Thursday, May 29, 2008

Getting closer

Today's Weigh-In: 202.0 lbs.
5-Day Average: 203.1 lbs.

I'm inching my way closer to the 200 pound mark. Knowing me, I'll screw it up and be stuck here for another month. Hopefully that won't be the case, though. I haven't worked out at all this week, but my eating has been good. I've been really busy at work and at home (saw Thrice play on Tuesday, had to do a bunch of stuff last night) and I haven't been getting enough sleep. Hopefully I'll have this work project wrapped up by the end of the week so I can get back into my groove. I plan on going to bed extra early tonight so I can get up to work out tomorrow.

Not much else to say, just gotta keep chugging along without any missteps.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Quick one

Today's Weigh-In: 204.0 lbs.
5-Day Average: 203.65 lbs.

Happy post-Memorial Day weekend, everyone! It's nice to have an extra day off. Too bad the weather wasn't too cooperative. It's been overcast and cool all weekend, which put a big damper on the whole thing for me. So I spent a lot of time indoors, relaxing. Can't complain about that.

My weigh-ins continue to go down, so I'm looking for a sub-203 average by Friday. I'm just happy to see some movement in the downward direction, as I've been kind of stuck for a while now.

Nothing much else to report, hope everyone is doing well.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Weakness

Today's Weigh-In: 204.2 lbs.
5-Day Average: 204.1 lbs.

I fell off the wagon yesterday. I woke up early, got in a max-effort day on back squats, and came to work with my lunch. So far, so good. Then we get an email that one of our customers is sending pizza and cake over to thank us for our good work. I figure "no worries, I'm always able to resist eating the stuff at work." But the hitch is that I had eaten breakfast much earlier than I normally do, so by about 11:00 I was starving. At noon, here come the pizzas. I ended up having 2 pieces of pizza and a small (very small) slice of cake. Sigh. I figured I would end it there, since there's no reason to go nuts over a little indiscretion. Problem with that is the massive amount of carbs in the pizza and cake caused me to be hungry much sooner than I would have liked, so I ended up eating the sandwich that I had brought for lunch along with an extra handful of walnuts. Dinner was okay, but too high in calories (scallop scampi with whole-grain noodles). Add in a couple of whiskeys, and I totaled about 3000 calories.

The scale was kind this morning even with the slip-up, so thank God for that. I did very well on Monday, and I plan to do well today. I've gotta start taking it one day at a time and refocusing on my goals. When I first started this journey I was impeccable: no cheating, no junk food, minimal alcohol (especially during the week). I've lost some of that, and have allowed myself some things that I know I shouldn't have. It has to stop. I'm not at my goal yet, so I can't be selling myself short.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Great weekend

Today's Weigh-In: 205.0 lbs.
5-Day Average: 204.4 lbs.

My scale is still messing with me. I woke up, weighed in at 206.2, ate breakfast (including 12 oz. of water) and then weighed in at 206.0. I figure I ate at least a pound, so I subtracted a pound from the second reading for my official weigh-in. But to be honest, I don't trust it so I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet.

The weekend was pretty good. Saturday I spent at the pool, and prepared all my own food. Sunday we went to the beach, so I brought a sandwich and some chips (not the best thing, but it was the only other food we had that was beach-friendly), and made chicken tacos for dinner. And I got in a great workout on Saturday, so all in all I'm on track.

I'm taking today off from working out, since I was extremely tired after being at the beach yesterday and just wanted to get as much sleep as possible, plus I'm pretty sore from Saturday's workout + body surfing all day yesterday. I'll be back at it tomorrow. I'm hoping to whittle away at the 205 and see 203 by the end of this week. That would put me on track to at least be close to my goal of 200 by the end of the month (if my scale decides to work consistently).

Friday, May 16, 2008

Keep it going

Today's Weigh-In: 206.2 lbs.
5-Day Average: 204.65 lbs.

I think something is wrong with my scale. I stepped on it this morning and it weighed me in at 206.2 (pretty high), then I got dressed for my workout, shoes and all, and stepped on it again. It said 206.8. I know my clothes and shoes weigh at least 2 pounds, so I think it's messing with me. I think it might have to do with the fact that I move it from the floor to a storage place when I don't use it and it messes with the balance/calibration. I'll try to keep it in one spot from now on.

I'm still doing very good this week. I have eaten very well, I've gotten 4 days of exercise so far, and I'm feeling good. I've been a bit tired, though, but I think it's due to the fact that I've been eating less total carbs (more vegetables, less bread and grains). I just can't choke down the amount of broccoli, asparagus, or spinach that would be required to get a significant quantity of calories. Oh well, they're still good for me.

I plan for this weekend to be very good. I'm not going to drink any alcohol, and I'm going to get to bed early each night (by midnight) so I can get up nice and early and get things done. The weather here in Southern California is beautiful right now, so I want to enjoy it instead of sleeping half the day away. Maybe I'll go to the beach.

Hope you're all doing as well as I am :)

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Setting myself up for winning

Today's Weigh-In: 205.2 lbs.
5-Day Average: 206.1 lbs.

I had a bit of a rough weekend, diet-wise, but I'm not upset about it. Saturday was the party for my dad's 50th birthday, and we went out to dinner at a Japanese steakhouse which is amazing. Pretty much just ate a lot of meat, veggies, and rice, all cooked in butter. Had a few beers as well. Then we went back to my parents' house for cake and drinks, and I had quite a bit of both. It was a really good time though, so I can't complain. Sunday was better for most of the day. I was insanely busy with the Mother's Day stuff, and then my roommate got tickets for the Rush show that night (which was insanely awesome, by the way). Love me some Rush, those guys are insanely talented musicians. It's almost distracting in that they're all so good, you can't focus on any one of them to enjoy the awesomeness. Was starving afterwards, and my roommate wanted to get food, so we got McDonald's, but I only got a double cheeseburger and had a couple of fries. Not too bad, and I didn't come out much worse for it. My weight is down today compared to the end of last week. I ate really well yesterday, and I made a whole bunch of good, healthy food for lunches/dinners throughout the week, so there's no excuse for eating poorly. I think my goal of 200 pounds by June 1st is doable. I've just gotta stay on the right track and not let one little slip-up derail me.

I've been setting personal records in the gym the past 2 days. As you know, I do CrossFit, and we had 2 of the benchmark workouts in the same amount of days. I cut my time on Diane (21-15-9 reps of 225 lb. deadlift alternated with handstand pushups) from 17:55 to 13:06, and my Fran time (21-15-9 reps of 95 lb. thrusters alternated with pullups) from 15:51 to 12:37. And this is all in the course of 1.5-2 months. So I feel good about that. Not so sure how my body's going to feel, but I'll survive. PRs feel great.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Goals and observations

Today's Weigh-In: 206.4 lbs.
5-Day Average: 206.1 lbs.

D'oh, I made a typo in the title of yesterday's post (should have been consistency, not consistence, that's not even a word). Fixed it now.

I ate perfectly yesterday. Under 2000 calories. Got 8.5 hours of sleep. Today's my rest day, so no workout, but I'm still plenty sore. The weight did not go down significantly, but that's okay, I know one good day isn't enough to make more than a dent in the overall picture. I'm going to make sure I'm dialed in today, and over the weekend, and next week, and pretty soon I know I'll see some major progress. I've got workouts planned for tomorrow and Saturday morning, so no staying up late for me. It's time to get back into the swing of things and focus on my goals. I've updated my goals list and dates so I can have concrete road markers instead of going at it willy-nilly, which should help.

My girlfriend told me I looked "skinny" yesterday. Not sure what to make of that. I am significantly smaller in size than I used to be, but I'm not yet at a low enough body fat percentage to where you can actually see much muscle definition, so I don't look buff yet either. I look sorta just soft but not big. I attribute this to the fact that much of my remaining fat is on my lower stomach (below the navel and the love handles) so I don't have much of a V-shape yet. I think once I get down below about 14% body fat I will start to look more athletic. This doesn't bother me at all, just an observation I've made.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Consistency

Today's Weigh-In: 206.8 lbs.
5-Day Average: 206.0 lbs.

Got my third workout this week in today. My workouts are feeling better and better each time. I can feel myself getting stronger, faster, and having more endurance. The creatine is definitely helping, too. Now I can do pullups with relative ease (the most I've done is 70 in 20 minutes). I did 50 burpees in 5:18 today. So being consistent with the CrossFit exercises has been extremely beneficial. My problem is still food related.

I've figured out one major issue. I haven't cooked any bulk quantities of healthy food lately. I used to rely on chili for one of my lunches every day, but I haven't made any in probably 2 weeks. So I've been relying on sandwiches and other, more carb-heavy foods. I don't tolerate a lot of carbs all that well (they make me hungrier) so I haven't been as satisfied as I normally would be, thus resulting in eating more. I've also been a bit lax in the calorie counting department, since I haven't done it in a while. I'm going to get chili supplies and fix up a big batch tonight, so I can deal with the first problem easily. The second is also an easy fix, and I've counted everything I've put in my mouth so far today. Just gotta get back in the groove of that. I've just gotta be consistent.

Monday, May 5, 2008

Momentum

Today's Weigh-In: 204.6 lbs.
5-Day Average: 205.6 lbs.

Hey everyone, sorry for the long gap in blogs. I'm doing alright, but not great. My eating has been good, I've been counting my calories and eating healthy things during the week, but the weekends haven't been as good as they could be. I tend to eat fewer, but larger, meals on Saturday and Sunday, and I think the portion sizes are just a wee-bit too big. I got in 3 days of exercise last week, but I really want to start putting in 5 days a week consistently. I'm still injury free, so not going the extra mile is just due to laziness, and that's not going to work. So this week: 5 days in the gym (with Wednesday and Sunday off), less than 2200 calories a day (including beer/alcohol) and at least 8 hours of sleep each day. Simple goals, and ones that I know I can do, I just need to add a little consistency. I don't want to lose any steam on this journey so I can't get off the rails at all. Just need to build up a little momentum.