Onward

[ReturnOfTheDad]

2020: Year of the Quiet Warrior

Word of the Year: Discipline

Sleep: 9 Hrs

Weight: 224.4 lbs

Water: 6/8 Gallon

 

Nutrition: Calories -  1400

Protein - 110g

Carbs - 130g

Fats - 90g

 

Meals:

7:30am - Eggo w/ Peanut butter

11:00am - Breakfast burrito

1:00pm - Protein Shake, cereal

5:30pm - Hot dogs, veggies, chips

 

Fitness: 

Weights - Chest/Triceps

 

Notes:

Today was a little better, kids were nuts but got to the gym and made some phone calls to catch up with some friends and family. Feel like some reflection is needed but that’s about as far as I’ve gotten for today.

[Jupiter]

Hey, just thought I'd check on you. Hope you're doing okay. 

[ReturnOfTheDad]

4 hours ago, Jupiter said:

Hey, just thought I'd check on you. Hope you're doing okay. 

Doing okay thanks, been in a weird place and slowly working my way out of it. Unfortunately slower than I would prefer...

On the up side I do have an end date for my work furlough, but I still have to wait a month to go back to work. 
 

Thanks for checking, hope all is well.

[ReturnOfTheDad]

2020: Year of the Quiet Warrior

Word of the Year: Discipline

Sleep: 8 Hrs

Weight: 228.4 lbs

Water: 1 Gallon

 

Nutrition: Calories -  1800

Protein - 90g

Carbs - 90g

Fats - 80g

 

Meals:

9:30am - Toast, small egg white omelette, coffee

12:30pm - turkey sandwich

2:00pm - Iced Tea, cheese stick, almonds

5:30pm - Lasagna, veggies

9:00pm - PB & Milk

 

Fitness: 

Rest Day

 

Notes:

Went on a lifting routine the last few weeks and an unchecked diet for a while, needless to say the pounds have added up. Taking some time to prioritize nutrition as well as a personal goal of fitting better in my clothes. Also going to work on being more consistent posting here.

 

Have a month until I go back to work so having some structure I feel is going to be key to my sanity and overall health.

[Sloth the Enduring]

What’s your plan for structure?

[ReturnOfTheDad]

14 hours ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

What’s your plan for structure?

 

That’s a good question, had to think about it specifics and came up with the following:

-Posting here

-Scheduled meal times

-Nutrition plan

-More focused exercise plan

-Scheduled activity times during the day

 

That’s worked in the past, just got away from it with all the worry and change going on during the furlough. Feel like I have a clear path forward now and this should be achievable.

[ReturnOfTheDad]

2020: Year of the Quiet Warrior

Word of the Year: Discipline

Sleep: 11 Hrs

Weight: 224.8lbs

Water: 1 Gallon

 

Nutrition: Calories -  1800

Protein - 45

Carbs - 90

Fats - 75

 

Meals:

9:00am - Toast w/ butter, coffee

12:00pm - Chicken bites, fries, coleslaw 

7:00pm - Pizza and strawberries 

 

Fitness: 

Walk - 1.5 miles 

 

Notes:

Glad the gallon of water I had yesterday got my water weight back to normal. I guess I had been having way too much salt. Going to work on keeping both salt and sugar down.

 

At a recent dr. appointment I found out my cholesterol is very high and blood sugar is close to pre-diabetic so daily working on really cleaning up my eating habits in addition to taking some cholesterol medication. Yet another reminder that I’m rounding 40 and there are more health consequences for crappy eating and unhealthy living. Yay.

 

On the other hand, I’d rather be making these changes now and adopting a healthier lifestyle to sustain into middle age than keep the way I’m going and have a heart attack and have to make some more drastic changes later on. It’s a lot to process, also on the way to making piece with permanently giving up smoking (had given away all my cigars previously but still had planned on having them on special occasions). Trying to take it one day at a time on all of these changes and thankfully it’s not like people are shoving burgers, cheese cakes and cigars at me every day. 

 

Rough remainder of the day. Some neighbor had their dog off leash in the apartment hallway and it rushed at my one year old daughter. I was able to get in front of the dog and the owner leashed it but it was scary. A second too late and she might have been bit or worse. The lady apologized and I picked up my kids and said it was fine but was burning up. I ended up going to the apartment complex about it and they gave her a warning and had me file a police report. If her dog gets off leash again they are going to evict her. That seems a bit harsh but then again given what could have happened I can see why they wouldn’t want the liability. I do feel crappy for escalating that high, but then again if I hadn’t reacted in time there would be criminal charges and probably a law suit. The whole thing has been exhausting and really a crappy way to end the week. Ready to be done with this day.

[ReturnOfTheDad]

2020: Year of the Quiet Warrior

Word of the Year: Discipline

Sleep: 8 Hrs

Weight: 223.8lbs

Water: 4/8 Gallon

 

Nutrition: Calories -  2500

Protein - 100

Carbs - 200

Fats - 120

 

Meals:

10:00am - Breakfast tacos and coffee

2:00pm - Ice Cream

9:00pm - Pizza

 

Fitness: 

None

 

Notes:

Got nothing done today other than a date day with Mrs. ReturnOfTheDad with grandparents watching kiddos. Diet went WAY out the window and no real exercise, but it was fun.

 

Just going to try to do better tomorrow.

[Jupiter]

On 6/12/2020 at 10:10 PM, ReturnOfTheDad said:

The lady apologized and I picked up my kids and said it was fine but was burning up. I ended up going to the apartment complex about it and they gave her a warning and had me file a police report. If her dog gets off leash again they are going to evict her. That seems a bit harsh but then again given what could have happened I can see why they wouldn’t want the liability. I do feel crappy for escalating that high, but then again if I hadn’t reacted in time there would be criminal charges and probably a law suit. The whole thing has been exhausting and really a crappy way to end the week. Ready to be done with this day.

 

Wow that is scary. I'm glad it didn't get that far and that your daughter is okay. I'm sorry you had a not so good week too. Hope your weekend was better. 

[ReturnOfTheDad]

2020: Year of the Quiet Warrior

Word of the Year: Discipline

Sleep: 8 Hrs

Weight: 224.4lbs

Water: 1 Gallon

 

Nutrition: Calories -  1800

Protein - 70g

Carbs - 120g

Fats - 50g

 

Meals:

10:00am - Cereal

12:00pm - Chicken enchilada, beans, veggies

4:00pm - Almonds

5:30pm - Pizza, Salad

 

Fitness: 

None

 

Notes:

Another day with no exercise, going to try and break the lazy streak tomorrow.

[ReturnOfTheDad]

2020: Year of the Quiet Warrior

Word of the Year: Discipline

Sleep: 8 Hrs

Weight: 224.4lbs

Water: 7/8 Gallon

 

Nutrition: Calories -  2200

Protein - 90

Carbs - 140

Fats - 100

 

Meals:

7:30am - PB & banana

10:30am - Sandwich & chips

12:30pm - hot dogs

6:30pm - chicken, sautéed mushrooms, pasta

 

Fitness: 

Walk - 1.5 Miles

[RubiksCat]

I'm really hoping to get back into the habit of cheering you on in your fitness journey and checking up on your progress. Keep up the good work!

[ReturnOfTheDad]

2020: Year of the Quiet Warrior

Word of the Year: Discipline

Sleep: 8 Hrs

Weight: 226.6 lbs

Water: 6/8 Gallon

Calories:  2000

 

Meals:

9:30am - Strawberry Greek yogurt & tea

12:30pm - Egg white & mushroom omelette, toast, Tea

4:00pm - Protein, banana, pb shake

6:00pm - Steak, potato’s, spinach 

 

Fitness: 

Cardio - 3 Mile Run

 

Notes:

Continuing the trim down, and deciding to add stationary bike to the mix starting tomorrow. Will see if that makes a difference. Currently have 4 days of cardio and 2 days of resistance planned per week. 

[ReturnOfTheDad]

Still alive, just adjusting to another round of medication increases, hopefully the last one for a while. Start work back on Monday so that should help with having a structure to the day and certainly having regular income coming back in.

 

For the time being just trying for some daily exercise and watching my diet. Will work on more regular postings again soon.

[ReturnOfTheDad]

2020: Year of the Quiet Warrior

            - Ranger Quest

Word of the Year: Discipline

Sleep: 11 Hrs

Weight: 266.2 lbs

Water: 6/8 Gallon

Calories:  1600

 

Meals:

8:30am - croissant, juice, coffee

12:00pm - Chicken, rice, veggies

4:00pm - Cold cuts, cheese, crackers strawberries 

5:30pm - Chicken quesadilla and soda

9:00pm - Scoop of peanut butter

 

Fitness: 

Cardio - 2 Mile Run

 

Notes:

The last few weeks have felt really aimless. Haven’t been recording anything, the days just kind of melted together running after kids and trying to maintain sanity, which hasn’t been going great either. 

 

Medication adjustment is taking a bit. It helps with my general mood but I get agitated much faster. It’s quite the dilemma between not enough medication and feeling depressed and lethargic to too much medication and having to watch my reactions so I don’t do or say something I shouldnt. It also may just take some time for the medication to settle in my system, since it’s only been a week.

 

Getting more serious about my weight cut and have a new plan. I have been eating a full breakfast, lunch, and dinner with my medication but don’t think I actually need that much food and certainly don’t need the calories, as I’ve gained about 10 pounds since the beginning of the year instead of losing. Going to do a very light breakfast, go heavier on lunch/brunch prior to an early afternoon endurance workout, small but macro rich post workout meal and light dinner. That should allow me to get closer to my 1200-1500 calorie target per day and burn off the calories from lunch as I go about the rest of the day. That along with plenty of sleep and hydration should yield better results than I’ve been seeing but time will tell.

 

Already at the half way mark this year and still not at the body fat base I want to be at before beginning dedicated strength training so I have dubbed this time my Ranger Quest since my training is going to mainly consist of a mix of training until I can hit my target weight. Going to do this as a 3 month quest through the end of September and then will reassess to see if I continue through the end of the year or if I’m ready to proceed to a Warrior Quest.

 

That’s something else I’m learning through my fitness journey this year is I have been setting very open ended goals, in large part because I just haven’t done a lot of this before. I’m realizing now that my goals need to be very specific so I can design my lifestyle around that goal. Still trying to figure out what an overall lifestyle of wellness looks like for me but maybe that is something that will change with each challenge.

[ReturnOfTheDad]

2020: Year of the Quiet Warrior

            - Summer Ranger Quest

Word of the Year: Discipline

Sleep: 9 Hrs

Weight: 265.0 lbs

Water: 6/8 Gallon

Calories:  1550

 

Meals:

7:30am - Biscuit, oj and coffee

10:30am - Egg white breakfast burrito

1:30pm - Protein shake, banana, and tea

3:30pm- cold cuts and cheese 

5:30pm - Fried chicken, pasta, veggies

 

Fitness: 

Cardio - 3 Mile Run

 

Notes:

First day back at work after furlough and it was surprisingly uneventful. Got my logins and reloaded my work email on my phone (pros and cons to being tethered to work again). There is some comfort in having more structure to my day from work.

 

Had a therapy appointment today and overall doing good. Have dealt with a lot of issues going along with my bipolar and are getting more into a maintenance phase. Still have one more 2 week visit, then a three week visit, then potentially monthly, which is a far cry from weekly.

[fitnessgurl]

On 7/5/2020 at 10:38 PM, ReturnOfTheDad said:

I’m realizing now that my goals need to be very specific so I can design my lifestyle around that goal. Still trying to figure out what an overall lifestyle of wellness looks like for me but maybe that is something that will change with each challenge

This is key!

Great job!

[ReturnOfTheDad]

2020: Year of the Quiet Warrior

            - Summer Ranger Quest

Word of the Year: Discipline

Sleep: 9 Hrs

Weight: 225.6 lbs

Water: 6/8 Gallon

Calories:  2050

 

Meals:

7:30am - croissant, oj , coffee

11:30am - Sandwich & strawberries 

1:30pm - Protein Shake & banana

3:00pm - candy bar

5:30pm - Chicken, veggies, quinoa 

9:30pm - cold cuts, cheese and cereal

 

Fitness: 

Cardio - 2 Intervals

 

Notes:

A little frustrated about picking up some water weight yesterday, but no one forced me to have fried chicken for dinner. Will have some extra water today, make some better choices, and hopefully it should show up on the scale tomorrow. Working to get below 220 lbs by the end of the week.

 

Also rough night of sleep, baby was up twice and ReturnOfTheDad Jr. was up with a nightmare. Hopefully will be better tonight, just trying to remember that things don’t suck today, I’m just tired.

 

The day continued with a bunch of meetings, and enough stress that I finally buckled in the afternoon and stress ate a candy bar. Not something I want to make a habit of, but probably not the worst thing in the world.

 

Diet finally went to off a cliff by the end of the day with a late night cereal binge. The stress of the day and wife having wine (not that it bothers me, but the smell of booze makes me crave sugar) out came bowl after bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats. Could have been worse, literally have a Jolly Rancher cereal that we bribe our kids with as a treat and didn’t go to that. Still, feel like my willpower just wasn’t there today.

 

It might be that I’m getting too hungry and that’s causing me to over eat instead of staying steady at the end of the day. Will try having a bit more to eat at meals and see how that goes towards not eating a bad at night.

 

Glad to be done with this day.

[Jupiter]

Aw man, I'm sorry about the stressful day. I've been stress eating all the sugar too. *hugs* Hoping tomorrow is better for you. 

[fitnessgurl]

How are you?

[ReturnOfTheDad]

On 7/11/2020 at 5:00 PM, fitnessgurl said:

 

How are you?

 

Making it, thanks. First week back at work so busy and a little stressful. Trying to find a groove.

[fitnessgurl]

On 7/13/2020 at 11:38 PM, ReturnOfTheDad said:

Making it, thanks. First week back at work so busy and a little stressful. Trying to find a groove.

Hang in there. You can do this!

[ReturnOfTheDad]

Still alive, just working on getting a new schedule together. It’s been a lot of adjustment coming back to the Job after 2 months of being off. Diet has really been non existent along with little to no exercise. The whole thing has had me in a funk. Today is a new though, have a new plan for this week and will see how well it works.

[Sloth the Enduring]

Huzzah for still being alive!

[ReturnOfTheDad]

2020: Year of the Quiet Warrior

            - Summer Ranger Quest

Word of the Year: Discipline

Sleep: 8 Hrs

Weight: 228.0 lbs

Water: 6/8 Gallon

Calories: 1200

 

Meals:

7:30am - Blueberries, almonds, cheese, coffee

10:30am - lettuce wrap and avocado 

1:00pm - Protein almond butter shake

3:30pm - Egg white omelette & zuccini, coffee

6:00pm - Herbal tea

 

Fitness: 

40 Min Interval Training

 

Notes:

Schedule still in flux which has been a real challenge. Mrs.ReturnOfTheDad is going through some problems that she doesn’t feel like talking about, the dog is sick with some breathing issue that needs to be determined and is starting to have problems with his arthritis. Top that off with an older friend of mine passing away and it’s been a rough couple of weeks.

 

There is of course a lot to be grateful for. Back at work with regular pay again, health is in decent working order, and meds are working more or less as needed.

 

Working toward having a better schedule. Negotiating with Mrs.ReturnOfTheDad when each of us can get exercise time and may be going to my recovery meetings at lunch so I can be more available for family stuff in the evenings. Needless to say, it feels like a lot of change, which I am not great with, but hopefully things will feel more promising by the end of the week.

 

I haven’t been making any headway on the weight loss so going back to the last thing that worked, which was keto and intermittent fasting. Already seen 2 lbs drop off in the last couple of days since starting, probably water weight, but still encouraging.

 

Food photo of the day is my egg white omelette with zucchini chips and smoked paprika Greek yogurt dipping sauce. Sometimes I forget how tasty healthy food can be.

 

On to tomorrow...