Monday Update - Week 1

Every Monday (or in the case of a holiday, Tuesday) I am going to try and post about my progress toward my goal of 220 by November and how what I am doing it working out.

I succeeded in going to the gym every [week]day last week and also met my goal of not drinking at all throughout the week. I even held out when my beach volleyball team went out after our match on Tuesday and I got the burger and beer special (Turkey burger, no cheese, only some of the roll) when I gave my beer away. Went to a party Saturday night with my bottle of water and still had fun, although I really wanted to get a late night pretzel from the square. I went shopping and bought a bunch of baby spinach and several chicken breasts for meals this week and am looking forward to cooking more.

I also been weighing myself everyday when I go to the gym. I figure doing it on the same scale at right around the same time everyday should provide a decent tracking metric for how I am doing on that front. When I started last Monday, I was 273; today I weighed in at 262. At the end of each of these Monday posts I'll put a tracker with the starting week (May 17th), the last week, and the current week.

That's really all I got, I'm going to track my lifting too, but I need to get used to that first since I have never really lifted on a regular basis and probably never correctly.

May 17th - 273
Last Week - 273
This Week - 262

Trying this again and my plan

So it's been a long, long time since I've been on here, but I figured while I have it as an outlet, I may as well use it. I just checked and I haven't posted anything since the Snowpocalypse way back in January, wow.

I guess I should provide a little update:
I still have a job (which I like but need to work harder at)
I still have a dog (she's still awesome, but has been shedding her winter coat lately)
I still have a house (that needs a lot of work)

I think that about catches anyone that's interested up.

Now for where I am right now. I've started trying to work on myself since I realized I want to start looking for a serious commitment (not like right now though) and I'm not happy with myself so I don't see how I would be able to make someone else happy.

The first thing that I'm working on is my health. This is going to be super difficult since I have always been a failure at committing to things. I've never been unhealthy as far as any of the medical tests go other than my weight, but I've also haven't been able to run a mile continuously since grade school and have had so many of my joints injured from football, basketball and volleyball that I'm in some form of pain just about every day. I play volleyball 3 or 4 times a week now, football 2 times depending on the season and just signed up for softball this week. None of these activities seem to help me get in better physical shape so I've also started going to the gym (today was day 3 in a row so I haven't gotten over that hump yet).

As for eating, my plan is to diet for 8 weeks and transition into a sustainable lifestyle change (don't look for the wing night every night and cook more of my own food). I also started this 3 days ago and so far other than being a little tired (probably more to do with lack of sleep), I feel fine. I've been having 2 slimfast type shakes, a cliff bar after I work out and a reasonable dinner each day and haven't found myself feeling hungry yet. That may also have something to do with the gallon or more of water I've been consuming each day.

I'm using FitDay and iFitness (on my iPhone) to track everything. FitDay is great cause it makes pretty graphs and helps me count calories (goal is to stay under 1500 a day for those first 8 weeks than move up to 2000ish). iFitness is great cause it shows me (literally, it has videos of proper form) all the different exercises I can do and helps me plan out each day. I'm mostly doing cardio and various ab workouts, but also throwing some high rep weights in there too.

My weight on Monday, May 17 was 273; my goal is to be 220ish around November 6th since that's my sister's wedding and I'm going to Puerto Rico the week after with a bunch of friends from work.

Since I'm updating so many other things daily, I don't see why I can't fit this in too. I want to have at least 10 posts a month. Sorry, but there will be a bunch of Chloe related posts since she's an awesome dog and I'll try and write about my new time/money waster; graphic novels.

Until next time.

Biggest Loser update thing maybe

So, remember when I said I was doing that biggest loser competition at my gym ... well, there are less than 2 weeks left and I haven't seen the inside of a gym since the day before I went to New York (coming up on a month ago now). I have been maintaining the weight I lost in over the last four weeks, but I don't know how since I have been doing everything people that are not in a weight loss competition do. This includes fun stuff like going to Wednesday wing night at Mahaffey's for the past 4 weeks, going out most nights of the week (gotta celebrate my friend buying a house in Canton ... right?), satisfying my chinese, chipotle, pizza, beer, nacho ... well, let's just say whatever craving I'm having gets satisfied.

The real question is ... do I even still have a chance at winning, or at least coming in the top three to get a prize? I figure I need to get to at least 10% weight lost to be in the running. After weighing in at 278, that means I would need to get to 250 pounds by next Sunday. I'm around 264 right now, so it's possible, but unlikely ... I also have to consider the fact that I don't really deserve to win, everyone else in the competition has been working out and doing all the right things and I have just been sitting around doing what I want.

We'll see how this turns out ... but I think I am going to try and at least do something healthy over the next week ... maybe.

Friday Update

I had my first indoor soccer game Wednesday night and realized that I have absolutely 0 ability to recover after sprinting. After the game I felt like I was going to die ... that was either from the game or from still being somewhat sick. We won the game after several controversial calls and I am looking forward to getting to a point I can play for longer periods of time because I don't think I am that bad.

Yesterday was a fun day because I felt like the bronchitis was coming back when I woke up and ended up not going to work. Throughout the day I started to feel better and figured it must have been from the cold or some kind of bronchitis after-shock ... like an earthquake. I went to the gym early to do some cardio before my personal training session. The session started with me weighing in ... 268.6 lbs. I think something must be wrong with the scale cause that would mean just about 10 pounds and I feel like I haven't been doing much. My "diet" has gone to shit and I am eating things I said I wouldn't, I am not going to the gym when I have planned because I am too tired and I still haven't gone to one of the spinning classes I really want to do. We'll see how this all turns out in the end.

After the gym I signed my team up for BSSC Volleyball. That should be fun and a lot more relaxing than our VBall House leagues.

This weekend is going to be rough. Tonight it Jenny's birthday party ... with a keg (hopefully its calorie-free beer). Tomorrow morning/afternoon is a group workout then the Aquarium and I'm sure lunch out. Tomorrow night is a party of some sort that I can't really define until after tomorrow night, but there will be lots of food and drinks and I am obligated to have a good time. Then comes the football games on Sunday ... I don't know how those will turn out. On the plus side, expect lots of pictures from this weekend.

Something tells me the first two digits of my next weigh-in will be a 2 and a 7.

Progress, maybe?

I went to the doctor yesterday (which I hate doing and avoid at all costs) and was told I have bronchitis and that is why I am sick and have been coughing like my lungs are trying to get out through my throat. It's really a fun time, especially when I have been working out. This is a reason for the lack of posts.

Last night I went to the Capitals game with Jenny, K and M. This was the first game I have been to since I was a kid and it was a great time. The Caps lost and there was definitely a goal they scored that wasn't called. There was also a fight where Brashear on the Caps dropped a guy from the other team in one hit. The best part of the game though was the first intermission, they brought two groups of youth hockey players out (had to be 8 -10 years old or something) and they scrimmaged for about 3 minutes and it was hilarious. The only bad part of the game was that I had a couple beers and some food I probably should have passed on.





Today the Ravens play the Titans and I will be over in Fells Point to watch it. Luckily, I worked out this morning and can't move my arms so I won't be able to drink more than a beer or two. Go Ravens!!

Oh and Uncle Lance, I am not holding out ... just waiting till the appropriate time.

Beginning of a Long Journey

Monday was the start of my weight loss competition and I weighed in at a hearty 278.2 pounds. Unfortunately, I was still feeling sick (but with a different illness than last week) and couldn’t work out after. Instead, I planned on getting up super-early yesterday and going to the gym at work with one of my co-workers. 5:30 AM came and I felt terrible, I texted her that I wouldn’t be there and ended up staying in bed until 9:30ish. Got into work late and was in a haze all day.

On the plus side, even though I haven’t been able to work out yet, I started my healthy eating habits. I didn’t have any soda or beer yesterday (but I did have 2 glasses of wine with dinner) and drank (or is it drunk?) over a gallon of water throughout the day. Dinner was by far the best meal of the day and was graciously prepared for me by Jenny. We had a spinach salad with hard-boiled egg and turkey bacon mixed in, season asparagus, brown rice and a nice piece of salmon (which is lunch today). This was paired with a Riesling from Boordy Vineyards of Maryland.



Tonight I won’t be able to have a nice prepared meal because I am playing in my indoor soccer league. My only hope for the game tonight is to come out of it being able to walk since my ankle still isn’t 100%.

Also, anyone reading this should expect a lot of posts like this over the next several weeks, but don’t worry … I’ll still be doing a lot of fun things and will (hopefully) get back to working on my house so I can provide updates on that.

When more turns into less

Is it bad that I am trying to gain or at least maintain my weight before the weight-loss competition starts on January 5th?

I have been eating what I want (getting Chipotle whenever I can since that will be missed the most), drinking soda, and having regular beer (lagers, stouts) instead of the usual light beers. I am not trying hard to gain weight, but not watching what I eat as I normally would. The problem is, I have lost weight (not much) since last week and am kinda confused. I hope this means I should be able to lose weight easily when I commit to it in a couple weeks, but I don't want to go in having already lost some. Remember ... I am competitive and want to win, even if my goals are to be healthy and get in the routine of working out.

That's all I got for right now ... I'll try and be more interesting soon, working on some house posts and thinking a lot about career options.