Alligatorob's Diary

[alligatorob]

It was a good day, ate well, exercised and I feel good tonight. Did 2 hours and 10 minutes at the gym, it felt good. We have had unseasonably cold wet weather but it seems to be ending so I will try and get out and walk some more.

Had a long talk with my trainer at the gym today about how much more weight I should loose. She is on vacation for the next 10 days but when she gets back she is going to do some caliper measurements to estimate my percent body fat. After that she says she thinks she can better tell me where I am. She is big into muscle building and I suspect she will recommend that I stop losing weight and eat more so I can build more muscle. To be honest I don't feel the need to "body build", I just want to be healthy, but I will carefully consider what she says. I still have some stubborn fat I would like rid of, but I know that may always be the case. She asked me for some before pictures, which I sent her and she took a couple of current ones, says she is going to post me on her wall of something. That felt good.

Was the area you went to bad for covid?--i know there are some areas getting hit pretty hard

Florida has a high and increasing rate, but most of the places I went were smaller towns where the infection rates are lower. I was a bit surprised at how lax the whole distancing thing was there. Floridians are not being very careful.

I have ~ two dozen allergies but thankfully seafood is not one of them.

Good to hear, I love seafood of all kinds.

Ha Rob I think you are whipping those last few lbs off pretty quickly. I'm stuck too long now !

Thanks Petal, I am trying. And I am sure you won't be stuck for long!

You are storming ahead - and doing great - even did great while you were on holiday which is brilliant. Keep doing what you are doing - you have this.

Thanks Margaret, but sometimes it feels more like a slow slog than a storm.

Great job!

Thanks LaMa, it did feel good to eat a little more normally on vacation and still lose a little.

You're unstoppable! Fantastic Rob.

Thanks Emily, I appreciate it. Though I know I will have to stop at some point, probably sooner than later.

You are amazing, Rob.

Thanks Cate, that means a lot coming from you. Though to be honest I don't feel amazing, just plodding along.

 

[liza]

he is big into muscle building and I suspect she will recommend that I stop losing weight and eat more so I can build more muscle. To be honest I don't feel the need to "body build", I just want to be healthy, but I will carefully consider what she says. I still have some stubborn fat I would like rid of, but I know that may always be the case.

That'll be good to sit down and lay out some goals around the work-out. Hopefully she can offer some good direction.

 

[Llama]

Though I know I will have to stop at some point, probably sooner than later.

You're not stopping, just changing direction.

 

[Cate]

I think you will always be aware of keeping track of your calories. You have come so far & wouldn’t want to waste that effort. It will just be an adjustment.

 

[misty22]

Hi Rob,

It's great that the gyms are open! They have not opened for us over here as yet

I think building muscle would be great for strength, you could perhaps do it simultaneously with burning fat.
It will be good to have a second opinion. Thought you already hit your weight goal, though?

You are an inspiration to others, glad she will be posting pics on the wall. Will help so many other people.

 

[alligatorob]

It was a good day, ate well and I feel good tonight. I had planned a walk but then the city delivered a couple of new garbage cans, one regular and one recycle. I started building a stand to hold them, without the stand they will blow down the hill in one of our all to frequent wind storms. I came up short on calories for the day so I had a big evening snack, more like my usual breakfast. It put me up over 1,300, my goal, but I am feeling pretty full right now.

That'll be good to sit down and lay out some goals around the work-out. Hopefully she can offer some good direction.

I am hoping it goes well, she is a very knowledge person and always helpful, but sometimes her ideas and mine are not the same about things. I do need to remember that she knows a whole lot more about this than I do.

You're not stopping, just changing direction.

Thanks for pointing that out LaMa, and you are right of course.

I think you will always be aware of keeping track of your calories.

Yes, I believe I will have to if I don't want to regain weight. Intuitive eating doesn't work for me, and probably never will. I just have to accept that.

Hi Rob,

It's great that the gyms are open! They have not opened for us over here as yet

I think building muscle would be great for strength, you could perhaps do it simultaneously with burning fat.
It will be good to have a second opinion. Thought you already hit your weight goal, though?

You are an inspiration to others, glad she will be posting pics on the wall. Will help so many other people.

Thanks Misty, though I have a hard time seeing myself as an "inspiration" to anybody. It seems to carry too much responsibility... No I have not hit my goal weight, at least in part because I don't really know what my goal should be. My BMI did move from obese to just overweight a while back, but to get to a "normal" BMI I still have about 13 lbs to lose. Our gyms were only closed for a short time, they have been open for a while now. Hope yours can open safely soon.

 

[alligatorob]

Yesterday was a long tiring day, but I feel good this morning. I spent most of the waking hours working in the yard, my garbage can stand project turned out to be more work than I had anticipated, and I got a call from a guy who I get firewood from with a deal I could not turn down. So my project got interrupted midpoint to unload and stack 2 cord of wood, set for winter now. I worked until after 8 pm, but got the stand done.

I was too busy to get enough to eat, so my calories were low but what I did eat was good food. The local fruit season has begun, apricots are in and I am eating them. No exercise other than working, but this morning I am quite sore, evidence that it was real exercise I guess.

 

[Llama]

Work can absolutely be exercise! Especially if it´s different kinds every time so your body can´t really adjust.

 

[Emilyrose]

Well done on the garbage can stand.

Though to be honest I don't feel amazing, just plodding along.

This comment from a few posts back really resonated with me. I don't know what it is for you, but getting myself enthused about something new again helps me to feel more engaged with my life. I honestly just find day-to-day living incredibly boring. So, for me, joining the tennis club, and now this week, getting back into the gym, have all made me feel a lot more alive. Less plodding, more skipping.

You seem well able to motivate yourself and always have some project on the go. Maybe the program from the woman in the gym could be just the thing you need.

 

[Cate]

Hi, Rob. G & I were just trying to work out how much wood a cord is. I think 2 cords would be about 4 ute loads. Is your wood heater just used as a supplementary heater & you mostly rely on air-con?

 

[DietAccountability101]

The garbage can stand looks great. It will be interesting to see what your gym instructor says. From my understanding about fat loss it is possible to change body composition while staying the same weight, but it seems horribly complicated compared to just doing a calorie deficit.

 

[liza]

Apricots--yum!

I am hoping it goes well, she is a very knowledge person and always helpful, but sometimes her ideas and mine are not the same about things. I do need to remember that she knows a whole lot more about this than I do.

yes good to just be clear about your goals I think so she knows what you're aiming for.

 

[Petal001]

Hi Rob you are sure packing so much in to your days . I love the garbage holder and it's very neat and tidy .
Too busy to eat sounds good to me . When I am too busy to eat it's normally around lunch time and I end up ravenous around 4 pm then nothing is safe. You have inspired me to buy apricots but I know there will be some difference from yours !

Rob I know this BMI thing comes up frequently. 13lb now seems like a lot after all the weight you have lost . I am too in the same boat . Would need to lose another 24 lbs to get in the 24 BMI . For me I can't see it . My target is another 12lb so I will see how I look and feel if I ever get to that lol . Sounds like your gym instructor will help you make a good decision

 

[jackbenimble]

Hey Rob - I love that sore feeling after exercise, and you've reminded me that it's been too long. I'm not really a project guy, but once the gyms open up over here and I feel like it's safe, I'm sure I'll start in on that again. I remain consistently amazed at your weight loss.

 

[alligatorob]

Yesterday was a good day, a good 4th. I am really into the fresh fruit mode of eating lots of local apricots and cherries yesterday. Also had some of my homemade peach wine with the fireworks. Grandkids came over to watch fireworks and it was impressive, we live in between 2 small towns and could see the fireworks from both, one to the north one to the south. Also a lot of individuals had their own fireworks, the show went until midnight. Best display I have seen, I guess people are shooting fireworks to makeup for the virus thing. We were supposed to be able to see the lunar eclipse at moon rise, but that didn't happen. Forgot to figure the mountain in, our moon rise was 2 hours later than published, so our eclipse was done by the mountain just east of us.

Work can absolutely be exercise! Especially if it´s different kinds every time so your body can´t really adjust.

Thanks LaMa, good to know. Yesterday the only exercise I got was 2 or 3 more hours of yard work. Nothing so strenuous as the day before though. I think I needed the rest.

This comment from a few posts back really resonated with me. I don't know what it is for you, but getting myself enthused about something new again helps me to feel more engaged with my life. I honestly just find day-to-day living incredibly boring. So, for me, joining the tennis club, and now this week, getting back into the gym, have all made me feel a lot more alive. Less plodding, more skipping.

Hey Emily, your post resonated with me also. I have a need to be doing something new to keep life interesting, and can find day-to-day boring as well. You have probably read enough of my diary to know that, without some new challenge or adventure I do get bored. At first the dieting and weight loss served that purpose, but now it has gotten to be routine, so it does seem like plodding. Plodding I plan to stick to.

Hi, Rob. G & I were just trying to work out how much wood a cord is. I think 2 cords would be about 4 ute loads. Is your wood heater just used as a supplementary heater & you mostly rely on air-con?

A cord is a stack 4 ft x 4 ft x 8 ft, about a ton. The weight depends on the wood, the delivery was green maple, so it weighed a lot, well over a ton but should dry to a ton. It's 3.6 cubic meters. I had to look up ute load, and my guess is a ute load is about half a cord, my half ton US standard pickup truck holds about half a cord. Only use wood heat in my office/man cave, it is a separate building from the house. The house is gas furnace heated.

The garbage can stand looks great. It will be interesting to see what your gym instructor says. From my understanding about fat loss it is possible to change body composition while staying the same weight, but it seems horribly complicated compared to just doing a calorie deficit.

I think you are right about the complicated thing, she has kind of explained it to me. Basically what she says is that you have to kind of cycle weight loss and gain while exercising. She said that for the past 20 years her own goal has been 1 pound of muscle weight gain a year, but she is in near perfect condition and has been doing this very consistently for 30 years. In my case I just want to get to a healthy weight and condition, the size of my muscles is only a secondary thing.

Apricots--yum!

Absolutely! Not so good as our peaches, but good. It has been a good apricot year so they are quite plentiful. The cherries however suffered from a late freeze, local ones are harder to find and quite expensive when you do. I still am eating the locals, a fresh picked local bing cherry is so much more tasty than big store bought, mostly from Washington.

Rob I know this BMI thing comes up frequently. 13lb now seems like a lot after all the weight you have lost . I am too in the same boat . Would need to lose another 24 lbs to get in the 24 BMI . For me I can't see it . My target is another 12lb so I will see how I look and feel if I ever get to that lol

Thanks for reminding me Petal. You are right of course at the individual level BMI does not mean a lot, not with any precision anyway. How we feel is a lot more important than any particular number.

I love that sore feeling after exercise, and you've reminded me that it's been too long.

Hey Jack, good to hear from you! Yes I agree that sore feeling is good, I just have a bit more of it right now than I'd like. But this morning is better.

 

[overlandflyer]

...I was too busy to get enough to eat, ...

my favorite days...

the past two it's been 3-4pm before i had breakfast.

 

[overlandflyer]

your area seems so remote... no animal concerns keeping your containers outside?

 

[Cate]

We had worked out what a cord was & figured that wouldn't be your only heat source. Gas is really good. It's not really a viable alternative here, unfortunately.

 

[alligatorob]

It was a good day, ate well, exercised and I feel good. I got out to the lake did a little swimming and then did an 8.5 km walk this evening. The walk was hard, it was hot and my knee started hurting on the downhill return. Maybe I need to try to walk in the cooler mornings.

Had a funny food day, timing was different. I got up early knowing that breakfast was being made for the grandkids and company at about 10 am, so I ate a light breakfast of fruit at around 7. At 10 I ate some of the big breakfast, including an alligator breakfast sausage. Then we ate hobo dinners with the grandkids about 4 pm, and after that I just grazed till now. Calories seem to have worked out ok in the end, but I did eat a bit more this evening that usual to bring them up. I got the alligator when in Florida, I know a guy who is a nuisance gator hunter, he gets called when a gator is a problem. He gets to keep and sell the meat and hide, so I got it from him. No nutritional information on his labels, I had to guess the calories in the sausage. Hobo dinners are a favorite of the grandkids. Each person makes up a dinner of uncooked veggies and meat wrapped in aluminum foil. The packages are then cooked over a campfire in a big cast iron dutch oven. Lots of fun and they taste good, it also lets me pick and choose what goes in mine. I did just a little lean beef, a very few potatoes and lots of veggies, no oil or bacon which most did.

your area seems so remote... no animal concerns keeping your containers outside?

No, never had a problem here. In Florida we had lots of black bears and they go into the garbage all the time.

We had worked out what a cord was & figured that wouldn't be your only heat source. Gas is really good. It's not really a viable alternative here, unfortunately.

Yes, gas is great and not too expensive here, the cheapest alternative. Even in my office 2 cord is not enough for the winter, I usually burn 3 to 4. I already had some wood so now have about 3 1/2 cord, it should be enough, or close. Our house is a very old house that we renovated, it originally had 5 wood stoves and no insulation. We insulated and got rid of the chimneys when we renovated. Gas was just more practical.

 

[alligatorob]

Had a good day, ate well, exercised and feel good tonight. However I am not doing as well exercising as I have, I did 1 hour and 40 min at the gym today, but that was all I could do. I was worn out. Last week I did 2 hours plus and felt less tired. And yesterday's 8.5 km walk really got me tired. I guess the energy just comes and goes. Still I am doing so much better than I could have only a few months ago I am happy with it all. Me at the gym, note it was an empty room, made it feel safer. You can also see the disinfectant bottle we all have to carry and use on any equipment or surfaces we touch, both before and after use.