Holy crap.

301.7

This is going to be a good week. Believe it.

Yesterday I went to the gym after work. It’s a bit more challenging at that time - I’m a bit wiped out from work, and because I didn’t get any morning exercise, my energy levels were low. But I soldiered on and did my interval elliptical on lvl 9 for 20 minutes, then did weight training for my back.

I did three sets of 135 pound deadlifts - this is only the second time doing the exercise, so I’m still working on form. As a result I’m keeping the weight lower and really focusing on the correct movement here. My heart rate was spiking like mad when I’d do my 10 lifts, and I was sucking wind big time after the third set. Good stuff there!

Next I did the close-grip lat pulldown. Again three sets, this time at (I believe) 100, 115, 130 pounds. I could really feel it in my sides after the first set.

Finally I did the T-bar row. It’s quickly become a favorite exercise of mine. It’s just weight, with you lifting it up against gravity. I did 55, 65, 75 pounds here.

This morning I was back to the routine. 20 minutes of elliptical, then chest day.

We did the incline press, the decline press, then flat dumbbell presses. Holy banana was I feeling it by the second set of dumbbell presses! I just barely got the 10th one of the third set done. Weight on the dumbbell was 45, 55, 55.

I don't much care for evening workouts.

"One nice thing - sure are a lot more girls here."

"Huh?" he said, his head spinning around fast and his eyes wide, as though he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Girls," I repeated as I surveyed the gym from atop my elliptical machine. "It's the one nice thing about working out in the evening."

A wide grin broke across Dan's face. "Yep."

Still Going Strong

This morning's update is a quick one - my workout partner's wife has a meeting out of town, so we're forgoing our morning workout for an evening one instead. I'm not nearly as big a fan of working out after work - I'm a bit tired, and because I didn't get my morning exercise, I've got less energy throughout my workday. But it's just one of those things that has come up, so whatever, I'll deal with it.

As people who regularly read this blog know, weekends are by far my biggest issue. I've done the 10 pound gain, the 5 pound gain, and the wasted week as a result. But this past weekend, I seem to have done a much better job.

Many of us have little numbers in our heads that mean something. Obviously hitting the nice round numbers of being under 300, 250, 200... those are pretty clear numbers we want to hit. But personally... The lowest weight I remember being at in this apartment in the last three years was 303.3, and that was when my friend at work had quit and I was debating leaving too and stressed out and not eating. That was roughly three years ago. So while 303 and 299 are very close, 299 is more of a big picture, community-shared number, whereas 303 is a much more personal, emotional number.

Today I'm 302.5.

Pretty decent weekend

Back in April, I went to Chicago with some friends to participate in a game tournament. We get kind of jazzed up for these events, and last fall had some shirts custom made for ourselves. Mine was a 3xl, of course. Well, by April I'd beefed up to the point where this shirt didn't really fit. At all. I wore it only one of the three days, and I could really only button the bottom button, and that was kind of a stretch. My stomach spilled out, and lifted up the hem of the shirt to the point that if I raised my arms a bit, someone could see a bit of tummy out from under it.

How embarassing.

I remember just having a miserable day. I felt awful, I looked awful. I think I went outside and sucked down two packs of cigarettes by 6pm that day. Just terrible.

This past Saturday I got back together with those friends to play the game again. And I grabbed that shirt. I put it on, buttoned it up, then noticed how much room there still was in the shirt. It's a bit billowy.

How wonderful.

304.8

30!

304.4 takes me down 1.5 pounds from yesterday (clearly just a weird hiccup as I'm still averaging between half and 1 pound a day here), but more importantly it gets me past 30 pounds lost! Wow. That's some work. The first five are pretty much free. It's like a starter kit. The second 5 were easy too, but at 300+ they ought to be. But the last 20? This kid worked for those. Believe it.

Next goal, just under five pounds. Then two things happen - I'm under 300 for the first time in years, and I cross my 10% lost barrier with 35 out of my original 335 gone. Well, technically I guess the 10% happens a couple pounds sooner, but whatever. Point being, I'm close! However, and this is *very* important to understand, less than 300 is not my goal. It's only a milestone along the long path to a better me. An important milestone to be sure, but not my goal. I understand, and now you understand that I understand. But hey... 30!

Uh-oh.

Man, I was so jazzed to hit 30 pounds lost today! Yesterday for lunch I had a salad (grabbed the wrong one - it didn't even have chicken. dang.), then some fruit and a water. For dinner a 12" club, water, apples. I got on the scale this morning and... 306.1. That's *NOT* 305. Not at all. I guess I did have a 12oz can of 7up before bed, but man... I'm bummed. This could be the bad lunch/dinner from two days ago though, and this is what happens when you workout through a bad meal day. I don't know. I'll have to be analytical with regards to today.

Overall though, that means I'm going to have the worst week yet for my weight loss. I still have another weigh-in tomorrow, but man.

You know... I switched to intervals on the elliptical. All week. And now I'm having a crappy weight-loss week. Are they related? Should I switch to a higher degree of difficulty on the intervals? I just don't know. I'm learning as I go.

Bottom line, today I went up in weight. And that sucks, especially as I was *so close* to hitting another milestone. Lesson? When you fall down, get back up. And quickly. So I will.

tough times

Yesterday we were sitting at work, when the boss had an impromptu meeting with some of the long-time folks from work. I wasn't called back, and I was grateful, because I knew what was going down... layoffs.

I work for a small company of 16 people doing web/graphic design. I've been there 8+ years. Some of the people let go yesterday had been there 20+ years. No severance package, no healthcare for the month of October, nothing. Lots of tears.

So I went to lunch with the remaining members of my web department, along with Joe, who'd been there for 20 years. His first job out of high school! He's 38 now. Anyway, we said we'd go anywhere he wanted to. He wanted to go to some greasy spoon sports bar dive. So we did. And we all had big, greasy burgers and talked to him and wondered why him and why not other people. I did skip the fries and had cottage cheese instead, along with water instead of soda, so I made an effort.

Then for dinner I had a meatball sub from Subway. I know I shouldn't have, but dammit I was just in a mood. So I did. At least I went with wheat bread and no salt, then skipped the cookies/chips and just drank water.

Yesterday for Big Back Day we swapped in a new exercise... the deadlift. Oh. My. God. If you haven't done it, and I wouldn't be surprised if you hadn't... it's insane. My upper back is screaming at me this morning, which is a good feeling, because I do like the soreness of hard-worked muscles. Let's me know things are going well. Today I did intervals on the elliptical to mix it up (actually I've done that the past three days now), and I kicked it up to lvl 8. I was sweating hard within 7 or 8 minutes, so that was really really good! Today was chest, and I did flat bench (failed my last two reps of the third set... ugg), then dumbbell chest press, then cable crossovers. I felt a big pump leaving the gym today. I'm ready to move forward at work. I guess. Actually, I'm ready to find a new job. I already have one good lead, but I'd like to not put all my eggs in that basket. Anyone know of a nice company around St. Paul, MN that needs a Senior Web/User Experience Designer? Let me know... :)

305.4

Closet pants II

So yesterday I did something kind of fun... I wore my closet pants to work. And not the ones that kind sorta fit, and definitely not the ones without the button. No, I wore the ones that didn't fit at all last time. Size 40s.

Now, I'll be the first to admit, I looked like an asshole. These pants fit snugly across the waist and butt, and that's fine, though I'm used to having tons of extra room in the hamstring area, and having the butt of my jeans droop a bit. These didn't. I guess they fit me properly, which is a change. lol. Unfortunately, my shirt... I'm in this weird place where my 3xl shirts are now fitting too big for me. They really billow out at the sides and look more like a smock than a shirt. The fact that I wore a long-sleeve tshirt under the short-sleeved 3xl made it look even moreso like a smock over my real clothes.

I cleaned out my closet last night. It look quite some time. It was so dusty and mildewy... I sneezed and sweat and was generally miserable. I found several old shirts, but 2xl are still far too tight on me, especially over my stomach. So I look like an idiot in the 3xl, but I look like a desperate, fat idiot in the 2xl. So I'll stick with the 3 for now.

This is my life. lol!

306.3 <-- new low!

A new week

Weekends and week starts are apparently weakends and weak starts for me. I put on 3 pounds over the weekend. Again, not real weight - the last two weekends have taught me that - and it'll be gone by tomorrow/Wednesday, but if I just didn't do that, if I just ate clean over the weekend, I'd be hitting new lows rather than treading back across familiar ground. Ah yes, I guess I've identified my issues.

At least when confronted with the probability of ordering Chinese food for the second time in as many days yesterday, I just skipped it and went to a movie instead. Drank water. Went home. Talked to a friend, shared some laughs, went to bed.

Could be worse.

309.9

Week's end

Had a cheat lunch yesterday. As with every Thursday, my coworkers and I went out. The choice yesterday? Dino's Gyros. I got a Philly Gyro (lots of cheese), but opted for the salad instead of the fries and water over a soda. Then afterward we went to Starbucks and I got a medium White Chocolate Mocha with no whip and skim milk.

Total gain - nothing. Total loss - nothing.

I'll take it.

Today was a *huge* leg day. I was completely soaked. So I look forward to tomorrow's weigh-in. I should be down another half to a pound, depending on what I do today.

There was some controversy at the gym - my workout partner asked this dude who is totally ripped about fat loss, and what to do to increase the fat loss. The dude asked what our heartrate was, and was told we're in the 160s/170s. He said to be in the 130s. The 130s? I don't even feel like I've had a workout at that rate. He said we're burning off lean muscle. Anyone know? Is that true? Because I'm down 28 pounds, so I'd like to think that I'm doing something right. And I know that I've increased my cardio load, but that doesn't necessarily mean I'm burning fat. At the same time, I look at Olympic sprinters, who shoot their heartrate way up, and compare their body type to the Olympic marathon runners, who keep their heartrate lower and have anti-ripped bodies.

I think I need to just switch to intervals on the elliptical. I've played with that idea a couple weeks ago, but didn't stick with it and figure out my proper levels. And I *know* that interval training is good for weight loss. Maybe that's why sprinters are ripped? Go hard, walk it off, go hard again, rinse, wash, repeat.

Thoughts?

306.9