Keep Me Accountable

Well now that you’re all here, this is the reason I’m doing this again. I’m trying to lose some weight and I want your help. I’m planning on using this as an online weight loss diary. So here goes.

My starting weight is 232lbs. Geez I’m fat slow and tired. Us Younger men are generally pretty much barrel bodied, you know kind of round around the middle. I’m going to keep my goals small, that way I hopefully have some sense of accomplishment when I achieve them. My first goal is 220. My whole adult life I’ve bounced between 220 and 230. To me my weight is really just a number, I actually try to keep some muscle on me, nobody looks at a skinny, gaunt runner and says ” Wow he looks great without any shoulders, and those skinny arms, WOW!”. Those online weight calculators say I should be around 190. I’ve never been below 200 since high school. The lightest I’ve been is 203 and I was pretty thin then but it wasn’t maintainable for me.

My job does a pretty good job of keeping my arms muscular but they need definition. So back to the weight bench I go. In  an attempt to slim down I’m also going to be using my treadmill, also known as the hamster wheel. I’ve posted this before but it bears reposting. It’s pretty much what I look like on it.

What I need out of you is to keep me going make sure that I am doing what I say I’m going to do. Please leave comments of encouragement, inspiration, or motivation ( even if it’s tough love). I tend to lose interest and I start making excuses why I can’t work out. I’m tired, I’m sore , I’m too busy, I don’t want to mess up my hair. The same excuses that I’m sure some of you have used. I’ll keep you posted.

P.S I did my first workout yesterday and it went pretty well except for the making my self a little sick. Guess I over did it a bit. I’m really sore this morning. Ouch! Today is leg day , I won’t be able to walk tomorrow.

Working Out Update

It’s been a few weeks since I updated on progress. Well to begin with our scale broke and it took a couple of weeks to replace. I also kind of relaxed in my workouts, I became over confident in reaching my goal. In the past few weeks I’ve gained three pounds. I’m back to 218 dang it. This past week The spirit was willing to do the workouts but the flesh was weak. I ran on the treadmill Sunday and my back was bothering me the rest of the week. I finally had enough of the pain last night and put in a mile anyway. It felt good, no pain from my back. I’ll be getting on with my time on the hamster wheel today. I’m wanting to put up a big number this week so I’ll be working out hard and eating next to nothing. If I start to hurt I’ll work through the pain if possible.To quote Jack Lalane ” If you’re over forty, you’re going to have aches and pains. Get over it!”

Working Out Update

It’s been a few weeks since I updated you on the battle of the bulge. That’s because there hasn’t been a lot to tell. I plateaued again for a couple of weeks, but this week I lost 4lbs. I don’t have a clue how. I was only able to get in one workout this week and I had to cut that workout  short. I’ll take the miracle weight loss. By the way I’m now 215, I’m down 20 lbs since starting. I only have 5 more to get to the point were I get into the prize round of the contest at work. Although that isn’t why I’m doing this. It’s just a nice reward if I win something. The contest ends the end of March so I’m way ahead of the game. Most of the other people in the contest haven’t lost much so I think I’m in the lead.

Working Out Update: Plateau Neau Meau!

I know you’ve all been waiting for the next installment of my battle of the bulge. Here it is, I’m off the grand mesa. I’ve lost 3 lbs this week. Yippeee!! Finally, I’m 220 I’ve now lost 15lbs total. I need to lose 10 more to qualify for the prize drawing in the contest at work. This week I’m on vacation and I’m going to try to ” Two a Day” all week. Two a day is a football term for two practices in one day. So I’ll be working out twice a day. By the end of the week I’ll be sore, tired and hopefully lighter than this week.

P.S My klutzy companion contused a kanee { needed to give knee a K sound to make it funny} carrying cutouts in a closet . She now has a lot of pain in her knee and has trouble walking so she will be resting this week.

Working Update: Cookies And Chocolate And Shin Splints, OH MY!

Well I’m still on the grand mesa{ I plateaued} I’m still 223. Dang it! I blame Christmas, all that good stuff I’m not supposed to be eating. But I did anyway. My particular temptation is chocolate. Like the Siren’s song it calls me. Like the moth to the flame I’m drawn to it. Like a mosquito to a bug zapper, I’m mesmerised by it until ZAAAAPPPP! I’m 240 again.

This is what I think the chocolate sings to me{ To the tune of Twinkle, twinkle Little star}

Bryan, Bryan, here we are,

In the kitchen,

We’re near not far.

In the bowl,

In foil so bright,

Come and eat us,

At midnight.

Bryan, Bryan, here we are.{ Repeat until all chocolate is devoured}

On to the shin splints. For those of you that have never had them let me explain what they are. Your muscles have little fibers around them. When you exercise the muscle it fills with blood. The muscle expands stretching those fibers. With a shin splint the fibers get stretched to far and become painful. I was on the hamster wheel{ treadmill} on Monday and I got to the part where I run{ that’s a relative term} in the computerized routine. I get about halfway through the run and realise that my shins hurt. I keep running, thinking ” No Pain, No Gain!!”. I get through the run portion and I’m back down to a walk now and I can’t keep up with the treadmill. I hang on to the hand rails for dear life trying to avoid making one of those funny treadmill videos. I’m in a lot of pain, but I finish. The funny thing about shin splints is once the blood leaves the muscle the pain goes away. While you are exercising them though they hurt really bad. I know I sound like a sissy man complaining about a little pain, but I have a really high pain tolerance. I broke my knee when I was 14 and that was the most pain I’ve ever been in. I’ve had pain in it ever since. I once had shin splints when I went through football camp. They started acting up after a long run. It was like someone hit me in the shins with a baseball bat. My legs literally colapsed from the pain until the muscles calmed down. So you see it can be very painful. I took it easy on  the legs for a couple of days and they seem to be OK now.

In order to escape from the plateau, I need to work harder. My weight routine has not been my best effort. So I need to improve on that. I may intensify the treadmill routine too. And I need some earplugs to keep from hearing the siren’s song again.

Working Out Update

My scale decided to start freaking out so as near as I can tell I plateaued. I’m still 223, I think. I thought I did pretty well this week but I did miss a couple of workouts. I decided one night that my daughter a granddaughter were more important than working out{ what was I thinking? just kidding!} and the other time we had to go shopping . We needed food. Oh well there’s always next week, you Christmas week. I’m sure I won’t be doing any cheating on the diet this week! HA!

Working Out Update { aka. The Lost Week}

Well, life got busy this week and so my routine was interrupted. We were decorating the church and spending many hours there. I missed three workouts and pretty much blew the diet. I was eating stuff  loaded with fat { fast food a couple of times} and eating way late for me. I try to stop eating at around 7pm so I don’t have a lot of food just sitting in my stomach. But  it was fun being with my friends at a meal late at night{ Thanks Guys} so it was worth it. I guess I should get to the weight confession. I still lost 2 pounds, amazing. I don’t know how, but I’ll take it. I’m now 223. I want to be under 220 by next weekend. I’ll have to work out harder this week than last though, I don’t think I’ll lose two pounds again doing what I did this week.

p.s I’m really proud of Pearl she lost 4 pounds this week and is working really hard at getting healthy. She was diagnosed as diabetic and is trying to stay off insulin by losing weight and eating better. She’s  looking really good too!

Working Out Update

Well I weighed myself this morning. I’m down another 3 pounds to 225. Not as much as I had hoped for but at least I’m going in the right direction. I was kind of worried that I might gain. I felt like I wasn’t making progress. I could probably do a little better on the diet part. I’m eating pretty well at work but when I get home I tend to want to snack. Why does food have that pull on me ?

Working Out Update

I’m down two more pounds to 228. I’m happy with that. I spent two whole days just sitting on my butt at jury duty, not to mention Thanksgiving. I just didn’t burn the calories I normally do. That is one thing I like about my job, it keeps me moving and active. I’m aiming for five pounds again this week. I’m planning on intensifying my weight training. That should help jump start the weight loss.

Working Out Update

My scale at home is different than the official scale at work but I will use the weights from my scale for this blog. My weight at home was 235 to start this week. I’ve lost 5lbs in week one making me 230. Pretty good start. Sixteen weeks to go. The diet went pretty well except for some cookies that Audrey brought over. DANG! they were good!! I’m having major food cravings, anything with fat or sugar I want. I missed a couple of workouts I’ll have to do better on those. No funny accidents yet but they are coming… they always do.