Onward

[ReturnOfTheDad]

2024 - Year of Progression

Word of the Year: Consistency 

Sleep: 12 Hrs

Water: 4/4 Liters

Weight: 240.0 lbs

 

Meals: 

11:00am - Overnight oats and berries, superfood drink

2:45pm - Cheese, jerky, chickpeas

3:45pm - Egg white wrap

6:00pm - Tofu/veggie stir fry 

8:00pm - Jerky, almonds, blueberries, cheese, Peanut butter

 

Fitness:

Rest Day

 

Language:

1 Portuguese Lesson

1 Spanish Lesson

1 Japanese Lesson

 

Reading:

0 min

 

Meditation:

5 Min

 

Notes:

Roughly the same on weight today. Double cheese burger and late night snacking probably didn’t help. Revised goal this week is to get down to 237.5 by next Sunday and lose 2-2.5 lbs a week shooting for 10 lbs a month, which should be doable if I stick to the program.

 

Went a little heavy on my nightly snack, largely I think because the tofu I had for dinner wasn’t as nutrient dense as I was used to and I was crazy hungry 2 hours later.

 

It did taste and look nice though:

 

In other news, we (mainly Mrs.ReturnOfTheDad) are prepping the yard and garden for spring. Here are some of the new additions for those of you into that sort of thing:

 

Overall a good day.

[ReturnOfTheDad]

2024 - Year of Progression

Word of the Year: Consistency 

Sleep: 11 Hrs

Water: 2/4 Liters

Weight: 240.8 lbs

 

Meals: 

9:00am - Overnight oats and berries, superfood drink

11:30pm - Tofu/veggie stir fry, lentils

1:30pm - Jerky, trail mix 

4:00pm - French fries

5:30pm - Pork Loin, veggies

8:00pm - Peanut butter

 

Fitness:

Rest Day

 

Language:

1 Portuguese Lesson

1 Spanish Lesson

0 Japanese Lesson

 

Reading:

0 min

 

Meditation:

5 Min

 

Notes:

Had to do another rest day, still recovering from Saturday. Missed an afternoon meal and fell victim to the call of fried food, so ate an order of French fries, so I have a lot to catch up on for the rest of the week.

[fitnessgurl]

You got this!

[ReturnOfTheDad]

2024 - Year of Progression

Word of the Year: Consistency 

Sleep: 11 Hrs

Water: 3/4 Liters

Weight: 239.4 lbs

 

Meals: 

10:00am - Egg white omelette, oatmeal, berries, superfood drink

1:30pm - 1/2 Burger and fries

3:00pm - 1/2 Burger and fries

5:30pm - Pork Loin, veggies, hummus

8:00pm - Jerky, cheese, berries, almonds

 

Fitness:

Jujitsu

 

Language:

1 Portuguese Lesson

0 Spanish Lesson

1 Japanese Lesson

 

Reading:

0 min

 

Meditation:

5 Min

 

Notes:

Lots of frustration at work today, still a relatively new job and still figuring out the people and processes.

 

Jujitsu happened, and thankfully it was a light day, because I just wasn’t feeling it. Glad I went though.

 

Nice healthy dinner tonight of pork loin and stir fried veggies. Also been using Japanese BBQ sauce. Good stuff!

 

Training Notes:

2 Positives -

 - Kept pace during the class

 - Had some good reversals

1 Negative -

 - Still getting stuck in bottom side base

[ReturnOfTheDad]

2024 - Year of Progression

Word of the Year: Consistency 

Sleep: 12 Hrs

Water: 2/4 Liters

Weight: 239.8 lbs

 

Meals: 

10:00am - Egg white/veggie wrap

12:30pm - Yogurt, donut, superfood drink

2:00pm - Jerky, nuts, cookie

3:00pm - PB&J

5:30pm - Lettuce taco wraps

7:30pm - Peanut butter

 

Fitness:

Conditioning

-600 rope jumps

-600 punches

-3 Ball Slams

-2 KB Clean and Press

 

Language:

1 Portuguese Lesson

1 Spanish Lesson

1 Japanese Lesson

 

Reading:

10 min

 

Meditation:

5 Min

 

Notes:

Diet has been sliding a bit with a burger and fries yesterday and a donut today. Hard to say no when those options come up, but it’s been fairly infrequent and I’ve stuck to smaller portion sizes when I have had those more indulgent foods.

 

Added ball slam get-ups and KB Clean and Press to the conditioning Circuit. Good way to finish out.

 

Getting into a better groove of dinner, house cleaning, and language/reading every night. Family is getting into it too. Hopefully this will be something we can do in the long run, I think it will pay good dividends for the kids and myself.

 

Training Notes:

2 Positives -

 - Increased by 100 jumps and punches.

 - Added Slam ball and KB to conditioning.

1 Negative -

 - Still needing to take breaks in between jumping reps.

[ReturnOfTheDad]

2024 - Year of Progression

Word of the Year: Consistency 

Sleep: 11 Hrs

Water: 1/4 Liters

Weight: 239.8 lbs

 

Meals: 

9:30am - Overnight oats, strawberries, superfood drink 

12:00pm - Tacos

3:00pm - PB&J

5:30pm - Chicken/veggies

7:30pm - Peanut butter

 

Fitness:

Lifting

 

Language:

1 Portuguese Lesson

1 Spanish Lesson

0 Japanese Lesson

 

Reading:

0 min

 

Meditation:

5 Min

 

Notes:

Crazy day, didn’t drink near enough water. Got a lot done though. Will try again tomorrow.

 

Did enjoy an amazing dinner of chicken caprese and bacon wrapped asparagus courtesy of Mrs.ReturnOfTheDad, so that was a nice plus:

 

Training Notes:

2 Positives -

 - Completed lifts

 - Increased squats

1 Negative -

 - shoulder still healing

[ReturnOfTheDad]

2024 - Year of Progression

Word of the Year: Consistency 

Sleep: 11 Hrs

Water: 3/4 Liters

Weight: 239.8 lbs

 

Meals: 

10:00am - Egg white omelet, oatmeal/strawberries

11:30pm - Turkey stick, cheese stick, toast, superfood drink

3:00pm - Greek Yogurt

4:30pm - Rice cake/cheese/salami, chickles, apple sauce

5:30pm - Chicken/veggies

7:30pm - Peanut butter

 

Fitness:

Treadmill

 

Language:

1 Portuguese Lesson

1 Spanish Lesson

0 Japanese Lesson

 

Reading:

0 min

 

Meditation:

5 Min

 

Notes:

Work stuff caused a reschedule today, so did treadmill instead of Jujitsu. Plan is to get some MMA rounds in after kickboxing tomorrow so should get in some more grappling in for the week.

 

Retrying that long haul of getting up early. Baby steps, it’s a battle to get up with all the sleep meds I take for my insomnia, but got up at 6am this morning, got dressed, then went back to sleep until I had to get up for work. It’s a start.

 

Tried making a new snack called “Chickles”, which is pickles in toasted cheese. Turned out pretty good, not pretty, but good:

 

Also tried making a healthy chocolate sauce out of blended ripe bananas, cocoa powder and whole milk. It’s not bad and a nice healthy option to dip fruit in or put as a topping when I want something sweet.

 

Training Notes:

2 Positives -

 - kept pace with a peak of 4mph

 - feet felt pretty good through the hour long run.

1 Negative -

 - had to slow the speed down a couple of times as I am still working on my endurance.

[fitnessgurl]

Nice job in changing up your fitness routine.

[ReturnOfTheDad]

2024 - Year of Progression

Word of the Year: Consistency 

Sleep: 13 Hrs

Water: 3/4 Liters

Weight: 239.4 lbs

 

Meals: 

10:00am - Sausage, biscuit, gravy, orange

2:30pm - Protein shake, 1/2 Muffin, superfood drink, chips and salsa

4:00pm - Sausage roll

5:30pm - Chicken/veggies

7:30pm - Peanut butter

 

Fitness:

Kickboxing

Sparring 

 

Language:

1 Portuguese Lesson

1 Spanish Lesson

1 Japanese Lesson

 

Reading:

15 min

 

Meditation:

5 Min

 

Notes:

Busy day, lots done and weight is steady, going to take a rest day tomorrow and get back at it on Monday.

 

Training Notes:

2 Positives -

 - Jabs are getting better

 - putting more emphasis on kick combos

1 Negative -

 - Kept gassing out before the 2 min round ended.

[ReturnOfTheDad]

2024 - Year of Progression

Word of the Year: Consistency 

Sleep: 10 Hrs

Water: 3/4 Liters

Weight: 239.4 lbs

 

Meals: 

12:00pm - Tacos

2:30pm - Trail mix, jerky, cheese stick

4:00pm - Cereal

5:30pm - Hamburger steak/veggies

8:00pm - Berries, whipped cream, almonds

9:00pm - Peanut Butter

 

Fitness:

Rest Day

 

Language:

1 Portuguese Lesson

1 Spanish Lesson

1 Japanese Lesson

 

Reading:

10 min

 

Meditation:

5 Min

 

Notes:

Rough day start to finish. Tired from the week and have been down a lot lately emotionally. Sleep meds have been taking it out of me again. Need to find something to wake up for, because unless I have an appointment to wake up for, I sleep right through for 12-13 hours. So sick of losing 4 hours a day to this sleep medication. Will try some different things this week, namely waking up to have breakfast with the kids and get some time in on the treadmill.

[ReturnOfTheDad]

2024 - Year of Progression

Word of the Year: Consistency 

Sleep: 8 Hrs

Water: 3/4 Liters

Weight: 241.4 lbs

 

Meals: 

9:30am - Egg white omelette, 1/2 muffin, blueberries

11:00am - Yogurt

1:30pm - Cheese, turkey stick, grapes

2:30pm - 1/2 Chicken club

3:45pm - cheese stick, 1/2 muffin

5:30pm - 1/2 Hamburger steak/veggies

7:30pm - Peanut Butter

 

Fitness:

7:00am - Treadmill/Cardio

8:30am - 1 mile Walk

4:30pm - Lifting

 

Language:

1 Portuguese Lesson

1 Spanish Lesson

1 Japanese Lesson

 

Reading:

15 min

 

Meditation:

5 Min

 

Notes:

Picked up 2lbs over the weekend, which is about normal. Usually comes off the first couple of days of the week.

 

Got up at 6:30am. It was a pain, but I did it, then got some treadmill time in. Hopefully that will make going to sleep tonight a bit easier.

 

Will have to get used to getting up earlier as Daylight Savings Time is coming up next week. Also I’ll be taking a trip to the East Coast next week so will lose another hour. Pretty much the equivalent of waking up at 4am, when I’ve been struggling to get up by 8am.

 

Also have a medical procedure scheduled for this Friday and I’m a bit nervous about it. Been having some esophageal problems so they are going to put me out and do an upper endoscopy to see what’s going on. If it goes well that just means I stay on meds for the next twenty years or until it gets worse, if it’s not good there may be a more serious surgery in my future. Nothing I can do about it now though. Still, hard not to think about it sometimes.

 

Did a lot of snacking today since I didn’t have time for full meals. We’ll see how that bears out on the scale in the next week, might be a new thing I do when the day is too busy to have a sit down meal.

I did eventually make a pretty awesome  chicken club sandwich which I figured was photo worthy:

 

On to tomorrow.

 

Training Notes:

2 Positives -

 - Increased on all lifts

 - shoulder did okay

1 Negative -

 - Struggling getting my lifts up in later reps on squats

[ReturnOfTheDad]

2024 - Year of Progression

Word of the Year: Consistency 

Sleep: 12 Hrs

Water: 2/4 Liters

Weight: 239.6 lbs

 

Meals: 

10:00am - Biscuits and Gravy, oranges

1:30pm - 1/2 Chicken club

4:00pm - Cheese stick, 1/2 muffin

5:30pm - Burger

8:00pm - Fruit

 

Fitness:

12:00pm - Grappling

 

Language:

1 Portuguese Lesson

1 Spanish Lesson

0 Japanese Lesson

 

Reading:

0 min

 

Meditation:

5 Min

 

Notes:

Overslept again, will try again tomorrow.

 

Rest of the day went okay, very productive: ordered new contacts, scheduled a haircut appointment, got meds refilled, worked out, did ReturnOfTheDad Jr.’s ADHD appointment (all going well there thankfully), voted and went to the kids open house, then book fair. Lots done.

 

Going to be jam packed for the next 2 weeks but should be fun.

 

Training Notes:

2 Positives -

 - Got closer to submissions on upper belts

 - cardio held out through rounds

1 Negative -

 - Still struggling with lying arm bar

[ReturnOfTheDad]

2024 - Year of Progression

Word of the Year: Consistency 

Sleep: 10.5 Hrs

Water: 3/4

Weight: 238.8 lbs

 

Meals: 

10:00am - Breakfast wrap

12:00pm - Jerky, cheese, fig newtons

3:00pm - Cheese stick, 1/2 muffin

5:30pm - Roast, veggies, bread

7:30pm - Fruit & nuts

 

Fitness:

Conditioning

-700 rope jumps

-700 punches

-4 Ball Slams and Sprawls

-3 KB Clean and Press

 

Language:

1 Portuguese Lesson

1 Spanish Lesson

1 Japanese Lesson

 

Reading:

0 min

 

Meditation:

5 Min

 

Notes:

I think I am ready to give up on getting up super early. The fight against the meds and constant disappointment are not worth it. Changing my workout schedule to do 3 treadmill sessions a week in the afternoons on Grappling and Kickboxing days, 2 Cardio and 1 HIIT session respectively.

Trying to add some carbs to my dinner now that we are eating earlier and holding off on the peanut butter (which is very calorie and sugar rich) in favor of fruits and nuts. We’ll see how this pans out.

 

Training Notes:

2 Positives -

 - Added reps to all sets

 - shorter breaks between jump rope sets

1 Negative -

 - Added bag finishing routine and head movement needs improvement

[ReturnOfTheDad]

2024 - Year of Progression

Word of the Year: Consistency 

Sleep: 10 Hrs

Water: 2/4

Weight: 239.4 lbs

 

Meals: 

9:30am - Biscuits and sausage gravy, blue berries

1:30pm - Hamburger steak, veggies, quinoa 

3:00pm - Jerky, Cereal

5:30pm - Beef nachos

7:30pm - Fruit & nuts

 

Fitness:

Lifting

 

Language:

1 Portuguese Lesson

2 Spanish Lesson

0 Japanese Lesson

 

Reading:

0 min

 

Meditation:

5 Min

 

Notes:

Another day down, not worry about the weight too much. I know if I keep this up that will drop on its own. Medical procedure tomorrow so a little nervous about that, but hopefully it will be uneventful and the doctors will get a better idea of what’s going on.

 

Training Notes:

2 Positives -

 - Increased on squats

 - Increased on Shoulder press

1 Negative -

 - Really gassed after the workout

[fitnessgurl]

How are you doing?

[ReturnOfTheDad]

15 minutes ago, fitnessgurl said:

 

How are you doing?

 

I’m doing okay, really appreciate the check in. 
 

Procedure itself went well but they found a hiatal hernia which is when the stomach pokes into the esophagus, which explains all the acid reflux I’ve been having, because my esophagus hasn’t been able to fully close. They also found an area of concern in the stomach and took a biopsy. Waiting for week after next for the biopsy to come back and for the doctor to connect me with a surgeon. 
 

From what I understand it will probably be laparoscopic surgery, but since the diaphragm will be involved in fixing the hernia, that means no strenuous or impact exercises for 6-8, maybe 10-12 weeks. That’s got me pretty down, since I was just starting to make some good progress. The other thing that has me down is no carbs for that time period either as I work from a liquid to soft to solid food diet. Going to be quite the life style change for an about 3 months.

 

I’m more annoyed than anything as of right now. The idea of a more serious surgery is slowly sinking in though, and to be honest I’m concerned and nervous. No real choice though. If I let it go then I run the chance of the hernia getting bigger which may lead to other problems, including esophageal cancer. Have to get it taken care of soon, at least we caught it early.

[fitnessgurl]

On 3/10/2024 at 5:36 PM, ReturnOfTheDad said:

I’m doing okay, really appreciate the check in. 
 

Procedure itself went well but they found a hiatal hernia which is when the stomach pokes into the esophagus, which explains all the acid reflux I’ve been having, because my esophagus hasn’t been able to fully close. They also found an area of concern in the stomach and took a biopsy. Waiting for week after next for the biopsy to come back and for the doctor to connect me with a surgeon. 
 

From what I understand it will probably be laparoscopic surgery, but since the diaphragm will be involved in fixing the hernia, that means no strenuous or impact exercises for 6-8, maybe 10-12 weeks. That’s got me pretty down, since I was just starting to make some good progress. The other thing that has me down is no carbs for that time period either as I work from a liquid to soft to solid food diet. Going to be quite the life style change for an about 3 months.

 

I’m more annoyed than anything as of right now. The idea of a more serious surgery is slowly sinking in though, and to be honest I’m concerned and nervous. No real choice though. If I let it go then I run the chance of the hernia getting bigger which may lead to other problems, including esophageal cancer. Have to get it taken care of soon, at least we caught it early.

You have a big road ahead of you; but you'll get through it. Just keep going...one day at a time.

[ReturnOfTheDad]

2024 - Year of Progression

Word of the Year: Consistency 

Sleep: 10 Hrs

Water: 2/4

Weight: Didn’t weigh in.

 

Meals: 

10:00am - Roasted mushroom frittata, oj

1:00pm - Pretzels and candy bar

4:00pm - Tacos

8:00pm - Popsicle, cookies

 

Fitness:

Walking

 

Language:

0 Portuguese Lesson

1 Spanish Lesson

0 Japanese Lesson

 

Reading:

0 min

 

Meditation:

5 Min

 

Notes:

Travel week recap - Traveling this week, TSA was a nightmare getting to the airport earlier this week. I know they have stressful jobs so I try not to get too frustrated with them but some of them were really being ugly with people today. Myself included.

 

Was able to find a superfood smoothie at the airport, which was nice. Expensive, but nice.

 

Flew into New York, which was a trip. Never seen such an enormous city line before:

 

Had a nice week at a conference in Connecticut. Hotel was a bit run down and service wasn’t great, but I’ve stayed at worse. No real exercise happened, was too busy on the trade show floor, so lots of standing and walking, so that’s something.

 

Getting food was spotty so when I did eat, I probably ate too much, but the food was decent so no real complaints. Curious to see what the scale is going to say when I get home.

 

Been so distracted with work I haven’t really thought about my health issues, but hoping to hear back about the biopsy and diagnosis soon.

 

On to tomorrow and a mini spring break!

[ReturnOfTheDad]

2024 - Year of Progression

Word of the Year: Consistency 

Sleep: 13 Hrs

Water: 2/4

Weight: 240.0lbs

 

Meals: 

10:30am - Egg white omelette, cereal,

2:00pm - Yogurt, superfood drink 

3:30pm - Veggie fritter, jerky

6:30pm - Burger, chicken nuggets

9:30pm - Protein cookie, milk

 

Fitness:

Kickboxing 

Sparring

 

Language:

2 Portuguese Lesson

4 Spanish Lesson

0 Japanese Lesson

 

Reading:

0 min

 

Meditation:

5 Min

 

Notes:

Pretty standard Saturday, got caught up on sleep, healthy-ish breakfast and some solid time at the gym.

 

Training Notes:

2 Positives -

 - Cardio held up, did 4 sparring rounds.

 - Landed a kick combo during sparring.

1 Negative -

 - close up game needs work.

[ReturnOfTheDad]

2024 - Year of Progression

Word of the Year: Consistency 

Sleep: 11 Hrs

Water: 4/4

Weight: 240.4lbs

 

Meals: 

9:30am - Cereal

12:00pm - Beef Lo-Mein

3:30pm - Fig newtons, jerky

5:30pm - Turkey meatballs, asparagus 

8:30pm - Cookies

 

Fitness:

Rest Day

 

Language:

1 Portuguese Lesson

2 Spanish Lesson

1 Japanese Lesson

 

Reading:

0 min

 

Meditation:

5 Min

 

Notes:

Had a nice couple of days off and did a staycation in Fort Worth. Diet was hit and miss and exercise was running after kids at different amusement areas. Did have time to swing by the Fort Worth Water Gardens, which are very nice if you ever get a chance to see them:

 

Weight stayed more or less the same. Ready to get back to a steady schedule. Traveling and keeping to healthy choices has always been a bit of a challenge for me.

 

Had a lot of work catchup today so didn’t have time to workout. Needed a rest day anyway running around for two days with these kids really took it out of me!

[ReturnOfTheDad]

2024 - Year of Progression

Word of the Year: Consistency 

Sleep: 10 Hrs

Water: 2/4

Weight: 240.8lbs

 

Meals: 

11:30am - Greek Yogurt 

1:30pm - Sandwich

5:30pm - meat/cheese snack sticks, bread 

8:30pm - Cereal, Protein Cookie

 

Fitness:

Rest Day

 

Language:

1 Portuguese Lesson

2 Spanish Lesson

1 Japanese Lesson

 

Reading:

20 min

 

Meditation:

5 Min

 

Notes:

Busy day with work, ate okay but didn’t have time to work out. Going to try and double up tomorrow to get back on track. Did manage to get to a recovery meeting though, so feeling good about that.

[ReturnOfTheDad]

2024 - Year of Progression

Word of the Year: Consistency 

Sleep: 10 Hrs

Water: 4/4

Weight: 241.8lbs

 

Meals: 

11:30am - Corned beef breakfast taco, super drink

1:30pm - Cheese, biscuit cookies

3:00pm - Soup and Chicken lo-mein 

5:30pm - Snack bar, cheese, meat, chips

8:00pm - 1/2 PBJ

 

Fitness:

Rest Day

 

Language:

1 Portuguese Lesson

1 Spanish Lesson

0 Japanese Lesson

 

Reading:

0 min

 

Meditation:

5 Min

 

Notes:

Was in a funk for the last couple of days. Even with the meds I still have bipolar lows sometimes, it’s much better with the medications, but I have accepted it’s going to come around from time to time.

 

Trying to slowly ramp back up since I hurt myself kickboxing last week when I jumped back in.

[fitnessgurl]

6 hours ago, ReturnOfTheDad said:

2024 - Year of Progression

Word of the Year: Consistency 

Sleep: 10 Hrs

Water: 4/4

Weight: 241.8lbs

 

Meals: 

11:30am - Corned beef breakfast taco, super drink

1:30pm - Cheese, biscuit cookies

3:00pm - Soup and Chicken lo-mein 

5:30pm - Snack bar, cheese, meat, chips

8:00pm - 1/2 PBJ

 

Fitness:

Rest Day

 

Language:

1 Portuguese Lesson

1 Spanish Lesson

0 Japanese Lesson

 

Reading:

0 min

 

Meditation:

5 Min

 

Notes:

Was in a funk for the last couple of days. Even with the meds I still have bipolar lows sometimes, it’s much better with the medications, but I have accepted it’s going to come around from time to time.

 

Trying to slowly ramp back up since I hurt myself kickboxing last week when I jumped back in.

You got this!

[ReturnOfTheDad]

2024 - Year of Progression

Word of the Year: Consistency 

Sleep: 10 Hrs

Water: 2/4

Weight: 240.0lbs

 

Meals: 

9:00am - Coffee

10:30am - Breakfast bar, coffee

2:00pm - Burger, fries, frosty, Diet Coke 

5:00pm - greens drink, coffee

6:00pm - Lo-Mein

8:00pm - Cereal and 1/2 banana

9:00pm - Cookies

 

Fitness:

Rest Day

 

Language:

1 Portuguese Lesson

1 Spanish Lesson

1 Japanese Lesson

 

Reading:

10 min

 

Meditation:

5 Min

 

Notes:

Well, stomach pain I’ve been struggling with finally caught up with me. Had stabbing pain on my lower right side so ended up in the ER last night. They ran through all the possibilities in the ER and couldn’t find anything. So back to my GI specialist.  Looks like I’m going to have a more invasive procedure next Monday, which I’m not crazy about.

 

So that’s a hold on more rigorous exercise, so going to work on more walking for the time being. Maybe a little calisthenics, but nothing to serious.

[ReturnOfTheDad]

2024 - Year of Progression

Word of the Year: Consistency 

Sleep: 10 Hrs

Water: 3/4

Weight: 240.0lbs

 

Meals: 

10:00am - Breakfast bar, coffee

12:00pm - breakfast taco, coffee

3:00pm - 1/2 PBJ, Coffee

6:00pm - Sandwich, chips, cookies

 

Fitness:

Helped out digging holes in the yard for new trees.

 

Language:

2 Portuguese Lesson

1 Spanish Lesson

1 Japanese Lesson

 

Reading:

10 min

 

Meditation:

5 Min

 

Notes:

Another day down.