Day 19 -- Body for Life

So today is day 19 of Body for Life and weight loss is going good although I seemed to have hit a plateau on the “big time” loss. I am working out like a mad man but the weight is just not melting off like it was. Tonight I am going to do a long treadmill workout and tomorrow will be an upper body day. The food is starting to get a little old --- I miss PIZZA J.

I think I will do a lot better when I join a gym next week. I am either joining Lifetime Fitness or the Wheaton Park District Fitness Center; either way, they are both within a close proximity to work and not bad for home. I cannot find any information about the prices on the Lifetime Fitness Center website but there are several layers of membership, but the Wheaton Park District for an annual membership is $393 for a year or $37 on a monthly basis.

By the way, I have started my video journal and am editing the tape now. I will post a link to the video in my next blog. If you are interested, keep checking in!!

F1 vs Ferrari vs Fiat

Three cars race against each other but the Fiat and the Ferrari 360 Modena are both given headstarts against the Formula 1. As someone who has always wanted a Ferrari, this is a little embarrassing. Maybe it is time I change my dream car to a Formula 1 car, of course there is always that little problem about driving it down the street... yeah right, let the cops try to catch me!!

Day 11 -- "Body for Life"

Well, here I sit at the end of another work day, Day 11 on “Body for Life” and last night I went a little crazy on the treadmill. Exercising for over 65 minutes and burning over 1,000 calories!! Anyway, technically yesterday was not an aerobic exercise day, but an upper body day – today is an aerobic day so tonight I will be doing aerobic and upper body (as soon as Survivor is over J).

Everything seems to be going very good, I am losing weight, my clothes are getting looser in all the right places and my body is starting to tighten up.

I just had an awesome idea, tonight, I am going to pick up a mini-dv tape and start a video diary. Hell, I may even put it online every couple of days. I will keep you all posted. I am looking forward to getting out of work right now, so this will have to do for today… till next time, keep working out and eating right!

Day 8 Body for Life -- And a little more

So now it is day 8 on “Body for Life” and I can see a noticeable change in my energy level as well as the ‘snugness’ of my clothing. When I look in the mirror I do not see any changes yet, but that is probably because they are such little changes and I look at myself naked in the mirror every day (not for hours on end or anything, c’mon).

So last week, on day 5 I worked my lower body and let me tell you, my body was not used to it!! I have not done squats or lunges for about 3 years (I found the sheet that told me how much weight I was doing at the time and I decided to just pick right up where I left off – big f***ing mistake!). I could hardly walk on Friday and Saturday, not to mention I could not workout. Yesterday was day 7 and my first “free day” (you get a single free day where you don’t have to follow eating and workout schedule quite as rigorously) and I thought since I am obviously a couple days behind on workouts, I did 30 minutes on the treadmill at a pretty brisk pace and ate pretty much right along with the plan. I did eat some cheesy-beer-bread with chili last night – after no soda pop and very little (refined) sugar all week, it was very good, but I felt bad afterwards.

This morning I was looking forward to starting the program with my best friends’ wife, it is an exercise boot camp but they actually started last week and the guy said wait till Wednesday to make sure there is room in the program. It really is ok though, this morning I had to take my eldest dog (Casey) to the vet because over the weekend we found another cancerous tumor on his leg (different leg than last time). He stayed at the vet to have surgery on his right front leg. I will be off to pick him up in a few hours but I am hoping that everything goes ok and that I can squeeze in a workout around lunch time (upper body today).

Till the next update, here is to healthy eating, working out and getting in shape!

Why do I even bother... Body for Life is why

Sometimes I ask myself, "self, why do you even bother with this blog, you never keep it up to date?" To which my other side replies, "Why are you such a pessimist? Take off the skirt, put on the pants and start writing your thoughts down."

So here goes. This past Monday (September 4) marks the new place in my life, I have had enough of being “large and in charge”. I have contemplated it for many months now (pretty much since finishing graduate school – which incidentally I blame for much of my weight problem), now it is time to take action. I stepped on the scale Monday morning and weighed in at a grotesque 275.6 pounds, exactly 50 pounds more than when I said “I do” to my lovely wife – who has managed to gain 0 pounds in the same 9 ½ year timeframe.

So you ask, “what are you going to do about it fat boy?” Well I am going to tell you, I started a program called “Body for Life”. I have done this program before when I weighed 260 and got down to 240 before starting grad school. Once I was in full swing of grad school it simply became too hard to maintain the eating and workout schedule. Today is day 3 and I cannot express how good I feel about the program and my body is feeling just a little pain (the good kind) from the weight lifting and the time on the treadmill. I weighed myself this morning as soon as I woke up and to my satisfaction, was down to 268.6 (SEVEN POUNDS)! Now I am not foolish enough to think that is much more than an initial “blast” and some water weight, but I don’t think it could be related to water weight gain as I have drank about 20 glasses of water in the last 2 days and am taking a leak about 12 to 15 times a day.

So anyway, as part of my change, I am going to try to keep my blog updated with my progress and God willing, I will be on my cruise starting December 3, 2006 wearing a nice pair of swim trunks and not ashamed of my over-extended gut! If I am feeling a bit rambunctious, I may even post some pictures for you all to laugh at along the way.

Slate Magazine - 9/11 Report Graphical Adaptation

9/11 Report Graphical Adaptation

The 9/11 graphical adaptation report... read it online.