The Sunday to Sunday loss this week is 3.2lbs. I’m a little surprised at that since I really haven’t done any regular exercise since Sunday, although I always adjust my calories down if I skip a workout. I’ve also felt generally without energy all week. I attributed some of this to an exceptionally heavy period so that may also explain the weight loss. I’ve also got a pretty nasty bruise on the one knee that I really don’t remember doing anything that would cause it. Oh well, I’ll just be happy with the loss and hope that I don’t find next week is a low one. The 9-week loss is 19.4lbs (2.16/week) which is usually the ‘number’ I look at to see how things are going overall. The other little compulsive number I look at is how many days I’ve been ‘on plan’ primarily with food. I still consider the maintenance week ‘on plan’ since I accomplished what I wanted to. So, since I started keeping track this is day 296 on plan with food.

I also feel I should at least acknowledge that I passed a milestone this week. I started back to my weight loss on December 7th of last year at 358.2 pounds. A depressing number as the first time I lost weight I had gone well past that point. So as of this week I’m 100.2 pounds below that point, a little earlier than I expected. I thought I would be happy if I hit that amount lost in a year, and here I am having hit it a full 6 weeks earlier than that. So… why am I not happy? I find with each milestone that I tend to end up more depressed than happy. I’m not really sure why. I can’t simply focus on the achievements. I tend to focus too much on the negatives. ie. I’m still considered morbidly obese, I still have a hell of a long way to go, etc. I’m not looking for validation on the positives (really, I’m not) I just can’t seem to shake the negatives away.

Anyway, this week’s chart:

Today really was a pretty lazy day.  I did a few small tasks, some of my homework, and smoked the beef roast.  I think it turned out pretty well (I’ll divide it up tomorrow).  At some point in the day I thought of maybe doing some cardio but never got enthusiastic about it.  Just didn’t have the energy for it.  Even now I’m sitting here yawning so I’m off to bed.  Because of my not so busy day I think tomorrow will be a busy one though. 

Food for the day:

Total: 2011 (27% fat, 39% carbs, 31% protein)

Breakfast: two fried eggs, honey oatmeal bread, jam, fruit salad (385)
AM Snack: protein shake (180)
Lunch: turkey spaetzle soup, honey oatmeal bread, pear (405)
PM Snack: hummus, carrots, flatbread (268)
Dinner: spicy meatloaf, bean/carrot blend, butter, salad w/dressing (466)
Late Snack: fruit salad, protein shake (307)

Somewhere along the way I ran out of time today. I did stay and have a beer with some of the guys and then did some errands on the way home. After dinner I put up the piece of 2×4 that the neighbour cut and did a few more tasks. Oh, and I broke down and ordered a couple of assistance bands, as I’m really not going anywhere without some help.

Lots of tasks for tomorrow and Sunday including smoking a blade roast, homework, laundry, some studying, and if the weather is nice - some garden work. Right now I’m headed for bed!

Food for the day:

Total: 2014 (14% fat, 45% carbs, 33% protein)

Breakfast: protein shake with oatmeal and frozen berries (331)
AM Snack: none (0)
Lunch: whole wheat tortillas, mustard, smoked turkey, apple (428)
PM Snack: beer, zucchini spice cake (264)
Dinner: whole wheat spaghetti with meat sauce and parmesan cheese, salad w/dressing (712)
Late Snack: fruit salad, protein shake (307)

I really should have taken my exercise stuff with me today. After figuring I wouldn’t bother we got out even earlier than usual from the first class. So I had lots of time to kill. I wasn’t even productive with my time as the guys showed up and I just sat around talking with them. One of the others was like me, said he got more done when he was on his own. Other weeks I’ve had my review questions done from the morning class before the second class. Oh well.

Oh, and thanks for nice neighbours. The fellow next door is going to cut me a piece of 2×4 tomorrow. I knew he’d have some around. He’s got a woodshop built in his backyard. Actually, he paneled our dining room. It’s kind of a long story but when we bought the house it had horrible dark paneling on it. The painter who came in to paint the house convinced us to use anaglypta paper over it. Of course it shifted and cracked. Behind the paneling though is plaster which was a mess when we took it off eventually. The fellow next door made this suggestion and I do think it turned out nicely. I found a picture of it (obviously a different year as we certainly don’t have it decorated for Christmas yet).

So, anyway, I figure I’ll be all set to hang off the bar by Sunday when I’m doing my Power Training workout. Although I’m not sure that hanging off the bar counts as a vertical pull exercise.

Ooops - I just realized that some of you may not know what I’m talking about.  I think I posted it in the 300+ forum, just didn’t mention it here.  I decided that I would finally do kind of a ‘reward’ thing.  Originally I was going to do it at 250-lbs or even 257-lbs (100 pounds from where I started in December last year), but I jumped the gun and… bought a pull-up / chin-up bar.  I will likely also get some assistance bands because I mainly just hang on it (wow, I could pull myself off the stool I was kneeling on… about an inch).  I bought it yesterday when I was out of town (just worked out that way).  Although it’s supposedly good to 300 pounds (which yay, I’m well under) I didn’t like it on the only suitable doorway in the basement, which is where I want to use it.  So I’m making a minor modification to the door between the bar and the laundry room so I can use it there instead. 

Food for the day:

Total: 1997 (28% fat, 38% carbs, 32% protein)

Breakfast: egg/egg white omelet with cheese, cracked wheat oatmeal bread, jam, fruit salad (473)
AM Snack: none (0)
Lunch: whole wheat tortillas, mustard, eye of round, apple, zucchini spice cake (514)
PM Snack: carrots, hummus, zucchini spice cake (264)
Dinner: chicken thighs with tomato/curry sauce, bean and carrot blend, salad w/dressing (471)
Late Snack: fruit salad, protein shake (276)

Had a great morning / afternoon at my old place of work. Not the one that I quit, but the other plant I was working in before I took the promotion to the second plant. I was there for about an hour before lunch, went to lunch with a friend, and then spent about another hour there. Was told more times than I was probably comfortable with how well I looked (and younger a few times). Although a lot of these people saw me through my first attempt at weight loss when I left I was about 50-lbs heavier and still not really recovered from my hospitalization. The company is still going through tough times, which I really hope they manage to weather.

I also managed to keep lunch in check at a buffet-style restaurant with lots of lettuce, a few chick peas/tomatoes, a small spoonful of pasta (logged as 1/4 cup but not even that much), and plenty of roasted chicken (with the skin off). Added a little melon for dessert and it was a nice lunch.

My back feels better, just an occasional twinge. I will likely skip tomorrow’s lifting and then get back to it on Sunday, paying more attention to form. From where it is I think it’s probably the one-arm dumbbell snatch that I have to be really careful with. I don’t plan on going any higher with them for a while, but may even push it back to 45-lbs and see how I feel.

Ended up taking a whirlpool in the evening (about an hour ago) which was nice.  I’m still not a great fit in the tub, however, I can at least turn the jets on.  This was something I never did before as I pretty much blocked two of them.  I’m still a little later than I thought getting to bed, but I’ll sleep in until 8am tomorrow so that’s okay as long as I’m asleep within about an hour.

Food for the day:

Total: 2003 (19% fat, 46% carbs, 34% protein)

Breakfast: protein shake with oatmeal and frozen berries (331)
AM Snack: none (0)
Lunch: lettuce, marinated tomatoes, chick pea salad, roast chicken, pasta (spoonful), mixed melons (455)
PM Snack: carrots, hummus, flatbread (265)
Dinner: whole wheat spaghetti with meat sauce and parmesan cheese, salad w/dressing (662)
Late Snack: fruit salad, protein shake (291)

(Written in two bits, posted as one.  So it doesn’t quite make sense.)

So, no workout today.

The slight pain in my lower side seemed worse this morning (sitting the hard chairs at school seems to make it twinge). I thought it might not be too bad so planned to workout anyway. I was getting ready, which involves moving and laying out a medium/heavy rubber mat, and realised that there was just no way I was lifting weights today. I’ll probably drop the cardio tomorrow as well and see how it feels Thursday morning.

Really, when it comes down to it, I just feel crappy. Today I was so cold in my first class (a lecture hall that tends to the cool side) that I went out and got my coat. I wore it for a good part of the day and then spent 10-15 mins in one of the offices on my way out and ended up overheated. Can’t win.

I’ve also got my period and I’ve got cramps. So all around I’m just in a bad mood. I don’t know why either, but they’re coming a little closer together than usual. Although, just the last two, and only a day or so, but I’d become so used to them being regular. They’ve been more regular since March which was nice.

Okay, enough rambling. I’m going to see if I can catch up on some stuff before it’s time to make dinner.

- - -

Nothing much to add for today.  School was, well, school.  Got another good mark in Communications (14/15) which keeps me over the 90% mark.  We did another in class assignment today and he’s promising to mark them quickly and let us know where we stand (out of 35).  The only thing I don’t like about the course is that 30% of your mark comes from a group report with an oral presentation.  I know that some of the ummm ‘mature’ students are concerned about that.  We aren’t allowed to pick our groups and some of them feel (and I think I agree) that we’ll end up picking up the slack as WE want as good a mark as possible.  So, we’ll see how that goes.

Tomorrow I’m going to have a high protein breakfast (I think a shake) and then I’m not sure what I’ll do for lunch.  I’m going to visit with some people that I used to work with and we’ve left it open for coffee and/or lunch.  It’s unfortunate as I think our favourite restaurant is closed.  I say too bad because it had some pretty decent choices.  Oh well, we’ll see what happens.

Food for the day:

Total: 1993 (23% fat, 41% carbs, 33% protein)

Breakfast: protein shake with oatmeal and frozen berries (331)
AM Snack: chocolate zucchini cake (156)
Lunch: whole wheat tortillas, sirloin steak, mustard, apple (416)
PM Snack: carrots, hummus (178)
Dinner: chili with cheese, multi-grain tostidos, salad w/dressing (681)
Late Snack: fruit salad, protein shake (231)

Never much of a post on a Monday night.  I have to be up 8 hours from… now.  Once again I seem to have become the ‘go to’ person for math (and AutoCAD today, which is scary).  We were early in the lecture hall today for Math and I ended up working out a couple of problems for people (including one at the board so I could add a diagram).  So that’s about all I have to say.  Just adding the food.

Food for the day:

Total: 1997 (25% fat, 34% carbs, 37% protein)

Breakfast: protein shake with oatmeal and frozen berries (331)
AM Snack: none (0)
Lunch: whole wheat tortillas, sirloin steak, mustard, apple, chocolate zucchini cake (494)
PM Snack: carrots, hummus, soy nuts (312)
Dinner: szechwan stir-fry, salad w/dressing (585)
Late Snack: fruit salad, protein shake (276)

I’m not done for the day, but I have to prep dinner for tomorrow and then I’m going to try and get into bed early. So, I’m just going to add in my food for the day and then stay away from the computer.

Food for the day:

Total: 2303 (29% fat, 30% carbs, 39% protein)

Breakfast: egg/egg white omelet with cheese, honey oatmeal bread, jam (370)
AM Snack: none (0) - didn’t have breakfast until quite late
Lunch: whole wheat tortillas, eye of round, cheese, apple (538)
PM Snack: protein shake with frozen berries (284)
Dinner: sirloin steak, corn, butter, salad w/dressing (663)
Late Snack: fruit salad, whole wheat tortillas, cheese (447)

I started off with 3 mins cardio (walking/jogging on the spot), the prescribed warm-ups, and then did:

Power Training - Strength Training (weeks 4-6)
Workout B1 (2 of 10)

1: One-arm Dumbbell Snatch - 47.5t/3, 47.5t/3, 47.5t/3, 50t/3
2: Bulgarian Split Squat - 55t/6, 55t/4, 55t/3, 55t/2
3: Supine Hip Extension - 6, 4, 3, 2
4: One-arm Dumbbell Incline Bench Press - 45e/6, 45e/4, 45e/3, 47.5e/2
5: Bent-over Row - 125t/6, 125t/4, 135t/3, 135t/2
6: Dumbbell Alternating Press - 32e/6, 32e/4, 35e/3, 35e/2
7: Pullovers, Barbell - 55t/6, 55t/4, 60t/3, 60t/2
8: Corkscrew - 22t/8, 22t/8, 25t/8, 25t/8
9: Four-point Plank - 30sec, 45sec, 45sec, 45sec

Total time: 70 mins
HR monitor: 361 cals, Max: 151 (85%), Avg: 110 (62%)

Well, not a bad workout. I finally managed to get that 50-lb dumbbell over my head. Although barely on the left side. I don’t plan to go up any higher with this movement (most I could do is another 2-lbs, then I’m out of weights). What I’ll aim for is better form and getting 50 pounds for all sets. I know on the left I couldn’t have done a fourth, so we’ll see how the next workout goes.

The Sunday to Sunday loss this week is 2.0lbs. The 9-week loss is 17.8lbs (1.98/week) which is usually the ‘number’ I look at to see how things are going overall. The other little compulsive number I look at is how many days I’ve been ‘on plan’ primarily with food. I still consider the maintenance week ‘on plan’ since I accomplished what I wanted to. So, since I started keeping track this is day 289 on plan with food.