Onward

[Valette]

I've enjoyed perusing your log.  Learning that you are working through depression, I felt like I had to share that this was powerful for me.  I also deal with depression, and it's humbling to read/hear/listen to someone genuinely work out that as part of the overall continuum of health.  Thank you for sharing, and I'll be rooting for you!

[Urgan]

Sorry the depression and problems with volunteer programs hit at the same time, but you are totally Handling It. Think gym time is helping that at all?

[ReturnOfTheDad]

11 hours ago, Urgan said:

Sorry the depression and problems with volunteer programs hit at the same time, but you are totally Handling It. Think gym time is helping that at all?

It definitely is, had let it slack off with travel but got back on it with 2 workouts today and felt amazing. One more reason to make it a priority I suppose.

[ReturnOfTheDad]

Weight: 223.8 lbs

Sleep: 8 hrs

Water: 7/8 Gallon

 

Meals:

7:00am - Protein bar, vitamins, coffee

10:00am - Protein shake, banana, on sandwich

11:00am - Green Tea

12:00pm - Egg white & turkey burrito bowl

3:00pm - Greek yogurt, honey, granola, blueberries, green tea

5:30pm - Pizza

9:30pm - crackers, deli meats, cheese

 

Fitness:

8:30am - Weights: Back/Bicep/Abs

4:30pm - Conditioning: 

Warm Up - Laps & 4 x Bodyweight circuit

Circuit 1: 2 x KB swing, Sled, KB C&app

Circuit 2: 1 x 12 Battle Rope Drills

Circuit 3: 1 x 10 MB SLM/Sprl & Shuttles

 

Notes: Was a busy day but very glad to get too workouts in. Feeling good and have a feeling I’ll sleep well tonight. Trying to get everything set for travel next week and last week of the month, but all going to happen a day at a time. Still mulling over going back to training and if finances work out I might be able to swing 2 BJJ workouts and one boxing workout a week, but time will tell.

[ReturnOfTheDad]

Weight: 223.6 lbs

Sleep: 8 hrs

Water: 7/8 Gallon

 

Meals:

10:00am - Protein shake, cereal, SF Monster, vitamins.

1:30pm - Egg whites, salsa, cheese, tortillas, oj, green tea

5:30pm - Chicken, rice, veggies, green tea

7:30pm - pizza

10:00pm - Chocolate pudding

 

Fitness:

Rest Day

 

Notes: Really feeling it from yesterday so taking it easy today. Could have eaten better but overall things went pretty good today.

 

[Urgan]

9 hours ago, ReturnOfTheDad said:

Notes: Really feeling it from yesterday so taking it easy today. Could have eaten better but overall things went pretty good today.

 

Seems like you did pretty good to me on food. The Devil is in the details of quantities, lol.

[Kishi]

Glad to see that conditioning seems to be leading to mat time. Of course, as you say, take it a day at a time.

[ReturnOfTheDad]

Weight: 224.0 lbs

Sleep: 9 hrs

Water: 7/8 Gallon

 

Meals:

10:30am - Raisin Bran, coffee, vitamins

12:30pm - Greek yogurt, blue berries, granola, green tea

3:00pm - Chicken club wrap, green tea

5:00pm - Protein bar

8:00pm - Fries, fish, veggies, pasta

 

Fitness:

Rest Day - last day of getting over a cold.

 

Notes: All the travel is getting a bit rough. Off on another trip, back a week, off on another trip, back home for 4 days, then another trip. I know I need to be much more disciplined or my health and mental states are going to go into a pretty bad decline. Just have to stick to the basics, sleep, hydration, nutrition, exercise, and positive living.

 

A big piece for me with all this travel and being away from family and friends is to establish a routine and purpose. As much as I’m traveling I’m going to need something and I think it may be to make it a point to do some monk training in any city I go to. I think this may be the year of The Wandering Monk. Also trying  it to do everything. I’m no good to anyone when I’m sleep deprived or in a bad place. 

 

Going to focus on just being a part of things and do the best I can to go with the stream of life.

[ReturnOfTheDad]

Weight: Traveling, no scale

Sleep: 4 hrs (never sleep well first night of travel)

Water: 1 Gallon

 

Meals:

8:00am - Protein bar vitamins coffee

10:00am - Turkey club wrap & green tea

12:00pm - Trail mix

3:00pm - Club sandwich 

5:00pm - Jerky & trail mix

6:30pm - Gatorade

9:00pm - Turkey burger and sweet potato fries

 

Fitness:

Cardio - Walked 8 miles during work training.

 

Weights - Legs/Shoulders/Arms/Obliques

 

Notes: Getting into more of a groove, felt great to lift again. Didn’t get much sleep but that’s usually how it goes on the first night.

[ReturnOfTheDad]

Weight: Traveling, no scale

Sleep: 8 hrs 

Water: 1 Gallon

 

Meals:

7:00am - coffee

9:00am - Protein bar, kind bar, vitamins 

11:00am - trail mix

12:30pm - Salmon, rice, broccoli, trail mix

3:00pm - trail mix

5:00pm - jerky, dried fruit, nuts

8:30pm - Chicken quesadillas and nachos

 

Fitness:

Cardio - Walked 5 miles at work

Conditioning - KB, Dumbell, Bodyweight circuit & Bag work

 

Notes: Starting to adjust to life on the road and find my rhythm. Love the team I am here working with and actually got a chance to get to an old school boxing gym today to get a workout in.

 

 

The conditioning was intense and this was the first time in a year I got to work a heavy bag. Everything hurts....I’M IN HEAVEN.

 

Now for a nice dinner and to pass out before call time at 5am tomorrow. It’s taking time and patience but very glad I’m getting to a good place with all these changes.

[ReturnOfTheDad]

Weight: Traveling, no scale

Sleep: 8 hrs 

Water: 1 Gallon

 

Meals:

9:30am - Coffee & Donut

12:00pm - Salmon tacos, chips, beans, green tea

1:30pm - Fruit/vitamin drink

4:30pm - Turkey Burger, fries, iced tea

6:30pm - Protein Bar

9:30pm - boneless wings, chicken breast, mashed potatoes, broccoli 

 

Fitness:

Weights- Shoulders, Legs, Arms, Obliques

 

Notes: Was a really cool trip to Long Beach but glad to be going back home. So much respect to our operations tram members who live life on the road for weeks and months at a time. One or two weeks a month is max for me.

 

Checked out the new hotel I’ll be calling home week a month. It’s nice, has a pond, pool, walking distance to a Starbucks and has some healthy dinner options. Best of all it’s only a few minutes from a daily recovery meeting, gym, and MMA place. Those 3 are pretty much where all my free time is going to be spent while I’m traveling. Actually looking forward to my next trip here. The packing and airport part are getting to be routine and I’m starting to make more friends out here.

 

Weather ended up causing my flight to be can led so bad to extend the trip. This was tough at first as I really miss my family, but had coffee and met with some friends in Newport Beach this morning and had a chance to explore the area I’ll be staying in a bit more and things seem better.

 

Been quite the day and very ready to get back to the family tomorrow.

[Urgan]

8 hours ago, ReturnOfTheDad said:

Checked out the new hotel I’ll be calling home week a month. It’s nice, has a pond, pool, walking distance to a Starbucks and has some healthy dinner options. Best of all it’s only a few minutes from a daily recovery meeting, gym, and MMA place. Those 3 are pretty much where all my free time is going to be spent while I’m traveling. Actually looking forward to my next trip here. The packing and airport part are getting to be routine and I’m starting to make more friends out here.

 

Travel is hard, but the idea of having a "home base" hotel you'll see a lot sounds like not a bad deal, huh? 

 

Weather was crazy this weekend. Tornado almost hop-skipped onto our neighborhood, but decided to change its mind and GTFO'd instead. Hopefully the second try at flying home will work out better.

[ReturnOfTheDad]

13 hours ago, Urgan said:

Weather was crazy this weekend. Tornado almost hop-skipped onto our neighborhood, but decided to change its mind and GTFO'd instead. 

 

Thats crazy! I heard about some of the tornadoes, so glad it missed ya’ll.

[ReturnOfTheDad]

Weight: Traveling, no scale

Sleep: 9 hrs 

Water: 3/4 Gallon

 

Meals:

9:30am - Protein bar, vitamins, coffee

12:00pm - Chicken tikka, saag paneer, rice, samosa, mango lasi. Green tea.

4:30pm - Chicken sandwich, fries, Diet Coke, ice cream.

9:00pm - Chicken quesadilla, chicken burrito, taco, soda 

 

Fitness:

Cardio - Muay Thai

 

Notes: So doing Muay Thai after legs and shoulder day was probably a mistake... 

 

Did better than I thought I would and picked up some really good adjustments to my kicks from the instructor, but by the conditioning round at the end I was gassed and mood has slowly declined from there.

 

On the upside I did get a super fancy pair of traditional Muay Thai shorts.

 

This is a VERY traditional school so the traditional shorts as well as the greeting and some using original Thai terminology are all mandatory. Enjoyed it and look forward to doing another class when I’m back in Orange County in another couple of weeks. Really opened my eyes to how some small tweaks on positioning can make a big difference in my kickboxing game.

 

Finally weighed in now that I’m back at home and oof, pushing 230lbs. Really going to have to look at diet and how I’m going to do my meals on future trips. Now that my lifting and training schedule are worked out (mostly) really need to work on the weight situation. Goal is to get to a target weight of 185lbs by the end of the summer, to start working on that beginning tomorrow.

 

Been quite the day, home for the rest of the week. Plenty of time to catch up with family, prep for next week and get some good R&R.

[Urgan]

I'm sure once you find a routine in your travel time, you'll be able to negotiate diet tweaks no problem. Just finding food of any kind to stay moving is an accomplishment sometimes.

[RubiksCat]

Cutting out 45 lbs by the end of summer is ambitious but I know you can do it. The "dog days" of summer are approaching when a ton of sweating will make the process go by faster. 

[ladyofthebog]

I’m glad we are talking about summer. Eeii!! Almost here!! 

[ReturnOfTheDad]

Weight: 227.3 lbs

Sleep: 8 hrs 

Water: 7/8 Gallon

Protein: 140 grams

 

Meals:

12:00pm - Protein shake, banana, vitamins, green tea

3:00pm - Chicken breast, spinach salad, chips, green tea

6:00pm - Chicken, veggies, chips, pie

10:00pm - PB Protein Shake 

 

Fitness:

Rest Day

 

Notes:

Good to be back home. Learning about routines at home and abroad and how to transition back and forth. Kind of in survival mode through the next couple of weeks since my schedule is all over the place, but if I can navigate a healthy routine through all this, travel going forward should be much more manageable.

 

Really focusing in on my diet. Realize I need to be hitting at least 160 grams of protein for the day and limit my carbs especially after 5pm. Going to stick with that this month and see how it goes.

 

On to another day.

[ReturnOfTheDad]

Weight: 226.6 lbs

Sleep: 9 hrs 

Water: 7/8 Gallon

Protein: 150 grams

 

Meals:

10:30am - Egg whites, cheese, oatmeal, almonds, strawberries, oj, vitamins, coffee

 1:00pm - Banana & Green Tea (pwkt)

 3:30pm - PB & berry Greek yogurt shake, green tea

 6:00pm - Chicken & veggie mix

 9:00pm - Whey Protein Shake

 

Fitness:

Weights - Chest/Back/Lower Back/Abs

Cardio - 1 Mile

 

Notes: Taking me a few days to get used to being on Central time again, but that’s probably going to be part of the regular acclimation. I haven’t done Muay Thai in AGES and the body is reminding me of that. Still, thoroughly enjoyable and can’t wait to do it again next week. Nice to be at my home gym though, have No Gi Jujitsu Friday with some friends from recovery. Also REALLY nice to be at my home 24 hour fitness, no lines, plenty of equipment, just good in general to be home and back to my old groove.

 

The family part of things is a bit of a challenge, it’s weird to be gone for a week and come back in the midst of the very busy lives of a spouse and 2 young kids. We miss each other like crazy, but after that first day of being glad to be back together there is what I like to call the re-entry phase, where I try not to mess up everyone’s groove by trying to jump back in 100% as co-parent and house mate. Usually takes 2-3 days, but by that time I’ll be getting ready to leave again.

 

Going to be a hard couple of weeks of travel, but think as a family we’ll grow from it if we focus on love, understanding, and tolerance of our unique challenges while we’re apart. That’s what me and Mrs.ReturnOfTheDad will probably do. The kids will probably make fart noises and lick things they aren’t supposed to, but c’est la vie...

[RubiksCat]

Lmao if a kid doesn't lick inanimate objects and make fart noises is he really a kid at all? Or better yet, tell 'em I'll come over there and fart in person to give 'em a day off...but you don't have the same southern Texas cooking I'm used to here, I'd better not. 

I'm glad you're feeling better and back into the thick of things; don't over do it on the Muay Thai and keep up the steady progress.

[ReturnOfTheDad]

Weight: 224.3 lbs

Sleep: 8 hrs 

Water: 7/8 Gallon

Protein: 160 grams

 

Meals:

11:30am - Egg whites & veggie omelet, oatmeal, almonds, craisins, oj, vitamins, coffee

2:30pm - Yogurt, honey, berry, GT Smoothie 

5:00pm - jerky, cheese stick, chicken Caesar salad

10:00pm - Whey protein shake and scoop of PB

 

Fitness:

Rest Day

 

Notes: Didn’t get to work out today but did get a chance to get caught up on work, plan some more for my trip next week and have a nice evening of volunteering and recovery service work. Tiring but super productive day. Current plan is to double up on workouts tomorrow, but TBD.

[Urgan]

Food was perfect AND you got a lot of stuff done! Worth it even if you have to double-dip a bit in the gym to compensate.

[ReturnOfTheDad]

Weight: 223.6 lbs (7lbs Lost)

Sleep: 8 hrs 

Water: 6/8 Gallon

Protein: 150 grams

 

Meals:

10:00am - Egg whites, cheese, oatmeal, strawberries, oj, vitamins, coffee

11:30am - Banana (pwkt)

1:30pm - Greek yogurt, blueberry, honey, green tea smoothie

5:00pm - Cheese sticks, grapes, almonds 

6:30pm - Brisket, sausage, cole slaw, corn, some Mac & cheese nuggets

 

Fitness:

Cardio - 1 Hr No Gi BJJ

 

Notes: Jujitsu today was good but just feeling a bit tired. Been doing a 2 day split 3 times a week, so while I’ve definitely been getting stronger faster, it’s just not meshing with the uptick in Monk workouts. Think I am going to split the difference going forward with 3 lift days and 3 Monk days a week. Also shoulder is tweaking a bit so going to let that rest for a few days.

 

Back in my competition diet regimen and it’s encouraging to see the pounds start falling off. Not a tough way of eating, just takes planning ahead and writing things down. Only complaint right now is keeping up with eating 160 grams of protein a day.

 

Did keep mostly the diet even when eating out tonight. Have a feeling the salt is going to get me in water weight but hopefully that will pass in a day. Just need to focus on upping my water tomorrow and maybe getting some good cardio in. 

 

On to tomorrow.

[ReturnOfTheDad]

Weight: 226.3 lbs (4lbs Lost)

Sleep: 7 hrs 

Water: 4/8 Gallon

Protein: 80 grams

 

Meals:

8:30am - Protein bar, vitamins, coffee

11:00am - Eggs, bread, cheese, fruit, tea

2:00pm - SF Monster

4:45pm - Chicken sandwich & salad

9:30pm - Chicken Caesar Salad

 

Fitness:

Rest Day 

 

Notes:  Yesterday and today were an absolute blur. Did recovery service work most of the day yesterday, did an Easter lunch with the family, movie with my son, then more recovery service work. The volunteering definitely helps me keep on an even keel, but need to work on balancing that with enough sleep and food. Kind of burning the candle at both ends right now.

 

Today started bright and early with a scramble to Easter church service, scrambling back to get ready for a big family lunch and egg hunt and juggling kids and family members for the next couple of hours. After everyone left did a quick pack for this weeks trip then it was off to the airport again for a day in Phoenix then headed to LA tomorrow.

 

Air travel was delayed again, really just trying to roll with things. Wanted to go for a run this evening, but due to flight and baggage delays that was out. Just going to settle for a healthy-ish dinner and early bed time.

 

Hopefully a bit of personal inventory and a good nights sleep will change my current grumbly state.

[Urgan]

9 hours ago, ReturnOfTheDad said:

Air travel was delayed again, really just trying to roll with things. Wanted to go for a run this evening, but due to flight and baggage delays that was out. Just going to settle for a healthy-ish dinner and early bed time.

 

Nice of life to help with that candle-burning business you mentioned earlier, huh? I know not being able to do a thing you'd planned can wreck a mood fast, but you were far from sedentary this weekend so if you were going to pick a run to miss, this was the time for it.