Jupiter Posted January 23, 2019 Report Share Posted January 23, 2019 Wow, looks delicious! Quote New Battle Log, Old Battle Log, Current Challenge 2022 Challenges: Challenge 1, Challenge 2, Challenge 3, Challenge 4 2021 Challenges: Challenge 1, Challenge 2, Challenge 3, Challenge 4, Challenge 5, Challenge 6 2020 Challenges: Challenge 1, Challenge 2, Challenge 3, Challenge 4, Challenge 5, Challenge 6, Challenge 7 Link to comment
ReturnOfTheDad Posted January 24, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2019 Weight: 220.0 lbs Sleep: 8.5 hrs Water: 3/4 Gallon Meals: 8:00am - Coffee 9:00am Greek yogurt, granola, coffee 12:30pm - Chicken fried rice 3:00pm - Protein bar & iced coffee 5:30pm - Turkey sandwiches, chips, salad, cookies Fitness: Rest Day Notes: Did a little better on sleep and eating earlier but I’m really going to have to figure something out to survive this next weight progression and hit 9-10 hours of sleep. Might look at doing a nap earlier in the evening to stay up with the little one during that lovely midnight feeding stretch. TBD. Work caught up with me today so pushing workout to tomorrow. Still getting the hang of schedule but committed to getting in 3 workouts this week. 1 Quote Link to comment
ReturnOfTheDad Posted January 25, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2019 Weight: 218.4 lbs Sleep: 8.5 hrs Water: 1 Gallon Meals: 9:00am - Greek yogurt, granola, coffee 11:00am - Egg whites, cheese, oatmeal, blueberries, almonds, coffee 1:30pm - Protein shake & banana 2:30pm - Turkey jerky, nuts, coffee 4:00pm - Protein bar 5:30pm - lamb, bread, veggies 9:00pm - turkey sandwich, hummus, chips, milk Fitness: Weights - Back/Biceps/Abs Notes: Little Ms.ReturnOfTheDad is finally getting back to normal sleep schedule. She’s still not going to bed until after 11, but definitely an improvement. Hard to be mad, so dang cute... (Maintaining baby anonymity per Mrs.ReturnOfTheDads request, but you get the idea.) Still sliding back on my rep amounts, haven’t been eating as much as I should, so that with the less sleep are things I need to get back on track this week before next weeks lift increase. On to Legs Day tomorrow... 3 Quote Link to comment
ReturnOfTheDad Posted January 26, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2019 Weight: 219.0 lbs Sleep: 8 hrs Water: 3/4 Gallon Meals: 10:00am - Egg whites, cheese, cereal, strawberries, oj, coffee 12:00pm - Protein bar & coffee 2:00pm - Protein shake and banana 4:00pm - Greek yogurt & granola,SF Monster 6:00pm - Weekly cheat meal Fitness: Weights - Legs Notes: Well, apparently spoke too soon, baby was up again every couple of hours again. Just on sleep survival at this point and piecing together what I can. Made it through Legs Day, did better on some lifts and worse on others, but overall feel comfortable moving up from 115lbs to 135lbs on the major lifts. Nice to see steady progress. 2 Quote Link to comment
ReturnOfTheDad Posted January 27, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2019 Weight: 223.4 lbs Sleep: 8 hrs Water: 3/4 Gallon Meals: 9:00am - Egg white veggie omelette, potatoes, coffee 12:00pm - protein shake & banana 3:00pm - hotdogs & cake 5:00pm - pizza & cake 9:00pm - cake Fitness: Rest Day Notes: ugh, back day immediately followed by legs Day is the worst...Mood is shot and entire back and lower half of my body is spent. The price for progress I suppose, definitely ready switch to different splits next week. Trying to separate my exhaustion from my emotions (baby still not sleeping more that 2-3 hours at a time). Parents watched the kiddos last night so Mrs.ReturnOfTheDad and I could go out on a date. Chatted with them a bit when we got back and made the mistake of sharing some of the recovery stuff I was doing this weekend (meeting with people for breakfast and sobriety date celebration at my home group) and I had forgotten how uncomfortable it makes them. They both were raised that anyone with an addiction was just a weak person and that depression/anxiety aren’t real things. It’s hard to know that they will never understand or appreciate what a hard road it has been to get sober and how important it is that I continue a lifestyle of wellness in staying connected to the recovery community. It makes me mad sometimes, but I know it’s not that they are trying to be this way specifically towards me, that it is just the way they are. It makes me more sad than anything else that because of their prejudice and hang ups they are never really going to get to know me fully, because this is a big part of my life and hopefully always will be. As with most things, acceptance is the answer, and I can appreciate that they do the best they can and am glad to be in a place where we can grow towards a healthy relationship in whatever capacity that might be. Definitely a rest and junk food day, went to 3 birthday parties, so as you can see in my log, in a word - cake. Passing into a sugar coma now and will try to do better on the food front tomorrow. Overall was a good day, went to two kiddo birthday parties, one for some a cousin, one for a friend, and two of my closest friends celebrated 5 years of sobriety tonight. That, with excessive amounts of cake, is a good day in my book. 2 Quote Link to comment
ReturnOfTheDad Posted January 28, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2019 Weight: 223.4 lbs Sleep: 7 hrs Water: 1 Gallon Meals: 9:00am - Fried Eggs, bean burrito, tater tots, cheese, coffee 1:00pm - Protein shake, peanut butter sandwich, apple slices 3:30pm - Protein bar, turkey jerky, nuts, SF Monster 5:30pm - Chicken, pasta, veggies 10:00pm - Milk & Scoop of PB Fitness: Rest Day Notes: Absolutely spent from leg soreness and all the running around yesterday. Starving this morning and gave into creating the following delicious culinary & nutritional travesty: That is a microwave bean burrito, topped with tater tots, 3 fried eggs, sharp cheddar, Valentina’s sauce, and I’m pretty sure somewhere in the vicinity of 1,000 calories and 3 days worth of cholesterol. It was delicious, no regrets....I have a feeling that might be my epitaph one day... Got back on track by lunch and working on increasing my macros to 40/40/20 split of grams of protein, carbs, and fats for 4 meals a day. Been averaging 20/20/10 per meal and it hasn’t been near enough to keep up with the my current lifts, much less the increases coming this week. Super stoked to slap on those 45lb plates on tomorrow and tackle 135lbs for Chest/Back day. 3 Quote Link to comment
RubiksCat Posted January 29, 2019 Report Share Posted January 29, 2019 22 hours ago, ReturnOfTheDad said: That is a microwave bean burrito, topped with tater tots, 3 fried eggs, sharp cheddar, Valentina’s sauce, and I’m pretty sure somewhere in the vicinity of 1,000 calories and 3 days worth of cholesterol. No I think you'll be just fine. They don't say everything in Texas is bigger for a reason, but after that "sugar coma" I don't imagine you're helping yourself any but we all have to indulge every now and then don't we? Go back to that gym and kick ass. Show your demons whose really the boss. 1 Quote Link to comment
ReturnOfTheDad Posted January 29, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2019 1 hour ago, Rubik'sCat said: They don't say everything in Texas is bigger for a reason, but after that "sugar coma" I don't imagine you're helping yourself any but we all have to indulge every now and then don't we? Go back to that gym and kick ass. Show your demons whose really the boss. LOL! So true and will do. Quote Link to comment
ReturnOfTheDad Posted January 29, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2019 Weight: 220.0 lbs Sleep: 8 hrs Water: 1 Gallon Meals: 9:00am - Coffee 10:00am - Egg whites, cheese, oatmeal w/ strawberries & almonds, oj 1:30pm - Protein shake, pb & banana sandwich 2:30pm - Coffee 3:30pm - Strawberry Greek Yogurt 5:30pm - Chicken pizziola, rice, peas Fitness: Weights - Chest/Back/Abs Notes: Getting serious with the weights so the serious eating has begun, had 12 egg whites and increased to 3/4 cup oatmeal (dry measurement) for breakfast and apparently that was just right for what I need now. That is double what I normally eat for breakfast but made me MUCH less grumpy and surprisingly I didn’t feel crazy full. Still a bit windy and cold (not my favorite) but warming up. We have our own personal groundhog with ReturnOfTheDad Jr. and can tell winter is passing by the first official porch fort of the year: First day of lift increase went more or less as planned, completed between 3-5 reps on initial sets with the coveted 135lbs, look at those beautiful blue plates... I know for most lifters that’s not a big deal, but for me when I was struggling with 95lbs back in December this feels like a major win, and that I am finally on my way to putting 2 of those 45lb plates on each side, or maybe even 3 by the end of the year (going to be lots and LOTS of egg whites...). Eating continued with mass quantities of chicken, rice and veggies for dinner. This kind of eating is going to take some getting used to. Thankfully on to rest day tomorrow. 4 Quote Link to comment
Kishi Posted January 29, 2019 Report Share Posted January 29, 2019 EVERY PICTURE IN THIS THREAD IS EITHER DELICIOUS OR WHOLESOME AND IT MAKES ME ANGRY HAVE A GIF OF AN ANGRY KITTEN Yeah. That'll show you. All seriousness, though, yeah, sounds like you've hit it about right in terms of eating. If you've gone from feeling full to feeling empty, that is very probably a sign. Listen to your body and work that recovery as much as you can. I know you got people to be there for. 1 1 Quote Work like a farmer, train like an athlete, fight like a soldier. 2 Tim. 2:3-6 BATTLE! Link to comment
ReturnOfTheDad Posted January 30, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2019 Weight: 219.2 lbs Sleep: 6 hrs Water: 1 Gallon Meals: 9:30am - Coffee, blessed blessed coffee 10:30am - Egg whites, cheese, oatmeal, fruit, more coffee. 1:30pm - Protein shake, PB&J sandwich, chips 4:00pm - Greek yogurt, honey, berries, granola 5:30pm - Burgers, Salads, chips Fitness: Rest Day Notes: Baby has decided to not sleep again. Mrs ReturnOfTheDad is taking the brunt of it because Little Ms. ReturnOfTheDad protested very loudly from 10pm to 2am about being held and fed by anyone but mom. Gave it a shot, parenting, amazing. Well...mystery solved on why she was up so late. Thats right...poop...went out the diaper right up to her neck...Mrs.ReturnOfTheDad just now informed me she hadn’t pooped in two days...so there it is...#parenting... Definitely been a day of child hijinks. 2nd memorable parenting moment of the day, this conversation with ReturnOfTheDad Jr. before nap time: Me - Okay buddy, it’s time lay down for a bit and have some quiet time. ReturnOfTheDad Jr. - NO QUIET TIME! Just...just...LOUD TIME! I suspect he has somehow been sneaking nursery rhyme covers of 80’s rock hits through Pandora...no more Quiet Riot for this young man... So tired, ReturnOfTheDad out. 2 Quote Link to comment
ReturnOfTheDad Posted January 31, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2019 Weight: 219.4 lbs Sleep: 9 hrs Water: 3/4 Gallon Meals: 10:30am - Egg white and veggie omelette, oatmeal, blueberries, oj, coffee 2:30pm - Protein shake, pb and banana sandwich, coffee 4:30pm - Greek yogurt, raspberries, granola, honey 6:00pm - Lasagna, Salas, bread, lemonade 10:00 pm - cheese & crackers Fitness: Weights - Legs Notes: Definitely have to be careful on free weight Legs day with the increase in weight. Another successful day of lift increases but pushed for an extra rep on barbell lunges and almost had to drop the plates to get up. Slow and steady I suppose. The extra food intake is making for much better energy and surprised that I’m not gaining any weight. I did the math and since I am making most of my own food, the calories are about the same to what I was eating before but I doubled my macros, which explains the increased energy but no weight gain. Delightful close to the day, walking the dog tonight tripped over a curb and caught my thumb on the car window. At the very least it’s a bad sprain, still have movement and it’s not bending any weird way, but not what I wanted to deal with today. Hopefully will be good to lift again by Friday, but TBD. Ugh, life stuff... 3 Quote Link to comment
Kishi Posted January 31, 2019 Report Share Posted January 31, 2019 35 minutes ago, ReturnOfTheDad said: Notes: Definitely have to be careful on free weight Legs day with the increase in weight. Another successful day of lift increases but pushed for an extra rep on barbell lunges and almost had to drop the plates to get up. Slow and steady I suppose. I can't post videos from where I am, but it might help you to look up Alan Thrall on YouTube. He does a whole lot with RPE and going for reps and stuff like that. The Rebellion's very much about weight on the bar, but the effort you expend is not a nothing piece of that whole equation. 37 minutes ago, ReturnOfTheDad said: Delightful close to the day, walking the dog tonight tripped over a curb and caught my thumb on the car window. At the very least it’s a bad sprain, still have movement and it’s not bending any weird way, but not what I wanted to deal with today. Hopefully will be good to lift again by Friday, but TBD. Ugh, life stuff... Dogs, man. They're like that. I hope it improves fast! 1 Quote Work like a farmer, train like an athlete, fight like a soldier. 2 Tim. 2:3-6 BATTLE! Link to comment
ReturnOfTheDad Posted February 1, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2019 Weight: 220.6 lbs Sleep: 9 hrs Water: 3/4 Gallon Meals: 11:30pm - Egg white & avocado sandwich and coffee. 5:00pm - sandwich, chips, nuts, turkey jerky 8:00pm - candy bar & soda (thumb sadness food) Fitness: Rest day Notes: Sad to say thumb is out of commission for at least a week. Since most of my exercise is free weights at this point trying really hard not to get down since I won’t be able to lift. I’ve needed trim up a bit so going to take this opportunity to hit the exercise bike and try to shed some pounds. Super drained from legs yesterday so just trying to get through today to see what tomorrow holds. 2 Quote Link to comment
ReturnOfTheDad Posted February 2, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2019 Weight: 220.6 lbs Sleep: 9 hrs Water: 3/4 Gallon Meals: 10:00am - Egg whites, cheese, oatmeal, berries, almonds 2:00pm - Protein shake & banana 4:30pm - cheese, pita chips, tomato, peanuts 5:30pm - Weekly cheat meal Fitness: Cardio - Seated bike Intervals Notes: Thought more about it and might adjust my work out schedule to 3 weeks of lifts and one week of trimming. I had some good results with that on P90X a few years ago. Going to adjust the food intake accordingly and see what will get the results I need without effecting my energy too much. 3 Quote Link to comment
ReturnOfTheDad Posted February 5, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2019 Weight: Didn’t weigh today Sleep: 8 hrs Water: 1 Gallon Meals: 10:00am - Egg whites, cheese, tomato, oatmeal, oj 12:30pm - Chicken & quinoa salad. 4:00pm - Cheese stick & trail mix 5:30pm - Steak, fish, creamed spinach, sweet potatoes Fitness: Run - 3 Miles Notes: Diet went out the window over the weekend. Felt like a lot of challenges with the hurt thumb, baby not sleeping, and schedule changes. Put me into a depressive low for a couple of days where I just shut down and went through the motions. Pulling back out of it today. Learning to navigate out of those dark places faster and faster. Still sucks though. Bright side is helping other people and finding service opportunities seems to help it pass MUCH quicker, which has the benefit of doing some extra good in the world as a direct result of being in a bad place. Silver lining I suppose, and better than sitting in a severe depressive episode for weeks at a time. 3 Quote Link to comment
ReturnOfTheDad Posted February 6, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2019 Weight: 219.6lbs Sleep: 8 hrs Water: 1 Gallon Meals: 9:00am - Cereal & blueberries 11:00am - BBQ, beans, tortilla, slaw 3:00pm - Cheese quesadilla, chips, guacamole 5:30pm - Sandwiches, chips, salad, cake Fitness: Rest Day Notes: Still working out the new schedule. Balancing new job, toddler & baby, service/recovery activity, and fitness stuff is taking some time and a bit of a toll. I think working out first thing in the morning should help. Adjusting sleep schedule to try to make that happen. TBD. It has been quite a while since I last ran and I definitely felt it. Glad today was a rest day. Feel like incorporating some moderate running into the schedule would probably be beneficial. 3 Quote Link to comment
RubiksCat Posted February 6, 2019 Report Share Posted February 6, 2019 Congrats on finding your way out of the funk you were in and providing service to others in your depressive state. Genesis 50:20 (paraphrase) "What the devil intended for harm, God made for good." I think running would be good for you too. Even without the physical benefits, it boosts self-esteem and confidence. 1 Quote Link to comment
Kishi Posted February 6, 2019 Report Share Posted February 6, 2019 Yeah, good to see that the negatives are working their way back towards positives. Take your time and iron it out, and don't be afraid to adjust if life calls you to be effective outside the gym. 1 Quote Work like a farmer, train like an athlete, fight like a soldier. 2 Tim. 2:3-6 BATTLE! Link to comment
ReturnOfTheDad Posted February 7, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2019 Weight: 220.4 lbs Sleep: 6 hrs Water: 3/4 Gallon Meals: 6:00am - Protein shake, banana 8:00am - Greek yogurt, honey, granola, dried fruit. 12:00pm - Fish sandwich, chips, broccoli 6:00pm - Chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, rolls, cake, lemonade Fitness: Run - 3 Miles Notes: Up at 6:15 am today, which is 30 minutes earlier than yesterday. I realize a long term change is going to take time so trying to be patient with myself as I work day by day to getting my feet on the floor at 5:30am. It’s been about a week since the thumb sprain and it looks like it is going to be a solid 4-6 week recovery for lifting unlike the 1-2 weeks I was hoping for. This definitely has me down since I was making such steady progress on lift increases, but I also know my current weight is unhealthy for me and maybe this is a good opportunity to shift gears to running and core work for the next month to get better prepared for putting more weights on the bar. I’ve seen some workout schedules where you bulk for 2 months then cut/do cardio for 1 month. Not sure if that will be an ongoing thing for me but seems to line up with my current situation. Going to give it a try and make the best of it. Appreciate all the encouragement! 2 Quote Link to comment
Kishi Posted February 7, 2019 Report Share Posted February 7, 2019 13 hours ago, ReturnOfTheDad said: Notes: Up at 6:15 am today, which is 30 minutes earlier than yesterday. I realize a long term change is going to take time so trying to be patient with myself as I work day by day to getting my feet on the floor at 5:30am. Heck yeah, man. That's awesome. As someone who's struggling his way toward earlier that's really inspiring. You'll get to 05:30. 14 hours ago, ReturnOfTheDad said: It’s been about a week since the thumb sprain and it looks like it is going to be a solid 4-6 week recovery for lifting unlike the 1-2 weeks I was hoping for. This definitely has me down since I was making such steady progress on lift increases, but I also know my current weight is unhealthy for me and maybe this is a good opportunity to shift gears to running and core work for the next month to get better prepared for putting more weights on the bar. Hey, cardio and cutting is a legit strategy. Just be mindful not to cut too deep or for too long. Otherwise you might bust something. Hope the thumb recovers soon! 1 Quote Work like a farmer, train like an athlete, fight like a soldier. 2 Tim. 2:3-6 BATTLE! Link to comment
ReturnOfTheDad Posted February 12, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2019 Weight: 221.2 lbs Sleep: 7 hrs Water: 1 Gallon Meals: 9:30am - Egg whites, cheese, oatmeal, oj, coffee 12:30pm - Egg whites, cereal, strawberries, coffee 3:00pm - Cake and more cake 6:30pm - Turkey & ham sandwich 8:00pm - Protein bar & coffee 11:30pm - Protein shake & banana Fitness: 2 Mile Run & Core Workout Notes: Was a rough weekend. Mrs. ReturnOfTheDad and I are cruising along with baby & toddler life, but have slowly been losing each other in the process. Had some productive but difficult relationship conversations. Overall I think it was beneficial, but I’m exhausted and was stress eating like crazy all weekend. Didn’t really even feel like logging stuff today but I know the sooner I start doing things to take care of myself again, the sooner I can be in a better place for my relationship and family. So still slowly easing off a weekend of eating my feelings. Caved to cake this afternoon but feeling good about going from working out 3 times a week to working out daily. In all fairness, that’s chocolate cake with homemade peanut butter icing....and yes I ate the 2 missing pieces... Getting my territories for work squared away and looks like I’m going to be in Los Angeles once a month going forward. Was prepping my appointment schedule when suddenly it hit me, I AM GOING TO BE DRIVING DISTANCE TO THE INOSANTO ACADEMY!!!! For those of you unfamiliar, Dan Inosanto was Bruce Lee’s (arguably) top instructor and close friend: He continues to work with fighters and actors at the highest levels (Anderson Silva, Denzel Washington for Book if Eli, Jeff Imada - fight choreographer for the Bourne Series, etc.). Humble guy and world class teacher. I’ve had the privilege to train under several of his students and would LOVE to train with the man himself. I’m committed to lifting and hitting my goals from a fitness standpoint BUT THE MONK LIFE CALLS. Would love to get a couple of classes in once a month there while he is still teaching (82 years young) but will definitely need to work on some monk aspects of my fitness before trying to keep up at that school. Probably not going there to work out in the near future, but to be continued... That’s it for today, exhausted but accomplished a lot and have some things to look forward to. Onward. 4 Quote Link to comment
RubiksCat Posted February 12, 2019 Report Share Posted February 12, 2019 Those peanut butter and chocolate cakes, whoa!! I wonder if posting yummy food pics is something all Rangers and Monks do. Inosanto would be the Master Shifu to your Panda. Hopefully you do get to meet him some day, or just randomly come in and crash one of his sessions during the day Hope you enjoy L.A. What field of work are you in if I may ask? 1 Quote Link to comment
ladyofthebog Posted February 12, 2019 Report Share Posted February 12, 2019 so many things to respond to: 1) oh man, those cakes. i want to devour them. i would have no self control control around such beauties 2) cool about LA! i had no idea about dan inosanto. unrelated but also warm place: we're planning a girl's trip down to palm springs this... spring (i just realized how apt that is) which is kind of LA territory. oh, how i miss california. 3) i think having small children is hard but ultimately strengthening to marriage? kind of like why impact makes bones stronger. my husband and i were together for a good long time before having a nugget. we got used to the bacchanalia that is love w/o marriage. gosh, looking back on it it seems almost roman in it's opulence, doesn't it? having a kid has made us work more as a team than ever before... which has been difficult. so feeling you on the marital struggles there but ultimately hopeful for us all? 1 Quote Daily Battle Log, Sweat like an Orc, Live like a Hobbit, and Look like an Elf “As the Wheel of Time turns, places wear many names. Men wear many names, many faces. Different faces, but always the same man. Yet no one knows the Great Pattern the Wheel weaves, or even the Pattern of an Age. We can only watch, and study, and hope.” Robert Jordan, The Eye of the World Link to comment
ReturnOfTheDad Posted February 13, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2019 10 hours ago, Rubik'sCat said: What field of work are you in if I may ask? Thanks! And yes that would be AMAZING to have him as my Master Sifu (though I understand he has much nicer temperament). For work I do business development for a mobile event firm finding and building relationships with creative agencies for nationwide marketing campaigns. We partner with fabricators to make these super cool 52 foot trailers with expandable sides to make mobile demo and training rooms, then tour them around the US showcasing whatever product the client wants marketed (new car models, new technology, etc.) I worked in hotels and events for the last 10 years, so this is a cool/quirky departure for me, the people are great and Inlove a challenge. As of now my main territories are Dallas, Austin, and Los Angeles. No complaints here! 6 hours ago, ladyofthebog said: so many things to respond to: 1) oh man, those cakes. i want to devour them. i would have no self control control around such beauties I passed on your kudos to Mrs.ReturnOfTheDad, Thanks and I agree! 6 hours ago, ladyofthebog said: 3) i think having small children is hard but ultimately strengthening to marriage? kind of like why impact makes bones stronger. my husband and i were together for a good long time before having a nugget. we got used to the bacchanalia that is love w/o marriage. gosh, looking back on it it seems almost roman in it's opulence, doesn't it? having a kid has made us work more as a team than ever before... which has been difficult. so feeling you on the marital struggles there but ultimately hopeful for us all? 100% agree on everything you said here. As a friend of mine says, they aren’t called ‘growing feel goods’. Tough but so worth it. Quote Link to comment
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