Popcorn Tragedy (Days 167 & 168)

This post is for Friday the 29th and Saturday the 30th.

Friday Kim had a morning meeting concerning her new job so we trained in the afternoon. Since we were running a day behind we trained arms. We had to train quickly so we could head to the next town over for her to get a TB test, have her fingerprints taken, and get a new Social Security Card for her(she lost her old one). 3 sets of heavy overhead presses and 3 sets of heavy press downs for triceps. Biceps were similar with 3 sets of heavy cable curls with a straight bar and 3 heavy sets of single arm cable curls (at the same time). Before the workout we did 30 minutes on the treadmill. I tried a new running routine, increasing the speed by .5mph each 5 minutes. The first 20 minutes were great, but I decided to slow down for about 3 minutes somewhere around 22 minutes in. I picked the pace back up for the final 5 minutes. I also did the usual 60 minutes on the bike at home as well.

Food Friday was a 100% NS day. I don't recall everything I ate, but I do remember having a delicious NS pizza withe veggie chorizo and a salad for dinner.

Pizza with veggie chorizo!

Saturday found us training legs. I knew it was a bad sign when I woke up Saturday morning and my legs were already sore. I don't know if they were sore because it was Saturday and they knew they were supposed to be sore ('cause we always train legs on Friday) or if they were sore from the running and biking on Friday. My morning bike ride ended up being the only cardio of the day because after training I felt fatigued all over. I decided to rest after the workout. The workout was a departure from our normal routine. We did sets of 30 reps for quads. 3 sets on the true squat machine, 3 sets on the leg press, and 3 sets of leg extensions. Hamstrings were 3 sets of seated leg curls (for around 15 reps), 3 sets of hyper-extensions, and 3 sets of stiff leg dead lifts (for me) while Kim did 3 sets on the glute master. All the reps just added to the fatigue I already felt and made the decision to drop my other cardio for the day easy. As we trained a guy walked up to where we were working on the leg press (as Kim finished and I was about to begin after my sets on the true squat) and wanted to know if he could use the machine since Kim was finished. I was so out of breath I just nodded yes and waved him on. After Kim did her first set on the true squat machine I could breathe and talk again so I asked if I could work in with him on the leg press. He said sure. I noticed he had been stretching before his set and was kinda huffing and puffing as he did his reps. I glanced at the weight on the machine (about 400#'s) which was about what I wanted to use for my 30 rep sets. This was great because I wouldn't have to load and unload the weights between my sets and his sets. So I jumped in and banged out my 30 reps quickly and jumped out of the machine. I didn't notice until the guy's second set that he was only doing sets of like 8 reps and struggling to get those. If I'd known I would have just waited until he finished. I didn't want him to think I was trying to show him up or embarrass him. He did one more set and then left the gym. That's part of what I hate about training at a different time and day from our normal routine. Usually (for the past few months anyway) people that train at the same time as we do kinda adapt to our routines as we do to theirs and we stay out of each others way. Anyway, I kinda felt bad and wished I'd paid more attention to his first set and just waited another minute until he finished.

Saturday's dinner!

I had a good food day Saturday, until after dinner. I decided to have my popcorn I didn't get last weekend. We stopped by Popcorn Haven, the largest gourmet popcorn store in the world which inexplicably is located in our tiny town, and got a mini bag of Loaded Baked Potato popcorn. I noticed some of the new flavors including Snickers, Twix, Kit Kat, a few dark chocolates, and FRIED CHICKEN! I gotta try the fried chicken next time. I poured a bowl of popcorn at home and took a photo of it for the blog. I then walked into my office for something and returned to the kitchen to discover the bowl of popcorn empty. I was shocked that Kim had eaten my popcorn. I wasn't upset, just surprised. I politely asked her about it, really to make fun of her a bit for sneaking and eating it all, but she told me she hadn't touched it. I walked back in the kitchen and the PUG was standing on a bar stool looking at me. The PUG ate my popcorn! That was over 1/2 of the tiny bag of DELICIOUS popcorn I was going to enjoy, gone. She licked her lips and cried for some more. BAD DOG! I ate the remaining tiny bag of popcorn and was left utterly depressed. The Pug wouldn't even sit in my lap or give me any Pug kisses/snots (snots are a pug sign of love, she gets in your face and kinda blows her nose on you, it takes some getting used to). After the popcorn tragedy I decided that since I was resting this evening & since I didn't get to eat my popcorn I wanted that I'd have some chocolate. I ate way too much chocolate. So much so that my stomach hurt as I went to bed. I moaned and groaned as I tossed and turned trying to get to sleep. At least I won't crave any chocolate for a long time now.

The bowl of popcorn that I didn't get to enjoy!

The reason I didn't get to enjoy the bowl of popcorn!

Sunday is back to usual on the bike and treadmill, plus an ab workout that will get us back on schedule for Monday.

BodyBugg Info for Friday was great - over a 2000 calorie deficit. Saturday sucked. They probably canceled each other out. I'll get back to posting BB data on Sunday's post. I've been busy again (working on tax prep and research for a potential upcoming surprise, I'll know more on Monday and maybe share then) but hopefully I'll be back to regular posts again tomorrow.

.25 Cent Oyster Night! (Day 166)

This post is for Thursday January 28th, 2010.

We're back into a nice routine late in the week. Up early to release the hounds, eat breakfast, and get in the first session on the spin bike. Next we hit the gym around lunch. 30 minutes on the treadmill (all 30 jogging/running today) before we trained back. After the cardio we were tired but we still trained fast. 3 sets of pull downs, 3 sets of t-bar rows, 3 sets of hammer strength pull downs and then we called it quits. Home again to rest and change clothes before dinner.

Thursday's are .25 cent oyster night at Easy Bistro. We took advantage tonight. Kim, my parents, and I headed North to feast. Kim had oysters and lentil soup. My parents had seafood pasta (Dad) and grilled fish (Mom). I had two dozen oysters and a cup of coffee afterward. I eat oysters with a little lemon juice and hot sauce, so no extra calories from cocktail sauce. They were good (especially for .25 cents each!) and surprisingly filling (and considering I don't eat crackers with them). After dinner we walked next door and shared a small cup of chocolate peanut butter ice cream. I had about 5 or 6 bites. Delicious. We barely ate half the small and threw away the rest. Once home I changed and hit the bike again for another 30 minutes. I had a pretty good calorie burn on the day.

Spinning after the oyster/ice cream feast

Kim had good news today. She was offered a job! She has to go in for a bit tomorrow morning. Hopefully we'll know after the meeting if we'll still get to go on vacation in March. Either way she's excited about the new position.

I had a good day with food. Breakfast was blueberry pancakes, facon, and a banana. My morning snack was a cup of Greek yogurt. Lunch was chili and a veggie burger. My afternoon snack was a chocolate chip cookie and a Kashi bar. Dinner was the raw oyster feast, some olives, and a few roasted, smoked nuts. Dessert was the few bites of ice cream and microwaved apple with calorie free caramel sauce (simply lovely).

BodyBugg Info:

Calories In = 1801 (estimate)
Calories Burned = 4151
Calorie Deficit = 2350

Day 165

This post is for Wednesday, January 27th, 2010.

Wednesday found us back on schedule, in a major way. Kim awoke around 6:30 (very, very strange) and arose to release the hounds. She then headed to the gym for a yoga class. I got up and hit the spin bike for 30 minutes and was ready to train when Kim got back from yoga. We trained shoulders since we're running a day behind this week. Tuesday we experminted with training first and then doing our time on the treadmill. I wasn't really happy with the change so we switched back to 30 minutes on the treadmill first again. My treadmill work began with DJ's 5x5x5 interval (5 minutes at 5mph, 5 @ 6mph, and 5 @ 7mph) then I moved into single minute intervals between 5mph and 8mph. At the 21 minute mark I slowed to 3.5mph and increased the incline to 11 and walked for 3 minutes (to allow my HR to drop back a little). I finished the remainder of the treadmill work running at 6 mph. The shoulder workout began with 3 sets of dumbbell military pressed, then 3 sets of dumbbell side lateral raises, and finally 3 sets of upright rows. We were both spent at the end.

Kim had a job interview early in the afternoon (good luck sweetie!) so while she was gone I caught up on editing some photos, blog posts, and REST. Once she made it back home we took JJF on a walk. Much nicer weather here (for a couple of days, anyway) so we couldn't stand not getting out and walking. I shot a brief video with my iPhone ('cause I'm unable to walk without shooting pics or a video). Not really the best quality, but I edited and uploaded it from the phone, no computer used at all.

Moss Lake Spillway from Zane Hollingsworth on Vimeo.

Later in the evening (before Psych came on, one of our favorite shows) I hit the spin bike for 30 more minutes. When I finished I was drenched with sweat as usual. Even with all of the cardio (60 minutes on the bike, 30 on the treadmill, and about 36 minutes walking outside) I still didn't hit the 4000 calorie burn.

We've put our cats on diet food previously and Wednesday we decided to put the hounds on lite food as well. Some of our big girls have gotten a little chunky. We'll see how this goes. Hopefully we won't have any sick, sick dogs as a result.

I had a good food day. The only thing off plan was a little extra yogurt (with honey) before the gym. Breakfast was lowfat granola cereal, yogurt, a banana, and a slice of bread. Morning snack was more yogurt, with honey (Fage). Lunch was pasta with beef, broccoli and cauliflower with cheese sauce. My afternoon snack was a chocolate peanut butter bar. Dinner was veggie fajitas with veggie chorizo and a salad. Dessert was a white chocolate chunk cookie. Later in the evening, after the final session on the bike, I tried the apple in the microwave thing that was on The Biggest Loser. Pretty good, but when you add just a little ICBINB and some calorie free caramel sauce it's fantastic. We've gotta buy more apples now. Total calories for the day was around 1750.



BodyBugg Info:

Calories In = 1801 (I rounded my calories up a little)
Calories Burned = 3978
Calorie Deficit = 2177

Busy Busy & Lots of PIctures (Days 163 & 164)

It's been a couple of days since my last post. I've been a little busy and haven't been able to sit down and type one up. Here's a little roundup of Monday and Tuesday.

I went to bed relatively early Sunday night because I knew I had to be at a property early Monday morning as the business opened to repair some electricial issues. Since I'm not an electrician, I wanted to get a good night's sleep and be well rested when I got to the site. I love playing with electricity. It's invisible and can kill you. Cool. Anyway, just after midnight, Kim came into the bedroom and told me that as she was walking the pug before putting her to bed she heard a very loud hissing noise coming from the bushes near our fireplace. I thought she was going to tell me there was a snake or something that I needed to deal with. I wish. It was a blown gas line running to our fireplace, which we never use. I tried to shut off the gas at the meter, but I didn't have a tool with enough leverage to turn the rusted, old valve. So we had to call the gas company and have the on-call worker come out and take a look. Since it was gonna be awhile, Kim stayed up and I tried to go back to bed. A few hours later, after our gas had been shut off (they would not repair the line since it was on our side of the meter) I decided to take a shower while we still had hot water. So I finally get back to bed around 3 & then had trouble falling asleep. When the alarm went off before 7, I tried to answer the phone. My plan to be well rested failed spectacularly. The electrical repairs went very smoothly, I'm happy to report. Neither I, nor my father suffered any shocks.



I had a meeting scheduled for late in the afternoon Monday, which kinda ruined our chances of getting to the gym. So we decided the best use of our 2 hours before the meeting was for Kim and I to take a nap. She had been up since about time I left to deal with the repairs on the gas line. Luckily we rent a barn/warehouse to a plumber/electrician/ and he sent one of his guys over to fix the problem for us. We tried to nap, but the Pug was having none of it. She thought it was play time. She wanted to wrestle. I tried holding her, then playing with her, then I put her out of the bedroom, but she began to do the Pug cry/scream thing, so I just let her back inside. I slept none. Kim did a little.



I arrived at my meeting looking and feeling tired. Meeting went well and was over quickly. We returned home and got in our only exercise of the day, a 2+ mile walk with JJF. He seemed to enjoy it. I have no memory of what I ate on Monday, but I remember it being a higher calorie day. Thank goodness I ate the last of my protein bars and can now get back to days of lower calories and 100% NS days.

Kim and Jack on our Monday Walk

Tuesday started out much more normal. Bike for 30 minutes, gym (we're now a day behind), more bike, and an unexpected walk. My dad had stuck his truck at the lake (lots of rain lately) and when he got it unstuck he tried to leave the property via the back gate, which hasn't been opened in 10 years. He had no luck and brought a set of bolt cutters to me with the instructions to cut off the lock. I took the opportunity to walk the dog, and attempt to get some decent sunset pics at the same time. I bundled up (it's cold here again), loaded myself down with camera gear, water, and bolt cutters, grabbed JJF, and headed out just before dusk. Cutting the lock of was a joke. The bolt cutters were very small and I couldn't get enough leverage to cut through the hardened steel on the lock. I'll try a cutting torch next.

A self portrait, in the freezing cold shooting sunsets.

I walked back to where I wanted to shoot my pics from, set up, then I sat down in the only dry grass I could find to wait on the "good light" of sunset. I managed to get a few good pics in. I did have to keep running Jack out of the frame though. He's a camera hog.

Tuesday was a 100% on plan day. I had about 1560 calories I think. I hope to be back on my normal blog schedule starting Thursday morning.

A couple more Sunset Pics below.

Kim's Home Made Chana Saag (Day 162)

Sunday is our day off from the gym. I did get in a good bit of cardio today though. I made up for only getting in 30 minutes on the bike yesterday with 90 minutes today with 3 different sessions on the spin bike. One early while watching an old Bruce Willis movie on A&E (Striking Distance), the second ride during the Colt's game, and the last 30 minutes during the beginning of the Saints game. My legs are tight this evening. I think I got in a little over 24 miles on the day. Not to bad for a rainy Sunday.

Breakfast this morning was a NS Cinnamon Bun, a cup of yogurt, a banana, and a slice of bread. This morning snack was another cup of yogurt. Lunch was a chocolate peanut butter bar and a veggie burger. My afternoon snack was a double chocolate almond cookie. Dessert tonight was a chocolate crunch bar. Dinner this evening was Home Made Chana Saag and Naan.

One of our favorite Indian meals is Chana Saag. Chana Saag is a blend of spinach and chick peas with spices and a little yogurt. We simply love it. Of all the Indian places we've eaten at, only one has served Chana Saag. Tonight was Kim's first attempt at Chana Saag and it was fabulous. She used a recipe I found online here. Photos and video of the cooking and meal below.

The Naan kneading, as I felt the need to video it...(terrible, I know)

Again, the meal was just fantastic. I ended up eating two servings of the Chana Saag with coconut rice and one piece of the Naan. Kim counted the calories (the rice was a killer) and with the two large servings along with the rice and bread I had around 700 calories. When I eat this again I won't eat as much rice. All of the Chana Saag she made contained about 785 calories. I could eat that over the course of 5 meals (again, without the rice). I'm very excited about the fact that now we can have Chana Saag whenever we want!

The only bad thing about the meal is that I ate so much and I'm supposed to weigh in tomorrow morning. A big meal combined with erratic scales (they're still not right since I moved and cleaned them last week) makes for a nerve wracking weigh in. We'll see how it goes. If not good then I'll weigh in again Tuesday morning.

BodyBugg Info:

Calories In = 1801
Calories Burned = 3319
Calorie Deficit =1518

Sushi Saturday (Day 161)

This post is for Saturday, January 23rd 2010.

I've been craving sushi lately. It didn't even have to be good sushi, just some decent salmon and tuna. We went with my parents to a little Japanese Steakhouse in a nearby town for dinner last night. My typical order before NS would have been about four different types of sushi (either sashimi or nigiri, depending on what the place served) plus a huge combination entree (steak, lobster, and shrimp). Last night I ordered tuna, yellow tail, salmon, and smoked salmon (all nigiri) along with a small salad and cup of soup. No entree at all. Yahoo! Sushi craving fulfilled.

We live in a small town in Georgia. There's really nothing special about our town (other than the lake and property we live at, IMHO). I can think of no reason anyone would ever come here, other than to visit relatives or for a job (large textile industry in the area). We do however have the largest Gourmet Popcorn store in the WORLD. It has over 100 different flavors of popcorn. Chocolate Peanut Butter, Pizza, Loaded Baked Potato, really anything you can think of. I decided that to celebrate being under 200 pounds I'd stop by after dinner and get a tiny bag of loaded baked potato popcorn. We drove by the Popcorn Haven to find it had already closed for the evening (and being that we live in the South it is also closed on Sunday, so no popcorn for me). I was crushed. My parents dropped us off back at the lake and I had a NS chocolate crunch bar. I was super unhappy. I snapped and we drove to the local Bruster's Ice Cream shop. I ordered two different ice creams, they were out of both. Kim had a "baby cone" of toffee bar, which was tiny and good. She at less than 1/2 and threw it away. I had a couple of bites of a small chocolate chip ice cream, which wasn't chocolate at all, and threw it away. Very unhappy still. Previously I would have ordered a double waffle cone and ate every bite, so it was kinda impressive that I only ate a few bites of a small cup, but I still wanted my celebratory popcorn (guess I was craving salt). We got back home and found something that made me happy. Cheesy Taco Pizza Rolls. Again, 6 months ago I'd have eaten at least 20 (1/2 the bag) without batting an eye, and more than likely the entire bag. Last night I had 6. They were FABULOUS. 200 completely non-nutritious calories of nasty, cheesy, salty perfection. NO REGRETS!

The uber fabulous Cheesy Taco Pizza Rolls!

The rest of the day was on plan for the most part. I did add a few protein bars in because I knew all I was gonna have for dinner was a little fish. Had I known I'd freak and eat Pizza Rolls and a little ice cream I would not have had the bars. I finished the day a little over 2500 calories. Extremely high calorie intake day for sure, but I still had a calorie deficit (not much compared to a normal day though).

Belle, waiting patiently for a bite of my pizza rolls. Hey, Belle now has her own FaceBook Page, add her as a friend!

We did get in a good ab workout Saturday around lunch. 3 sets of crunches with the medicine ball, followed by 3 sets of side twisty throwy medicine ball moves (creative names, I know), then 3 sets of jack knives, and finally 3 sets of hammer strength weighted crunches. Afterward Kim got in a very quick, nearly vomit inducing leg workout. 3 super sets of leg press/true squats, then 3 sets of glute kicks, and finally 3 sets of seated hamstring curls. My only cardio of the day was a 30 minutes session on the spin bike.

Tomorrow back to normal NS eating (except for dinner, Kim's gonna make home made Chana Saag and coconut rice!) and either 2 or 3 sessions on the spin bike.

BodyBugg Info:

Calories In = 3000 (estimate)
Calories Burned = 3443
Calorie Deficit = 443 (terrible, I know)

Leg Day & a Sick Girlfriend (Day 160)

This post is for Friday, January 22nd, 2010.

If you follow my blog much, then you know that Fridays are leg days for me at the gym. 6 months ago this would have meant leg pressing 700-900 pounds for sets of 15-20. Squatting 225-315 for the same. Hack or True squatting 300-400 pounds, again for the same reps. Then I'd do hamstrings. Now leg days are different. I train much, much faster (I would rest about twice as long as it took me to do a set to recover). Now time between sets is less than 45 seconds. The weights are significantly lighter. Not because of the speed of the workout but because I'm pre-exhausting with cardio before I ever train. Before I wouldn't do cardio at all on leg day, and probably none the day after because I'd be to sore. Friday I did 30 minutes on a spin bike early, then 30 minutes of running on the treadmill immediately before the workout. My legs were already a little shaky when I crawled under the Smith machine for my first set of squats. I intended on doing 20 reps with my feet placed together, very far out in front of me. I only managed 15 reps and was very dissiapointed. I walked around the other side of the machine to discover that there was an extra weight on the far side of the machine I was unaware of. That's what I get for being lazy and trying to use a machine that someone had left the weights on. So that set was actually kinda good, just a little heavier than I wanted. 2 more quick sets of squats then on to the True Squat machine for 3 sets of 20. Leg presses were next, again 3 sets of 20. Leg extensions to follow, only doing 12-15 reps (my quads were jello at this point). Hamstrings began with 3 sets of lying leg curls, then 3 sets of seated leg curls, and finally 3 sets of hyper-extensions. The heaviest thing I lifted the entire workout was about 300 pounds on the leg press. I'm amazed at how much I like training AFTER being exhausted from cardio work. My final cardio of the day was late last night when I got in 30 more minutes on the spin bike.

Red Beans & Rice

I trained alone Friday because Kim was sick. Hopefully it was just a one day virus or something and she'll feel better on Saturday. If so we'll train abs and maybe let her get in a little leg work. I'm also craving a little sushi, but wouldn't dare ask her to go along if she still feels bad. Raw fish and the propensity to vomit don't mix well.

Sloppy Joe

Breakfast on Friday was a chocolate chip scone, yogurt, a banana, and a slice of bread. My morning snack was more yogurt, and just before my workout I had a small protein bar. Lunch was red beans and rice with sausage and broccoli with cheese sauce. My afternoon snack was a double chocolate almond cookie and a Kashi bar a little later. Dinner was a NS sloppy joe (open faced on wheat bread) broccoli and cheese sauce, a few olives, and another protein bar. Dessert was a chocolate crunch bar. I wasn't starving last night, but I did take a good amount of extra food (protein bars and the kashi bar).

Jack & Belle being friendly, for a moment.

Hopefully Kim will fell better and we'll get out of the house after we train (assuming we train). I've got to shoot one more photo for this month's photochallenge resolution theme. The other photos I've shot this month have been themed around exercise/health/weight loss. I think the final photo might be themed (somehow) about getting out and doing more than working out and dieting. Maybe some kinda self portrait (getting out from behind the camera). We'll see how creative I am after the workout.

BodyBugg Info:

Thursday:
Calories In = 2000
Calories Burned = 3769
Calorie Deficit = 1769

Friday:
Calories In = 2001
Calories Burned = 4006
Calorie Deficit = 2005

Thursday - Tom Kha Soup (Day 159)

This post is for Thursday January 21st, 2010.

Thursday is arm day at the gym. We've cut back our # of sets to six sets for bis and six for tris. We began with 3 sets of overhead dumbbell presses, then 3 sets of press downs. Biceps began with 3 sets of standing dumbbell curls and ended with 3 sets of concentration curls. Cardio for the day was 60 minutes on the bike, 20 minutes on the elliptical, and 10 minutes on the treadmill.



Breakfast was nutriflakes, a banana, yogurt, and a slice of bread. AM snack was more yogurt. Lunch was a turkey hot dog and a veggie burger. PM snack was a chocolate chip cookie and a small protein bar. Dinner was veggie fajitas and a bowl of Kim's homemade Tom Kha Soup! Dessert was a chocolate crunch bar. Finally I had another yogurt after my final 30 minutes on the treadmill.



Friday is leg day! Afterward I'm gonna try to get Kim to cook homemade Chana Saag with a little coconut rice!

Reading Blogs Can Be So Depressing (Tue & Wed, Days 157 & 158)

I love reading blogs. I read friends and family members blogs. I follow lots of photography related blogs. I read every Atlanta area food blogger I can find. I follow cheese mongers, sushi chefs, and Blissful Gluttons. I love reading the NS blogs too.

Lately when I read the NS blogs I cycle between wanting to scream in frustration, or cry from despair. It seems lots of the new people are either unable to read and follow the directions with the plan, or they think they know better than the plan and are intent on doing things that will surely lead to failure. I catch myself almost commenting on the posts where someone is ecstatic about only taking in 600 calories for the day, or that they hate veggies so they've decided simply to exclude them from the diet, or that they just can't drink water because it tastes like, well, water. But I realize that if I do comment on their posts, most won't listen, or even if they do and the comment helps them, then next ten posts by other people later in the day are gonna be the same thing. This is the part that makes me want to scream with frustration.

I wanna cry when I read a post and I can tell within the first two sentences that they'll never make it through the first month. These posts reek of failure before they even start the program. I can tell these people don't really want to even try. They sound so unmotivated and begin with such negative feelings and continually give themselves excuses why this won't work for them. It's sad because the tone of their writing is just despair. I can't even bring myself to comment because I feel it would be useless. They've given up before they started.

The funniest blogs have been about the new Taco Bell Drive Thru "Diet". Unreal. For those of you who don't read the fine print, it's not really a diet. Some of their items do have between 120-350 or so calories, but that's for a SINGLE taco. Sure you could eat that occasionally, maybe as a treat. I bet not many people trying to lose weight will order a single taco, long term. They might do it for a week (maybe). The woman on the commercial also lost the weight over the course of 3 years. Funny stuff, fast food/drive thru diet.

The posts I have no pity for are the people who hate all of the food. I want to reach through the computer, grab them by the throat and shake them while screaming "THIS IS NOT GOURMET FOOD! THIS IS DIET FOOD. YOU'RE HERE BECAUSE OF THE FOOD THAT DID TASTE GOOD TO YOU!" NS is a fantastic opportunity to change your life. Don't find reasons that it won't work, or things that you don't like. Have there been foods that I didn't love? Sure. Did I dwell on it? Nope. I moved right on and found a meal I did like. I certainly NEVER considered that because one or two meals weren't the best thing I've ever tasted that I couldn't stick to the NS plan. NS works. If you really want to lose weight you WILL. Follow the program. If you don't succeed it's because you didn't really want to. Anyway, enough of my rant about blogs.

Blogs frustrate the Pug too! She has to chew on her bone (while lying on the new leather sofa) to feel better.

Tuesday I had about a 1700 calorie day (I really don't recall exactly what I ate and I'm to tired to look it up). I did eliminate the multiple small amounts of cheese or whatever I had been using to try to get in some more protein in favor of a cup of yogurt with caramel (calorie free) sauce.

Tuesday's workouts began with 30 minutes on the spin bike at home. Once we made it to the gym Kim and I jumped onto the treadmills for 30 more minutes (I don't recall what program I did, but about 90% of it was jogging/running and the rest was walking uphill). We trained shoulders after the treadmill work. 3 sets dumbbell military presses, 3 sets of side lateral raises, and 3 sets of rear delts. We trained fast and got out quickly so we could get home to rest and have lunch. Later we walked over 2.3 miles around the lake with Jumping Jack Flash. Finally I got in 30 more minutes on the spin bike after dinner.

Wednesday morning found Kim feeling sick so I trained alone. Cardio on the day was 60 minutes on the bike and 30 minutes on the treadmill. I trained back at the gym. 3 sets of lat pull downs, 3 sets of T bar rows, 3 sets of seated rows and 1 set of pull ups.

After the gym we headed to Atlanta for Kim to return some clothes. Afterward we decided to eat at a great little place called the Falafel Cafe. We don't often get to eat Persian/Iranian food, so this was a treat. We shared an order of Humus between us. Kim ordered the Falafel wrap and I ordered a lamb kabob with saffron rice. The rice is unreal good. Mix in a little humus and it's crazy. The lamb was excellent too, but the rice! Kim's wrap was delicious and that's probably what I'll get the next time, but the platter instead of the wrap. No clue on calories for the day. I had about 800 before dinner (NS on plan to that point). I'm not bothered by eating such a delicious meal that was most certainly off plan. I trained hard, got in over 90 minutes of cardio, & didn't have an afternoon snack. I'm gonna overestimate (I hope) my calories for the day at 2500. Did I mention how delicious the saffron rice was?





Thursday will be an on plan day. We'll train arms and get in the usual 90+ minutes of cardio. Looking forward to the weekend again so I can ease the cardio down to 30-60 minutes per day.

BodyBugg Info:

Tuesday:
Calories In = 4070
Calories Burned = 1751
Calorie Deficit = 2319

Wednesday:
Calories In = 2502
calories Burned = 4003
Calorie Deficit = 1501

Lots of Cardio & My Greek Yogurt Masterpiece (Day 156)

This post is for Monday, January 18th, 2010.

Lots and lots of cardio for me today. I started as usual with 30 minutes on the spin bike (I rode along with the LiveStrong DVD) just after breakfast. If I don't eat first I feel weak now, compared to 6 months ago when I feared eating before exercising because I thought I'd feel bloated or even get sick and vomit during a workout. After finishing on the bike we made our way to they gym where I did two sets of DJ's magical 5x5x5 treadmill routine (5 minutes at 5mph, then 5 @ 6mph, then 5 @ 7mph, then repeat). I was thouroughly exhausted and soaking wet afterward. Next we trained chest, quickly. Only 9 sets total (but I'm already wrecked as I type this on Tuesday morning). 3 sets of incline dumbbell presses, 3 sets of incline dumbbell flies, and 3 sets of push-ups. I can easily do over 100 push-ups in 60 seconds, but at the end of the workout (and 1 hour of cardio at that point) I could only do sets of 10. Pre-exhaustion rocks. After the chest workout we came home to rest and eat, then decided since it was such a beautiful day (above 60 degrees after weeks of below freezing temps) we'd grab Jumping Jack Flash and take a walk around the lake. Jack made it to the barn with us (which is less than 100 yards into the 2+ mile walk) where he jumped a rabbit and that was the last time we saw him during the walk (he was sitting on the front steps waiting on us when we got home, thankfully without a dead rabbit in his mouth). Our walk ended up being 2.10 miles and took a little over 39 minutes (not terribly fast, but we stopped to check out a bird or two, look at the geese, etc.) Finally last night I rode the spin bike again for another 30 minutes. On the day I had about 2 hours and ten minutes worth of cardio. That's a good bit really. I'm only used to doing about 90 minutes. Hope to do the same on Tuesday.

Jack Chasing the Rabbit around the Barn.

I've noticed on the days when I get around a 4000 calorie burn, I stay hungry at night. I tried to eat little bites of cheese, Kim and I split a very small Kashi bar, all to no avail. Finally I ate 1/2 a protein bar (200 calories) and got full. This is gonna be my new nightly plan. No more eating tiny bites of high protein things trying to quell my hunger. I'm either gonna fix a veggie burger, a bowl of yogurt, or have a protein bar and hope one additional larger snack will help me get satisfied at night. It hasn't been an issue on the days when I don't burn as much (I guess that would be Saturdays and Sundays when I don't get in as much cardio).



For breakfast Monday I had lowfat granola cereal, yogurt, a banana, and a slice of bread. My morning snack was a yogurt and a small supreme protein bar. Lunch was fettuccini alfredo and a veggie burger. Afternoon snack was a double chocolate almond cookie, a cup of yogurt, and a Kashi bar (this was a huge snack I know, but I was weak from the gym and the 2 mile afternoon walk). Dinner was wedged potatoes with sliced beef steak and cauliflower with cheese sauce. Dessert was chocolate noogat bar, 1/2 a cup of yogurt split with Kim, 1/2 a Kashi bar, and finally the small protein bar. Around 2000 calorie day. High calorie cycle day for me.



Recently I've made a change in my yogurt consumption. I've switched to Greek yogurt. Either Fage or BrownCow. Both are about the same nutritionally but the great thing is they have about twice the amount of protein as other yogurts. I have a few different ways of preparing the yogurt. I either just add a packet or two of equal (splenda, whatever) and mix up for a sweetened yogurt taste OR I add the sweetner, then a spoon full of calorie free caramel sauce. I've also tried a spoon full of chocolate better'n peanut butter (very good) and a hazlenut chocolate spread (pretty good too) but I like the calorie free caramel the best. It's made by Walden Farms and it gives the yogurt a dessert like taste. Kim and I love it. It also mixes well with goat milk yogurt which we love as well.



BodyBugg Info:

Calories In =2001
Calories Burned =3975
Calorie Deficit =1974

Do they offer NutriSystem for Cats?

Weigh In and Sunday Recap (Day 155)

First off, this morning's weigh in. I had some issues with the weigh in process today. I moved and cleaned the digital scales I use to weigh in on last night. I took a photo of the scales for a photo project I'm working on and I think the moving of the scales, along with the cleaning, scrubbing, pushing, wiping, etc. may have caused some inconsistencies with the scales this morning. I weighed at least 10 times with a range from 184#'s to 208#'s. The most constant weight was around 199-200. So I weighed in on our old scales (non digital) and weighed about 197. The old scales usually are a pound or so light. I'm calling my weight today 200 even. That's a 3.7 pound loss from last week & a total loss of 75 pounds on NS and 88 pounds from my heaviest. Hopefully over the next week the digital scales will settle back down and my next weigh in will be sub 200.



Sunday was a gym free day for Kim and I. I only trained for 30 minutes on the spin bike as well. We had to work on a leaky roof at one of our properties so that kinda cut into my plan for riding the bike early and late (which I still could have done, I was just very tired and decided to rest last night). Back to 90 minutes of cardio on Monday + the usual workout.

I had a pretty good food day on Sunday. Breakfast was nutriflakes, yogurt, a banana, and a slice of bread. My morning snack was more yogurt. Lunch was two fold. One portion was a chocolate peanut butter bar while the other was 1/2 of an Everything Bagel with low fat veggie cream cheese. Delicioius. My afternoon snack was a coconut almond bar. Dinner was a bbq sauce pork wrap, along with mashed cauliflower. Dessert was a chocolate crunch bar and about 1/8 of a protein bar. I think the total on the day was around 1800 calories.



Tomorrow's post will have pics of my new favorite yogurt concoction. Greek (or goat's milk) yogurt mixed with calorie free caramel sauce (or sometimes chocolate better'n peanut butter).

BodyBugg Info:
Calories Consumed = 1801
Calories Burned = 3181
Calorie Deficit = 1380

Chana Saag and Abs (Day 154)

Saturday found Kim and I taking a little bit of a break. We walked Jumping Jack Flash for a little over two miles before the rain arrived. The only workout we had was a quick ab routine at the gym. We began with 3 sets of crunches on a bosu ball. As we stretched back on the crunch the person resting threw a heavy medicine ball to the person doing the crunch. At one point I tossed the heavy ball to Kim and watched as the momentum carried her right on over the other side of the ball and into the floor. We both had a good laugh. Next we did another exercise with the heavy ball. One person threw the ball to the other who was kneeling. As the person kneeling caught the ball, they then twisted around and returned to throw the ball back. Our last exercise was the hammer strength weighted crunch machine. No treadmill at all today. Tonight I did 30 minutes on the spin bike as I watched part of the Baltimore game.

Food today was a little NS and a little more non NS. Breakfast was berries and flakes cereal, yogurt (Fage) and a slice of bread with a little nutella. My morning snack was some goat yogurt with a little calorie free caramel sauce. Lunch was a supreme protein bar. Dinner was Chana Saag! With it I had a little (ok, a lot) of rice and some low calorie bread. Dessert was more yogurt with a little Chocolate Better Than Peanut Butter and a white chocolate chunk cookie. Yum!

My uber delicious Chana Saag!

Tomorrow will be a gym free day! We're not gonna train calves, forearms, wrists, eyelids or anything! The only training I'm doing tomorrow is riding the bike (it's raining or we'd walk the dogs). So excited about a day off from the gym!

BodyBugg Info:

Calories In = 2001 (a guess, 1000 before dinner and an overestimate for dinner and dessert)
Calories Burned = 3850
Calorie Deficit = 1513

Great Leg Workout, Food Porn, Ice Cream, & Gulab Jamun With Pics (Day 153)

Kim and I have had a great, solid 5 days worth of training so far this week. I've gotten in at least 90 minutes of cardio per day, plus that day's workout. Friday fell in with the rest of the days. I trained for 30 minutes on the spin bike at home early for my first cardio session. We arrived at the gym just after lunch and began with the treadmill for 30 more minutes. For the first time ever, I think, I did the entire 30 minutes jogging. I did an interval of one minute at 5 mph and then one minute at 6 mph, then repeat the interval. I think this is the first time I've ever tried to go the full 30 without a walk, so I was very pleased I didn't have to stop or reduce the speed. AFTER the cardio we trained legs. 3 sets of smith machine squats (all sets were 15 reps), followed by 3 sets on the true squat rack, then 3 sets in the horizontal leg press, and finally 3 sets of leg extensions. Hamstrings followed with 3 sets of leg curls, then 3 sets of seated leg curls, and finally 3 sets of weighted hyper-extensions. One FANTASTIC moment during the workout was when I put on my lifting belt. I buckled it into the 4th hole. Wow. When I started NS the belt was a few inches from being able to reach around me. I need to measure the total distance one day. My last bit of exercise for the day was 30 more minutes on the bike late last night after we returned home.

Once home from the gym I cleaned up and went to bed for about 45 minutes while Kim took a shower and got ready to leave. Earlier in the day my dad had come by with and asked us to drop by one of our properties and look something up for him to relay to the electrician (Dad was headed to play golf since Friday was one of the first nice days we've had in some time). We decided going to the property gave us a great reason to continue driving North to Chattanooga and have dinner. We've been craving oysters and crabs, so this worked out perfectly.

In-store made chorizo

We arrived at the property and looked up the info on the electrical panel around 5 PM. The store it was in is rented to a Latino Grocery. Kim (who doesn't eat meat, nor does she like the smell) was OVERWHELMED by the sights and smells of the butcher shop in back where we were looking at the panel. We did see some lovely looking, made in store, chorizo hanging up to dry/cure while we were there. I thought it all looked & smelled great.

nom, nom, nom, raw meat, nom, nom

cheese glorious cheese!

le grand

Once we found what we needed, recorded it, & photoed it, we were on our way to Chattanooga. Our restaurant for the evening was Easy Bistro. Our intention was only to eat the Le Grand (oysters, crabs, muscles, shrimp, and lobster), but they were out of lobster. So we decided to add a cheese plate and an order of steak tartare. The cheese plate was good overall, but the maytag blue along with a small amount of preserves it was served with was outstanding (I love blue). The steak tartare (served with an egg yolk) was pretty good too. This was my first experience with this dish. It makes sense that I'd like it. High quality, raw beef, marinated, spiced, and served with an egg yolk. I like my steaks nearly raw anyway. I like fried eggs with very runny yolks. So add steak tartare to the list of stuff I like (the ever growing list). After the cheese and raw meat plates were cleared away our Le Grand was brought to the table. I downed most of the oysters (I LOVE the tiny West Coast Oysters) as Kim ate most of the crab. We each had a few muscles and shrimp. Pretty healthy meal, cheese and all. This is where the healthy part of the evening ended.

Kim's martini

Inside Easy Bistro

Easy Bistro

We walked out of Easy Bistro, made a left turn, walked 50', and walked into a Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Shop. We did this intentionally. I wanted to prove to my self I could order and enjoy a small cup of ice cream. 6 months ago I'd have ordered a gallon. So we went in, made our selections (I had a cup of chocolate peanut butter swirl and Kim had a cup of butter pecan) and sat down to enjoy the deleciousness that is Ben & Jerry's. It was wonderful. I have a seriousness weakness for anything chocolate-peanut buttery. So now to exercise self control. I only ate the part of the ice cream that was ABOVE the rim of the cup, then threw away the rest. That means I threw away an entire cup full of ice cream. Kim was stunned. I was pleased, in more ways than one. I was happy I exercised self control, and I was happy I ate some wonderful ice cream. We strolled back to the parking deck, walked up a few flights of stairs to our car, and drove straight to our favorite Indian place to order takeout to eat on Saturday.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Ice Cream! (I only ate the top)

At Sitar we placed our order to go, got an order of Chai Tea each, and then I decided to get an order of Gulab Jamun for us to share (I hated to sit down, dirty up a table, and order nothing more than tea). Gulab Jamun is a fantastic dessert. Basically little doghnut-ish type balls in a syrup. Kim had about 1 1/2 of the balls and I ate the rest. Not very healthy, but very delicious. Our to go order was Chana Sag (chickpeas and spinach) and a plate of rice. I meant to order Puri (puffy delicious bread, but I forgot, Kim was pissed). Chana Sag is one of our favorite meals in the world. It's just perfect.

After the hour ride home (yes, no matter if we head South to Atlanta or North to Chattanooga, we live an hour drive either way, we goto Chattanooga for food not because the city has better restaurants, because it doesn't, we go because you NEVER have to have reservation nor wait for a table) I changed into some workout clothes and climbed onto the spin bike for my final 30 minute ride of the day.

Saturday is ab day at the gym. 9 easy sets and we're out. Cardio for this weekend will be all on the bike or walking the dogs. I'm taking a break from the treadmill for two days. Plus my Jack Russell looks like he might cry if we don't go on a walk before the rain gets here.

BodyBugg Info:

Calories In (wild guess after lunch) = 2502
Calories Burned = 4190
Calorie Deficit = 1688

New Bike Seat (Day 152 or so...)

I've still been a little busy the past day or two. Getting in my morning session on the spin bike is really cutting into my blogging! Speaking of the bike, my new seat cover arrived this afternoon and so far I'm very pleased with it. No more pain as I ride, I hope. I completed my first interval workout on the bike this morning, standing climbs, jumps and all. The workouts are still hard, but I'm quickly getting the hang of it. Tonight's ride was just a nice intense seated ride as Kim and I watched WALL-E.

Kim and I trained arms today. 3 sets of press downs and 3 sets of overhead presses for triceps. For biceps we did 3 sets of standing dumbbell curls and 3 sets of rope curls. Before the workout we did 30 minutes on the treadmill. I ran for 20 and walked uphill for 10. According to the BB I've gotten in over 3 hours of exercise/activity. Tomorrow we train legs, yahoo!

After getting home from the gym, banking, and the grocery store I had lunch and then retired to the bed. I was exhausted and ended up sleeping about an hour and a half. I'm still a little tired tonight. Looking forward to this weekend and taking a little break on the cardio. I think I'll cut back to only an hour a day.



For breakfast this morning I had lowfat granola cereal, a banana, a cup of greek yogurt, and a slice of bread. My morning snack was a veggie burger. Lunch was another veggie burger and homestyle potatoes. My afternoon snack was something a little different. I had a kashi chocolate coconut bar. Pretty good, 120 calories. For sure something I'll eat after NS. Dinner was a NS hamburger, cauliflower with cheese sauce, and bread. Dessert was a white chocolate cookie with a little nutella.

Liliyarn posted a great post on the NS site about training, motivation, and the effects of weight gain on you and those around you.

BodyBugg Info:

Wednesday
Calories In = 2001
Calories Burned = 4029
Calorie Deficit = 2028

Thursday
Calories In =1801
Calories Burned = 3917
Calorie Deficit = 2116

Up early, ride the bike, hit the treadmill, then time to do some serious squatting!!!.........then ride the bike again tomorrow night. I feel like I just got off of the bike. Oh yeah, I did.....

70#'s + Lost, 13 To Go, & the Journey to Get Here (Day 151) With New Before/After Pics

First off I need to kinda catch up the past two days. Monday and Tuesday were a little busy because on top of the training, cardio, RESTING, eating, and computer/bookwork that makes up my normal day, I actually had to work a little as well.

Monday we trained chest at the gym and did 30 minutes of cardio on the treadmill. I also rode the new spin bike for an hour at home. Work found me at one of our properties in Dalton, climbing into a dumpster so I could remove a sofa someone had stuffed inside (the trash service would not have picked up the trash container with the sofa in it). Good thing I've lost weight and have gotten a good bit of my flexibility back. I had to climb up, then back down through a trash door, stand on a nasty treadmill, get under the trash covered sofa, and then lift it up and out of the dumpster. We got it loaded onto a trailer, added another sofa we found on the ground, and brought it home with us to take to the landfill later.

Tuesday Kim and I trained shoulders at the gym and again did 30 minutes on the treadmill. Again, I got in an extra hour on the bike at home. Work found me trying to get some tax issues resolved, scanning and emailing documents for my dad, bookwork, banking, etc. Nothing strenuous, just very time consuming. I've been so busy I haven't felt like shooting many pics of my food lately. I've been much more interested in eating I guess.

Ok, now on to the 70# milestone.

My new Bear on my new Bike!

As of Monday morning, I've lost 71.3 pounds since starting NS. My goals when starting were to get back to my college weight (220) or better, and I set the goal weight on the NS website at 200. I'm 3.7 away from 200 now. I've reset that goal to 190 now. I hope when I get there I'll be ready to begin to transition off of NS foods back to "normal" foods. We'll see.

I had someone comment on the NS site asking what motivated me? They were unmotivated and hated the program only a week into it. I replied saying that I'm self motivated. I was from the beginning. I don't see how you can be successful at this (or any other similar endeavor) if you're not. NS could have sent me boxed monkey feces and I would have eaten it I was/am so motivated to be successful. I was sick of looking and feeling like shit. I knew I was heavy at the time, but only now looking back do I realize how big I really was and how embarrassed and unhealthy I was. Below is a photo of me at my heaviest (288) at my sister's wedding. I'm the short, huge, penguin looking one on the far left.

Sorry for the terrible quality, not my photo.

When Kim sees photos like the one above and below she said they now maker her sad. I know what she means. They make me sad too.


My first post on this blog (here) I stated un-apologetically this was about me. It has been, but Kim kindly joined in and now she even trains with me. My mother has begun to diet a little with success, and I've had lots of people tell me what a motivation I've been to them. That's all great, but ultimately it's still about me. The photos I'm posting today were/are my motivation.

See what I mean.

Looking back at lots of the other first posts on the blog I can see how excited I was about the program and how successful I was early on. The entire process for me has been so easy. Not to say I haven't worked hard (we train 6 days a week, and do cardio every day), but that following the plan and getting results came easy.

This was the afternoon when Kim and I went down to Kirby Cove, below the Golden Gate Bridge to shoot some photos of the bridge at night. On the hike out Kim had to carry some of my camera gear because she was afraid I'd have a heart attack if she didn't. Maybe the low-point of my life, weight wise.

My workouts have changed drastically since beginning in August. I've always done resistance training first. Then cardio (if I did any at all). By the time I started the program I was doing cardio with most workouts, but it was after. At the time I thought the cardio was rather intense, walking uphill (incline of 10) at a speed of about 3.2mph. Now it's all different. I pre-exhaust on the treadmill (now I run/jog most of the 30 minutes, and if I'm walking it's around 4.3mph at incline 15) then train. I'm now doing an additional hour of cardio on the spin bike as well. Overall fitness has become the driving force in my exercise routine now. The amounts I lift have decreased (ten years ago I'd have freaked if I had any perceived loss of strength) but who cares? I'm not a bodybuilder, or an athlete. I'm still strong (relatively), and now I'm fast(er) as well.

The day I started.

One of the goals I had was to be able to get back into old clothes and my old training belt. I'm back into all of them now (some are actually a little big). I wanted to be able to go on trips and enjoy being out and active with Kim. Again, I'm there already. I hope to be ready for a beach trip this spring or summer. I can go into a restaurant now with out the chef wondering if he has enough food to handle all that I'll eat. I'm so much more comfortable and happy now.

For all of those new NS'ers struggling with the program, looking for motivation, I hope this is something that helps. I hope it guides you toward the what should motivate you. Yourself. The real motivation has to come from you. A strong desire to change and be successful. A positive attitude towards the experience. If not, I don't see how you can be successful or stick to the plan. If you go back and read my old posts, I think (hope) that every post shows a positive outlook, each day working towards my goals. Yeah, some days I didn't love a particular food or whatever, but I WORKED toward what I wanted to accomplish. Find an inner drive and challenge yourself. Learn self discipline and self control. Make yourself PROUD. Just the past week I've had to use self control concerning Peanut Butter (I was using way to much trying to add some protein to my snacks) and 1/2 & 1/2 in my coffee (I just quit using cream all together). It's very rewarding to realize you're doing something that isn't working, decide to do something about it, and then actually DO IT! I had Kim hide the Peanut Butter from me (I knew I couldn't be trusted) and I was so sick over the cream I didn't need any help at all giving it up. See how easy that was!

Ok, enough with this motivational self help shit. Either you're gonna do it because you want it, or you're not. Good luck!

Below are a couple of recent pics

Finally, my ultimate motivation is to have a wonderful, long, healthy life with Kim.