Centennial Weigh-In

232.4 lbs --- down .4 lbs

Have to say that is a pretty good loss, especially since I didn't eat well at all this week. Way too much fried foods, and a few cookies thrown is as well. Oh well, half a pound lost is half a pound lost.

April 4th 2009 was my first post on here, as well as my first weigh-in. Funny thing is, wanna know what I weighed? 242.4 lbs. I've lost exactly 10 lbs, and it "only" took me 100 posts to do it. If you've followed this blog for a while, like Jack Sh*t and some others, then you undoubtedly know that its been very frustrating how slowly the weight is coming off. Not that I have anyone to blame but myself. Consistency is the problem, one week I'll do awesome and lose 3 or 4 lbs, the next I'll eat crap workout twice and gain a pound. Something that I struggle with, but also something that I'm constantly working on and trying to improve.

As seasons come and go, summer is almost over. The swimming pool in my apartments will be closing in the next week or so, which means I'll have to turn exclusively to running and biking, all the way through June. Which is actually good, ever since like early July, I haven't really been using the pool for exercise, at least not consistently. And I've been letting it take away from my other workouts. So, no I can focus on my running, and throw in some bike time when my legs hurt, or if I want a change, or if my girlfriend wants to go for a bike ride. I'm also going to make a concerted effort to *consistently* add more strength training into my routine. Ironically, for someone who has a personal training degree, I've been "winging it" the whole time, I haven't made any attempts to try to make up, and adhere to, a fitness plan where I can have an actual routine. I'm going to do that and see if it helps with the C-word.

So to recap, even though I haven't realized the results as quickly as I would like, not even close, I have to say that its been a good first 100 posts. I haven't lost ten pounds, probably since my first year of college, 3 years ago. I'm refocusing my efforts and hopefully I'll make some very real and positive changes over the next 100 posts. Heck, maybe I'll even manage to lose more than 1/10th of a pound per post.

Lonnnngggggg day

Sucks to say, but work was even worse than I thought it would be. And it totally wiped my out.

As far as my workout goes, I ended up going for like an hour walk with my girlfriend. Not strenuous by any means, but on top of a hard day of work, it was a really active day.

Rest

Yup, I decided I'm going to rest today. I only got like 4 hours of sleep last night, then I had a busy day at work. And in about an hour I have to go pick up my girlfriend from work. Not leaving much time for any meaningful exercise.

So I decided I'm gonna rest, get a good night sleep tonight, then attack the shit out of tomorrow. Tomorrow work is going to suck, I already know it, and I'm hoping to have energy left over to get at least 1 good workout in tomorrow. Hopefully I'll get two, but I guess we'll see.

Cheers, andI hope you all have a good night.

Running my @ss off

45 minutes, 2.7 miles, 468 calories, avg speed 3.56 mph

I think I finally figured out how to measure my success. I happen to like the course I've been running, so I'll stick to it the majority of the time. And I think that average speed will be a more accurate measure than just time, although I suppose both will improve as I get more fit. But if I stick with average speed, it will be able to track it if I run on the treadmill, or a different route, or a shorter or longer distance.

But anyhoo, it was an awesome run. My legs felt great. I did a little stretching after a warm-up and at the midway point, and I think that might've helped. Like I said, all around awesome run. And after a run like that, its safe to say, I love running. Now that is a phrase I never would have expected to come out of my mouth (or fingers in this case).

That is why I'm thinking about changing my blog's name to, or possibly just adding, the title of this post: Running my @ss off. I don't really know if doing that would affect the few readers I have. But if anyone has any experience doing this, changing blog names, let me know.

Just figured I'd add, yesterday I went for a swim, and spent my evening expanding my personal blogosphere. Stumbled upon some good blogs, won't list them here, but they'll probably be mentioned later. And I do have to see, it is completely awesome to see people (close to) my own age doing the weight loss thing. No offense to people who are older than me, I'm 22 if it hasn't appeared on this blog prior, but its cool to see people turning their lives around relatively early in life.

Last thing tonight, I think I'm bi-polar (not literally). Like 2 days ago I was all depressed about not losing weight fast enough, and here I am tonight talking about how happy I am and whatnot, in case you haven't noticed I'm happy tonight. Haha, I guess a couple days, and an awesome run, can make a helluva difference.

Ad-libbing

I figured I'd do something different today. So I took the exercises I mentioned a few days ago while talking about Pilates, look back over the past few posts if you're interested, tried to do a few yoga-ish exercises on my own with no pictures or anything, and did a couple other exercises that seemed to fit the mold.

The result: an actually decent workout, not overly difficult, but enough to get my blood flowing and wear my muscles out decently.

To be perfectly honest, I'm kind of floundering right now. I don't know why. I think it might have something to do with the fact that I missed my first deadline for 230, and it looks like I'll miss this one too. I think that I'm motivated, I mean I know that I want to lose weight and hit my goals and everything, but its like, I dont really know how to explain it. Maybe I put too much pressure on myself with the deadlines, maybe that isn't a good way to go about it. All I know is that its fucking frustrating as hell when it seems like I'm doing well, then I gain half a pound, then another half, then next I know, I'm a month and a half behind, and I STILL havent got to 230 lbs. I think I really need to figure out a way to eat healthy while being poor, living with fat people, and working a job that makes it difficult to eat very healthy.

What I really need is to find a new and better job, but right now I don't know if I'll be able to find one that I'll make more than I do now. And since I can't even accomplish my own damn goals, I'm certainly not ready to try to get a job as a trainer yet. I dont really know what to do. Anyone got any advice? I think I could use some right now.


Oh, I also feel like I need to say, RIP Ted Kennedy. The man spent the better part of 40 years trying to get unviversal health care, hopefully they can do it now in his honor.

Good Ol'

Stationary bike. Gotta love the thing.

45 minutes, 12 miles, 280 calories

Its amazing how much difference there is between biking and running. 3 runs ago I got my heart rate up to 190, not on purpose, but running just makes my heart rate sky rocket. Today, the first time I rode the stationary bike in quite a while, I was going as hard as I could, about 17 mph on level 5, and it was all I could do to get my HR up to 140. Should've probably stepped it up to level 6 or 7, but oh well can't change it now.

Also, I just happened to be looking over my goals, specifically the running ones, and I noticed something. They're a tad outrageous. I think I should be able to work my way to a 10 minute mile by the first of the year, but after that, there's no way anyone can drop 2 minutes off of their mile time every 4 months. If that was possible everyone would be turning out 4 minute miles. So yeah, I'm definitely going to have to rework the time frame for those 2 goals. Heck, I might even drop the target dates all together, from those two. I mean, those are secondary goals, something that I want to do, but the weight loss is far more important for now. On the other hand, maybe I should focus on the performance and let the weight loss happen as a result???? Any ideas? I dont really know what I'm going to do right now, just that I'll have to do some adjusting.

Weigh-In 8-24 + workouts

232.8 Lbs --- Up .8 lbs

Honestly I'm pretty pissed about it. I messed up really bad last week. I think I actually lost a little bit this week, when I weighed myself last week I was 233 and some change. I gotta get my eating under control, I need to start taking lunch to work again. I was doing that for a while and doing pretty well on the scale, but now I eat out all the time, and I'm thinking its at least partially responsible for the bad numbers I've been having lately. So now, here I am, one week away from my goal date, and a whopping 3 lbs away, yet again. Last time it was 4 lbs, so I guess I'm ahead of the game, not. I have to kick some ass on the workout front this week, and hopefully taking lunch will help.

Sunday Workout---- Went on a run, got about a mile out and my shins felt like they were about to explode, so I had to turn around and limp my ass home. It sucked big time. Can't remember the numbers exactly, but it took me like 35ish minutes and was a total of like 2.1 miles, well over half was walking.

Monday Workout--- Didn't want to run, due to the aforementioned shin issue, so I was going to go up and ride the stationary bike for a while. But then I was reading my daily emails from MensHealth.com, and they had this "15 minute workout to shred your abs" or some such title. It ended up being a short Pilates workout, so I decided to do that instead. And damn was it ever difficult. It consisted of (my short explanations) one legged push ups, a sort of reverse crunch where you start in the up position and lower your torso towards the ground, and a sort of bicycle crunch where you tap your feet on the ground. As I said, it was pretty tough, I was definitely sweating. I think I'm going to make it part of my normal routine. I'm also thinking about purchasing a Pilates dvd and doing that as a total body strength workout. I'll have to look into that.

Ouch

My legs hurt. For some reason my shins seem to be kind of flaring up again. Its happened the last couple of times that I've ran. I don't really know why, maybe its because I go faster when I run outside? That would be weird, because in the past, they've always killed me when I wasn't going fast, either trying to walk fast, or jog slowly. Like I said, I don't really know why, but it sucks, and it would be nice if it went away, lol. After I blog I'll do some good stretches and see if that helps.

Notice I said, after I blog I'll stretch. I just got done with my run. Walked in the door, sat down and got on the computer lol. Pretty good run tonight: 2.4 miles in 40 minutes, and burned 420 calories. I went out later than I normally do, about 8:30. So, I ran out on the trail, turned roughly (I'm guessing) 1/4 mile sooner than I normally turn around, went down to the road, and ran home on the side walk. Ended up about 1/2 mile shorter than my normal route, but not short by any means.

The GirlFriend has work tomorrow, so I'll get in another good hard workout before my weigh-in. So we'll see where that leaves us.

Now I'm off to stretch and watch the SeaHawks kick some Bronco ass.

Stupid Computer

It didnt let me post last night, and I barely got to the page tonight.

Anyways, its been two pretty good days. The thing is, I didn't do a particularly difficult workout either day. But they were two of the most rewarding workouts I've had. It took me quite a while, but I FINALLY got my girlfriend to workout with me. She's not really in any kind of shape, so we've done a couple of walk/jogs. Mainly walking, but thats not the point. Not knowing about the relationship we have, it might be kind of difficult to understand how happy it made me when she told me yesterday afternoon that she wanted to run with me.

Motivation is a funny thing, it takes very different forms from person to person. I workout for my health, and my future career, and so that I'll be able to have a happy and healthy family. Others do it to look good, or to set an example for their kids. There are obviously a million different reasons why we do what we do. But I think my girlfriend's motivation is truly unique. Of course, she has all the typical desires, get in shape, be a smaller size, blah blah blah, but thing that finally got her to start working out is a deal we made the other night. Well she just forbade me from giving the specifics, but suffice to say, I have an old couch (it was my great grandma's), that she doesn't like, so the deal is, once she hits a certain, unnamed, weight bench mark, I will get rid of the couch. The story kind of lacks pizazz without the details, but whatevvv, lol. That conversation was Wednesday, yesterday was Thursday and that was when she told me she wanted to run with me. So it didn't take very long to kick it into gear. Pretty cool if you ask me.

Anyways, I'm in considerably better shape than she is currently, so while I've been working out with her for the last couple days, I'm going to have to figure out a way to keep pushing myself, while training with her at her pace as well. It's probably going to take some work, but its most definitely worth it, so I'll figure it out. Additionally, I get to put my personal trainer skills to the test, yay, lol. Whatever happens, I'm sure it'll be a fun experience, and it might actually give me some professional experience as well, double bonus.


P.S. ----- Heres hoping I hit the MegaMillons jackpot tonight and can quit my job and just train myself and my girl full time, lol. I suppose that would be every weightloss warriors dream.

I'M BAAAAAAACCCK

Okay, well at least for one day.

Running: 3 miles, 47 minutes, 520 calories

Kick ass run. I've realized that I do run faster outside than I do on the treadmill. I end up walking more as a result. But it probably helps me burn more calories as well, they say intervals make you burn calories long after your workout, similar to weight lifting, as well as help you increase your speed faster than running at a steady, typically slower, pace. So, it might actually be a good thing, even though I am walking more. I'm sure it will all even out in the end, pretty soon the weather will be crappy and I'll be running on the treadmill most of the time. I guess its all good.

This even I went for a nice fun swim to escape the heat. Lets see, I: played with a beach ball, played with diving rings, rode a killer whale, and subsequently fell off of a killer whale. It was fun, and it felt really nice to be in a pool, it was another hot day. Record breaking heat yet again, okay the record ended up being like 95, a full 12 degrees cooler than it was a few weeks ago. But its still record heat.

I should probably mention that I didnt suddenly end up at SeaWorld or anything, it was an inflatable killer whale. I think its also worth noting that it is a pain in a ass to ride a killer whale. My girlfriend ended up pushing me across the pool, between attempts to flip me over. Think of it like a big, very oddly shaped stability ball, floating on water. Basically it was incredibly tough trying to stay on top of it, and eventually she got me into the water. And I think I might have some saddle sores as well. Haha, thats a bit of an exageration, but lets just say, it wasn't very comfortable.

On a side note, and completely unrelated, did you hear about the South African runner who's being required to be tested to prove that shes a woman. At first I want to say its funny, kind of reminds of me of the Cuba Gooding Jr. movie where he fakes his way into playing in the WNBA. Apparently the woman set the world record in the 800m today at the world championships in Germany. Let me just say, I absolutely love the sport of track, if I was rich I would've went to the US Championships down in Eugene Oregon this summer, but obviously I'm not rich, and its extremely expensive. This is just a very odd story that I suppose could have some interesting outcomes. What happens if its discovered that its actually a man pretending to be a woman? Even the IAAF doesn't know if they can strip medal and/or records if that is the case? And what if she is actually transgender? Do they need to create a whole new category for that group? Or where would they be forced to compete? And of course, if she really is a woman, does she end up suing the IAAF for a crap load of money? I really have no idea how its going to turn out, but you can bet your ass that I'm going to pay attention to it.

New Beginnings

Remember how, in my last post, I said that I was feeling good after my workout? Well, I woke up the next day and it hurt to move. Friday, I didnt do anything because I was hecka sore. Saturday I did a light swim just to get some blood flowing. Sunday I was lethargic and couldn't work up the energy to work out. Monday I was gone all day. All of that adds up to, essentially 2 weeks in which I've done almost nothing. So, I decided to skip weigh-in yesterday.

I'm using today as a day to kind of reset everything. If you take a look to the right of the page, you'll notice that I reworked all my goals. I added some time frame to the majority of time, because as anyone whos ever read a book or took a class about goal setting will tell you, time frame is a very important part to setting an achievable goal.

So, as the title of this post suggests. Today is a new beginning. Moving past the lethargy and lack of enthusiasm that has caused me to lose my momentum over the past few weeks. I have 2 weigh-ins with which to permenantly close the door on the 230+ lb chapter of my life, and I'm not looking back.

Workout(s)

Too tired last night to blog about it.

Running: 1.85 miles, 22 minutes, 350 calories.

It was a very hard workout, did the same route as last run, but I barely walked this time. That's how I managed to cut like 8 minutes off my time. I was pretty happy about it. Did a little stretching after, and I'm not even sore today, freaking awesome.

Okay I'll update after I do my workout tonight.

UPDATE

Figured I'd finally try out that whole "strength training" thing I keep saying I'm going to do. And I have to say, at least right now, it feels pretty damn good. I've always enjoyed weight lifting, power lifting, etc. I didn't do anything major: push-ups, body weight squats, single leg squats, single leg deadlift, straight leg deadlift, shoulder shrugs, bent over row, side bends (w/weight at side), side bends (w/weight overhead), crunches, leg lifts. Haha, I guess I sort of did a lot of exercises, nothing hard core but like I said, it was fun, and a good workout. And by the way, if you've never done single leg squats, or deadlifts (I believe they're called Romanian Dead lifts), you should definitely try them. Either have some one show you how, or find a demo video online, because they're exremely difficult, it requires really good balance, and also develops your balance. You will definitely feel it after just a couple reps.

Also, I did a short run. 1 mile, 17 minutes. And thats where it gets interesting. I figured I'd see how my heart rate watch measures up to the treadmill. Watch was roughly .05 miles ahead, even though the treadmill started 10 seconds earlier, so I guess thats pretty accurate. It was also pretty close on speed, depending on how hard I was moving my arms it was right in the range of the treadmill. The big difference was with calories, watch showed 193 calories, treadmill said about 85. I would tend to think that the heart rate monitor would be more accurate, if for no other reason than it has my information, height, weight, etc, and the treadmill doesn't. If anyone has any experience with this sort of thing, I'd be interested to know how accurate it was for you.

Sidenote(s)- (a) looks like I have about 10 posts to go until I hit the 100 mark, hopefully I'll accomlish my first weight-loss goal by then. (b) I think that once I hit 230 lbs, I'm going to rework my goals to every 10 lbs instead of every 15. I hope that will make them a little more managable and keep me from getting frustrated because it won't take as long.

WOW

Its been a week since I've posted. Didnt even manage a weigh-in post, 232 lbs, up .4 lbs. It wasn't a terrible week, but definitely wasn't good either. I was pretty active with work and everything, but didn't really get in a workout since, I think Wednesday. Which is why I gained .4 lbs, but that's not horrible, and I'm still within reach of my goal, albeit a month late.

I got called into work today, and had a busy day too, which means I made some good money. Unfortunately, once I got home, it started raining, and hasn't stopped since. Its the first time its rained in like 28+ days, so I can't really complain, but it certainly erased any motivation I had to get out and exercise this afternoon or evening.

Its actually kind of odd, I've been sort of out of it all week. Lethargic I guess you could call it. I don't know why, but regardless, I need to snap out of it. I haven't made enough progress to suffer a big set back.

So yeah, tomorrow I'm going to get a good workout, probably a treadmill run, since its raining and all. If I remember, I'll try to "calibrate" my heart rate watch, check how accurate it is for distance and speed. That would be helpful, let me know if my other runs are as long as I think they are, lol. Also, I think I'm going to start doing some more strength training as well, build some more muscle and start burning more calories. Plus hopefully it will help firm up some of my flab until I can burn it all off.

Tomorrow is a new, and better day.

Trail Running

First the stats: 2.75 miles, about 40 minutes, 475 calories.

By trail, I mean the Discovery Trail, which is a big paved biking/running/walking path which runs throughout Vancouver. The portion I ran today is somewhat hilly, which is probably why I burned so many calories, and also probably why several times when I checked my heart rate it was over 170 bpm. But it was a really good run, felt good.

After several runs outside with my shoes and watch, I've realized something. Assuming that the speed on my watch is accurate ( I guess I should probably run with it on the treadmill to find out), I run faster when not on the treadmill. When I would check the speed, it would be basically between 5 1/2 and maybe 7 1/2 mph. Probably because of the faster speed, I had to do a little more walking than I would've liked, but I made decent time, and burned a crap load of calories, so I guess I can't complain.

Should have another good and active day tomorrow. Then Thursday its back to work, yay, lol. They're calling for rain by the end of the week, which I guess is actually good because we've been bone dry for like a month. And let me tell you, today's high of 82 felt SOOOOOOOOO good after the 106 we had on Tuesday last week. Tomorrow is supposed to be like high 70's, which would be a drop of almost 30 degrees in a week, awesome.

Well, hopefully I'll have another good post tomorrow, and more for the rest of the week. I'm definitely feeling pretty confident right now, just gotta keep it rolling.

P.S. Lets all give Jack Sh*t a standing ovation for his absolutely, positively amazing 7.7 lb loss last week. Even though he completely blew me out of the water, its freaking awesome to see someone do that well. Keep it going Jack. Good job man.

Weigh-In + workouts

231.6 lbs--- Down 2.6 lbs

Oddly enough, I lost 2.6 lbs, and I also happen to be exactly 2.6 lbs heavier than the 1st time I weighed myself with this scale, in January 2008. Of course that means I'm 1.6 lbs away from FINALLY hitting my first weight loss goal, which I am absolutely thrilled about. I'm also very motivated, because I want to get under 230, and also because honestly I'm pissed that I've missed my goal by like 3 weeks. But like I said, I'm super motivated and I REALLY REALLY want it this week. I have a good feeling. Especially if today is any indication of how the rest of the week is going to go.

Workout

Swimming, did 25 laps today. Thats the most I've done for like a month. I was swimming really strong for like the first month of the summer, then there was like a week when it was kinda cold, and I didnt wanna swim, then like the last half of July has been super hot, which means the pool has been too crowded to get in any meaningful work. So hopefully the weather will mellow out in August and I can take advantage of the pool before it closes in September.

Then I went on a 40 minute bike ride with my girlfriend. Definitely didnt burn a ton of calories, but had some fun, explored a bit, and got in 40 more minute of exercise. So all in all, a good day of exercise.

Also, I came up with a new professional goal. I want to move to the coast, and open up a personal training studio right on the beach. Either the Oregon, or southern Washington coast. I'm thinking probably Seaside, not that anyone reading this blog knows anything about Seaside Oregon, but its an awesome little coast town, all touristy and whatnot. Even have some names picked out and everything. Haha, this is something I like to do, plan out how everything is going to go, and figure out the exact job I'm going to have and all that fun stuff. Last time I did it, I decided I wanted to get a Bachelor's degree in Physiology (body chemistry) with a minor in nutrtion, then get a masters in Education (PE), become a strength coach. Then I'd win the lotto, and work as a strength/football/track coach at the high school I graduated from, essentially for free. Haha, hows that for keeping my options open? I have a blast ironning out all the details. I do love the idea of living on the beach though, even if it isnt exactly the Florida or Southern California coasts, all warm and stuff, I still love the beach. And I hear the surfing is good up here too, lol.

Wow, a nice long post, you got some bang for your buck on that one. If you actually read that post, thank you. And if you follow my blog regularly, double thanks to you. If you read my blog, leave a comment so I can know you're there. Thank you, and have a good night. I know I'm going to have a good week.

Wow

My computer has not been working at all for the last few days. Freaking sucks. Even tonight it took me like 15 minutes just to get on here. I hate my computer, completely need a new one. Maybe if I get the pick up at work that I'm expecting, maybe I'll be able to afford a new one, that would be awesome.

Anyways, I've been pretty active the last few days. Went on a bike ride Thursday, did some swimming the last two days. Plus its been a few really busy days at work as well. Not to mention the heat. According to my heart rate watch, Thursday I burned about 1,800 calories at work. I think that number is probably exaggerated somewhat, but I definitely burn some calories while working, especially when its been as warm as it has the last several days. We've had like 8 days in a row over 90, which is crazy for Portland, not to mention the 3 100 degree days in the middle. Tomorrow is supposed to be in the low 90's, then I think (let me stress the THINK part) that Monday is supposed to finally be under 90, which will be the longest streak of 90+ in Portland history, if we haven't done that already.

So yeah, I've been pretty active, and I've been trying really hard to stay hydrated. I think I've been averaging about 4 liters of water a day, which is like a ton for me, lol. And I haven't really had any pop. Today I "fell off the wagon": had a brownie with lunch, half a Krispy Kreme donut (sample), a root beer float, after the last two I felt sick, and it took me a couple hours to recover from that, and unfortunately I'm hungry and don't have much to eat in the house, so I just ate a donut, my girlfriend decided to buy a dozen so she could get them fresh because she had never had a fresh one, which are awesomely good. So thats, 1 1/2 Krispy Kreme donuts, 1 rootbeer float, and a brownie thing. Other than that I had a PB&J for breakfast, chicken club sandwich from Wendys for lunch, bbq chicken and veggies for dinner. Other than the crap, I actually ate well today, too bad I had to eff it would with all the junk. Oh well, after how crappy I felt, I know I'm not gonna be doing that again any time soon.

Since this is running on and on tonight, I'll leave it with one last note.

Since I've been consistantly working Saturdays lately, and I think I'm gonna get an increase in work that will make me work every Saturday, I'm moving my "official" weigh-ins to Monday mornings, effective in 2 days.

Damnit, I just remember about this really interesting interview I heard on the radio today, it was about the benifits of Omega-3 oils via fish oil. It was super intersting. I think I might do some research and blog about it in a few days (if my damn computer works). So if anyone has any info about Omega-3's or fish oil, give me a few pointers.

Goodnight.