Why is it I can be pretty good during the week but lose all control on the weekends?
So, this past week was an example of what not to do. Trips to restaurants involving large steaks. Large amounts of pizza. All kinds of bad deals.
If I'm out here talking about it, it means I haven't given up. I'm going to double my efforts.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
That's it? Try again.
Only three pounds this week. For the average dieter with 20 pounds to lose, that's a lot in one week. I'm not average.
I had some portion control successes and food choice failures. Tuesday is a good example. I went out to eat with a friend. We intended to go someplace where healthy choices were possible. That proved impractical, so we decided for another healthy option. Three closed restaurants later we decided to eat what came to hand. A Fish & Chips place was across the street from the last closed restaurant we visited. I ordered Chicken & Fries. They gave me an extra chicken finger - I guess the guy thought he'd be nice to the fat guy - awww! However, when I sat down to eat, I don't think I ate half of what was there. I fill up pretty fast these days. So, had I been eating a salad, it would have been better, but even eating chicken and fries I didn't do too bad.
Friday night I went out with a friend and I did the right thing. She ate a calzone and a beer - I had a salad and water. She worried about eating the calzone in front of me, but I was satisfied with the salad. I need more nights like that and less days like yesterday ...
I hung out with friends and watched the Seahawks get the crap kicked out of them. I made the choice for a quick meal just to put something in the tank on my way over - an Ultimate Breakfast sandwich at Jack in the Box. You'll notice, even though it was a sandwich from a fast food place, it was only once sandwich, no fried potato things or soda. I drank water I brought with me. I should have grabbed a bar instead of the sandwich. I know better.
Anyway, once there, I made decent if not perfect choices. I had some of the veggies, some sliced meat, a little cheese … a few crackers and about six chips. It's football - chips are mandatory! After the crushing defeat, I decided to them help myself to a large slice of the cheesecake that had been paraded in front of me. About an hour later, I found the croissant sandwich left overs and a Thomas Kemper Creme Orange soda. While eating the sandwiches, my belly hit full and reminded me I was on the wrong side of the line.
Bad habits are hard to kill - that should be the title of this blog. At least I lost a few pounds this week. I'll be better this coming week and I will get back to the gym if it kills me. Better number next week!
I had some portion control successes and food choice failures. Tuesday is a good example. I went out to eat with a friend. We intended to go someplace where healthy choices were possible. That proved impractical, so we decided for another healthy option. Three closed restaurants later we decided to eat what came to hand. A Fish & Chips place was across the street from the last closed restaurant we visited. I ordered Chicken & Fries. They gave me an extra chicken finger - I guess the guy thought he'd be nice to the fat guy - awww! However, when I sat down to eat, I don't think I ate half of what was there. I fill up pretty fast these days. So, had I been eating a salad, it would have been better, but even eating chicken and fries I didn't do too bad.
Friday night I went out with a friend and I did the right thing. She ate a calzone and a beer - I had a salad and water. She worried about eating the calzone in front of me, but I was satisfied with the salad. I need more nights like that and less days like yesterday ...
I hung out with friends and watched the Seahawks get the crap kicked out of them. I made the choice for a quick meal just to put something in the tank on my way over - an Ultimate Breakfast sandwich at Jack in the Box. You'll notice, even though it was a sandwich from a fast food place, it was only once sandwich, no fried potato things or soda. I drank water I brought with me. I should have grabbed a bar instead of the sandwich. I know better.
Anyway, once there, I made decent if not perfect choices. I had some of the veggies, some sliced meat, a little cheese … a few crackers and about six chips. It's football - chips are mandatory! After the crushing defeat, I decided to them help myself to a large slice of the cheesecake that had been paraded in front of me. About an hour later, I found the croissant sandwich left overs and a Thomas Kemper Creme Orange soda. While eating the sandwiches, my belly hit full and reminded me I was on the wrong side of the line.
Bad habits are hard to kill - that should be the title of this blog. At least I lost a few pounds this week. I'll be better this coming week and I will get back to the gym if it kills me. Better number next week!
Monday, January 10, 2011
Low Power
Fourteen pounds in one week. These big numbers always freak me out a bit, but whenever I bring it up to my doctor, she smiles and nods and tells me that's the way it should be. Between being VERY overweight and the Januvia, these numbers happen.
The first week of getting back on the wagon is always tough. I only got to the gym once. Quite a few times I felt like I just couldn't wake up and get going. Low calories, low carbs and no caffeine … it's no wonder, but it's amazing when you are going through it.
On Friday I had a bit of a gout flare up - my big toes and feet were hurting. However, the meds calmed it back down. I was impressed. I don't mind a little flare here and there, walking is the important thing.
I'm looking forward to this progress continuing. The fridge is full of good foods. I want to get to the gym more often this week. 399 here I come!
The first week of getting back on the wagon is always tough. I only got to the gym once. Quite a few times I felt like I just couldn't wake up and get going. Low calories, low carbs and no caffeine … it's no wonder, but it's amazing when you are going through it.
On Friday I had a bit of a gout flare up - my big toes and feet were hurting. However, the meds calmed it back down. I was impressed. I don't mind a little flare here and there, walking is the important thing.
I'm looking forward to this progress continuing. The fridge is full of good foods. I want to get to the gym more often this week. 399 here I come!
Monday, January 3, 2011
Here we go again ...
New year, thus, I'm getting back on my diet.
I'm sure no one is shocked. I'm appalled about that number up there; 476 - I can't believe I'm back up that high again. I'm discouraged that I have to get back on the diet. I just can't find a way to stay on a damn plan, develop a routine and get the weight off.
But, having said that, I realize I need to give myself a break. It's hard. My body is fighting against me. It's very easy to get fat, the other direction is damn hard.
Further, I am indeed getting back on the diet. I could have just said whatever and moved on, heading for an early grave, but I'm giving it yet another shot.
Today went pretty well. I had a Slim Fast bar for breakfast, got on the treadmill at the gym for a half hour, had a salad for lunch. Dinner was another salad with some baked chicken. Lots of water all day. I'm now snacking on a couple of apples. It's a small start, but it's something to build on.
I must admit, I'm ready for bed. With the almost no carbs, the walking, the lack of any caffeine and crappy sleep last night, I'm about to hit the sack.
I got to the store tonight for some good food items. I plan to hit the gym again tomorrow. I think I can get some place.
I'm sure no one is shocked. I'm appalled about that number up there; 476 - I can't believe I'm back up that high again. I'm discouraged that I have to get back on the diet. I just can't find a way to stay on a damn plan, develop a routine and get the weight off.
But, having said that, I realize I need to give myself a break. It's hard. My body is fighting against me. It's very easy to get fat, the other direction is damn hard.
Further, I am indeed getting back on the diet. I could have just said whatever and moved on, heading for an early grave, but I'm giving it yet another shot.
Today went pretty well. I had a Slim Fast bar for breakfast, got on the treadmill at the gym for a half hour, had a salad for lunch. Dinner was another salad with some baked chicken. Lots of water all day. I'm now snacking on a couple of apples. It's a small start, but it's something to build on.
I must admit, I'm ready for bed. With the almost no carbs, the walking, the lack of any caffeine and crappy sleep last night, I'm about to hit the sack.
I got to the store tonight for some good food items. I plan to hit the gym again tomorrow. I think I can get some place.
Monday, October 18, 2010
The Secret Gym
I'm currently living in Kenmore, WA. It's a nice little area. However, the whole of King and surrounding counties suffer from a common American ailment: urban sprawl. You need a car to get around because everything is spread far and thin, be prepared for traffic. If you don't own a car, be prepared to spend most of your life on buses.
I'm close to two Bally's gyms. "Close" in a galactic sense. One is in Bellevue, which at 2 AM is a 20 minute drive, the rest of the day it's 45 minutes to an hour. One is in Lynnwood, about 15 minutes away off peak, about 25 minutes away in heavy traffic. Lynnwood is the better choice, no? Not according to Bally's website. Bally's told me there was no swimming pool, and when I first started looking for a gym, I wanted a pool. So, I struggled with the traffic to Bellevue.
About two weeks ago, I decided to go to Lynnwood because I wanted to see the place and I was planning to just do just cardio and lifting. The gym is hidden behind a couple of older strip malls in an area that is best described as ... distressed. The burned out apartment building across the street sets the tone. However, when I arrived I found a welcome treat - a HUGE parking lot with few cars. Nice!
The gym itself is less polished than Bellevue. For those of you that don't know, Bellevue is a kinda ritzy suburb of Seattle. It sits between Seattle and Redmond, home of Microsoft. There is some money floating around there, so, the gym had better be nice. The Lynnwood location was apparently not burdened by this fact. The place could use some cosmetic work, but it was serviceable. The staff were friendly, if not not model quality as they were in Bellevue. The machines were older but well maintained. Over all, the place felt lived in and less scary.
And, there were some hidden surprises. One of my complaints about Bally's is the lockers. I'm sure the pressboard things looked good in the early 90s when they were installed, but the years of being in close proximity to all that moisture and years of abuse have made them less "lockers" and more "things you can close and hope no one can just pull open if they want your stuff." Lynnwood has old, blue, metal lockers. Sure, there is some rust and damage, but it's way better than melting pressboard.
As I looked around the locker room my first time, I saw a sign that said "Anyone entering the pool must take a shower first." Why would they have that sign? The web site said they didn't have a pool. I walked through the door to discover not just a pool, but a pool that appeared as large if not larger than the one in Bellevue - and nearly empty. The hot tub didn't have a timer on the Jacuzzi feature, it just runs and runs and it's about twice the size of Bellevue's and, it too, was nearly empty. Nice!
Now, granted, there aren't as many hot chicks at this place as there are in Bellevue, the video screens are smaller and not flat and in general the whole place is less posh, but for getting my workout on - it's doing the trick. I went Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. I plan to go today. I'm proud of myself.
I'm trying to do about a half hour or more on the treadmill, then lift a bunch of heavy things. Sometimes, when I have time, I treat myself to a soak in the hot tub. You're noticing a lack of the word "pool" in that sentence, aren't you? Yeah, all the concern about pools and I am barely using them. That may change. The treadmill is fine, but I have days, like yesterday, where I am walking fine and then something starts to hurt, so I stop. The treadmill is going to do damage. The pool isn't deep enough for me to do any walking with resistance, but I could swim as cardio. I have other cardio options as well. Lynnwood has this device called a Windjammer (see picture) - it simulates the action of cranking sails on a racing sailboat. In other words, it uses the arms to do cardio. I'm up to seven minutes with no resistance, and, yeah, I can feel it. Eventually I'll add resistance, maybe after I hit 10 minutes. I'm going to get guns yet!
Speaking of which, I am so enjoying my weight training. I never liked it before, I mean, it was okay, but for whatever reason I'm really liking it now. Maybe I'm just doing it right or something. I don't have much structure, I just go from machine to machine, device to device. I'm getting a lot of variety and that feels good. I try to add a new machine every time. I'm trying to add more reps. Mostly, I try to not interfere with what others are doing. I've moved away from the free weights to the machines, same work out and you don't get stepped on by the roid-heads. I'm working mostly on my pecs, bi-cepts and back - I want some visible results so I'm going for the big three. I'm sure the other muscles are getting some work along the way.
If I could only get more structure to my diet. I feel like I'm wrestling a bear. I think I'm doing okay, but it feels odd. I'm intaking more carbs than when I normally diet, but less than when I am off my diet. I'm eating out a lot, but I'm making good choices. The scale says I'm down, but only a bit, and that's the scale at home, the scale at the gym adds ten pounds, I don't know what to believe. I think I'm just going to attempt to keep up going to the gym, try to keep making good food choices and ride the bear until it throws me off. This is all new territory for me and I need to get used to it before I try to saddle it with a routine.
My mantras are "Slow, Steady, Repeat." and "Less Flab, More Fab!" - we'll see if they work.
I'm close to two Bally's gyms. "Close" in a galactic sense. One is in Bellevue, which at 2 AM is a 20 minute drive, the rest of the day it's 45 minutes to an hour. One is in Lynnwood, about 15 minutes away off peak, about 25 minutes away in heavy traffic. Lynnwood is the better choice, no? Not according to Bally's website. Bally's told me there was no swimming pool, and when I first started looking for a gym, I wanted a pool. So, I struggled with the traffic to Bellevue.
About two weeks ago, I decided to go to Lynnwood because I wanted to see the place and I was planning to just do just cardio and lifting. The gym is hidden behind a couple of older strip malls in an area that is best described as ... distressed. The burned out apartment building across the street sets the tone. However, when I arrived I found a welcome treat - a HUGE parking lot with few cars. Nice!
The gym itself is less polished than Bellevue. For those of you that don't know, Bellevue is a kinda ritzy suburb of Seattle. It sits between Seattle and Redmond, home of Microsoft. There is some money floating around there, so, the gym had better be nice. The Lynnwood location was apparently not burdened by this fact. The place could use some cosmetic work, but it was serviceable. The staff were friendly, if not not model quality as they were in Bellevue. The machines were older but well maintained. Over all, the place felt lived in and less scary.
And, there were some hidden surprises. One of my complaints about Bally's is the lockers. I'm sure the pressboard things looked good in the early 90s when they were installed, but the years of being in close proximity to all that moisture and years of abuse have made them less "lockers" and more "things you can close and hope no one can just pull open if they want your stuff." Lynnwood has old, blue, metal lockers. Sure, there is some rust and damage, but it's way better than melting pressboard.
As I looked around the locker room my first time, I saw a sign that said "Anyone entering the pool must take a shower first." Why would they have that sign? The web site said they didn't have a pool. I walked through the door to discover not just a pool, but a pool that appeared as large if not larger than the one in Bellevue - and nearly empty. The hot tub didn't have a timer on the Jacuzzi feature, it just runs and runs and it's about twice the size of Bellevue's and, it too, was nearly empty. Nice!
Now, granted, there aren't as many hot chicks at this place as there are in Bellevue, the video screens are smaller and not flat and in general the whole place is less posh, but for getting my workout on - it's doing the trick. I went Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. I plan to go today. I'm proud of myself.
Speaking of which, I am so enjoying my weight training. I never liked it before, I mean, it was okay, but for whatever reason I'm really liking it now. Maybe I'm just doing it right or something. I don't have much structure, I just go from machine to machine, device to device. I'm getting a lot of variety and that feels good. I try to add a new machine every time. I'm trying to add more reps. Mostly, I try to not interfere with what others are doing. I've moved away from the free weights to the machines, same work out and you don't get stepped on by the roid-heads. I'm working mostly on my pecs, bi-cepts and back - I want some visible results so I'm going for the big three. I'm sure the other muscles are getting some work along the way.
If I could only get more structure to my diet. I feel like I'm wrestling a bear. I think I'm doing okay, but it feels odd. I'm intaking more carbs than when I normally diet, but less than when I am off my diet. I'm eating out a lot, but I'm making good choices. The scale says I'm down, but only a bit, and that's the scale at home, the scale at the gym adds ten pounds, I don't know what to believe. I think I'm just going to attempt to keep up going to the gym, try to keep making good food choices and ride the bear until it throws me off. This is all new territory for me and I need to get used to it before I try to saddle it with a routine.
My mantras are "Slow, Steady, Repeat." and "Less Flab, More Fab!" - we'll see if they work.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
What Aqua Aerobics?
I woke up yesterday with my legs really hurting. After like three minutes on the elliptical machine the day before, my legs were more than just a little strained. As soon as I can walk again - I'm gonna kick that elliptical machine's ass!
So, I got up at like 7, got breakfast and was on the road by 8. The Aqua Aerobics class was at 9. I forgot just how bad morning traffic in this town can be - I got to the gym at 9:02. Lesson learned. So, I poked my head in just to see what the class looked like: the class looked like 3 old ladies on pool noodles. I don't know if the class was late or what but I didn't see any aerobics.
To counter this, I jumped on the treadmill for 30 minutes. I didn't go hard or fast. I just hoped that walking would ease the pain in my thighs. And, it did. For a while.
I then lifted some heavy things. I love lifting heavy things. I want to lift many more heavy things. I want pecs and guns and and and elbows and ... ?
By the time I was done lifting, my legs were starting to tighten up. I kept getting up and walking between sets of lifting, but that didn't seem to help much.
I jumped in the shower and headed to the pool. The lanes were open. I haven't swam laps in a couple of decades. When I was a kid, I was chubby, but I could swim like a fish. Yesterday, I swam more like a buffalo. Actually, my swimming more resembled water-boarding. I need a lot more work. I made two laps in about 25 minutes. I had octogenarians lapping me on both sides. I will work to get better.
I moved to the hot tub and that finally loosened up my thighs. I stayed there until I raisined up. Showered and went to lunch - Indian Buffet, yum! I controlled my portions, but it wasn't easy. By the time lunch was done, I was gimping along. By the time I went to bed, I was using the cane. I'm surprised I got any sleep.
My legs are better this morning, but they still hurt. I'm taking the day off. I think I'll go back tomorrow. I think I just did too much too fast. The scary part is that I felt at the time I wasn't doing enough. I guess going from 0 to 25 with flat tires will do more damage than intended. Thankfully I didn't try to go 0 to 60!
So, I got up at like 7, got breakfast and was on the road by 8. The Aqua Aerobics class was at 9. I forgot just how bad morning traffic in this town can be - I got to the gym at 9:02. Lesson learned. So, I poked my head in just to see what the class looked like: the class looked like 3 old ladies on pool noodles. I don't know if the class was late or what but I didn't see any aerobics.
To counter this, I jumped on the treadmill for 30 minutes. I didn't go hard or fast. I just hoped that walking would ease the pain in my thighs. And, it did. For a while.
I then lifted some heavy things. I love lifting heavy things. I want to lift many more heavy things. I want pecs and guns and and and elbows and ... ?
By the time I was done lifting, my legs were starting to tighten up. I kept getting up and walking between sets of lifting, but that didn't seem to help much.
I jumped in the shower and headed to the pool. The lanes were open. I haven't swam laps in a couple of decades. When I was a kid, I was chubby, but I could swim like a fish. Yesterday, I swam more like a buffalo. Actually, my swimming more resembled water-boarding. I need a lot more work. I made two laps in about 25 minutes. I had octogenarians lapping me on both sides. I will work to get better.
I moved to the hot tub and that finally loosened up my thighs. I stayed there until I raisined up. Showered and went to lunch - Indian Buffet, yum! I controlled my portions, but it wasn't easy. By the time lunch was done, I was gimping along. By the time I went to bed, I was using the cane. I'm surprised I got any sleep.
My legs are better this morning, but they still hurt. I'm taking the day off. I think I'll go back tomorrow. I think I just did too much too fast. The scary part is that I felt at the time I wasn't doing enough. I guess going from 0 to 25 with flat tires will do more damage than intended. Thankfully I didn't try to go 0 to 60!
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Just keep swimming ...
A few weeks ago my doc told me to find a swimming pool. I have to exercise. My knees and ankles have taken a big hit from the gout (btw - I'm 30 days into the 60 day treatment that should cure the gout permanently and haven't had a problem since I started!) With the damage I've gotten from the gout, normal exercise is really tough. The doc suggested water aerobics, swimming or even just walking in the water - there's resistance there with less impact.
I started looking around. Most area public pools (Socialism at its finest!) have been closed. Great. The few that are open are scary expensive. One in Seattle charged $5 for a hour session and $4 for a shower! Even at $5 a session, three times a week, that's $60 a month. The YMCA is nearly that expensive and they, too, have fewer facilities and most of them in Seattle - I'm a suburbanite. After looking at that, I decided to look at Bally's - my ex-wife and I had memberships for years. We paid our dues long after we stopped going, but we had memberships! Bally's had a web special. The high end was $30 a month and I can go to any location nationwide - not that I'll be going to gym's all over the country, but the option is there. (The low end, one location only, was $21 a month - not bad compared to the public pool above.)
I joined. I'm out of work, sitting on my ass - I might as well go to the gym. I might cancel my WoW subscription to cost justify half the gym membership. But, $30 a month seems like a pittance to pay for better health. My meds cost me $180 for 3 months and that's after insurance. I get the weight off, I can drop the meds, too.
Today was the first day. I got a free session with a trainer, who proceeded to kick my ass! In all seriousness, he ran me through a reasonable routine that I will likely adopt, with the exception that I want to do most of my cardio in the pool. He put me on an elliptical machine for three minutes and my knees are still wobbly. The cardio made me want to die - the weight training, conversely, felt awesome! I can see how someone could get addicted to that. Also, even though I was there at a less busy time, that gym had one amenity the last Bally's I used did not: lotsa hot chicks! Yow! I wanna lose weight just so one of them will look at me!
After the death march through sexy momma town (I kid!) we went back to the trainer's area and I jumped on their scale. They actually had a scale that could weigh someone my size - impressive! It was bad. 461 is the number. I knew I was back up to 450, but that extra 11 hurts. The edema on my legs is really bad. But, I'm doing something about it, so, hopefully that number, and the edema, won't be around for long.
As a treat, I showered and jumped in the jacuzzi! Oh man! That's worth $30 a month right there. I might go now and then just for that. I think the group of old Asian women in the tub thought I was Godzilla - they left at speed - but once in the water I just could not think of a reason to care about what they thought!
For breakfast I had my diet standard: bananas & soy milk, today with some raisins and a little Splenda. Yeeeeah - that work out burned through that jazz. By the time I left I couldn't send a text message because my hands were shaking. I went to a local favorite Chinese restaurant and had Chicken and Snow Peas. The lunch size portion was perfect! I didn't eat the rice but I ate the soup - egg drop. The price was right, too. In all, a good first day on the diet.
Dinner tonight is BBQ chicken, light on the sauce and salad. Breakfast tomorrow will be the same bananas & soy milk - but I think I will add a Slim Fast bar on the way to class; my first aqua aerobics - at 9 AM! Wish me luck!
I started looking around. Most area public pools (Socialism at its finest!) have been closed. Great. The few that are open are scary expensive. One in Seattle charged $5 for a hour session and $4 for a shower! Even at $5 a session, three times a week, that's $60 a month. The YMCA is nearly that expensive and they, too, have fewer facilities and most of them in Seattle - I'm a suburbanite. After looking at that, I decided to look at Bally's - my ex-wife and I had memberships for years. We paid our dues long after we stopped going, but we had memberships! Bally's had a web special. The high end was $30 a month and I can go to any location nationwide - not that I'll be going to gym's all over the country, but the option is there. (The low end, one location only, was $21 a month - not bad compared to the public pool above.)
I joined. I'm out of work, sitting on my ass - I might as well go to the gym. I might cancel my WoW subscription to cost justify half the gym membership. But, $30 a month seems like a pittance to pay for better health. My meds cost me $180 for 3 months and that's after insurance. I get the weight off, I can drop the meds, too.
Today was the first day. I got a free session with a trainer, who proceeded to kick my ass! In all seriousness, he ran me through a reasonable routine that I will likely adopt, with the exception that I want to do most of my cardio in the pool. He put me on an elliptical machine for three minutes and my knees are still wobbly. The cardio made me want to die - the weight training, conversely, felt awesome! I can see how someone could get addicted to that. Also, even though I was there at a less busy time, that gym had one amenity the last Bally's I used did not: lotsa hot chicks! Yow! I wanna lose weight just so one of them will look at me!
After the death march through sexy momma town (I kid!) we went back to the trainer's area and I jumped on their scale. They actually had a scale that could weigh someone my size - impressive! It was bad. 461 is the number. I knew I was back up to 450, but that extra 11 hurts. The edema on my legs is really bad. But, I'm doing something about it, so, hopefully that number, and the edema, won't be around for long.
As a treat, I showered and jumped in the jacuzzi! Oh man! That's worth $30 a month right there. I might go now and then just for that. I think the group of old Asian women in the tub thought I was Godzilla - they left at speed - but once in the water I just could not think of a reason to care about what they thought!
For breakfast I had my diet standard: bananas & soy milk, today with some raisins and a little Splenda. Yeeeeah - that work out burned through that jazz. By the time I left I couldn't send a text message because my hands were shaking. I went to a local favorite Chinese restaurant and had Chicken and Snow Peas. The lunch size portion was perfect! I didn't eat the rice but I ate the soup - egg drop. The price was right, too. In all, a good first day on the diet.
Dinner tonight is BBQ chicken, light on the sauce and salad. Breakfast tomorrow will be the same bananas & soy milk - but I think I will add a Slim Fast bar on the way to class; my first aqua aerobics - at 9 AM! Wish me luck!
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