exercise

227.6

Down nearly a pound from yesterday by simply monitoring what I ate. My goal for the next few months is to lose 12lbs per month, which equates to 3lbs a week. It would be a lot easier to obtain if my knee wasn’t messed up and I could do some cardio. But it is what it is and I must make the most of it.

Another thing I want to see is to no longer see a weight gain on the scale whenever I weigh in. It can remain the same or be less, but I’m going to try to avoid seeing that number go up ever again. I believe proper nutrition week be the key. More now than ever since I cannot do any cardio exercise.

228.4 – Official Weigh-In

wpid-IMAG0154_1.jpgSo I forgot to post my weigh in yesterday and I’m sorry that I did. Even though it wasn’t good, it was 226.0. Yesterday we had some friends over for dinner and to watch the Florida v. Kentucky game. We ate BBQ pork sliders, coleslaw, baked beans, and mac & cheese. In addition to that my buddy Will and I probably put down 10 beers a piece. What’s that spell? D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R. Woke up this morning a full 2 and a half pounds heavier than yesterday. I have the blessing/curse of being able to lose weight very quickly but also able to gain it just as fast.

The other day Rick posted something on my blog or texted me (I can’t remember), but he said something about how I initially created this blog for myself. I was doing it so Rick could see where I was and I could go back and read where I’ve been and what I was doing.  Somewhere along the way I was surprised to find that people were actually starting to follow my blog. Wasn’t sure how they even found it (still not sure to be honest), but I kept blogging as if it was just Rick and I reading it. Soon I hit 50 followers and I think I started blogging more for what I thought people wanted to read. Before long I crossed the 100 follower threshold and I had some personal things come up that all contributed to me losing sight of what this Fit Gator blog was really about. Me.

Rick was also right when he said that this was no longer a fitness/weight loss blog, but just a blog about some guy living his life. Not trying to get better or to lose weight or anything. That really hit home. I wasn’t exercising much. Wasn’t watching what I ate. Didn’t track calories. And basically I was just doing all the crap I used to do before I began my fitness journey.

Now my knee is jacked up. MRI is scheduled for Tuesday. Fearing that I may need surgery. My knee doesn’t hurt too much, but when I walk, it is a little tender, but what really gets me is when I’m walking and it locks up on me. I get a shooting pain from my knee down to my foot and it literally stops me in my tracks. It’s depressing because I see my weight creeping up higher and higher and now I can’t do any cardio. “What Next?” I think. Seems like I can’t catch a break.

But this blog is about rising above all this. Go back and read what is 1fitgator in the links above. It’s as much, if not more, about the mental struggles of overcoming obstacles as it is the physical ones. I need to beat this. So what… I can’t run or get on the elliptical. Ok. What can I do? well I can weight train – I can build my muscles and still burn calories. I can also quit eating shit. That’s priority #1. Stop the bleeding. Reverse the trend.

So I will need to be meticulous about inputting everything I eat into my fitness pal app. Track all my calories. I’ll continue to set my daily calories as “Weight x 8” but with the exception of if I’m still hungry between meals, that I can eat a piece of fruit. My daily calories based on today’s weigh in are about 1827. If I eat a couple extra pieces of fruit in addition to this, my daily intake will only be about 2000-2200 cals which is still low enough to help me lose weight.  By adding in the “optional fruit” I won’t be as hungry by the next time I eat a meal and therefore won’t get lazy and eat crap.

Sacrifice. Dedication. Victory.

222.6 – Return from the Swamp & FitBet II

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Labor Day weekend. The unofficial end to summer and the official beginning to something new… FitBet II.

Well I’m back from Gainesville and the football weekend extravaganza! Weight gain was inevitable, but not unexpected. Here’s some of the things we did over the course of the weekend…

We went to the Gator game, watched the Gators win, sang “We Are The Boys” with ninety thousand friends, Did the Gator Chomp, rode a bus, got drunk, played poker, cooked out, played basketball, went to the pub, drove through campus, saw Tim Tebow’s statue, went to the student union, played corn hole, played some Xbox football, ate at Ker’s Winghouse, shopped for gear, ate at Red Robin, went to the mall, and watched as much college football as humanly possible on tv. (Not necessarily in that order)
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But today is a new day, a new start… September 2nd, Labor Day. Rick has given me until late November to get my weight under 200 pounds (aka Onderland!) I’ve dubbed this new challenge, FitBet II. Time to put in work…

Time to go to the gym…

Yet I Run

Just got back another night run around my neighborhood. I’m going to miss these summer night runs once the cooler weather hits. I’ve really come to like the serenity of these late night runs.
In the muggy night air with a melodious orchestra of frogs and crickets playing  in the background, it’s just me and my shadow propelling down the roads and sidewalks under the amber glow of the streetlights. 

At this time of night I own the neighborhood. While most of my neighbors likely unwind on their couches after a long day, I pass by their houses and notice the tell-tale blue hue of their televisions, yet I run.

The humidity is thick and the sweat endlessly runs down my brow burning my eyes. I wipe it away with the rapidly disappearing dry parts of my shirt, yet I run.

It’s eleven o’clock in the evening and I have to be at work before the sun rises again. Six a.m. comes quickly when you go to sleep at midnight, yet I run.

My three point one miles are nearly up.  I don’t want it to end even if my feet, legs, and lungs are begging me to do so. Yet I run.

Finally my five kilometers is over and I  begin to walk my half mile cool down. It clears my mind and I feel good. I will sleep well tonight. Good night summer run… Until next time.

FitBet Side Bet – 1 Week Update

Ok. So as of yesterday I weighed in at 208.8 – down a pound and a half.

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Rick weighed in at 188.8 – down three and a half pounds.IMG_4943

The FitBet Side Bet was to see who could lose 13 pounds the fastest. So far Rick has me by 2 pounds.

Rick’s advantages are that he has more time available to him to workout/train and prepare meals. My advantage over him is that I have more weight to lose and should be able to lose weight at a faster click. So I look at it as a fair bet.

I’ve decided to set and track my macronutrients (“macros”) in addition to simply tracking calories. So I will be watching my protein, fat, and carb intake as well. I would also like to add some additional workouts to my daily Insanity workouts – maybe hit the gym at night more often like I was doing early on.
Think these small changes can slingshot me past Rick by next week’s update.

*** FitBet Deadline Extended! ***

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I have decided to relent. I have finally conceded to extend my fitbet deadline one additional month from August 30th  to September 28th. This benevolent offer was put on the table by Rick after seeing me flounder for about a month due to personal reasons. I didn’t feel good about the offer at the time he made it because I thought I could overcome it and that it wasn’t being fair to him. But as the weeks passed by, the weight remained stagnant and my focus was shaky at best.  It was looking like I would be a Nole Fan come August 31st.

But now I’m working hard on cleaning up my diet. I’m beginning to get back into the routine of exercising regularly again. I’ve even started doing Insanity at the same time as Rick. To top it off, my buddy Will just moved back to town this past weekend and joined my gym so that he could workout with me.

So now I really feel like I’m getting that focus back. That feeling that I can actually do this. But the initial deadline is creeping up quickly. Just over 9 weeks away. I am at a point that I don’t think that there is any way I could hit my target weight of 170-175 by August 30th. Knowing this will likely cause me to say “F*@# it!” and slowly give up – go back to my old ways. But with the extended four weeks, the FitBet goal weight is definitely still doable. I know I can reach it.

I’ve been stuck in this Ping-Pong weight range of 205-211 for far too long now.  The cobwebs are finally dissipating and the skies are beginning to turn blue again. I feel like I can once again attack this full force like I had been. I can overcome it.  I can be victorious.

SDV.

Insanity!

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Whew! All that running…. All those nights on the elliptical at the gym… None of it prepared me for Insanity, Day 1 – Fit Test! Wow! It’s going to be an extreme 60 days! Time to Dig Deeper!

I’ve attempted to do Insanity two times before. One time I simply gave up – it was too hard. I couldn’t keep up. It was discouraging. The second time (early on in this blog), I was adamant about finishing all 60 days, but my lower back pain prevented me from continuing. Now that I’ve lost over 30 lbs, my back pain has all but left me, I’m ready to try again.

No back pain after today’s initial Fit Test, but I was definitely sucking wind. Forgot how tough it was. I need to up my intensity if I’m ever going to break into Onederland and beyond ! But admittedly I felt a little queasy after today’s workout. It’s like I’m starting from scratch all over again. Only 81 days left to complete my FitBet. So I’ll devote 60 of them to Shaun T and Insanity.

The Night Runner strikes again!

I just completed an activity with RunKeeper http://runkeeper.com/activity?userId=19944805&trip=187129470

Ran 5K with the Run Keeper app for the first time tonight. The audio prompts were clear, but almost too slowly spoken, and the GPS was very accurate. The only real issue I had with it is when Rick called me while I was running. Talking wasn’t so bad, I was running a slow pace and able to hold a conversation. The problem was once Rick and I hung up, the audio prompts cut off. But I’m nitpicking. It’s a pretty good running app.