Week 4 Progress Report - Staying Above The Crowd

So ends another week at the gym lifting heavy iron things and paying money to do so. It was a good week though and I'm actually not minding going to the gym much anymore. The more I go, the more results I see, the more results I see, the more I want to go. It's a very nice little cycle, that unfortunately works in the opposite direction as well. The less I go, the more mad at myself I get, the less I want to go.

At any rate, it was a good week. I went to a science museum on Sunday and was goofing around with a friend taking photos in gansta' poses and I really like the way my arm looked in the shot. It actually looks big-ish and defined! I've been looking at that photo too much since then. Of course other photos of me from the same trip show the skinnier truer self, but that one shot made my week. With my new found positive outlook I've been making an concerted effort to stay happy no matter how those around me are behaving. One snippy co-woerker's comment can ruin a day, but now I just concentrate on not caring so much about what other people act like. Only I can make myself happy, and relying on others to cheer me up never works long term. When I work out, eat well, and don't procrastinate and get stuff done, I'm above the crowd. Nothing anyone says bothers me much. So I've just got to keep up keeping it up.

Catch ya' later.

Lose It

So, I've been using the Lose It app for the iPhone. It's free and it's a great way to keep track of your calories and exercise. Even though I don't need to lose weight, which is what the app is designed primarily for, I find it helps me keep track of my protein and make better food choices. I can't believe how many calories are in certain foods! It makes me think twice before getting that Molten Lava desert from Chili's. Oh, who am I kidding I always get it! The app also keeps track of your exercise and has lots of them built in with predetermined calorie burning levels. It's surprising accurate compared to what the elliptical tells me I have burned.

The only thing I wish it allowed for was a way to keep track of weight gain, but I guess they'd have to rename it from Lose It to Track It or something like that. Doesn't really have the same ring to it.

Catch ya' later.

Week 3 Progress Report - 50 Visits to the Gym Since May

Today marked my 50th visit to the gym since May. I had gone a handful of times in March and April, but never really commited. May, June, and July though I have been 4x a week! It's not fun, and I've been skipping the elliptical a lot since I've been waking up late (been going to bed too late).

I submitted my forms to Oxford for my $200 gym reimbursement (thank you Oxford) but I pretty much had to do everything myself. I keep track of the days I go to the gym on Twitter. It's pretty much the only thing I use Twitter for, and the gym was missing almost 20 days on their "report" so I'm glad I've been keeping track myself.

This week was good at the gym. Did shoulders Monday, chest Tuesday, back Wednesday, and triceps and biceps today. Good stuff, but I missed the elliptical all week...

I have a really annoying headache behind my eye right now and I'm hoping it's only because I didn't eat much today, but I think it's stress related. I hope it's not something more serious, since I've been getting headaches a little more frequently than I'd like recently.

Catch ya' later.

...one of those mornings.

So this morning was just... one of those mornings. I'm sure you know the feeling. The alarm is going off, you keep snoozing it for a couple of more minutes, and somewhere in the back of your mind you decide "nah, I'll skip the gym today". Well that was me this morning, and normally I would have listened to that stupid lazy voice, but I did not. I prevailed. I went to the gym.

Victory in our time!

Don't listen to that voice! When you hear it, consider it, and then tell it to SHUT UP! You can do this, just turn on the light, get out of the bed, and you'll forget all about that voice I guarantee it. What you'll hear instead is the other voice saying, "good show".

Catch ya later.

Week 2 Progress Report

So I'm a little late on this progress report, but I had a busy weekend! I went to the beach on Sunday and worked on Saturday. Anyways, my weight is up to 139 and change, I can't remember the change right now. I'm up, though, so that's good.

Sunday was nice at the beach, and I've never really been to the beach before. Strange, I know, but my family isn't really a beach family so I never went as a child. It was fun and the surf was good, lots of waves, which I enjoy. It's a workout too, which was good. A little red, but nothing serious. I enjoyed being pretty in shape on the beach... ;)

Went to the gym 4 days this past week, but I did not go this Monday, which means I'll only be able to get 4 visits in this week.

Catch ya later.

Hot!

It's hot out, too hot. I haven't been able to take my dog for her usual mile walk after work. It's discouraging, but it's also sane. There is no way I could deal with that heat walking her. If there is one thing I hate it's sweating. I hate it at the gym, I hate it when outside, and I hate it on first dates. Surprisingly I don't usually sweat much even when I get a lot of activity outdoors, but when it's 100º, I don't think I have a choice.

The gym went well today, did the elliptical on level 9, when up a level from my previous. It was quite a workout. I can't imagine using that thing on level 20, I think my legs would snap off. Who knows, though, maybe I will get there someday?

Outside of that nothing much to report. Went to McDonalds for lunch but skipped the Angus bacon and cheese burger (it's so good though, like a real burger) and got 8 chicken nuggets instead and small fries. I managed to drop two of nuggets on the seat so I couldn't eat them and ended up with 6. Also, what genius at McDonalds decided that it would be smart to make it cheaper if you buy three 4-piece nuggets as opposed to one 10-piece? I know I'm not a match wiz, but even I could figure that one out.

Catch ya later!

4th of July Weekend

Haven't been to the gym since the Friday before the 4th of July weekend, which is fine really, that was sort of my game plan going in. I wasn't sure what the gym's hours on the Monday after were going to be, and I knew I'd be exhausted anyway. I went this morning, though. I woke up at 7 AM, even though my alarm was set for 6. I hate when I do that, I'm already behind by an hour, and I have no idea how I manage it, but I either sleep straight through my alarm or turn it off subconsciously.

It was a good ab workout day at the gym though, and I had lots of protein today, especially after that nice T-Bone steak for dinner. Went over my calories, but no dig deal.

I had wanted to get more exercise outside this weekend, but it was just too damn hot. Even standing out there for 5 minutes and I was sweating, not fun. I did, however, spend about 2 hours in my cousin's pool so that was pretty good exercise there.

Catch ya later!

Week 1 Progress Report

So I'm thinking I'll do weekly progress reports from here on in. I feel like I'm back in Middle School. I wonder if I need to get my Mom to initial these. I'll be doing other posts along the way (hopefully) but the weekly report is a given.

Anyways, so I took some additional photos of myself with my point and shoot camera instead of the iPhone, and used the self timer so I'm not one of those people who takes pictures of themselves in the mirror. I didn't realize that the iPhone had such a wide angle lens I really needed to stand back a lot farther to get everything in the picture with the Canon. Anyways...

The first picture is not bad, nothing special, I still look like I have twigs for arms, and what is up with my lopsided pecs? I never noticed that before, I wonder if I just stand funny. The second picture is not bad, but who doesn't look good flexing? I used to take progress pictures years ago when I had the Total Gym. I would do it monthly, but month after month I didn't really notice much difference. There's only so much you can do with a total gym and the thing was a pain to set-up and put away (sorry Chuck Norris).

I've been amping it up at the gym lately since I haven't been feeling sore after my workouts, and now I'm feeling sore again which is good. In the past I never really pushed myself, I just went to the gym and went through the motions. I didn't like to work very hard at it, and while it was better than nothing, what was the point? So I'm making a conscious decision to push harder.

In the meantime, even though my weight has gone up my pants are getting looser. Not sure how I feel about that really. I already wear a 28 waist, and I don't feel like shopping in the kids department again... although prices are cheaper there. I think that vanity sizing exists in men clothes too, because even when I weighed 126 pounds I wore a 30 waist at Old Navy (30 Long by the way, I don't know what I was thinking) now at 138 I wear a loose 28, hmm...

Catch you later!