Oh no Not A Gain, indeed it is fat man.

As expected from my mid week sneak preview at the scale I am up this week, the scale said 331.0 which is up 3 pounds from last Friday and I have a couple theory's as to why because I am doing what I have always done. I eat 1700 calories per day and I do 50 minutes of cardio 4 times per week along with weight lifting 3 times per week which according to the calculator on the sidebar of this blog is between 975 and 1140 calories burned per workout depending on the day and that is much higher than what I had been doing so I do believe that I will have to look at my intake vs burned calories a bit closer, that's theory number one. Another possibility is that since the Arc trainer is a total body workout and I do use my core, shoulders, chest and arms along with my legs that I am retaining water a bit more because of the extra muscle movement, I am not sore but that does not mean that my muscles are not stressed to the point where retention is taking place, so there is theory number two. Lastly I am under some stress this week because I am having my gallbladder removed next week along with some other non health related stress and I don't think that alone it would be a problem but maybe a combination of the stress, the extra exercise and the possible retention of fluids all together is enough to cause a gain which may just be retention and not an actual gain.


Those are my initial thoughts on the gain this week because other than having pizza on Saturday and not being hydrated over the weekend I have done nothing differently this week besides adding the arc trainer in place of the treadmill and it is much different of a workout between the two. I have in fact gone to the gym every day this week besides Wednesday which is an off day for me, I have eaten within my calorie range of 1700 and I have stayed hydrated every day other than Saturday and part of Sunday so I have done my part, but enough about the weigh in.

Thursday at the gym something interesting happened to me, as I was walking to the towel rack to get a paper towel to wipe down the bike I had been riding I have to walk past a mirrored wall and I caught an image of a fella and thought "if I could get to that point I would feel good" and then I quickly averted my eyes because I did not want to get caught taking a peek at some guy and then as fast as that all happened I took a double take and it was my own reflection in the mirror that i was looking at! so i quickly think about how they just might have a fun house mirror in that corner just to mess with people and I walk to a different mirror and woah, it really was me that I was looking at and for the first time in this whole weight loss ordeal I saw myself as just a big fella instead of a fat guy. I honestly did not recognize myself in the reflection and when I realized that my initial thought was "if I could only get to that point I would feel good" I know that I had to have smiled because it was one of those gotcha moments for me.

Over all I feel that I have done week this week in spite of the gain, I am going to keep the intensity of my workouts where they are because I believe that there should be a natural progression in what I am doing physically as I lose more weight and get stronger so the intake is where the change will have to be. My plan is to up my calories by one whey protein shake which is 240 calories and will bring me to 1940 calories per day, so basically stick to what I have been doing with the added shake after my workout at no cost to my 1700 base calories and see how that works for a couple weeks and go from there.

Thats all I got for now, thanks for following along and I am off to the gym to look at myself in the mirrors for a while, I guess I will work out while I am there too but hey I am a multi tasker what can I say!

Keep on keepin on and all that.

As Ever
Me

Who me? yeah you! couldn't be, then who?

Something is a miss, I got on the scale this morning and I am up in weight from last Friday and if I am being honest it confuses me, let me splain Lucy. Last week I was diligent with my eating and exercise and hit an all time low weight and then Saturday I went to a friends place that I had not seen in a while and had pizza for lunch and nothing for dinner besides some snacking and then Sunday I was over by a bowl of popcorn and I know that I had not drank right all weekend. Ok so you had a bad weekend? you recover from that all of the time right? Usually yes, and especially when I work out regularly on top of all of that, this week so far I went to the gym Monday and Tuesady and will go again this afternoon. My intake has been great post weekend, Monday 1530 cals, Tuesday 1640 cals and Wednesday 1760 cals and as far as fluid intake I have had at least 1.5 galoons per day since Monday so why am I up in weight? its just one of those weeks I suppose because there is no way that one day of eating off kilter and one weekend worth of not drinking nearly enough should throw me off this much.

Tomorrow I weigh in and will see where the wheel lands as far as my weight goes, From what I saw this morning I do think there will be a gain from last week on the scale, I just cannot believe that it is more than water weight or something though because to be up as much as I am and looking at my calories for the week it just doesn't add up. My stress levels are up a bit this week because I did schedule my gallbladder extravaganza and am not looking forward to it but that doesn't exactly explain a gain. It is what it is and as each week does Friday morning will tell the tale, this afternoon I will head off to the gym and get in a workout and the calories will be on target for the day as I am already off to a good start there.

Short and sweet is the post today and that's all she wrote, make sure to drink enough fluids and exercise as much as possible, Thanks for following along and don't forget to check in tomorrow to see what the damage is, whether I get back to the low or am up a bit.

You can now return to your regularly scheduled programs.

As Ever
Me

Baked Ziti, an Arctrainer and a boy.

The weekend was not very good where intake was concerned, I visited a friend that I haven't seen in a while and we had pizza for lunch and I did not eat anything that I would call dinner Saturday night, Sunday I ate within my calorie range (besides a bowl of popcorn with a movie) but did not drink nearly enough to cover even a half a day and I think I am off balance for my weekend efforts. Monday came and it was all corrected and 1530 was the number for calories as far as my excel spread sheet goes but I did have to do some "taste testing" with dinner as I tried to make a relatively low calorie Veggie Baked Ziti which turned out pretty good and though I do believe that I am well below my calories I am higher than the excel sheet says, have a look.

Breakfast
8:30 AM
2 cups fruit and grain cereal 240
1 cup 1% milk 110

11:30 AM
1 banana 105
1 T peanut butter 95

Lunch
2:15 PM
1 Italian wrap 100
3oz Capicola 150
1 laughing cow 35
tomato/lettuce 30

Dinner
veggie baked ziti 400
2 slices whole wheat bread 140
smart balance 25

1 apple 100

Fluids
G-Tea 1 gallon
H2O 1/2 gallon

About a month back I forget where we saw it but Wify and I seen on television that to lower the calories in a pasta dish you can shred zucchini and mix it into the dish and since then I have been wanting to try this. Wify bought a whole wheat Ziti and I made a baked ziti with zucchini and broccoli, ricotta and mozzarella cheeses and it came out much better than I had honestly thought that it would. The entire casserole dish came to 2400 calories and I cut it into 6 equal pieces which came to 400 calories per serving for pretty decent sized portions. The only thing that I would change about it for next time would be to put less broccoli in it and more zucchini because the broccoli seemed to be the most dominant flavor, but over all everyone liked it besides my very picky daughter and that was more because she wasn't hungry I think, I will post the recipe up in a separate post sometime but here is a photo of the completed dish until then.


My trip to the gym went pretty good on Monday, I am giving up the treadmill and replacing it with the Arctrainer because I feel like I get a better workout in on the arc vs the treadmill. Yesterday I did my regular 20 minutes on the bike but instead of following it with 25 minutes on the treadmill I did 22 minutes on the Arctrainer, I really cannot state enough how much I am liking that machine. The Arctrainer is zero impact as far as I can feel or see and it gets my heart rate up in a hurry and is easy to find a rpm that keeps it within a limit without too much back and fourth, I set it to resistance level 65 and just go, 20 minutes later I hit the cool down button (which does nothing but starts a 2 minute count down) and bamn! done and simple is always better if you ask me.

I believe that about covers the weekend and Monday, Today I will do the same routine as yesterday at the gym but I will try for 25 minutes on the Arctrainer and maybe some weight lifting. Thanks for following along and for the support now go get a glass of H2O for enduing another long post, that's all I got so it ends here.

As Ever
Me

Weigh in, a new all time low weight! Happy Happy Joy Joy!

So today is kind of a special weigh in for me, last week I weighed 332 pounds which was only 2 pounds heavier than my lightest weight since starting down this path to better health so it offers me the opportunity to possibly hit a new low weight with this mornings trot to the scale. I have been doing well week to week where the actual weigh in comes into play and I have been going to the gym almost religiously and even when I was not feeling well, the results I have had since joining up out weigh any blah feeling that I may have because of a cold. I woke up as usual and straight away to the scale I went where I saw a new number flash across the display, it said 228.0, so also as usual two more times I weigh myself the second time it said 227.8 and the third was 228.0 again so it appears that we have a 4 pound loss this week to go along with the new low not to mention the fact that I am into the 320's! I have worked for it and deserve every ounce of it. It has been a while since I have been able to post the "what I weigh" and "what I have lost" photos but with the new low this week I can pop them back up and here are some things that I weigh as much as and weigh as much as I have lost.

This 1969 Suzuki Rebel comes in at 328 pounds like yours truly

This is Lyoto Machinda a UFC fighter and he weighs 206 pounds which is what I have lost so far.

Over all I am feeling good and can't see an end to my drive at this point, actually I did schedule my Surgery for my gallbladder so that week I suppose I will have a slow down but other than that not even the Holidaze scare me. If I were to lose an average of 2 pounds per week from here until May I will be at my original goal weight of 275 pounds which in all honesty at one point seemed like a very ambitious pipe dream and here I am 53 pounds away from that. I still have a large amount of weight to lose, I mean 53 pounds is not really a drop in the bucket but I suppose when you look at it from the angle that I have dropped 206 total pounds it sure feels small but there are some people that struggle to get much less than that off and have a very hard time doing so. Then there is that whole whing that the last bit is always the hardest bit to get off, did I just call 53 pounds a bit? Either way I feel like I am approaching something big with this last 53 being right here.


I have adjusted my goals slightly along the way and my goal is to hit 267 pounds, seems random right? its not really, at 267 pounds I will have lost 50% of my total weight and there is something about being able to say that which is making me want it, my actual goal is to reach 265 pounds because then I would weigh less than my father but that's just boys being boys. The closer that I get to my goal weight the more that I think I should get lower even, I honestly believe that I will end up aiming for something closer to 245 as a grand finale weight and I get that number from my brother. My brother is about 1/4 inch shorter than me and not as big, where as I am a large frame he is more a big medium frame and he also has less muscle mass than I do. He weighs 230 pounds and you would never think he weighed that much as he looks like a thick pole so I figure if I am bigger than he is mass wise as well as a bigger frame 245 should be just about perfect for me as an end weight but then these things seem to change as progress is made so who knows.

For today I am pleased with my 4 pound drop this week and I am going to try and keep this trend going for a couple while and see if I can get ahead of myself a bit with the 2 pounds per week until May plan. I will eventually hit 275 lbs, I will eventually be able to say that I have lost 50% of my total weight and get to that 267 lb mark, I will hit 250 lbs some day because I am not on a diet, I have changed my life to fit into my goals.

Thanks for reading along, and here's to another good week.

As Ever
Me

Weighing in tomorrow and a new low on the horizon!

Tomorrow I weigh in and I am thinking that it will be a new low weight for me with this week, I have literally busted ass all week even though I was sick and have been just about flawless with my calories besides a slice of apple pie. I have gone to the gym when I could and have found a new machine that I enjoy working out on and really feel a difference after using it for a workout yesterday. I had posted up that I wanted to drop 25 pounds by Nov 11th because it was my next doc visit and he sparked me into a challenge without even knowing it, last time I was there he said "You did something for the first time this week" I said "oh yeah?" to which he replied "you are up one pound" and that was it I thought to myself about how it was bull that I was up and the challenge went to myself and on the blog, will I meet that challenge? I am feeling awesome in lieu of being under the weather and I honestly think its because I am staying active even though I don't feel up to it which is the complete opposite of how it would have been handled when I was heavier.

I mentioned that I found a new machine which I am enjoying, that machine is an Arc-trainer and I suppose in my own non in the know way I would have to call it a cross between an elliptical machine a stair machine and even a bit of a treadmill all in one. My workout yesterday went like this, I rode the bike for 20 minutes, then onto the Arc-trainer for 11 minutes set to 63 on the resistance (really felt it in my quads and butt) and then I did 20 minutes on a treadmill 3.4 mph half at 5.5% grade and half at 10% grade and today I may skip the Arc-trainer because I can feel it in my legs and butt and don't want to jump in too fast. Something that I noticed about the Arc is that it really got my heart rate up compared to the bike and the treadmill and the plan is to eventually phase the treadmill out completely and replace it with the arc-trainer. Continuing the bike riding is something that I want to do every trip to the gym because I am hoping to get some longer rides in next spring on my bike and with some hope and a lot of work I can keep my biking muscles up to par so when the time comes I can hop right back onto my bike and keep going. While I do enjoy the treadmill it really is something that I can do on the weekends with wify and the animals if I want to walk/run and I want to use my time as efficiently as possible at the gym so if I can work up to 20 mins on the bike and 30 mins on the Arc-trainer that's where I want to be.

My menu for yesterday was not the greatest and did come in a bit high at 1755 but here it is for you to have a look anyways.

Breakfast
7:30 AM
2 cups fruit and grain cereal 240
1 cup 1% milk 110

11:00 AM
1 banana 105
1 T peanut butter 95

Lunch
2:30 PM
2 slices whole grain bread 200
1 T peanut butter 95
1 T strawberry preserves 35

Dinner
6:00 PM
4oz roasted chicken 200
3/4 cup white rice 150
3/4 cup black beans 140
bbq sauce 35

7:00 PM
slice of home made apple pie 350

Fluids
G-Tea 1 gal
H2O 3/4 gal

This week has turned out pretty well even with me being sick, it did not stop me from eating right, it did not slow down the exercise and I do believe that we will see a new all time low weight tomorrow which will make me more than extremely happy. You will have to check in tomorrow to find out if Mister meatball chipped away enough to break into the 320's or if we will forever be stuck in the 330's dun dun dunnnnnn!

Thank you for reading along to my random daily jibber jabber, and remember I was once a 534 pound guy that felt like there was nothing that could be done but I dared to take that first step and here I am more than 200 pounds lighter and dropping.

Keep on keepin on and all that.

As Ever
Me

Reintroducing because He is not the same man, its long so grab a drink.

The way that things change after a person loses a substantial amount of weight are unbelievable, I am learning things about myself that I had forgotten along with my will to do anything past breathing between shoving morsels of goodness down my gullet. I don't believe that a person can get to be 500 plus pounds without losing more than a bit of themselves in the process, sitting on a couch for hours at a time with a remote control in one hand, a whole order of General Tso's chicken in the other and no desire for much else I wouldn't think is anything that someone would strive for yet there I was. That person was not me but I was right in the middle of it, slowly expanding my needed space and surely heading towards an early death in the mindset that there was nothing that could be done short of a weight loss surgery, the feeling is Hopeless.

To say that you become someone else does not begin to tell the story of how a transformation of body translates into the mental morphing of a person, our attitudes begin to match our large physical exteriors as we hide behind bitter stares and withdrawn actions. Before I met my wife I was going to shows (local bands) three times per week, I was hanging out at clubs, bars and basically a very social person that always had something to do and was rarely home for longer than it took to sleep and depending on how the night went a lot of times not even home for sleep. We met right as I was growing out of that phase of my life and beginning to slow down a bit and maybe looking for something a bit more stable and I found that in her, the going out continued somewhat and life was great then I was injured in 2000 after moving to California and it was at that point that slowly I started losing bits of myself.

I was this 6'5'' 350 pound guy that could run, climb up things like a monkey on acid and I never stopped moving, I had a friend that I worked with just before I moved to CA that would always say things about how "nimble" I was for my size and even though he watched me every day at work he was amazed at the things I could do. Where was that guy? the confident, cocky very physical big fella, after 2000 he was no where to be found, I was struggling every day just to do daily functions because of the pain in my back and when I say daily functions I mean anything more than laying still so that things didn't hurt, I was not working because of the injury and that lasted for more than 2 years. When I was able to go back to work I was placed in a position that sat me at a desk doing paper work and answering phones all day and though I was glad to be back to work I hated what I was doing, I had always done some type of physical work up until that point in my life and enjoyed it. Here we are a few years later and I still have substantial back pain on a daily basis, I am limited to what I can do and I am putting on weight like it was a contest, needless to say I was not the same person that I was just a few years earlier.

Time goes by and sitting on your ass becomes your day to day, its whats expected and its what you do, no more no less. It wasn't exactly my fault that I was stuck so it got justified that way and the band played on and the weight kept going up, the back pain was getting to a point where if I stayed still for 75% of the day I was able to move around a bit, and I mean a very little bit because every time it would start feeling better I would push a little harder in an attempt to push though and bamn! laying in bed for five days in pain for my effort, giving up was easier than that. Missing out on things became the norm, "Honey I got tickets for a baseball game from work what do you think? Wify would ask with that tone in her voice knowing that I would not want (be able) to go but why should everyone miss out because I couldn't go right? so I would first say something to let her know that I would rather she not go (there is the selfishness coming out) but that I was ok if she did of course with a large sigh at the end of the statement (which at the time I was dying inside because of it) or "Babe did you want to catch a movie tonight?" to which of course because of the pain in my back and the sheer size of me at that point I would decline, I mean if I couldn't sit comfortably in a seat for 2 hours why would it be fun right? but again every time something like that happened I became more bitter and more withdrawn and soon I didn't want to do anything because of my weight, who was this guy that was emerging?

Where did the big fun guy go? How did this happen? from outgoing, cocky, happy, always cracking a joke and loving life to withdrawn, bitter, sour unhappy even though he had the most beautiful Lady on the planet at his side, all because of some weight? if it was "some" weight it may not have went that way but it was an immense amount of weight, it was constant pain in the back and sitting on the sidelines for everything that did it. Now that I am starting to get back to myself I can clearly see that I wasn't myself for that time of my life, I am not the person that I was at 534 pounds, depressed and bitter. I am starting to see the old me again with the success that I have had so far and I can remember something that Wify said to me a while back when we were talking about how far I have come with this whole ordeal, The conversation was along the lines of me saying that I was feeling better and starting to feel like myself again, I stated something along the lines of that she was getting her husband back and she said "No, its like I got my boyfriend back" This morning I woke up in a great mood and for some reason that statement popped into my head and this post as a result of that.

In all honesty I can say that I am a different person today than I was just 2 years ago, I am feeling like the old me and again.

Folks, I do believe he's back...

unstoppable.

As Ever
Me

Water water everywhere...why not drink it?? a guide for the drier folks.

Mister Meatball, do you honestly drink one to two whole gallons of fluid per day? I don't believe it! Yes I do drink somewhere between 128 and 256 ounces of fluid per day. But I have trouble drinking a mere 8 cups per day! how do you do it? 8 cups doesn't even begin to touch your fluid needs unless you weigh about 120 pounds and do zero exercise, you have trouble because you are looking for other options which do not hydrate you properly anyways, like the soda, coffee and whole milk that you are use to. I just don't like the taste of water! The average mans body is 60-65% water, it is the life blood of our existence and after oxygen is probably the most important thing to us as living creatures so get use to it because it is essential for life, besides the sugary drinks that you are likely consuming are robbing you of real flavor and taste. Well what makes you an expert smart guy? Nothing at all makes me an expert, I just read a lot and have lost all of my weight with the concept that more water is better so I can only say what has worked for me up to this point.

Using the half oz of water per pound of body weight (which some use .65oz per pound) at my current weight I should be drinking 166 ounces per day or 1.30 gallons and that's not figuring in the 50 minutes of cardio that I do four times per week. At my start weight of 534 lbs back in Jan 2008 using the .50 oz per pound I should have been drinking 267oz per day which is more than 2 gallons but again I am not an expert I just do what works for me. But what about this water intoxication thing that I heard about? From what I understand this is something that athletes and babies have to worry about more than a big ol rotund fella drinking between 1.5 and 2 gallons per day all spread out within a 12 hour period does. Water intoxication occurs when a person drinks so much water that it dilutes the sodium and electrolytes in their system and its not so much how much a person drinks as it is how fast it goes down the hatch. The body needs time to replenish the electrolytes and sodium so drinking 2 gallons of water in a day is not really all that much when you consider that our kidneys as adults can process up to 15 liters of water per day. A marathon runner that is downing gallons of water near the end of a race and then downs another gallon as he finishes may have something to worry about where water intoxication is concerned but me at 332 pounds drinking 1.5 to 2 gallons per day spread out within a 12 hour period, not so much.

Being dehydrated poses more risks to a person that over hydration, especially when we are talking about someone attempting to lose weight, the more fluid that we intake the easier time our system will have with flushing waste out of our bodies. Staying properly hydrated is extremely important and I cannot stress this enough to anyone that cares to ask my opinion because I do honestly believe that my drinking habits account for much of my weight loss success to date, which doesn't mean woohoo! all I have to do is drink 1.5 gallons of water per day and I will drop 200 pounds! Being sufficiently hydrated can mean a boost in metabolism and who doesn't want that if they are trying to drop a couple (hundred) pounds? intaking enough water will decrease food cravings and false hunger as well, thirst and hunger are often confused with one another so when a person feels that pain in the gut that says that its time for one of Auntie Maudes home made Brownies a cool glass of H2O just might be whats needed instead. When we do not drink enough our bodies hold onto all of the water that it can get if that is happening how can it flush out the bad stuff that is inside all of us? in short it cannot do the job sufficiently and we can end up with headaches, stomach pains, swelling, bloating and the list goes on.

"But I just can't drink more than my 8 cups per day" You can and you should because you need more than that, and even more than that if you are exercising daily. When we realize just how important good old H2O is for us its easy to make ourselves drink it daily, and when I say drink it, I mean drink enough. Anyone that knows me personally probably cannot think of a time that I am not drinking either green tea or water pretty much constantly all day every day, I always have a bottle of something with me. I get comments or emails from time to time on this blog from the naysayers and disbelievers about my drinking and the amounts so I thought that I would toss my view on the subject out there for you, and if you are not yet convinced, then my buddy Harvey McDullardsonfengenden has got a product for you!

One last thing, remember kids, I am not a doctor and don't claim to be one so this post is offered to you as is with no expressed warranty and you should talk to your doc before embarking down any path where your health is concerned.

Now that we have that out of the way, thanks for reading along and I hope you took something from this post, don't forget that H2O and stay away from the soda, no really...put it down.

As Ever

Me

Apple pies and chopping wood, sick man standing.

This weekend was not what I would call a fun time exactly, if you read this blog regularly you know that my daughter was sick Thursday and me being a stay at home dad that translates into me getting sick when she does a lot of times and this time is no different. I felt it coming on last Friday so I decided that I would go to the gym before it got bad as I was planning on a Saturday trip to the gym and Saturday morning I didn't want to get out of bed, but of course I did and I ended up chopping about a third of a cord of firewood, great idea eh? and so much for a day of rest, on the one hand it was exercise, but then here I was (am) sick as a dog. My evening ended with a couple shots of brandy and a big ol cup of hot green tea and off to bed I went only to wake up Sunday feeling just as bad, I ended up running some errands and finally got myself a couple pair of long workout pants to wear to the gym and coming home to make a picked fresh from the tree apple pie that I had promised the boss lady I would do was the plan. I ended up heading to bed pretty early (9:30 pm) and slept like a log until my little one stomped up the basement stairs returning from putting in some laundry in with Mommy at O dark thirty (translated thats about 6:30 am) long story short, I still feel like ass but better than yesterday.

My pie, it looks small in this picture but I assure you it weighs like 8 pounds!

All of this actually may work out for me in the way of me not missing a day at the gym because I have an appointment today to talk to the doc about scheduling my gallbladder surgery so I would have missed the gym today any way its cut. With hope and prayers I feel well enough tomorrow to resume going to the gym so that I can keep my momentum with the losses, if not? it is what it is and there is always next week. I did not drink enough over the weekend, my throat was (is) sore and I just didn't feel up to it, but I did manage about a gallon of tea Sunday and less than a half of a gallon of anything on Saturday. My caloric intake for Sunday was 1845 total including the slice of pie I had last night but I figure with the honey in my tea and the "test tastes" of the apple mixture that its slightly higher than that, have a look at the menu from Sunday.

Breakfast
8:45 AM
2 cups fruit and grain cereal 240
1 cup 1% milk 110

11:00 AM
1 apple 100

Lunch
12:30 PM
4 oz grilled chicken breast 200
italian wrap 90
lettuce/tomato/pickle 35

3:30 PM
pile of cherry tomatoes 35

4:45 PM
1 apple 100

Dinner
6:30 PM
5oz ground turkey 200
2 80 cal rolls 160
7oz sweet potato fries 175
ketchup 25

8:45 PM
slice of apple pie 375

After today I should have a date to get this old Gallbladder taken out and hopefully I feel well enough tomorrow to head to the gym again. I will need to figure out a plan to avoid the rest of that apple pie in the refrigerator and today I am forcing myself to drink my regular 1.5 gallons of fluid, and will be keeping the calories light and under 1700 today. Thanks for reading along and supporting my trip to being half the man I once was so that I can be twice the Father and Husband that I want to be.

That is all.

As Ever
Me

Weight right there fat man! get on this scale now!

The past two weeks I have refocused on my weight loss instead of the maintaining that I had been doing and it is having good results. This morning like a child on Christmas morning I sprung from my California king and skippity hopped to the scale...skippity hopped might be taking it a step too far but I definitely B lined for the scale this morning. I stepped on and the number that I saw was 332.0 pounds, so as I do every Friday I get on three times and the scale said 332.0 all three times and that comes up to a 3.4 pound loss this week and it looks like the gym is doing the trick as far as pulling the pounds off again. I did not get to go to the gym yesterday afternoon as I mentioned because my daughter was home sick from school but after dinner I headed over for a later than usual visit where I did 20 minutes each on the bike and the treadmill and barring my daughter suddenly feeling terrible again I plan on a leg routine with the weights this afternoon when I head over for my workout.

I said "it looks like the gym is doing the trick as far as pulling the pounds off again" but it is not the gym, it is me, it is the hard work that I am putting into my days once again, the gym is but a tool that I am using to get there is all. I honestly believe that if a person does their part that every week can be a successful one where health and weight loss is the subject matter, all of the variables must be looked at but doing your part most times means gains or losses if you will with our health. I will use my wife as an example as she has recently started something new, she has been walking/running the stairs at work instead of taking the elevator, she runs down a set amount to warm up and then runs up 5 flights and then back down twenty plus every day. This morning she said "I got on the scale today and I am up in weight" and the first thing that came to mind for me was that she is up because her muscles are sore and holding water and she knows this too. This is a good thing! a good thing you ask? but she said that she is up in weight? yes a good thing, She is tearing her muscle fibers apart and gaining strength because of it, she is retaining water so that her muscles can repair themselves and be stronger for the effort, the stairs will get easier, the retention will go away and she will be stronger than she was last week at the same time and because she will be building muscle she will ultimately burn more calories, see? its a gain, yet a good thing.

I drank 1 gallon of green tea and more than a gallon of straight H2O yesterday and my calories came in at 1670 total calories so not too shabby, have a look at my menu.

Breakfast
7:30 AM
2 cups fruit and grain cereal 240
1 cup 1% milk 110

11:45 AM
1 progresso low fat clam chowder 220
1 multigrain english muffin 100
smart balance 20
1 med tomato 25

Lunch
1:45 PM
1 apple 100
1 banana 105

4:00 PM
9oz strawberries 90

Dinner
6:30 PM
6oz baked tilapia 150
1 cup corn 120
3/4 cup white rice 150

9:00 PM - Post workout
1 cup 1% milk 110
1 scoop whey protein 130

3.4 pounds and I am setting into a routine at the gym, things are rolling right along and perhaps next week I will get to a new all time low as I am within 2 pounds of that figure once again, maybe we will see a new motorcycle comparison shot this time next week but if not I do know that I will be a week stronger mentally as well as physically. Thanks for following along as this fat man gets thinner, I dare not say thin just yet as that is a road yet to be crossed but we are getting closer by the day.

You may continue on with your day now..

As Ever
Me

All I want for you my son, Is to be satisfied.

Tomorrow I weigh in and it will be week four in my 25 pounds by Nov 11th challenge which I have given up on believing that I will actually make that number BUT I will still attempt to get as close as possible in that time because its how I get down. My trip to the gym yesterday was a good one and I did 20 minutes on a stationary bike followed by 35 minutes on a treadmill 5 minutes at 3mph with a 2% incline, 20 minutes at 3.5mph with a 3% incline and the final 10 minutes was 3.5 mph with a 5% incline and then onto some weight machines. I first used the Seated over head press machine, 2 warm up sets of 12 reps each and 4 sets of 6 reps each with a heavier weight followed by a light set to failure, I did the same thing on the seated chest press machine and then worked a little bit on a preacher curl machine when I was done.

Today I was planning on a leg routine on some of the machines after my cardio but alas, my daughter is sick and will not be going to school today so no gym for me unless I can sneak out tonight which is unlikely. I will go on Saturday to make up for not being able to go today so no worries I will just do the leg routine during tomorrows trip barring if the little one is still sick. I will in fact be able to at least sneak out for a walk this evening after dinner if the gym trip is not able to happen so its not a problem really.


My intake came in at 1760 which is a bit high but not as high as it should have been, I decided that on the days I lift weights that I will add a whey protein shake in after my workout and not worry about the calories but it seems that I am still keeping it as close to 1700 as possible, habit perhaps? have a look at the menu from yesterday.

Breakfast
7:15 AM
1 banana 105
1 T peanut butter 95

11:30 AM
6 inch turkey subway 290

Lunch
2:30 PM
1 scoop whey protein 130
1 cup 1% milk 110
1 large apple 100

3:15 PM
2 cups fruit and grain cereal 240
1 cup 1% milk 110

Dinner
6:45 PM
1 foot long turkey subway 580

Over all a pretty decent day yesterday and I am looking forward to tomorrow mornings weigh in, with hope I have lost at least a little, some luck might mean that I lost a lot, On second thought I don't believe in luck so if its a loss it is very likely the hard work I put in this week. grab yourself a big ol glass of H2O for reading through my post and know that I am chugging down some green tea as I type. Until tomorrow keep on keepin on and all that and remember that you are only as successful as you want to be, actually let me correct that, you are only as successful as the amount of hard work that you put into any given task, its really that Simple man.

As Ever
Me