DrFeelgood

W4D5: we ran out of DPZ, so I had a can of regular DrP in the morning along with a bag of Cheetos puffs I snagged on the way to work. Lunch was the meal prep. In the afternoon I got hungry again so I ran out to the mini-mart for another bag of puffs and a king-size Reese's. After work I ran a couple errands on the way home and added another Reese's. For dinner at home MFG made tomato sauce with spicy Italian sausage links. I boiled 2 servings of GF spaghetti and topped it with sauce and cheese, but I avoided the sausage links since spicy doesn't always agree with me and I still had to go to band practice. After band I was still hungry, like ravenous, so while I was at the store picking up a few things for MFG I also grabbed some ground beef and a bag of chips so I could make another dinner when I got home. I pan-seared a cheeseburger patty and made a lettuce wrap, then I ate that alongside a big bowl of chips. And when all the food was gone and I had finished cleaning the kitchen I sat down with a "pint" of chocolate peanut butter Haagen Dazs and watched some TV for a while. 5175 kcal, and I honestly still felt like I could've easily eaten another thousand before bedtime. I have no idea why I was so hungry, but I just didn't have it in me to fight it. I probably could've made some better choices quality-wise, but my options are also pretty limited. At least I enjoyed the day. Probably going to write off the rest of this week, take the L on Sunday morning, and then try to hit it hard next week to close out the challenge.

W4D4: one DPZ, then lunch was my meal prep. In the afternoon I bought a Reese's. Dinner at home was leftover pork chop and sweet potatoes. I kept getting snacky throughout the evening, and I added a bunch more calories in the form of corn tortillas, butter, cheese, and chocolate chips with peanut butter. 2559 kcal--maybe recovering from illness has my metabolism ramped up; it's definitely messing with my sleep. Move was a pass. I did as planned and hit my fairway woods (as hard as possible) after work--they easily passed the test for build quality, and they're performing the way I'd hoped so now I just need to learn to swing them properly. When I got home I immediately changed into gym shorts and did a simple bodyweight circuit with squats, pushups, bridges, and crunches. Three rounds of that gave me decent jelly legs, so I called it good. More strong than lean, but forward is forward.

W4D2: one DPZ in the morning. Lunch was leftover chips with beans and cheese, then I ate all of the remaining shredded lettuce as a salad. For an afternoon snack I ate more chips. MFG made ham and bean soup and gluten-free cornbread and butter for dinner. In the evening I ate an apple, then I ate way too many chocolate chips while watching Arsenal lose to Aston Villa again. 2093 kcal Move was a bust; my lungs just weren't feeling up to it plus I was still exhausted. W4D3: one DPZ. Lunch was chicken with brown rice, broccoli and carrots, and a pan sauce I made with the last of the pot roast drippings from Saturday. That lunch is my meal prep for this week. In the afternoon I snacked on some cheese, peanuts, and way too many more chocolate chips. For dinner I grilled a pan of pork loin chops and oven-roasted some cubed sweet potatoes. 2136 kcal Both were sick days, but this morning I'm recovered enough to be back in the office. In the various bursts of energy I had over the last several days I managed to make some tweaks to a few of my golf clubs, so the plan is to go hit them after work this afternoon. I'll need to do another strength session this evening, too; and I've got to get my snacking back under control--those chocolate chips were too easy. I still think I can make some good progress with what's left of the week as long as my body is willing to cooperate.

W4D1: one enormous DPZ in the morning and I ate a bunch of chips during sound duties at church. For lunch I ate a leftover portion of the pot roast with carrots and mashed potatoes. In the afternoon I treated myself to a Cadbury Roast Almond bar while watching the Masters, then for dinner we ate the rest of the leftover taco meat from Friday night--MFG and the boys made nachos & fried shells while I had four giant tacos on steamed corn tortillas with beans, beef, cheese, lettuce, and tomato. Later in the evening I ate some more peanut butter with chocolate chips and closed out the day at 3045 kcal--red but not terrible for a 'cheat' day. Still fighting off the respiratory junk, so after church I mainly just loafed on the sofa and watched golf. Later in the evening I did some guitar practice to start preparing for what's going to be another busy music week--hopefully there aren't too many new songs to learn before Saturday.

Hope you feel better soon! It's the opposite of fun when our guts betray us.

I've had issues with my knees for years, mostly only when I'm required to climb stairs and ladders. Doctors were all too willing to waste my time and money, so I decided to just live with it for as long as I can. I sincerely hope you have better luck with yours.

As of this morning I feel like I'm finally on the mend. Each day this week got progressively worse through Saturday--very much not fun. This couple has tons of friends and family, and I was honestly flattered to make the cut for the main event. It'll still be nice to see and congratulate them in a few weeks, and at least my family got to go and represent us well. MFG looked beautiful in her new dress and shoes. 💘 W3D7: one DPZ in the morning. I ate leftover butter chicken and rice for lunch, then in the afternoon I ate a couple of buttered corn tortillas for a snack. Since MFG was busy all day I cooked our dinner: pot roast (beef chuck) with whole carrots braised under the beef and a side of mashed potatoes. I ate a sensible portion of that, then later in the evening I had a couple of small apples for extra calories and fiber. 1638 kcal. Week 3 Check-in: scale said 211.2 lbs this morning for a loss of 0.7 on the week (since Tuesday). That's still above this challenge's starting weight, but I'm feeling good and moving in the right direction. 211 today looks and feels a bit leaner and stronger than 210 did last month. I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing and just watch the improvements slowly build up. I did go ahead and raise my calorie targets slightly on the spreadsheet since I'm not quite ready to drop below 1700 per day yet. Two weeks to go; let's get it!

04/14: 211.2 (-0.7) Not bad for a middling week that started late and ended with a nasty illness--I spent all of Friday and Saturday lying on the sofa and watching golf when I wasn't napping. I did get a couple of workouts done and I mostly stayed on track with my calories once I got home from Texas, but even then I had 3 yellow days against only 2 greens. Better than the scale, I think, is that I can feel things tightening up and getting stronger with my return to proper exercise, and I'm getting more compliments again from friends who want to know what I'm doing to lose the weight. The week ahead should give me a good chance to beat my 2024 low and maybe even break all the way through the 210s to see a 209-point-something as long as I can stay disciplined.

I had already taken the day off to get ready for the wedding--you can bet I'm changing that to sick leave when I get back to work. Fortunately Bubbles was able to take her boyfriend in my place, and they had a good night. The couple is having another reception in a few weeks for friends who couldn't make the wedding, and even though that's meant to be less formal I'll probably still wear my suit to it. W3D6: one DPZ in the morning. I made a bowl of GF ramen for lunch which was nice and soothing. In the afternoon I steamed a pair of corn tortillas and rolled them up with some melted butter for a snack. MFG took Boomer and Butch to the wedding for dinner, so I made ground beef tacos for me and Brick who also stayed home because of his knee. Later in the evening I ate some cheese with a beef snack stick, then I capped the day off with more peanut butter and the last of the chocolate chips. 2181 kcal. For Move I did 3x20 BW squats and 3x20 pushups, with lots of rest between supersets in order to hit my 20-min goal. Good enough for being plague-ridden. Most of the day was just spent napping on the couch with the golf tournament on, and after dinner I put Tombstone on to watch with Brick. Still sick today, just going to watch more golf and rest and try to get over this thing as fast as it'll let me.

I appreciate it! It's been a battle to stay on track this year, and I'm not entirely sure why. I keep hoping things will settle into a steady groove. W3D5: one DPZ in the morning. MFG set aside some rotisserie chicken for my lunch, and since there weren't any sides I just bought a bag of potato chips at the mini-mart. Dinner wasn't ready when I got home, so I ate a huge salad, some cheddar cheese, and a couple of beef snack sticks on my way back out the door for band practice. When I got home I ate a bowl of butter chicken over rice and followed up with more peanut butter and chocolate chips for dessert. 2532 kcal. I wish I hadn't skipped so many workouts over my travels--Wednesday's bodyweight session is DOMSing me in a couple of places that hadn't been worked as hard yet--mostly the lats that are killing me today. The forearm strain from last week finally seems to be healing up, so I'm hoping to get back to golfing soon. The respiratory junk I picked up earlier this week has steadily progressed into a proper illness, so I'm home from work today and probably going to have to skip attending the wedding tonight. I've been looking forward to this for months; the bride and her whole family are good friends and I worked hard to get in physical and sartorial shape for the event. Double-frick, but I'm definitely not going to be the guy that gave an entire wedding strep or whatever this is. I'll wear my new suit to church on Sunday if I'm recovered enough by then. I added a notch to my belt a couple days ago since my waist has been on the cusp. I haven't checked my weight again yet this week, but I'm honestly not that concerned about it. I've been feeling leaner and stronger just in my regular goings about--recent illness notwithstanding. My brother and his wife were very complimentary during my visit. It's Masters weekend, my favorite golf tournament of the year! I'm going to curl up on the sofa with a bowl of GF ramen and watch the best players in the world.

W3D4 - one DPZ in the morning, lunch was more pork loin with broccoli and sweet potatoes. Dinner was rotisserie chicken with a big salad, and for dessert I had a spoonful of peanut butter with chocolate chips. 1772 kcal Move was good, I did a broadly-similar bodyweight circuit that I made up on the fly using some of the exercises from that other video and a few of the harder progressions as well. I did that for 20 minutes then I spent 5 minutes stretching. I'm a little more sore than expected today; probably a combination of the long interval between workouts and a little extra intensity. All green! Not quite cruising yet with all the schedule disruptions, but we'll get there.

Right? I'm dumbfounded. Maybe ice-cream calories don't count in Texas...

W3D3: one DPZ in the morning. Lunch was a grilled pork loin chop with steamed broccoli and roasted sweet potatoes. When I got home I had some cheese for a snack while MFG made dinner. At my request she scrambled a pan of eggs because I wanted to see if I could tolerate them (seems to be going okay for now) and served them atop fried potatoes with grilled zucchini on the side. I added a beef stick to hit the day's calories, but later in the evening I got hungry and snacked on a couple of corn tortillas with butter. 1912 kcal I seem to have picked up a bug in our travels, and yesterday had me feeling blech in the sinuses and brain pan. Today seems to be a little better, so hopefully it'll clear up soon.

...and we're back! Let's get a little caught up. W2D6: one DPZ then a large DDP later in the day. I had way too much candy in the morning, then I did it again in the afternoon. Lunch was the last chicken stir-fry meal prep. For dinner I ate the leftover portion of harissa chicken with potatoes and green beans to close out the day at 2751 kcal. No Move since the worship service was immediately after work, but I was on my feet for about 3 hours in that regard. Once it was over I grabbed Boomer and Butch and we hit the road for Texas, arriving late and getting straight to bed. W2D7: morning golf with my brother was great and terrible. The wind off the lake was impossible to judge, and our entire group was struggling to keep the ball in play. Still it was fun to be outside enjoying the day and each other's company even though the course was being a butthole. Then out of nowhere I chipped in for birdie on 17 which cashed the whole day for us. I didn't even bother with #18 after that, we just finished up and headed to In-n-Out for lunch. Week 2 Check-in: no scale, no measurements, no real thought about fitness at all. The week prior to the trip was very up and down in terms of goal performance, and so much of my 'free' time was taken up with music practice that I don't feel like I did much else. Might be time to dial it back a bit so I can focus on my other interests. For the trip itself I decided to just enjoy the time away from counting and logging and dietary restrictions, which leads to... W3D1: church in the morning, lunch in the afternoon, helping my brother field-strip and clean his newly-acquired handguns while waiting for MFG and Brick to arrive, then I made dinner for everyone. After that we headed out to pick up some ice-cream to enjoy while watching the hockey game. An excellent day! W3D2: nice slow morning just hanging out at the house. It was a shame my brother had to go to work, but the rest of us spent the morning watching movies, hanging out, and preparing for the Main Event. After lunch I got everybody sorted with their viewers then we all assembled in the backyard to watch the total eclipse. It was incredible! After that we hung out for a little while longer then got everything cleaned up and packed for the drive back home. On the way we stopped at In-n-Out again for dinner. Once we got home I had a lot to catch up on, which kept me moving for a few hours before bed. Intermediate Check-in: this morning's scale read 211.9 lbs which is way lower than I expected after all the shenanigans. I will absolutely take that result as a place to jump back in. This week's plan is going to be a little jostled by more music stuff throughout the evenings and a wedding on Friday that we need to finish preparing for, but I'll shift my fitness stuff around and work in as much as I can. First priority for today is to get back to counting and logging my food.

The eclipse was incredible! I drove down to Dallas for the weekend to hang with my brother, and I'm so glad the weather held off. We had a perfect sky to view the whole event from his backyard. I know the feeling of those big gains that don't make any sense but seem like they're going to hang around. Hopefully this one is just a fakeout that relents quickly.

Broccoli, sweet potatoes, prunes, avocadoes, and beans--those are my gluten-free fiber mainstays. When I really need to kick it up a notch I just eat as much lettuce as I can tolerate.

04/09: 211.9 (+0.5) Well that was unexpected! After several days off the plan and basically eating whatever I wanted all weekend I thought for sure there would be a bigger jump in the scale--in fact when I hopped on this morning I was bracing to see something near 215. I'll take it! Still above start weight for this PVP though, so I need to get back on the horse and make some headway if I'm going to get anywhere near my goal of breaking 200.

W2D5: one DPZ in the morning. Lunch was the meal-prep. Evening was super busy so I didn't get a chance to eat until way later when I finished off the cereal MFG bought for me, then because I still had calories and needed some protein I ate a bunch of beef sticks with cheddar cheese. 1871 kcal. Bonus Move: I hit the driving range for a quick 20-min after work and was able to audit my swing changes--they're producing good results but I still need to drill them for consistency. Another long band practice last night kept up and moving somewhat for a few hours, then when I got home I had to prep my golf gear and pack my bags for this weekend's trip to visit my brother down in Texas. We're going to play 18-holes tomorrow morning, and I'm super pumped to hang out with him again--it's been a while. After that I had some household chores to finish, then I played a few games before bed. Scale is unmoved this week. I'm trying to not let it get to me since I feel like I'm looking better (although the mirror always makes me look like Hercules) and returning to strength training was bound to monkey with my metabolism somewhat. I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing and just see where things go from here. If I stay around 210-212 but keep leaning out then that's not a bad result at all. Big weekend ahead, not sure I'll be able to run my program as tightly as usual, but I'll try to stay mindful and report back when the dust clears.

W2D4: one DPZ in the morning. Got hungry before lunch, so I ran to the mini-mart and bought one of those salami-cheese snacks along with a large DDP (no sugar, so not counting it against my Drink goal). Lunch itself was chicken stir-fry. When I got home from work I snacked on cheese while MFG made dinner, and I ate a few too many of the Andes chocolate mints she had scattered on the counter. Dinner was her oven-roasted harissa chicken with potatoes and green beans (yum!). I was still a bit hungry after dinner so I ate more cheese. Then in the later evening I threw all caution to the wind and ate a huge bowl of cereal just because it was there and I haven't had any in so long. 2832 kcal, way too much. I had a few stomach issues at work during the day, but this one doesn't seem gluten-related. I'm starting to notice a pattern of discomfort when I drink DDP from that specific machine--all other sources have been fine. And that machine has always had a weird off-taste to me. I'll ask the store to look in to it. Move was good; the weather was so nice after work that I elected to hit golf balls in my backyard for an hour instead of doing the bodyweight video. I think I figured out another piece of my swing puzzle; after months of trying to develop a consistent feel for using ground forces I finally found a setup that seemed to click it in for me. It was feeling really solid by the end and the improvements in my swing form and ball striking were pretty apparent on video. Still a lot of work to do, but I'm going to take this feel to the range today and see what it actually does to my ball flight. Rest of the evening was a flurry of household chores, prep for the coming weekend, online tire shopping for my Dad-mobile, and a few other small projects. By the time all that was done I was out of day, but I still wanted to play some games so I ended up staying up way too late--definitely need to not repeat that tonight. In fact all of today needs to be a hard reset.

That kid is way too excited for a team that hasn't done anything since Gretzky went to L.A. Also, they're playing at Dallas tonight, so I hope he doesn't feel too bad after they get crushed. W2D3: one DPZ in the morning. Lunch was the stir-fry prep. Dinner was the last of the leftover mashed potatoes and lamb with sauce. After logging it all I needed more calories and fiber, so I ate an apple and closed out the day at 1650 kcal. Very long band practice last night took up every minute between work and bedtime.

Thanks for commiserating. My problem with this one wasn't that it didn't make sense, it's just that the timing of my body's betrayal was absolute crap. On top of being super sore all week I was also mentally exhausted from all of the work required to get ready for Sunday services, and then getting glutened again just pushed me over the edge. My family does their best, I guess (my boys are the most reliable teenage boys I've ever known, but they're still teenage boys and prone to absent-mindedness), but they don't understand how much this sucks, and they definitely don't appreciate my tolerance of even having that stuff in the house. I'll be imposing some additional controls on the kitchen to further reduce risks of cross-contamination. As of yesterday I seem to have recovered. It also doesn't hurt to remember that I'm not really chasing a number; I'm aiming for Lean & Strong, so I appreciate the reminder. I'm so glad the DOMS is finally gone, but it wasn't the culprit--my weight steadily dropped like a rock all week despite the DOMS. It wasn't until getting glutened that everything went screwy. Weight has subsided a bit from Sunday morning, but not as much as I'd expect given how much water I've bailed over the last 24 hours. I guess my intake has been enough to make up for it. I'm still angry--not at anyone or anything (well, maybe Ben & Jerry, but that's not really their fault) and only in my 'fitness' compartment--so I'm going to harness that anger for as long as it stays useful to my progress. W2D2: back on the program. I drank one regular DrP in the morning, then for lunch I ate my chicken stir-fry with brown rice. Dinner at home was leftovers from the weekend meals, so I reheated a measured plate of lamb with lemon sauce, mashed potatoes, and all of the remaining steamed broccoli and carrots. That closed out the day at a very-respectable and nutritious 1703 kcal. Move was excellent! I channeled my anger in to the bodyweight workout regimen and crushed it. The only movement I couldn't quite complete was the walk-out planks since I'm nursing a muscle strain in my forearm that didn't appreciate that exercise at all. Everything else went well and I got the absolute most I could out of that 20 minutes, and I feel all the right kinds of sore today. Strong is coming back. Love you guys; thanks for cheering me on.

03/29: 211.4 (-5.1) Sunday's weight was nonsense, so I'm using Friday's for the week. I'm not quite fully recovered from Week Zero, but I'm back down a fair bit and in good shape to continue the push once I get over yet another glutening. I spent all of last week with terrible DOMS, but those are over now so I can get on with the main portion of my strength training. Hopefully I'll see improvements all around the physique even if the scale isn't moving much. That Ben & Jerry's did not survive the weekend. It was fine but not really good enough to bother replacing.

W1D7: one DPZ in the morning with the last of the fiber bombs. I won't be making those again; they're not particularly pleasant and didn't really seem to be all that effective. For lunch I made a glazed ham with mashed potatoes and a side of steamed broccoli and carrots, and while I was cooking all that I went ahead and made my lunch preps for the coming week as well--a nice chicken stir-fry with brown rice. In the afternoon I snacked on some cheese. For dinner I made a huge salad and added some beef sticks for protein, and later in the evening I ate some prunes and a banana to cap the day a little high at 1900 kcal. No Move goal but I hit some golf balls in my backyard net for an hour or so in the afternoon. Week 1 Check-in: The stupid scale went up a pound and a half from Friday's weight. Yes it's down overall for the week and by quite a bit, but most of that was crap weight from last week. I had very mild gluten symptoms on Thursday and my system has been out of whack again since--that also explains the extra appetite I've been battling for the last few days. I'm accustomed to disappointing scale numbers, but after all the Pain™ I put myself through last week I'm choosing to be extremely angry at this one. For most of the week I was kicking butt and feeling good about my fitness progress despite being in continuous DOMS. I found a used suit on Ebay and ordered it so it'll be here in time for the wedding. I made plans to visit my brother next weekend and we're going to play some golf while I'm down there. I'll take the wins, and everything else can piss right off. I'm using Friday's weight as my official for the week: 211.4 lbs. That 210-line is proving to be really tough to crack. W2D1: Threw everything out the window for the day to eat and drink whatever I wanted. It was a great Easter Sunday with good worship services and family meals--lunch was leftover ham, and for dinner I made leg of lamb with potatoes, lemon, garlic, and oregano all braised together in a honey-mustard glaze that I reduced for sauce at the end. It was excellent! MFG ran to the store for some Easter treats, but since they were sold out of Peeps I just asked her to bring home a chocolate-peanut butter Haagen Dazs for me. I ate that after dinner, then I ate the Ben & Jerry's pint I'd been saving in my freezer for the end of this challenge just to spite the week's lackluster result. 4 sodas (all DPZ) throughout the morning and 5026 kcal for the day make for a big red start to what's going to be another super-busy week.

W1D6: one DPZ in the morning along with my fiber bombs. I got hungry well before lunch so I took a break to run to the snack shack for a bag of Cheetos (the Simply Puffs) and added a large DDP as well; so that makes 2 for Drink. I'll keep accounting that goal the same even though right now it's sugar-free and really only affects my caffeine intake. Lunch was the last meal-prep. For dinner at home MFG filled a slow-cooker with tomato-meat sauce and Italian sausage links, so I boiled a serving of GF spaghetti and ate that with some sauce and a sausage. I also added a big bowl of salad to try and cap the day on target, but the hunger sharks kept picking at me all night and the additional prunes, beef snacks, and cheese steadily ratcheted it up over 2500 kcal. That's a red square but only by a little. Move was a bit better than nominal. The DOMS had subsided enough (though not fully) to allow another run at the same bodyweight vid, but I took it way easier and only did about half of each superset with a bunch of stretching during the other halves. That was definitely the right move; it actually loosened up the remaining DOMS and still got my heart rate pumping with just the right amount of muscle tiredness/soreness afterward. I'm going to keep doing that vid for the rest of the challenge or until I can 100% it. I'll take the red in stride and count it as a moral victory since I did some shopping after work and refused to buy anything that would've really upset my goals had I taken it home. My calories ended up high anyway, but at least it wasn't the pantheon of sugary nonsense that was tempting me. It's also nice to see that I was able to put the brakes on even after it crossed the line when I typically would've just thrown caution out the window. Growth!

W1D5: one large DDP with my morning fiber bombs. As of today I'm switching to Dr Pepper Zero Sugar (DPZ) instead of the diet version since it tastes better while still having zero calories. As long as my system tolerates it I'll stick with the DPZ through the rest of my cut. Lunch was the pot-roast meal prep. When I got home from work I snacked on a bit of cheddar cheese. For dinner I peeled and cubed a couple pounds of yellow potatoes and popped them in the steamer, then I made a quick GF gravy with some leftover turkey stock from the freezer while they were cooking. I stirred leftover rotisserie chicken breast chunks into the gravy and set it aside while I sauteed a pan of fresh green beans with some butter, olive oil, and garlic. It all made for a nice, quick weeknight dinner since MFG was stuck with Brick at his PT appointment. 1682 kcal. No Move goal, and since I finally had an evening with no obligations I just took it easy at home. Scale this morning was down another 0.4, so I have just 1/2 lb remaining from last week's embiggening. DOMS hasn't fully let up yet--this go 'round is being uncharacteristically persistent--but it's eased enough that I should be able to knock out another strength session after work today. I'm looking forward to a nice weekend even though it's going to be insanely busy.