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223.2

Taking a minute out of watching this atrocious Florida vs. Miami game to blog my weigh-in weight this morning. About a pound over where I thought I’d be. Guess Rick was right about the sodium content in my food choices.

Yesterday I ate pretty well. Rachel is out of town this weekend, so it’s just me and the kids. Didn’t eat out at all yesterday. Dinner was pot roast, instant mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables. Lunch for me was a tuna sandwich, although I did have some chips and a coke with it. Cereal for breakfast. Fruit and protein bars for snacks.

2nd half of Gator game about to start…gotta go…

Go Gators!

 

 

Edit: My beloved Gators lost. Looks to be a bad year for the Fightin’ Gators

The Spider-Man Sleep Run

I was tired. Been up since 5 AM. Worked a full day. Did an Insanity workout afterward. We went out to dinner, did a little shopping. I had showered and was getting ready for bed it was about 10:45 PM. Then Rachel says “Aren’t you going running?” Ugh… Without saying a word, I silently laced up my shoes, put my phone into my neoprene armband and headed back outside.

I had no energy. I didn’t want to run. Hell, I have to be at work at 6 in the morning. But I there I was, staring down a poorly lit asphalt street. The muggy air didn’t do much to inspire me either. I hit play on my Pandora radio and began to put one foot in front of the other.

I barely got a mile into my run before my eyes started getting really heavy. I wasn’t falling asleep, but I sure wanted to. I got another half mile in before my body said “That’s enough asshole. Go to bed.” So I began to walk. The problem was that I was at the furthest point possible from my house. I had no choice but to finish the entire 5K distance walking. My shirt was soaked. My legs were sore, but I pressed on knowing that a hot shower and cool bed were waiting for me.

The sidewalk I was on was also poorly lit. The few street lights lining it were blocked out by the small trees on each side. I was about to dip back into my neighborhood when I walked face first into a huge spider web! Holy hell! I freaked out man! I hate spiders! My arms were wailing, hands thrashing at my face and hair desperate to remove any arachnids that may have attached themselves to me when I lumbered through their home. If anybody else was stupid enough to be out that late on a Monday night, I can only imagine what they would be thinking as they saw this crazy person walking down the sidewalk in the dark, hands swinging wildly while smacking themself in the head. They’d probably call the police.

As I tried to clear my hands of the remaining sticky webs, the entire rest of the way home, every single drop of sweat that ran down my brow or trickled down the back of my neck I just knew was that MF’ing spider! Dammit man. Shiver! Did I mention that I really hate spiders?

It’s 12:30. Gotta shower and go to sleep
The Fit Gator ran/walked with MapMyRun/Walk! Distance: 3.24mi, time: 43:09, pace: 13:20min/mi, speed: 4.50mi/h.
http://mapmyrun.com/workout/347693209

Underground

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218.6

Yep. Sad I know. I was actually up to 219.6 yesterday. Had to stop this train wreck just shy of falling back into the 220’s.  But that is not going to happen, I assure you.

There are now exactly four weeks (28 days) left until I go down to Gainesville for the opening weekend of college football. Although the FitBet Deadline has been pushed back an additional month to the end of September, I would like to be at my lowest weight yet by this first trip down there. I know I won’t be able to lose “30 pounds in 34” days as I so optimistically hoped for in my post six days ago. A more realistic approach, albeit still lofty, is to lose 20 lbs in the next 28 days. That will put me below 200 pounds, and back into “Onederland” for the fist time since 1999! I will be at my lowest weight yet on this FitGator journey and well on my way to obtaining my ultimate goal of getting my weight back down to the 170-175 lb range.  Plus if I can do it, this will break the rut I’ve been in for a few months now, which I desperately need to do.

That being said… I will be going underground for the next four weeks. You will not see any posts from me until August 30th arrives. Now I will still post to my blog periodically, but I won’t “publish” it until August 30th. Once 8/30 hits, I’ll publish all my posts that I’ve made up to that point from here on out. The main reason I’m doing this, is because I want there to be some suspense. Some drama. Can I actually do it? Rick and I spoke (and I posted about this early on) and it was decided that I would go “silent” the final month of the journey. Much like they do in The Biggest Loser, where we see the contestants weigh in each week, but then they leave for 12 weeks on their own before the finale. We only get to see what they’ve accomplished on the final show.

I know this isn’t the end of Fit Bet, that comes at the end of September. I’ll likely post normally again the final month after this initial August 30th deadline. I have a couple of other really interesting ideas on how to continue on my Fit Gator blog once I reach my goal weight. And make no mistake, I will do it. Come Hell or high water, I will do reach my desired weight – even if I fail to do it by the FitBet Deadline. I’ll know that I’m on the right path. I’ll be healthier (and lighter) and fitter by the time that comes around. Even if I lose the bet and have to wear that Godforsaken t-shirt to the Vanderbilt/Florida game, I will still be overwhelmingly happy at how far I’ve come and excited about the direction I’m heading.

I will still be following all of you other fitness bloggers out there, and I’ll be updating my Fit Gator blog behind the scenes as this next month presses on. Just remember that I’ll release all my new blog posts for anyone who’s interested, on August 30th.

So until that day arrives, I bid you adieu.  Stay fit my friends.

Sacrifice. Dedication. Victory.

 

218.6 – Danger, Will Robinson

Warning!…  Warning!…  Danger, Will Robinson! 

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After getting my weight as low as 205 and on the precipice of breaking back into the 100’s [Onederland] for the first time in nearly a decade and a half, I have dramatically put back on the weight. The reason can be summed up in three words: Diet, diet, diet. I weighed in on Tuesday (didn’t post it) at 214.2. Forgot to weigh in yesterday and last night Rachel and I made the not-so-smart decision to eat Hibachi from a local Japanese steakhouse. I’m sure I ate way too much (calorie wise) and the food is no doubt loaded with sodium.

So here I am … instead of breaking new ground into new frontiers, I’ve lost some serious ground. I’ve fallen off the edge of the fitness cliff, and I’m hanging precariously by a small vine (of hope). I need to stop the bleeding now. Once and for all.

Lately, breakfast has been the issue. I have to eat early since I work at 6am. I have been eating either cereal or PB&J toast with Orange Juice.  Then by 8am I’m usually starving again. Why? Because I’m not ingesting very much protein which helps to keep one fuller longer. Lots of carbs which I apparently burn right through. So then at 8 (I try to hold off until at least 9), I must eat some sort of snack. It used to be a protein bar, but I got burned out on eating those (they taste like crap after a while). So lately I’ve been eating some peanut butter crackers and a Coke (damn you evil soda). More carbs, no protein. As you can guess, that also doesn’t keep me full for long.

By the time my lunch break rolls around (usually around 11:30) I’m starving again. I get in my car and contemplate having to go to my house and take the time associated with actually make something healthy, but the growls from my stomach and mild nausea from being slightly hypoglycemic usually cause me to head to a nearby restaurant instead. It’s quicker to satiate my appetite and hunger. And although I’ve been trying to avoid the usual pitfalls of fast food like McDonald’s or Zaxby’s I do find myself getting Subway or Chick-Fil-A. But I haven’t been stringent about making those meals healthy. At Subway, I’ll generally get chips and a big sweet tea with what is usually a 6″ Tuna on wheat (But sometimes I opt for a foot long – although when that happens, I usually get full after eating about 75% of it).

Then I get off work at 3 and head home to do my Insanity workout. But the Insanity workouts are tough so I eat something for an afternoon snack, usually like a Nutragrain bar or something to give me a quick boost of energy. More carbs, no protein.

So now it’s 4:30. Workout is over. I’ve been up since 5am (likely went to bed too late, 11p or later as usual). I’ve worked all day til 3. I’ve worked out til 4:30. Then I have to pick up my daughter from camp. Home by 5. I’m exhausted, tired. Plop down on the couch to hang with my daughter for a few minutes and to actually take a much needed break. 5:30 hits and my wife is off work and heading to daycare to pick up our other daughter. “What’s for dinner?” she asks. Hell, I don’t know… I’m tired, and much like I do at lunch, the motivation to take the time to cook a healthy meal after my day so far seems quite unappealing. So what do we do? We order Hibachi. Ugh… I can hear me getting fatter just by talking about this…

Dinner’s over. Kids need to be bathed. Laundry needs to be done. Rooms need to be picked up. Dishes washed. Trash taken out… The list continues. Now it’s pushing 9 pm. Kids need to go to sleep, but fight and argue to stay awake and play. I really need to incorporate my night-time cardio workout that seemed to work so well for me – even if it’s now just to counter some of the negative effects I’ve caused by eating poorly. I am literally fighting to simply stay the same weight and not gain weight, don’t even think about losing weight at this pace.

But now more often than not, the late night cardio doesn’t materialize. Since I go to work so early, when the rest of my family sleeps, my wife is solely responsible for getting the kids up, fed, and off to their respective places-o-fun for the day. Often it’s a struggle for her just to make it to her job on time.  I can’t justify not helping her after dinner, cleaning up and helping with the chores which includes making sure the kids are bathed, teeth brushed and asleep. It’s not fair to her. She deals with the arguing and struggles by herself in the morning. Kendall, the eight year old is a piece of cake. She’s tired and wants to go to bed by 9:30 on her own. Drew, our three-year old wants to party until the sun comes up. We literally have to make sure everything is shut down and lights off for her to go to sleep. Otherwise she’s too distracted and stays awake and wants to play and talk and generally keep us from doing anything we want to do.  So we turn off the lights and lay down with her to get her to go to sleep and I’m so tired and exhausted from the day and poor diet already that I usually fall asleep before she does. I wake myself up, but now it’s usually too late to work out. Closing in on midnight. 

Day over. Fat 1, Andy 0.

Rinse and repeat.

Long post, I know… hang with me. It’s almost over. I’ve gotten to the point where I simply must force myself to eat clean. I have to change-up my diet to include more protein. I have to force myself to drink shit tons of water to stay hydrated and keep the hunger pangs at bay. I have to resist the urge to be lazy and instead make my lunches and dinners. Eat healthy foods. Keep a close eye on my calories and macros. Watch my diet like a hawk. Also need to shut things down earlier at night. Get the kids to sleep earlier, so I can go to the gym or running.

So today is Day 1 on the road to recovery. Like Rick says, I must make up lost ground before I can forge new ground. But I’m determined. I won’t let this beat me. I’ll persevere and succeed.

214.0 – Will & Beer is like Peanut Butter & Jelly

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So I’m up a little and I’m not surprised. My buddy Will moved back to town recently. He’s going through a bit of a rough time right now and asked me if I wanted to grab a few beers with him last night. Being the good friend that I am, I obliged. Ok, fine, I’ll admit it. I was weak and gave in. I really need to work on my will power and saying no… But I digress…

We went out to Hurricane’s (a sports bar/restaurant). They had a live band outside so we made our way out there. We ran into our old manager from when we were 17 years old and worked at Winn Dixie. We hung out and shared some pitchers with him and his wife. We had a good time and it was fun, but today I’m paying the price for poor choices.

So after weighing in this morning, I hit the streets to sweat off some of the alcohol and burn some of the unwanted calories. The temperatures were cooler but check out that humidity! Ugh.
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I guess the combination of the high humidity and being dehydrated from drinking beer last night was the cause of both of my calves cramping up around the two-mile mark. So I walked an additional two miles. I still need to mow the yard today and I’m starting the second half workouts of Insanity today which are longer and more intense. So plenty of opportunity to shed more fat today. Got to keep the diet in check though – that’s priority #1.

The Fit Gator ran 2 miles, then walked 2 miles with MapMyRun! Overall Distance: 4.10mi, overall time: 56:12, combined pace: 13:43min/mi, speed: 4.37mi/h.
http://mapmyrun.com/workout/333522943

210.4 – FitBet Side Bet
Fatty Fatty 2 x 4

Fatty Fatty 2 x 4

So in an effort to knock me out of this “comfort” zone of 205- 211 lbs, Rick has proposed a side bet. Apparently he’s a few pounds heavier than he’d like to be, so he’d like to lose ~13 pounds to get back down to about 180. As of today he weighed in at 192.4 and I weighed in at 210.4 (a substantial 18 lbs heavier than Rick).

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The side bet is to see who can lose 13 pounds the fastest. Who get’s there first. For those of  you who don’t like to do math, Rick must hit 179.4 or less, and I have to finally break through this plateau and finally get under 200 lbs to land on 197.4 lbs.

The loser buys the winner’s beer all weekend long when I go down to Gainesville for the Florida/Vandy Matchup the weekend of November 8-10.  I will be going to a couple of games before then (Toledo and Tennessee (shhh… don’t tell Rick about that one, it’s a surprise)) but I don’t want to take advantage of all the beer Rick is going to have to buy me, because FitBet will still be going on (since it was extended through Sept 28th). Some of you may remember that I lost a similar bet not too long ago when I didn’t quite hit my target weight before going down there earlier this year.

http://wp.me/p2U3tb-85

So it’s on like Donkey Kong! Unfortunately for Rico, he accidentally gave away the secret to truly losing weight when he posted this on my Facebook page! Now I can’t lose!

The Truth

The Truth