[DrFeelgood]

It's been a herky-jerky start to 2024 in terms of fitness, but overall things are still headed in the right direction even if they have slowed down quite a bit.  My progress so far has been reliant on calorie restriction combined with mostly cardio for weekly exercise, and while that's worked well to drop an initial 3-dozen pounds since September it doesn't seem to be cutting it anymore in terms of the body composition I'm actually aiming for.  I think I'm losing more lean mass along with the fat I'm burning than I'd like to.  When I joined NF in 2015 I got in to lifting pretty early, and that allowed me to recomp in such a way that 210 looked pretty good on me.  This week's return to 210 is still very-much in Dadbod territory--although MFG tells me that I'm looking slimmer in the saddlebags, which I do appreciate.  Still, I want to be Lean and Strong again because I'd like to hit golf balls farther and look good while doing it. 

 

So I'm shifting focus a bit: rather than solely working to lose weight I'm going to reorient toward strength to preserve lean mass while still eating low to reduce my bodyfat stores.  In this challenge I'll start by implementing a bodyweight strength regimen with the eventual goal of returning to heavy free weights.  I always loved the barbells, but I still can't stand to go to the gym and still haven't worked out a way to do it at home--even with Bubbles away at college I haven't been able to reclaim any space in the house or garage yet.  I may just have to suck it up and get back to the gym because I really do miss lifting.

 

I'll be keeping the same three goals with the following tweaks:

 

DRINK - one Dr Pepper each morning; most days it will be a 12-oz can, but occasionally there will be a 32-oz bladder buster from the drive-thru or the quickie mart.  As long as it's just one then it's a pass for the day.

 

EAT - 1800 (+/- 10%) calories per day, no additional restrictions beyond what my system already imposes.  Energy is energy, and if my mood insists on “spending” calories on a bowl of ice cream for dinner then that’s exactly what I’m going to do.  I will generally emphasize good nutrition since that helps me be able to stay low, but it won’t be a component of the metrics.  Backup parachute for this goal is to stay under 2350 kcal which is maintenance TDEE at my goal weight of 185 lbs--that'll earn me a yellow square on the grid.  Anything above that is a big fat red.  I've lowered my TDEE by 50 to account for the weight I've already lost, but if I start to notice that it isn't enough to sustain my activity levels then I'm free to revise it at any time.

 

MOVE - 3 days per week (MWF) do 20 consecutive minutes of strength training.  Cardio will still happen, especially as I get to play more golf this year, but it won't be a component of my Move goal.

 

As usual I'll track everything in my spreadsheet and post daily updates.  I've noticed how easy it is for me to go off the rails when I'm not keeping myself accountable to y'all here, so I appreciate you following along again.  Let's get to work!

[DrFeelgood]

[deftona]

Here for the sexy spreadsheets! 

[DrFeelgood]

On 3/21/2024 at 6:00 PM, deftona said:

Here for the sexy spreadsheets! 

Always glad to see you, time to start piling up the greens on the spreadsheet.

 

Week Zero Check-in:  I stayed active but removed all controls from my eating in the off-week; and I'm not even sure that the tracking was entirely accurate since I went free-range with my snacking.  End result is the scale read 216.5 lbs this morning for a gain of 5.6 lbs over last week.  That's about what I expected, and I enjoyed all the good things.  I overdid it by so much yesterday that I'm actively looking forward to putting the controls back in place this week, and that's a great place to start this challenge.  I'm fueled up and ready to get to work!

[DrFeelgood]

W1D1:  one DrP.  Lunch was a little bit of leftover taco meat with cheddar cheese alongside a big bowl of grilled zucchini and peppers.  For dinner we ate leftover pulled-pork tikka masala that I spent all day making on Saturday.  I ate a measured portion over Jasmine rice garnished with cilantro and lime wedges.  Later in the evening I added a serving of prunes to cap the day at 1672 kcal.

 

All green to start the challenge; we're back in business!  This morning's weight check was already down over 2 pounds from yesterday.

[Shello]

Sounds like a lovely week 0 and you are refreshed and ready to go!  

 

 

[DrFeelgood]

On 3/25/2024 at 12:57 PM, Shello said:

Sounds like a lovely week 0 and you are refreshed and ready to go!

Funny how sometimes a giant week like that completely nukes all progress and takes forever to recover from, but other times it's exactly what you need to replenish and it makes you feel awesome.  Bodies are weird.  I'm just glad this was one of the awesome ones. 

 

W1D2:  one large Coke Zero in the morning--this week I'm experimenting with sugar-free mornings so the regular Dr Pepper is on the sidelines.  It's only been one day so far, but it already seems like it's doing good things for me.

 

I started the day with my homemade fiber supplement--I pureed some prunes and mixed them with coconut flour, which delivers a whopping 6g of fiber for each 100-cal serving.  For this week's lunch preps I claimed all of the leftover pot roast and mashed potatoes from last Thursday's family dinner, then I steamed a couple pounds of broccoli and assembled five trays that landed around 700 kcal each.  It was delicious!  Dinner was the last of the pulled-pork tikka masala with rice I made on Saturday--MFG was very grateful to not have to cook for three days in a row, and I'm glad everyone likes my food enough to want to keep eating it for three days in a row.  For the last week she's been taking care of Brick while he's recovering from knee surgery (ACL reconstruction), and it's taking way more effort and energy than she anticipated.  I'm doing as much as I can to help out.  Anyway my measured dinner portion capped the day at 1698 kcal, very much win.

 

Move was outstanding and terrible.  I did a 20-min beginner bodyweight strength routine I found on Youtube, and it absolutely smoked me--I couldn't even finish the last superset.  Humbling for sure, but also good that it's demanding.  When that was done I ate dinner then headed to the church to clean up the stage and get things configured for the upcoming Holy Week events, and since that also gave me an opportunity to make a few upgrades to the sound system and get a little guitar practice done I ended up spending 3 hours on additional movement.  I think it was actually beneficial since it kept my muscles moving after getting blasted in the workout, so even though I'm sore (DOMS is unavoidable) I'm not completely dead today.

 

Spreadsheet tweaks:  I retcon'd my calorie targets for last week since all the red days made it look way worse than it actually was.  I've adjusted my targets for the rest of this challenge down as well to account for the weight I've already lost and for what I'll likely continue to lose, and I'm pushing again to cut a little faster.  I've also added a yellow square to the Drink goal since it doesn't have to be strictly pass/fail, so now 2 sodas in a day generates a warning instead of a failure.  All seems to be working well, I'm staying low and feeling great about it!

 

Scale check this morning was down another 2 lbs, so I've already debloated about 75% of last week's jump.  Obviously I don't expect that rate to carry through the week, but it sure would be nice to end up back in the 210's before Easter morning.  If my current calorie targets math out properly then I should be able to drop 2 lbs per week, and returning to strength training should mean that a much greater percentage of that weight loss will be from fat reserves instead of lean mass.  I think I've found my current (sugar-free) sweet spot.  

 

I want to do some pull-ups soon, so I'm going to have to figure that out.

[Leigh]

Following for Pop Reduction Solidarity! Although now I really want a Dr. Pepper since it has been about a year since I last had any...

 

I would also very much like to see how you made the warning and pass/fail stuff in that spreadsheet. I am an absolute beginner with them but that seems to be fabulous and I'm guessing highly adaptable for tracking health goals. 

[DrFeelgood]

26 minutes ago, Leigh said:

Following for Pop Reduction Solidarity! Although now I really want a Dr. Pepper since it has been about a year since I last had any...

 

I would also very much like to see how you made the warning and pass/fail stuff in that spreadsheet. I am an absolute beginner with them but that seems to be fabulous and I'm guessing highly adaptable for tracking health goals. 

Welcome!  I always joke that Dr Pepper is my primary care physician.    I've given it up several times for various lengths, but I always seem to come back to it.  I don't like coffee or tea so a morning soda has been my go-to caffeine perk for quite a while.  For now I'm switching to sugar-free versions just to reanimate my weight loss which has slowed a bit recently.

 

My spreadsheet uses conditional formatting to change the color of each cell based on the entry for the day.  I manually input my values for each goal, and then Excel applies the appropriate format according to whatever conditions I've placed on that goal.  For the Drink goal it's dead simple:  "1" turns green, "2" turns yellow, and anything greater than 2 turns red.  Move is even simpler:  "Y" is green and "N" is red.  Eat is a little more complicated since it's based on my calorie target for the day and my most recent weigh-in:  green is +/- 10% of the day's target, yellow is anything above that but still below maintenance at my current weight, and red is everything above maintenance.  If by chance I happen to come up way short of the green then I manually change that day's color to a "super" green. 

[DrFeelgood]

W1D3:  one large Diet DrP along with my morning fiber bombs.  Pot-roast lunch prep was still excellent.  For dinner MFG grilled pork loin chops and oven-roasted a pan of sweet potatoes, to which I added a couple tsp of butter and capped the day at 1674 kcal for the win.

 

No Move goal, but instead of getting to rest I was at a very-long band practice last night in preparation for tonight's worship service, so that was a bunch of bonus activity.  DOMS from Monday's workout is absolutely crushing me--I hurt everywhere and all the time.  Nothing for it but to keep pushing through; I know it will be worth the misery in about 34 hours from now.

[Shello]

I was out at a restaurant recently that had pot roast egg rolls on their menu.  They were served with brown gravy.  They were amazing.  I did also look up and there are such things as gluten free egg roll wrappers.  Just saying. 

[DrFeelgood]

22 hours ago, Shello said:

I was out at a restaurant recently that had pot roast egg rolls on their menu.  They were served with brown gravy.  They were amazing.  I did also look up and there are such things as gluten free egg roll wrappers.  Just saying. 

Intriguing, but not in my wheelhouse.  Pot roast is done when I'm ready to eat it and not a moment longer.  

 

W1D4:  one large Diet DrP; my mostly sugar-free mornings (fiber bombs notwithstanding) continue and seem to be paying dividends--my appetite feels a little more stable and predictable for most of the day, and I haven't been having snack cravings at all while at work.  Lunch was the pot-roast meal prep.  After work I ate a beef snack stick before heading to church for worship night and didn't get home until well after 8pm.  I reheated a pork chop with some roasted sweet potatoes and broccoli for my dinner, which didn't quite appease my hunger.  I added a couple servings of prunes, a bit of cheese, and two more beef snacks afterward to close out the day slightly high at 2077 kcal.

 

Move was nominal:  owing to horrible horrible DOMS from Monday I could barley muster enough  energy and will to do a bit of stretching before worship night, then I was on stage for several hours playing guitar.  I'm counting it as a pass.

 

Pretty good day, even with the cautionary yellow on Eat--if I were doing a zig-zag program then that would've been a perfect zig day, and it's still a decent deficit.  Scale was down another 0.6 lbs this morning, so now I'm within a pound of overtaking my previous low.  I'm altogether pleased with how this week is going despite having to Frankenstein around the planet at the moment while my legs (and abs, and arms, and shoulders) refuse to work properly.  By tomorrow the DOMS should be out of the way, and I'll be ready to resume the strength portion of my plan.

 

How 'bout that?  I inadvertently resuscitated  the Way of Pain™  

 

[Jarric]

Wow, 4-day DOMS are nasty! Hopefully in a couple of weeks they'll be a bit more reasonable in their duration.

 

Good luck on the pullup goal too - always a fun thing to aim for.

[DrFeelgood]

14 minutes ago, Jarric said:

Wow, 4-day DOMS are nasty! Hopefully in a couple of weeks they'll be a bit more reasonable in their duration.

 

Good luck on the pullup goal too - always a fun thing to aim for.

For me DOMS typically lasts 72 hours, and as of this moment I have about 6 hours to go.  It's definitely easing today, but yesterday was absolutely miserable.

 

Pullups are great, I just don't have anywhere to do them yet.  I still remember the first one I got back in 2015--it felt like an actual superpower.  

[DrFeelgood]

W1D5:  one large DDP with my morning fiber bombs.  As of today I'm switching to Dr Pepper Zero Sugar (DPZ) instead of the diet version since it tastes better while still having zero calories.  As long as my system tolerates it I'll stick with the DPZ through the rest of my cut.  Lunch was the pot-roast meal prep.  When I got home from work I snacked on a bit of cheddar cheese.  For dinner I peeled and cubed a couple pounds of yellow potatoes and popped them in the steamer, then I made a quick GF gravy with some leftover turkey stock from the freezer while they were cooking.  I stirred leftover rotisserie chicken breast chunks into the gravy and set it aside while I sauteed a pan of fresh green beans with some butter, olive oil, and garlic.  It all made for a nice, quick weeknight dinner since MFG was stuck with Brick at his PT appointment.  1682 kcal.

 

No Move goal, and since I finally had an evening with no obligations I just took it easy at home.

 

Scale this morning was down another 0.4, so I have just 1/2 lb remaining from last week's embiggening.  DOMS hasn't fully let up yet--this go 'round is being uncharacteristically persistent--but it's eased enough that I should be able to knock out another strength session after work today.  I'm looking forward to a nice weekend even though it's going to be insanely busy.

[DrFeelgood]

W1D6:  one DPZ in the morning along with my fiber bombs.  I got hungry well before lunch so I took a break to run to the snack shack for a bag of Cheetos (the Simply Puffs) and added a large DDP as well; so that makes 2 for Drink.  I'll keep accounting that goal the same even though right now it's sugar-free and really only affects my caffeine intake.  Lunch was the last meal-prep.  For dinner at home MFG filled a slow-cooker with tomato-meat sauce and Italian sausage links, so I boiled a serving of GF spaghetti and ate that with some sauce and a sausage.  I also added a big bowl of salad to try and cap the day on target, but the hunger sharks kept picking at me all night and the additional prunes, beef snacks, and cheese steadily ratcheted it up over 2500 kcal.  That's a red square but only by a little.

 

Move was a bit better than nominal.  The DOMS had subsided enough (though not fully) to allow another run at the same bodyweight vid, but I took it way easier and only did about half of each superset with a bunch of stretching during the other halves.  That was definitely the right move; it actually loosened up the remaining DOMS and still got my heart rate pumping with just the right amount of muscle tiredness/soreness afterward.  I'm going to keep doing that vid for the rest of the challenge or until I can 100% it.

 

I'll take the red in stride and count it as a moral victory since I did some shopping after work and refused to buy anything that would've really upset my goals had I taken it home.  My calories ended up high anyway, but at least it wasn't the pantheon of sugary nonsense that was tempting me.  It's also nice to see that I was able to put the brakes on even after it crossed the line when I typically would've just thrown caution out the window.  Growth!

[DrFeelgood]

W1D7:  one DPZ in the morning with the last of the fiber bombs.  I won't be making those again; they're not particularly pleasant and didn't really seem to be all that effective.  For lunch I made a glazed ham with mashed potatoes and a side of steamed broccoli and carrots, and while I was cooking all that I went ahead and made my lunch preps for the coming week as well--a nice chicken stir-fry with brown rice.  In the afternoon I snacked on some cheese.  For dinner I made a huge salad and added some beef sticks for protein, and later in the evening I ate some prunes and a banana to cap the day a little high at 1900 kcal.  No Move goal but I hit some golf balls in my backyard net for an hour or so in the afternoon.

 

Week 1 Check-in:    The stupid scale went up a pound and a half from Friday's weight.  Yes it's down overall for the week and by quite a bit, but most of that was crap weight from last week.  I had very mild gluten symptoms on Thursday and my system has been out of whack again since--that also explains the extra appetite I've been battling for the last few days.  I'm accustomed to disappointing scale numbers, but after all the Pain™ I put myself through last week I'm choosing to be extremely angry at this one.

 

 

For most of the week I was kicking butt and feeling good about my fitness progress despite being in continuous DOMS.  I found a used suit on Ebay and ordered it so it'll be here in time for the wedding.  I made plans to visit my brother next weekend and we're going to play some golf while I'm  down there.  I'll take the wins, and everything else can piss right off.  I'm using Friday's weight as my official for the week:  211.4 lbs.  That 210-line is proving to be really tough to crack.

 

W2D1:  Threw everything out the window for the day to eat and drink whatever I wanted.  It was a great Easter Sunday with good worship services and family meals--lunch was leftover ham, and for dinner I made leg of lamb with potatoes, lemon, garlic, and oregano all braised together in a honey-mustard glaze that I reduced for sauce at the end.  It was excellent!  MFG ran to the store for some Easter treats, but since they were sold out of Peeps I just asked her to bring home a chocolate-peanut butter Haagen Dazs for me.  I ate that after dinner, then I ate the Ben & Jerry's pint I'd been saving in my freezer for the end of this challenge just to spite the week's lackluster result.  4 sodas (all DPZ) throughout the morning and 5026 kcal for the day make for a big red start to what's going to be another super-busy week.

[Shello]

3 hours ago, DrFeelgood said:

I'm accustomed to disappointing scale numbers, but after all the Pain™ I put myself through last week I'm choosing to be extremely angry at this one.

I find it the most difficult to swallow when it just doesn't make any damn sense.  Great job for the week though.  You put all the effort in and as much as we want to control the scale it's not what matters.  

 

 

[Snarkyfishguts]

I relate to the anger. Sometimes you just need to be angry. I bet that weight goes down now you've got some distance between you and DOMS. 

 

[DrFeelgood]

19 hours ago, Shello said:

I find it the most difficult to swallow when it just doesn't make any damn sense.  Great job for the week though.  You put all the effort in and as much as we want to control the scale it's not what matters.  

Thanks for commiserating.  My problem with this one wasn't that it didn't make sense, it's just that the timing of my body's betrayal was absolute crap.  On top of being super sore all week I was also mentally exhausted  from all of the work required to get ready for Sunday services, and then getting glutened again just pushed me over the edge.  My family does their best, I guess (my boys are the most reliable teenage boys I've ever known, but they're still teenage boys and prone to absent-mindedness), but they don't understand how much this sucks, and they definitely don't appreciate my tolerance of even having that stuff in the house.  I'll be imposing some additional controls on the kitchen to further reduce risks of cross-contamination.  As of yesterday I seem to have recovered.  It also doesn't hurt to remember that I'm not really chasing a number; I'm aiming for Lean & Strong, so I appreciate the reminder. 

 

3 minutes ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

I relate to the anger. Sometimes you just need to be angry. I bet that weight goes down now you've got some distance between you and DOMS. 

I'm so glad the DOMS is finally gone, but it wasn't the culprit--my weight steadily dropped like a rock all week despite the DOMS.  It wasn't until getting glutened that everything went screwy.  Weight has subsided a bit from Sunday morning, but not as much as I'd expect given how much water I've bailed over the last 24 hours.  I guess my intake has been enough to make up for it.

 

I'm still angry--not at anyone or anything (well, maybe Ben & Jerry, but that's not really their fault) and only in my 'fitness' compartment--so I'm going to harness that anger for as long as it stays useful to my progress.

 

W2D2:  back on the program.  I drank one regular DrP in the morning, then for lunch I ate my chicken stir-fry with brown rice.  Dinner at home was leftovers from the weekend meals, so I reheated a measured plate of lamb with lemon sauce, mashed potatoes, and all of the remaining steamed broccoli and carrots.  That closed out the day at a very-respectable and nutritious 1703 kcal.

 

Move was excellent!  I channeled my anger in to the bodyweight workout regimen and crushed it.  The only movement I couldn't quite complete was the walk-out planks since I'm nursing a muscle strain in my forearm that didn't appreciate that exercise at all.  Everything else went well and I got the absolute most I could out of that 20 minutes, and I feel all the right kinds of sore today.  Strong is coming back. 

 

Love you guys; thanks for cheering me on.

[Snarkyfishguts]

1 hour ago, DrFeelgood said:

Move was excellent!  I channeled my anger in to the bodyweight workout regimen and crushed it.

Yeah!!!

[DrFeelgood]

22 hours ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

Yeah!!!

That kid is way too excited for a team that hasn't done anything since Gretzky went to L.A. 

 

Also, they're playing at Dallas tonight, so I hope he doesn't feel too bad after they get crushed. 

 

W2D3:  one DPZ in the morning.  Lunch was the stir-fry prep.  Dinner was the last of the leftover mashed potatoes and lamb with sauce.  After logging it all I needed more calories and fiber, so I ate an apple and closed out the day at 1650 kcal.

 

Very long band practice last night took up every minute between work and bedtime.

[DrFeelgood]

W2D4:  one DPZ in the morning.  Got hungry before lunch, so I ran to the mini-mart and bought one of those salami-cheese snacks along with a large DDP (no sugar, so not counting it against my Drink goal).  Lunch itself was chicken stir-fry.  When I got home from work I snacked on cheese while MFG made dinner, and I ate a few too many of the Andes chocolate mints she had scattered on the counter.  Dinner was her oven-roasted harissa chicken with potatoes and green beans (yum!).  I was still a bit hungry after dinner so I ate more cheese.  Then in the later evening I threw all caution to the wind and ate a huge bowl of cereal just because it was there and I haven't had any in so long.  2832 kcal, way too much.  I had a few stomach issues at work during the day, but this one doesn't seem gluten-related.  I'm starting to notice a pattern of discomfort when I drink DDP from that specific machine--all other sources have been fine.  And that machine has always had a weird off-taste to me.  I'll ask the store to look in to it.

 

Move was good; the weather was so nice after work that I elected to hit golf balls in my backyard for an hour instead of doing the bodyweight video.  I think I figured out another piece of my swing puzzle; after months of trying to develop a consistent feel for using ground forces I finally found a setup that seemed to click it in for me.  It was feeling really solid by the end and the improvements in my swing form and ball striking were pretty apparent on video.  Still a lot of work to do, but I'm going to take this feel to the range today and see what it actually does to my ball flight.

 

Rest of the evening was a flurry of household chores, prep for the coming weekend, online tire shopping for my Dad-mobile, and a few other small projects.  By the time all that was done I was out of day, but I still wanted to play some games so I ended up staying up way too late--definitely need to not repeat that tonight.  In fact all of today needs to be a hard reset.

[DrFeelgood]

W2D5:  one DPZ in the morning.  Lunch was the meal-prep.  Evening was super busy so I didn't get a chance to eat until way later when I finished off the cereal MFG bought for me, then because I still had calories and needed some protein I ate a bunch of beef sticks with cheddar cheese.  1871 kcal.

 

Bonus Move: I hit the driving range for a quick 20-min after work and was able to audit my swing changes--they're producing good results but I still need to drill them for consistency.  Another long band practice last night kept up and moving somewhat for a few hours, then when I got home I had to prep my golf gear and pack my bags for this weekend's trip to visit my brother down in Texas.  We're going to play 18-holes tomorrow morning, and I'm super pumped to hang out with him again--it's been a while.  After that I had some household chores to finish, then I played a few games before bed.

 

Scale is unmoved this week.  I'm trying to not let it get to me since I feel like I'm looking better (although the mirror always makes me look like Hercules) and returning to strength training was bound to monkey with my metabolism somewhat.  I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing and just see where things go from here.  If I stay around 210-212 but keep leaning out then that's not a bad result at all.

 

Big weekend ahead, not sure I'll be able to run my program as tightly as usual, but I'll try to stay mindful and report back when the dust clears.

[DrFeelgood]

...and we're back!  Let's get a little caught up.

W2D6:  one DPZ then a large DDP later in the day.  I had way too much candy in the morning, then I did it again in the afternoon.  Lunch was the last chicken stir-fry meal prep.  For dinner I ate the leftover portion of harissa chicken with potatoes and green beans to close out the day at 2751 kcal.

 

No Move since the worship service was immediately after work, but I was on my feet for about 3 hours in that regard.  Once it was over I grabbed Boomer and Butch and we hit the road for Texas, arriving late and getting straight to bed.

 

W2D7: morning golf with my brother was great and terrible.  The wind off the lake was impossible to judge, and our entire group was struggling to keep the ball in play.  Still it was fun to be outside enjoying the day and each other's company even though the course was being a butthole.  Then out of nowhere I chipped in for birdie on 17 which cashed the whole day for us.  I didn't even bother with #18 after that, we just finished up and headed to In-n-Out for lunch.

 

Week 2 Check-in:  no scale, no measurements, no real thought about fitness at all.  The week prior to the trip was very up and down in terms of goal performance, and so much of my 'free' time was taken up with music practice that I don't feel like I did much else.  Might be time to dial it back a bit so I can focus on my other interests.  For the trip itself I decided to just enjoy the time away from counting and logging and dietary restrictions, which leads to...

 

W3D1:  church in the morning, lunch in the afternoon, helping my brother field-strip and clean his newly-acquired handguns while waiting for MFG and Brick to arrive, then I made dinner for everyone.  After that we headed out to pick up some ice-cream to enjoy while watching the hockey game.  An excellent day!

 

W3D2:  nice slow morning just hanging out at the house.  It was a shame my brother had to go to work, but the rest of us spent the morning watching movies, hanging out, and preparing for the Main Event.  After lunch I got everybody sorted with their viewers then we all assembled in the backyard to watch the total eclipse.  It was incredible!  After that we hung out for a little while longer then got everything cleaned up and packed for the drive back home.  On the way we stopped at In-n-Out again for dinner.  Once we got home I had a lot to catch up on, which kept me moving for a few hours before bed.

 

Intermediate Check-in:  this morning's scale read 211.9 lbs which is way lower than I expected after all the shenanigans.  I will absolutely take that result as a place to jump back in.  This week's plan is going to be a little jostled by more music stuff throughout the evenings and a wedding on Friday that we need to finish preparing for, but I'll shift my fitness stuff around and work in as much as I can.  First priority for today is to get back to counting and logging my food.