vicmagary

And I'm back... Got away from posting here, had a few bad days of diet, bla, bla, bla. Moving forward! In bed last night. Late. Effing late. 8:00am Large coffee with a little grass fed butter and cinnamon. 10:15am 12 almonds and an apple. 1:00pm Training. Good upper body push session. 2:30pm 3 eggs over easy, ground beef, and broccoli. Small piece of dark chocolate. Fish oil and Vitamin D3 supplements. 6:15pm Grilled steak. Mixed green salad with apple cider vinegar. Words written: 795. Total words written: 2,588 out of 16,500. Diet was good, training was good, writing was good. A fine first day back on track. And time to STAY on track through the end of this challenge.

Last night in bed by 10:30pm. A little late. 6:45am Morning mocha. Fish oil and Vitamin D3 supplements. 8:30am 1/2 banana (Coda ate the other half). 10:30am 12 almonds, 1 small apple. 12:30pm Large dark chocolate bar. You know those 3 oz. bars of quality dark chocolate? Yeah, I ate the whole thing. Fail. 3:00pm Grilled stead with mixed green salad, carrot chips, and balsamic vinegar. 6:45pm Large serving of grilled sausage with salsa and 3 ribs of celery. Fish oil and Vitamin D3 supplements. Words written: 285. Total words written: 1,793 out of 16,500. No training today, but that was as scheduled. The chocolate bar should have lasted several days... lesson learned, don't bring one of those things to my office. Also the grilled sausage portion was much too large. And the writing word count is barely over 50% for the targeted daily total. Not a horrendous day, but I expect better. I give it a C for the day.

Ok... completely fell off the wagon with the diet over the weekend. Bad. Just bad. Moving forward... Last night in bed by 9:30pm. Win. 6:45am Morning mocha. Fish oil and Vitamin D3 supplements. 10:00am 12 almonds, 1 apple. 12:30pm Training: dips, pull ups, incline dumbbell chest press, hammer strength seated row. Short workout. Definitely felt the effects of a wrecked diet over the weekend. 2:00pm 4 eggs over easy with sauteed broccoli and ground beef. 6:45pm Large mixed green salad with grilled steak and balsamic vinegar. Fish oil and Vitamin D3 supplements. Words written today: 521. Total words written: 1,508 out of 16,500. Diet was spot on today. Training felt sluggish and forced. Writing was back on schedule. I give it an A- for the day.

Friday April 18, 2014 Bedtime yesterday: 11:50pm. Fail! 8:30am 3 eggs scrambled with ground beef and steamed green beans. Large coffee black. 10:45am Training session. Chin ups, chest press machine, barbell bench press, seated cable rows, one arm dumbbell push press, Hammer Strength lat pull down, dips, alternating dumbbell curls, preacher curl machine, triceps extension machine. Some exercises were only one set, some were four, none were tracked for reps or weight. I'm usually an "anti-machine" guy... using the machines is part of my free style gym effort. 12:30pm Chipotle salad with barbacoa, tomato salsa, and guac. Large iced tea. 3:00pm 1 banana shared with my dog Coda. 7:00pm Several servings of grilled veal chops with steamed broccoli. Words written today: 455. Total words written: 987 out of 16,500. Stuck with the Paleo but felt heavy between the Chipotle and the "several" servings of veal chops. Gotta get the bedtime in check. A little short on the word count today, but not too bad. Overall... I give it a C+ for the day.

Thursday April 17, 2014 Bedtime yesterday: 10:20pm (that's 20 minutes late). 8:30am Morning "mocha" which is coffee, coconut oil, grass fed butter, one square of 88% organic dark chocolate and several dashes of cinnamon. Future posts will refer to this simply as "mocha". Fish oil and Vitamin D3 supplements. 10:30am Large decaf coffee black. 1:00pm 12 almonds. 1 small apple. 3:15pm 3 eggs scrambled with onions, peppers, and broccoli. 7:15pm Buffalo burger with horseradish and a large mixed green salad with balsamic vinegar. No actual training session today, but I did do a few sets of push ups and ring dip static holds. Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays will be my days off from formal training for the next few weeks until summer hits (I'm a college instructor, so my day job will be on break for about 12 weeks come mid May. Yay!). Words written today: 532. Total words written: 532 out of 16500. Overall, pretty good for day one.

Greetings All! I'm a long time Nerd Fitness reader and fan of the Rebellion. Below are my Level 1 quests and missions: Main Quest: Weigh 155 lbs. My current weight is 174.4 lbs. I'll list my weight in this thread each Monday. The past two and a half weeks my diet and training have been good... but the weight is not coming off like it used to. I'm hoping the supportive eyes of the Nerd Fitness community might spot something that I'm missing. Or maybe the added accountability will help me count those portion sizes more accurately. Mission 1: Adhere to the Paleo Diet for all meals. Yep, all meals until the end of the challenge. I'll be recording the daily food intake in this thread. Mission 2: Moderate unscripted training sessions at least 4 days per week. Yep moderate (not killer) workouts. I'm going to be using relatively light weights and ease back a bit in the gym. I suspect a large part (the largest?) part of my weight loss challenge currently is stress related so I'm going to experiment with backing off of the training intensity. Along the same lines, I'm going to "free style" in the gym (or park) until the end of the challenge and NOT preplan or record my workouts in my training notebook. This is borderline blasphemy to me, but again I'm going to focus on enjoying the movement and not stressing about performance. Mission 3: In bed no later than 10:00pm each night. Mission 3.5: Keep this thread up to date with my diet, general training, and bedtime. I'm historically bad about sticking with forums; time to change that for this challenge. Life Quest: Write 16,500 words by the end of the challenge. That averages to 500 words per day each day except for Sundays. Let's do this Rebels! Thanks, Vic

It looks like your numbers are going up consistently - great work. And I agree with spezzy that the best way to get stronger is to add weight. If you have access to a barbell or dumbbells, and you are comfortable performing the basic lifts, it's the way to go for strength.

Many thanks, Sandman. I'm trying to get more active in here and do my part for the Rebellion!

How are you doing the close hand push ups? Try putting your hands in a "goal post" formation where only your thumbs touch instead of the traditional "diamond". Also try keeping your elbows closer to your ribs as opposed to flared out to the sides. I hope that helps! It looks like everything else is going good! Keep upping that food intake and try to get some vegetables in there.

Wow, it really sounds like you have some systems in place that are going to help you succeed through this challenge and WAY beyond. Planning ahead is key and you seem to have that down solid! Congrats on your early awesome success.

I love this goal breakdown. So much so that I started "stalking" you on Twitter. Follow back, now.

I just made beef stew with sweet potatoes and it is delish! I think you have to experiment with the root vegetables and see how your body reacts. I personally only eat them in large quantities when I'm trying to put on weight.

Ain't gonna lie. . . that video choked me up pretty good. Many thanks for sharing!

For gaining muscle, I've used chocolate milk with good success. For getting lean, a small can of tuna and a large handful of baby carrots are my go-to.

Greetings to all at Nerd Fitness! I'm very excited to be participating in the forum. I have some experience as a trainer and fitness enthusiast, but this last year I truly fell off of the path. Business and personal losses put me in a state of mind where my once notorious discipline and training ethic melted away. But I am determined to bounce back in 2011 and will be in the best shape of my life when I turn 40 in November. That's right, 40. From the quick scan I've done of the posts, I'm pretty sure I'm one of the oldest (THE oldest?) members of the forum. Old man jokes and references are welcome and encouraged. First up for me is a 12 week mass gaining program that I will be following beginning Monday January 3, 2011. I'll be following a Monday, Wednesday, Friday training split of total body workouts using a combination of bodyweight and dumbbell exercises. Oh, and I'll be eating like crazy. I'll be starting a thread in the training journal area so everyone's support along the way is most appreciated. Many thanks to Steve and everyone who participates in the forums for creating such a supportive community. Take care, Vic