Checking In

Wow, it has been a while since I last checked in. Well, I am doing well. Holding steady between 210 and 215. Seemed to have halted for some reason. No worries. The difference can be seen in the mirror.

My afternoon run and now included a new motivation tool. Middle school is now in session. Boy, those kids can be brutal. Today it was "jiggle, jiggle, jiggle" followed by some snickering. Little do these little brats know but 7 out of 10 of them will wish in 20 years to look half as good I as I getting to. Most will be fat, some already are. Anyways, the new motivation is to see if I can make the negative comments cease by the end of their school year.

I am getting close to putting a new set of pics. Would like to hit 200 first.

Work out.

Today's lunch work out was good. 2 times around the park at a jog, 1 time at a walk. Threw in some sprint intervals (modified, 10 seconds on/20seconds off). Also did not arm and shoulder work on the park bench. Weights are really not needed for the strength training days. I watched a couple moves on YouTube by Mark Sisson for no weight strength training. They work good. Just got learn a few new ones to throw into the mix.

Oh, still holding at 18 pounds lost as of yesterday. Will weigh out this afternoon. I fasted a bit yesterday so I am expecting a good number. Shooting for the 20 mark!

Another week, another 5 pounds...

... I hope. Held steady all last week. Doing over time last week and this week. That might've had something to do with it. It'll be a nice check right in time for vacation.

Shooting for 100% Primal this work week. No cheating. Which means no beers at night and no Dew to wake up.

Checking In

Okay, it has been a while since my last post. I've been very busy at work and my routine eats up my time at home. The good news is I am down 18 pounds and holding steady for about a week. I have muscles again in my arms and legs. Even starting to see the beginnings of some definition in the abs and chest. Still a ways to go to lose the beer belly, so the abs wont show for a while.

Anyways, keeping at it and staying true to the Primal Life. Still drinking beer though. But, Sam Adam's Summer Ale season is almost over. Should see great results once I am not drinking a 12 pack a week.

End of week odds & ends

Down a 1.2 pounds between Thursday and today. That puts me at 224.4. So far a total of 9.2 pounds over 13 days. I bet I hit the 10 mark tomorrow. That'll make an average of 5 pounds per week. Conventional wisdom says 1 to 2 pounds per week loss is healthy. Any more is unhealthy. But, going by CW's past track record I am not at all worried about it. In fact, by not adhering to CW I feel I am on the right track.

Beer is slowing down my progress I think. In the past 7 days I have consumed 19 beers (1 was at least gluten free). The weight loss speed is fine by me, but it is the cigarette cravings when having a beer that is the real problem. I drink, I smoke. Not good. Not sure if I am hard core enough to give up Mountain Dew, cigarettes (when not drinking at least) and beer.

If it were not for the 6 pack of Sam Adam's Summer Ale last night on the patio my calorie count for the day was astronomically low. Barely above 500 for the entire day. I did not feel hungry at all, but when I added up what I had eaten for the entire day I was shocked at how low it was. Even with the 6 pack, I did not even come close the 2400 calorie CW says man should consume per day. Maybe I am missing something when calculating calorie count. So, today I am writing down and doing a running total through out the day.

With the enormous deficit in caloric intake per day that I seem to be comfortable with, I should be hitting between 3000 and 4000 difference on intake and burned. That should be 1 pound per day. I am not getting that. Have to look into this more.

Routine

Day 11 or 12, can't remember off hand. I am beginning to feel a normal routine take hold. The half hour Power 90 is done 5 out the 7 days of the week, with Wednesdays and Sundays off. It goes like this; get home do the daily Power 90 circuit 1 & 2. Throw on the feet gloves and go clean the dog poo for the day in the backyard including filling the dog water bowls with cool water. Leash the dogs and head out for a 1/2 hour to 45 minute walk. Head inside while the dogs cool off and grab a shower. Then eat. This week I've thrown in a run/walk at lunch of a total of 3.4 miles. That is twice around the block at work. First day I did roughly 1.25 mile jog, yesterday a 1.75 mile jog. The rest was walking. All in the feet gloves.

This past weekend I did have 9 beers and finished off the 12 pack on Tuesday night. Of course the nicotine craving kicked in right away. Had to two packs of smokes from Friday night to Tuesday. Not good, but in relation to the 1 1/2 pack a day before not that bad either. Still, it might be better to cut out the beer for about 2 months til I break the cig habit completely.

Weight loss is slowing down this week. In fact I gained a pound between Tuesday and today. I know the cause. We went and used our $20 food coupons at the Canary last night. I ordered the taco salad minus the sour cream and refried beans. Also had the tortilla soup minus the chips. Somewhere in the meal there must have been some flour or wheat. That is the only thing I can think of to explain the 1 pound gain is a day. Lesson learned. Only Primal food cooked at home from now on (except August 14th when Famous Dave's is doing the Daves eat free again).

Current weight is at 226.6.

Right now I am eating the last of the spinach bread I made on Sunday. It seems to be a great fuel for my lunch jogs in 100+ heat. I can not remember when I was able to jog over a mile at once. I will be sticking with this fuel source every weekday at 11 a.m.

Fasting Lesson Learned

Okay, I did roughly a 20 hour fast yesterday. It felt good, no real hunger pains until hour 19. Then I had to eat something and quick. I ended up having sauerkraut and two brats (minus the bun of course) with some brown spicy mustard (not made with sugar). It was by far one of the best tasting meals all week! Hunger really is the best spice.

But, my exercise routine paid the price. I had no energy to do cardio, abs or even take the dogs for a walk before eating. After the meal I felt too stuffed to do much moving. I should have taken the dogs for a walk but even skipped that. To stay on track with the P90 routine I'll jam the missed day into Sunday which was suppose to be the rest day.

Fasting might be out for a while. At least until I am used to being active again. There was a time when I could comfortably eat only every other day. Those days are past for now. They might reappear in the future.

Either way, I just weighed in again. Another 1.9 pounds since Wednesday! This losing weight so far is easy! Sure hope it continues.

I do have to rat myself out. 3 mountain dews over the last two days. One was a 16 ouncer. Oops. Still, not 100% but getting closer. I have a feeling I'll be picking up a 12 pack of Samuel Adam's Summer Ale for the weekend. It is going to be a battle of will not to. The backyard and sun is calling me. It would be strange to do backyard work and not have a Summer Ale sitting on the table. Of course, after the first delicious beer the nicotine craving will begin. This will be a true test of my commitment. I'll update the beer or no beer status on Monday.