Work Out, Weigh In, Write It Down

Today's weight: 183. Power 90 Sculpt done. I gave blood yesterday. Probably ought to consider that as part of the weight loss. I was really weak the rest of the day. Maybe I felt that way because I'm used to feeling stronger, where as in the past, hey, I was weak.

I am a week ahead of my schedule, not 5 lbs like I said yesterday. That means I'm only 2 lbs ahead of schedule. That's one plateau from failure to reach my goal. I was 10 lbs ahead of my projection a month ago and 13 lbs ahead of schedule on Oct. 3. On Oct 22 I was back to only about 2 days ahead of schedule and I stopped blogging and weighing in daily by October first I was 1 lb behind schedule (weight 190, goal 189/188). Is there a pattern here?

I caught back up by Saturday, but that was a loss of a nearly 15 lb lead in one month's time.

I think the answer to the question is "yes". I need to make a promise to myself to weigh in and blog daily. I did keep my journal most every day, but that's my journal and its not posted. There is something effective, motivating about posting this blog. I know most all of the fitness guru's out there suggest that weight be taken once a week. I understand that they want to keep people from getting discouraged. I can see that. But it doesn't discourage me. I can take the day-to-day fluctuations. And weighing daily helps me identify the plateaus when they come and gets me started fighting them early on.

I just need to make sure that no matter what, if I'm here and I'm not sick or running late getting ready for work, I need to work out, weigh in, and write it down. That helps keep me on task.

Here's a past treadmill HIIT I didn't post.

Do I look angry or what? I'll try to smile next time.

Late Update

Between being excedingly busy and wasting the little bit of descretionary time that I had, I haven't posted much lately. Here's a quick catch up on all that's been going on.

Progress is right on top of projection. If I fall off the wagon any more I could get behind the projections and miss my goal. So this is "fish or cut bait" time. Current weight is 187. Nutrition has been clean. I've kept up with the weight resistance and the HIIT routines. Sooner or later I'll have to start interspersing the sessions instead of trying to do one of each every day.


I was interested in watching what would happen to my appetite when I started getting my exercise regimen up to par. And it has happened as I thought/knew that it would: as I settled into a regular exercise routine, my appetite abated. It is absolutely necessary that I exercise just to keep appetite in check, not just to lose weight.

I've also seen a problem with the HIITs. Slowly they are turning into cardio sessions and not just intense intervals. The problem arises from trying to meet certain goals of time and distance. One of the easiest ways to reach the time/distance goals is to run longer, and that leads to sacrificing intensity to do longer runs. I will have to think through my HIIT goals to get myself back on track to focusing on intensity. The purpose of the HIITs is to burn fat and specifically to burn belly fat.

Monday, Monday

Been a bad boy. But I'm past Halloween. I've got a couple of days here by myself where I can focus on exercise and good nutrition. Once again, the first 10 lbs will fall off quickly. My goal is to be in the 170 range by 12/1 and at my goal by 12/31. I can do it. I will do it.

I have developed a problem here of making promises to myself that I'm not keeping. Not good. I actually should have already been at my goal weight of 178 if I had kept the original track.

I have a co-worker who is trying to lose some weight right now. That will be a help. We can hold each other accountable. Also we have had a coupled of schedule complicators: Dad's surgery and Judy's flu. Both of these put me in situations where I was not being very careful about nutrition and had to neglect some of my exercise. Hopefully that's out of the picture for now.

It also points to a problem I have of not handling the un-routine very well. I'm failing for lack of a rut. I'm a train in dire need of a dependable track. That's an issue I need to address.

I've been reviewing P90X. Yeah, it finally came in. I've decided (for some of the very reasons I addressed above) that I will wait until I return from the Christmas trips to start P90X. So, I've got two months to get ready for it.

So here goes a new week and a fresh start. I've completed Power 90 1-2 Sweat this morning and I plan to run this evening, though the thighs are still a little tender from the Friday run. I think if a person pushed hard enough on Power90 1-2 it would be enough to do amazing things. And what I've seen from my review of P90X is that it's Power 90 on steroids - very do-able while simultaneously very challenging. I can see from some of the routines why the people who do it are so confounded ripped when they get finished. Looking forward to March 31 (end of first P90X round). 2010 is the year of P90X for me. It's been three years and 160 lbs coming, but its here.

Ready, Set, . . .

Okay. Caught up on rest (I even fell asleep this evening watching the news and its anything but boring). Ms Judy is feeling better (flu, not H1N1). I'll start tomorrow with Power 90. I'll run after school tomorrow. So I should be back in the grove. I can tell my exercise is off, because my appetite is way on! What  a valuable lesson: exercise plenty, eat less. I'm also looking forward to what I do after this hiatus from my exercise routines while I was taking care of sick folks - first Dad, then the lovely and gracious Ms Judy.

Been a busy day so I'm off to bed so I can get up with a semblance of rest in the morning and start a really great day and slide into an outstanding weekend.

Long Trip Home

I returned from a long trip to my parents’ house to help take care of my father who had had knee replacement surgery. The combined trips added up to over 24 hours on the road. And some of that was some really late hour driving.
I was glad I could be there for my folks, but what a number I did on myself. My parents can have sweets around the house and just ignore them. If I know there's candy around, I catch myself going back again and again. It's like I can't leave it alone. Additionally I don't cook anything like my mother cooks. When I'm preparing meals the nutrition index is way up and the unwanteds (highly processed food, breads, and fried foods) are way down. It can be exactly the opposite there.

I went in without a plan and I gave in. But what I learned is the importance of going on trips with a well developed plan. That won't make nutrition perfect, but it will certainly keep me from being a total victim of really bad nutrition.

You see, I notice that it isn't just going to my parents' house that's a problem. It’s anytime I'm on the road. My bad nutrition started while I was driving to my parents' house, not when I walked in the door.

Before I go on another trip, I'll take some time to work on controlling nutrition/eating while on the road. I need to have a plan, a routine that I can turn to when I'm out of my own environment. The importance of planning - that can't be overemphasized enough when I'm preparing for a trip or circumstances require me to be out of my own element. I know how weak I can be around food I don't need. I also know how strong I can be in the same situations. I just need to plan to stay strong when I'm out on the road.

That planning is just as important at work. We're coming up on holidays. Today, the PTSO brought in all kinds of goodies for the teachers to eat. Lots of brownies are on the venue. I luv me some brownies. Thanksgiving is just a little further off and then comes Christmas. All these holidays are saturated with food traditions. The need to plan on how to get through these days is really important. I've already had one year where I lost ground to bad nutrition because I gave in to the food storm that came during the holidays.

So, a primary task for the next few days is to spend some time coming up with contingency plans and to develop some strategies for dealing with food issues while traveling or celebrating the holidays.

Things That Go "Bump"

My weight has been holding at 184 since Sunday, but I do expect a drop in the next few days. Looking at my nutrition (which hasn’t been perfectly clean – darn the Krispy Kremes, darn the Krsipy Kremes! – but it hasn’t been much) there has to be a "let go" point. My weight going into the weekend was 182. I certainly haven’t eaten 7,000 superfluous calories since then. So for some reason there is a bump up that either will be gone soon or has some other explanation. I don’t think I u-turned back to Plateauville.


What could be causing this stubborn bounce? A primary cause might be the amount of salt I've eaten with the Mexican soup we've had the past three days and a resulting increase in fluid retention. It could also be the weight of the soup. It’s clean, but it’s heavy. No processed ingredients in it, just canned vegetables.

Another possibility is that here has been a gain in muscle mass. Could that happen so quickly? My muscles were possibly ready to grow after all the conditioning I had done. When I started pushing heavier weight, muscles responded immediately. I certainly can feel more definition between my pecs in the center of my chest.

Another possibility would be my body reacting to the loss in weight last week and purposely holding on to some fluids. This is a lot like the “too much salt” reason, but I’ve seen it before. I have some weight loss, nothing changes in nutrition or exercise, but the weight drop just suddenly stops for a few days. Then there is a sudden drop and the gradual weight loss resumes.

The real issue here is that it’s time to get down into the 170 range and stay there. I’m facing some challenges to that this weekend as I prepare to go to my parents’ house to be with my dad following his surgery. I’ve gotten to the age that I have fluid retention/swelling when I travel for long stretches of time. This is a twelve hour trip both ways. I won’t be surprised if I lose all definition in my feet – no more veins sticking out or tendons showing when I flex my foot. Also, Mom’s food is just plain toxic to me. She is the world’s greatest cook (no, really) and I’m a food-aholic. Why my parents aren’t human blimps I’ll never be able to figure out. If I spend just a few days there I start gaining pounds and pounds. And I’m about to spend a few days there. I will be challenged to practice some Spartan discipline while I’m there. The travel time will have a detrimental effect no matter. Here’s to striving for some positive results.

Just Being Accountable 10/17/09

I didn't get my HIITs in until this evening. I had already had supper before I went to the fitness center. The session went well. I reached the first 100-calorie burn before 10 minutes. I reached the second 100 calories burn by 16.5 minutes. I didn't reach 3 miles until 31.5 minutes, but, after all, I was running after supper. So I reached my early targets earlier and my later targets a little later. Still, a great set of sprints. I hit several 9's, a couple of 10's, 10.5 and one brave attempt at 11.  Can't wait for Power 90 in the morning. P90X should be here in just a couple of days.

Progress Log

I wish I knew why I waited so long to set up a progress log for my workouts. I remember when I first started this journey toward better health and began by regularly going to the fitness center. I carried a small binder with me. I had the different exercises broken down on separate pages and included a table showing date, weight and reps for each one. It was easy to track my progress and to tell when I needed to push for additional weight on each exercise. It worked well. I didn't have to remember and I didn't subjectively go by what I felt like doing. I had a record and knew what to do to make progress.

In just the few days that I've been doing this with the Power 90 sculpt sessions, I've already been able to push myself beyond what I was doing. And it is a much more intense workout. I find myself gasping for air at the end of sets and pushing to make my reps. The end result will be definite gains in strength.

Keep a log of your progress. It will keep you on track, moving ahead with your goals as you seek to build the muscle needed to burn calories and fill out physique.

Today I will have to work to squeeze in the HIITs at Peak. I have an important meeting immediately after school at an office in town. I'll need to change there before going to the center, and all that gets to be a bit complicated. But I'll do it. I'm facing problems enough with consistency this week with the trip to my parents for Daddy's knee replacement surgery. But I'll do it because I'm so close to reaching the long term goals I set.

On Course

Finished with Power 90 this morning. Why did I keep putting off making that tracking log to go with the workouts? Today, instead of going by memory, I was able to look at the written record of what I had done previously and make progressive adjustments.

I've never used a tracking sheet before and had seen progress when I had done Power 90 rounds in the past. I had been indoctrinated by my own bad habits of the past and my satisfaction with what was probably much less than optimal results. I look forward to reporting some significant strength gains as I finish up this round before going to P90X.

Weight was 182 again today. That's great, because I expected a bump back up. My weight had suddenly dropped down to that level and looked like it was a fluctuation. I do plan to get in a run today. If it turns out that I don't I will try a Power 90 Sweat session. I haven't been doing the cardio aspect of Power 90 at all. I've only focused on the sculpt. Living in an upstairs apartment makes me a bit conscious of noise I'm making on the floor. So I've avoided the jumping around of Power 90 Sweat. But daytime noise should not be such an issue and I guess I should go down, introduce myself and let them know what I'm doing and that I will be careful about it. Just wanting to be a good (healthy) neighbor.

Finishing the Day

Good set of HIITs at the fitness center. I went up to several 9 MPHs, 9.5 MPHs, even 10 MPHs. I felt great afterward. I reached 100 calories burned before 10 minutes, 200 calories at 16.5 minutes, 300 calories at 24.5. I reached 3 miles at 3 minutes, 5 seconds. I did more sprints until I broke 400 calories burned. There was a 5 minute warmup at the beginning and a 5 minute cool down at the end.

 

Later in the evening I made Mexican soup. Some of the best I've ever made. No processed contents. High protein beans with corn, peppers, brown rice, and grilled chicken. Time to wrap this day up and get some rest.