Monday Weigh-In #1

Alright, alright.  Time for my first Monday Weigh-In, sans photos (I'm saving those for every 10 pounds gone).  

As a reminder, here are last weeks stats:

07 October 2013
Weight: 281
Waist: 54
Approximate BMI: 39%

I want to say that hoping back into this has been surprisingly easy.  Eating better wasn't too difficult as the food that I was eating was pretty healthy to begin with.  It came down to, of course, portion size.  

(Who knew this wasn't ok)

Since I have scaled back on the size of things, I have found that I don't need to eat as much as I previously thought I needed.  In fact, Manda, Brodie, and I went to the Planetarium at the U of A campus and all I had snack-wise was some broccoli, cauliflower, and a Lara Bar like snack cleverly named 'Mt. Lemmon' Poppy Seed (click here for some cool Wikipedia information on Mount Lemmon).  

(These little guys)

And guess what?  I didn't starve nor did I over eat once dinner rolled around.  

Now, onto the numbers!

14 October 2013
Weight: 275.5
Waist: 53.5
Approximate BMI: 38%

Woot!  My healthy eating and extra exercise have started to pay off.  That's 5 1/2 pounds, half an inch, and 1% down from last week.  Now, I know that these kind of numbers won't happen all that often, so, I gotta love them when I get them.

Run Report

I did a really good, non-painful run today.  I actually added some running/jogging in the mix and rocked it.  Basically, I walked for four minutes, jogged for one, lather, rinse, repeat, for 30 minutes.  This run was done in my neighborhood which is one steep hill after the other.  I don't have any numbers on elevation change on hand, but, I'll grab them at some point and post them.  
As a reminder, here was last Friday's report 

Friday - 11Oct13
Time: 31:12
Distance: 2.11 miles
Pace: 14:45 min/mi

And I'll leave you with today's.  Note the awesome.

Monday - 14Oct13
Time: 30:02
Distance: 2.35 miles
Pace: 12:45 min/mi

Until next time,

- Louie

Friday Update Numero Uno.

I want to start this post off by thanking my lovely wife Amanda for putting up with me while I go about with this transformation in progress.  She has done a wonderful job packing me a nice healthy lunch, filled to the brim with tons of fresh fruit and veggies, every day (I know, I'm spoiled).  Thank you Amanda for giving me the time and leeway to exercise in the afternoons and manning the stopwatch as I plank.  Here's to you, Manda.

(I am one lucky dude)

Now, on to the good stuff, am I right?  I have at least a Run Report and a Strength Training Update for you.  Let's start with the Run Report and see where it takes us.

Run Report:

I must say, my tri-weekly walks are getting faster and faster!  I was a little concerned today as I had a document to peer review at work and, as such, spent a lot of time with my butt firmly rooted to my chair and not walking around. 

(It felt much like this)

 I also had a pretty killer (at least to my flabby body) workout from last night not working in my favor, but, more on that later.

With out further ado, here are my sessions for this week laid out right next to each other:

Monday - 7Oct13                                       

Time: 32:18                                                               

Distance: 1.90 miles                                   

Pace: 17:02 min/mi                                      

Wednesday - 9Oct13
Time: 30:03 
Distance: 1.97 miles
Pace: 15:17 min/mi   

Friday - 11Oct13
Time: 31:12
Distance: 2.11 miles
Pace: 14:45 min/mi

Do you see what I see?  Progress!  Awesome tangible progress.  Don't get no better.  The best part is that I am not totally wiped out afterwards or hurting for days afterwards.  I really can't wait to throw in some running next week and watch those numbers inch higher and higher.

Strength Training Update:

Remember this guy?

(Original recipe...)

I was convinced last night that I would be this guy all day long yesterday.  However, I was only that guy last night.  And, let me tell you, during last night's workout, I was Mr. Human Torch there on steroids.

(Extra crispy)

I knew from the first squat that that workout was going to be a pain.  But, I didn't let it beat me and finished my workout strong, well, somewhat strong.

Body weight squats: 50 (1 Set)  ***

Incline push ups: 20 (2 Sets) ***

Bent over rows: 20 w/ 25 lb dumbbell (1 Set) ***

Minutes of planks: 2 (4 Sets) 

So, I had to modify the Incline push ups from the lofty goal of 40 to 20 pretty early on.  I am not upset about that one bit and will shoot for 30 tomorrow.  Let me tell you about them there planks...  I think I might slide that exercise towards the front of the workout instead of the tail end.  I'll tell you why.  It wasn't my core that burned so much (it totally did though) but my arms/shoulders that were giving me fits.  I'll level up on all of my lovely exercises all save the planking.  All-in-all, a success!  Here's what tomorrow will look like:

Body weight squats: 70
Incline push ups: 30
One arm rows: 30 w/30 lb dumbbell
Minutes of planks: 2

My first week back at this is and I am feeling really optimistic, hopefully not overly so.  Monday will bring my second weigh-in.  I started this at 273 and then 281.  I can't wait to see where I am on Monday.

Until next time.

-Louie

A Man With a Plan

Yesterday I spoke of my three pillars of Louie weight loss, Eating, Exercise, and Reward, and only spoke about the first to.  That leaves us with Reward, probably the most rewarding of the three.  See what I did there?  Yeah, so, besides the rewards of feeling/looking/performing better I have set up rewards for weight lost.  Specifically, for each 10 pounds I lose, I get a reward.  Here's what I got so far:

10 lbs- Socks

(Because these socks are awesome.)

20 lbs- An album from iTunes

30 lbs- A new snazzy shirt

(Hopefully like this)

40 lbs- A nice simple sport's watch

50 lbs- Prescription sunglasses

Weight Watchers also sets goals for me.  My current goal weight with the program is 5% of my weight gone, or, 267.5 pounds.  Each time I reach and beat a Weight Watchers goal, I will treat myself to a Lego Mini Figure blind pack.

(Just a small portion of my Lego family...  Don't judge me!)

I really didn't have any set rewards last time I did this and if I did reward myself, it was with food.  You can probably see how that could be problematic.  I believe that evenly spaced rewards will be a great motivation to getting where I need to be.  As you can see, I've only got to 50 pound mark... if you have any suggestions of what else I could reward myself with, I would love to hear them!  Just throw your two cents worth in the comment section at the bottom.

And now I would like to quickly post two Run Reports (for the 7th and the 9th) and a Strength Training Update.

Run Reports:

Like I mentioned yesterday, I am building up to running by first walking for 30 minutes and then gradually adding small chunks to that walking, until I am just running.  My two routes are the same as they were last year, either uphill for the first half of the run and then downhill for the remainder and vice versa for the other route.  For these two runs I used the later of the two routes.  

(The lonely road)

With that in mind, here are my first two run(walk) reports:

Monday - 7Oct13

Time: 32:18

Distance: 1.90 miles

Pace: 17:02 min/mi

Wednesday - 9Oct13

Time: 30:03

Distance: 1.97 miles

Pace: 15:17 min/mi

As you may have noticed, much faster today than yesterday.  Which is a bit odd, as today was super windy and Monday was calm as can be.  Guess the downhill/wind on my back combo for the first half of the walk gave me enough speed and momentum to barrel through the second half of the walk.  Whereas, Monday was more of a stroll, I guess.

Now for the Strength Training Update.

Tuesday - 8Oct13

Body weight squats: 30 - 1 set

Incline push ups: 40 - 1 set (I actually did wall push ups instead)

One arm rows: 30 - 1 set

Seconds of planks: 60 - 1 set

This earned me 3 stars on each exercise!  Ding! Level Up!  So, tomorrows reps will all be upped, like this:

Body weight squats: 50 

Incline push ups: 40

Bent over rows: 20 

Minutes of planks: 2 

I am preparing to feel the burn tomorrow!  

(Much like this, but, lying in bed)

Well, I think that will do it for now.  I'll be settling into the permanent posting schedule from this point out.  I'll give a weekly weigh in on Mondays and weekly exercise reports every Friday.  Thanks again for reading this little piece of the internet of mine and for giving me the motivation to keep on going.  Until next time.

- Louie

The Plan

Alright, tonight I'm going to go over the grand plan to get to where I want to be.  It is fairly similar to the plan I laid out at the beginning of this whole deal, but, with a few tweaks here and there.  I'll sum it all up as the three pillars of Louie weight loss:

Eating

Exercise

Reward

(Awesome space pillars.)

Let's get to it, shall we?

Eating:

I truly believe that proper nutrition is going to be the foundation of my weight loss journey.  Put good in and reap the benefits.  Yesterday I stated that Weight Watchers would be the linchpin of my success and I truly believe that.  There are two types of Weight Watchers out there, a meeting based system where you talk with and get support from actual people and an online only version.  I subscribe to the online only version as the closest meeting locations are 30 or so miles away from I live.   

For those who are unaccustomed with how Weight Watchers works, here is a quick overview.  Weight Watchers is, at its core, a calorie tracker.  You set a weight goal, the program does it magic and tells you how much you can and can't eat, and you just tell it what you ate and it keeps track of it all.  Pretty simple, right?  

The big difference between  Weight Watchers and a traditional calorie counter, like MyPlate, is that the Weight Watchers program breaks food into points.  It does this by taking how much fat, carbohydrates, fiber, and protein that particular food has, throwing it through some algorithms, and Ta-Da, you've got your points!  So, for example, a Hamburger costs you around 12 points, whereas, a Grilled Chicken Wrap will cost you only 8 points.

(We have met the enemy and he is delicious.)

The program let's you know how many points you have available per day, in my case 59 points per day.  It also gives you a pool of extra flex-points you can use throughout the week in case you go over that day, in my case 45 flex-points.  You can also earn points through tracking physical activity that you may or may not use as well, it's up to you!  The program adjusts the amount of daily points you get as you gain or lose weight.  So I may have 59 points this week and after I lose a couple pounds it may change to 57 pounds.  I like this method of tracking because the numbers seem a little more manageable, 59 points vs 1800 calories.

Exercise:

This should look really familiar to those who have been reading this blog for awhile.  I'll be doing a simple progressive approach to cardio.  Start small and work my way up slowly but surely.  It worked for me in the past and I don't plan fixing what isn't broken.  Once again I shall be using Zombies, Run! as my running tool.  Here is my cardio schedule for this week:

Monday: walk 30 minutes
Tuesday: strength training
Wednesday: walk 30 minutes
Thursday: strength training
Friday:walk 30 minutes
Saturday: strength training
Sunday: rest

This plan coupled with little walks throughout the day at work should fill out my cardio needs.  And yes, I have been following this plan already and will give you an update tomorrow, whether you want it or not.

A change to my exercise plan this time around is that I am adding some body weight strength training into the mix.  Specifically this plan, courtesy of the fine folks at Nerd Fitness.  As you can tell I love things that break my management into video game like terms for me and this site definitely caters to people just like me.

(Just like me...)

Back to the workout plan, it is dubbed the Angry Birds Plan.  Basically if you would have the time to play a level or two of Angry Birds, you have time to do this workout.  From the website:

"Here’s how The Angry Bird Workout Plan works: it’s deceptively simple – only four major movements.

• Body weight squats
• Push ups
• Pull ups (or bent over rows or inverted rows)
• Planks

Each exercise will have MANY different levels based on your ability and level of fitness.

Depending on how much time you have during the day, you can do your whole workout at once, or break up your workout into four different sessions throughout the day (with each session being ONE of the exercises).  You can even split the workout across two days if you have to: squats and push ups on Monday, and then pull ups and planks on Tuesday."

Without getting into the whole thing, you do a certain number of reps of each exercise and depending on how many sets it took you to get there, you earn stars (0 to 3), just like in Angry Birds.  If you earn 3 stars (doing the reps in 2 or fewer sets) you level up and the rep count increases.  And so on and so forth.  

Here is the first level rep count:

• 30 one arm rows
• 30 body weight squats
• 40 incline push ups
• 30 one arm rows
• 60 seconds of planks

I think that the cardio/strength training combo will do wonders.

Once again, I think this post is getting a bit long (and I've got some strength training to do) so I'm going to call it here.  Tomorrow I'll give you some run reports, a strength training report (I haven't thought of a witty name for this yet), and run you through my reward system.  Thanks again for reading and until next time.

- Louie

Back In The Saddle

So....

Long time no read, right?  I know, I know, where have I been?  What the actual heck happened to you, Louie?  What was all this talk of resetting that you spoke of way back in July?  Oh no, not last July, Louie, July 2012! 

Valid questions that I hope to give some valid answers to.  Well, I let life get in the way.  I let me get in the way.  I had one bad moment, not exercising, a doughnut here or there, a missed blog post, and I just stopped.  Obviously.  It was if I had tripped going up the stairs and instead of catching myself and continuing the climb I threw myself down the stairs for good measure.  

(Yes, yes it does.)

And what has kept me from writing is shame.  Ashamed of myself for not continuing exercising and not keeping my word on updating this blog.  Ashamed that I let you all down.
So, where was I at when I stopped?  I went back and checked so you wouldn't have to.  Way back in July 2012 I looked like this: 

11 July 2012
Weight: 270
Waist: 50
Approximate BMI: 37%

So where am I now?

07 October 2013
Weight: 281
Waist: 54
Approximate BMI: 39%

And I look like this:

(Poor Shirt...)

(I don't know who I am trying to fool with the beard = chin trick.)

...

Yikes.  I now weigh eight more pounds, expanded my waist by four inches, and increased my already enormous BMI by two percent since I began this grand adventure so long ago.  Talk about being humbled.

You may be asking yourself, what now Louie?  Well, I'll tell you what now.  I'm bringing it back.  I'm hoping back on that horse.  I'm going to get past my pride and my shame and fix me.  I'm going to lose it!

Here's how: 

(Technology!)

Maybe you recognize some of those apps and maybe you don't.  These apps and the support of my loving wife (Oh, yeah, I'm married again!  Hooray for me!) will be my support.  Let's go through them real quick.

1.  Epic Win.  This is probably the coolest "To-Do-List" program out there.  Much like a game of D&D or Skyrim, you set up an avatar, give him some quests, and then level up and collect some loot.

(I figured a stout bearded dwarf represented me well.)

(Can you not agree that this is awesome?  No, no you can't.)

This will be my main calendar of sorts as I get back into this.

2.  Weight Watchers.  I've been using Weight Watchers since April of this year with mild success, as you can see.  I've had a problem of keeping up with tracking throughout the week, mainly the weekend.  I still struggle through with this, but, I am hoping the transparency of the blog will help with this.  Going through how Weight Watchers will be the linchpin of my success would be a blog post in and off itself.

3.  Zombies, Run!  I still love this app for keeping track of how fast and far I go on my "runs".  Thanks again, Tammy.

4.  Smiling Mind.  This is a nice little guided meditation program from or friends down under.  I am going to take the time out to take a time out everyday.

5.  Luminosity.  Not only am I exercising my body, I am exercising my brain this time around! 

Well, I think this blog post has gone on long enough for tonight.  In the next couple of days I'll fully lay out my plan and my reward system.  I want to thank you all again for reading this and giving me a second chance.  

Until next time.

- Louie