Motivation for Monday
Per Pippa’s very flattering comment, I decided to make my Toastmaster’s speech this week’s Motivation for Monday. Be sure to adjust your sound. Enjoy.
Log My Loss
This isn't a diet, it is your life!
Work after Work
I decided to fast part of the day today. I really felt my body needed a day to recover from the overeating. So, I did not eat breakfast or lunch. I did have black coffee and water though. The funny thing is, I ended up having a computer job after work this evening which drug out much further than expected. In fact, it is 9:00 and I just got home. That makes tomorrow morning at 5:00 am seem very early! 
Anyhow, while I have supper waiting, I am packing it up for lunch tomorrow. I am not hungry right now, so I mind as well just put off breaking the fast until tomorrow morning.
Exercise was good this morning. While I did not do my tabata routine, I did get in push ups and planks. This was my first day pushing myself on push ups in quite a while, and I was pleased. I did 45 consecutive push ups without pain in my elbow. I also did 2 75-second front planks, 1 60-second front plank, and 3 60-second side planks on each side. I am not sure I will continue doing planks and push ups on the same day. I could really feel it in my shoulders when I was done.
Yesterday I mentioned my foot was hurting again. It is still hurting, but on a scale of 1-10 the pain is only about a 2. Hopefully this will pass. The doctor told me not to stop walking as long as the pain was something I could deal with, so that is what I am doing.
- I will not eat Grape Nuts this week. – No Grape Nuts today.
- I will walk five days. - I walked today.
- I will do push ups to exhaustion three days pending I experience no pain. – 45 push ups – woot!
- I will do planks three days. - planks today
- I will do tabata at least twice. – no tabata yet.
- I will keep my quantities under control this week. - yeah, in fact to the extreme.
That’s it for tonight. I am too give out to visit any blogs tonight. Perhaps I will catch up on my reading tomorrow.
Motivation for Monday
This is a little different than my past motivation for Monday posts, but it was the topic that kept resonating with me on Sunday when I taped it. Perhaps someone out there needs to hear this.
Two Strikes!
I didn’t have the best start to my week, especially as far as my goals for the week go. I had forgotten than we were celebrating my sister’s, wife’s, and youngest son’s birthday at my Mom’s house today. While I didn’t do too bad, I did overeat. Pardon me while I bang my head against the desk!
Here is the food report: breakfast was an apple with 2-3 tablespoons of natural peanut butter. Lunch was another apple with 2-3 tablespoons of natural peanut butter (I ate this hoping to keep me from eating food I shouldn’t have at my Mom’s house). I then had a plate full of pork, chicken, and a myriad of vegetables. All-in-all, it wasn’t unhealthy food, just too much. Supper was too much popcorn (STRIKE 2!), a hamburger patty with cheese, half a tomato, and half an onion. Oh, and sometime during the day I had a cup of ff, plain yogurt with lemon jello powder and flax seed. So much for that goal for the week!
While I didn’t exercise intentionally today, my wife and I did take a peaceful stroll this evening, which was 0.8 miles. Tomorrow I plan on a 2 mile walk and other exercise.
An interesting link I ran across today discussed methods to lower your food consumption when eating at an all-you-can-eat buffet, especially a Chinese buffet. While I kind of thought the blog post was all over the place, there were some good tips. That being said, there were some items from the study quoted that may not be as they seem. For example, it said that people who sit at booths eat less than those who eat at tables. There may be more to this than meets the eye. What I mean is that skinnier people are more likely to sit at booths because if you are as big as I was a year ago, you cannot fit in many booths. Don’t take this as too harsh of a criticism, there was several good tips presented.
My daily update on the goals for the week is as follows:
- I will not eat Grape Nuts this week. – I did not eat Grape Nuts.
- I will walk five days. – While I did walk today, I really don’t count it.
- I will do push ups to exhaustion three days pending I experience no pain. – Not today!
- I will do planks three days. – Not today!
- I will do tabata at least twice. – Not today!
- I will keep my quantities under control this week. – I blew this one coming out of the gate. That is okay though, I am still going to follow this for the rest of the week.
Edit: Just a side note, my foot is hurting some again. Not bad enough that I cannot walk on it, but I can sure feel it. This really concerns me as it is hard to deny this is becoming chronic if it flares up in all its glory again.
Week Sixty-Four Weigh-In, Measurements, and Goals
Just as I expected, I gained a bit this week. However, review of the other measurements is not quite so grim. Re-reading the previous two sentences makes me think it sounds as if I am depressed about it. Really, I am not. I know what I did wrong, and I accept that. I also know that it was just a temporary gain, which also makes it easier to swallow. Here are the results:
My weight was the big disappointment for the week – I gained a pound this week. Of course, as a result, my BMI also increased 0.2 this week. The only other measurements that went up were my waist, which increased by 0.625″ to 38.25″ and my thighs, which increased 0.375″ to 22.5″.
All other measurements went down, the highlight of which was my body fat percentage, which dropped 0.2% to 19.4%. My neck decreased 0.125″ to 16.75″. My chest decreased half an inch to 43.75″. My stomach, calves, and forearms each decreased an eighth of an inch to 39.875″, 16.625″, and 12″ respectively. Last, my biceps decreased half an inch to 13.125″.
That last measurement brings up an interesting point – my bicep measurement fluctuates wildly. The funny thing about it is that I really try hard to make sure I measure that the same way and in the same spot every week. Nevertheless, it jumps considerably from week to week. Not a big deal, just a curiosity.
My goals and the respective follow up for last week were as follows:
- Walk at least five days – I did this.
- Do planks and tabata at least three days – I did planks, but I did not do tabata at all.
- Keep my eating in line with the program – I feel like I didn’t do so hot on this one this week. While I did eat the right foods, I ate too much of it more than once.
My goals for this week are as follows:
- I will not eat Grape Nuts this week.
- I will walk five days.
- I will do push ups to exhaustion three days pending I experience no pain.
- I will do planks three days.
- I will do tabata at least twice.
- I will keep my quantities under control this week.
I am considering doing like my friend Beej and reporting on my goals daily. I need to keep these in front of me so I don’t let them slip by me.
Feeling Weak
I was pleasantly surprised for a second day in a row. My wife got up and went for another walk with me – this time 4.1 miles. As some of you pointed out yesterday, this sure is a great time spent together. It gives us time to talk about the things we never take the time to talk about, or time to just be together without any talking at all.
I woke up feeling that eating may be an issue today. For some reason I felt weak. In fact, I have to admit that some time after my post last night I really pigged out on some Grape Nuts. You know, the funny thing about this is that I used to really dislike Grape Nuts, now it is my ‘go to’ food. I may need to set another goal to do without it for another week. Once I make my mind up, it isn’t that hard.
As I was saying, I woke up feeling weak. I did fine for breakfast though. I had an apple with natural PB, a great tomato, a bell pepper, and a hot banana pepper. Lunch was two hamburger patties with cheese with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, and mustard. I also had a cup of ff, plain yogurt with sf lemon jello powder and flax seed. Supper was a big salad and a pork steak. I had Bacon Ranch Dressing on the salad. Later in the evening I munched on popcorn and had a small bowl of Grape Nuts. I had enough popcorn with salt that it will be a miracle if I don’t gain weight tomorrow simply from water retention. Maybe I will get lucky.
I have a few links to share tonight:
- First, Metabolism Myths. I caution you to remember that without substantial proof, anything we read could also be a myth. That being said, many of these seem to be things I have seen proof on.
- Second, is an article with some tips on Reusing Eggshells. Honestly, I probably won’t put a lot of this into practice, but the gardening tips, including the idea that eggshells may keep deer away, is something I find very useful.
- Finally, how about this: A study finds that kids as young as 10 or 11 already have pressure to have a perfect body. This is a theme that has resonated among a lot of blogs this week. It is really a shame that we (as a society) have developed this idea that perfect is one thing. Can’t many different sizes and shapes still be perfect? I am not meaning that overweight bodies are perfect, in fact far from it. Those of us who have not taken care of ourselves need to get our bodies back in order, but there are a lot of shapes and sizes that are perfect for the person who owns that shape and size.
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