Dave's Not Here

I have been saying, for quite a while, that I’d know what my goal was with my diet when I got there.  Today I ran five miles.  Without stopping.  For the first time in my life.  And, I suddenly realized that I was done.

In high school, I ran 3 miles a day after football practice.  I got my bench press up to 225-235 or so.  And, I wore 32″ pants.  Today, I’m wearing 32″ pants, medium shirts, and I can bench 225 lbs.  While I have been stronger (I’ve pressed 250 before), I don’t think I’ve been in better shape.  I still have a gut . . . and some back fat . . . but I can live with that.  (Or, it may go away in the next couple of weeks . . . )

I am in the final weeks of a “Biggest Loser” challenge at the gym.  I could win . . not sure, I’m afraid to do the math, because it could be impossible at this point.  That challenge ends Monday, May 17th, 2010, so, that will be the official end of my diet.  I will continue to train for the Warrior Dash.  And, I’ll continue to hit the gym.  But, I’ll move on to maintaining my weight, and, hopefully, not obsessing about it as much   While I’d like to lose another 10 or so, I won’t be bothered if I don’t.  Especially if I continue to stay fit.

So, just to recap:

Starting Stats, May 2009

• Weight: 257
• Pants: 42″
• Shirts: XL / XXL

Ending Stats, May 2010

• Weight: 182
• Pants: 32″
• Shirts: M/L

I’ll get out the tape measure this Monday, and on my official end date, Monday, May 17th, and probably post some final stats (I got plenty!)

Who says “issues” can’t start with a “w” too.  It’s my alliteration, and I’ll spell how I want to.

This has been a really strange week for working out.  First, I hit a failure at bench @ 180#.  I was hoping to rectify that today.  But, on my third set, while pulling the weight off of the rack, I strained something in my shoulder.  I think it will be ok by Saturday, and I’ll attempt the 180 again.  Because of this failure, and the fact that Loch is showing up all the time now, we’re going to move bench press back to a normal bench, out of the power rack, and that way we can actually spot each other.  (And, lift off the weights, when they get heavy)

The next strangeness was running.  On Sunday, I ran in Roswell Area Park for the first time.  I loved it.  There are lots of trails to run on, and it’s easy to find a way to make them add up to any distance I want.  Plus, there were just a few hills . . nothing like Leita Thompson.  (But, then again, not as flat as running next to the river, either)  But, that wasn’t the strangeness.  I decided to run just a little slower this time, to try to keep from walking as much.  And, it worked.  I didn’t drop to a walk till about 2.25 miles in (up from 1.5 miles before).  And, when I finished, it felt like a much better workout . . . my legs were actually sore.  But, the strangeness was:  even though I walked less, my overall time was slower than when I ran faster, and walked more.  So, what’s the better workout?  Running faster / walking more, or running slower / walking less . . . ARGH!

A couple of new workout toys came in this week.  An Ab Wheel, and a dipping belt.  The Ab Wheel is simply too hard to use after a workout.  I don’t know if it’s because my arms are tired, or because my abs are too weak, but, I am not able to use it effectively.  Back to plank holds.  The dip belt is another story.  I added on 20 lbs to myself today, and did sets of 8/8/5.  I’m really going to like going heavy on dips.  (though, my triceps aren’t as happy about it)

My weight has continued to hover between 182 and 184.  I was hoping that adding 3 days a week of 3 miles of running would engage the loss again.  i was wrong.

I have my physical tomorow, with a doctor that is familiar with my diet plan.  I’m hoping he has some advice for me . . . something to help me lose the last bit of fat, and continue to bulk and prepare for the Warrior Dash.  I’m looking forward to it!  (And to the dash!)

Yesterday I was supposed to do the V-Burn Challenge.  But, instead, I went to the store and bought Quinn a bike.  I’ll start doing the V-Burn next Wednesday (From my hotel room, in SLC).  I’m curious how well I’ll do.  I’m going to do the intermediate one.

Today’s workout was NOT boring.  Lots of changes, and some failures . . .

First off, I wasn’t sure what weight to use on bench.  My last workout, I maxed instead of doing 5×5 of 175#.  So, I decided to skip to 180 anyway, because it was 40# more than Loch was doing, and it made weight changing easier.  But, on the last set, I had my first fail.  (5/5/5/5/3).  I don’t think it was just because I went up 10# instead of 5#.  I’ve been nearing my max for a long time.  So, I’m going to do what I’m supposed to do, and not go up next bench workout.  (Do 180# again).  If I fail again, then I’ll have to unload 10%.  I don’t think I’ll fail again . . . at least, not at 180#.  185#, though, may be another story!

Next, was power cleans.  Rafe posted a nice video of him doing cleans, after he saw mine.  I definitely have some back issues.  Also, I googled a lot, and, if I want to get heavy, I need to go back to two separate movements:  A Deadlift, then dip the bar to the knees, and clean it.  The double movement makes it much harder.  So, we dropped to 3×5 (from 5×5).  And, we unloaded to 95#

Workout

• Squat 5×5 @ 140#
• Bench 5×4/1×3 (fail) @ 180#
• Power Clean 3×5 @ 95# (unload from 110#)
• Bar Dips 3xF – 12/10/7 – Again low, probably due to the bench fail.
• Dragon Flags 3xF – Hard to measure reps, when they all suck so bad.  But, I do enjoy the suck.

It was raining early this AM, so I didn’t go run . . . . but, after some friendly shame from a buddy, I got off my ass, and hit the trail.  I walked a couple of times . . after about 1.2 mi in.

In a nutshell:  3.37 miles in 38:30.  Average HR: 175 Max HR: 191 — so freaking out of shape!

Today’s PotD has a couple of videos, so I can get comments on my form.  Squats just seem too hard, at such a light weight.  I mean, I’m not near failure — but it still feels frigging heavy!

Also, I maxed bench today, while Loch was getting used to 135#.  So, onto the  . .

Workout

• Cardio – 5 mins
• Stretching – 5 mins
• Squats – 5×5 @ 135#
• Bench – 5@135#, 1@205#, 1@225#, Attempted 235, failure.
• Power Clean – 5×5 @ 105#
• Bar Dips – 12/12/5 – Prolly failed to get 3×12 due to maxing in bench.
• Abs: Two sets of dragon flags, 1×12 of reverse squats @ 5# offset

And, the videos!

Squats

Power Cleans

I haven’t been logging my workouts here for a while, and, since I’ve added NEPA and some cardio, I thought it was a good time to.  So, on to the Pain of the Day Week

Monday

• Strength Training in the AM
  • Squat 5×5 @ 120#
  • Bench 5×5 @ 165#
  • Power clean 3×5 @ 95#
  • Bardips 3xF 12/12/9 (33)
  • Reverse Crunch 3×12 @ 15#
• 2.4 miles in Leita Thompson (walking – fast) in the evening.

Tuesday

• 2.12 miles in Leita Thompson (walking – fast – and slow . . . kids dragging behind)

Wednesday

• Strength Training in the AM
  • Squat 5×5 @ 125#
  • Overhead Press 5×5 @ 80#
  • Deadlift 3×5 @ 165#
  • Pull Ups 5xF 3/3/3.5/2.5/1.5
  • Prone Bridge 3×45 – blew them off
• 2.5 mile (walking fast) hike to Outback Steakhouse for dinner. 313 calories.  Details Here

Thursday

• 2.0 mile run/walk in Leita Thompson in the AM.  24:35 – just over a 12 minute mile.  280 calories.  Details Here
• 2.4 mile  walk (fast) in Leita Thompson in the evening in 52:38.  Map here (will only work for a month)

Friday

• Strength Training in the AM- Details: Average HR: 150 Max HR: 183, 631 cals burned
  • Squat 5×5 @ 130#
  • Bench Press 5×5 @ 170#
  • Power Clean: 5×5 @ 100#
  • Bar Dips: 3×12
  • Reverse Crunch 2×12
  • Dragon Flags – 2×3 or so
• Will probably do some kind of walk this evening.

So, after all my cheating, plateau nonsense, I’ve finally gone a day completely on plan.  And, I manged to get in some NEPA too.   We ate out at Outback last night.  Tammy takes the kids to PSR, and I was supposed to meet her there at 6:00.  So, instead, I walked there, leaving at about 5:00.  It took me about 45 minutes to walk the 2.5 miles.  It felt really good.

This morning, like a reward for my good deeds, the scale rewarded me with a 3.7lb drop.  I know it’s mostly water, but the reward feels nice too.

And, since today is supposed to be one of my new cardio days, I ran/walked the 2.0 mile trail at Leita Thompson.  I did the two miles in 24:33 which is just a bit slower than a 12 minute mile.  Not bad since there was a lot of walking involved too.  I wore my Garmin GPS / HR Monitor, but the cradle is lost, so I can’t upload the data just yet.  (New cradle should be here Friday or Monday.)

Plans for the Future

So, given my immediate success, and wanting to prepare for the Warrior Dash, I’m amending my workout schedule to look like this:

• Tuesday, Saturday, Monday:  Strength workouts (Stronglifts 5×5)
• Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday:  Try to get two days of cardio in (Running in Leita Thompson) for 5 days a week of workouts.
• Try to get in NEPA every day, though, some days, it’s just impossible.

I’m going to eventually be upping the distance for the running.  Eventually I want to do the Blue Trail (2.0 miles) + the Lake loop (.25 miles) backwards, followed by the Yellow Trail (1.15 miles).  This will be about the length of the Warrior Dash.  I would do the Red Trail (2.25 miles) instead of the Blue, but, that includes the Yellow Trail, and I figured  I would enjoy it more with less repetition.  We’ll see how it goes.  If I get my speed so fast that I can do two blue trails or something, I’ll burn that bridge when I get to it.

I’ve been bitching and moaning for some time now about my plateau:

But, as alluded to in Confessions of a Cheeter, it’s not like I don’t know what’s going on.  And, though the honesty pains me, I have not followed my advice and gotten back on plan.  My workouts have been going well.  I’m still doing Stronglifts 5×5, and the weight is steadily going up.  Today I added two extra sets of deadlifts, and they really felt good.

I had one really bad day in Florida, while I was on vacation.  And, I enjoyed it.  I didn’t enjoy the feeling, but, it was good to take a break.  But, since getting back home, I have not had a single day completely on plan.  And, unlike my cheats of the past, where I stuck to proteins, I’ve been cheating with carbs.  So, I’m obviously out of ketosis Fat Burning Mode.  The only question is why?  Why am I undermining myself?

After the first cheat of a day, the others are much easier.  If I’ve already eaten carbs, why not go whole hog.  But, the really sad part is, I’m not even eating good stuff.  I’m eating empty carbs for no real reason.  For some reason, even though I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I seem to have lost a lot of motivation.

Maybe it’s because I’m so close.  Medium shirts fit me really well.  They are slightly tight in the chest / arms, and they don’t hit my little belly at all.  I’m wearing 32″ pants and shorts.  Someone even told me I look “sickly”.  (I’m not that thin — I think it was pretty funny to be called “sickly” by someone who weighs over 300lbs).  Looking at myself, as unbiased as I can, I still have about 20-25 lbs left to lose.  I still have a belly — no visible six pack yet.  And, I still have a half inch or so of fat all over my body.  I’m in that place where I first started gaining weight, but didn’t notice, because I was putting it on everywhere at the same time.

I think that may be the only reason.  I’m ready to be done.  I want to do real workouts.  I want to run.  I need to prepare for the Warrior Dash.  I’m hoping that, on my physical on April 27th, the doctor tells me to stop Medifast, and start upping the cardio for the end game.  Either way, I’ll have to do something to get prepared for the 3 mile run in the dash.  I REALLY want that hat!  I think that hope is also torpedo’ing my resolve.  I want to be done with my current diet and start something new.  Which, is about right, timing wise.  I can’t really stick to one plan for more than 3 months or so — I get bored.

So, what now?  I can’t continue this downward spiral.  I need to finish, so I can get on with a more normal life.  I’m looking forward to switching to a more normal meal plan:

Medifast	My Plan
Breakfast 100 cal	Breakfast 200 cal
Morning Snack 100 cal	Morning Snack 100 cal
Lunch 100 cal	Lunch 300-500 cal
Afternoon Snack 100 cal	Afternoon Snack 100 cal
Dinner 300-500 cal	Dinner 300-500 cal
Evening Snack 100 cal	Evening Snack 100 cal
Total: 800-1000 cal	Total: 1100-1500 cal

The basic differences are: Larger breakfast and lunch. I still want to eliminate carbs from the last two meals, and, obviously, keep them low-ish on the first 4. The snacks will likely be protein shakes or half a protein bar. . . or something like that. And, I will make it a point to have protein at every meal / snack.

But, I digress.  To get to that goal, I need to drop my fat.  And, the only way I can do that is to stop cheating, and finish already.  If I do things right, I should only have about 1-2 months left of dieting.  Wish me luck.

My family is on vacation right now in Destin, FL.  I’m there too, but I’m working from the hotel room.  I still get a little bit of vacation though

Anyway, I decided to have a little mini vacation of my own.  First, I decided to drink as much Diet Coke as I wanted.  And, 2nd, I decided to pick an evening, go completely off plan, and have some fun.  This post is to describe those two events . . . neither of which went how I thought they would.

First, I started with the Diet Cokes.  I love having them around. . . I tend to drink way too many, but, I enjoy them, and, they tend to really be nice when I’m feeling a bit hungry. . . or so I thought.  After the third day of drinking Diet Cokes, steadily, I noticed that I was starving — ALL THE TIME.  I know that aspartame is supposed to mess with your insulin response. But, I’ve never noticed it, personally.  Until now.  By the end of the day on Tuesday, after drinking sodas heavily the weekend, and Monday, I noticed that I was absolutely starving between meals.  And, when I drank a soda, I was sated, for about 10 minutes, when I either needed food, or another soda.  Very scary.  At least now I have a definitive reason to stop them all together.  They are still a treat when I’m eating out, etc.  But, my decision to keep them out of the house was 100% correct . . . . way more than I thought it was.

Next, the evening of debauchery.  Besides a bit of pre-pigging out due to Diet Coke hunger, I snacked on the following Tuesday evening . . . and, amazingly, most of it, especially the sweets, rated a “meh”.  That was extra surprising, since I LOVE sweets.  I should have forced down some ice cream (Blizzards are my demise), but, I simply had no more room

• Fried pickles – as good as I remember.  This one was a “wow, I miss that” food.  But, I only had a few . . didn’t pig out like I used to.
• Fajita Nachos – My normal staple meal.  One of my favorite things in the world.  They used queso fresco, like I like too (white cheese).  These were still as good as I remember.  This is one of the few foods that I still need to be careful of.
• Coconut Fried Shrimp – still all kinds of goodness here too.  I only had one, but it was good.  I’m not a huge fan of shrimp, so, this indulgence won’t cause me many problems in the future.  But, they were good.
• Buffalo Chicken Wrap – I’ve had better . . and . . It was only ok.  I’m sure I can make a reasonably healthy version of this meal — the only really “Bad” part was the lard filled tortilla.
• Pollo Loco wrap – Big meh here.  Simply food.
• Fudge – I’m a huge fudge fan, but, I could live without it easily
• Praline – I had a pecan praline – I love these . . and, again, it was a “meh”
• Divinity – I think I’m one of the only people I know who loves divinity.  Most people say that it’s too sweet — as if there is any such thing as too sweet . . hehe . . but, again, “meh”.  Wasn’t too sweet, but, I just wasn’t impressed.
• Fresh pulled Taffy – Big meh.  Sweet, chewy, and I simply wasn’t that interested.
• Beer, frozen drinks, etc – Now this was all good — but, likely from the effects more than the taste.  Best beer of the night was my standby 420.  Others were “meh”, but got the job done

I think the biggest surprise, overall, was how little I missed things.  I didn’t get all excited about the food.  And, as I ate it, I had no regrets over not eating it the last few months.  It strengthened my resolve to finish what I’m doing, and, occasionally, I can eat those foods . . . . Fajita nachos just doesn’t need to be a staple — it needs to be an occasional treat!

Call it a mid life crisis.  Call it stupid.  But, whatever it is, I think I’m becoming a skate punk.

I have never been a skateboarder.  I have touched them before, though.  When I was in high school, my sophomore year, two friends of mine were skate punks, and they used to hang out in my dorm room with their skateboards.  It was about a 10×10 room, so, all I really learned to do was to balance standing still, and do . .urm . . not sure what they were called, but, 180 and 360 degree spins on the back wheels.  That was it.  I did try an outdoor downhill once — got going way to fast.  When I jumped off, I was going faster than I could sprint, and I pulled a hamstring pretty good, and somehow didn’t fall . . . Oh well, the joys of high school.

Snowboarding, however, has been trying to bring out my inner skate punk for a long time.  Since the first day I strapped one on, my eyes have always been looking outside of the groomed trail, more than anything.  Which, I should add, is COMPLETELY different to how I viewed the trails on skis — where I only cared about doing the run faster, but staying ON the run.  My last few snowboarding trips, I have spent a lot of time in the terrain parks.  Granted, I did very few of the obstacles, but I loved trying them.  And, I’ve started hitting the little jumps on the sides of the trails too . . . slowly, but I’ve been hitting them.

As some of you know, I bought a Ripstik G with the last of my birthday money.  A previous time when I tried to lose weight, and started getting near 220lbs, one of my goals was to get under the Ripstik’s weight limit, and buy myself one as a reward for hitting 220.  That particular diet, I barely made it to 220, then gave up, so I never bought one.  It had totally left my mind, when I was in Target, and saw it again.  I’m well under 220 now (185-ish), and what caught my eye was the first bullet:  “Carve like on a snowboard”.  I almost bought one that minute.  But, I decided against it.  Later that day, when I was in Wal Mart with the kids, I saw another one, this one the “G” with the grinding rail, and I bought it.  (I’ve later discovered that a Freebord would be a much closer alternative to a snowboard, but, that’s a toy for another day).  I was surprised at how hard it was to simply get up on the Ripstik.  Since it only has two wheels, you actually have to be moving to balance.  So, there is no “Taking it slow”.  I took the kids to Big Creek park, and we played on the concrete, and had a blast.  It is much easier than I remember skating on a skate board being.  I simply don’t get the kicking with one foot thing.

So, I remembered that the City of Roswell has a skate park, and I took Quinn to check it out.  It was closed, but all of the ramps looked very doable.  We were definitely going to have to check it out!  We made a family date to hit it the following weekend, on a Wednesday.  I called, and they were closed on Wednesday.  And, helmets are required, and I don’t have a skateboard helmet, just a snowboard one . .though, I guess I could pull out the earmuffs . . . So, we decided to try out Progressive Skate Park in Canton instead.  They had rentals, and I wanted Quinn to try a real skateboard.  (He has a spiderman one).  Quinn and Amy brought their razors.  Quinn brought his crappy skateboard.  I brought my Ripstik and inline skates.  I used to be REALLY good at inline skating . . but that’s a story for another day.

Progressive only allows (as we found out), skateboards and inline skates in their inside park. But, they allow anything in the outside park. And, they had a deal on Wednesday evenings. Free lessons for beginners. So, we rented two skateboards (for Quinn and Amy), two helmets (for me and Quinn), and signed up for the lessons at 7:00. It was about 6:15, so we decided to hit the outside park with the “illegal” toys. Amy was great on her razor. The girl has no fear. She didn’t even notice her bloody elbow till we were walking inside. (I had noticed it, but decided not to say anything since it wasn’t bothering her). Quinn finally came out of his shell, and started having a lot of fun too. I was a bit scared, but, did some ramps with the Ripstik. It was VERY controllable. Not at all how I remember feeling on a skateboard — I can really do a tight turn.

Then, we went inside for the kids lesson. I put on my skates, with all intentions of owning the park. I used to be REALLY good. I think the key word there is “used”. I feel like a truck hit me. Fell several times. But, still had a blast. As an absolute contrast to the razors, Quinn had almost no fear on the skateboard. And, it was Amy’s turn to be timid. We REALLY had fun. And, I kept eyeballing the skateboards.

So, now, I’m asking myself — Is it too late to become a skate punk? Wonder what kind of skateboard a beginner 41 year old man should get?