Wavering a Bit

Man, it'd be so easy to hang it up right now. The weekend weight gain was more draining than it was demoralizing. Five more pounds to make up. On top of that, they ordered pizza for the class I was in today.

My plan for this week is to try a couple days of the no-carb diet. Lots of meat 'n greens, liters of water. On top of that, I need to get back in the workout groove. Here's the plan:

2 weight lifting sessions w/ elliptical
1 long bike ride with Pops

Food Log:

Breakfast:
turkey sausage, egg, and cheese muffin - 6

Lunch:
pizza x3 - 27

Dinner:
8oz white meat chicken - 8
2 servings sweet potato fries - 8

49/49

Let's Pretend this Weekend Never Happened

A couple things happened (or didn't) that has me hurting tonight:

1. My buddy Stevo was in town. This inevitably leads to drinking beer.
2. VT knocked off #1 Duke in hoops Saturday night + I attended a birthday dinner the same night. More beer.
3. I failed to meet my workout goals. Couldn't drag myself to the gym today.

The weight plot tells the tale, as will the photo of me in size small pajamas. Stay tuned.

Food Log:

Lunch: shrimp salad - 10-15

Snack:
nuts - 3
turkey - 3

Dinner:
2x chix thigh - 8
2c corn - 8
salad - 4

41/49

Onward!

So, on the advice of a friend, I radically altered my diet to jump-start the weight loss process. Her advice was to eschew virtually all carbs and load up on water, protein, and sugar-less foods. Really eat up. That I did, and it was somewhat enjoyable. Thing was, I think she was hinting that I should ditch the Weight Watchers for a day or two, and not worry about the points; just focus on eating protein and dodging carbs. I altered this gameplan slightly to adhere to the chemistry of her plan, but still keep my points under 49. It actually worked out well, until I got home. More about that in a bit.

Drank a couple gallons of water today, and I'm not done. Ate four hardboiled eggs, and we know the effect that can have on my cholesterol. Suffice it to say this is a temporary diet. I actually felt sufficiently full throughout the day, but sustained a headache on my commute home and felt generally irritable. Sounds about right when you detox off refined sugars. Continued with my protein-rich, carb-starved diet for dinner, but sadly, I think I sabotaged the entire chemistry experiment by hitting the whiskey bottle pretty hard. Decent amount of sugar in those spirits. We'll find out tomorrow. I'll stick with this detox for as long as our pantry, fridge, and freezer can support it. Hopefully this metabolic shock is just what I need.

Food Log:

Breakfast:
2 hardboiled eggs - 4
3 turkey sausage links - 3

Lunch:
monstrous chef salad w/ grilled chicken and 2 hardboiled eggs - 10

Snack:
pistachios - 10

Dinner:
6oz pork chop - 8
caesar salad - 2

Spirits:
Our very own Sperryville-distilled Wasmund's Single Malt - 12

49/49

RAGE!!!

Yesterday I ate modestly, consumed an early dinner, and snacked on carrots when my hunger grew out of control around 8pm. I knew I was poised to lose a sizable chunk. I was predicting the 211s. Plus, there were other "indications" that I'd lose weight. I was just plain confident.

This morning was more painful than normal. Had to get up a bit early to make it to work for an early meeting, haven't been sleeping well because of allergies, and had to deal with an irrational weigh-in. Plus .6lbs? Really? I must have reweighed a half dozen time, repeating my morning ablutions. Hilariously, my weight increased to 214.2 after my second round. What the frak? This makes no sense. The only thing I can think is that I loaded up on motrin last night to treat my ailing back. Did I retain a couple liters of water? Bah!!!

This morning just sucked. I was feeling stressed about this thing last night but knew I had done everything right. I was going to lose a big chunk of weight. ROAR!!! 

Anyway, I must keep chopping wood. Sarah Allen-Short wrote me a long instruction manual detailing how to shock my metabolism back into losing weight. Thanks, Sarah. I will do my best to shed the habits I've fallen into and try some other methods. Perhaps that's the problem. Bring on protein-rich, natural foods and gallons of water!

Hit the gym tonight with renewed vigor. 30 obsessed minutes on the elliptical and a good bicep and triceps workout. It's amazing how much muscle mass you lose after missing three weeks in the gym. My arms look like noodles.

Food Log:

Breakfast:

turkey sausage, egg, and cheese muffin - 6

Lunch:

chix caesar salad wrap - 15

french fries - 11

Dinner:

mushroom ravioli - 11

chix portion - 3

1/2c strawberry milk - 3

49/49

I Think I'm Panicking

It's really not an option for me to fail at losing 30 pounds. This will happen. I'm starting to think I can't accomplish it in 90 days, though. I'm well behind the curve. What happened to those 2+ pound losses overnight? I guess this is the plateau people foretold. Still, I have to think with some epic workouts and a clean diet I can make up the time. Another couple weeks like this, though, and 90 days will probably turn into 120. Ugh.

This is the probably the time when I need the most encouragement from my readers. Wait...I don't think they exist anymore. Just a week after the costume ideas escalated to a point of madness, people have all but forgotten what is on the line. I mean, I posted my workout goals Sunday, and there have been zero costume instructions. Woe is me.

At least there's Adam. Adam, who has fought through flu, vomitous kids, and barren energy stores, has left me regular comments. Any man who calls me an Adonis deserves his own paragraph. Adam, I thank you. And as far as the Thor the Mountainclimber goes, those pictures are a lesson in smoke and mirrors. Let's start with the backpack. The waist belt of the pack beautifully tucks away my love handles. The black lycra shirt? Well, it does a great job of optically smoothing the topography of my man-boobs. And yes, the above-shot photograph lessons the doublyness of my chin. Still, I think we can see some real improvement.

Food Log:

Breakfast:

turkey sausage, egg, and cheese muffin - 6

Lunch:

fettuccine alfredo Smart Ones - 6

Crackerful - 4

snack bar - 4

Snack:

apple 

Dinner:

roast beef, cheese, horseradish mayo sandwich - 12

baked Lays - 4

cheesecake - 5

Snack :

carrots 

49/49

Pizza

So I've determined that pizza is about the worst food one can eat while dieting. It must be the sodium and binding agents that keep the weight elevated for days. My weight has been heading in the wrong direction, and while I'm confident it will drop, I must confess I'm getting nervous. Not only am I falling pretty far behind, but the carbs in that pizza has my hunger raging out of control. Must control my appetite! Must really control my post-workout appetite!

Well, I got some photos back from the hike this weekend, and it's reassuring to compare my present form to that of my December body. Remember, it was that hike in late 2010 that got me juiced for my diet. Check out the difference:

Before:
  

After:

Now, it's a bit apples and oranges. Shetland wool does not a svelte appearance make. And lycra really doesn't add any pounds.

Food Log:

Breakfast:
yogurt - 2
South Beach bar - 4

Lunch:
spinach and fettuccine alfredo Smart Ones- 7
Crackerful - 4
snack bar - 4

Snack:
banana
apple
bourbon - 6

Dinner:
soup - 2
beef and bird sandwich - 11
mashed taters - 3
cheese cake - 5

48/49

Acountability

Today found me sore, pooped, and generally lazy. Somehow I motivated to the point of fertilizing my lawn along with adding a layer of lime. Following that, I slept for two hours. Now, normally, if you're going to work out, it's not recommended that you nap just prior. In fact, it comes close to guaranteeing you won't work out. This is the beauty of public accountability. Would I be required to wear UVa garb for my next photo update? Not that big of a deal. In fact, the dramatist in me relished the idea of posing for a photo wearing a UVa t-shirt over two polo shirts, both with popped collars, along side a crisp chardonnay and a wedge of parm. But I think this public deal focused me on the idea of failing to the point that it just wasn't an option. My workout sucked, I counted the minutes until completion, but it was completed.

My workout plan for this coming week is as follows:

2 gym days
1 cycle day

First to comment on this post gets to pick the photo conditions for next week should I not meet my workout goal.

Food Log:

Breakfast -
yogurt - 2
South Beach bar - 4

Lunch:
3 pieces thin crust pizza - 18?
1 breadstick - 4?

Dinner:
1 6oz filet - 8?
mashed taters - 6
asparagus w/ cheese - 1
cheese cake - 5
truffle - 1
wine - 6
whiskey - 6

61/49

Workout:
30 minutes on the elliptical
chest, back, and triceps