Jason's Diary

Points: 225 of 300

I took both Tuesday and Wednesday off from the gym. It felt nice. I did not do much other than catch up on a couple shows I had queued up (Mythbusters, LA Ink, a show from BBC Four about photography), relaxed, and cleaned up around here a bit. I need to do each of those a little more this weekend.

So, being Friday I stepped on the scale again. It was at 253# and I am upset. Yes, water weight, fluxuations, etc., but the 250# mark last week was a nice milestone. I was stuck at 265# for a long time a bit ago and I know I will get past -- and I am losing inches -- but seeing the numbers drop to something more reasonable would be great. I cannot get myself to update my ticker quite yet. Maybe tomorrow I will have flushed out whatever my problem is today.

-J
 
Points: 237 of 300

I fell out of first place on the bracket since I took Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday off from the gym. Yesterday I did want to go, but whiteout conditions and blowing/drifting snow made me not want to drive anywhere -- so I stayed in! Maybe I will hit my goal by the end of next weekend.

-J
 
Points: 245 of 300

My cardio routine was apparently not sustainable and I am burned out now. Weights are fun again, but those are slow going and not big point gainers. I cannot wait for this damn thing to be over so I can go back to a normal routine. Forget the competitions; I just want the shirts.

Tonight was 30 minutes of weights (leg press, leg extension, leg curl, and back extension; 2 points), 10 minutes of arc trainer thing (200 calories; 2 point), 10 minutes of bike (200 calories; 2 points), and 10 minutes of elliptical (200 calories; 2 points). What a bunch of garbage. I could not keep any of them going without becoming angrily bored with it.

Gah. I should go to bed, but I want at least 30-45 minutes of wind-down time. Tonight is not my night.

-J
 
Points: 250 of 300

This last burnout I think was for the best. Today was the first day in a week or two where I wanted to go to the gym and enjoyed being there. I spend a bit of time with weights (upper-body today) and a short bit (20 minutes) on the treadmill. It was short and sweet. Tomorrow I want to do some weight training with my legs. I think this new routine is for the best.

I have also decided to continue working toward goals (240# is not that far away!), but I am going to stop putting dates on goals or hoping to lose x pounds per week. As part of this I am going to only weigh twice a month instead of weekly. I put together a better tracking spreadsheet and graph in Excel and hopefully that will keep me motivated to see it going toward my "someday" goal. A little experimenting showed me averaging more than four pounds per month since September (and five if you read it more liberally). I am going to post photos and this graph in one overly-elaborate post in the Before & After forum either after I hit 240# or around April 1 (six months of recorded change).

Lastly, the song Jigsaw Falling Into Place by Radiohead is fracking amazing. Look it up on YouTube -- erm, actually here are the links: or .

-J
 
Points: 255 of 300

It was another good day at the gym. Nice and short. One of these days I should get a nice four-mile walk in. I might tomorrow if I feel like going. Since it is my day between weights -- the plan is two days between weight training of any certain type, which makes a three day cycle of upper body, lower body, option of day off or cardio -- I do not have to feel bad if I am tired after work and I do not want to go.

Today I ordered the new lens for my camera. It was going to be my 240# present to myself (I have decided to push my tattoo present to myself back a bit), but my new credit card cycle just started a couple days ago and I can get it now and pay for it in a couple weeks. I am really looking forward to going on some nice walks through area parks and taking photos.

Last night I made a nice pizza (crust from scratch!) and tonight I am going to make lentil and potato with curry. Yum! I might make another pizza tomorrow, especially if I do not go to the gym and have the time to let the dough rise properly.

Have a great week!

-J
 
Hi, all. I just wanted to drop a note and say that I am still alive. I have not been doing well on getting myself to the gym lately. In fact, my last post two weeks ago today was the last time I was there. Tomorrow and Tuesday do not look promising as I have appointments and the other days this week are probably not the best either because I have been busy with work.

On my tracking spreadsheet I see I weighed in at 248# on February 1 and today I weighed in at 253#. It bums me out that I gained anything. The 5# should drop off without too much trouble once I break free of this sedentary lifestyle of late.

I am really looking forward to Spring arriving. I have no reason to believe that it will be warm out anytime soon, but I was looking through some old photos and found that on March 25, 2007 I went to a local park and was walking around a bit. If I remember right, the snow was all but gone (the deep grass and shaded areas still had a little) and there was just a bit of ice left on the lakes. I would love to go out and run around in the woods for a while. It looks like this week the daily highs will be 24-28º F and the nightly lows will be around 5-20º F.

I hope to be solidly below 250# by the end of the month (I expect a slow start) and hope to be at 240# in short order!

-J
 
It has been a while and I have not been doing very good in trying to reach my goals. I am back up to 256# (which is where I was in December) and I have not been going to the gym very often. I understand my problem, but lately I have been so busy at work, I am too tired to go in the evening and weekends I have been too lazy. I have gone a few times in the past week and I am starting to get back on track, though.

I need this fraking winter to be over. Last night it snowed about 8" in parts of the area. That was the third dump of snow in March -- which is actually what I predicted. It was about 38ºF out, so it melted in short order. This winter has been so drawn-out and weak. Nothing but long cold spells between annoying dumps of snow. There were no good snowstorms. I really want to get outside and go geocaching, photographing, and fishing.

Soon I may be buying a house, so I will have plenty of exercise moving furniture, painting, and fixing up the place. I will also have to explore the neighborhood, so that will get me walking outside a bit.

I just need to get back on the right path. This upturn in my weight-loss tracking spreadsheet is a bit disconcerting. My lowest point is 02/01/08 (248#) and I have been going up since then. My goal from last fall was to be at 240# by 03/01/08.

-J
 
So it has been another six weeks since my last entry and I am back up to 258#. I am absolutely certain if I had not been going to the gym the little bit I have been lately, I would be even higher. I may need to re-evaluate my diet again and watch what I am eating. I was on such a nice path to 240#, but burned out and have not been able to get on that path again.

My trips to the gym have been nice lately. I probably averaged 2-3 times per week over the past six weeks with sometimes getting there 5-6 times and sometimes only 1 or 2. I have been working on my weightlifting a bit more lately and within the past couple visits moved up to the next level of weights. (Bench press 90#-10reps-3sets instead of 80# and such.)

In my last post I was whining about winter not being over. Last week it snowed 10-12" in my hometown (2.5 hours north) and was rainy/blowing/gross/30ºF here. Yesterday was the second nice day of the year at about 65ºF and it is supposed to get up to 55-60ºF the next several days. Someday it will actually be nice out all the time!

The house-buying adventure is going well. I found one I like, made an offer, they counter-offered, and I accepted. Right now I am waiting for my Realtor to get some paperwork back from the seller so I can send it over to the lender and then order the inspection. The closing date is May 28 and I am excited to take possession, make some repairs (some is an understatement), and move! Getting everything fixed up will be a several-year project, but will be a lot of fun.

I should get ready for work. Maybe I will try to not make it another six weeks before my next entry.

-J
 
Sucks about the pound, but yay for increasing your lifting weights. And I totally hear ya about the weather -- 75 degrees here one day, snowing the next.
 
Hey. Glad to hear that your still making it to the gym, that is what counts. It's a good habit to have. Here in Utah, the weather is 80 degrees one day and 40 degrees the next. It's so frustrating, especially when you want to start running outside regularly. At least it hasn't snowed in awhile, and now all the ski resorts here are finally closing, so I'm thinking snow might be over for now (fingers crossed).

Congrats on the house. My friends just put an offer on a house and it was accepted. It's their first house. I think they told me they are trying to close in the middle of May so that they don't have their first house payment to make for 45 days (July). They are way excited, and I bet you are too :)

Hang in there,
Sam
 
Well, I was right: it was not another six weeks between posts. Only four weeks this time. :)

Things are going well. I am up to 100x10x3 in my bench press (100# at 10 reps 3 times in a row) and 50x10x3 per arm on this kneeling weight pull thing I like. I am at 90x20x3 on this push weights while standing thing I like, but I do not always make it to 20 in the third set.

The treadmill is not all that awesome right now (unless I take the day off and watch Jeopardy! while walking), but I have been taking walks around the neighborhood a bit. Just a little bit ago I got back from a four-mile walk that took me 58:10 from the time I left my desk to the time I got back. My normal times have been about five minutes slower, but today it is really nice out and I pushed to keep the pace up. Hopefully I will be able to continue these after work when it is nice out. (I took a few days off this week to relax and not work.)

The house is going well. Closing is two weeks from today. My dad and I are going to do some preliminary work (re-seat the toilet so it stops leaking, clean up some wiring, change out the locks on the doors, etc.) that weekend. I am going to do some work on the place while my parents are out of town on a cruise and then he and I are going to do some more major work (gut the bathroom and rebuild it along with other stuff) the first week of July. Hopefully all that will keep me busy and active. I will have to make sure some nights I get out for a walk or go to the gym instead of just go paint and fix up the place.

I have not done a weigh-in for a couple weeks and was disappointed last time I did. Maybe I will pick up the twice monthly weigh-in and monthly photos (I skipped the last couple months) in June. Things have got to improve once all this stress has passed. :)

I should go run errands. The hardware store is calling for me to go price out all the things I need (and more things I want).

-J
 
Oh, I meant to put a new recipe I found in that post. I did not find it on a healthy food site or anything, but it is delicious and has to be good for you.

Spicy Pulled Chicken
  • 2 lbs chicken breast
  • 16 oz salsa
  • 1 packet taco seasoning
  • 6 cloves garlic
  • 2 serrano peppers
  1. Put all in crock-pot and mix around.
  2. Wait 10+ hours.
  3. Pull apart with tongs and/or forks.
  4. Serve in burrito form.
  5. Toppings like cheese, sour cream, etc. are optional and very much not necessary.

I made this yesterday and wished it were a little more spicy. I had it for lunch today and will again tomorrow. It is even better as leftovers! I am definitely going to have this cook in my apartment while my dad and I are working on the house so it will be ready in the evening. I am making a whole list of cook-all-day (like chili) and make-ahead-and-cook (like lasagna or pizza dough) recipes. I am not sure why I have not done this before and made them more often while at work for the day.

-J
 
that sounds really good -I'd probably go with ahotter pepper than a serrano but as they say it's easier tp put heat in - than take it out.

It's also be really good with boneless chicken thighs as well...
 
I found the problem! If I do not stay nose-to-the-grindstone concentrated on eating healthy (and not so much) and go to the gym daily, it turns out my bathroom scale automatically resets to 265#. It is not actually my fault at all.

Yes, that is a huge amount of sarcasm.

Things have been going okay. I just updated my ticker and the spreadsheet I keep after two months of inactivity and I went from 258# on 4/15 to 265# today. It is sad to see that 248# on 2/1 was my lowest, I did not quite make my goal of 240# or really even come close to touching it, and that I am nearly back to where I started.

I bought that house. I have not been to the gym with any seriousness in probably three weeks. Since the new place is farther away from the gym and less convenient, I am considering dropping the membership and saving the $50/month, but part of me wants to keep it and start going again. I have too much going on with the house to go anytime soon, though. My weekends are too valuable to spend 90-120 minutes round trip (getting things together, working out, showering, etc.) there and not cleaning up the yard, painting, or otherwise preparing to move.

I really have no idea what I am going to do.

-J

--------------------

Hey! Scroll back up here!

This thread is dead. I started over and started a new thread. I did not want to create a new post on this thread because it would have revived it from the dead for no reason. You can find the new oneover at http://weight-loss.fitness.com/weight-loss-diary/24676-geam-s-diary.html.

--Jason
9/1/08
 
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While paying fo ra gym membership tends to encourage people to actually use it -otherwise you're wasting your money -why not invest that money in some equipment and create your own gym in your new house... ( Play It Again Sports has good quality second hand equipment... or even look for ads on CraigsList or even Freecycle for cheap equipment that others are getting rid of so you don' thave to spend amint...

You can start small without investing a ton of money and what you'd be saving on your gym membership you could have a pretty nice setup.
 
Good to see ya postin again :) I hope that you get things figured out... and working in the yard is good for you too. Perhaps just try to do the eating healthy thing while you can't make it to the gym?
 
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