Week 5 Fitness Wrap-Up

So after last weekend's debauchery, I committed to staying strictly on the diet during the week. Additionally, while I planned on doing some drinking and eating some funnel cake, the plan was also to stay pretty good in Atlantic City. Here are the results.

Oh, before I forget, I've integrated a new thing into my diet over the past two weeks or so that has made me feel 100% better. I had been feeling uncomfortable on a gastrointestinal level for a little while. I tried increasing my beans and nuts, but I still felt a little..."irregular." It got to the point that I just wanted to eliminate that feeling, and if I didn't, I was going to abandon the diet. So I had a bowl of Raisin Bran for breakfast one day, and the whole day I felt like a million bucks. I've been having a bowl of high fiber cereal (Raisin Bran or Special K) every day since then, and I've been feeling good and still losing weight. I might not be losing weight as quickly as I had been, but there's no doubt in my mind that what I'm doing now is better for me than dealing with that bizarre, half-constipated/half-nauseous feeling.

Okay, back to the week. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I behaved very well. I didn't eat anything that was unacceptable on the diet, and I continued to notice that my pants weren't fitting as snugly as they have been. (By the way, if successful, this diet is probably going to end up costing me like $1,000 in new clothes). I didn't get a ton of exercise, but I had to move some stuff out of the basement (more on this later), so that got me a little active.

The weekend arrived a day early for me, as I found out that my good friend Adam was going to be in Atlantic City Thursday and Friday for a conference, and he had a room at Bally's Thursday night. I left work a little early and hit the road just early enough to avoid most of rush hour...from DC. I hit plenty of the Baltimore rush hour, but it wasn't even remotely as bad. I arrived in AC about 7:30, met up with Adam, and immediately started drinking. We gambled and drank until the wee hours, then woke up and gambled and drank some more.

Adam left town Friday afternoon, and I wandered Atlantic City for a few hours, gambling and drinking (along with a delicious pretzel dog from Auntie Anne's), and finally met up with my cousin and his buddy. As a change of pace, we decided to gamble and drink, then do the same thing the next day. All told, I don't think it'd be outrageous to say I had 80+ drinks between 7:00 PM Thursday and 4:00 AM Sunday. Not a ton of food, though, which must have helped some, because I managed to keep going down in the weight department. The continued positive progress makes me feel great about the benefits that my diet and exercise routines are giving me, and is helping me stay committed to it.

Now, the basement. My mom is having the basement finished. In order to do that, the vast collection of things in the basement has to be moved out. Initially, the belief was that the process would take place over time, and we'd be looking to have a yard sale or two to get rid of some of the unwanted stuff from the basement (toys, books, furniture, etc). Now, however, it's looking like the entire basement is going to need to be cleared out pronto, and so my brother and I have spent a few hours over the past two days (including Sunday, when I was exhausted after getting back from AC) moving boxes and furniture into the garage. While it's a pretty solid workout, the downside is that, at least for the time being, the basement will be off-limits for playing Rock Band or lifting weights. I'm hopeful that the job will be done sooner rather than later, so I can get back into my groove.

FYI, I'm also applying for a new job at my current company. I'm working on a cover letter right now, but I've also been told that I need to put an objective on my resume. Try as I might, though, I've found that everything I start to write out just sounds completely useless for proving that I'm a good fit for the position. Any suggestions would be appreciated. The job position is managing a resume system for a large company.

Week 5 weight: 318.4

Week 4b Fitness Wrap-Up

So the weekend didn't go very well. It wasn't a full-fledged disaster, but it was right there. The fact that I was able to stay under 320 was pretty encouraging, to be honest.

Friday was normal, stayed on the diet, but didn't get any exercise. The main reason I didn't get any exercise is that our basement is being worked on, so the weight bench and the exercise bike have stuff on/hanging off of them, the weights are tucked away to make room for the work to be done, and the television/Rock Band stuff has been moved to avoid the massive amounts of sawdust and regular dust that have been kicked up.

Saturday I did manage to get a little bit of exercise in my first swimming session of the summer. I had forgotten how nice it is to have the pool available, and with the diet/exercise combo going pretty well for me, I'm looking forward to integrating it into my regular activities.

Food on Saturday, however, was another story. I had a couple hamburgers, a couple of bratwursts, a couple slices of pizza, some potato chips, and some Doritos at two different cookouts. There were a lot of cookies and brownies of which I didn't indulge, so that's something.

Sunday I behaved better, but still ate a lot of food, definitely more than I needed to, and again, exercise was an issue. Eddie and I started to go through some of the stuff in the basement, preparing for a yard sale (to be held May 2nd, in case anyone needs, you know, stuff). It probably won't help the basement work get done any faster, but moving boxes and hauling stuff up the stairs is at least a little bit of a workout. I'm also hoping to rearrange my bedroom so as to make room for a Rock Band drum set, again, to at least get a little bit of a work out.

I'm heading to Atlantic City this weekend, which means two things. First, I may not get a blog done this Friday, so you may once again have to wait until Monday for an update. And second, I'd better be pretty damn strict on the diet this week, because I'm going to be drinking my ass off in AC.

Week 4b weight: 319.8

Week 4a Fitness Wrap-Up

A little belated, but I'm going to go ahead and do both posts for week 4. Post 4a is going to have a story that I found humorous (and I believe found me humorous), and post 4b will give a wrap-up of my current situation, as well as how the weekend went.

Week 4a (Fat People)

The story will be completely true, but to protect the innocent and not-so-innocent, I'm going to replace real names with the names of various classic professional wrestling personalities. And for the purposes of this story, the part of Joe Mattingly will be played by Hacksaw Jim Duggan.

Our story starts with a fairly standard happenstance: someone posted something on Facebook. I have no problem with the original post, but the topic of the post was inevitably going to invite some questionable comments. The actual original post, by a friend of mine from school, "Miss Elizabeth":

• "...United is making larger people buy two seats. So their employees are being paid to tell people they're fat, embarass [sic] the shit out of them, and make them pay extra for being ginormous...I'm torn between never flying United, or applying for a job."

As I said, I don't have a problem with this comment. There were a few follow-up comments by people I don't know, some talking about other airlines, others decrying United's policy (which actually I also don't have a problem with; I'm over 300 pounds and I've never been asked to buy another seat, so I imagine the policy is for people who simply can't fit into a single seat). Then, another former classmate of mine, "Marty Jannety," made this comment:

• "its more f'd up for the person that pays the same price for their seat and has to deal with collateral bullshit (i.e. fat person next to them). F that. Good for United."

Somehow, Jannety decided to ignore the timbre of the original post (that it's an awkward situation to tell someone they're "too" fat) and talk about how sitting next to an overweight person affects himself. As I said, I've never been asked to buy another seat, so it's very possible that United's policy wouldn't protect him from my belly. In response to this, knowing that he'd at least get a message about it as we're "Facebook friends" (a distinction somewhere between complete stranger and co-worker), I changed my status to:

Hacksaw Jim Duggan loves being called "collateral bullshit."

I received a message from Jannety shortly after posting that status walking back his comments a little bit, and I generally accepted his half-apology. It didn't do me any good to hammer it down, and I do believe that he regretted his choice of words, just as the real Marty Jannety regretted trusting Shawn Michaels, a mistake we can all learn from.

Jannety's comment, however, was the second most bothersome comment on the original post. The number one comment was as follows, by the guy I will ironically call "Mr. Perfect":

• "Haha is been like that for a long time, and not just United. I thought pretty much every airline charged for two seats if your fat. Haha unless they have somne thyroid or medical condition I have no sympathy for fat people. Fucking work out. Simple as that."

I've never met Mr. Perfect, and I've had no previous experience or any knowledge at all of what he's about. Anyways, I'll let you guys comment on that however you want; I feel like I don't need to ennumerate my sentiments. So, we'll fast forward to my response:

• "Lizzie, your friend Mr. Perfect is an ass. I doubt he asks overweight people whether or not they have glandular or medical conditions before he judges them to be less-than. But to hopefully justify his obvious fear of fat people, you can let him know that, given the opportunity, I'll eat him."

Please note that my proper grammer, spelling, and punctuation help people to understand my comment the first time they read it. So yeah, screw that guy.

Week 4a weight: 317.8

Week 3b Fitness Wrap-Up

The funny thing about goals is, what the hell do you do if you don't reach them? I did complete one of my three goals for the weekend - I exercised at least 30 minutes each day.

• Friday - Back and biceps weightlifting for a half hour, walked the family dog for about 15 minutes, and played catch with my uncle for an hour.
• Saturday - Chest and triceps weightlifting for a half hour.
• Sunday - Played softball with some family for an hour and a half, and played catch with my uncle and cousin for an hour.
  

I had hoped to get some Rock Band drumming in, but the combination of Eddie relaxing in the basement and having some household business to do this holiday weekend put a damper on my instrumentation. I may have to move a drum set into my bedroom and see if I can make it work. Prediction: I don't.

Eating was good on Friday and mostly good on Saturday, but Easter was a step backwards. I had a healthy portion of potato chips and onion dip, as well as a slice of Easter pie. It was good, but I felt a little off afterwards, which I guess is a good thing. It makes me think that my body really doesn't want much in the way of sugars and simple carbohydrates. I'm confident that this week I can do enough good to get back on track, and this coming weekend shouldn't have any circumstances that tempt me into going off the diet. Shouldn't.

Still working on the new catch phrase.

Week 3b weight: 321.2

Week 3a Fitness Wrap-Up

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I did almost no exercising, and that's bad. The idea behind this project isn't just to lose weight, which a diet can do on its own for a while. The idea is to become more healthy, to be more fit, to be able to wrestle an alligator. Well, that last part is probably a pipe dream, but the rest is true. I'm not just looking to slim down, even though that's the criteria I've been using to evaluate my progress. And even if that were all I wanted to do, adding in exercise is obviously going to help me in that regard.

As such, my goal this weekend is to exercise each day (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) for at least 30 minutes. If it ends up being Rock Band drumming, though, I'm mandating a full hour; the drumming is good, but it's certainly not the same as "real" exercise. I'm also going to set a goal for next week: at least twice, I want to wake up early and lift. I want to see how it affects my weigh-ins, my appetite, and my energy.

Well, one of my goals is to do that exercise. Another is to get below 320 pounds. And the last is to come up with a catch phrase. All three are vital.

Week 3a weight: 321.8

Week 2b Fitness Wrap-Up

Friday was a low-key day, I played some Rock Band and rode the bicycle a little, staying on the diet. Saturday morning I lifted, but Saturday evening I went out to eat and then did some drinking. The downside is that I probably stifled what could've been a big positive over the weekend. But the upside is that even with multiple mistakes, I still lost weight. That tells me that one of these weekends, when I stay on target, I'll have a big weight loss.

I also did some reading and found a few interesting nuggets that I'm going to try to (or continue to) incorporate. The general focus is on increasing my metabolism, and maintaining that increase. While I found at least a dozen ways, these were the two I would like to embrace the most actively:

• Lift weights - I knew weightlifting was a good idea, but the information I've read shows that the benefits go well beyond muscle definition and burning calories. First, lifting earlier in the day gives you a metabolic boost that persists throughout the day, and which you can complement with other strategies to really pump up your calorie-burning power. Additionally, having greater muscle mass increases your basal metabolic rate.
  
• Sleep - I've always felt like sleep was important and that not getting 8 hours a night was causing some sort of problem for me, but now I've got the reasons why. The piece of information that struck me the most goes back to weightlifting: if you don't get 7-8 hours of sleep, you aren't allowing your body to build muscle, and so your weightlifting can be less productive.
  

After getting this information and comparing it with my own habits, I've decided that perhaps the most beneficial thing I can do is change my sleep cycle. Instead of going to bed around 1:00 every night and waking up at 7:30, I should go to bed around 10:30 and wake up around 6:30. That will give me plenty of time to lift in the morning, and ensure I get enough sleep to reap the benefits each night. It'll take some internal negotiation to make the change, but I've had to change my attitude on eating already; this change would offer similar benefits, in addition to the fact that getting more sleep will just be better for me regardless.

Week 2b weight: 322.8

Diet & Exercise Log - April 2nd, 2009

Breakfast
1 slice wheat toast

Lunch
Chipotle salad with barbacoa
Diet Coke

Dinner
4 slices thin crust homemade pizza
Side salad with ranch dressing
1 slice apple pie

Snacks
2 oz. sugar-free chocolate-covered peanuts
1 oz. cashews

Exercise
20 minutes weightlifting (back, biceps)
20 minutes stationary bike/singing

Thoughts
Today was Eddie's birthday, so I splurged a little on dinner. Okay, a lot on dinner. I also had a slice of bread for breakfast, which I'm not supposed to have until phase 2. My stomach was a little upset, and I knew pudding wasn't going to help that, so I made an executive decision. I didn't suffer any substantial damage on the scale, so I'm going to just focus on straightening out again, and probably staying on phase 1 for a few more days.

You might also notice that part of my exercises for the day were "stationary bike/singing." As you probably know if you read this blog regularly, I've got a thing for Xbox achievements. One achievement I haven't earned yet is for the completion of the solo singing tour on the original Rock Band. To combine two things I want to do, I rode the stationary bike and sang at the same time, a more difficult feat than I had hoped, but I was able to do it. I also think it might help me build up stamina by demanding more out of my lungs, so I'm going to add it to the list of exercises I do. I'm debating whether to try playing guitar (Rock Band or real life) while biking as well.

Finally, this will be the last daily log of my diet. I'm going to post my weigh-ins from Monday morning and Friday morning, and I'll continue to chime in with any interesting thoughts from in between, but I figure you're not crazy about reading a food list every day. As interesting as it is to see how many peanuts I eat on a given day, I'm thinking you can live without it. I'll try to get back to posting about my interests, like Rock Band, other video games, TV shows, music, and what-not.

Day 12 weight: 325.8

Diet & Exercise Log - April 1st, 2009

Breakfast
Sugar-free jello

Lunch
Chipotle salad with chicken
Diet Coke

Dinner
Chicken Caesar salad
1 stick string cheese
Diet Mountain Dew

Snacks
1 oz. sugar-free chocolate-covered peanuts
2 oz. salted peanuts
1 oz. beef jerky
Coke Zero

Exercise
20 minutes stationary bike

Thoughts
[none]

Day 11 weight: 325.4