Quest for the Captain

[Lex Lutheran]

And so the journal begins. Aside from a certain faith figure (I am a Pastor) the other idol I worship is Captain America. I've always wanted to be him... except with a mustache. So it is this demi-god figure that I shall aim to level up too. Not just physically, he is quite handsome (I'm allowed a guy crush), but spiritually as well. To be so self confident, but yet so self giving, he is who I want to be. Are the sights high, hell yeah! can I do? I'll die trying. Just kidding, I'll just keep working at it until I succeed. Every victory gets me closer. I've been trying Nerdfitness Academy for a week now and the motivation has been awesome. Now to turn it into results. Hooah!

 

10 April 2016,

 

Breakfast was a bit rushed, its Sunday and I am a Pastor, go figure. So it was a protein shake an then out the door. I turned around for a much hardier lunch, which was two pork chops the rest of my mini bell peppers and green beans, all sautéed in butter, yum.

 

The afternoon was spent enjoying some time in the sun, free of the wife and kid (out visiting family), breaking down pallets with a hammer and crow bar (I make stuff out of the recycled wood). I made it through 5 pallets (40ish minutes work each). It was really encouraging, I work bent over with the pallet strewn on the floor (I need to step on it to keep the hammer from knocking it all over, doubling the work). Usually my back starts to get real sore about 3/4 mark of the first one. I've been doing core excercises for the last 2 monthsish, I didn't feel anything until I was just about finished with my final pallet of the afternoon.

 

The rest of the late afternoon was spent exploring these forums. From there it was a wonderful dinner of lemon pepper chicken with steamed broccoli drizzled with lemon juice, really awesome. After a little break to allow time for digestion I smashed the weights hard. I've been following the barbell brigades instructions, I am currently still on lvl 1, I am planning on pacing myself to lvl up at the beginning of each month. Nice slow progression to allow me plenty of time to master the forms as I level up.

 

The stats:

Bench Press 5x5 at 145 lbs. (I was lifting heavier before but that was on a circuit, with back to back set up, I didn't want to push it to much, I'll build it back up in no time)

Squats 5x5 at 105lbs (Pretty easy, I'll be tacking on another 10 next time, see if I find a grunt or two)

Decline Pushups 3x10 (push over, I've been working on Push ups for a while now being in the army, so I've been doing the movement slower and slower to up the difficulty)

Planks 3x30s (another pretty easy one, the academy has a static time, but I will probably start to up the time in the week to come)

 

Star Power! Squat Thrusts 5x30s 30s rest (Still pretty easy, before I swapped to power lifting I was in the routine of doing burpee intervals) I am thinking of swapping it out for wall hand stands, I want to steal xp from other guilds mwahahahaha!

 

To reward myself for awesomeness, Another protein shake and a banana. And with that, a good night to you all.

[Lex Lutheran]

11 April 2016: The Day of the Sausage!

 

No, get your mind out of the gutter. I'm talking about the food here. Monday mornings one of my churches does breakfast with the first men's bible study of the month (We missed last weekend, I was at a conference). Today I made for the group some lovely pancakes (I didn't eat any), some scrambled eggs with light cheese for gooey texture, and sausage patties made from scratch (I smooshed ground pork). Well it happened that only two people came... one of which forgot that we were having breakfast. So after eating 3 patties (9 oz) and roughly 2 eggs with a smidge of milk and cheese, there was plenty left over. So I took the sausage home with me to figure out what I would do with it.

 

But before I get to that, to address my other demons... that I totally kicked butt today! So one of the things I've done as I've dragged about in depression that had seeped into all facets of my life is simply ignore what is stressing me out... such as work. So I'll dink on facebook, I'll hop about my various news sites... and oh look at the time I just have thirty minutes left before I need to go home to work out and eat lunch (I live a block away from my office, its kind of nice, small town perks). But not today! I told myself, self, you don't waste time! you serve the flock! So I did. It was awesome, I haven't had the bulletins rough drafted Monday mornings in a long time... and I did it in record time, I had it all placed out and hymns selected in little over an hour. It felt pretty fricken good. From there I quickly sped into other tasks that I was long overdue in doing. And my to do list for once finally saw a bunch of scratches made in it... and it was just the morning.

 

Before heading home to run, I drove to the grocery store to find sides to pair with the sausage (would have liked to walk it but I had all the food product yet from breakfast). I opted for a sweet potatoe, a red bell pepper (way under price of green for once), and another bundle of broccoli, as well as to pick up a gallon of whole milk (tracking calories I am falling way under my comfortable target range since starting paleo). And then I went home.

 

Game time. Today is run day. One of the long term goals I've set for Lex on his epic quest to become the captain is run a marathon. To do so I've been enlisting the help of a treadmill. I started at 30 minutes... twice (the hiatus from running really killed me) running at 5.5 mph. Each week I tacked on another 5 minutes, the second week repeating the 30 minutes, I repeated some other minute marks pending on whether I got at least two runs in; if I didn't I'd repeat a week. So last week I hit a full 60 minutes! My target, stoked. I didn't want to spend any more time than that on the treadmill, I'd save those for more enjoyable runs in the great outdoors. Phase II of treadmill kicked in today, to begin increasing the speed by 10ths, That way, in working at a much higher intensity for a decent set of time, when I turn and run for longer distances at a much lower intensity, it will be cake walk... in theory. I'm hoping to build up slowly over the next few months to 7 mph sustained for the hour, its lofty I know, but I CAN do it.

 

Needless to say, today was hard... because of myself. My ego got the best of me and I took a swipe at one of ninjas feats to tack on some extra xps. I did 25 body weight squats in a row subbing out one of my other warm up moves that incorporates a squat movement. It wasn't too difficult, I was grunting 23-25... but afterwards... I felt it. I underestimated having done barbell squats the day before... I was sorer than I started and now a little tight. But after limbering a little longer I hopped on the treadmill flicked on the Netflix and began my run at 5.6 mph. And then 20 minutes in my legs were crying for their mama. Holy cow I was sore (not tight thankfully, I would have stopped). It quickly turned into an uphill battle as my brain pleaded with me to stop. And so the mental games kicked in. I told my self NO, I DON'T QUIT, YOU CAN DO THIS, YOU WILL DO THIS. This became my mantra about every five minutes. I don't remember much of what I was watching, so busy was I in fighting myself. I won, 40 long minutes later, I rewarded myself with hitting stop. I took my pulse for record (160 bpm). and then promptly went to stretching my poor legs. It felt good not to be a quitter. I gladly enjoyed my banana and protein shake as a reward. The shower equally felt good.

 

Then came lunch and experiment 1 with the left over sausage. I didn't want to just eat breakfast all day, boring, so I diced it down (6oz) and tossed it together the sweet potatoe I cut down into half coins (after skinning), and the bell pepper cut into strips. I cooked them all together with the some butter, starting with the sweet potatoe (figured like the potatoe it would take some time, never cooked one before so I was winging it), then tossed in the sausage to add what little greese to keep things slick in the pan, and then finally the pepper. I didn't season because I had no idea how any of it was going to go together... Holy Space Balls... It was poetry in the mouth. I have a new favorite meat for stirfries, the sausage rich in its own right with a medley of yum, combined with sweetness of the potatoes, and the crunch of slight punch of the pepper, oooo baby, match made in heaven. Wonderful meal only 671ish calories. Its pictured really poorly below... my phone camera sucks.

 

The afternoon was spent with my lovely church ladies in their bible study, and then more focused office time. Again, I told myself, I DON'T WASTE TIME... so I didn't. finished a bunch of important emails, and even got a really beautiful draft of the wedding bulletin finished for the couple that I would be seeing that early evening. The time there was well spent as well, with the confidence I've been riding, I was able to voice uncomfortable things that they needed to hear, I executed my calling to office with authority. It was a good day.

 

Supper wasn't to special. I diced down the rest of the sausage (9oz) and combined it with the broccoli that I steamed with some ginger and cilantro for seasoning. with a beautiful cup of camomille tea, I bid you all a good night to this glorious day.

,

[Lex Lutheran]

12 April 2016: An Epic Quest Begins

 

My wife and kid came back home over the previous night, so now is when the axe meets the stone again, the sleep will start to get shattered, and I'll begin to feel the drag. Last night the tyke only woke up twice, thankfully he went back to sleep almost immediately, and I was able to follow suit.

 

This morning I set out on one of my epic quests. I want to become more deliberate about being a father. I've been trying to multi task it with work and failing both and getting frustrated in both. So I am going to make kiddo time, kiddo time, no distractions. Starting with morning devotions, we read todays Portal of Prayer, a short little devotion. And then it was block time. We made a game out of putting blocks on daddy's head and laughing as they fell off. Good times. The he was fed breakfast, which was making him a small batch of my plain greek yogurt with honey and chia seeds (didn't realize he had run out of his). He liked it and then he was down for his morning nap. I in the meantime enjoyed a protein shake as I was beginning to run behind schedule.

 

I got to do a bit of lifting this morning to get my pickup unloaded (wife and in-laws traveled to pick up some things that never made the move, in-laws came closer, free baby sitters yay!). The bed was over flowing with odds and ends, boxed away. Just got them out, I was running late for my first visits of the day and I had a ways to travel. The visits themselves were good, both dealing with the subject of age and death, it was a wonderful opportunity to share the comfort of the gospel and the peace of Christ that allows us to be content in whatever life brings. Good feels, enjoying my vocation.

 

Lunch itself I ate a half oriental cashew chicken salad from Wendy's, salads with fruit always seem to make me hungry later and their Midwest salad is full of extra crap I didn't want. It proved quite filling while still being low calorie wise. And to drink, I just refilled my water bottle from their fountain. Who knew eating healthy saves money. I made it into a working lunch instead of just poking around facebook and the like on my phone. I was able to cross off a bunch more from my to-do list. The cross out marks do lot for an ego.

 

When I made it back home, I decided I would finish moving all the crap into the garage that I had unloaded from the truck (back yard, to the front garage). It was toasty warm, and I was in all block (clerical and slacks). I upped difficulty by stacking the boxes and then went to work on my dead lift form. It made it most fun and wonderful warm up for the real thing.

 

Today we did Barbell 1B from the academy. It wasn't too challenging as I am still working it up into the challenging range.

 

Deadlift 3x5 at 115 lbs (pretty easy still, I'll continue to go up 10 lbs each routine til I start to have to grunt through it)

Shoulder Press Unsupported 5x5 at 70 lbs (I work out at home in my basement, I don't have the clearance to do the push and press. So to still engage the core I've opted to do shoulder presses instead, seated at the front of the bench, cleaning and then squatting to the start position, go through the exercise while concentrating on keeping the core engaged, and still pushing through to the floor)

Barbell Lunges 3x8per leg at 70 lbs (I've always hated these, mostly because I've always struggled, but I lived)

Pull Ups 3xfailure (12/10/7)

Reverse Crunches 3x10 (Krikey these things suck, but I did them, boy do I need them, ouch)

 

After some glorious stretching I came back up to enjoy my banana and protein shake. I got to spend some more time with kiddo then as wife and child had just returned from the park. More block time and giggles, and then he helped me cook. And by helped I mean upped the challenge factor. I kept him tucked up in one arm (he's one by the way) while I worked away with the other. A pretty good amount of prep work went into this one. I had to peel and cut carrots, cube potatoes, peel garlic, and cut some yellow onion to toss them all together and steam. A pretty daunting task when you have one arm. For the protein I did fiesta seasoned chicken breast (9 1/2oz for myself). I ate everything except the potatoes, they were for my wife, child, and in-laws. good news, tyke seems to oppreciate my cooking. I may win him over to Paleo yet.

 

All in all, another day, another dollar, nothing to challenging to report on, no super awesome victories, aside from deadlifting half my body weight, I should go check that off. Chamomile tea in hand, I sign off. Good night everybody.

[Lex Lutheran]

13 April 2016: The Day of the Jeans

 

So my epic dad quest so far continues well with day 2 of morning devotions with the tyke, today he was far less squirmy. Which anything thing short of melt down crying I will take as a victory. I've really started to enjoy my mornings more since focusing on just the kid. Before I would always try to do some work on the laptop in the morning and then he would crawl over wanting attention or to help daddy type whatever he was typing (military paperwork that I really don't want random letters showing up on) and then I would get frustrated and then he would get upset, and then I would get upset and the day would just start off terribly. So instead of 50/50ing it, I went all in for the kid and, I love my mornings, they are my favorite time of the day now. Really paying attention to the kid and watching the way he interacts and learns in the world, fascinating. It really is a wonder.

 

Breakfast was my stand in favorite, I had some plain greek non-fat yogurt, I need to check to see if there is an unadulterated kind with the fat to flesh out some more calories as I've been eating far more under than what I am comfortable with. But I added some raw honey to it to cut the bitter taste as well as a 1/4 cup of chia seeds, they are practically pure fiber and when they sit in the yogurt they take on a tapioca like consistency. So crunch to start and savor later. I've come to really love the things. I add them to stirfries too.

 

After making a visit out of town and I came back and parked my truck at home, and then I walked down town to pick up the mail and grab some groceries. Round trip was about 25 minutes total. It was kind of nice. Wasn't something I was planning at first, I needed to pee like a mofo, My body doesn't process the first to bottles of the day very efficiently yet. And when I was stepping outside I said, "self, this is a really nice day out, you should go for a walk." So I did. Very relaxing.

 

Today was run day again, it went much better than last time, I didn't try to achieve any feats during warm up. I started to get sore around the 30 minute mark on the treadmill at 5.6 mph, but around 37mins I had settled back into rhythm. It wasn't too terrible, definitely worked my butt off but I didn't feel like I was dead at the end. so woo. 1hr on the treadmill at 5.6mph, heart rate 160 bpm at the end of it again. Protein shake and banana to celebrate.

 

For Lunch I did a stirfry, and for once I didn't add a whole bunch of sauces to it, just some light seasoning and I let the coconut oil I used to coat the wok act as my flavor agent, plus others. I did pork (super cheap around here), sugar snap pees, and sliced baby bell peppers. It was very satisfying after the run.

 

It was a little bit more of a struggle when I got back to the office, My brain kept wanting to shut down mid tasks, so I lost some productivity time, but I did force myself to only about 5 minutes of facebook, and that was at 1 and 2 minutes bursts before I caught myself and dragged myself back. Those were moments of win for me that I will take to the bank. Frustrating part of the day though was receiving more extra tasks to do than I was able to cross off through the course of hours. That and I think I picked up a stress head ache by the end of it at counsel meeting. The headache immediately cleared when I packed my stuff up to go home, after a follow up phone call where I received even more stuff to do... grrr...

 

Wednesday we teach confirmation classes at the church and different members provide snacks for the kids, this has always been a blackhole for me before as everything that is brought is usually sugar laden, or otherwise lacking protein or something to make it nutritionally worth while. Today's snack was nachos with both taco meat and cheese, chocolate cookies, and mini bags of m&ms left over from easter. I was proud of myself, still tracking on my app a huge, unhealthy calorie deficit for the day I grabbed myself some taco meat, skipping the cheese and chips, and just ate it with a spoon, I got some weird looks from the kids, but meh. I successfully ignored the cookies and m&ms, truthfully I just didn't have any desire for them. I needed food, and the hamburger was best option, so I gravitated for it, win. I am more and more thinking my sweet tooth was connected to my depression that I had been going through for a while. Felt no need for the sugar.

 

When I got home late this evening I simply grabbed another protein shake and called it a night, the rest of the family had already eaten and I didn't feel like fiddle farting around the kitchen for myself. No tea tonight sadly, but with melatonin in hand, I bid you all a goodnight.

[Lex Lutheran]

comp won't let me edit so one add on to the day. after breakfast I was getting dressed and I made an amazing discovery, I no longer have to suck in my gut to fit into my jeans. You can read the story here. I felt pretty awesome.

[Lex Lutheran]

14 April 2016: The Day of the Interview

 

This morning was a mixed hat, our kiddo wound up with the stomach bug that has been flying all over the place and threw up at some point during the night. I feel terrible because I am pretty sure it woke him up, I never noticed and rocked him back down and laid him in it... parenting fail. I finally saw it in the morning when the light dawned. So sad panda on that account.

 

But bonus, It didn't take nearly as long to put him down for his first nap. We did our devotions as we've been doing and then he maybe lasted another 30 minutes. He didn't even have the energy to fuss as usual when I was changing his diaper, poor guy kept yawning mid fuss, finally he just quit. Rocked him down in lest then 2 minutes.

 

Which was awesome because it meant that I could actually do power day! I was afraid I was going to have to scramble some body weight stuff throughout my road trip for my interview, but with kiddo napping early, I sprinted down stairs (didn't even change out of the jam jams) and set to work.

 

Today was barbell 1A, stats as follows.

 

Benchpress 5x5 at 150lbs (it was a struggle, first attempt I couldn't even get it started, I had to shake it down and focus hard, I will probably 5x6 it next time to see if I can get over the hill and start making gains again, won't be upping weight though just yet)

Squats 5x5 at 110lbs (wasn't too shabby, still making progress, Its telling the limiting factor will eventually be the clean and press to get it onto my should; I don't have a squat rack and the budget is tight for a while, might make it into super ultra loot or something)

3x10 decline pushups (took these bad boys nice and slow, but the 10th rep I could really feel the burn)

planks 3x30s (breezy as always, looking forward to when it finally gets added to a circuit)

 

I skipped the star powered squat thrusts today, which in the end was a good thing. Just as I was finishing up eating my banana and mixing my protein kiddo woke up. So I fetched him and walked around the house a bit as I drank my shake.

 

The rest of the morning was pretty quick with me getting my slacks and clerical ironed and pressed for the interview. Grabbing one extra protein shake (I knew that I would be lacking high protein sources the rest of the day) I then headed out the door.

 

So this interview I had to do was for my epic quest of becoming a chaplain in the US Army Reserve. It was a senior chaplain interview with a Lieutenant Colonel or above. The closest person lived 4 hrs and 40mins away (I live in the middle of nowhere, its awesome). So long drive down the road, I left with plenty of extra time to scout out the meeting place, and once I knew where I was supposed to be, went to Subway for a late lunch, chopped turkey salad. It was a sad lunch, no where near as much protein as I would have liked, but the rest of the local fair would have been far worse, forcing me to consume my sworn off nemesis bread (I wanted a meal, I knew I'd be grazing for supper the way home). The interview was a lot of fun, the Chaplain was a swell guy. Although he caught me off a little bit to start. He was rocking the air born, air assault, ranger tabs, so aside from rank, there was much else to respect about the guy. But it went very smoothly, I think I sold my case well. I even got to talk about some of the fun fitness stuff I've been doing through Nerd Fitness with the diet and exercise I've been doing. I'll find out end of May whether he actually liked me or not, or if he was just really good at smiling.

 

The road trip back I drank a super muscle milk 40g protein. I was really short on protein by that point of the day. I also bought a bag of sunflower seeds to munch on, which kept me entertained the whole last 4 hours back home. And then once home I had another protein shake to finally hit the 180-200g mark that I've been striving for.

 

Not many events happened today, but it was definitely good. I can't wait for the accession board results.

 

Good Night Everybody.

[Lex Lutheran]

15 April 2016: The Day I Began to Hate Jerkey

 

Today was a nuts road travel day... again but much more so because with a bunch of office things I needed to take care of nutrition took a bit of a sidebar. Don't hate me.

 

The day itself started off pretty awesome, still tracking my goal of reading devotions daily with my kiddo. He got a little squirmy but wasn't fussing, he was more interested in holding the bible (nope, I've got a study bible and the pages are stupid thin). We played with the blocks and then he had fun with cheese for breakfast, daddy keeps forgetting to get more yogurt bah. I'll have to add it to my task list. He was a bit stubborn for the nap, kept faking being a sleep and would immediately squirm the moment I took two steps from the crib. We'll have to work on his move silently skill.

 

Breakfast for myself was my greek yogurt/honey/chia seed blend. As much as the high end nutrition levels want me to cut it, I just can't do it, its always been my steady go too for ready protein source I can knock back and then go (ex no cooking). Then I packed for the weekend (battle assembly, army reserve, chaplain candidate), and then went to the office to power out a sermon and get all the bulletins printed so that my elders would be all set to carry forth without me on Sunday. Normally I try to get it all done Thursday, but I wasn't home.

 

This is where my diet goes to hell. I didn't want to stop anywhere to eat because I had paper I needed to do for the weekend once I got to my destination (drill this weekend is 5hrs 40 mins away). So I stopped by my towns convenience store and picked up a giant bag of jerkey and some sunflower seeds, coconut flavored (they sounded fun). The jerkey paced throughout the drive would have given me 110g work of protein (woo) and the sunflowers would have balanced it out with some nice fats and a bit extra protein. Plus they give me something to do on the long drive. Holy Salt Lick batman. My water bottle (20oz) was emptied 30 minutes in. I did not take the NaCl into account and I am pretty sure I will pay dearly for it over the next day while my body restores itself to proper levels. I downed three more bottles shortly after getting to the room. When I was young I thought I would have learned my lesson on overeating something until you hate it. Growing up it was those bloody nature valley honey oat bars. I got them every breakfast and lunch growing up, don't blame mom she could get them super cheap bulk at Costco. But I shudder every time I look at them. I am afraid the same will probably now happen with Jerkey. Worst decision of my life ever. Was epic for keeping me under calorie budget, but great scott at what cost! Just typing about it now is causing me to tremble with flash backs. I did finish the bag about 40 mins out from destination. But I don't think I will ever be opening another bag again.

 

Was super motivated to work when I got to the office, I was diligent and kept the television off and set to task at the keyboard. I even squeezed in a workout! I did the army PRT (Physical Readiness Training) Preperation Drill, Conditioning Drill 1, 4 for the Core, Conditioning Drill 2, and Recovery Drill at 8/16/36 count (1 to 2 reps per count) pending on the exercise. Core excercises were done at 1 minute. MRX Apple Pie Protein Bar to finish it out. It is my favorite for when I travel and can't make shakes. Actually tastes really good for a Protein Bar.

 

So with that, good night. I wake up early in the morning to continue my paperworks.

[Lex Lutheran]

16 April 2016: The Day I Didn't Do Anything

 

Oh what a long day. started the day off at 0330 to bust out some quick paperwork before the weekend started. And it was a very productive morning. I am glad that I opted to go to bed earlier and wake up earlier, it would probably not have been anywhere near as epic in reverse.

 

Breakfast was another of the MRX protein bars. Nice quick, and I've got four to burn through for the weekend.

 

Lunch was Salmon from Hyvee, dry but not bad tasting, with carrots and green beans for my side. Dinner the Asian cashew chicken salad from Wendy's, this guy is starting to become my go to for fast food. Its pretty tasty even without the dressing, even if the chicken is questionable. I closed out the day with another protein bar to bring up my calorie and protein count.

 

I confess I didn't exercise today, I am somewhat ashamed, but at the same time not. For I was doing what I needed to do, I had two wonderful opportunities to pastor, one a grieving Soldier, the other a member far from home tending to an ill spouse. What was originally supposed to be going straight back to the Hotel to work out and then pedal to grindstone paper push, turned into ministry and love. The member I was planning on visiting tomorrow, but I will be traveling early instead to minister to another Soldier hard pressed with depression. So my evening was left behind; but Lex Lutheran served as he was able to today. Even without exercise, it was a heroic day. A good day to be a pastor, in the right place at the right time, to care for God's people.

 

Goodnight everybody.

[Lex Lutheran]

19 April 2016: The Day I got back on the Horse

 

I never really meant to fall off the horse, but Saturday, Sunday, and Monday all got more filled than I had anticipated. This last weekend I had battle assembly, I was hoping to do body weight routines like I had on Friday but then the world came crashing in. Needless to say I did what I needed to do, I served as a chaplain, and as a pastor for my soldiers and church members in need of the gospel. I am not sorry that I missed those two days, they were were fulfilling all the same.

 

Monday I missed because I was helping my in-laws move into their new house. So it wasn't completely sans activity, I got to practice a lot of the movements I've been practicing and I must say, I manhandled furniture like a boss. I think my favorite part through it all was doing all the furniture lifting with full consciousness of my bodies movements. I could feel my core contract and adjust to balance, it was beautiful. Before I am fairly certain I lifted stuff with my back, but my core kept engaged, and I felt wonderful afterwards.

 

But enough about the past, lets talk more about today! Yay! The day I doubled down and made up for what was missed. So this morning Ollie was kind enough to give me 45 extra minutes sleep before his first wake up and feeding. It was awesome because the night before I was an idiot and decided to play Minecraft with the Mrs. until 0030. Brutal. But I got to sleep and it felt good. He didn't want to go back down though afterwards which sometimes if I am lucky I can squeeze in an extra hour. so up I was at 0545. We did our devotions and proceded to play with wheels and his balloon. Fun times. Later, after his first nap, we walked downtown together to do some grocery shopping. And by walked, I mean I walked with him strapped to my chest. Baby carrying is a thing, bonus, my back and shoulders weren't killing me like they usually were afterwards, which is really suprising because of the amount of groceries we got, plus a really big package that arrived. I walked everything back home no breaks. Felt pretty macho by the time I was done, only minor discomfort.

 

Then it was daddy's turn to lift. Today I did Barbell 1A. It felt really good to be hitting the weights again. Bonus, I stepped away from my gloves for the first time in years, and I think it may have helped, I felt so much more at one with the bar then before.

 

Benchpress: 5x6 at 150lbs (I repeated last events weight plus 1 rep because I had major issues the time before; could barely get it started, I was shocked at how forth coming the bar was this round, the days rest may have helped, I will have to schedule more rest days next month, maybe every two or three cycles.)

Squat 5x5 at 115lbs (still notching up at 5lbs per go, still feeling pretty good, it felt much easier to get the bar to starting position than times before)

Decline Pushups 3x10 (Did them to slow cadence... I'll have to slow it even further, not much of a challenge, only the very last rep really felt like a oofta)

Planks 3x30s (meh, I am looking forward to when they get added to a circuit, stand alone they've been kind of boring)

 

star power: I skipped this, I was planning on running this afternoon. I was already going to work up a hefty deficit.

 

Lunch was fun. We did porkchops and for the side I made homemade sweet potatoe fries, baked in the oven. O my lanta, I am failing to understand how I could never like these things before. The two times I've made them myself have been amaze balls. Maybe the secret is in the being homemade.

 

This afternoon I went out on visits after uncluttering my office some. Four of the people I was hoping to see were not home, but I was able to see everyone at the nursing home and offer them comfort, including one saint of a woman who has lived a very hard life, but still remains cheery as ever, looking forward to Christ's fulfillment of his Word.

 

Then came the run. I went for 45 minutes this time round at 5.7mph on the treadmill. I could have gone longer and fulfilled my hour with ease (I had broken past the midway hump) but my wife came down to inform me that supper was ready. So I grabbed that last couple of minutes to bring it to an even 45 and called it good. Supper awaited.

 

Dinner was something else entirely. We tried something new, honey garlic slowcooker chicken over jasmine rice. I've been looking forward to this all day and was waiting for it to follow this very run. I ate and was satisfied, even if the calorie count was a little bit high (1/4 cup honey in my portion). I still came well under budget for the day.

 

Now, as I type I await minecraft to update, for another epic, although short game night. I have an alarm set to kick me off to bed.

 

Night all.

[Lex Lutheran]

Back Date 20 April 2016: The Day It All Fit Together, Sorta

 

The Sorta Part in the title is because I am getting to the update late, last night I was having to much fun minecrafting with the Mrs.

 

So Yesterday morning has continued to go well, I hit my first epic quest, 1 week of morning devotions with my little one so chaching xp. Next target 1 Month. Morning was pretty awesome hanging out with the kiddo, he learned how to high five as well as how to operate a spoon by himself (still needs help loading it with his yogurt). Now we just need to learn how to place it back in the bowl instead of throwing it back excitedly onto daddy's pants when he wants more. Baby steps (Badam chhh).

 

It was also a good morning because I was able to workout doing my lifting, The Tyke was asleep. He woke up half way through, usually it works out that either I have to quit the workout/run or my wife will hate me for the rest of the day because she had to wake up early. Today neither happened. My wife was more than happy to watch over our child, allowing me to go back to throwing around weights. I even offered to strap the kid in the walker and take him downstairs so she could go back to bed, but she was content to do it. Woo! Never look a gift horse in the mouth. If I had to guess it has much to do with me coming out of my depression, and likewise focusing the time I do have to spend with her and our child solely on them, not 50ing it with some other task I need to do. It was a good morning. I even had opportunity to talk with her about the paleo which I have been fairly accurate with (she likes to bake), I explained to her about timing the carbs etc, and that pastas pizzas and stuff weren't a never again deal, but things to be enjoyed on occasion... right after a run or heavy lifting session. And she was good.

 

Lunch we did breakfast, sunny side eggs hard, bacon, and she made homemade butter milk biscuits. I had one and a half the other half being enjoyed by our son.

 

During Midweek Catechism Classes I successfully resisted eating sloppy joes with the kids and the brownies, instead I grabbed a fistful of carrots inbetween listening to the kids memory work. I am also doing really well, I haven't raided our resident reward candy bowl in weeks epic win concerning I could drain it in about 4 weeks by my self before.

 

We had a elders meeting to go over one of my epic quests, the seeking of the lost sheep of our church aka those we have not seen in some time. The elders read over my draft delinquent letter, and helped purge our member list (way old) of people who were dead (explains why they weren't showing up) or people who had moved far away (another good reason). Next month the letters will be finalized and signed by all (myself and elders) and then sent out, and then begins the next phase of the quest, to go visit the hornets nests that we stirred up, and hopefully restore some to the fellowship of Christ.

 

Following the meeting was a pastoral visit to new members of ours, who received notification that their uncle/great uncle was passing away (long battle with many things, expected). The Daughter was taking it especially hard so I came bringing the words of comfort, the gospel of Jesus Christ, sharing 2 Cor. 4. The tears were bitter, but interspersed is the joy of a Christian eagerly awaiting death and the greater weight of glory to come.

 

The evening I fell off the wagon a bit. I had a Cran-brrrr-ita with the Mrs. as we played minecraft together, I also ate a bit of her chocolate chip caramel swirl cookie bars she made for the quilting group she joins each Thursday. I swear, she is my kryptonite. I barely scrapped in 60 calories under for the day, which means I probably wound up over, as I don't trust the app 100%. Oh well, here's to a better today! (as I say it I already know it will be another tight budget doe!)