Catching Up

I realized today that it has been a while since I posted, so I thought some catching up was due. When Last I posted, I was cursing cookies. Still hate them. One of the exercises Stacy had me doing involved stepping up 18 inches on one leg, while holding 20lbs of weights, then back down, step up, for 15 reps, then switch to the other leg for 15 reps. Had to do each leg four times. Stacy told me from the beginning that I was coming down to hard on my right leg. Sure enough, right around April 1st, I was doing that exercise and came down on my right leg to hard and felt my back go sideways. It hurt pretty bad, but thankfully not bad enough to put me out. I was still able to go with the family to Morro Bay for a planned vacation and generally be active. It was only today though that I started lifting weights and jogging on the treadmill though. I didn't even try the step-up exercise because I could feel my back protesting just a little as I lifted weights.

I was pretty bummed because I thought that I would lose all kinds of progress while I layed off for a while. Wonder of wonders, I still managed to loose weight. Even while on vacation. With going to Morro Bay, as well as some work comittments, and an upcoming conference, I have only trained with Stacy once this month. I'm anxious to get back into the routine.

Curse You Cookies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had four cookies today. And six peanut M&M's. I couldn't resist. I curse you cookies!!!!!!!!

A picture from last summer.....

This was taken last summer at my family's cabin in the Sierras. We had just spent the weekend painting and repairing. The feast that was grilling was well earned, as was the beer, and despite my face, I was quite happy. Until I got home and saw the picture of my gut. Granted I was sitting, which accentuates a gut, but still. That is gross. Strong incentive to stick with the program. It was a good beer though.

This Week

Yesterday I went to the gym and ran on the treadmill for almost an hour. It was raining otherwise I would have run on a trail somewhere. Today I lifted weights before work. I have come to the conclusion that if I have to drag myself to the gym, it will probably be a good workout. Not that when I'm looking forward to working out it is horrible. It just seems that when I REALLY DON'T WANT TO GO, it is always pretty good.

My family and I are heading to Morro Bay for a few days while our kids are on spring break. I'm not sure if there will be workout facilities where we are going. If not I will make an honest attempt to at least run while we are there. Far more important though will be my eating habits while on vacation. Going to Disneyland didn't kill me like I thought it would, even though we ate out a TON. On this trip we will be cooking most of our meals as well. I will be weighed in by The Masochist as soon as I get back which is a little scary.

Pizza From Heaven

Yesterday my family and I went to my nephew's first birthday party. Because of potential weather the party was held in a pizza/pub/restaurant. GOOD PIZZA!!!!!!! While I didn't eat my weight in pizza, I certainly wasn't shy. Today is a weigh in with Stacy and I might be in trouble. But that was some of the best pizza I have had in a long while. In fact, I have been craving pizza for a long time. Not Round Table (good, just had too much in my life), but a "microbrew" kind of pizza. The kind you get in a hole-in-the-wall kind of place, where it's piled so high with stuff you can't see the crust kind of pizza. Yesterday could very well have been pizza nirvana. I have told myself that I don't pay tooooooo much attention to food on Sundays and yesterday I decided to dive into that rule like an 8 year old into a pool on the first day of summer screaming YEEEE HAWWWWW the whole way.

According to everything I have read, doing pizza (or anything) like that once in a while shouldn't be THAT big of a deal. Scarry thing is, I used to eat like that a few times a week. On the other side, I haven't had that much rich food in a while (or beer for that matter) and my gut is a little angry at me. Could have been the cheese stuffed bell peppers too.................

Post Script:
I just got back from my work out. Thankfully it wasn't a measure/weigh day. That was last week. I did learn a valuable lesson; that pizza and beer (with cheesy garlic bread and stuffed bell peppers) will cause you to feel like vomiting a day later. I didn't vomit, but it was close.

Addendum

I went back and looked at my first weigh in, wich was in January after two weeks or working out. I weighed 248lbs. This week I weighed 237. So, 11 pounds of scale weight, which is another way of saying 11 pounds of FAT. Yuck. So, two ways to look at this.

BAD WAY- I had 11 pounds of fat to loose. With more to go. That is gross.

GOOD WAY- I LOST 11 POUND OF FAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stacy told me yesterday that I' one of the larger guys she has ever trained. She called me one of her "challenges". Sheesh.

Weigh In This Week, and Thoughts About Cookies and Booze

At my weigh in on Monday I was down 4lbs, and my waist was 1 1/2 inches smaller. My hips were smaller too. What's up with that? I thought that was only chick-type stuff. Pants are still fitting better, and I had to tighten my duty belt again. I realized it was loose when I was walking around work and found that it was falling down. This morning I ran on the treadmill because it was raining outside. I tried the interval style thing again. I worked my way up to a sprint about 4 times over 40 minutes.

Eating is an interesting thing. I read something the other day that has stuck with me about eating, which was, "We should eat so we are not hungry. We should not eat so that we are full." I didn't pay much attention to what that meant at the time, but the next time I had a meal, I found myself thinking about what that really meant. And I stopped eating when I wasn't hungry anymore. The next day I planned my meals and snacks around how much food would keep me from being hungry. That doesn't mean that I ate bad all day. Dinner was an 8oz grilled New York Strip Steak with a HUGE salad and some brown rice. Lunch was a sandwich with about 6oz of turkey, cheese, etc. Breakfast was my stupid eggs and oatmeal, which I'm actually starting to like. Plus snacks like yogurt, string cheese, and so on. But I made sure to stop eating when I quit being hungry.

A few posts ago I mentioned my rule about cookies. That rule didn't stick around like the others did. I really like cookies. I have found that my will power goes away around cookies. I can put aside booze, I have had one bowl of cereal in the last two months, I haven't had any Hostess crap in years, chips don't call to me (while I do enjoy them occasionally, they don't have near the pull of cookies), crackers, meh. I don't have a bread addiction. Sometimes the fresh baked loaves from Safeway are good with dinner, but rarely. When it comes down to it, cookies are it. All kinds. Oatmeal, chocolate chip, peanut butter, white chocolate/macademia nut, Girl Scout Samoas ( I refuse to call them by the new name), you name it, I LOVE IT!!! They will be my downfall if anything is.

My New Workout From Tuesday

Well, this one is definitely different than the last one. She upped all of the reps for each set, so that I"m doing 15 reps of each exercise, 4 times. You wouldn't think that just three more per set was that big of a deal, but it is. Also, for legs this time she has me doing just one exercise. I hold a 10 pound dumbell in each hand, and have to step up on a 16" box 15 times for each leg, then do 30 squats. That is one set. I could only make it through 3 of those the first time I tried before I told her I felt like I was going to chunder. She told me after we were all done that she has made 3 people actually puke with that particular exercise. Normally I will run for about 20 minutes on the treadmill after weights, but Stacy said I don't have to after the leg workout this time.

I'm back for more tomorrow, and my friend Bryan will be there as well. He told me that after working out with me last week it took 4 days before he could lift his hands above his head. Gotta love it.

The Treadmill Tried to Kill Me Today

Today I got on the treadmill at work. I was feeling pretty ambitious so I started to increase the speed. Problem was, the belt of the treadmill didn't move as fast as the display indicated it should. Eventually I had increased the speed until the display read "11" and wouldn't go up any more, but he belt was moving decidedly slower than what I thought "11" should be moving at. I continued at that speed for a while until I needed to cough. I took my feet off the belt and straddled it while I dealt with the gunk in my throat. Little did I know, that when I stepped off, the treadmill finally decided to get up to "11". When I stepped back on, I was prepared for the slower speed. "11" is significantly faster than what I had been running at. Thankfully I had my hands on the bars, because the belt flung my feet up about 3 feet in the air behind me, and when I came back down I almost lost my balance again and had to sprint to catch up. I wish somebody had been there to see it because I'm sure that the look of abject panic and fear on my face was priceless. Had I actually fallen, the speed the belt was moving at would have pancaked me into the wall that is behind the treadmill.

That all happened towards the beginning and I finished up with about 40 minutes of cardio. I'm working on Monday so I will have to get my new workout on Tuesday if the Masochist has room.

Weights Today

I met my friend Brian at the gym this morning and we lifted weights together. Today was the last day of my current weight lifting workout. Stacy will give me a new one on Monday. She always tells me to be prepared to be really sore after the new one.

This isn't my first time lifting weights, but it is the first time I have changed up the workout this often. In prior bouts of fitness, I would do the same exercises for a few months and then get bored. Not so this time. I really helps to change stuff up. Yesterday I tried an "interval" style workout on the treadmill. Really slow for a short time, then run really hard for a bit, recover at a slower speed, and then just when you feel like you got your breath back, really fast again. Repeat, over and over and over again. Even that little bit of change up helped break up the same boring regularity of the treadmill. A few people have asked how I can stand the treadmill, and I had to think about it. What I came up with, was that while on it, nothing is trying to get my attention. I have music (obviously), but that is it. My mind is free to wander without other things jumping in. I don't read on the treadmill, and watching TV is not very motivating. I like running outside just as much, but for some different reasons. It all probably comes down to the variety in your workouts idea.

Some Thoughts about Food (and a weigh in)

Since I last posted, I took a family vacation to Disneyland where we walked a TON, and ate not so great. I had a decent breakfast at the hotel every morning, but from then on it was a struggle to eat well. I packed decent stuff in a backpack, but even that didn't help. At night it was pizza, pork ribs from a restaurant called "The Jazz Kitchen" (AMAZING!!!!!), PF Chang's, and then travel food along the road. I only got one real workout in that week. However, when I got back, it was time for a weigh-in. I didn't gain any weight!!! I stayed the same. And, my waist was almost two inches smaller. Seriously. I didn't expect that. I have since gone back to my eating regimen, which is good. I was pretty worried that I would get back and fall into old bad habits. Some of that is happening at work though. Staff dining is evil. There is a tray of cookies that gets put out every day and they are really good. For a while I was allowing myself one a day as desert after dinner, but in the last couple of weeks, I have been eating them as pre-desert. And pre pre desert. This is where I have to get serious again. My old patterns are beginning to present themselves now. I have worked out pretty hard for a couple of months, got great results, and now I'm starting to relax. I don't want to do that. So, I'm going to make a few hard and fast guidelines for eating:

1. Always eat a good breakfast.
2. If I want junk food (ie cookies), I have to make it. Then eat sparingly.
3. Sundays are a day to pay less attention to what I eat. Not a free day, but not as strict.

I'm sure more will come to me before too long, but that should be a good place to start.

Weigh In Today

Today was a weigh in day. I'm getting over a cold, and when I was just about done with my workout, I started to feel like I was going to barf. Stacy stopped it right there. When I stepped on the scale, I was 241 lbs. I was down 3 from last weigh in. Nice. My stomach was down an inch to 41.5. My biceps were 1/2 and inch smaller. Stacy said that is because I'm still burning fat. My thighs were a full inch smaller as well. You can actually some muscle definition in them. My calves were bigger too. Everything else was the same.

I'm bummed about my work out today. I wanted to crush it. Instead I felt like puking.

Cookies. Dangit.

I planned on doing weights today, but had an unavoidable appointment at work this morning. So, weights tomorrow.

I ate cookies today. They were really good.

Yesterday and Today

On Tuesday I ran 5 miles for the first time in a while. It was on the Missourri Flat bike trail near Wal Mart. Started there and ran to Forni Rd, then back. I really enjoyed it.

Yesterday I had a dentist appointment and didn't work out. I'm a wimp when it comes to the dentist and usually hide out in the fetal position for the rest of the day when I'm done.

Today I woke up with a cold but am going to push on with more cardio and then weights tomorrow.

An Update

On Friday of last week I spent another two hours doing weights and a little treadmill. Then Saturday, I took Jesse to "Sky High" for a friends birthday party. If you arent' familiar with it, it is a monstrous wharehouse filled with huge trampolines. Dodge ball, a giant foam pit to dive into, just plain awesome. The hour and a half I spent jumping with my son's 11 year old friends was one of the best cardio workouts I have ever had. I was a sweaty mess by the time we left. Must go back.

Today was a regular weights day. Stacy upped all of the weights I was lifting. So, I will be sore tomorrow for sure!!!!!

Morning Run

I got a call last night from my friend Paul asking me to go run with him at Magnolia Ranch. I have wanted to get outside again for a while, and had nothing going so I went. It was really good to be outside again. I covered about 3.5 miles. Paul went on to cover 8.8 miles. It felt really good. It was raining/misting on us the whole time, the river was beautiful, and it was just plain a good time. When yesterday's weights workout is combined with running outside for the first time in a while, I'm pretty sure that equals SORE tomorrow.

Then I got home and was so hungry that I ate the first thing I could find, which was a frozen pizza. I didn't finish it, and now feel like vomitting.

Today's Weigh In

Today I got a new workout and another weigh in. My numbers were good, just not as dramatic as I was expecting. My pants are fitting better so I thought that it would be a lot different. Whatever the case, here they are in inches:

Neck: Stayed at 17
Chest: Dropped a full inch to 46
Bicep: Gained 1/2 an inch to 15
Forearm: Dropped to 8 from 10. That seems like a lot.
Stomach: Dropped a full inch, to 45 1/2
Hips: Dropped 1/2 inch
Thighs: stayed at 18 (I had dropped 1 1/2 last time)
Calves: Dropped 2 inches to 14

Weight: Down 3 lbs to 244.

Not so bad over all. I have been getting about two days of cardio and two of weight lifting. Stacy said if I was to up the cardio by a day that really help the weight loss. It's probably time to start adding a day of outside running anyway.

Eggs and Oatmeal

Again. *sigh*

The Opposite

Today was the complete opposite of the post below. I woke up early and was at the gym at about 7 am. I felt good, rested, had food for energy, and hopped on the treadmill, and felt like I ran into a brick wall. It was a struggle to get through 40 minutes.

Tomorrow I get a new workout from Stacy. It's been a month and they change the exercises in the workout every month. I get measured again as well. I'm kind of excited to see what changes have happened.

Great Workout That Almost Didn't Happen

My schedule at work this week has been pretty messed up so I have been getting up early, then getting home late, not sleeping well, tired, blah blah blah, insert whining noise. I was able to hit the treadmill for about 40 minutes yesterday and it felt good, but when I got up today, I had to battle myself to make it to the gym for weights. I'm really glad I went though because it was a great workout and I ended up spending a couple of hours there. Warmed up on the treadmill, lifted weights, then ran for another 20 minutes on the treadmill at the end. It really felt good. I'm glad I went also because I get a bi-weekly weight check/measurement on Monday.

My plan from a couple of posts ago was to lift weights 3 days a week and run/cardio at least two. Given all of the things the family has going on (work, kids, church, worship team, board meetings, etc.), it seems that two days of weights and two of cardio is more likely to happen. If a third day of something happens it shall be considered a bonus.

Now for rice cakes and peanut butter. I had three Chipotle crispy tacos for lunch. Good stuff. It was the first time EVER that I have eaten there and not ordered a huge burrito.

Weights got upped again

Stacy upped my weights again yesterday. It was a good workout, then I ran on the treadmill for 25 minutes when done with weights. It surprised me how good that actually felt. Probably helped them feel better today too. She told me to be afraid because the workout gets changed next Monday.

My uniform was noticeably looser today.

It's a Monday

I didn't do much over the weekend. Nothing in fact beyond eating good (healthy) food. Sunday I didn't pay as much attention to what I was eating, but still had no major goof ups.

Today would have been a weights day, but Stacy had a sick kid so we rescheduled for tomorrow. I did 40 minutes of interval like training on the treadmill, then abs and Roman Chair exercises for my back.

Weights tomorrow.

Dinner

I wanted a hamburger tonight, so I cooked one at work. I had a regular bun too. Not whole wheat. It was AWESOME!!!!!!!!! Then a really large plate of salad, a brownie bite, and a small muffin. I know I cheated with the burger's bun/brownie/muffin, but it feels like I just ate a feast. Especially when you think that I didn't have a monstrous helping of fries with it.

Snack a couple of hours before dinner was string cheese, Greek yogurt, and a protein shake. Two hours later at dinner I was hungry. My duty belt is noticeably loose today too.

Another Cardio Day

Another 40 minutes on the treadmill. Gonna need to run outside pretty soon.

Today I ate my eggs inside two ground corn/whole wheat tortillas. Needed sausage. 2 1/2 hours later I had a protein shake and now I'm starving again.

Paying for Monday

Today was a weights day before I headed to work. On Monday Stacy had me up most of the weights I was lifting, and I felt it today. I had a hard time with what felt good on Monday. Also, I ran out of time again and couldn't get all of the exercises in. Still managed to hit all of the major areas though. I was burping up oatmeal and eggs through the whole workout too.

It is MUCH easier to eat according to her plan when I'm at work. I'm on the dot time wise and have a relatively easy time sticking to the meals I planned/brought with me. It's harder at home, which is the opposite of what I thought it would be. Staff dinning at work is like walking into a convenience store, whereas home has mostly pretty good stuff in the pantry. I think home is hard because there is so much going on it is easy to forget when to eat.

And, I'm giving up alcohol for 60 days. Lets see what that does to my weight and mental status. ;)

Seriously Sore

Feels good though. And it's not the kind of sore I was when we started. It felt good to push myself yesterday.

Tomorrow is a weights day and I'll get the workout in before I head to the office. It looks like my work outs are shaping up to be weights 3 days a week, and 2-3 days of cardio a week. The Masochist said those are good numbers to achieve. 80% of this stuff she said though is nutrition. It's crazy to say after this short an amount of time, but I think that my body actually feels different.

40 Minutes On The Treadmill Today

I don't mind the treadmill. Here pretty soon, I will change up the treadmill with running on some bike trails, or at Cronan Ranch. My legs hurt.

First Weigh-In Results

Yesterday was my first "lets see how you are doing" weigh in. I was pretty skeptical because it has only been two weeks, and she has me eating like a horse. A healthy horse, but a horse none the less. Drum roll........... (in inches):

Neck 17.5 down to 17
Chest 49 down to 47
Bicep 14 up to 14.5
Forearm 10.5 down to 10
Stomach 47.5 down to 46.5
Thigh 19.5 down to 18
Calf 15.5 up to 16

Weight 248 down to 247.

I was pretty suprised. Stacy said that inches usually change first instead of weight because we are burning "inner fat" and building muscle at the same time. She said that the gut should start to dissappear much quicker when my inner fat is gone. Yee Haw.

Breakfast today

3 whole eggs, 3 egg whites, 1 cup of oatmeal. With a slice of low-fat American cheese on the eggs. Ugh. I will never want to eat again when I'm finished. But will be hungry in two hours. Weird.

UPDATE: I couldn't finish the oatmeal.

Today's Adventure

So today was a workout day. The gym at work is where I worked out as I didn't really have time to make it to Powerhouse Gym. I wasn't able to do all of the exercises The Masochist wants me to because of time and equipment contraints either. But still managed to work up a sweat and hit the major groups.

I fudged a little on my eating at lunch though. I had some leftover raviolis, a HEAPING plate of salad and two cookies. Tasted really good though. It was still a much smaller portion than I would have had were I not afraid of retaliation by The Masochist.

So Why The Masochist Thing.........

Stacy is my personal trainer. She is also a female body builder who is training to compete professionally this year. I'm taller than she is, but I believe she could break me in two. With her pinky fingers. I was so sore for the first week and a half that I almost couldn't walk down stairs. That is how she got the name.

My training is something like this: lift weights three days a week and do cardio for three days a week. The eating is completely different than I have ever done. 5-6 meals a day, smaller ones, but more filling because of WHAT I'm eating. I know that this has been the go-to plan for people for a while (I even read about it), but I had no idea how much different it was actually going to be compared to my regular eating habits. Breakfast is lots of eggs with a cup of whole grain oatmeal. A snack mid-morning (or before the workout), lunch for right now is a sandwich with 6 ounces of lean meat on whole wheat bread, another snack mid-afternoon, then a "normal" dinner. As long as normal is healthy protein/carb/veggie, and then another snack before bed. That is a LOT more food than I would normally have ever eaten, and it suprises me that I'm starting to get hungry in between the snacks and meals. Stacy said that might happen as the workouts progress.

It all begins......

In my never ending quest to be healthier (not HEALTHY, just healthier), I came to the determination that it was time to do something different.  I have long been associated with bouts of healthy eating, weight lifting, running, then nothing, then running, then hurting myself, then nothing, then running, and so on.  In one of my most recent "hurt myself" episodes, I was just about to run a half-marathon when my back tweaked on me and my doctor said that I needed to give it a rest to let it heal.  When I told him that it would probably give me a chance to let my knees quit hurting too, he cocked his head and said without missing a beat, "Your knees hurt because you are fat.  Not because you are running."  That was the moment that really got me thinking.

I have never minded exercise.  Eating either.  But I can really say that I enjoy different kinds of exercise.  I have never really known what it is to combine exercise and eating for a healthier (remember, not HEALTHY) end result that was sustainable in real life.  It was always one or the other.  Like most people, I do something for a while pretty intensely and then get bored and quit.  So my exercise adventures go great for a while, then nothing.  I have read plenty, but book knowledge ended up only being that.  I came to the conclusion that I needed a coach to help me put it all together.

Last week on Monday, I went to Powerhouse Gym in Placerville and met with Evelio Fleitas, the owner of Titan Personal Training.  Really nice guy.  We talked for a while about goals (I told him that really I just wanted to live longer.  Seriously.), and I ended up signing up.  He didn't waste any time getting me in the gym either.  The moment I signed the paper he took me out to meet the personal trainer I would be working with, Stacy Alway.  Really nice lady.  For a masochist.

One thing I know for sure is that I do best in being healthier when I have accountability.  The more I tell people about my goals and how I'm going to get there, the more I don't want to be seen as a slacker for not achieving them.  That is what got me to the verge of a half marathon.  It didn't keep my back from going out, but it sure helped get me close.  Besides, I think we can infer from the doctor's comment that my back would be better if I wasn't fat.  So, the purpose of this blog is accountability.  I'm going to post thoughts on workouts, food, things I learn, goals, weigh-ins, etc.  Even pictures along the way to show progress.  I don't really desire to be a muscle bound individual.  I really just want to be healthier so that I can live longer.