Peelout restarts KH2

[peelout]

11 hours ago, otterbyte said:

 

Brains are so odd and amazing! But really, I think it's not much different than your chain of habits in the morning. Getting up, brushing teeth, getting dressed - you don't have those as separate habits; it's a sequence of habits. And from what I've seen of the research, it's recommended to 'hook' one habit onto another. Isn't that the idea behind things like Grease the Groove? Anyhow, glad you were able to get two-for-one!

Have to agree.  I didn't expect the salad thing to start at the same time as the exercise.  That was a new one for me.

 

9 hours ago, Hazard said:

 

 

That’s an interesting observation.  I think I’ll try creating a mental association between some easy-to-do sequence of actions that leads directly into the warmup ramping sets of a strength training workout.  To try to make it so that I can trigger my brain into Workout Mode by starting the sequence.

 

I've never been able to create a habit from other events (or maybe I haven't tried it that hard).  My cue for daily exercise last year was to keep my gym bag on my passenger seat.  Always there to remind me.  After a few months, I kept it in the back seat as I no longer needed it.  

7 minutes ago, Xena said:

 

Yes on this. I'm pretty sure that's how I hurt my back ~1.5 years ago.

My body is getting much more cranky at 57.  Even stretching can annoy it.  I'm starting wonder if my incline situps are part of the problem as well.  Hope not, they are the closest exercise to replicate the motion of pulling the body up to the kayak to get in position to roll back up.

[peelout]

1/9

Wt: 189.0

Was my day a success?  Yes.  Even though I gained 1.6 lb.  No issue though.  Part of big drop yesterday was due to water loss from my hike Sunday.  Plus, when we went out, my meal was around 6:30 instead of my normal 4:30 or 5:00.  So the entire chicken/bacon wrap was probably still in my stomach this morning.

 

Tonight was cardio/core.  I added an extra 3min tread at the end so now I am doing six 3min powerwalks on the tread and 5 core exercises.  Lower back was giving me some pain.  I'm going to quit the stretches where I feel any pain for a while.  I'm pretty sure that is the cause.  Ate well.  Pretty much the same meal plan everyday.  Salad plus a plain meat.

 

I did some SolidWorks training this morning at work.  I usually am at work 9hours and 30min.  I go in about 1hr before most other engineers.  I was doing actual work during this period, but I've gotten annoyed at some of the policies where I work and decided to spend the extra hour developing a new skill I can put on my resume.  Thinking of looking for a new job later this year but I want to say I can use SolidWorks first.

 

Workout:  Cardio/core

 

Eating:

Breakfast- Protein shake

Lunch- Salad and burger patty

Dinner- Salad and pork chop

Before bed- Probably a pear and 1 cookie before bed.

1soda

[peelout]

I CAN SIT ON MY AZZ OR KICK AZZ.  MY CHOICE.

1/10

Wt: 187.6

Was my day a success?  Yes.  I was right about the late evening wrap and my wt gain yesterday.  Sure enough, the wt dropped back in the 187's this morning.

 

I did decide I wanted something different than salad and meat for lunch today.  So I went to McD's.  I'm alright with that.  It's my first time for eating crap this year, so not a big deal.  Decided to cut down on the intensity of my strength workouts.  I like the idea of getting exercise daily, but it just can't be intense everynight.  I've been ramping up my cardio/core lately, so I'm going to cut back on the strength w/o intensity some.

 

I've cut out one of my flexibility exercises that I think was hurting my back (one where you sit on the floor w/ a leg extended and try to reach as far fwd as you can).  I think I'm also going to reduce the wt on the machine where you do twisting against a weighted resistance.  This may be a contributor to the pain and twisting against heavy resistance may not be something the spine is even designed for.

 

Did some more SolidWorks training this morning prior to work (I go in early to work on this).  Trying to get into the habit of working 1 training module in each morning.  

 

I've got a few favorite people I follow on NF, but last night I was looking for others that might spark my interest like unusual types of physical activities they were into.  I read some that had like 7 pages of posts and barely any mention of fitness or any of their goals after their first post.  To each their own though. 

 

Workout:  Back focus

 

Eating:

Breakfast- Protein shake

Lunch- McD's

Dinner- Salad and pork chop

Before bed- Probably a pear and 1 slice of cheese b4 bed.

1soda

[Sloth the Enduring]

Hah. I am impressed that you’ve loosened up enough to tell us about the training modules.


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[peelout]

7 hours ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

Hah. I am impressed that you’ve loosened up enough to tell us about the training modules.
 

I'm out of control. lol

 

[peelout]

TALK IS CHEAP.  ACTION IS ALL THAT MATTERS.

1/11

Wt: 187.0

Was my day a success?  Yes. Wt hit a new low of 187.0.  Eating was on target.  Got my w/o done.   Treated myself to a BLT and a small handful of chips for dinner.  Tasted great.  I love BLT's.

 

I have definitely decided to lighten up on the intensity of my w/o's.  Have to remember that 11 days is not really enough to go from not doing much to trying to go full throttle 7 days/wk.  I'm experiencing lower back pain which I wasn't before I started exercising.  Not enough to stop me from exercising, but enough to say "slow down and let the spine heal a little".  So tonight, for my cardio/core w/o, I dropped my speed on the tread from 4.6 to 4.4.  4.6 is the fast speed I can powerwalk before I have to switch to a job.  Jogging on treads is another thing that hurts my spine, which I learned a few years ago.  I also reduced the wt on the resistance twisting machine, and tweaked a few other exercises.  Still enough to raise the HR significantly and increase my breathing rate, but not like I was doing where I was sweating and panting.  Definitely felt better.  I like the idea of everyday exercise, but you can't go all out every day.

 

Worked on SolidWorks module this morning.  Always a win.

 

Lost my car key in the snow at work last week.  Finally yesterday after the snow had melted, a co-worker found it.  All the buttons on it actually still worked.  

 

Workout:  Cardio/core

 

Eating:

Breakfast- Protein shake

Lunch- Salad and pork chop

Dinner- BLT and a small quantity of chips.

Before bed- 1or2 slices of cheese.  Dang pears just won't seem to ripen.

1soda

[Sloth the Enduring]

Huzzah! What’s lost is found again.


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[peelout]

Last night I was dreaming that I was eating chocolate peanut clusters and over snacking.

[peelout]

1/12

Wt: 186.8.

Was my day a success?  Yes. Wt hit a new low of 186.8.   Continues to trend down. My goal was a 5lb loss for the month, but now I'm thinking an easy 8lb loss.  

 

Eating was on target.  Will be working out after this post.  Going to a movie so may not have time to post later.  It's amazing how they are always trying to get me to join there "club" so I can get free upgrades on my popcorn and soda.  Really, the upgrade is about 3/4 of a gal of popcorn and a good 32oz of soda.  Does one person need that much?

 

Certainly not much exciting happened at work other than one of our key engineers is leaving the company.  At a small company, that hits hard.  Plus another guy who does a lot of record keeping based on the engineers works is going to be off for a month or two.  And I continue to learn SolidWorks which increases my skill level and opens opportunities at other employers for me.  I'll probably be there at least 6 more months though.  

 

Workout:  Chest focus

 

Eating:

Breakfast- Protein shake

Lunch- Salad and burger patty

Dinner- BLT only.

Before bed-  Going to movie tonight so small popcorn and soda.  

1soda

[peelout]

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

1/13

Wt: 187.0

Was my day a success?  Yes. Any day I continue to develop the exercise habit is a success.  While I want to lose wt, my definition of success this month is daily exercise.

 

Snow was all melted and ground was frozen so I put the new Merrill hiking shoes on that I got for Xmas and hikes the 1.5m trail near me.  Very nice hike despite the cold temps.  

 

Got prepared for this weeks meals.  Restocked what I needed for salads.  Bought some porkchops and grilled them.  I'm going to make "wraps" for my lunch this  week so I bought what I needed for those - spinach wrap, peppercorn ranch dressing, chicken, bacon, and tomato.  Yummy.

 

Went to work and did some SolidWorks training.  Wish we had laptops where I worked so I could train on it at home.

 

Thats about it.  It's been very slow on NF lately.  Lots of people barely posting.    

 

Workout:  1.5m hike

 

Eating:

Breakfast- Protein shake

Lunch- BLT only

Dinner- Salad only

Before bed-  Going to movie tonight so small popcorn and soda.  (Going to see Proud Mary.  Probably a dumb movie but I'm a sucker for shoot-em-ups.)

1soda

[Manarelle]

Sorry to hear about your back, hopefully your tweaks can sort that out. Grats on the weight loss and habit building, though, looks like you're building a good streak. I'm always amazed at how much food people (including past-me) can put away without realizing they're eating. When I pay attention, I really only desire about a cup or two of popcorn, but while you're watching a movie... dangerous. 

[Sloth the Enduring]

You should post reviews of all these movies you see.


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[Xena]

21 hours ago, peelout said:

Got prepared for this weeks meals.  Restocked what I needed for salads.  Bought some porkchops and grilled them.  I'm going to make "wraps" for my lunch this  week so I bought what I needed for those - spinach wrap, peppercorn ranch dressing, chicken, bacon, and tomato.  Yummy.

 

I just wrote this on an another thread. One thing I've learned about myself is that I can't have "extra" cooked bacon in the house. The words extra and bacon don't even go together. I'm impressed that you can keep it on hand for more than one day.

 

When your back doesn't hurt anymore, there are gentler versions of the stretch you described.

1. Doing what you were doing before but keeping a bend in your knees

2. Same thing but doing it from a standing position and just hanging down. Not actively pulling, but just letting gravity and your body weight gently do the work,

3. (the one my doctor told me to do after I hurt my back) Lying on your back with one leg outstretched and the other in the air. Grab the upright leg behind the thigh (not reaching for the foot) and gently pull back. This one is much much gentler.

[peelout]

21 hours ago, Manarelle said:

Sorry to hear about your back, hopefully your tweaks can sort that out. Grats on the weight loss and habit building, though, looks like you're building a good streak. I'm always amazed at how much food people (including past-me) can put away without realizing they're eating. When I pay attention, I really only desire about a cup or two of popcorn, but while you're watching a movie... dangerous. 

 

1 hour ago, Xena said:

 

I just wrote this on an another thread. One thing I've learned about myself is that I can't have "extra" cooked bacon in the house. The words extra and bacon don't even go together. I'm impressed that you can keep it on hand for more than one day.

 

When your back doesn't hurt anymore, there are gentler versions of the stretch you described.

1. Doing what you were doing before but keeping a bend in your knees

2. Same thing but doing it from a standing position and just hanging down. Not actively pulling, but just letting gravity and your body weight gently do the work,

3. (the one my doctor told me to do after I hurt my back) Lying on your back with one leg outstretched and the other in the air. Grab the upright leg behind the thigh (not reaching for the foot) and gently pull back. This one is much much gentler.

Since I've made the changes to my workouts (stopped one of my stretching exercises, reduced wt on the twisting resistance machine), the back pain seems to be decreasing.  Hoping that will take care of it.  I do #2 that Xena mentioned above.  I do a version The Most Loathed told me about.  First I squat down.  Then straighten the knees as I stand but keep my fingers near the ground.  Then lower into the squat again.  And I've stopped trying to force stretching further.  The first few reps my fingers are slightly off the ground.  As I do more reps and my muscle loosens, my fingers are touching, sometimes my middle knuckles.  I could press further, but like Xena said, I'm just going where gravity takes me.  I'm sure as time goes by, I'll get further, but I'm not going to force it.

 

My loving wife microwaves a couple lb's for me. I'll eat some w/ BLT, a couple strips w a salad, but never just snack on it.

21 hours ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

You should post reviews of all these movies you see.

Proud Mary was the typical bad azz shoot-em-up where the good character never misses and the bad guys can't shoot worth a darn (even w/ machine guns they miss).  Plus she can like an MMA pro, even while wearing hi-heeled boots.  It was opening weekend and there were about 8 people in the theater.  That should tell you something.

 

I also saw Commuter with Lian Neelson (sp?).  That movie was very typical for his roles.  I like his acting and his movies and enjoyed this one.  Opening weekend and the theater was crowded.

[peelout]

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

1/14

Wt: 186.4

Was my day a success?  Yes. New low wt of 186.4. 
Today I:

Worked out twice.  Hoping to solidify the drop below 187lb and get ready to move into the 185's.

Ate excellent.

Made my wrap for the tomorrow.  First wrap I've made in forever.  Forgot to add a strip of bacon.  Don't want to unfold and add it as that might cause the wrap to start to crease and decrease the structural integrity of the wrap.  Can't have my wrap falling apart.  Also forgot to cut it in half like they do in the resteraunts.

Got the internet working again.  Wife is happy.  Had to facetime with my son at college so he could help me get the Wii programmed to find the internet signal from the new router Frontier sent me.   

 

Workout:  Back focus and 1.5m hike

 

Eating:

Breakfast- Protein shake

Lunch- BLT only

Dinner- Salad and porkchop.

Before bed-  Probably a slice of cheese later, maybe one small piece of fudge.  Or a banana.

1soda

[peelout]

Week 2 summary:
Very happy with my second week.

Eating was excellent everyday - my main meals were all salad + plain meat (I went to McD's once, but I'm OK w/ that).

7 days of workouts (twice on Sunday).  Reduce intensity to prevent burnout and shoulder pain, changed some stretches to prevent back pain.

3.4lb wt loss (much of that was just getting my stomach from its normally filled to capacity condition down to just enough to get by to my next meal capacity).

I'm so happy I'm going to get out of my box and post a gif:

 

 

One again, I'm happy enough that I'm going to post a gif

[peelout]

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

1/15

Wt: 185.4

Was my day a success?  Yes. New low wt of 185.4. I figure the dramatic wt loss of 1lb over 1 day is due to my 1.5mi hike yesterday (or my scale is acting up).  Thats twice now I had a huge loss after hiking.  I still think its just sweat from walking.  Although it was freezing yesterday, I had enough clothes on that I had to take my hat off part w/ through the hike so that I would cool down.

 

Woke up w/ sore throat and upset stomach.  Even though it felt like a "man" cold, I persevered through work today.  I texted my wife that I had a man cold and she replied asking if I had called an ambulance to take me to the emergency room.

 

Ate my first wrap today.  It was not as good as the one from Avanti's, but it was still good and a welcome respite from my usual salad + meat.  I have enough fixins to eat these all week.  I cut off as much of the spinach wrap (the outer layer) as I could since the breaded wrap has 220 cals.  Wife had homemade chicken noodle soup for me when I got home.  Wish she had not made such a big pot as I want to get back on salad + meat within a day or to.  Although I don't know what I would do for meat.  The pork chops I grilled over the weekend tasted kinda funny so I threw them out tonight.

 

Although I was feeling better by the time I got home, since I felt poor this morning, I did not work out tonight.  NOT!.  Went to gym, did 5min tread and stretching.  Just something to keep the habit ingrained.  

 

Best news of all, I did not catch any appliances on fire like Sloth did.  Of course, I didn't use any either.

 

Workout:  5min tread + stretching.

Eating:

Breakfast- Protein shake

Lunch- Chicken/bacon/romaine/tomato wrap

Dinner- Chicken and noodle soup + 2 slices bread.

Before bed-  Probably a slice of cheese later, maybe one small piece of fudge.  Or a banana or a pear.

1soda

[Xena]

23 hours ago, peelout said:

Although I was feeling better by the time I got home, since I felt poor this morning, I did not work out tonight.  NOT!.  Went to gym, did 5min tread and stretching.  Just something to keep the habit ingrained.  

 

Best news of all, I did not catch any appliances on fire like Sloth did.  Of course, I didn't use any either.

 

Both of these are wins

[peelout]

1/16

Wt: 185.8

Was my day a success?  Yes.  Wt bumped up, but I expected that after a 1lb loss in one day.  Always happens.

 

Felt better today than yesterday.  Stomach was no longer upset.  I was hacking up some flim today (aren't you glad I mentioned that).  But overall, I felt much better.  Went to gym.  I decided before I went to just do a half of a strength w/o.  Once I got started, I felt like just doing the whole w/o.  Then I started coughing and decided I should stick w/ a half.  Skipped stretching.  Diet was on target.  I'm a pretty boring eater so it doesn't change much when I'm eating to lose wt.

 

Two days now w/o SolidWorks training.  I've been skipping going in early to get more sleep while I fight this cold.  I think it turned out to just be a girlie cold rather than a man cold.  Hopefully it doesn't rebound and develop into a full fledged man cold.  The kind that results in an inability to do anything at home but lay around and moan.  Women are lucky that can't get man colds.

 

I'm going to go full on Sloth and talk about something else in my life.  Starting wedding planning for my daughter.  I'm very pleased with the guy she's marrying (as pleased as a father can be, that is).  I told her I would give her $10G for the wedding and she could keep anything she doesn't spend.  Personally, I think the amount some people spend is absurd.  Some freinds of ours spent over $30G.  Their wedding was a lot less fun than mine and we spent less than $1500.  When you get to fancy, people don't get as loose and crazy.  And about 3/4 the time, catered food sucks.  We had friends and family put together the food which was awesome.  But we've been looking at venues that can hold at least 100 and prices are outrageous.  We thought we found a great one for $2000, then they told us there was a $6000 minimum food bill.  WTF?  I'm trying to think outside the box for a venue.  I've often wondered if I could make money by having a simple, but nice, building built with a main room that would seat about 200max, a small kitchen, 2 small side rooms, and a stage.  Rent that out for about $2500 and the renter can do whatever else they want like cater in or bring their own, have a band, have the wedding there, whatever.  I would jump on a deal like that right now.  Just a simple facility, but nice condition.  Thats really all you need.

 

Workout:  1/2 strength training w/o.

Eating:

Breakfast- Protein shake

Snack- 7 skittles.

Lunch- Chicken/bacon/romaine/tomato wrap

Dinner- Chicken and noodle soup + 2 slices bread.

Before bed-  Banana or pear later.  Maybe some toast w/ PB.

1soda

•  

[Manarelle]

Depending on the anticipated weather, outdoor venues are nice, or check into tent rentals. Also might be worth checking with local parks/ historical areas to see if they allow hosting. American Legion halls will also rent out their space, but I'm not sure the cost or if that's a case-by-case basis.  I'm not a big fan of weddings or lots of people in general, but I've found the outdoor ones to be much more relaxed and entertaining, even when the weather turns sour, although to someone wanting lots of pomp and circumstance, I understand it's somewhat lacking. 

 

Still, congrats on your daughter's wedding, and I hope it turns out wonderfully, no matter how it happens. In the meantime, feel better and keep up the great work. 

[Sloth the Enduring]

I'm glad I've had such an out-sized influence on you. You're looking for a unicorn my friend; once people hear wedding, prices sky rocket.

[peelout]

5 hours ago, Manarelle said:

Depending on the anticipated weather, outdoor venues are nice, or check into tent rentals. Also might be worth checking with local parks/ historical areas to see if they allow hosting. American Legion halls will also rent out their space, but I'm not sure the cost or if that's a case-by-case basis.  I'm not a big fan of weddings or lots of people in general, but I've found the outdoor ones to be much more relaxed and entertaining, even when the weather turns sour, although to someone wanting lots of pomp and circumstance, I understand it's somewhat lacking. 

 

Still, congrats on your daughter's wedding, and I hope it turns out wonderfully, no matter how it happens. In the meantime, feel better and keep up the great work. 

Wedding is in Jan so outdoor is out.  Otherwise a tent would be awesome.

3 hours ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

I'm glad I've had such an out-sized influence on you. You're looking for a unicorn my friend; once people hear wedding, prices sky rocket.

Looked at a VFW today, $125/day (if you have a vet reserve it and we have vets in the family).  $200 deposit or forfit if you'd rather not clean up after.  Has a kitchen, can bring your own food or cater in.  Seats 150.  Has a bar naturally, but there are doors between it and the bar.  You can buy kegs if you wish at the bar.  Nice thing is that they are then responsible for any accidents afterwards.  For that price, they could have a live band instead of a DJ if they want.  My wedding reception was at a VFW and we had a blast and a live band.  I got crazy and started slam dancing.

[peelout]

1/17

Wt: 185.2

Was my day a success?  Yes.  Wt hit a new low of 185.2.  Yay.  I was feeling pretty tired at work today and thought maybe my cals were getting a bit too low so I went to McD's for lunch.  Not sure if its my imagination, but I did feel more energetic later.  I should probably try to count my cals, but it's more effort than I want to spend.  If I'm losing wt, my diet is working.  If I start feeling to sluggish, I just add one big meal.  Much simpler for me. 

 

Went to gym and felt up to doing my full cardio/core w/o.  I did reduce the speed from 4.4 to 4.2 on some tread circuits, but I kept if at my normal 4.4 on some and went over my time on others.  I was sweating and breathing heavy by the time I was done.  Glad I felt up to doing the whole w/o.  Also did my stretching at the end.

 

Been losing steadily, but I'm starting to anticipate the dreaded plateau.  They always happen.  Thinking this weekend I might throw in 2 hikes instead of just one, on top of my normal w/o's.  Just to make sure I go into next week steadily in the 184's.  I only set my goal at losing 5lbs this month, but I'm starting to think I might lose 10, unless I get a really sticky plateau.  Don't want to get to wrapped up in that.  Have to remember the main focus of this month was to reactivate the daily exercise habit. 

 

No SolidWorks training.  Need to get on the ball on that. 

 

Workout:  Cardo/core focus.

Eating:

Breakfast- Protein shake

Snack- 6 skittles.

Lunch- Much needed hi-cal McD's meal (1/4 pounder w/ cheese, regular fries, Dr P)

Dinner- Chicken and noodle soup + 2 slices bread.

Before bed-  Banana or pear later.  Maybe a slice of cheese.

1soda

[otterbyte]

10 hours ago, peelout said:

I only set my goal at losing 5lbs this month, but I'm starting to think I might lose 10, unless I get a really sticky plateau.  Don't want to get to wrapped up in that.  Have to remember the main focus of this month was to reactivate the daily exercise habit. 

 

Ya, it's hard when you're getting that dopamine rush of watching the numbers go down to remember that the ultimate goal is a steady-state, and slow progress is the kind that has the most power to stick. Now I'm off to try to get that message pounded into my own head...  

[peelout]

12 hours ago, otterbyte said:

 

Ya, it's hard when you're getting that dopamine rush of watching the numbers go down to remember that the ultimate goal is a steady-state, and slow progress is the kind that has the most power to stick. Now I'm off to try to get that message pounded into my own head...  

Dopamine.  The feel good drug!  Off to a workout?