DrFeelgood: continuing the Adventure

[deftona]

I spent some time tweaking my workout regimen.  The idea of lifting twice a week and doing nothing else is more and more appealing.

 

I misread that as 'I spent some time twerking in my workout regimen'

 

Can I suggest this may be the answer to your cardio woes?

[DrFeelgood]

I've been meaning to ask this for ages, and apologies if you've explained it elsewhere. On your spreadsheet, what do the Strength and Cardio scores represent (i.e. Tuesday week 2, -214 and -252) - is it just as simple as calories expended, and if so, what do you use to measure? I'm just curious, as I'm trying to find a quantifiable way to measure or at least guesstimate calories for my lifts and morning squats.

 

The numbers geek in me just won't quit. ;-)

 

Yup, just calories expended.  For cardio I use the numbers off the treadmill, and for strength they come from MFP's estimates.  They've been close enough in the past that I'm confident with them.  They don't factor in to any current calculations, though; it's just another way to collect the data if I ever want to use it in the future.

 

 

I misread that as 'I spent some time twerking in my workout regimen'

 

Can I suggest this may be the answer to your cardio woes?

 

I've already lost most of my "twerker".  I'd have to work twice as hard to get half of the result.

[DrFeelgood]

C15-4 W3D5 complete:  Spreadsheets

 

Bedtime.  Missed this one again.  MrsFeelgood was out and about until late last night, and I just can't make myself relax enough to sleep until she gets home safe and sound.  Sleep was troubled again.  She's a twitchy and chatty sleeper when our lives are filled with stress and anxiety, so you can guess how well that's gone in recent weeks.

 

Workout.  The consolidated lifting regimen worked well again today, though it's not terribly speedy.  Gym Buddy likes to work slow and chat, I'd much rather get in and out as fast as possible.  I skipped warmup (tsk, tsk) and planks, but I managed to get a good stretch in today.  I've been needing that.  I'm pleased to find that my heavy lifts are not too far behind where I left them in May.

 

Eating.  Slept late and didn't get my customary breakfast in at home--instead I hit the Hardee's drive thru for their low-carb breakfast bowl.  It's not great, but it's 620 calories of mostly protein and fat.  I didn't have a lunch prepared and I didn't want to leave the office, and unluckily for me one of the gals at workorder brought in donuts to announce her pregnancy.  I snagged a pair of reasonably low-cal options and called that enough for lunch.  Dinner was grilled chicken with onions and peppers topped with avocado.  Taken together it's not a horrible day, and it came in almost 300 calories below my target.  I'll bank those for tomorrow's road-trip.

 

Plan Alterations.  You can see my spreadsheets have morphed a bit.  I've consolidated all of the workout goals for the second half of the challenge, and I've eliminated a few bedtime goals where holidays allow me to sleep in.  It's considerably pared down, and I think quite manageable in this form.  I'm going to keep sticking it out and make the best of what's left.  As long as I keep progressing with my exercise and seeing improvement (however miniscule) in my body composition then I'll consider this challenge a win--a shaky victory to be sure, but a win nonetheless.

[DrFeelgood]

C15-4 W3D6 complete:  Spreadsheets

 

The only fitness goal for today was to keep calories in check while road-tripping to pickup the repaired van.  Done and with room to spare.

 

It was a long day, but our big summer vacation can now be ruled officially over.  We combined the trip to retrieve our van with a stop at the nearest Costco (on the way home) for our bimonthly resupply.  We are now kitted out with TP, garbage bags, vitamins, and enough groceries to choke an army--or feed my kids for two weeks.  I also found a shirt while browsing, and it's a size "Medium".  Even though I'm still hovering around the 200 mark, my slimmer clothes are fitting more comfortably.  I'll take that as a good sign.

 

Tomorrow is another calorie-goal-only day.  Current forecast shows a respectable deficit for the week in spite of Sunday's food tantrum.  It hasn't been an easy week, but I think I made the best of it.

[DrFeelgood]

C15-4 W3D7 complete:  Spreadsheets

 

Got my calories today and managed to keep them all under the goal.  Ended up with a respectable macro split, too.  Did you know that Wendy's will double the chicken on their grilled chicken sandwich for only $2.50?  And if you skip the honey-mustard the whole thing only comes out to 450 calories and packs in 60 grams of protein.  The Minions were thrilled with their kids' meals, and I got to stay on plan.  Win-win.

 

Today was spent fixing the laundry pump (done) and mowing the yards (done).  With that, all of my pressing DIY jobs are complete.  The van is back home and running strong--the mechanic even managed to clear the Check-Engine light that's been on for years.  The mowers are both in top shape with new parts.  My daily driver is handling well with its recent improvements, though there's still a few things that need doing.  All in all, this is the first time in weeks that I've been able to breathe a sigh and relax.  It's a good day.  There's still plenty to do, but it can all stand to wait for some better planning.  I'll get started on a new list on Monday.  I've still got to figure out how to pay for all the recent adventures first.

 

I'm scrubbing bedtime for tonight (Sunday's goal on the spreadsheet) since we went to church this evening and I get to sleep in tomorrow. 

 

Week 3 Check-in first thing in the morning.  I'm cautiously optimistic.

[DrFeelgood]

Week 3 Check-in:  Fair enough.  Scale says 199.1 (Onederland is official again) for a loss of 1.2 pounds this week, and now I'm back down to my May 17th weigh-in.  My BMR/TDEE tracker says I had a deficit for the week of 3464 calories.  My data tracking during vacation got all wonky, but now that I've been back for a couple of weeks it's beginning to even out again.  Measurements are showing almost no change--chest is slightly larger, waist is slightly smaller and everything else is bang-on identical.  It's moving in the right direction, but it's moving slowly now.

 

 

The sleep debt is beginning to subside, I think.  I'm feeling a little less tired, but it's still tough to be excited about exercising and eating right.  I'm proud of the discipline I exercised for the last half of the week even though it was mostly out of spite, but I'm really just feeling deprived again.  The complete (and I mean complete) freedom from discipline while on vacation left a pretty lasting imprint.  I liked it.  I liked it a lot.  Going back now is 10x worse than when I started this Year o' Fitness, and if I'm being honest then it's largely because I'm falling in to the "good enough" mentality.  I don't want to settle for "good enough".  I want to be awesome!

 

To that end, the weight-loss plan is back on.  I'm going back to basics and getting back on the path that's brought me so much success already this year.  Practically speaking, all this really means is a change to my calorie targets so they follow the aggressive zig-zag strategy of previous challenges.  I've muddled around enough without a clear goal, and I discovered that I'm more interested in being leaner than I am in getting stronger.  The "recomp" angle I took at the outset of this challenge was and is a good idea, and I'll reserve it for another time in the future; but it's not serving me well at this moment.  For the foreseeable future, my singular focus will be on losing the spare tire I have left.

 

With three full weeks remaining, I have plenty of time to work hard and make some progress re-establishing the good habits that got me here.

[T2sarahconnor]

Amazing how just a week can re train our brain to liking the bad. You would think with evolution it would be the opposite? Glad that your efforts since vacation have paid off. That is a good motivator. I have trouble with my motivation when I don't see results. Not to start a whole thing but it is harder for women ( especially those of us at a certain age) to see results quickly. Your progress is a constant motivation to me so thanks for sharing.

[SomeGuyFromScotland]

Your progress is a constant motivation to me so thanks for sharing.

 

This.

 

Good job on getting back to Onederland. I'm looking forward to joining you there at some point.

[Shello]

 I don't want to settle for "good enough".  I want to be awesome!

 

To that end, the weight-loss plan is back on.  I'm going back to basics and getting back on the path that's brought me so much success already this year.  Practically speaking, all this really means is a change to my calorie targets so they follow the aggressive zig-zag strategy of previous challenges.  I've muddled around enough without a clear goal, and I discovered that I'm more interested in being leaner than I am in getting stronger.  The "recomp" angle I took at the outset of this challenge was and is a good idea, and I'll reserve it for another time in the future; but it's not serving me well at this moment.  For the foreseeable future, my singular focus will be on losing the spare tire I have left.

 

With three full weeks remaining, I have plenty of time to work hard and make some progress re-establishing the good habits that got me here.

 

Glad to see things are getting back to normal and you can focus on yourself again.  I highlighted my favorite part of your last post.  This is a great motivation for getting back to a clear strategy - even if that means changing things up a bit to meet your current needs. 

 

You are an inspiration.  Someone just complimented me today on my weight loss so far and asked how much more I thought I wanted to lose.  When I told her I thought it might be about 40 she was so surprised and didn't see I had that much to lose.  Your statement pretty much sums it up.  We are aiming to be awesome... not just good enough.  

[DrFeelgood]

C15-4 W4D1 complete:  Spreadsheets

 

Sunday was a pretty solid day, up until the kids went to bed and I got irritated at the weekend ending so soon.  I decided to prolong it by letting Netflix run until around 3 am.  In my suddenly-rebellious state I made some quesedilla snacks and then just for good measure I killed an entire carton of Breyer's strawberry ice-cream.  Not a great start to Week 4: +1700 calories over goal.  Crap.

____________________

 

C15-4 W4D2 complete.

 

Bedtime.  Clearly tanked thanks to my Netflix marathon and calorie splurge.  Oddly, I still managed to get out of bed on time and wasn't terribly sleepy at work--although some of that owes to grabbing a Diet Pepsi at lunchtime.  God help me, I almost enjoyed it.

 

Workout.  Did the full day of condensed strength with a proper warm-up and good stretching, too; and the whole thing only took an hour.  I set a new PR with my deadlift, but I wasn't able to add any reps to my pullup goal yet.  MFP reflects a lower calorie burn for the day because it went faster, but I think I did more work than last week.  I'll stick with the objective numbers for now and see how they pan out at the end of the week.

 

Eating.  After last night's epic failure (yet again) I'm going to try and make up the difference on my low days this week.  Today I bought back 700 of those calories--MFP gave me a stern lecture about eating too little.   I'll get the final 1000 by splitting them between Wednesday and Thursday.  I've moved my high days to follow the workout days so I can try and curb some of the aggressive snacking, and I won't take extra deficits on those days.  To help with trace nutrients for this week I'm going to step up my multivitamin to every day instead of every other.

 

I've got to get this back under control.  It's been tough not to eat whlie my mood is in the crapper.  Right now I'm struggling to find even the smallest pleasure in anything other than food and Netflix, and when I give in even the slightest amount I end up going whole hog.  I know it's a sign that my mental/emotional health needs some attention.  I've been running at my limits for a while and I can't seem to unwind long enough to just breathe and enjoy life.  I think I'll try to spend some time this evening in prayer and meditation--that's usually a good place for me to start.

 

On the up side, my replacement wedding band arrived today: I've lost enough weight that my old one was too loose, and since it's tungsten it can't be resized.  I'm going to see if I can sell the old one on Craigslist to offset the cost of the new one.  Also my new Harry's razor was finally delivered today, so I'm going to have a nice post-workout shower and then a good shave ought to perk me up.  I'm interested to see if this shave set lives up to the hype.

[SomeGuyFromScotland]

Prayer and meditation is a great place to start. I've always struggled with trying to decompress in the evenings, particularly if I've had a rough day at work. I'm actively trying to declutter and simplify my life now, and it's definitely getting better. I've cut way down on the TV watching in the evening when the kids are in bed, and started reading instead. My wife is an avid reader, so there's no conflict there either. Picked up a couple of good football-themed Bible study/devotionals (Jim Grassi's "Guts, Grace & Glory", and Tony Dungy's "Quiet Strength"), which I'm working through just now.

 

I'm trying to stay more accountable with my snacking, too. Actually, I'm finding there's a bit of correlation between my mindless snacking and mindless TV watching. When I read, I've not been tempted to go forage in the kitchen. It's purely a mental thing for me, I'm certain I'm not legitimately hungry.

 

Positives: you're getting the workouts done, you're being proactive in terms of sorting out the food issues, and yay for the wedding band and shave set!

[DrFeelgood]

Prayer and meditation is a great place to start. I've always struggled with trying to decompress in the evenings, particularly if I've had a rough day at work. I'm actively trying to declutter and simplify my life now, and it's definitely getting better. I've cut way down on the TV watching in the evening when the kids are in bed, and started reading instead. My wife is an avid reader, so there's no conflict there either. Picked up a couple of good football-themed Bible study/devotionals (Jim Grassi's "Guts, Grace & Glory", and Tony Dungy's "Quiet Strength"), which I'm working through just now.

 

I'm trying to stay more accountable with my snacking, too. Actually, I'm finding there's a bit of correlation between my mindless snacking and mindless TV watching. When I read, I've not been tempted to go forage in the kitchen. It's purely a mental thing for me, I'm certain I'm not legitimately hungry.

 

Positives: you're getting the workouts done, you're being proactive in terms of sorting out the food issues, and yay for the wedding band and shave set!

 

Well I didn't get in anything more than my regular bedtime prayer.  After my shower I watched American Ninja Warrior with the Minions--that's always a fun two hours of "Can you do that, Dad?"--and then I went straight to my bed after tucking them in.  I've been wanting to make spiritual time a goal in my next challenge.  Maybe I'll roll it forward as part of my current bedtime routine.  The last sports-themed book I read was The Dude's Guide to Manhood as part of a men's study group at church.  I appreciated the fellowship time, but the book itself (and by extension, the study) was fairly underwhelming.  I want to get back in to the men's group, but with all the effort I put in last time I still wasn't really able to connect with anyone.  I've been attending this church for 18 months now, and I can count all the people I know on one hand with fingers to spare--and those are the ones I've met through my wife.  It's not terribly motivating.  Maybe I'll pick up Tony Dungy's book and give that a go in the evenings.

 

I've been brushing my teeth as part of my bedtime ritual, but yesterday I just knocked it out right after dinner instead.  That helped keep me from snacking.  I think I'll make that a permanent thing going forward.

 

Yeah, I'm trying to keep my eye on those silver linings.  Last week helps me keep things in perspective, too: if I can endure a 5000 calorie binge day and still manage to lose a pound then I'm not completely going off the deep end.  The wedding band is a great fit--even the half-size down is a little loose.  Who knew my fingers had gained so much weight, too?  The shave set is nice--I'll give it another week of testing before ruling on it.  I look like a little kid this morning, though.

[DrFeelgood]

C15-4 W4D3 complete:  Spreadsheets

 

Bedtime.  Made it a priority and got the goal.  It helped that I was exhausted from the day before.

 

Eating.  A solid day of good clean food (and one piece of dark chocolate ).  It ended up nice and close to the target, and I'm going to go brush my teeth to ward off the snack demons now.  It's tough not to grab some chips or something to snack on during the Women's World Cup match, especially with the first half being such a nail-biter.  Go USWNT!

[SomeGuyFromScotland]

Excellent idea on brushing earlier to help fight the snacking urges. I'm going to give that a shot, every little helps.

[T2sarahconnor]

You are doing great. Little adjustments along the way are always needed. It is a constant battle but keep it up. Love that you watch ANW. Promised my step son we would have an ANW themed sleepover this summer and,build a course for the boys to run. Just one more win needed for the U.S. Women! I am not a big soccer fan but that game was pretty good.

[DrFeelgood]

C15-4 W4D4 complete:  Spreadsheets

 

Bedtime.  Pass: that's two in a row, and that's the beginning of a win streak.

 

Eating.  Bought back 500 calories from Sunday's craziness.  I'll get the remaining 500 tomorrow and then be back on track to close out the week with Friday and Saturday.  I'm feeling lean and mean.

 

Other. I'm ready to get back to playing soccer, so I purchased some new shoes today and I'm going to contact my former team captains to see if anyone needs another defender for the next match.  The FWWC is conspiring with my recent fitness to get me all pumped up to play again.  Hopefully I can get some playing time and feel out this new improved body I've been working on.

[T2sarahconnor]

What a great week! Keep the momentum going.

[DrFeelgood]

C15-4 W4D5 complete:  Spreadsheets

 

Bedtime.  Got the lights out on time--had a bit of trouble actually sleeping, but that should just make tonight easier.  Then again, there's no bedtime tonight since tomorrow is a work holiday (observed).  Yay!

 

Workout.  Finished my whole gym routine and then came home to mow the yard.  I'm not counting the mowing on the spreadsheet, though.  I'm pleased that my bench press hasn't dropped off too much since I really haven't done any heavy benching since before I went on vacation.  Even though the scale and tape aren't changing much anymore, I still think I'm looking leaner.  It's hard to be sure since I'm notoriously untrusting of mirrors.

 

Eating.  Finally bought back all of my Sunday binge, so the next two days can be normal.  So far I'm liking that my higher calorie days are after a workout day.  That seems to agree with my disposition.  And it helps tomorrow since I'm going to smoke a big ol' rack of spareribs for America's birthday.

[T2sarahconnor]

Can't wait to see pics of the food!

[DrFeelgood]

Can't wait to see pics of the food!

 

How about a photo-log of the whole process?

[T2sarahconnor]

Too funny. First I do the exact same thing and trim them St Louis style but I through my " extras" in the smoker first for a few hours then the crock pot. Second, I use the exact same spice rub. I mean I got it off that web site. Ok your mother didn't give up a child for adoption in 1969 did she? We are so like minded.

I may add to your thread tomorrow and put up the recipe of my award winning smoked chicken thighs and my smoked Mac and cheese that I am cooking tomorrow. May even do some good old fashion greens with a ham hock. I am going to post your thread in the Adventurer Tavern if that is ok?

[DrFeelgood]

Too funny. First I do the exact same thing and trim them St Louis style but I through my " extras" in the smoker first for a few hours then the crock pot. Second, I use the exact same spice rub. I mean I got it off that web site. Ok your mother didn't give up a child for adoption in 1969 did she? We are so like minded.

I may add to your thread tomorrow and put up the recipe of my award winning smoked chicken thighs and my smoked Mac and cheese that I am cooking tomorrow. May even do some good old fashion greens with a ham hock. I am going to post your thread in the Adventurer Tavern if that is ok?

 

 

Actually I was adopted in 1990.   But I was born in '77 (and in California).

 

I'd love to have your thighs (heh) and maybe even the mac and cheese although I don't trust myself to make it.  Feel free to add whatever you like, and the Tavern sounds like a great place to show it.

 

Hour 1 of the smoke is coming to a close, time to check my fuel.

[DrFeelgood]

C15-4 W4D6 complete:  Spreadsheets

 

My only goal for my day-off was to keep calories under control.  I succeeded, but I really didn't want to.

 

I served the spareribs with corn-on-the-cob, baked beans, and salad.  I only allowed myself a small piece of corn and two ribs before filling up on salad.  No pictures of the final table because once everything got swinging it was eat or be eaten.

 

I feel like I was busy all day, but at the same time I didn't actually get much done.  Oh well, dinner was worth it; and I hope the photo-demonstration inspires a fellow Rebel to tame the smoke monster.  I have just enough leftovers (the Minions ate four ribs apiece!) for my lunch tomorrow, so America's birthday will be saluted properly.

 

This week has been pretty successful, I think:  I was able to recover from the Sunday binge and make some pretty good progress.  It's not an official weigh-in, but if this morning's scale check holds for the rest of the weekend then I'm back down to my pre-vacation weight.  It'll be nice to be all caught up, but I kind-of wish I hadn't seen that this morning, because now there's potential for a disappointing Sunday morning.  I'll just have to continue to be disciplined all through tomorrow.

[DrFeelgood]

C15-4 W4D7 complete:  Spreadsheets

 

So far today I've stuck to my calorie goal.  MFP says I "earned" an extra 250 by playing soccer with my kids this morning, so I may yet do something with them but I won't factor them in the plan.  We'll be heading out to watch fireworks in a bit, and our favorite place for viewing just happens to be near the local ice-cream shop.

 

I'll be good though, I promise.  I worked way too hard this week making up for last weekend, and I do not want to do that again.

[DrFeelgood]

one of my buddies is a full time rock climber and he always says that a week off the wall undoes a month on it

 

I think I can now confirm this also applies to general fitness.  After my week off, it's taken me a month to get back to where I was.  Tomorrow morning's check-in will tell for sure.