One step back...

Okay, so for some reason, I went one day from 219.5, to 217.5, and now I'm back to 221. Annoying as all heck, but... I would've thought that starting back up on a jogging routine would kick my metabolism into gear. I'm on my second week of hundredpushups.com... so either I'm putting on muscle really quick... or my body is just this amazing contraption that processes food to its utmost efficiency. Nah.

It could just be stress; work is hectic, and personal life is stressful; there's nowhere for me to rest, except Sundays at church.

If I stop and think about all the things that are "against" me at the moment... I don't think I'd ever come out of those depths. So I try not to dwell, and just focus on what I need to do, or rather, what I CAN do.

Trying to get rid of debt... you really don't know how much you truly owe until you REALLY try to pay it off; then that Netflix "paltry" fee you pay becomes a chance to PAY OFF a debt.

Trying to sell the house; trying to get in shape; trying to figure out what's going to happen with my marriage... it's enough to make someone depressed.

I feel like a broken man. And you know how, when you break pottery or your favorite mug or what have you, and you try to glue the pieces together, but there's always that WHITE line where you can see where the pieces shattered... that's how I feel; even if I were able to glue my life back together, I'd still see the WHITE scars of pain.

Wow. Depressing post... I'll add one with my "fitness" update and plan for next week, maybe that'll liven up the mood.

In my 'Teens again!

Holy moly, I'm in my teens again!

This morning, I weighed at 219.5... and although it's just half a pound (and with a digital scale, that may be even less) away from the 20's... well, it's still 2 pounds less than Friday.

Started the Couch to 5k program yesterday, and I can definitely feel my lighter body having an easier time of handling that stress. I got worried, since my heel pain came back this weekend... but I've found out the culprit.

If you've ever come back from work with your wrist/palm hurting from putting pressure on your desk while "mousing"... well, that's basically what happened with my heel; I played on my 360 and my PC for most of the weekend, and I realized I sit in a certain way, that puts pressure on my heel. So hopefully, since I'm conscious about that now, I'll try to avoid it.

On the Couch program, I started jogging at 5.5 mph, with the walking stages at 3.8 mph. However, after a few "laps" I started feeling a bit of a shin splint-like pain, so I did the rest of the 20 minutes at 5.2 mph and 3.5 mph, respectively, and I was able to come out of that shining.

What's interesting and good to know is that I have no problem with my breathing, but rather with the atrocious shape my legs are in regards to running... but they'll get there.

Since I recorded my program and speed changes on my treadmill, I'll do the same for the other 2 days of this week's running, and hopefully I'll notice less "stress" on my ankle/feet/shins as the week goes by, so I can maybe do the whole program next week at 5.5 or slightly faster.

I'm excited to begin Week 2 of the hundredpushups.com program. I breezed through Week 1, maxing out with nice numbers (though not incredibly high), so I'm hoping for the same experience this week.

At the end of this week is the next exhaustion test to see how many I can do without stopping, so I'm looking forward to that as well.

Here's to pushing hard, but not too hard!

Friday Update

Two more physical therapy sessions, and I'm done with it! Woo hoo! My ankle hasn't hurt in a long while, my calves and achilles' tendon doesn't feel as tight, and I just got the green light to start my Couch to 5K on the treadmill (no pavement yet).

As an added benefit that really made me feel good about what I've been doing... for a while, my liver enzymes were elevated everytime I had blood work. After some analysis a few years ago, my G.I. doctor told me it was more than likely the cause of a "fatty" liver. Great. And even still, it really didn't affect my health habits.

But recently, I had some blood work for some other reasons, and lo and behold... enzymes look great, white blood cell count looks great... wow. In just a few weeks, with a few pounds gone (most of them from my liver, apparently!)... it's amazing.

And judging from my pushup results today, breezing through the "prescribed" number of pushups, and maxing out at 18 (out of 10)... incredible feeling. My arms are starting to toning up, and this is just the first week!

Can't wait to see my progress at the end of the program. I'm looking at starting the Couch to 5k on Sunday, so I can alternate between that cardio, and the pushups... and I need to add in some situp program in there, too.

I have a Bowflex gathering dust upstairs... I guess it's time for me to use it. ;) I have an attachment specifically for ab work, so maybe I'll do that.

This accountability-by-blog, whom I share with my buddy jogren.blogspot.com, is really working and kicking my habits up a notch.

Weight is still not responding as quickly as I would like... but the benefits already, with 35 lbs. down, are definitely tangible.

Wednesday Update

I promised I would use this blog for accountability purposes, so here it is.

Currently, due to me having to go to physical therapy 3 times a week for ankle pain, bone spur, etc. (going extremely well), my exercise routine pretty much consists of the hundredpushups.com plan.

This week I re-started Week 1 of the plan, but using Column 2 instead of Column 3, as I couldn't keep up with Column 3 the first week. I'm BREEZING through it.

Monday: did the levels correctly, maxed out with 8 (almost 9, it was a minimum of 5).

Wednesday: did levels correctly, maxed out with 10 (it was a minimum of 7).

This is DEFINITELY an improvement, since that means I did about 38 push-ups today, with rest in between, and I almost did 11 at the end there. So I anticipate no problems with Friday, and with Week 2.

This coming from a guy who a few months ago was overweight, sedentary and just plain inactive. My arms are definitely starting to show a bit of toning, and it's very exciting.

The only issue I'm having is maintaining a steady weight loss rate. I'm down 35 lbs. since I started, but I should've been at least 40 down by now, if not more. This is what worries me a bit.

Also, since I haven't been able to get far into a running/jogging program, I'm at a disadvantage there, as well.

I should be able to start running in two Mondays (or maybe that Sunday), and see whether that helps with the weight loss (it SHOULD, by all accounts, but we'll see).

Fitness Goals

So by November, before the dreaded holidays, these are my goals:

Weight: 180 lbs. (I paid the dang Quick Weight Loss Centers to achieve this "guaranteed", so we'll see, although my frame may not "allow" for this)

Push-ups: 80 - 100 in 2 minutes

Sit-ups: 80-100 in 2 minutes

Running: 2 miles under 13:00, or at least a 9:30 per mile pace (this is going to be REAL tough) [edited]

Continuation of the journey

So here I am again, a month later (from my last post). Not much has changed, including my weight! Which is annoying; I reported 225 lbs. last month, and this morning I weighed 221 lbs. Not too shabby, but since I'm doing the Quick Weight Loss Center Program... I didn't pay that exhorbitant amount of money they charge to NOT lose "quickly".

I've been sort of an anomaly at the center, because my weight is not responding as quickly as it should. I'm really hoping there's nothing more than meets the eye, healthwise, because I'm following the program to a "T".

Speaking of healthwise... I had started the "Couch to 5K" program from www.coolrunnings.com, and I was doing well on my first week, but for months I had been feeling this strange "tight" pain around my ankle, and although it wasn't hurting me while doing the walking/jogging program, I figured I should have it checked out, just to prevent any further injuries or obstacles to my ultimate goals.

So come to find out I have a bone spur, and my leg muscles are extremely tight (which sounds HOT, but it really is a bad thing), so I've been going to physical therapy to streth the muscles, the tendons, etc. So this put a temporary restraint on the running aspect.

According to the doc, I should be back to being able to return to my jogging after next week, when physical therapy ends. And knowing that I'll have to stretch every day for the rest of my life doesn't sound bad at all. At least I have a chance to prevent actual ankle surgery... that would NOT be a good thing.

So I also started the http://hundredpushups.com program, and although after the initial test, I started at Column 3... I couldn't finish the program all the way, so today I'll restart Week 1 using Column 2. That should inspire me to continue, as I'm sure I'll be able to make it through this time.

That leaves sit-ups. I'm waiting for the weight to go a little more down before I start anything.

As far as the divorce... although my feelings haven't changed much, we've sort of decided to at least wait 'til the end of the year; I'm going in neutral, neither negative nor positive, but... I can't force myself to feel any different. It's a long, complicated story, so don't judge. ;)

It does worry me, however, because bein married and leading a military life has all sorts of implications, up to Court Martials or losing one's commission, under certain circumstances, so... but I'm not letting myself get to far ahead here.