Day 44, BL, and a Small Rant About Gym People I Hate

This post of for Tuesday September 29th. I fell asleep before I could post last night. I've also added some non food pics again. The first is another image of the lake I walk the dogs around. The second is our Jack Russell, creatively named Jumping Jack Flash Gordon County. Don't ask. Finally, there is a sorta spoiler below for last night's episode of "The Biggest Loser", so you've been warned.

I've turned into Mr. Mom, only we don't have children. Well, we have lots of children but they all have 4 legs and tails. Anyway, with Kim having to work late almost every evening I've slowly acquired some of the errands she used to handle. Grocery shopping, picking up dry cleaning, dish washing (to a certain extent), laundry (I can't do Kim's because most of her clothes require a little more attention than mine do - I just throw my stuff in the washer followed by the dryer, no special items get to line dry) etc. I realized while shopping yesterday that I didn't have our "green bags" to put the groceries in and thought I'd better get home and hide the plastic ones before the militant environmentalist sees that I used plastic. I almost pulled it off. I put all of the bags from the first grocery store I went to deep in the recycling container out of view, but I had to stop at a second store and I forgot about those until it was to late. Busted. She handled it well. She told me since I was now the grocery shopper I needed to start keeping the "green bags" in my car. It wasn't a request, it was a statement of fact.

Outside of my newly reacquired errands and chores (I actually did all the household responsibilities before Kim moved in & took over 7+ years ago) I managed to work for a little bit in the office yesterday, attend a meeting at the bank, and reach a job site before the end of the day and give our friend Robein a ride home (we act as Robein's taxi so he doesn't have to give up any of his pay for a real taxi). I also manged to train with my mother before lunch. We trained shoulders. We started with 3 sets of military presses, then 3 sets of cable side lateral raises, next was 3 sets of front raises, and finishing up with 3 sets of rear delts. I wanted to get in a few sets of shoulder shrugs but the group of 19 year old guys that train upper body EVERY day had camped out on the equipment I needed so I decided to do cardio first & then try my shrugs. After I finished my 35 minutes on the treadmill, incline 12.2, speed 3.9, the guys were still on the same exercise, thus still occupying the equipment I needed. So in the time it took my mother and I to do 24 sets and 35 minutes of cardio, these numnuts were still on the same exercise. Now I'm a very quiet, relatively kind person. I don't bother others in they gym, I try to be very courteous and not get in someones way while they are training. But I have no patience for people who do not know how to train and get in my way. If it takes you over an hour to do one exercise, you're doing it wrong. If you weigh a buck 'o five and your trying to pull 405, you're crazy. If you're doing sets of 1 or two reps (and you're not a world class power-lifter) you're a fool. Either way, you don't know what you're doing and I hate you. I would have told them as much, but I was spent after the treadmill, I was running late (already), and I don't speak Spanish and they don't speak enough English for my insults to be effective. This is in now way about the guys being Latino because just as many stupid white kids do the same thing. I just don't like younger macho males who feel the need to stick out their chests and strut around the gym like some type of inbred chicken. Ok, finished with that rant. Before dinner I walked my little Jack Russell for about two miles and just as we returned home Kim had arrived and was about to start her evening walk. I decided to go on a second walk and visit with her. We lost Jack at the barn so he missed out on the second 2 miles. I think I got in close to 6.5 miles yesterday. The weather here has been wonderful in the mornings and evenings, so maybe I'll add an extra walk in everyday.



Meals were 100% on plan for the day. Breakfast was apple cinnamon oatmeal with a banana, and facon. My morning snack was the other half of the banana from breakfast and some yogurt. Lunch was a salad, cauliflower with cheese sauce, and cheesy home-style potatoes (which were very good). My afternoon snack was a piece of NS golden pound cake warmed up nicely in the microwave. Dinner was chicken pasta parmsean, a salad with olives & peppers & spinach, cauliflower with cheese sauce, and a slice of whole wheat bread. Dessert last night was a chocolate chip cookie.



Tuesday evenings now mean we get to watch Fat People Crying, I mean "The Biggest Loser." We both came to the conclusion that wild eyed Tracy is crazy as bat shit. Her eyes crack me up. She looks from left to right and I think they're gonna jump right out of he skull. She' lucky Coach Mo didn't reach out and choke her when she stepped across the line for a 2 pound advantage. The funniest part of the night was Jillian's reaction when Tracy weighed in. Perfect response. Really the only thing that could be said, and I'm sure it's what everyone was thinking. The Red team rocks for doing what they knew they had to do. I was so happy to see both of those guys had done so well at home. LOVED that Sean is planning to name his daughter Jillian. I hope the show offers a scenario where Tracy can get voted off while Coach Mo gets to stay.

Tomorrow is back day at the gym and my chance to add more pull ups to the workout!

Beginning Week 7 (Day 43)

Today began my 7th week of NS. Last week kinda got hijacked when we went out of town, but until Thanksgiving I should be able to train and eat exactly as I want to. Thanksgiving Kim and I are taking her parents to Myrtle Beach for a few days. I don't know what I'll do while we're gone, but hopefully by then I'll be much more comfortable with eating non NS meals.

I had my 6th WI this morning and lost 3.6 pounds last week even with everything getting kinda mixed up. So I've lost a total of 33 pounds in 42 days. I also am just under where I need to be to reach my goal of loosing at least 12 pounds in three weeks for the Columbus Day Challenge.

I had a 100% on plan day today. For breakfast I had berries with multigrain flakes, facon, blackberries, and a slice of multigrain bread. My morning snack was yogurt and a banana. Lunch today was a salad, vegetable beef soup, and cauliflower with cheese sauce. My afternoon snack today was a fudge brownie. Dinner this evening was chili with beans over a slice of multigrain bread, cauliflower with cheese sauce, and a salad with spinach, olives, & peppers. My dessert this evening was .

Training today was easy. Not that I went easy, it just seemed easy (maybe because I had a few days away from the gym over the weekend). My mother joined me today to train chest. We began with 3 sets of incline hammer strength presses, followed by 3 sets of decline presses, next came 3 sets of machine presses, and finally finishing up with 3 sets of cable crossovers. My first round of cardio was 35 minutes on the treadmill, incline 12, speed 3.8. My second bout of cardio today was a two mile walk with my little Jack Russell which took about 30 minutes or so. Photo is of part of my lake!

Good day all around today. Hope to have a very productive week 7 and get myself in a good position to meet my goal in the Columbus Day Challenge.

6th Weigh In

The weigh in this morning was not as good as I'd wanted, but better than I expected. I'm down another 3.6 pounds. I'd wanted to loose between 4-6 again. Considering all of the alterations to my routine I had to make last week I still did well. I had at least 5 meals that were non NS and still lost weight! I'm now a little behind the pace for my Columbus Day Challenge of losing 12 pounds in thee weeks, but only by .4 of a pound. A good week training and good week of perfect eating and I'll be right where I need to be this time next week.

Good luck to the rest of the Columbus Day Challenge Group!

Back Home & Back To My Routine (Day 42)

Kim and I returned today from our little vacation. It was only a couple of days, but we enjoyed being away and not having to be on call or available. Since Thursday I've had to eat at least one meal each day off NS. Not to say that is necessarily bad. I think most of the meals were actually less calories than what I'd have had on plan. I think I chose wisely and did well with my portions. If you're interested in our adventure in what has to be one of the tackiest places on earth check out my other blog here.

The only cardio I got in today was walking around Helen, GA. this morning and then walking our Pug for about 2 miles after we returned home this evening. Back to the gym and my usual routine tomorrow.

For breakfast this morning I had a chewy chocolate chip granola bar, a banana, facon, and 1/4 of a blueberry muffin. I didn't get a chance to eat my morning or afternoon snack today. For lunch we ate at a wonderful restaurant where Kim and I split some smoked fish (trout and salmon), we also each had a salad, and 3 diver scallops each. Dinner tonight was a salad with spinach, macaroni and cheese, cauliflower with cheese sauce, and a slice of multigrain bread. Dessert this evening was a peanut butter cookie.

I'll weigh in again tomorrow morning. I'm interested to see how I do considering I was forced to change my typical eating and training routines. I'd hoped to loose 4-6 again, but I'll be surprised to loose more than a pound or two. Either way, back home and back to my solid routine next week!

Still On the Road, NOT Eating Pizza (Day 41)

Kim and I are still out of town today. We met up with K &K today and decided to have lunch at a little pizza place overlooking a river. I ordered a salad with black olives, broccoli, and cucumbers. I watched Mr. K order a slice of pizza with pepperoni, ground beef, BACON, and jalapenos. I looked over at Kim and said, "Hell yeah!" Had this been 2 months ago I'd have ordered at least a dozen chicken wings and a large pizza (and I'd have eaten it all). We did walk by both candy stores in this little alpine tourist trap and they smelled so sweet it actually smelled bad. Mr. K got a candied apple. As we walked around Helen, Ga. I noticed that the people around us consisted of old people, drunk people, and a rough looking biker kinda crowd. Oh yeah, everybody here is white. What a weird place. I did well eating this evening. We prepared some shrimp on the grill using only lemon juice, blackened seasoning, and a few sprays of ICBINB.

For breakfast this morning I had blueberry muffins, yogurt, bread, and a banana. My morning snack was yogurt and a banana. Lunch was a salad while we were out, and then as we returned to our room I had a bowl of noodles with chicken and vegetables. My afternoon snack today was a double chocolate almond cookie. Dinner tonight was the shrimp, some couscous (I think I ate too much couscous), and cauliflower with cheese sauce. Dessert this evening was...

I think tonight was a success with regards to eating a non NS meal. It was very tasty, low calorie, fairly balanced meal. I could happily consume meals of that nature post NS. We head back home tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be able to get in some cardio tomorrow evening. Weigh in is Monday morning. I've had two non NS meals this week. One was a salad Thursday night which actually fit into my meal plan for the day. The other was the shrimp tonight. I hope I do well, but with 2 missed cardio workouts this week and some changes in my eating routine I don't know where I'll finish up at.

GO DAWGS!

On the Road Trying to Make the Right Choices (Day 40)

Again, I'm posting a day late. This is for Friday September 25, 2009.

I had another hectic day. Woke up and attacked the bookwork that had arrived overnight in my inbox and then off to train legs. I knew I didn't have time to spare so I only did 18 sets for legs. My plan was to have everything finished by 2:00 or 2:30 and be ready to leave out on our quick little trip into North Georgia (Helen, to be exact). Helen is a strange little place. It's an alpine village about an hour north of Atlanta. Think German inspired (copied) architecture, October Fest that runs for months, and lots of older white people drinking WAY to much. Like I said, strange. Anyway, my plan was to be ready to leave early. I didn't even make it to the job site until after 2:30 so my plans were shot. Add the time we spent having to repair some leaky roofs and not only was I not ready to go early, I actually arrived home late, tired, and covered with roofing tar. I think the next time I'm gonna be around roofing material, I'm just gonna start by pouring some all over myself and who ever is working with me so we don't waste time trying to keep it off of us as we work. By the way, if you've never been on top of a huge, flat, modified rubber roof in 90+ degree weather, it's REALLY hot. The roof acts as a type of frying pan and cooks you as you try to work. The bad thing is I just got a call from the bowling alley (one of the tenants with a leak) and they have already discovered a new leak. So back on the roof I'll go on Monday.

We finally were able to leave and the only meals I had to worry about eating away from home was dinner and my dessert. We met our newly wed friends, K & K, at a little restaurant as we arrived in Helen. As I looked at the menu I wanted to cry. Lots of lovely sounding German sausages, and a double pan fried pork chop. I had a side salad with six steamed shrimp. Never got a chance for my dessert last night so I know I came in low on my calories. Gotta do better today.

My workout was a little less than last week, but still took 43 minutes to complete 18 sets. 3 sets of true squats, 3 sets of leg presses, 3 sets of leg extensions for my quads. For hamstrings I did 3 sets of seated leg curls, 3 sets of standing leg curls, and 3 sets of hyper-extensions. No cardio at the gym because I was too tired and my legs were to weak after training. I did get some cardio climbing up and down ladders and sweating my ass off on the roof.

As I said before I had a good day on plan until dinner and dessert. Breakfast was cluster crunch cereal with blackberries, facon, and a slice of multigrain bread. Morning snack was yogurt and a banana. Lunch was a salad with spinach & a fudge graham bar. My afternoon snack was a chocolate chip cookie. Dinner I mentioned above.

The flooding in Georgia continues, so we're gonna try to wade our way into downtown Helen and look around/shop a little. Maybe find Kim some more coffee and then I'm sure she'll have to try some fake German Beer. I'll go drool at the candy store (chocolate peanut butter fudge) and fantasize about wienerschnitzel.

Nightmare (Day 39)

Again, I was exhausted last night and didn't get to post until this morning. So this is for Thursday, September 24th 2009.

Crazy day. We spent the day trying to get everything ready for our friends' wedding we were hosting at our lake last evening. The weather cooperated beautifully and the wedding went off wonderfully, almost. I spent the majority of the day (after the gym) trying to fix an unbelieviably flat tire on our tractor (so we could continue bush hogging the area near the wedding site. Wasted 4 hours on that. I did finally get the tractor moved back to the barn and out of the way. I guess if the only causalty involved with this wedding was a tractor tire then it was a complete success. So the guests arrive, I have all of my camera and lights set up ready to shoot, and the wedding begins. Just as the couple begin to say their I do's, both batteries in my main camera fail. I should add a little info here. I'm a pretty good photographer when it comes to pictures of food, sunsets, night photography, macro (little things like a bee or wasp taken at larger than life size), cats, dogs, still life, you get the picture. Any thing except humans. I never get to shoot other people, especially not in a fast paced, can't miss situation. So back to the wedding and my main camera failing. Just as the couple lean in for their first kiss, I drop my main camera and switch to my backup and just manage to get a few shots. What a NIGHTMARE. My main camera has never failed before, not once, and it picks the most opportune time to do so. I know my luck so I not only had a backup, but a backup to the backup. Yes, I was shooting with 3 cameras. Murphy's law applies doubly to me. Anyway, for the rest of the evening I was a wreck trying to shoot portraits of the newly weds and their families.

Back to the point of this blog, exercise and NS. I trained arms today. 3 sets of press downs, 3 sets of overhead extensions, 3 sets of rope press downs for triceps. Bicep workout consisted of 3 sets of barbell curls & 3 sets of hammer strength preacher curls. Cardio was 35 minutes on the treadmill, incline 12, speed 3.8.

I managed to follow the NS plan until dinner. Breakfast was blueberry muffins, facon, a banana, and a slice of multigrain bread. Morning snack of yogurt and a banana. Lunch was a salad with spinach, and pasta with beef. My afternoon snack was an oatmeal raisin cookie. Dinner was complicated. We met the newly weds and friends at the only restaurant still open in our little cow town, Long Horns. I'm not really a fan of chain restaurants (I do love Houston's) so maybe I'm a little biased. Anyway, I've never ordered a salad as an entre' before so I had no idea that LH's didn't have an extensive salad menu. So I ended up ordering a bowl of romaine lettuce with zuchini and a small amount of diced tomatoes (actually Kim ordered this and I just said I'll have the same). We also ordered a piece of salmon to share along with some steamed veggies. The salad arrived with cheese which I removed (Kim's had croutons as well which she removed) and then added my own FF Cesar dressing we brought with us. I tried one bite of the salmon. It had no taste (and was severely over cooked, however, I prefer my fish mostly raw). So my first meal in a restaurant was a bowl of lettuce, more or less. Once back home I had a bowl of macaroni and cheese with beef. This is now one of my favorite meals from NS. I was to tired to stay up and eat a dessert. I don't think I took in enough calories.

Back at it Friday. Gotta train legs, repair a roof at one of our commercial properties, and then out of town for the weekend to shoot some more pics of the newly weds. Hope everyone has a good weekend & good luck to all of the Columbus Day challengers.

How I Shoot My Photos - A Video (Day 38)

So I've had a few people ask how I shoot the photos for my posts, and others have inquired as to how much effort goes into the photos, etc. I setup the shots as I prepare my meals so it's less than a few minutes for the setup. Shooting the pics takes about 20 seconds. Editing in Adobe LightRoom or Photoshop (CS4) takes about a minute for each photo. All in all it's a very quick process. Check out the video below of how I shot the photo of tonight's dinner (last photo on the page).

Food Photos Video from Zane Hollingsworth on Vimeo.

I spent today driving around trying to gather all of the things we needed to work on our tractor as we readied our lake property for the wedding we are hosting tomorrow night. It was a fiasco, so pretty much a typical work day for me. The gym was much better. I trained back today. I tried to increase my 1 pitiful set of pull ups today to 6 reps. I only managed 5 1/2. I'll try again for 6 next week. After my pull ups I did 3 sets of lat pull downs, 3 sets of bent over rows, 3 sets of hammer strength pull downs, 3 sets of seated low rows, finally finishing with 3 sets of straight arm press downs. Cardio today was 35 minutes at incline 12 speed of 3.8. No cardio this evening because Kim didn't get home from work until about 10:30. Maybe we can walk tomorrow after the wedding.

For breakfast this morning I had to change my usual lineup of food. We were out of facon! This morning I had the nutrifrosted crunch cereal with raspberries, a slice of multigrain bread, and 8 oz of chocolate lite soy milk. My morning snack was yogurt and a banana. Lunch today was a salad, broccoli with cheese sauce, and vegetable beef soup. I decided on nacho crisps for my afternoon snack. Dinner was a very large salad with spinach peppers and olives, cauliflower with cheese sauce, and three cheese pasta with chicken. Seems like this time the pasta was much better. Dessert tonight was a white chocolate chunk cookie.

Tomorrow I've got to finish preparing the lake for the wedding, train, get all of my meals in, and then shoot photos of the wedding. Should be fun!

Tired, Running in Circles (Day 37)

It seems like last night and most of today I've been running back and forth to a job site, not accomplishing much. Last night we received one of those lovely phone calls from a tenant informing us she had no water. I told her to call the utility company and they would send their on call worker out to turn it back on (we live in a different town from the property, so I was trying hard to not drive there last night). Later she called back saying the utility company refused since they didn't turn off the water (one of our subs did, by mistake...) so my father and I loaded up and headed out into the floods of North Georgia to fix the problem. It was a funny experience and you can read about it on my other blog here. Today I've been running around sending submittals, trying to chase down a transfer truck to pick up a delivery (to no avail), and then returning to the job site to find it deserted. I wanted to find our friend who works for us and both of us go to fix a leaky roof. As I drove around looking for him I get a call telling me his wife will take him home, so I give up and dive 30 miles back home to continue my search for the delivery truck (still no luck). At least I remembered my snack today.

I did have a good workout this morning before my running in circles began. I trained shoulders (and traps) today. I began with 3 sets of shoulder presses, followed by 3 sets of side lateral raises, next up was 3 sets of front barbell raises, then 3 sets of rear delts. I trained traps by doing 3 sets of heavy shoulder shrugs, followed by 3 sets of light shrugs. Cardio today was 35 minutes on the treadmill, incline 12, speed 3.8. I received some very nice compliments while at the gym today. I ran into my insurance agent who commented on my weight loss. He was very nice and supportive. I'll have to keep doing business with him. Kim and I were finally able to resume our evening walks tonight. The rains have halted for the moment & we walked Jumping Jack Flash for about 2 miles around the lake. On days when we walk at night I'm totaling about 4 miles for the day and well over an hour of cardio for the day.

My eating today has been easy as usual. I'm so pleased that I don't have cravings, or other problems concerning eating. For breakfast I had lowfat granola cereal with raspberries, facon, and a slice of multigrain bread. Morning snack today was yogurt and grapes. Lunch today was a salad with peppers & spinach, and a chicken salad sandwich with TWO slice of multigrain bread. It was delicious. I did add a little mustard and Cholula to it. My afternoon snack was the NS chocolate cake. I had to eat it at room temp today at the job site whereas I usually heat it up in the microwave a little. Still good. So much better than the pretzels! For dinner this even Kim and I had vegetable fajitas with soy chorizo added in. I also had a salad with peppers and cholula, broccoli and cauliflower with cheese sauce. I omitted my carb and fat from the meal due to the tortillia we ate as part of the fajita. The dinner was big and a little more calories than usual, but only by about 30 or so. Dessert this evening was a chocolate chip cookie.

Start of Week 6 (Day 36)

This if for Monday. I fell asleep before I could post last night.

Today marks the beginning of my 6th week. I had another easy, hopefully productive day on the plan. I trained chest at the gym. The workout took about 30 minutes to complete 12 sets. I began with 3 sets of incline hammer strength presses, then 3 sets of flat bench presses, followed by 3 sets of decline wide grip decline hammer strength presses, and finally finishing up with 3 sets of body masters flies. Cardio was 35 minutes on the treadmill, incline of 12, speed of 3.8. No cardio this evening because of the incessant rain we are experiencing here.

For breakfast I had maple brown sugar oatmeal with raspberries, facon, and a slice of multigrain bread. My morning snack was yogurt and a banana. Lunch was cheese tortellini, a salad, and cauliflower with cheese sauce. My afternoon snack was s serving of golden pound cake (NS). Dinner was Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, a salad with peppers & olives, broccoli and cauliflower with cheese sauce, and a slice of multigrain bread. Dessert was a double chocolate almond cookie. Pretty good day and meals all around. The spaghetti was a little sweet, but not bad at all.

I have a fun filled day of trying to fix leaks on various properties we own. Hopefully the rain will end today and we can begin the repairs.

5th Weigh in (-6.3#'s!!!!)

This morning was my 5th weigh in. When I started NS I weighed 275, and I think at my biggest I was around 288. This morning I was down another 6.3 pounds! I now weigh 245.7. So that's 29.3 pounds lost sine starting NS (35 days ago). I am amazed each week by the progress I experience. I'm very pleased to be back in the 240's and hope to only be here a short time. Just a little more and I'll have the next Nutribear!

I do not think my results are typical nor repeatable long term. I know as I get closer to the "ideal" body weight for someone my height the amount of loss will decrease proportionally. I have had a few people ask me if I'm doing anything besides NS, or taking any sort of weight loss supplements. I am not taking any supplements, or protein shakes, or anything that is not part of the NS plan. I do train relatively hard 6 times per week & have fairly consistent, intense, high calorie burning cardio workouts at least 12 times each week. That along with the calorie deficit is working very well.

Time for breakfast and the off to the gym. Hope everyone else who had a WI this morning had good results. On to week 6.

Ending another week (Day 35)

Today marks the end of my 5th week on Nutrisystem. I've had another easy, hopefully very productive week. I didn't have a single bite of food off of the plan during the week. The week was a good week as well at the gym. I had great arm and leg workouts this week. Cardio this week went great as well, even with all of the rain we've experienced. I'll weigh in again in the morning and hopefully I'll have another good number.

I've decided to join one of the NS blog challenges. You join and decide what your goal is and post it as a reply. My goal for the next three weeks is 12 pounds. I've averaged more than 5 pounds lost per week so if I can keep close to that pace for a little bit I'll reach my goal easily. Good luck to all who plan to participate in Letsmove's Blog Challenge.

Today I had a cardio only day at the gym. 35 minutes on the treadmill, incline 12, speed 3.7. Next I did 10 minutes on the elliptical at level 6. No evening walk tonight due to inclement weather. I do have my camera setup outside shooting photos of the lightning so maybe I'll get a good shot.

We slept in a little this morning so our meal times were thrown off somewhat. For breakfast today I had pancakes, facon, a banana, and a slice of multigrain bread. My morning snack was yogurt and a banana. Lunch today was parmesan pasta with broccoli, cauliflower with cheese sauce, and a salad. My afternoon snack was an oatmeal raisin cookie. Dinner this evening was delicious. It's one of my favorite NS meals. I mixed 2 servings of steamed broccoli with the beef and noodles in teriyaki sauce, a salad with peppers & olives, and a slice of multigrain bread. Dessert this evening was a white chocolate chunk cookie, yum!

On to week six!

Day 34

Any time I see a commercial for food or read about a new restaurant I have one of two reactions. The first is something like , "I'd kill a man for some of that nasty Popeyes Chicken." My other reaction is thinking how sick I'd be if I did eat any of the crap that I see advertised on TV. I get to test myself concerning real food next weekend. We will be out with friends and I'll be expected to eat REAL food at a restaurant. I'd already thought of bringing my meals with me and eating alone in the hotel room, but I think this will be a good test of my new self control and ability to eat small meals and make good food decisions (plus Kim frowned at me while I was thinking aloud about the logistics of eating my meals before joining everyone for dinner). I will be taking my food for all other meals & I'm sure I'll pack a dinner as well in case something goes wrong (read I chicken out on the restaurant and hide in the hotel room with my NS).

I've made it through three weeks of college football season without having a pizza. This may not sound like much, but it's a major accomplishment. Traditionally I'd have at least a pizza on Saturday and sometimes one on Sunday too. I'd justify it because it would be about the only thing I'd eat each day and it had less than 2000 calories in it (Tombstone Pepperoni Pizza). Tonight I had a NS pizza with some turkey pepperoni. It filled the void nicely.

Again I had a good food day. For breakfast this morning I had lowfat granola cereal with raspberries, facon, and a slice of multigrain bread. My morning snack was yogurt and a banana. Lunch today was Chicken and Pasta in Cacciatore Sauce, a salad with peppers, and cauliflower with cheese sauce. Today's afternoon snack was a chocolate crunch bar. I love those, they remind me of a real candy bar. Dinner tonight was a sourdough pizza with turkey pepperoni, a salad with peppers & olives, broccoli and cauliflower with cheese sauce, and a slice of multigrain bread. Dessert this evening was a peanut butter cookie.

I trained calves at the gym today. 3 sets of standing calf raises and 3 sets of seated calf raises. Cardio today was 33 minutes on the treadmill followed by 10 minutes on the bicycle. No walk tonight because it has been raining for days here. Maybe we'll get a walk in tomorrow.

I've spent the rest of the day watching football. Georgia forgot to bring their defense on the trip with them to Arkansas. Thank goodness they scored 52 points. (When did the SEC turn into the WAC?)

Another Leg Day (Day 33)

I was so tired last night I feel asleep before I could type up my post, so this is for yesterday (Friday).

Friday is leg day at the gym for me. I got a late start because overnight it seems everyone I know business wise created a stack of bookwork for me to do. So I was able to eat breakfast and my first snack before arriving at the gym. I warmed up on the bike for few minutes and then I was ready to begin. My mother decided not to train with me (it was leg day & she didn't want to feel like death all weekend) so I had to go it alone. I started at 12:03 and finished at 1:06. So in 63 minutes I completed 21 total sets. So that averages a set every 3 minutes. Considering I had to load/unload all of the weights, recover after each set, & actually do a set, I thought that pace was decent. If I can find 2 good training partners that's how I prefer to train. It seems like you have the perfect pace with 3 people training. One person resting, one spotting, and one training. After a set you rotate and continue immediately. But right now I've got only myself to train with so I have to guess at the pace.

I started with 3 sets of hack squats (last set was 279 + the sled for ~10 reps), followed by 3 sets of true squats (all sets were 15 reps @ 270 + the rack), next was 3 sets of leg presses (~ 550 for 20 reps each set), then on to leg extensions for 3 sets. I moved on to hamstrings next by doing 3 sets of leg curls, 3 sets of standing leg curls, and 3 sets of hyper-extensions. I didn't get sick today, but I did kinda see stars after each of the last 3 sets. I thought the gym was turning down the volume of the music for a second then I realized my hearing was fading because I was about to black out. That's a good signal to have a seat. Also a great signal of a good workout. Can't wait until next Friday and another leg workout! My only cardio workout yesterday was Kim & my usual 2 mile walk around the lake with Jumping Jack Flash. I've gotta post some photos of our dogs and the lake we walk around soon.

For breakfast I had berries and multigrain flakes with raspberries, facon, and a slice of multigrain bread. Morning snack was yogurt with a banana. Lunch was fettuccine alfredo, a salad with peppers & spinach, and broccoli with cheese sauce. My afternoon snack was nacho crisps. Dinner was lasagna, a salad with spinach & olives & peppers, broccoli and cauliflower with cheese sauce. Dessert last night was a warm chocolate chip cookie.

Hope every has a great weekend. GO DAWGS!

Exhausted (Day 32)

Exhausted. That's how I feel. I had an extended workout (I trained arms today) and increased the intensity of my cardio today and I've felt worn out all day. What's sad is that I have to train legs on Friday. I fell asleep in my car at a job site this afternoon. It was only for a few minutes, but I didn't intend to. Guess I'll sleep well tonight.

I have been accidentally adding exercises to my workouts over the past few weeks but today I planned to add a few extra sets to my triceps routine. I did 3 sets of press downs, 3 sets of overhead presses, 3 sets of rope press downs, and 3 sets of machine (weighted) dips. For biceps I did 3 sets of incline curls, 3 sets of hammer strength preacher curls, and 3 sets of cable curl 21's (7 reps from the bottom to midway, 7 from midway to top, and 7 reps full reps each set). Cardio was the treadmill on incline 12, speed 3.7, for 33 minutes. Cardio again this evening was our usual 2 mile walk around the lake. We had to hoof it tonight to beat the approaching rain (still not here 4 hours later).

I had a great food day while getting to try one of the new items I ordered. For breakfast I had the low-fat granola cereal with raspberries, facon, a slice of multigrain bread, and a cup of coffee. Morning snack today was grapes and yogurt (obviously I love my yogurt). Lunch today was my first taste of the red beans and rice with sausage (NS), a salad with peppers, and a serving of creamed spinach. The beans and rice with sausage was good. I didn't think I was back in New Orleans or anything, but good (I did hit it with some hot sauce). For my afternoon snack I tried another new item, the Cheese Puffs (NS). Again they were good, and actually got better the more I ate of them. Not to be confused with a real Cheese Poof, but OK. Dinner this evening was macaroni and cheese with beef, a salad with olives, creamed spinach, cauliflower with cheese sauce, and a slice of multigrain bread. Dessert was another newbie, chocolate cake. Pretty good. I warmed it up and it was very nice.

Leg workout in the morning. Yippee!

I Have A Bear In My House (Day 31)

My second month of food from Nutrisystem arrived today. Oddly enough this month's bacon of the month club delivery of bacon was setting on top of the NS box on the front porch when I got home this evening. The NS food went into the cabinets, bacon to the freezer. All of the foods I ordered arrived along with some things I never wanted to see again, like pretzels, lemon blueberry bars, and cranberry orange pastries. Yuck. I'm considering boxing all of the stuff I don't want and sending it back and try to get some different snacks.

I also got a little friend in the box too. He is purple & wears #20. I never thought I'd be so happy to see a stuffed animal (other than Domo). He has taken up residence on the mantle in our living room just beside Domo. I didn't get a 10 pound bear. I guess because I lost more than 20 in the first month I only get the 20 pound bear. Happy to miss the 10 pound bear and go straight to the 20.

I trained back today at the gym. This week I added one more pull up like I'd planned, bringing my pull up set to a whopping total of 5 reps. Hope to get six next Wednesday. After my weak pull up set I did 3 sets of lat pull downs, 3 sets of t-bar rows, 3 sets of hammer strength pull downs, 3 sets of seated low rows, and 3 sets of straight arm press downs. 16 total sets in my workout today. For my treadmill work I increased the incline to 11.8 and speed of 3.6 for 32 minutes. Kim and I were not able to walk this evening due to all of the rain we had today.

For breakfast this morning I had blueberry muffins, strawberries, facon, and a slice of multigrain bread. I'm loving the new bread I've found. Sara Lee Lite Multigrain Bread. It only has 45 calories per slice. My morning snack was more strawberries and yogurt. Lunch today was black beans and rice, cauliflower and broccoli with cheese sauce. My afternoon snack was a very peaceful cup of vanilla caramel tea with the Chocolate Macadamia Nut Biscotti. Dinner this evening was Stroganoff Sauce with Beef and Noodles, a watercress salad with a single strip of facon and a dash of fat free Caesar, olives, multigrain bread, and creamed spinach. Loved it. Dessert tonight was something new, the Golden Pound Cake. I heated it up and devoured it. Not to be confused with a real cream cheese pound cake, but a treat none the less.

Arm workout tomorrow and then LEG day again on Friday. Today is the first day I'm not sore from last week's leg workout. Yay!

Day 30

I'm still waiting on my second order to arrive. I think it has made it to my state so hopefully it'll arrive tomorrow. I had a great shoulder workout today. My mother joined in the fun. We began using a different machine (someone was on our usual machine) and mom found it rather difficult. I ended up using the entire stack of weights on the machine except for the last set so I guess I found it a little difficult as well. Anyway, we did 3 sets of machine military presses, 3 sets of cable side lateral raises, 3 sets of dumbbell front raises, and 3 sets of rear delts. Mom bailed at this point but I still had a little more to go. 3 sets of heavy shoulder shrugs, but also doing a set of light shrugs following each set. So really I did a total of 18 sets for shoulders today. Following the workout I did my usual 30 minutes of cardio on the treadmill (incline 11.5, speed 3.6). Again late this evening Kim and I walked about 2 miles around the lake before the evening storms arrived.

I had a good food day today. Started with nutriflakes with fresh raspberries, facon, and a slice of multigrain bread. The usual morning snack of yogurt and grapes. Lunch was delicious today. I had a salad with peppers and Cholula hot sauce as a dressing, broccoli with cheese sauce, and hearty minestrone soup with a little Cholula. I had to pack my afternoon snack to take with me to a job site. So I grabbed a cooler and threw in my 2 sugar free jello puddings. Dinner tonight was rotini with meatballs and tomato sauce, a salad with olives & peppers & Cholula, 2 servings of cauliflower with cheese sauce, and a slice of multigrain bread. I'm loving the Cholula on salads now. Dessert tonight was great too. I had the oatmeal rasin cookie served warm!

We watched The Biggest Looser tonight. I hate that they have to send anybody home. I think it would be so much better if they all could stay and train for the entire season. They could compete each week for prizes instead of immunity. Anyway, we enjoyed it and hopefully I can use it for extra motivation if I run into a bad week at some point.

2nd Month Day 1 (Day 29)

I had a great weigh in this morning (-5 pounds for the week) and launched happily into my second month. My second order should arrive within the next few days (along with a least one NutriBear!) so I'm gonna make it until then on what amounts to my free week of food.

After weighing in and doing a quick celebratory dance I was off to a meeting for a few minutes then I made my way to the gym. Today I trained chest. 3 sets of incline press, 3 sets of decline, 3 sets of flat, and 3 sets of flies. Next was 30 minutes on the treadmill. Before dinner tonight Kim and I walked about 2 miles with our little Jack Russell.


For breakfast this morning I had apple cinimian oatmeal with raspberries, egg whites, and a slice of multigrain bread. Morning snack was again the usual yogurt and grapes. Lunch today was one of my favorites, bean and ham soup, & broccoli and cauliflower with cheese sauce. My afternoon snack was 2 servings of sugar free jello pudding. Dinner tonight was the NS hamburger with some 2% cheese along with 3 servings of broccoli with cheese sauce. I realized after dinner I forgot to add a fat, so I ate 5 olives as an after dinner pre-dessert snack. For dessert I had the white chocolate chunk cookie. I LOVE those heated up and served warm.

While at the grocery store this evening I found some 100 calorie ice cream sandwiches and other ice cream treats. I didn't buy any, but now I know they are there and I can try them later on when I complete my NS journey.

4th Weigh In

Down another 5 pounds! So that's 23 pounds in the first month! On to month 2. Below is a pic from the day before I started, followed by a shot from day 28 (yesterday).

Day 28

Today I tried three of the meals I've been saving. The blueberry pancakes, tomato and corn chowder, and veggie fajita. For breakfast along with the pancakes (which looked terrible because I used an old pan and they stuck to it, but they were great) I had facon, a banana, and a slice of multigrain bread. My morning snack today was grapes and yogurt. Lunch was the chowder along with broccoli and cauliflower with cheese sauce. The chowder kinda tasted like chili so that means I LIKE it. Afternoon snack today was 2 servings of sugar free jello pudding. For dinner Kim and I each had a veggie fajita, with fake chorizo, onions, silantro, and 2& cheese. I also had a salad with peppers and olives & even made 2 servings of veggies which I couldn't eat because I was stuffed from the huge fajita. Dessert tonight was the fudge brownie.

I made it to the gym today to train calves (6 sets total) and 30 minutes of cardio on the treadmill. Kim and I also walked the dogs this morning for about 2 miles. Kim was bitten by some ants this afternoon and her foot has swollen so we were unable to walk this evening.

I'll weigh in again in the morning for my 1 month total. I'm afraid I had such a large dinner I may be a little heavy. Guess I'll see in the morning. If I think I've weighed heavy I may weigh in again on Tuesday morning.

Octopus! (Day 27)

Tonight I ate my first non NS meal in a month. I did forget my afternoon snack a few weeks ago and had to eat a mini taco, but this was the first planned meal off the program. Our meal? Grilled Octopus, mushrooms, broccoli rabe, and a small salad with olives. We weighed each serving of octopus (3 oz each) of which I had 2. Each serving has 70 calories, almost no fat, & over 12 grams of protein. My total meal was less than 300 calories. This is how I want to eat after NS. Good food, sensible portions. Octopus is a real treat for us. The nearest place we can get it is in Atlanta, so that's an hour drive there and another hour back. Luckily Kim wanted to go to the Buford Hwy Farmers Market today while I watched football. She came home with the octopus and about 5 pounds of Monk Fish!

For breakfast today I had lowfat granola cereal, facon, multigrain bread, and a banana. My morning snack was yogurt with a banana. Lunch today was a chocolate peanut butter bar and a fake chicken veggie patty. Afternoon snack was again jello pudding (2 servings). Dinner was the Octopus feast. My dessert tonight was a peanut butter cookie.


The only cardio I did today was about a 2 mile walk with Kim and two of our hounds. I'll have to get to the gym tomorrow to train calves and get in another good cardio session.

GO DAWGS!

Horrendous Leg Workout (Day 26)

Friday. Leg day. It was a horrendous (wonderful), grueling (exhilarating) workout. I added an extra exercise to the workout today bringing the total sets to 18. I started with 3 sets of hack squats, 3 sets of squats, 3 sets of leg presses, and 3 sets of extensions for quads. For hams I did 3 sets of leg curls followed by 3 sets of hyper-extensions. I was so tired and spent by the end of the workout I couldn't do my cardio at the gym. I tried, but my knees kept buckling. Once I returned home I felt cold and sick. My Pug curled up with me on the sofa for a few minutes and helped me to get to feeling a little bit better. The chicken noodle soup I had for lunch helped out a good bit as well. This evening after I got home Kim and I walked Jumping Jack Flash Gordon around the lake for about 1/2 an hour. At least I was able to get one cardio session in today. I'm afraid I'm gonna be silly sore tomorrow and worse on Sunday from my leg workout.



My first meal of the day was maple brown sugar oatmeal with facon, a banana, and a slice of multigrain bread. This morning's snack was yogurt and a banana. Lunch was chicken noodle soup, broccoli and cauliflower with cheese sauce. My afternoon snack was pudding. One chocolate and one caramel vanilla. For dinner this evening I tried one of Kim's vegetarian meals. I had the cheese ravioli with basil tomato sauce which was very tasty, broccoli with cheese sauce, a salad with peppers and olives, a slice of multigrain bread, and a nectarine. The nectarine was delightful. I'll have to add it as my fruit more often.