After working out only 2 times in 2 weeks and a very bad diet last week.  I've been back on track since Sunday night. 

I've been pushing myself to do some cardio everynight since Sunday.  Sunday and Monday, I worked out at home, Tuesday did the elliptical at work and Wednesday night worked out at home again.  If it's slow again tomorrow then I might attempt the stairs again and then do the elliptical.  

The video I've been doing cardio to is from the TV show the Biggest Loser.  It offers a 5 minute Warm up, 20 minute Level 1 Cardio, 10 minute Level 2 cardio and 10 minute Level 3 cardio, and a 5 minute cool down.  The cool thing is you can pick and choose which workouts you want.  If you want to do the cool down and just Level 1 cardio you can choose those 2 from the menu.  If you want to do all 50 minutes you can choose all of them if you just want the warm up and Level 2, etc. etc.  I've been doing the warm-up and Level 1 cardio work out since I got it.  It definitely makes me sweat alot but it's a little hard on the knees.

Me and the Spartan1 and 2 had another weigh in this past week.  Here are the results:

Weigh in #3 Sunday, March 2nd 

Spartan #1:  Weight = 216 (loss of 2 lbs over 4 weeks)

Spartan #2:  Weight = 251 (gain of 3 lbs over 4 weeks)

Me:                Weight = 315 (loss of 18 lbs over 4 weeks)

The first month is done.  2 more to go and since the weigh in, I've weighed myself (again with less clothes on) but as of today I'm at 310 lbs.  I'm 10 lbs away from the goal I had set for the entire contest, so I'm trying to work hard at getting to that point as soon as I can.  That's 10 more pounds which is completely feasible as I lost 11 lbs the first 2 weeks.  However, I don't know how long it will be before I hit a plateau and I'll have to work harder to lose the pounds. 

I thought by making it somewhat big monetary stakes, it would be more of a motivation to lose weight than it would be if it were a dinner or lunch prize.  And I didn't think that food as a prize would be appropriate after all that work.  I'm hoping the other guys step it up a bit.  It's easy for me to say I don't care about having to pay out if I lose when I'm in the lead but I'm hoping that for all 3 of us it's a chance to get into better dietary habits. 

Posted by mamorale14 at 3:37 AM CST

Updated: Thursday, 6 March 2008 4:07 AM CST

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I'm "rationalizing" again and blaming work on not being able to work out.  I did in home cardio once last week and haven't worked out at work for at least 2 weeks, however, I have still lost 8 lbs in the last 2 weeks.  I weigh myself almost daily and today I'm at 310.   So it looks like I'll be reaching my goal of 300 a lot sooner than I had expected, that is if I don't completely fall off the wagon. 

I had a consultation with my cousin, Justine who gave me a lot of good information about nutrition and different ways to control portion by following either a carb counting diet or calorie counting diet.  I decided to try the calorie counting diet but have not completely adopted it.  i'm still trying to figure out how to work that into my daily schedule, although, I have started bringing some healthy snacks to work such as fruit and yogurt smoothies for breakfast.  Hopefully when I get that fully integrated and start up the work outs full time again, I will be able to optimize the weight loss.  

Posted by mamorale14 at 2:36 AM CST

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As I've hinted before, there is a little incentive now to lose weight quicker.  So, 3 of us have a bet going to see who loses the most total weight percentage.  Here's the scoop on the bet although, I won't reveal who is participating although a lot of you already know.  

Our first weigh in was 2 weeks ago and here are the starting stats:

1st Weigh In Saturday, February 2nd:

Spartan #1:  Weight=218

Spartan #2: Weight=248

Me: Weight = 329

We weigh in every 2 weeks to see the progress.

Our 2nd weigh in was this past Friday:

Spartan #1: Weight=218 (maintained weight)

Spartan #2: Weight=250 (gain of 2 lbs.)

Me: Weight = 318 = (loss of 11 lbs.) 

The Prize:  

The person who's lost the most percentage of body weight (lbs lost/starting weight = percentage of body wieght lost) wins $100 dollars from each of the losers plus $1 for every lb lost.  To keep the motivation going to lose weight, it will be double the stakes if weight is gained.   So for me, that's about a 3% weight loss. 

We also figured out BMI (body mass index) which is the percentage of body fat in relation to what a normal weight is for our respective heights, but we decided to follow the Biggest Loser rules.  

Posted by mamorale14 at 12:44 AM CST

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Today's weight (home scale):  320 

Alot of the changes that I've made in my diet, I think are working, although I still want to see a dietician.  From talking my cousin, Deza, I may just try to see if the other cuz, her sister, Justine would be willing to help out, instead of me going to the one my doctor referred me to.  I had spoken to Justine about it briefly but if she would like to I'd be happy to have a sit down with her and give her some experience.  So expect a call soon, Justine. 

It was a good idea to give up rice, but I haven't given up carbs completely.  The only carbs I eat are bread but I try hard not to eat carbs for dinner.  Dinner for me is after I get home from work.  Lunch is about 6-7pm.  Until I have a regular sleep schedule, eating past midnight is not an option, unless I eat constantly at work.  But then I can't eat too much before I work out or else I get lethargic during the work out or get heartburn.

As I said on the normal blog, I stepped up the work out a bit.  During the week, I do cardio.  This past weekend, I started going over to M.analad Fitness (they've got a gym set up in the basement) to start lifting and do some different types of workouts.  

It's good to switch up the routines so it doesn't get so boring.  The lifting is quite intense, 3 excercises per muscle group, 20 reps, with 5 second rests in between.  I work up a good sweat and it definitely burns like hell.  The after affect is quite horrible.  I can hardly wipe my ass without crying (not literally) but it hurts.  

My goal by May 1st is to at least get down below 300 lbs.  Then i'll be about 60 lbs away from what I weighed in high school.

Posted by mamorale14 at 12:58 AM CST

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I was watching the news last night to see the results for Super Tuesday, when they mentioned that yesterday was Fat Tuesday.  I wasn't sure if I was hearing right, cuz that would mean that today was Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent.  Plus, I'm not sure if I missed the attempt at the 5lb burger by Ger and B Lee.  I didn't get a call so I'm assuming they didn't try it. 

Anyways, last year I gave up pork and beef for Lent.  Because I'm trying to lose weight, I've decided to give up an Asian staple.  Rice.  I've already gone a week, maybe more without rice, so from now until Easter.  No rice of any kind.  I'm not giving up carbs all together now.  I have to have some carbs, but those I'll get through bread.  I don't really have any veggie recipes so whenever I do buy veggies, it is usually broccoli and asparagus.  Those are the 2 items that I've substituted for rice.  I need to look up some veggie recipes and branch out to other types.   I'm gonna start getting tired of it.

Superbowl sunday was a disaster, dietwise.  Nothing but junk food, except for Amy's turkey chili, which was really good by the way.  I nibbled on everything there, the pizza, the wings, the lechon kawali, and I even had snickers ice cream cake.  Superbowl Sunday was Superbad.

But I'm back on track now.  We started doing the stairs and work.  I went once up and down and then did the elliptical.  My legs are really sore now.  The only cardio I got today was shoveling but it was a good work out.  I was sweating out in the cold.  

I've got a lot of work to catch up with tomorrow since they closed the office down at 3:30 due to the snow storm.  I need to get the cardio in at least 4 times a week.  I'm going to try to work out at the M.analad's after work on Friday and definitely on Sunday.  So we'll see by Sunday if there's any weight loss.  

Posted by mamorale14 at 11:21 PM CST

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So, I've been missing entries the past 2 weeks.  Work has been kicking our asses and I've only had a chance to work out twice in the last week and half but February 1st is D-Day.  It is "d" day to step it up a notch. 

I've felt guilty ever since Fat Sunday.  Hooters, drinking, Turbo'ing....  I've made a step to cut out carbs for dinner.  I'm used to eating a lot of rice with dinner but this week, I've been able to substitute the rice for vegetables.  I bought some egg beaters (all egg whites) and made shrimp w/ scrambled eggs.  Sort of like the kind you get in China Town.  Instead of rice I steamed a whole bunch of broccoli.  I had the same the next night but threw in some asparagus as well.  Broccoli and asparagus are probably my favorite veggies and is usually the only kind I buy.  

Anyways, ever since last week the smoking has been back to normal but my "official" quit date will be D-day.  There are other factors that have lead me to this specific date which will help with the motivation factor.  

Posted by mamorale14 at 4:24 AM CST

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Wednesday, I worked 10 hours, Thursday, I worked 12 hours.  Our counterparts in South Carolina, never went home last night.  I need to bring my lunches.  The managers ordered pizza the last 2 nights.  I found out yesterday that I had that 3rd pack of cigarettes in my desk the whole time.   My co-worker gave it back to me and I forgot about it ( I guess that's a good thing) but he reminded me and I smoked the pack in 2 days (with some help from other co-workers).  Because of all the work I haven't been able to work out the past 2 days.  It's been 2 days of major falterage (if there's such a word).  The good thing is, by staying until 1:30am, I'm caught up with work.  I'm not helping with nobody's backlog cuz nobody helped me today despite the fact that I took on some of their work.   Tomorrow I'm in and out of work. I've got tomorrow's workload and that's it.

It's time to get back on track.

Posted by mamorale14 at 3:34 AM CST

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Ok, so I got a text from Kristine this morning saying that Oprah was doing an episode on quitting smoking.  I also got an e-mail from my sister saying the same thing.  Since, I don't take smoke breaks at work (today I had one) and I didn't take a lunch, we were able to go down to workout at 9pm.  Did the usual 33 minute elliptical session and did a little chest on the universal.  I'm not so much focusing on the lifting aspect of the work as I am on the cardio.  Anyways, we got out by 10pm.

I got home in time for the episode which provided a lot of good insight into the reasons why people have a hard time quitting.  They discussed fear.  Fear of not knowing who you are without smoking in your life.  What will happen once you stop smoking? What if I fail, what if I succeed.  

Right now, I can probably say that those thoughts never entered my mind but it could be a subconcsious thing.  Right now, I think I tend to "rationalize" or make excuses for me to smoke to make up for feeling guilty about doing it.  

Last week, when i almost made it the whole week, I said that I was getting really annoyed at work so I left work, went to the gas station and bought not 1 pack, but 3 packs of cigarettes.  I only smoked 1 pack of that.  I kind of shafted my co-worker, who is also trying to quit smoking, and put the other 2 packs in his drawer.  I guess he's already onto the 2nd pack cuz I looked in his drawer and the 3rd pack wasn't in there.  The 2nd one he brought with when we went out to North Beach, which by the way, I only smoked 1 the whole night.  Mostly because it was sub-zero weather.  It totally wasn't worth it.  It wasn't so bad being at a club and not smoking. 

One thing that usually happens in smoky clubs, is my eyes get really irritated and watery and it usually happens 99% of the time.  I usually have to go home and wash my face and flush my eyes out with water.  It didn't happen this time.  Now people can go drinking until 5am, show up to work in the clothes they went out in and people wouldn't know that you were out all night. Unless they smell your breath....

Anyways, I've had 2 packs of cigarettes since last Sunday when I started the patch.  And this will sound like rationalizing (and it is), but that is slowing down a lot.  So, I've got to work on, finding alternatives to smoking.  When I feel the urge, I have to find something to curb it.  

Posted by mamorale14 at 12:10 AM CST

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Weight (Doctor's Scale): 334 1/2 lbs. 

I went in for a follow up appointment, to check on my BP.  The nurse took my BP it was 128 over 70.  I finished the BP medication I had about 2-3 weeks ago so that was a good sign, however, when she was checking my heart rate, it was a bit slow.  54 beats per minute.  I did lose about 2 1/2 lbs according to the doctor's scale but he said I should be losing quicker than that so I have to step it up.  

I've got to monitor my blood sugar. So, I've got one of those Accu-check monitors.   According to the instruction booklet, the blood sugar for a person w/o diabetes, 2 hours after a meal should be below 140, today (after a meal) mine was at 133.  Before that, I had taken a couple of test runs and the blood sugar was at 98 and 101.  

He said my cholesterol, really wasn't bad at all, I just need to get the bad cholesterol below 100, so I'm on cholesterol meds for now. 

I think I'm going to try to talk the guys into doing the stairs again.  The elevators weren't working on Friday and I had to walk up to the 3rd floor.  I was fricken' out of breath.  I thought the elliptical would help with some of the endurance but it's a completely different type of work out.  The workout DVD that I bought, the level 1 cardio, was so much more intense than I thought it would be.  So, my conclusion, is that the elliptical is not enough.  Sure, it gets my heart rate up, it gets me breathing hard, but what I think is a good work out, is not even 1/2 of what I could be doing.  So, now, it's time to take it to the next level.  

I'll be making an appointment with the dietician w/in the next 2 days.   The goal is to lose 2 lbs per week. 

Posted by mamorale14 at 3:27 AM CST

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My diet today was not so good either.  I guess there's 2 things I turn to when i get stressed out.  Food and cigarettes.  What I did do today, I ate shit and smoked.  I had 3 slices of pizza. My co-worker kept pushing this fricken sausage on me, so I ate that too. 

The key is to not eat that way everyday and if I do, I have to step up the workouts a bit more to counter the extra calories I've ingested.  I missed yesterday's workout.  So we worked out today.  I made use of the Ipod to play some house mixes I downloaded to keep up the pace on the elliptical.  It does the job.  I try to keep pace with the beat, when I get tired I slow down, but then I have a certain amount of calories that I want to reach or beat, I get right back on pace.  I've got to find a case for it or one of those arm bands.  

Posted by mamorale14 at 11:43 PM CST

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