Week 21 Day 6

Posted on July 2, 2011 by admin

The early bird may get the worm, but it is the second mouse that gets the cheese!

The three day holiday weekend is here!  What’s not to love when the waether is great and you have an extra day to enjoy yourself?  And fireworks,  how can you not get excited about fireworks.  And for you folks out there in rural NJ be carefull out there, those things are dangerous!

Today my wife and I decided on some out of the ordinary cardio for our early workout.  My wife has been after me to go kayaking and today was the day.  We went out for 2 hours and I was really hurting from the upper body workout the day before.  Just holding the paddal up at some points was causing some really good muscle burn.  It was great though, we saw 2 blue herron, fish, ducks with ducklings, turtles, an otter.    It is always great to see nature.

The two hours flew by but I knew I was done long before that. My back was sore before we set out and my workout yesterday was more intense than I thought so paddling really was an effort.

We got back and went on with our day.  We had subway for lunch  and headed home for some tv relaxing time.  After an hour I went to the gym to get some more cardio in.  Before I started I got on the scale to see how bad things were.  I was heavy all week from carbs in my lunches and dinners and weighed in 2.5 pounds heavy on a day I really felt light so I was expecting the worst.

Go figure, on a day I felt heavy I was light.hey I’ll take it, that is my new low weight number.I am now 72.6 pounds down.  Hey I will take it.

My nutrition for the day was pretty good.  I consumed 2,258 calories for the day.  No surprise dinner was the highlight.  We mad a chicken fajita style dinner with chicken breast, garlic chunks, onion, portobello mushrooms, yellow and red peppers, low fat sour cream and tortilla wraps.  Dinner was a little under 900 calories by itself but it was filling  and nutritious.  My wife wanted to alter the meal and added Toboule onto large lettuce leaves and added the chicken fajita mix on top skipping the tortilla wraps.

All this and I still have the next two days off to enjoy!

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Week 21 Day 5

Posted on July 1, 2011 by admin

The Good,  the Bad and the Ugly,   what kind of day did you have?

This morning was all good.  I ran my fasted mile yet, 9:26.  It was tough and a maximun effort to do it but I did it.  I finished up with 20 minutes on the elliptical machine and 15 minutes on the bike.  I wa riding a runner’s high with my new fast time.

Work was OK   but dipped into the Bad.  There are folks “working overtime” everyday clocking extra hours, but the funny thing is they are getting to work either later than me and leaving the same time or are getting in earlier than me but are leaving much earlier than me.  Funny hour my 40 hours worked has me on the jobsite longer than some folks doing 50 to 60 hours in the same week.  I guess I never was good at math.  This pratice has caught the attention of our manager and he gave a dire warning of what may happen if folks get caught.  Folks will get what the deserve,  and that is BAD!

Now for the ugly.  I ate too much today.  I consumed 2,450 calories.  Too much.  What is worse is that I had a bunch of carbs today like pasta salad and baked beans, plus all the fruit.    The scale is not going to be kind next time we meet.

More Good,  I had a great afternoon workout.  It was weights intensive and got my muscles sore so I know it was a good one.  Here is what I did:

Assisted pull-ups
+85-5
+100-5,5
+115-5
+130-5

Assisted dips
+100-5,6,6,6,6

Bench Press 135lbs
20,10,10

EZ-Bar curls with 50 lbs
12,10,8,6,6,6,6

Dumbbell dead lifts
2×50-10
2×60-10
2×70-8,2
2×80-5,5
2×60-10

Triceps cable curls
50lbs-10,10,10,10

Leg presses
190-12,12,12,12

And that did me in. I was done and headed home. A shower and some dinner had me feeling right. If only I did not eat so much! UGLY!

 

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Week 21 Day 4

Posted on June 30, 2011 by admin

Another exhasted day! I need SLEEP!

I am going to bed early today so this will be a rushed entry today.

Calories for the day—2040 calories.

AM workout- 46 minutes jogging on the treadmill and doing 4 miless
PM workout 45 minutes on the elliptical machine

Work was decent I did a lot of walking and some trips up and down a ladder.

Dinner was the highlight meal of the day:

Fress Mozzeralla cheese cut into cubes
whole grain pasta
tomatoes
yellow pepper
asparagus
black olives
8 oz. of plain greek yogurt
2 servings of pesto sauce with basil

It tasted great!  My portion was about 770 calories and had 33 grams of protein, 38 grams of fat and 74 grams of carbs.  In the future I will add chicken breast to this to bump up the protein numbers.

Finnished!  Done!  Move it along folks, there is nothing to see here…closing time, you don’t need to go home but you can’t stay here,  VAMOUS

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Week 21 Day 3

Posted on June 29, 2011 by admin

So, another day another dollar?  The early bird catches the worm?

Well I have been up early and I did not see any birds eating worms!  Hey have you heard?

 

 

 

The bird, bird bird, the bird is the word….

 

This morning my wife and I did not run.  Her knee has been feeling sore and mine have been hurting during the day after a good run in the AM   so we took  today off from running.  I did however jog at the gym for 20 minutes to get my sweat going then I moved to the elliptical stepper for 45 minutes.  I kept the sweat going though my heart rate never got much above 125 bpm during the 45 minutes.

I worked my day at my pace and got a whole bunch done today.  I was up and down on ladders today and sweating some but it was a good workday.

I got home today and needed a nap.  There was no way around it. 5 to 6 hours of sleep a night during the week is just not enough.  I napped for 45 minutes and did not want to get up when the alarm went off.  I was considering skipping my workout AND dinner and trying to sleep straight through until the morning.  I know that would have been bad to do but it would have recharged me if I could have actually slept through untial the morning.  My luck does not go like that though.  I would have been up at midnight and the rest of the night until time to go to the gym so i did not do it.  I got up slowly and hit the garage for a weights workout.  Here is what I did:

overhead presses from the floor
70lbs-10,10,10

squats
body weight only-10
70-10
110-10
139-10
167-10

EZ-Bar curls with 50 lbs
12,12,10,10

That was enough in my tired state. The squats were good since I have not been doing weights above 110 lbs lately so it was a pleasant push for me.

Nutrition for the day was way better than I have been lately. My calories totaled 2,207. That is where I need to be. I was light on protein and heavy on carbs so my balance was not quite right but my calories were were they needed to be. Tomorrow I plan on tuna salad for lunch which will be heavy on protein so tomorrow will look better in that respect.

I almost feel a quiet sadness as I am getting closer to my goal. The end is near, I see the finish line. I have become accustomed to doing things throughout the day and riding along on this weight loss adventure for the last 21 weeks. I am not sure what I will be doing with my extra time once I complete my goal. I might take a week off from blogging (after all this blog is to track my progress in losing the weight, once it is lost do I keep on blogging?) and figure out what is next for me. Maybe I should not be looking ahead yet since I did not cross the finish line yet. I don’t want to be like these folks…

 

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Week 21 Day 2

Posted on June 28, 2011 by admin

I am in the home stretch!  I am on way to losing 100 lbs.  I am 70% there and still inching along.  Life is good.

I started my morning with a trip to the gym to get my cardio in.  I jogged for 15 minutes, used the stair stepper for 20 minutes then the elliptical machine for 20 minutes.  This was good.  I got my sweat going jogging then switched to a lower impact choice to keep the sweat going.

Breakfast was something different today.  I found some butterball turket bacon that is only 30 calories for two thin slices of bacon!  So I had to try it out and have 4 slices, one hard boiled egg white, one piece of wheat toast with Jif peanut butter and honey on it and a bowl of chopped up apple and a light yoplait yogurt mixed in.

This breakfast was 467 calories, 23 grams of protein, 66 grams of carbs and 13 grams of fat.  Not to shabby of a way to start my day out.

Work today was more challenging.  there were trips up and down ladders and I was pulling cable today.  My arms got some workout today.  They got their money’s worth out of me for sure.

After work I hit the gym to weigh myself and get some extra cardio in.  I was 2 pounds heavy from my last weigh-in so I do need to tighten up my eating and up my cardio some.  I think I will need to go back to 15 minutes of cardio as warm-up on weight lifting days to get back to the calorie burning like I need to.  This afternoon I hit the elliptical machine for 30 minutes and broke a sweat.  The elevator was broken in the building the gym is in so I had to walk the stairs two stories up and down as a bonus activity.  I was disappointed I was heavy but not really mad,  I have been eating closer to 2,400 calories a night instead of the 2,200 target I have been lucky with.  Tonight was no different.  I totalled 2,399 calories for the day.  Too much.  Dinner was amazing though.   1 chicken breast chopped up and cooked with some cashews, onion, red pepper and portobello mushrooms.  This meal included Chick peas cooked then mashed and white rice with grapes and honey in it.  This was a super delicious meal.  Here is what it looked like.

Absolutely what I wanted.  Tomorrow though it is back to salads.  I guess I need to do salad meals 4 or more times a week to keep the weight dropping and the calories lower.  Bean meals and bean meals with rice definitely weigh me down and I have been bad back to back days.  Tomorrow is another day.

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Week 21 Day 1

Posted on June 27, 2011 by admin

Life is good.   Work has been going well and the sun is shining bright today, even through the clouds!

I got up this morning after a restless night from all the watermelon, cantaloupe, cherries and seltzer I drank.  Seemed like every hour on the hour.  Oh Well the alarm finally rescued me from the madness.  I got up and me and the wife decided on a little jog outside today.  We did a hair under 3 miles.  That is now our standard distance run.  We did it in 34 minutes.  That is under 12 minutes miles so that is ok with me.  Of course I am now not getting at least 45 minutes of cardio in the mornings that I jog.  Today it was OK though since I did not sleep well.  I enjoyed the extra get ready for work time.

Work passed by and when I got home I was in desperate need of some sleep.  I took a hour long nap.  I could have gone longer for sure but I still needed to get to the gym to lift today.  So I did. I have been weak on my bench pressing since I have been doing the sets after multiple sets of pull-ups and dips. I decided to go light on the pull-ups then hit the bench before later returning to the dips. I was happy to see I can still press 225lbs. It is not alot for many but for me while losing weight it is fine. Also my endurance strength with 135 lbs has increased, so that is a slight trade-off as well. I believe this is functional strength and more important in the scheme of things.

 

Assisted pull-ups
+85-5
+100-5
+115-5

Bench press
135-18
185-5
225-1
185-5,5
135-12

EZ-Bar curls with 50 lbs
10,10,10,10

Assisted dips
+115-8,8,8

Leg presses
190-10,10,10

Leg extensions
110-10
130-10
150-10

I ate pretty good today.  I was feeling really hungry all day and was snacking and eating my meal at work earlier than normal.  In the end I totalled 2,311 calories.  Slightly higher than I want but not out of the ball park.Dinner was the meal that pushed me over the edge.  I had some BBQ chicken breast with horseradish on it with baked beans, potato salad on a bead of lettuce.   This was higher in carbs than it needed to be and the potato salad was high in fat but darn it if I really did not feel like eating it!  I bought more cherries for dessert but I am over my calories for the day so the sherries will have to wait until tomorrow morning and breakfast.

Now that was a hardy meal!  I ate more potato salad than what you see on the plate.   I was eating some spoonfuls while cooking.  All in all I am happy with today.

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Week 20 Day 7

Posted on June 26, 2011 by admin

R.I.P. Peter Faulk    “Ah, just one more thing…”

Sunday and no trip to the gym.  today was about getting out and being in nature.  We decided on Sugurloaf mountain in Maryland as our destination.  It has been over a year since we have been there so it was time.

The hike to the top was great.  We were both breathing hard from the hills and were feeling it in our leg muscles.  We packed some coldcut sandwiches for lunch to eat at the top while we enjoyed the views.   Our total hike time was just under 2 hours but 15 minutes of that was eating lunch and admiring the views from the top.   We were both tired once we got back to the truck and my wife slept some of the way home,  lucky her.

The day was mostly relaxing and catching up on TV shows after the hike until dinner time.  We then divided and conquered the tasks.  I cooked the main meal and my honey cut up a canteloupe and watermelon for dessert.  Dinner was filet mignon with red peppers, mushrooms, broccoli and asparagus over some lettuce.

It was yummy and there was enough for me for lunch tomorrow so that is a bonus.

For the day I consumed 2,311 calories.  Not too far over my targeted goal.  I did not go to the gym today at all or do a garage workout so there was room for improvement but I felt like the hike was long enough to cover me for the day.  Tomorrow is a jogging morning so there will be more sweating in my near future!

I forgot to post this yesterday, my latest weigh-in.  I like it! every day brings me closer to my goal.

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Week 20 Day 6

Posted on June 25, 2011 by admin

Short post today, company visited  and we stayed up late.

AM:   cardio at the gym  20 min on the treadmill 36 min on the elliptical machine.

PM  weights  in the garage for 30 minutes.

Big dinner meal out at our favorite middle eastern resturaunt.

Total calories for the day

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Week 20 Day 5

Posted on June 24, 2011 by admin

Friday!   I made it.  I have been so tired I wanted to call in sick to work, or at least call in for a late arrival.  Nope, I did not do it.  I got up and hit the gym.  I was feeling sore in my knees some so I decided on a low impact morning.  I did 30 minutes on the elliptical machine then 20 minutes on the bike.  I did sweat but it was not like jogging the day before.

I worked my day and got home to take a nap.  I did not sleep well but I was exhausted.  I then got up and hit the gym again for more cardio.  I used the elliptical machine again, this time for 45 minutes.  It felt good.

I settled in for some dinner and had steak, corn and asparagus.  I felt very satisfied after eating and hopped in the shower to was away my day.  I hear my pillow calling so I will be quick.

I did better eating today.  I consumed 2,348 calories.  That is still higher than I want but it is not bad like yesterday.  I really needed to skip the potatoes today and I would have been under.  I could not help it though, the potatoes called out to me,  “Joe don’t eat fruit eat us instead”  and I did.  I did not even feel great after eating them.  They weighed me down and my stomach felt unsettled.   Oh well, l

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Week 20 Day 4

Posted on June 23, 2011 by admin

This morning I started my day with a 6 mile jog.  It was 77 degrees out with 84% humidity and that was at 4am!   I averaged 13 minute miles which is slightly slower than last time.  The weather was cooler last time and I forgot to bring my camelback for rehydration  and I was needing some water.  Not excuses, just stating the facts.

Work flew by today and once I got home I crashed!  5.5 hours of sleep a night is not enough and it caught up to me.  I caught a hour of sleep and I did not want to get up when I heard the alarm.  I actually considered setting the alarm for the morning and seeing if I would sleep through to the AM.   I could not do it though as I have a pet to feed and a workout to get to.

I was pretty sluggish when I first got to the gym.  I quickly snapped out of it and had a great workout.

assisted pull-ups
+70 lbs-5
+85-5
+100-7
+115-7
+130-8

assisted dips
+100 lbs-6,6,6,6
+70-5,5
+85-5,5

Squats with 25lb plate held at back of neck
10
with 35lb-10

squats with 45lb plate held to chest
10

Body weight squats
10,10,10

EZ-Bar curls plus 50 lbs
12,10,10,10

Dumbbell dead lifts
50 lbs-8
60-8
70-8
80-8
60-8

I was again sweating and panting by the time I was done.  Since I ran this morning I did not want to do the regular squats with weight.  I was saving myself from extra soreness.  I feel like this totally kicked my butt!  I also skipped bench pressing since I was so weak at it last time after pull-ups and dips.  I will move Bench pressing and over head presses to another day when I can be fresh.

With Dinner tonight I took the easy way out.  I went to Boston Market and bought chicken, red potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans and creamed spinach.  Obviously not all my choices were great ones but I did not have it in me to cook tonight.  I will be trashing the creamed spinach.  It used to be my favorite but I don’t like it anymore.  I do have too much carbs in the meal but I was light on carbs for the day so it was ok for this time.  Next time I am in this situation I will need to remember to go to Subway instead and have a sandwich.

Calorie-wise I was doing great up to dinner.  I ended up eating 1,460 calories  in dinner alone.  Way too much!  I totalled 2,559 calories for the day.  300 hundred to many.    Real life Baby, this is real life.  I expect tomorrow I will have a better handle on the food consumption.  Seems when I go off the plan one day I do bounce back the next.

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