I Weigh Less Than The Weights I Lift! (Day 25)

Today's workout was biceps and triceps. I had a neat experience while using the hammer strength seated dip machine. I loaded around 275 lbs onto the rack and put my hand onto the grips and went to set down (in which doing so would raise the weight into the air to begin the workout) and I didn't budge. I frowned and looked at the machine to make sure it was in proper working condition and then it hit me. I don't weigh enough to raise the weight with my body weight alone. I smiled, sat on the machine, used the seat belt attached to the machine to hold my self down, and then pressed down on the grips using my arms only! Woohoo! I weigh less than the weights I'm lifting. So the actual workout went quickly today (I was training alone). 3 sets of press downs, 3 sets of overhead presses, 3 sets of the aforementioned hammer strength seated dips, and 3 sets of rope press downs. Biceps consisted of 3 sets of seated incline curls and 3 sets of barbell curls.

I got an email from NS today telling me my next shipment date and that I could coustimize my order until 6PM the day before. I've already made lots of changes, but I'm sure I'll adjust it more before the ship date. For breakfast this morning I had a chocolate chip scone, facon, a banana, and a slice of multigrain bread. My morning snack today was yogurt and grapes. For lunch today I had a chocolate peanut butter bar, and in lieu of 2 veggies I had one of Kim's fake chicken burger things. I over nuked the chicken thing, but it was still OK. My afternoon snack today was 2 servings of sugar free chocolate pudding. Dinner tonight was one of the meals I had been putting off for weeks. The chicken with dumplings. They were OK, but they will not be in my next order. I also had a salad with olives & peppers, broccoli & cauliflower with cheese sauce, and a slice of multigrain bread. Dessert tonight was an almond biscotti dipped into my cup of vanilla caramel tea.



Leg day tomorrow at the gym and then off to my job site where I guess I'll collapse and rest in my car.

Pull Ups

Today I added a something to my back workout that has been missing for years. I began the workout with a set of pull ups. It was a pathetic set of 4 reps, but they were good full extension at the bottom honest to goodness pull ups. Next week I'll get 5 (maybe). I used to start with 3 sets of pull ups. The first set would be about 15 reps, the second between 11-12, and the third would be at least 8 or so. That's a good goal, get back to doing 3 sets of pull ups. After my pull ups today I did 3 sets of lat pull downs, 3 sets of hammer strength low rows, 3 sets of seated rows, and 3 sets of straight arm press downs. Cardio at the gym was 30 minutes on the treadmill, incline 11.5, speed of 3.6. Tonight Kim and I walked one of the dogs around the lake for about 30 minutes as my final cardio event of the day.


For breakfast I had the cluster crunch cereal, a banana, facon, and a slice of multigrain bread. Morning snack of yogurt and grapes. Lunch today was black bean tortilla soup, and 2 servings of cauliflower with cheese sauce. Afternoon snack today was sugar free chocolate jello pudding. Dinner this evening was mashed potatoes with meatloaf and tomato sauce, broccoli and cauliflower with cheese sauce, 5 olives, a plum, and a slice of multigrain bread. Dessert tonight of double chocolate almond cookie.

Chili and the thought of a Krystal (Day 23)

I got a new toy today. I ordered a softbox to use when I shoot (photos) a wedding next week and it arrived today. So I'll get to test it out over the next week or so on all of my food photos! I don't think there will be any noticeable differences in the food pics from before, but I'm very happy with it so far. I used it in the photo of the chili in today's post.

My mother joined in my workout this morning so I was able to train just a little heavier than usual with her spotting me. We trained shoulders. We started with 3 sets of military presses, followed by 3 sets of side lateral raises. Next up was 3 sets of upright rows, then 3 sets of rear delts. At this point mom returned to the treadmill but I still had to do shoulder shrugs. 3 quick sets and I was finished and off to the treadmill as well. I again did my usual cardio workout of 30 minutes, incline 11.5, speed 3.5. Hopefully Kim and I will get to walk this evening, but quite a few thunderstorms have rolled through North Georgia this afternoon and it's not looking good.


For breakfast this morning I had berries & multigrain flakes (NS & yum!), along with a banana, a slice of multigrain bread, and 2 slices of facon (yes, fake bacon). Morning snack was slightly different this morning, yogurt & a banana (crazy not eating grapes, I know). Lunch today was chicken noodle soup (NS and good with a little Cholula), & 2 servings of mixed greens. My afternoon snack was the zesty herb snack mix (NS, yawn, I'm kinda sick of it). Dinner tonight was a treat. I started with a salad with peppers and olives, mixed greens, and cauliflower with cheese sauce. For my entree I had chili with beans (NS) with a dash of 2% cheese and a slice of multigrain bread. I added some Cholula again to spice it up and I loved it. I really don't know if it was actually good or not since I haven't had any real chili in a long time. I used to love chili. On hot dogs, omelets, burgers, even as a dipping sauce for the nastiest food in the world, Krystals. The NS chili seemed to taste great, but after 23 days without any non NS entrees, I could be NS Crazy. My dessert this evening was the fudge brownie (NS). The first time I had the brownie I liked it, but wasn't crazy about it. Now (again 3 + weeks in) I love it. I heated it up to make it warm and gooey.

I'm really looking forward to my next order arriving, because most of the things I have left are either the things I was afraid to try (Split Pea Soup) or things I hate (pretzels) or things I've enjoyed and held out for later (pizza, burger, meatloaf). Next order has much more sweets and
no pretzels.

Day 22

My gym was closed today so I the only workouts I got in were two walks around the lake with my dogs. Back at it tomorrow to train shoulders.

For breakfast today I decided to try the NS pancake mix. Loved it. I guess it was such a treat to have something with syrup. Along with the pancakes I had a little facon, a banana, and a slice of multigrain bread. My morning snack was yogurt and grapes. For lunch I had a real treat. Kim made a meal for us using the black beans and rice NS lunch meal. She prepared both ours together and added 2 vegetarian chicken breasts, then chilled the mixture and served it over lettuce with some radishes, jalapenos, and red peppers. Wow. It was great. Maybe she should submit as a recipe to NS. My afternoon snack was troublesome. I tried to eat some NS sour cream soy chips, but one bite in I balked and threw them away. Instead I had some sugar free Jello pudding. For dinner I had the rotini with meatballs and tomato sauce, cauliflower and broccoli with cheese sauce, a salad with peppers and olives, and a slice of multigrain bread. Dessert was the NS chocolatey nougat bar with peanuts and caramel.



All in all today was a nice slow day. All my meals were easy and good. Hope to have another good week and pass the 20 pound mark during the week.

Monday Morning Weigh In

I woke up and jumped onto the scales this morning (I'm lying, I very carefully stepped onto the scales) and discovered I'd lost 5 pounds last week! That brings the total to 18 pounds in 3 weeks. I now weigh 257. I know I've said it before, but this is the easiest thing I've ever heard of to loose weight. On to week four and hope to be in the 240's within a week or so!

End of Week 3 (Day 21)

Today marks the end of my third week on the program. My third weigh in is in the morning. This week I feel like I've had a good week, unlike last week when I felt like I didn't do so well (even though I had). Looking forward to the beginning of week 4.

I had to adjust my training schedule today. My gym is closed tomorrow for Labor day, so I had to train chest today. I started with 3 sets of bench presses, followed by 3 sets of incline presses, next up was 3 sets of decline presses, finishing up with 3 sets of machine flies. I've had 3 cardio workouts today. This morning and this evening Kim and I walked some of our dogs (Belle, our Pug this morning, and Jack this evening). I also did 30 minutes of cardio after my workout on the treadmill at the gym, incline 11.5, speed 3.5.

My meals today began with apple cinnamon oatmeal (NS), facon, raspberries, and a slice of multigrain bread. My morning snack was my usual yogurt and grapes. Lunch consisted vegetable beef soup (NS), broccoli and cauliflower with cheese sauce. My afternoon snack was about 1/2 a pack of pretzels with 1 tbs of peanut butter. This only mildly helped the pretzels. For dinner I was very excited to eat a dinner that I thought I had eaten previously and really enjoyed, the oriental steak with green peppers and noodles. I was unhappily surprised to learn that this was not the same meal I had a few days ago. That was the teriyaki beef with vegetables. So tonight I ate the oriental dish along with 2 servings of broccoli in the entree's sauce along with a salad and a slice of multigrain bread. This meal was nowhere near as tasty as the teriyaki meal. For dessert tonight I had the nutrichocolates (NS). I heated them up just a bit and liked them much better than the first time I ate them unheated.

Passed a Pizza Test (Saturday, Day 20)

Tonight I went to visit an old friend who was in town for the first time in years. There were no fewer than 4 large pizzas to be had. Kim had commented during the Georgia football game that it just didn't seem right that I didn't have a Tombstone pizza in the oven (my favorite football food), so pizza was already on my mind. I stuck to the plan and drank my water while visiting. Last month I'd have eaten at least one pizza.

I was only able to get a single cardio workout in today. Kim and I walked our Jack Russell (Jack) around the lake during a light rain. I didn't go to the gym for at all because I watched the Dawgs loose their season opener :( I also missed the second walking of the dogs during the visit with my old friends.

For breakfast I had low-fat granola cereal, raspberries, a slice of multi-grain bread, and egg whites. My morning snack was my usual yogurt and grapes, except this morning I tried a coconut cream yogurt instead of vanilla, which was nice for a change. Lunch was black bean tortilla soup, broccoli and cauliflower with cheese sauce. Afternoon snack of honey mustard pretzels with a little wing sauce (have to have something in order to eat the pretzels). Dinner was a sourdough pizza with some turkey bacon (17 slices adds up to 70 calories & I used about 6-7 slices) and a dash of 2% cheese, 3 servings of broccoli and cheese sauce, 5 olives, and another slice of multi-grain bread. Dessert was a milk chocolatey delight bar.

I weigh in again on Labor day & I feel like I've had a good week. I did have to eat 1 snack off program during the week, so we'll see if a single small carnitas taco did me in or not. I kinda feel like I should be running around all day Sunday screaming and yelling, "Last Chance Workout!" or something. Sorry, guess I'm ready for the only reality show I've ever watched to come back on. If you don't watch "The Biggest Looser" you should give it a try. It does have the typical sucky parts of a reality show (the drama) but most of it is so sweet to see as people make the changes they thought they never could. I wish they didn't vote people off & they all could stay and train for the entire season. Guess that's why I'm not a TV exec. Hope everyone has a safe and fun Labor Day!