peelout

Feb 14 Wt 179.4 Was my day a success? Meh! New low of 179.4. But feeling kind of crappy and eating was off. Wife bought me some V-day candy and I ate it. Also skipped my salad. Somehow, when you have a cold or whatever I'm getting, healthy food doesn't sound good. Still got my w/o in, although it was an abbreviated one. Just wanted to keep embedding the habit. Workout - 3min tread + stretching. Diet Breakfast - Protein shake Lunch - McD's Dinner - Just routiserie chicken. Snacks - 2 candy's 1 soda Solidworks - 30min. Working on 2nd module again. Want to solidify what I've covered so far. ToDo: 1) HSA record keeping

I got a Subaru Outback for my mid-life crisis car. My idea of a "sports" car meant something to take kayaking. Only car younger than a decade I've ever owned.

Feb 13 Wt 180.2 Was my day a success? Yes. Got in a great cardio/core w/o. Despite a young couple who decided to tie up the ab machine talking, tickling, and texting. Felt like going over and just standing about 2" from them while they alternated. Each time, the person on the machine got done, the other one would sit down, have to talk for a minute and check their phone, then finally start. And sometimes they had to stop in the middle of their set to giggle and talk. Would it be rude of me to be obnoxious in cases like this? I've done a lot worse. Won't even mention what I've done to cars who park at angles to take up 2 spaces. It's not pretty, but it makes me feel better. Like I'm making the world a better place by giving them a learning experience. I have to say, I'm not one to have a lot of patience for people who are intentionally uncaring towards others. I had a neighbor who for about a month had a tailpipe that had broken off due to rust to the point where only a small portion was still attached to the muffler. Just enough to hold it, but not enough left to actually muffle the engine noise. And the car ran like crap so she had to pump the sh@t out of it for about 5min on cold mornings. And she left for work around 5am. So one night I went out about 1am and crawled under and gave it a good kick. The entire muffler dropped to the ground. Incredibly, she had a new muffler the next day. And its not like they were too poor to afford a muffler. Just too lazy to go get the dang thing. Was feeling really drained at work today so I went to McD's. Felt better afterwards. Not sure if it was that or the 3/4 x 3/4 piece of fudge I ate before my w/o, but I was feeling pretty energetic at my w/o. Wonder if I was getting low on starchy carbs if that is possible. Or maybe low on fat and starch. Workout - Cardio/core + stretching. Diet Breakfast - Protein shake Lunch - McD's Dinner - Just routiserie chicken. Snacks - Pear or something small later. Tiny piece of fudge. 1 soda Solidworks - 45min. Started back on 2nd module. Want to solidify what I've covered so far. ToDo: 1) HSA record keeping

Feb 11 Wt 181.6 Was my day a success? Yes. Just a quick check in. Wait bounced up but not surprising. One, it always does after a big drop. Two, I ate late last night due to going into work after getting home from visit w/ son. Normal eating today. Pretty tired. I've been getting up extra early, 4am Friday and today, trying to catch up at work. Plus, might be getting a cold. Not sure. Light workout tonight + normal eating. I was really wanting some chocolate or a Mt Dew today at work for the sugar or caffeine jolt, but persevered. Workout - 5min tread + stretching. Diet Breakfast - Protein shake Lunch - Wrap Dinner - Salad and Routiserie chicken. Snacks - Pear or something small later. 1 soda Solidworks - None. Went in to work and did regular work today trying to play catch-up. ToDo: 1) HSA record keeping

The Great Gatsby. Livin the dream. You know how excited I get about cat gifs.

Yeah baby, 179.8 this morning. I would post a gif over this but I'm in a hurry to go w/o.

Something I just read and found interesting. This Coach Improved Every Tiny Thing by 1 Percent and Here’s What Happened By James Clear | Continuous Improvement, Goal Setting, Self-Improvement In 2010, Dave Brailsford faced a tough job. No British cyclist had ever won the Tour de France, but as the new General Manager and Performance Director for Team Sky (Great Britain’s professional cycling team), Brailsford was asked to change that. His approach was simple. Brailsford believed in a concept that he referred to as the “aggregation of marginal gains.” He explained it as “the 1 percent margin for improvement in everything you do.” His belief was that if you improved every area related to cycling by just 1 percent, then those small gains would add up to remarkable improvement. They started by optimizing the things you might expect: the nutrition of riders, their weekly training program, the ergonomics of the bike seat, and the weight of the tires. But Brailsford and his team didn’t stop there. They searched for 1 percent improvements in tiny areas that were overlooked by almost everyone else: discovering the pillow that offered the best sleep and taking it with them to hotels, testing for the most effective type of massage gel, and teaching riders the best way to wash their hands to avoid infection. They searched for 1 percent improvements everywhere. Brailsford believed that if they could successfully execute this strategy, then Team Sky would be in a position to win the Tour de France in five years time. He was wrong. They won it in three years. In 2012, Team Sky rider Sir Bradley Wiggins became the first British cyclist to win the Tour de France. That same year, Brailsford coached the British cycling team at the 2012 Olympic Games and dominated the competition by winning 70 percent of the gold medals available. In 2013, Team Sky repeated their feat by winning the Tour de France again, this time with rider Chris Froome. Many have referred to the British cycling feats in the Olympics and the Tour de France over the past 10 years as the most successful run in modern cycling history. And now for the important question: what can we learn from Brailsford's approach? Before we talk about how to get started, I wanted to let you know I researched and compiled science-backed ways to stick to good habits and stop procrastinating. Want to check out my insights? Download my free PDF guide “Transform Your Habits” here. The Aggregation of Marginal Gains It’s so easy to overestimate the importance of one defining moment and underestimate the value of making better decisions on a daily basis. Almost every habit that you have — good or bad — is the result of many small decisions over time. And yet, how easily we forget this when we want to make a change. So often we convince ourselves that change is only meaningful if there is some large, visible outcome associated with it. Whether it is losing weight, building a business, traveling the world or any other goal, we often put pressure on ourselves to make some earth-shattering improvement that everyone will talk about. Meanwhile, improving by just 1 percent isn't notable (and sometimes it isn't even noticeable). But it can be just as meaningful, especially in the long run. And from what I can tell, this pattern works the same way in reverse. (An aggregation of marginal losses, in other words.) If you find yourself stuck with bad habits or poor results, it's usually not because something happened overnight. It's the sum of many small choices — a 1 percent decline here and there — that eventually leads to a problem. Inspiration for this image came from a graphic in The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson. In the beginning, there is basically no difference between making a choice that is 1 percent better or 1 percent worse. (In other words, it won't impact you very much today.) But as time goes on, these small improvements or declines compound and you suddenly find a very big gap between people who make slightly better decisions on a daily basis and those who don't. This is why small choices don't make much of a difference at the time, but add up over the long-term. On a related note, this is why I love setting a schedule for important things, planning for failure, and using the “never miss twice” rule. I know that it's not a big deal if I make a mistake or slip up on a habit every now and then. It's the compound effect of never getting back on track that causes problems. By setting a schedule to never miss twice, you can prevent simple errors from snowballing out of control. The Bottom Line You probably won’t find yourself in the Tour de France anytime soon, but the concept of aggregating marginal gains can be useful all the same. Most people love to talk about success (and life in general) as an event. We talk about losing 50 pounds or building a successful business or winning the Tour de France as if they are events. But the truth is that most of the significant things in life aren't stand-alone events, but rather the sum of all the moments when we chose to do things 1 percent better or 1 percent worse. Aggregating these marginal gains makes a difference. There is power in small wins and slow gains. This is why average speed yields above average results. This is why the system is greater than the goal. This is why mastering your habits is more important than achieving a certain outcome. Where are the 1 percent improvements in your life?

On the subject of diet names, I've been eating pretty much salad + plain meat (pork, chicken, or burger patty) for every lunch and dinner every day this year. Other than "boring", does this diet fall under a category or name? Just curious.

Feb 10 Wt 180.6 Was my day a success? Yes. Hoping for a drop tomorrow though. Getting tired of being over 180. Ready to be under 180, even by 0.2lbs. Have to plan my day for tomorrow since it will be out of my normal schedule. Going to visit my son at college and have lunch (2.5hr drive). Plan: Go for 1.5mi hike since gym won't be open in time for me to work out there before going on trip. Eat carefully at lunch. Find healthiest option. Avoid snacking in car. Workout - Chest focus + stretching. Diet Breakfast - Protein shake Lunch - Salad only Dinner - Routiserie chicken only (Costco makes great routisserie chicken Snacks - Pear or something small later. 1 soda Solidworks - None. Went in to work and did regular work today trying to play catch-up. ToDo: 1) HSA record keeping

Feb 9 Wt 180.6 Was my day a success? Yes. Definitely stoked. Hit 180.6 for the 3rd time. Getting close to hitting the 170's. 179 used to be my line in the sand. Never went over it till around last Fall. Then I let it slide all the way to the low 190's. I tried tieing my shoes tighter and looping the shoestrings over, through, and under. I could immediately tell a difference on the treadmill as I did cardio/core tonight. Not sure if the different path for the top of the lace had much to do with it, but I'm sticking to it and the tighter lacing. Pretty sure this is going to solve it. Went to a movie tonight, 15:17 to Paris which was based on a true story about 3 American guys who reacted and took down a terrorist on a train. I thought it was a boring movie. You can only do so much w/ something where the action is only about 5min long. Produced and directed by Clint Eastwood. I would recommend skipping it. For supper, I only had a salad (no meat) since I knew I would have popcorn and small soda at movie. Have to always be planning. I got up w/ my alarm today at 5 and noticed the other clock in the bedroom said 4. Went in to the other rooms and those clocks also said 4. Must have hit a wrong button last night before bed and moved my clock ahead 1 hr. So I said, "F" it and went to work early. Workout - Cardio/core + stretching. Diet Breakfast - Protein shake Lunch - Wrap (spinach wrap w/ chicken, bacon, romaine, spinach, tomato, and a touch of dressing) Dinner - Salad Snacks - Small popcorn and part of a small soda.Maybe a few peanuts later 1 soda Solidworks - None. Getting backed up at work so I spent the extra early time today doing actual work. ToDo: 1) HSA record keeping

This reminded me that back when I bought my first computer (pre-windows back in the dos days), I was learning how to use it, and I renamed the computer "practice". I got the message "are you sure you want to do this?" and I thought, "of course, that's what I typed in". A few hours later my BIL was over reloading all the s/w.

What kind of stir-fries do you make and package?

I'm here for the .....gif's???? Yes, that is it. My deep love of all things gif related. And/or memes. Never got the difference. And I especially like those #things. Yes, especially the #things. And of course my even deeper love of scrolling through hundreds of non-sensical posts to get to the meat I am looking for. Oh, and because you are about as old as I am..... and still living.

I don't have any gifs so I'm just going to quietly follow. I do find it strange that w/ all you've accomplished and all that you do, that you don't feel you are "adulting". My perception is quite the opposite.

Oh here you are.

What is the relationship between kenpo and the knife?

Feb 8 Wt 181.2 Was my day a success? Yes. My wt went up, but I fully expect "noise" in the data. I think daily wt checks are good as long as you are the kind of person who understands there will be ups and downs. Only the trend is important. Did strength training tonight. As I said in my opening, I've reduced the intensity cause I want to increase the intensity of the cardio/core nights. I'm not reducing the wt, just the reps and eliminating a couple exercises. For SolidWorks, I've skipped working on the modules for the last couple days to spend time on building my own models w/ the skills I've been learning. Made 3D models of a backshell and coupling nut using dimensions from the Autocad dwg's I've been working on at work. It's really cool to see your design in 3D and be able to look at sections instead of just flat 2D manufacturing dwgs. Makes it a lot easier to evaluate your design and look for flaws. Workout - Back focus + stretching. Diet Breakfast - Protein shake Lunch - Wrap (spinach wrap w/ chicken, bacon, romaine, spinach, tomato, and a touch of dressing) Dinner - Salad + pork chop chop Snacks - Out of pears, so maybe a slice of cheese and a few peanuts later 1 soda Solidworks - 1/2 hr modeling practice ToDo: 1) HSA record keeping

Thanks all. I'm going to try 2 things before I look into new shoes. First, I'm going to tighten the laces from the bottom up better. I like my shoes a little loose, but thats probably bad for treadmilling or running. I don't have the little "extra" hole at the top, but a guy at the gym said he has narrow feet and was told to wrap the top hole from the top in as it helps to pull the foot back more. So I'm going to try that as well. I'll give that a few weeks, then hit the specialized running shoe store for a better shoe if I don't get any improvement.

I saw in a more recent post you had started a 30day yoga program. Any chance the back pain started near the start of this? When I started working out again around the start of Dec, witing about 5 weeks (I got real serious Jan 1), I started having back pain. I think I found that the issue was due to my stretching routine I was doing at the end of every workout. During stretches like toe touch and a few others, I noticed I was bending my spine a lot to stretch further. Once I stopped that and focused on keeping my back straighter, the pain began to go away. Just a swag on my part.

Xena, if you get a chance, look at my post today. I'm having an issue w/ pain in the end of my toes from treadmilling and hope you have a suggestion or have heard of this before.

Feb 7 Wt 180.6 Was my day a success? Yes. Dropped another 0.2lb to hit a new low of 180.6. Question. Has anyone who runs or does treadmill ever had pain in their toes? Every other w/o, I do what I call my cardio core w/o. I do 3min treadmill, the a core exercise, then 3 min tread, then a different core exercise, repeat w/o rest for 5 intervals of this. I power walk during the treadmill at a very fast walking speed. Just a little below jogging. I've been experiencing pain in my left and right second toes. My second toes are about 1/4 inch longer than my big toe, so they stick out the longest. Feels like a needle pressing into my 2nd toes for about a week. I really like this w/o and don't want to give it up. I tried some of the other types of cardio machines, but I don't really enjoy them, they take too long to setup, plus the treadmills are closest to the TV's and you can see out over the entire gym. This takes away the boredom of indoor cardio work. Thinking of going to a running store in the area that actually has trained runners who are known to have knowledge in the area of running. However, their shoes are expensive and I'd rather figure something else out. Any runners or people who have treadmill experience ever heard of this? Looking for anything to try. Since my toes were hurting, I didn't have much mojo tonight so I settled on just doing my stretching routine. Workout - Stretching Diet Breakfast - Protein shake Lunch - Wrap (spinach wrap w/ chicken, bacon, romaine, spinach, tomato, and a touch of dressing) Dinner - Salad + pork chop chop Snacks - 1 pear, maybe a few peanuts later 1 soda Solidworks - 1/2 hr on module ToDo: 1) HSA record keeping

Not marooning people. Maybe mooning people. I'm addicted to watching reruns of "The Monkeys".

I'm not a fan of silly gif's. I'll make an exception for this one though. I forsee a lot of sushi in your future.

Yes, I art here.