Start of Week 8

This week is terrifying. It's the week after Christmas and the week before New Years. Let me explain. Christmas went well, overall. We had three parties to attend. The first party was with friends, the second and third with family. When I was with friends, I stayed away from all appetizers, with the exception of one chip in a layered bean dip kind of thing. I had a couple of drinks and ate a reasonably healthy dinner. In fact, I stayed within my calorie limit. Part of my success there was that I used a small plate for dinner and I brought a healthy side dish so I could eat it with confidence. I made a lentil salad. It was pretty good. We also had panini's for dinner that night, but we got to create our own. Luckily that group is a pretty healthy group, so most of the choices were really good.

On Christmas Eve, we had brunch with my dad, step mom and in-laws. I knew I would bust my calories this day, but tried to keep my food within reason for brunch. I had a bagel and some breakfast casserole which had eggs, broccoli, cheese, and potatoes from what I could tell. I stayed away from the bacon (which I don't really like all that much anyway, luckily) and had less than a quarter of a sticky bun... just to taste it.

That night we went to my mom's and saw that side of the family for dinner. There were lots of appetizers. I stuck mostly to the veggie tray, had a few drinks, and ate one plate of food for dinner with a little extra pineapple stuffing (it's one of my favorite parts of Christmas Eve dinner).

We got some presents on Christmas Eve because we wouldn't be seeing family for Christmas Day. We got some great presents, but we also got a lot of candy. My wife came home with about 10 pounds of chocolate, and I'm pretty sure I'm not exaggerating too much. Luckily people know I'm trying to be more healthy, so I got some sugar free candies and a few fruity candies, but no chocolate, which is great. My aunt gave us our usual plate of cookies.

So Christmas morning comes, my wife and I exchange presents, and I end up with a little more candy. Some of my favorite kinds, but still stuff that's not too bad and I can control myself with it. For breakfast we made our own gluten free breakfast casserole. Gluten free bread, eggs, sausage, almond milk, and cheese. No, it's not healthy, but yes, it is delicious. I was planning the day as another calorie buster, but tried to maintain control.

Unfortunately, I didn't try hard enough. I had some drinks, I ate half my plate of cookies, and had a quarter of the breakfast casserole. For dinner we did ham, sweet potatoes, and green beans. The ham was very lean. For dinner we did pretty well, and we're having leftovers tonight, but those damn cookies got me. I just love them. Not having the calorie restriction made it more difficult to resist.

Despite all of that, I still managed to lose some weight. 239 this morning. I'm finally into the 230's and I'm really happy about it!

Let me get to why this week is so terrifying though. We still have tons of tempting food around the house. We got sent home with mashed potatoes and ham. I still have half a plate of cookies. I have about 5 pounds of candy. On top of it all, I can drink whatever I want this week if I stay in my calories because I know I'm going to bust my calorie goal on New Years Eve. Here's the cherry. I'm on a rest week for p90x. Not that I won't be doing difficult workouts. I still have yoga, core, and kenpo, but I've got two off days this week.

I'm going to flip this whole thing on it's head with this statement. I'm aware of the challenges ahead, and therefore I have the ability to set myself up for success. And that's what I intend on doing. Expect some more weight loss next week.

Of course, no post would be complete without a few doggy pictures.

On Christmas morning, we sat on the porch near our tree and did our presents.

 

Yahtzee sat by the door and looked outside. Later we gave her a toy from my dad which took her about 6 hours to break. We called him Santa balls. She ate his foot off.

We let her open her stocking after we were done with all of our presents. She got a stuffed penguin from Santa, and took about 5 minutes to chew his tag off and create a gaping hole in his butt. I didn't realize that she was chewing his tag off, of course, you can totally tell in the picture. I saw her chewing the tag once it came off of Mr. Penguin, but didn't get to it in time. She ate it.

My mom gave her a moose with a squeaker also. She broke the squeaker within 15 minutes and put a hole in it, but she still likes it, so we let her keep it. For now.

Start of Week 7

There are temptations EVERYWHERE. I knew getting into this that it would be hard to go out to eat. I know how to order appropriately if I want to, but I worked "cheat days" into my goals so that I could take a day or two off every week.

So this week was challenging for me for a few reasons. I was tempted to go off of my eating plan a few times. My wife had an event at a bar that I went to with her. While there, we had to go up to the bar to talk to the bartender to find the manager. My wife ordered a beer while we waited and when the bartender asked me what I wanted, it took everything I had to order a Diet Coke.

I'm certainly not upset with my wife for ordering a beer. I want her to do whatever she wants. She's skinny and certainly doesn't need to diet with me. If she wants a beer, she can have one. I'm better off for having resisted the temptation to drink and fill myself with those calories.

On Friday, we went out to dinner for my cheat day. I had done relatively well all day, then we went to one of our favorite restaurants. I got a half pound burger, because that's what was on the menu. It came with fried onions and bacon. Delicious? Yes. Good for me? Definitely not. It also came with a bunch of fries. The temptation here was to do what I normally do and eat all the fries. I decided to pass on at least half of them. Mostly because they weren't the best fries I'd ever had, but I also could see the grease shining off of them. Yuck.

Another problem I had this week was that I felt exhausted all week. I was concerned that I was getting drained from over training. My legs felt like Jello and my upper body was sore most of the week. I didn't feel sick, though.

I decided to adapt my workout routine. The cold weather is difficult to run in, mostly because of the wind that's blowing, and the dog that's hanging on the other end of the leash. I also am struggling to complete two intense cardio sessions on some days. For instance, after doing an  hour and a half of insanely intense Yoga, I'm supposed to run 6 miles. Yeah right. Who made this schedule? Oh right...

What I decided to do was run on the days that I don't have cardio. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. They're lifting days. And even though Friday is a legs day, I do my running first so I can still do the cardio. I'm doing 3 miles at a time right now. It's freezing outside and windy, but also, my dog won't run much farther than 3 miles right now. She gets tired after about a mile and a half, maybe two miles, then trots along with me for the rest of the run. I'm going to work her up, though. I think eventually she'll be able to do 6-8 with me. On days where the weather wont allow me to run outside, I'll do Cardio X. It's intense, and I enjoy it. I would even think about doing it in addition to the run if I don't feel like the run was any good.

This morning, I weighed 240.5. I lost a pound from last week. I'm disappointed because I wanted to be in the 230's, but here's what I'm thinking happened... not that I'm trying to make excuses. I said before that I felt drained all week. I don't think I trained as hard as I could some days. I also know that I trained insanely hard on some days. What I think my body did, was freak out. I think the muscle soreness is holding some liquid, but I also think my body was holding on to what it could this week because I'm over training a little bit. So to compromise, I'm cutting back the cardio some days. I meticulously track my calories, so I know that wasn't the problem this week. There's no way that the burger I ate contained 3500 calories (1 pound of fat). I'm just going to have to keep on going, despite Christmas coming up this weekend. That's gonna be challenging, but I'm gonna try my best.

I also had my wife take my measurements this morning. The loss numbers on the right will be since Week 1.

Chest: 45 inches (loss of 2.25 inches)
Shoulders: 52.75 inches (loss of 1.25 inches)
Bicep: 15.5 inches (no change)
Waist: 38.5 inches (loss of 2 inches)
Hips: 43.25 inches (gain of 0.25 inches)
Belly: 42 inches (loss of 3.75 inches)


I'm happy with the loss numbers. I don't understand the gain in the hips, but I do understand that there is some variation in the measurements. Because my body is changing, it's hard to find the same exact spot to measure. Also, with my bicep, I'm not upset about no change, because I'd like it to get bigger. I'm hoping that it's growing, but my fat is shrinking, so it's staying the same.

Dog Update
 
Because I know everyone's interested... here are some dog stories for the week.

Yahtzee was playing with her tennis ball the other day. It rolled under the sofa, so she went in after it. Our sofa's are about 6 inches off the ground. Yahtzee weighs over 50 pounds. She squeezed under the sofa... and got stuck.

I had to lift the sofa off of her so she could come out. It was pretty funny.

We also did some brushing yesterday. Yahtzee decided she was a lap dog. We were sitting on the ground brushing her, and she decided to literally crawl onto our laps. It was really cute. Unfortunately, I don't have any good pictures of her, but I do have a picture of the hairball that we brushed out of her.

It was huge. And we weren't done... we just got bored after 20 minutes of brushing.

Start of Week 6

I love that I am doing this for myself. There are days when I get up and dread that I have 2+ hours of working out to do, but when I am finished with it, I feel accomplished. There are moments when all I want to do is open a bag of Doritos and go nuts on it, but I resist and pop some popcorn instead. What it all boils down to, though, is that I'm losing weight, and I'm really getting healthy. I'm continuing to change my lifestyle.

Since I started this 90 day cycle, I'm more aware of a lot of things. Food intake, making my workouts worth it, and really concentrating on my alcohol consumption. Since I started, although I've had a few cheat days on my alcohol so far, I'm not going overboard. When I'm planning out my drinks for the weekend, I'm drinking two at a time so I can still stay within my calorie limit rather than going over because I wanted an extra drink.

I'm really proud of what I'm accomplishing. Even though I didn't manage to lose weight last week, I managed to drop a few pounds this week.

From 246 to 241.5 this morning. I knew that the plateau last week wasn't for real. I lost all the weight I was supposed to lose last week and this week combined. I've also lost over 10 pounds since I started this cycle.

When I drop 10 pounds, I like to do my side by side pictures because 10 pounds is when you can really see a difference.

 

I'm certainly proud of myself.

This week, things are going to change in my workout schedule. For one, I have decided that I really need to run Yahtzee a little more often. She's got a lot of energy because she's still a puppy, and taking her for a run really chills her out quite a bit. She was able to do 3 miles with me the other day, so I'm hoping to continue at 3 miles with her.

Beyond that, my wife wants to do some of my p90x workouts with me. Mostly the strength ones. Since she's working all day, we'll be doing the workouts in the evening instead of doing them in the morning like I used to. I'm hoping that I will have the chance to be more productive for work as a result.

Time to get back to it! WOO WOO!

Yahtzee update

So we're getting to know Yahtzee a little better now. We're finding out what she likes, what she doesn't, where she's comfortable and all that stuff. She's learning how to walk nicely on the leash. She's also learning Sit, Down, Shake, and Stand.

The most impressive thing I found out is that she can run on a leash pretty darn well. I ran with her for 2.25 miles the other day, and she was right next to me the whole way. Although she can't run my distances yet, I'm very happy to know that she's willing to try.

Here are some pictures and some quirks that we love about her.

First, we don't have a picture of this, but she can't sit on our floors. Our house is all hardwood downstairs, so she slides backward until she lays down.

This first picture is Yahtzee laying on one of the beds I made her. She was totally scared of both beds. I had to pick her up and put her on them. Individually. Once she was on, she layed down and was totally fine. Now she gets on and off as she pleases.

For some reason, Yahtzee doesn't like to just sit on the floor. She's more comfortable under the sofa.

Also, we got her a stuffed elephant with a squeaky toy in it. She loves it. I need to give my wife credit for it, though... she picked it out. Yahtzee doesn't like most of the toys I picked out for her.

She's doing very well and she's learning quickly. I'm proud of her and couldn't be happier with our decision to adopt her. She's so great!

Day 30 Update

Today is NOT Day 30, but yesterday was. I forgot to ask my wife to take my p90x pictures, so we took them tonight after dinner. I'm a little bloated from the meal, but who cares. Here are the side by sides... Day 1 are the hat pictures.

 

 

 

 I can see a little change. Mostly in the bicep/shoulder area. My wife says she sees a difference in my silhouette. As long as she sees a change, I'm happy with that.

I'll be posting some doggy updates soon.

Start of Week 5

Starting this week, I've got lots of great things going on in my life. We got our new dog. We've met a few new people (Thanks to Yahtzee). I'm enjoying what I'm doing as a self-employed person (can you call it that if you're not making any money yet?). I also accomplished most of my goals this week. I missed a day on food and one on water. Same day.

I was on my calorie goal every day this week except Saturday. My cheat day on food was bad. I know that I made a mistake and went overboard. But I was down to 242 mid-week. This morning? 246. I'm bummed about it, not shocked. I imagine that my cheat day had something to do with it. The cheat day also coincided with the day that we picked Yahtzee up. I slept about 5 hours on Friday night and didn't get to bed until 10 on Saturday night. I was up for around 17-18 hours. That's more than I'm used to. With the car travel (5 hours) and dealing with the stress of a dog that's scared... I'm just surprised that I held on to my alcohol goal for the week.

 

 This morning I took Yahtzee over to the beach for a long walk/run. I wanted to get some energy out of her. While there, we met a guy and his dog. He had a Golden Retriever that was about two and a half. Yahtzee and the Golden jumped around and played with each other, wrestling and what not. It was fun to watch, not so much fun to clean all of the sand out of her fur. At least the contrast of her black fur and the white sand made it easy to see.

The guy said he worked for a local hotel and he worked at the Chamber of Commerce. What a great connection for me, seeing as I'm starting my own business. His name was John, so I'm hoping to remember that next time I see him. He gave me some pointers for Yahtzee and we talked for a little about what I wanted to do for my business. He also gave me some suggestions for who to talk to and where to go for marketing and local connections. Really, a great guy.

Yahtzee and I ran probably half a mile together. I have to say, she's much better on the leash when running than she is while walking. She keeps pace with me very well and doesn't tug on the leash at all. She does cross my path a little, and I can't say I enjoy running with a bag of poo in my hand, but we'll figure this whole running thing out sooner or later.

We're going to the Vet tomorrow to get a check-up. I'm hoping they tell me I can build her up to my distances and that I've got a healthy new running partner!

Yahtzee!!!

Yesterday was a wonderful day. We got our new dog, Yahtzee!

We arranged to pick her up at 8am in northern NJ, so we had to get up at 4:45 to make the 2.5 hour drive. I can tell you that it was worth it, though.

When we met the transporter, she was very scared. She cuddled up next to my leg for a minute and was breathing very heavily. She also seemed cold. She refused to get into the car with us, so the transporter picked her up and put her in next to me in the back seat. For the ride home, she laid next to me, put her head in my lap, and slept.

When we got home, she was scared and curious at the same time. We let her walk around outside for a while, then brought her in to explore the house and gave her some water.

She drank 3 entire bowls. I guess she was thirsty. She's also a messy drinker, but that might have been because she was so thirsty! I swear, I thought the downstairs was going to flood. If you look close at the picture above, she has water dripping off her face. I think she tried to swim in her water bowl.

Later we took her over to the beach. She seems very motivated by going outside. If she thinks there's a chance to go out, she runs over and jumps at the door. We're working with her on sitting before she goes out or comes in.

She certainly seemed to enjoy the beach.

I took her for a little jog to get some energy out. She'd spent most of the day sitting in a dog crate in a van, then sitting next to me in the car. Time to stretch those legs!

She was a little scared of the waves rolling in, but wasn't afraid to get close to the water. She sniffed around a lot, but didn't go in.

She's been pretty pleasant so far, just hanging around. She LOVES attention! She's still a puppy, so she jumps around and pulls on the leash a little because she's so curious about everything. Overall, though, she's got a pretty calm demeanor.

Last night we took her to the Christmas Parade in Cape May. I brought some chew treats with me so she could have something to do. She was fine for the first hour and a half or so, then it was time to leave. She was cold and bored, but she did pretty well. To be honest, it was kind of nice to have an excuse to go home. Not because the parade wasn't awesome, but because I was freezing!

She barked at some of the other dogs at the parade. We're pretty sure the barking was because they weren't paying attention to her.

This morning at the beach, though, she barked at a couple of PEOPLE. I didn't like that, but she seemed scared by them. We're going to work that out of her, though.

I'm going to be working with her this week on clicker training. I want to teach her a lot of basic obedience commands and see if I can't get her playing fetch. She's not showing much interest in balls, but I want to get her running around to get some exercise. I can't let her off the leash, so the only freedom she's got to run is in the house or at the dog park. We'll make sure she gets plenty of exercise regardless!

Adaptations

I know that many of my readers check in here to just see how I'm doing because they know me personally. I also know that there are others who look here for inspiration and guidance. They can learn from my mistakes and from my successes. For that reason, I like to make sure that when I make a realization or change my plan up, I want to talk about why I'm doing it and what made me do it.

This morning I woke up at 6:15am. Remember that I'm unemployed at the moment. I have work to do, but it's not like I have to be anywhere at any given time. I watched the sun come up as I gave my wife a goodbye hug and kiss as she went off to work. Also, as she walked out the door, I felt the wind come in. It was cold.

I checked the temperature and noticed that it was only 35 degrees outside with 20mph winds. So immediately I checked my workout schedule for today. I skipped Kenpo yesterday because my shoulder was bothering me, so I have to make that up today. I ran yesterday to make up for a run I skipped on Tuesday because I was sick. I'm shifting workouts this week so that I can still meet my goal.

P90x has a stretch session that is optional. Today is that session on my schedule. I'll skip it and do my Kenpo today. But I also have a 5 mile run scheduled. Not in 35 degrees I don't. I thought about waiting until this afternoon, but by the time it's 2pm, it will only be 50. I ran in that yesterday and felt like crap. Maybe because I was/am still sick, maybe because it was super windy. Either way, I don't want to run in sub 40 degree weather if I don't have to.

As I looked over the workout schedule, I noticed that there are no days on my schedule that are "Cardio X" days. But I know I saw a "Cardio X" in my stack of p90x DVD's. I found that it's 43 minutes long. That's just slightly less than the amount of time it would take me to run 5 miles. I decided to adapt my workout and make the cardio X option my run for today.

I'm not a fast runner, and I doubt that my heartbeat gets up as high as it would in the Cardio X DVD. I figured I'd start with my normal Kenpo, then throw in the Cardio X option immediately after. I'm going to have one hell of a calorie burn doing an hour and 45 minutes straight of high intensity exercise.

After doing the first workout, I felt fine. I felt like I could do it all over again. I also wasn't watching the clock nearly as much as I do in a normal workout... maybe because I knew I was doing twice as much today.

Either way, I jumped right into the second workout. It was a little different than I expected. It was a mix of yoga, kenpo, plyometrics, and core exercises. Because it was chunked up so much, it went really fast. By the end of it, though, I was TOAST.

So if you're working through a program, know that it's ok to adapt your workouts to meet your needs at that time. If you're injured, do something different or do that workout another time and move up a different workout to earlier in the week. You can still get it all done.

Middle of Week 4

I've got to say that the first rest week of the p90x workouts couldn't have come at a better time. Over Thanksgiving, I got a pretty bad head cold. This morning was the worst of it, but it felt terrible yesterday too. It started off with a sore throat, then went full blown stuffed/runny nose and head pressure. With the cold came the sleepiness and muscle soreness.

Yesterday I had an hour and a half of yoga and a 4 mile run scheduled. I did it all. I have to say that the yoga was difficult, because it's hard to blow your nose when you're down in crane. The run was the worst of it. I went with my wife. We started out running under a 9 minute mile. I was feeling fine, until my nose started to get stuffy again. My breathing got difficult and I slowed down big time. I ended up doing 4.5 miles in just over 40 minutes.

This morning, I had "Core Synergistics" to do and a 4 mile run. My wife told me not to do the run, but I did the core workout. It was different than I thought it'd be and I was sweating like a mad man. I don't think I've ever been so sweaty during a workout that I didn't put all of my effort into. I don't have a run scheduled tomorrow so I'm going to do my 4 miles tomorrow instead.

I wish I had taken pictures last night, but in hind sight, I guess it wouldn't have been such a great thing to look at. We had taco's for dinner last night and I continued my attempt at finding a healthy re-fried beans recipe. I think I found it. I used a can of pinto beans and a cup of chicken stock. Get the stock boiling, and then add the beans, rinsed of course. Take a potato masher and mash up the beans real good in the stock, stir frequently and let simmer until the texture gets pasty. Add salt to taste. They turned out really good. I got lots of compliments from my wife.

I'm working for the rest of the day today.

I also just found out that we'll probably be getting Yahtzee on Saturday mid-day. Looking like this weekend is going to be busier than we thought! We have a Christmas tree lighting on Friday, Saturday we're getting the dog, plus there is a Christmas parade and Wassail tasting. Sunday should be pretty low key.

Start of Week 4

The Thanksgiving Holiday proved to be difficult in the eating department. I had no problem with alcohol, though. I ended up having two drinks on Thanksgiving day, but my wife and I decided before I had them that it wouldn't be in violation of my rules.

I broke my food goal on Thursday and Friday because we were visiting family. I had no idea how many calories were in what, and I wasn't going to guess to fill in my food log. That just meant that I had to keep it under control on Saturday and Sunday. No big deal. That went fine.

We stayed with my brother on Thursday night. Friday morning when we woke up, my wife and I went for a run, and then I came home and did my Legs & Back workout. I made sure I got up with enough time to get the workout done before we had any plans scheduled. Although I love my family and want to spend time with them, I know that if I don't put my health first, I'll never lose the weight.

When we got home late on Saturday night, I looked at my weight and had serious concerns about whether or not I'd lose even one pound. I decided that when I do Kenpo X, I don't feel like I'm working out very hard, so instead of doing that for 50 minutes, I did my own workout. I took my bike out for a 30 minute ride and then did a beach run for 20 minutes. Of course, my ankle was bothering me beforehand, maybe from when I rolled it last week, but I wanted to do some running.

On Saturday afternoon, I got sick. My throat started to hurt real bad and later came the runny nose. Sitting in church, I wanted to just fall asleep. Come bed time, I felt like hell. I haven't been sick in a while, so I was being a little bit of a baby about it.

Sunday I skipped my stretch workout. According to the p90x schedule, it's supposed to be a rest or stretch day. I chose rest.

This morning when I woke up, I had lost weight! I had gotten myself down to 245.5lbs. That's a 2 pound loss from last week, and I'm proud of that for having been Thanksgiving week.

This week is a rest week for p90x. I have yoga, core, and kenpo. I also have lots of running. It seems like the weather is supposed to be nice today, but I don't know how long that's going to hold out temperature-wise. They're calling for 64 degrees. I'm also still feeling sick so I may end up pushing back a run. I haven't decided yet.

The biggest part of this week will be Friday. We're supposed to be getting Yahtzee on Friday, assuming everything goes the way it's supposed to. I don't have all of the details of the pickup yet, but I'm hoping to hear today or tomorrow from the transporter. I'm sure we'll have lots of pictures once we get her.

Thanksgiving

I realize that I haven't been posting as often lately, but I think I'm going to make that a habit. Posting on a daily basis is fine, but it does take up some time, and I feel like I'm writing about my entertainment more than my healthy goals.

I feel like I've been making a lot of progress lately in my fitness. Because of Thanksgiving, I had to adjust some of my workouts to make sure I had time to see my family. Since we're living in New Jersey now, we're traveling home to Pennsylvania to see our families. We'll be with my dad this afternoon, then go to see my wife's mom's side of the family for dinner. Tomorrow morning, we'll see my mom for brunch, then my wife's dad's side of the family for dinner.

That's a lot to do, and not a lot of time to do my workouts, so here's what I did this week. I stuck with the normal p90x workout plan. There are workouts every day, so I don't have the option of shifting them around. I moved some runs around and changed distances. On Monday, I did my normal Chest & Back plus Ab Ripper X, and a 3 mile run. I did not time this run. Tuesday I did my Plyometric workout, then a 5 mile run that turned into a 6.25 mile run. Both of those runs felt amazing. I did the 6.25 in 1 hour and 3 minutes flat. It was an outstanding run. When I got home, I felt like I could go another 10. I didn't, and I probably couldn't have, but I felt like it.

On Wednesday, I did my Shoulders & Arms workout, then a 3 mile run. I was tired before I left for the run, and I was miserable during it. I had the wind at my back for the first half, and then a nice steady head wind on the way home. I did finish, though, and that's what is important. This is just an example of doing what you set out to do and not allowing yourself to settle for less.

This morning I did Yoga X. I've said before that this workout is insane. There are some moves that I simply cannot do. Today, I tried one that I hadn't been able to do the last few weeks. I forget what it's called, I think Crane or something like that. It's very difficult. It's something I used to try in middle school when we had gymnastics class for gym. I've never been able to.

Today, I did it. The pictures are hard to see the whole move, but it's basically a hand stand while tucked in a ball.

I went up and down with it a few times, but I did hold it for about 5 seconds at one point. Pretty impressive, I think.

So since it's Thanksgiving, I thought I'd say what I was thankful for. I'm thankful for a supportive and loving wife and family. I'm thankful for my mom and step-dad letting me and my wife live in their beach house rent free for a few months. I'm thankful to be getting a dog soon. I'm thankful for my relatively good health. I'm thankful to be making progress towards a healthier life. I'm thankful for this opportunity that my wife is giving me to get myself in order and start my own business. I'm thankful for all of you as readers that, whether you realize it or not, keep me in check every day and motivate me to continue working towards my goals.

Also, I'm thankful that my wife and I finally finished this damn puzzle that we've been working on since last year around this time.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Start of Week 3

Good morning!

I lost weight again! That's pretty awesome. 247.5. After doing all the math and figuring out calories burned/consumed, I'm losing at about the rate I should expect. I want to lose a little more every week, but as long as I'm losing 2-3 pounds, I'll be content.

Pictures this morning...

Because this is the end of the second week, my wife took measurements for me. And there's been progress.

Chest: 46.75 inches, loss of 1/2 inch.
Shoulders: 54 inches, gain of 1 inch
Bicep: 15.5 inches, gain of 1/4 inch
Waist: 39.75 inches, loss of 3/4 inch
Hips: 43 inches, no change
Belly: 42.75 inches, loss of 3 inches

Now, I must say that there is some user error in this, but I gained where I want to gain and I lost where I want to lose. Now it's time to get my workouts done, do some work, run some errands, and do some chores. Lots to do today!

Days 13 & 14

I didn't post yesterday because the day sorta got away from me. I did my normal workouts without incident... for the most part. I did realize during the warm-up that I was getting shin splints. Also, during one of the kicking series, I rolled my ankle. Not too badly. I finished the workout, iced it for 20 minutes, and then continued on with my day.

I made a huge breakfast because it was getting later in the day, almost lunch time, so we thought we'd just have two meals in one. Potatoes, eggs, beans, tomato...

My wife and I didn't have plans for the weekend, so we decided we'd do something that she had been asking me to do with her for a while. Go to the Cape May County Zoo. The best part about this zoo is the price. Free. We donated a little money because we were amazed at how big the place was. I hadn't been there since I was a little kid, but it wasn't what I remembered. There were all sorts of animals. Recently, they got a baby snow leopard. I'd tell you more, but pictures speak louder than words...

 Jabba The Hut Frog

 

 

It really was a great visit and we're hoping that the animals stay out for the winter because we want to go back a few more times, I'm sure. Hopefully we can bring friends next time.

I had planned on a "cheat" day this weekend, so I made it Saturday. We had spaghetti for dinner and munched on candy and cheeto's while we watched a movie with a few drinks.

Sunday has been a pretty typical day. We went for a walk through the mall and stopped into a pet store there. They didn't have what we were looking for, so we walked to where we thought was another one, but it turned out to be a grooming place. We didn't go in.

When we got home, we had lunch and did some crafting stuff together. When we were done, I played my new Modern Warfare 3 game with my brother and a very generous friend who purchased the game for me as a surprise. Thanks again, friend!

Dinner was a stir fry with rice. We used some chicken, broccoli, and carrots. Yum

Plan for tonight is to watch the Eagles game and maybe do some puzzle with the wife. Great weekend overall. Tomorrow starts week 3. WOO! WOO!