Week 16 Day 2

Posted on May 24, 2011 by admin

Back on track again.  And I feel better too!

I was in a bit of a funk this morning.  I was tired and still feeling like I ate too much yesterday.  I did not run this AM since we did a far run the day before and I wantr to allow my joints to get some low impact cardio time also.   I walke dat incline 6.0 at 3.5  and up to 4.0 mph for 20 minutes.  I then got on the elliptical stepper for 15 minutes and then the regular ellitpical machine for 15 minutes.   It felt pretty good except I felt  like I did not sweat enough.

I ate well all day and finished the day at 2,083 calories consumed.  This is a much better place for me to be compared to yesterday and pigging out.  Working on the site is keeping me from eating out of bordon and I am very active on this site with little time or chance to sit around.   When I got home after work I was feeling sore and tired so I rested for while.  It was almost 5:30 pm before I headed out to the garage to get some lifting in.

Squats
70-10
90-10
110-10
138-10
157-10

Overhead presses starting from the ground
110-2,2
90-6,6

Overhead presses starting at the shoulders
90-8,8

Deadlifts
90-10
110-10
138-5
167-5

That was enough to get me sweating a lot and I felt like I did plenty.  This was not an allstar workout for me but I did go heavy for the overhead lifts but could not get more than 2 at a time.   I still got some work to do there.  I did not work all the way up to 200 lbs on the dead lift either but my body felt done so I did not push it and risk injury.

I feel good about today and hope for a good night of rest so I can conquer the day tomorrow!

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Week 16 Day 1

Posted on May 23, 2011 by admin

A new day a new adventure!

This morning my wife and I went out for a little jog.  We ended up going 3.8 miles.  I was hurting and slower than her but I made it.  We are jogging some of my old routes for when Iwas training for the Army Ten Miler  9 years ago.   I think before we know it we will be doing the 6 mile loop.  I am definetely slower jogging outside.  I am hanging in there though.

I ate well through most of the day but dropped the ball in the end with too many calories.  I ate 2,820 calories for the day.  Dinner pushed me over the top.  I should have stopped but did not.  I ate some of what I made for tomorrow and that added  200 calories to today.  There was peach salsa mixed in with the ground turkey for another 50 calories.  I also ate TWO corn on the cobbs,  it was so sweet one was not enough, and that was another 200 calories.  Bad Joe,  bad boy!  look what you did!   I suck today.  Tomorrow will be a day of redenption.

I did have a good day of work with some up and down on the ladder as well as trips up and down the stairs and walking around,a lot!  I also had a kick but weight lifting afternoon workout.

Assisted pull-ups

+115-5
+100-4.5 (I did not make it all the way up on the 5th one)
+115-5,5

Squats with 45lb plate held to chest
10,10,10,10

bench press

135-15
185-5,5,4,1
135-10

Hammer strength overhead press

45lbs each side 12,12,12,10

Curls with EZ_Bar and 25 lbs each side

10,10,10,10

Leg presses
210-10,10,10,10

Triceps cable curls
95-5
87.5-5
80-5
72.5-8
65-12
57.5-15

And that did it for the day!  Before I go here is a look at what my dinner should have been and stopped at,  Steak, asparagus, tomato, avacado, sour cream and a whole wheat wrap.

One more set of pix before I go.  I do network cabling for a living and pride myself on doing neat work.  Here are some pictures of my white cable bundle laced and dressed neatly.  My stuff was the best in the closet and in the building (so far).  There are no official standards to the work being neat like this but I was trained in the field many years ago to make things look good and not to be afraid to have your name associated with the work you leave behind.   I feel good about what I have done here.

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Week 15 Day 7

Posted on May 22, 2011 by admin

Tonight is going to be a short one.

My AM workout was 60 minutes today.  I did 20 minutes each of the elliptical machine, stair stepper and the bike.  It was a less impact day after the jogging yesterday.

I ate pretty good today except lunch.  We ate out at a taco place and I had more beans and rice besides  2 tacos.   This was a heavier lunch.  The day was a long one with multiple stops at multiple stores.   Home Depot was the last stop before heading home to work in the garden.

Today’s afternoon workout was tilling the garden for 1 hour.  It was tough and tiring so I did not go the gym in the afternoon.

Dinner was a combination of left overs,  fresh fruit and a tuna salad with lettuce tomatoes and green olives chopped up into it.  Weird but good.

Total calories for the day were high at 2,556 calories but it was an active day.  here’s to a good week of work and back to jogging tomorrow!

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Week 15 Day 6

Posted on May 21, 2011 by admin

Today was a day for my wife.   She will be running in the Race for the Cure in a few weeks.   She has become a quick jogger and one that does not need to jog everyday day to keep up her ability to go the distances.  She does different aerobics and cardio with weights workouts and has become a force to be reckoned with!   This morning we went for a jog on one of the locations along the Potomac river past National Airport.  This was one of the runs I did as training for the Army Ten Miler  9 years ago.  We set a jog to point that I knew was really far away but she did not have her sense of direction or distance working so she had  no idea how far away our goal was.  We ended up jogging for 1 hour and 20 minutes.  I was gassed out at the point we turned around (we did not make our planned destination) and once we made it back to our starting point we had be jogging for 1 hour and 20 minutes.   She could have gone more.  I was done at the turn around but managed to keep putting one foot in front of the other all the way back and have enough to do a short sprint once our stopping point was in site.  I took off like she never saw me more before but I had no chance of making it to the end,  she caught me once I slowed and she was waiting for me at the finnish line.   She is amazing and she does not realize how much more she could do jogging/running.  This was a super morning workout.

Once we were done cooling off with a walk we went to a diner for some breakfast.  Not a great choice but I did OK ordering off the menu.  I went with 2 eggs scrambled with a slice of cheese, sausage, home fries and toast, and a coffee.I came up with meal being about 880 calories.  Pretty big for a breakfast.  We ran some errands and decided to go for a hike with her brother in Rock Creek Park.  We kept it short and went for a little over an hour.   I was surprised how good it felt hiking since my legs and knees were sore from the morning jog.

We got home and it was evening already and time for me to make some dinner.  My wife did make us chicken breast wraps and cut up veggies and fruit for lunch so it was only fair.  I had bought an eggplant the other day and decided to chop it up and cooked to a mush with 2 cans of fire roasted tomatoes, a red pepper, some onion and some frozen spinach.  In a seperate pot I took 2 cans of chick peas and boiled them.  Once they were seasoned well I mashed them up into a paste and added some instant mashed potatoes to thicken them up.   This meal was great!  The eggplant combination could have gone in a few different directions.  Tonight it was a middle/far eastern  meal.  I could have easily made it into a pasta sauce and an Italian meal.  Here is what it looked like:

We both loved it.  We had some fruit salad as a dessert and I had some Special K cracker chips as an evening snack.   For the day I consumed 2,282 calories.  That was pretty good considering my breakfast was such a high calorie one.   I am soo done and ready

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Week 15 Day 5

Posted on May 20, 2011 by admin

IT HAPPENED!

I knew the day would come.   The continuous hard work has been paying off.   Life is good.

My alarm started me awake this am and I really wanted to just sleep in.  I was feeling beat and knew an additional 1-2 hours of sleep would really improve my mental aquity and I would feel refreshed.  I got up anyway because the gym was calling my name and I needed to go.  I was slow moving and sore and considered talking my wife into a neighborhood jog (so I would not have to exercise as long) but she was not looking to jog today so I crawled into the gym.  I did not feel like jogging but knew I needed to do some running to get the most out of my time there.  I convinced myself I should try for a best time today to get my mile over with as soon as possible.  I was chocking and gagging my way through jogging 6.0 miles per hour.  I even had sped it up to 6.2 for a while.  I made it about half a mile before I realized I was actually close to throwing up so I eased back the speed to 5.5 mph.  I did that for a bit and realized I had a small chance of finishing my mile under 10 minutes if I got back up to 6.2 mph,  so I did.  As hard as I pushed I could not overcome the deficict of time.  I did make a new fastest time for me though.  I did a mile in 10:13!  Not bad.  I will be under 10 minutes in another few weeks.  I was so excited that after I walked a few minutes I went back to jogging for 7 minutes to get the bonus effort in.  I then moved to the elliptical machine for 25 minutes.  So this morning was only a 45 minute workout, it was partly very intense, and I set a new best time for a mile.  All this before 5 am!  As I was making my way to the door I had a strange encounter with a fellow patron of the gym.  He is not one of the regular early birds that I see 3-4 times a week.  He is either new  or starting earlier than normal.  So he is getting water at the fountain and commented I had been doing cardio for long time. (OK no strange, some may think 45 minutes is a long time)  A little small talk and I explain I an trying for 60 minutes a morning but fall short most days, like today with only 45 minutes.  So the next question he asks me……drum roll please……Are you a mountain climber?  I am thinking WTF?  am I too tired to understand him?  Is he speaking englisg?  Is this candid camera?   Am I being Punk’d?  Nope he was serious.  So I walked away and mentioned I do sometimes hike and wished him a great day.

WOW a mountain climber.  WTF?  I have been mistaken for a football player more than once with my size.  I have been asked if I was a police officer or deputy sherric before also.  I sometimes still get asked if I am in the military, but mountain climber?   I am getting in better shape but I am still big!  Climbers are lean and muscular like marathon runners or tri-athletes.   That is a new one for me.   One thing I can say for sure I am a magnet for crazy.

After a story like that the rest of the day was dull.  I had regular meals and snacks all day upto my afternoon trip to the gym.   I weighted in and say I was under 300 and was soo excited.  I decided to ride the bike for 15 minutes to get my heart pumping and then I hit the weights.  I was late getting to the gym again and the free weights area was busy so I hit the universal machines today.

triceps/dip press
150lbs-20
180-10,10

shoulder press
50-12
70-10,8

chest press
120-12,10,8

leg press
210-10,10,10

leg extensions
90-10,10,10

Lat pull downs
150-6
135-8
120-10

and that concluded my lifting for the day. Not a great workout but a fair workout. I did hit most of my body parts and did get 3 sets in for each exercise.

On the way home I decided to stop and get some middle eastern for dinner. I chose lamb kebabs and chicken kebabs. My wife and I shared some of each. I also added 2 side dishes, one of spinach and one of lentels.Even with this bigger meal I still finished the day with 2,424 calories consumed.   Not bad.  Tomorrow we plan on going for a jog together befor deciding on what other activitites we may do.  Here’s to a fun filled weekend

 

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Week 15 Day 4

Posted on May 19, 2011 by admin

Time keeps on slipping,  into the future……Do, Do do…Do Do do,  Fly like an eagle….

Today was a very satisfying day.  I had 2 good workouts,  I at well and work went OK.  My working hard and not sleeping enough has caught up to me today and I crashed when I got home.  I fell asleep for 45 minutes.  It felt good!   I hope I can manage a good night sleep tonight and make it through Friday with no issues.

(In a deep announcer’s voice)  Now back to our regularly scheduled blog entry.

My morning workout was 20 minutes jogging and 30 minutes on the elliptical machine.  I had planned to jog more but I was feeling beat so I shortened the time some.  Hey this is real life and things don’t always go as planned.

I went back to the house, took a quick shower and got busy making some breakfast.  I switched things up and started with some cut up banana and an apple.  I also ate a yoplait light yogurt.  That was not enough so I ate 2 hard boiled eggs and 2 turkey sausages.   That ended up being 490 calories.  Not bad but closer to 400 is better.  I packed fruit and special K bars for snacks at work and I had a hearty salad for lunch.  I added the leftovers of ground beef, black eyed peas and salsa over the salad.  I also added 1/2 an avocado and some light sour cream.  It was tasty and fueled me trough the day.  I also enjoyed a tart grapefruit as dessert.  This was a 630 calorie lunch, and that might be too big on a normal day but I have been working like a dog and did not feel bad eating it.  If I skipped the grapefruit I would have been close to 500 calories and that would be fine.   Dinner also turned out to a bigger meal.  I was really hungry for some reason and had 2 salad bowls for dinner.  Here is what the toppings to the salad looked like.

STEAK!   I like steak.  I don’t eat it as much as I used to but boy do I enjoy it when I do.

Pan roasted red potatoes, red pepper, onion, garlic cloves, and asparagus made up this tasty dish.  With the second bowl I ended up eating a 725 calorie dinner.  I used some balsamic vinegar as the dressing.   The old me would have drowned this creation in 3 or 4 servings of blue cheese dressing and push this meal into the 1,200 +  calorie territory.  Really there is no need to do that.

I decided on a garage weight lifting routine today instead of going to the gym. This was an easy choice since I did take a nap and the gyms would have been packed like yesterday.  Here is what I did:

Squats

70lbs-10
90-10
110-10
138-10
167-10

overhead presses starting at the floor
90-5,5,5

overhead presses from shoulders
90-8,8

bent over rows
90-5
110-5
138-5
167-5

dead lifts
167-5,5,5

That did it for me and brought me to dinner. It is late and I need some rest, so good night for now. One parting thought,  soar  like an eagle or laugh like a Joker?

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Week 15 Day 3

Posted on May 18, 2011 by admin

Can I get a BOOYAH?
I’ll send one back to ya!
You have no idea do ya?
how about a halelulyah!

Thank you, thank you very much I’ll be here all week.

What a day it was. I feel great and felt that way all day. I had a really good workout this morning. I did 28 minutes jogging at 5.0 mph (I pushed the last 4 minutes up to 5.5 mph) and then did 20 minutes on the bike. The bike is a bit too easy but I did push it on the jog and I had another great day of work ahead of me.

I went home to make a wonderful breakfast of instant oatmeal, turkey sausages and 4 hard boiled egg whites with hot sauce.

That is not hot sauce in the instant oatmeal, it is strawberry flavor.

I worked hard all day again. One thing I forgot to mention is that I have to use the astairs at work. We are allowed to park on the 4th level in the garage and that means 2 trips up and down if I go to my truck at lunch time to eat. Also in the building we need to use the stairs but we are only working on the 1st and 2nd floors. That with my trips up and down a ladder and BAM! instant workout.

After work I went home to relax before heading to the gym. I rested way too long. I did not make it to bally’s until 6pm. The weight room was packed 3 deep on most equipment. Packed to the point I went and did 30 minutes on the elliptical machine instead. Oh but I forgot to mention the best part! I weighed myself and here is what I saw.

I am almost under 300 lbs! That is unbelievible. That pumped me up in a big way. This was also not first thing in the morning when I normally weigh in so I might be under and not know it. This Saturday should be the real test.

I ate well all day and packed food for work. I have been eating fruit and a special K bar (90 calories) for my morning break and fruit on the drive home now. My calorie intake for the day is low even with an evening snack. I chose an apple and some JIF peanut butter with honey as the night time snack. It hit the spot and I had consumed 1,799 calories. I am under by a bunch. I don’t feel like I missed a meal and I checked my tracking at livestrong.com and did not forgt to record anything so that is cool. I think it was my salmon over salad for dinner that kept the calories low and I did not pack 2 lunches and eat them both like I did yesterday.

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Week 15 Day 2

Posted on May 17, 2011 by admin

So what to say? I don’t really have much on my mind. I had a good workout in the morning, I jogged 2 miles and then got on the elliptical machine for 25 minutes. That felt good. I was worried with how my body was aching from work but a good night of rest cured me of my pain. I went home for a good breakfast and darn it if I did not forget to boil my eggs AGAIN the night before. I remembered and am doing now as I write this. Not a problem though, I scrambled 3 eggs and added red pepper and crumbled blue cheese. I also had two sausages with it as well. It looked like a mess but it was good!

Work was another tough day but I kept my steel toe shoes in the car. I work my beat-up hiking boots. I figured if I was wearing booties over then anyway no one would notice the difference. I was right. Also there are folks doing walkthroughs, some of the women are wearing heels and being allowed in the areas so I am not going to sweat the hiking shoes, they look the part. There is no time to stand around of go for snacks so my eating is very good when on site. I did make the mistake of packing 2 lunches and I ate the second one on the way home after work. I will not do that in the future. I got home and I was pretty sore but not like yesterday. I rested for an hour then headed to the gym for an afternoon workout. Here is what I did:

Elliptical machine 15 minutes to warm up

Assisted pull-ups +115 lbs
5,5,6,5

bench press
135-15
185-6
225-1
185-6
135-15

squats
95-10
135-8
185-5
135-6

dumbbell dead lifts, 55lb dumbbells
6,6,6

That was good enough for today. The gym is packed later in the day and it is a challenge to get to some of what I wanted to use, I also did not hog the equipment going for extra lifts at squat box area. That is where I normally do my overhead presses and dead lifts, but not today.

My eating was good today,  I was a little over in calories at 2,360 calories, but I was working like a dog today and did workout twice!  I hope tomorrow I will be even less sore than today!

After laughing at the safety dance video yesterday I decided to find another to add today.   DON’T BE THAT GUY!

 

 

 

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Week 15 Day 1

Posted on May 16, 2011 by admin

The party is over,  I am back to work.  I miss vacation already.  I am working “off-site”  from my normal place of employment and have to wear a hard hat, eye protection and  steel toe safety shoes.

 

I am exhausted.  I typed up this great entry and poof…gone.

Here is a quick recap:

My body is killing me from being up and down a ladder all day at work.  I pulled cable and really feel sore.  Livestrong.com lists electrical work as an activity and I counted work as my afternoon workout.

Here are the pictures of some of my food today:

Breakfast of 2 scrambled eggs with cheese, 2 turkey sausage and 5 mini pancakes

Dinner was salmon over a wild greens salad with tomato and blue cheese crumbles.

I ate well today and kept my calories to 2,300.

I am beat, beaten down and ready for bed.  Tomorrow I will make sure I save the blog as I am typing sections to save it from what happened today.

 

 

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Week 14 Day 7

Posted on May 15, 2011 by admin

Are you a gambling man?   Do you feel lucky?   Well do you?

Weather today was 60% and up of rain and thunderstorms.  It turned out to be a great day.  We won this time.

I went to the gym first thing this morning and was able to run.  I did a mile in 12:30, walked 2.5 minutes then jogged another 5 minutes, walked 3 jogged 5 and walked 2 for 30 minutes total on the treadmill.  Not bad. I then followed up on the elliptical machine for another 30 minutes.  I felt like I had a good workout.  I had a good sweat and my muscles let me know I worked them.

On the way home I did some grocery shopping and finally got home to enjoy breakfast.

4 egg whites, 2 morningstar sausages, 5 mini pancakes and an orange— 432 calories

It fueled my body and hit the shower to get ready to conquer the day.  The sky was clowdy so I caught up on some tv and websites that I have been missing and before I knew it it was lunch time.

I had some ground turkey meatloaf, mashed red potatoes, broccoli, and some brown gravy for 468 calories.

After some time We decided to go to Theodore Roosevelt Island near Key Bridge.  We enjoyed a 2.78 mile hike through diverse scenery.  We saw lots of flowers!

Part of the trail is a boardwalk through a swampy marsh area.

If you pay attention you can see some of the local wildlife.

There were plenty of folks out enjoying this potential rainy day.  Once the fun was done it was time to get home.  I debated whether to go to the gym but since we walked the park for an hour I was comfortable with not going.     After some more TV it was dinner time!

Tonight we made chicken breast, Cheese filled tortellini,  sun dried alfredo sauce, and we added red pepper, 2 bunches of asparagus and some portobello mushrooms.

This meal was vegitable-rific.  I ate about 750 calories for my mail meal.  I used Livestrong.com to estimate the ingerients and portions to come up with the estimate.  We had a fruit salad with yogurt for dessert.

The Strawberries and grapes covered in yogurt don’t look all that great but boy was it tasty!     This had about another 70-100 calories.

My totals for the day was 2,410 calories.  This included a snack of jif peanut butter and honey with an apple as well as a special K fruit crisp bar I shared with my wife during the walk.  I probably should have skipped the peanut butter but it was something I wanted.

Tomorrow I am back on the construction site.  It is going to be interesting.   The guys have been going 7 days a week while I was on vacation.   I will not be staying late since I will need to continue my focus on getting back to a healthy weight and conditioning.   I expect my eating with be real

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