powerlifting competition or run a marathon, but simple, everyday tasks have become so much easier.

I've seen a difference in my workouts as well. My first day was a chest, shoulder and triceps day. Generally I do barbell bench presses as my main chest exercise, but twice since I started the bench at the gym has been busy, so I moved to dumbbells. Once was on my first day, and the other was four days ago, on day 22. Those are the only two days I've done dumbbells as my main chest work, yet here's the difference:

March 9
Dumbbell bench press,
50 pound dumbbells, 1 set x 10 reps
70 pounds, 3 sets x 10 reps each
70 pounds, 1 set x 8 reps

Include barbell press
115 pounds, 2 set x 10 reps

That was it, my full chest workout, and while only the last dumbbell and last incline set was actually done to failure, I can honestly say that was about all I had in me.

Now, here's last week's chest workout:

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

As you can see I've increased weight, increased sets, or simply added more overall sets to the mix. Remember, I'm waiting only about 30 seconds to a minute between each set -- I don't do that think where you do a set, then sit around and rest for 5 minutes before doing the next set. 

Most of my other workouts have seen similar results, more weight and more sets, 

Same with cardio. My first night I did 30 minutes on the stationary bike, all at level 4, and recorded 9.75 miles. That really was about all I had in me.

Yesterday, I did 50 minutes (levels 9, 8, and 7 one-minute each, level 6 10 minutes, level 5 30 minutes, lvl 4 the rest) covering 17.5 miles

So, with cardio I'm going longer, harder, and covering more "distance" on a per minute or per-five-minute or whatever-per-whatever measurement you want to take.

I'll be finishing up the first 30 days later this week, and along the way I may be looking at ways I can change things up, push a little harder (either in my workouts or my eating), see how much more I can improve in the second month.

But for now, finishing the last few days of month #1 strong, and enjoying the results, is pretty gratifying.

For the day:

Well, I took the day off, both from exercise and from eating entirely healthy. The exercise decision I made yesterday while I was on the bike. My knee started bothering me around the 30 minute mark, and given that I have a little mileage on the knees, and had worked pretty hard last week, I thought maybe a rest day might be in order.

As for the food? Well, I ate almost nothing today. By the point when dinner time rolled around, I'd have a grand total of around 540 calories on the day. My oldest daughter and son-in-law were down visiting, so we made that trip to Applebee's I was thinking about on Friday night. Still, I ate a much, much smaller meal than I would have a month ago (half-rack ribs, small amount of fries, and water rather than a diet soda).

So, tomorrow I'm back on it!

Thanks for stopping by.

Day 25 -- Uh Oh, Another Weekend!

No, I didn't forget my diet or pig-out, and I most certainly did do a good amount of cardio today.

What can be almost as problematic, though, is simply getting off the daily routine and not eating enough, or not eating at the proper intervals throughout the day. 

That was my day today.

First, because I was up so late last night (or more accurately, into the wee hours of this morning), I slept in a little later than normal. Given that I was already behind schedule, I simply had some coffee and headed to the gym without breakfast. Then I had a couple of errands on the way home, had to stop at the library (where I ended up for an hour), and next thing I know, it's 2 o'clock in the afternoon and I'm sitting down for my first meal of the day.

Afterward, because I feel like I'm not into my regular routine, I don't eat again until 8 o'clock. So today, it's definitely been not enough food, and not spreading it out correctly.

I did have a good cardio workout, though.

So here's the scoop on Day 25.

Workout

Cardio

Stationary bike

50 minutes (levels 9, 8, and 7 one-minute each, level 6 10 minutes, level 5 30 minutes, lvl 4 the rest)

17.5 miles

570 calories burned

Eating for the day. 

Breakfast

Cappuccino (NOT Starbucks or anything like that. Just a simple K-cup cappuccino. I wouldn't pay $47 or whatever it cost for one at Starbucks, not that it matters, since there's not one within 30 miles of my home).

Lunch

Salad, consisting of 2 ounces of lean ham, 1 whole boiled egg and the egg white from another, lettuce and greens and 2 tablespoons salad dressing.

Fat-free Whipped Greek Yogurt (my weekend treat)

Dinner

Bottom round steak -- 3.6 ounces

Baked potato -- 9 ounces

Diet butter - 1 1/2 tablespoons

Snack
Shredded Wheat Cereal -- 1 cup
Almond Milk -- 1 cup

Total for the day.

1,270 calories

44 grams of fat

79 grams protein

70 ounces of water

36 ounces diet soda

Thanks again for stopping by. Tomorrow I'll talk a little about some of the changes I've noticed since starting this.

Day 23 -- Soreness & Fatigue

Today, for the first time since my first few days of working out, I am sore. Yesterday's chest/triceps/shoulders workout included a few more sets than usual, and some exercises I haven't done in a long time, so that's led to a little soreness today.

The fatigue is more a result of very little sleep -- about five hours' worth. Netflix and I spent a little too much quality time together last night. You know how it is, you start a series, an episode ends on a cliffhanger, you go to the next one, which ends on another cliffhanger, and before you know it, it's 2 o'clock in the morning!

That's one of the things I need to change -- getting more sleep. So far I've done okay with the working out and diet, but I still don't get enough sleep, so that'll be my next target, more sleep.

Along those lines, I'll be making this short and sweet so I can get some more sleep tonight!

Workout

Cardio
Stationary Bike
43 minutes (6 minutes at lvl 6, 18 minutes on lvl 5, 19 minutes on lvl 4)
14 miles
455 calories

Food for the day

Breakfast
Coffee

Lunch
Denver steak -- 6.25 ounces
Mixed veggies -- 1/2 cup

Snack
Salad (lettuce, grape tomatoes, mushrooms, 1 boiled egg, 1 ounce lean ham, 2 tablespoons fat-free thousand island dressing)

First dinner
Boiled chicken breast -- 4 ounces
Mozzarella cheese -- 1/8 cup

Second dinner
Mini-chicken sandwiches (each one had 2 ounces boiled chicken breast, basil, 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese, 3/4 tablespoon homemade chipolte mayonnaise, THIN-sliced French bread)

Snack
Hamburger steak -- 1.25 ounce
Instant mashed potatoes -- 3/4 cup (yes, I know, this is not good for me)

Totals for the day
1,400 calories
51 grams fat
133 grams protein

Water -- 60 ounces
Diet soda -- 36 ounces

Thanks for stopping by!

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

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

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

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

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

A Fat Boy Decides It's Time To Change...

I woke up a couple of days ago -- a Monday no less -- and discovered I was fat.

Really, really fat.

Okay, I didn't wake up and suddenly find I was trapped in some morbidly obese body, it was a slow process, taking years of mistreating myself to get to this point. But Monday was kind of a tipping point. Well, that and a recent picture someone took of me.

That picture -- I'll share it, but not today (That picture to your right, the little head shot of me in a blue shirt and tie -- that picture is nearly eight years old, and shows me about 64 pounds ago) -- was of a gathering with some of my wife's family, and I was absolutely astounded when I saw myself. I don't mean to suggest I didn't understand already I was fat, I mean really big, but I simply didn't quite have that imagine of myself in my head.

That was a week and a half ago. Then this week, on Monday, I stepped on the scales.

279 pounds.

I'm not a tall guy, coming in at barely 5'10".

To put a little perspective on that, when I graduated from high school I weighed 150 pounds. I'll be the first to say I was a little too light then (though I was blazing fast -- always the fastest guy on the basketball court or soccer field), but I was probably too thin. I went off to college, got fat (gained all the way up to 197 pounds), then started working out, running, eating better, and settled in at about 180 pounds. That was a good, healthy weight for me, given how much I was working out.

So, you could say I'm about 100 pounds overweight.

100 FREAKING POUNDS OVERWEIGHT!

Maybe, I don't know. I haven't a clue what 180 would look like on me now, or 190, or even 200. I've had a lifelong struggle with weight, at least during my adult life (no problems in high school when I was playing sports, working out, running...just generally always active). My weight has gone up and done, up and down, up and down, constantly. Unfortunately, each time it goes back down, it never gets as low as last time, and when it goes up, it's always a little more than the time before.

Just last summer, in 2015, I dropped from 265 to 242 in about six weeks. Since August 1, about seven months ago, I've been in a continual climb all the way up to Monday's 279 pounds. That's more than 5 pounds a month I've been gaining. My doctor's even concerned now, though maybe I'll get into all of that later.

For now, I'll just say I'm tired of being fat, tired of being unhealthy, tired of getting out of breath doing the simplest things, tired of not sleeping well because I've eaten a ton of bad stuff just before going to bed...tired of it all.

So beginning today, I'm setting out to change a few things, mostly how I eat, how I treat myself (better sleep, more exercise). I've done this before -- I'm the KING of yo-yo dieting -- but maybe it'll be different this time. I certainly should have some better motivation (again, more on that later).

Over the coming weeks, and maybe months, I'll post here regularly on how it's going -- my weight loss, exercise gains, struggles, successes, and the like. I'll post interesting articles and information I come across regarding fitness and health. I may share blogs of other people doing something similar to what I'm doing. I'll share more of my story, how I got here, how hard it is to change, and so forth. I'll lay out what I'm eating, my workouts, what I learn along the way.

And most of all, maybe I'll encourage someone else to make some positive changes along the way.

I don't know, maybe 50 people will see this, maybe 50,000, then again maybe just me, myself, and I will be the only ones to lay eyes on this blog. Either way, I hope whoever visits finds the blog enjoyable, fun, and maybe, just maybe, helpful in their own lives.

Thanks for stopping by, and feel free to leave comments or questions in the comment section of the blog.

More later....