Today's workout -- WHEW!

Man. Today's workout kicked my blankety-blank!

Fridays I do step-aerobics then weights. We did 30 minutes of step-aerobics. I put a riser under my step to make it that much more difficult. You'd be surprised at the difference that makes.
I was BEAT after the step-aerobics, but we went straight to the weights after that and did 30 more minutes. WOW. I'm telling you, this was probably the best workout I've had yet. I felt like I exercised every nook and cranny!

Channel 13 will be shooting me either Monday or Wednesday working out. The focus will probably be on the weightlifting this time and how important weight training is for weight loss. Not only does it firm you up, but the more muscle mass you have, the more your metabolism increases. I love weight lifting. I always have. I wish I'd have never let my lifting lapse in my early 20's and on.

Weigh-in results from last night... New measurements

Weigh-in Results from last night

So I weighed-in last night for the first time in 3 weeks or so. If you look back thru the blogs, I think the last weigh-in was 11/9. My results aren't too bad considering people usually gain during Thanksgiving
The results:
Loss of 5 pounds
Considering you should lose 1-2 pounds a week, I'm right on target. That brings me down to 277 from a starting weight of 316.
I'm still way heavier than I should be, but I'm coming right along.
I've lost a total of 39 pounds in the last 2 months or so. Not bad. I'm pretty proud of what I've accomplished.


My new measurements

So my trainer, Deb, took my measurements this morning after my workout. She compared my measurements from when I started my Mercy program to now. I really, really wish I had measured myself before I started on my own. I think the results there would be pretty amazing. These are good, though. Deb was very pleased with the results.

Oct 31 Nov 30
Chest 51.5 down to 51
Waist 52.5 down to 51.75
Hips 50 down to 48.5
Thigh 26 down to 24
Tricep 17 up to 17.75
(it's not posting the way it should, but you get the idea)

My muscles are getting bigger and everything else smaller. I'm quite happy. Maybe I'll post a before pic and a current pic soon. We'll see.... I dunno if everyone can stomach the before pic. I can't.

Monday's workout, Wednesdays' workout, Weighing tonight

Monday's workout

I'm trying to remember what I did for Monday's workout....
Probably the usual. I had gotten off of work at 8am after working overnight. Needless to say, I was tired. My trainer trained with me for a bit until she had to go teach her class.
I did some cross-trainer, treadmill, and weights, I think.


Wednesday's workout

We started with 20 minutes or so on the bike since the cross-trainers were all being used. We then went to the cross-trainer for 20 minutes. I've improved my cross-trainer time as well to under 10 minutes/mile. After that, we went to the weights and also the exercise ball for ab exercises.
I keep improving with the weights. Pretty much every time I work out, I end up lifting more weight AND doing more reps. I'm quite proud of that. I used to lift weights a lot as a kid, so it's nice to work back to that point.
After all of that, I did a 5 minute cool-down on the treadmill.

I must say I felt sick after my workout. I exert all of my energy when lifting. Each machine, I push myself to the limit to where I can't do one more rep. You build up acid in your body when you do that. It ended up making me feel rather nauseous, but it's worth it. I'm really seeing and feeling changes in myself. Others are as well.


Weighing tonight

I'll be weighing in tonight. I don't think I've weighed-in in some 2 or 3 weeks. I forget when the last was....go back thru the blog if you want to know when :-)
I'm sure I've lost some, but not a lot. I'm putting on a good amount of muscle mass, so that counts against weightloss. Plus I wasn't following my food plan to a T due to Thanksgiving and working overnights. We will see.... stay tuned for official results tomorrow! I might have my trainer measure me again tomorrow to see how many inches I've lost!

Watched a video of me from just before I started losing weight....

So my roommate and I had gone to an open casting call for The Biggest Loser back in August. We got a callback interview with a casting person the next day. They requested that we make a video submission and send it to them. We made the video and sent it in.
Well, I watched that video last night for the first time in months. Man, I noticed a big difference. I still have a long way to go to reach my goal, but I'm a long way from where I had been back in August!

Quick blog entry about Thanksgiving.

I'm working overnight tonight and tomorrow. I'm having a hard time staying awake. I was trying to do it w/out caffeine, but it didn't work! I drank a can of Coke from the vending machine. I made a good choice, though -- a can is 12 ounces as opposed to a bottle which is 20 ounces.

So this Thanksgiving I ate very reasonably. I had a serving of sweet potatoes, a serving of green bean casserole, a serving of mashed potatoes and gravy, probably two servings of turkey, and 2 deviled eggs (well, you know, 2 halves). I had water to drink. I had a piece of pumpkin pie made with Splenda (I couldn't tell the difference between that and regular pumpkin pie). I did end up having a piece of pumpkin pie at my girlfriend's grandma's house, too. It was my first time meeting her family and I didn't want to seem rude or whatever.
In years past, I'd have eaten a lot of many more dishes. I did pretty well, I think.

I must admit, I didn't go to the gym on Friday. I slept in. :(

Happy Thanksgiving. Won't blog again 'til Saturday night.

Happy Thanksgiving!
I'm off work from tomorrow (Wednesday) until I come back Saturday night at 11pm. I'm working Saturday and Sunday overnight this week. We're down a couple people on overnights and I was able to take Wednesday off in exchange for one of the days I'm working.

Working overnights is going to create some challenges as it pertains to my food. I'm going to have to try to adjust when I eat. It shouldn't be too tough. I'll just try to eat at the usual intervals; the time on the clock will be different but that should be about it hopefully.

It'll be interesting working out Monday morning after having been up all night then going to the gym at the end of my day; not sure I'll like it. Luckily it's just 2 days....

On the news this Wednesday... Busy last weekend shooting commercials...

On the news this Wednesday

So I'll be on Channel 13 news this Wednesday night at 10pm. It'll be the footage of me shopping with my nutritionist that we shot last Tuesday.
Sonya emailed me and said she watched the footage today and said I was NOTICEABLY thinner (capital letters and all! LOL)! It's nice to hear that other people are seeing it as well. I'm around my co-workers all the time and they don't really notice my weightloss probably since they're around me so much.
I can see it in my face a lot. My face looks much thinner than it was some 35 or so pounds ago.


Busy last weekend shooting commercials

So this last weekend was kinda busy.
Friday night I went to the bar for a friend's birthday party. I need to learn to drink mixed drinks and to drink them w/ diet pop. I'm a beer guy and ended up drinking beer at the party.

Saturday I met a friend for lunch before we drove to Red Rock to shoot footage for a commercial parody that will air as part of a play called 'The Dead Guy'. 'The Dead Guy' is a dark comedy about reality TV. I've read the whole script and find it funny. It's performed as though you're watching a TV show, and there are TV monitors on the stage and they play commercials on them at some points. The play runs in December at Grand View College's Viking Theatre. It's performed by friends of mine with Theater...for a Change.
Anyway, back to what I was saying.... I met up with a friend for some Chinese before we drove to Lake Red Rock. I ate pretty responsibly. I didn't drink any pop. As much as I like pop and caffeine, cutting them both out almost entirely has been easy. I think I've had pop maybe 3 times since I started this program (I'm including the month before when I started losing on my own).

Sunday we shot some more footage in the East Village downtown. We met up for a light lunch before we met up with all of the actors for the other commercial. The director and I (I was the camera jockey) went to Village Bean coffee shop. We were going to go to The Continental, but it was closed. I got a mocha and a sausage and egg pita. It was delicious and not terribly unhealthy, AND only $1.98 for the pita!

Let me just say that the East Village has some really cool shops. It's nice to see such a variety! We shot in Smash (custom t-shirt store), ZZZ Records, Kitchen Collage, and (something) Giggles. I don't remember the exact name of the last store, but it had stuff for new and expecting parents. It was a really cool shop with cool stuff! I hate to see downtown so damn dead on weekends with all of these cool shops.

Friday's workout and Today's workout....

Friday's workout....

So I got busy Friday and didn't blog.
My workout Friday was good. I did the step aerobics class for like 30 minutes or whatever, then I think I did some time on the cross-trainer and maybe even the treadmill. I don't remember for sure. But then I lifted weights as usual. This time we increased the weights and the reps by a pretty fair amount. I'm pretty sure we increased the weight on every machine and I did more reps on nearly every machine. I was pretty proud of that.


Today's workout....

Today I knocked out 30 minutes on the cross-trainer on 'Fat Burner' mode. I burned some nearly 400 calories on that. That's the longest I've done on the cross-trainer so far! From there, I went and did 10 or so minutes on the treadmill. From the treadmill I went right to the weights and increased my weights and reps on most of the machines. Some of em we'll increase next time again! I'm making big progress all around!

Today's workout. A new wrap...

Today's workout

I did, I think 22 minutes or so on the cross-trainer this morning (I know I did 2 miles). I did it in aerobic mode, so it had me go forward, backward, would have me vary my speed at different times, use arms more at other times, etc. It's a great workout! As per usual, I switched up and did the treadmill for a mile or so.
I then went to the weight machines and lifted and did some ab machines as well. I increased my reps on most of the machines pretty significantly (by either 5 or 10 reps!). I'll probably be increasing the amount of weight I'm lifting on those machines Friday.


A new wrap...

So when I toured Dahls yesterday with my nutritionist, she told me about these different wraps. They're called 'Flat Out'. I had seen them in the store and had heard others talking about them. They're only 90 calories and like 9 grams of fiber. They're tasty, too! I bought the Italian herb flavor. I had been eating Mission brand multigrain wraps. Those were 210 calories each and like 7 grams of fiber. I was worried these wouldn't taste as good, but they're delicious!

I'm on WHO news tonight at 10:00pm.

Watch me tonight at 10:00pm on WHO news. Not sure what tonight's segment will be about other than I'll be featured.

Dahl's tour w/ my nutritionist

So my nutritionist, Amy, and I went to Dahl's today and met Trent, the WHO camera guy. Trent and Amy are both cool, so we had fun.
We did a tour of the store so Amy could show me better choices and that type of thing. We did a lot of comparing of food labels and whatnot. I think Amy is addicted to fiber, by the way! :-)
It was fun....Trent and I would joke around about stuff when he wasn't filming. For instance, Amy was showing us how much fiber was in some types of cereal (some had TONS) and I was joking around about how they're changing the name to 'Super Colon Blow'. Then we walked by the diapers and I said that thank God they're nearby because you'll need them after eating that cereal!
I learned a lot and had fun! I came in to work about 30 minutes late, so I have to stay 30 minutes late. Bummer!

Workout this morning. Dahl's shopping w/ nutritionist tomorrow morning.

Workout this morning

My trainer, Deb, was sick this morning. She called and left instructions for my workout with Gene, the manager of the Wellness Center.
I did 20 minutes (2 miles) on the cross-trainer then did 1 mile (20 minutes) on the treadmill.
I then lifted weights for about 15-20 minutes on the various weight machines.


Dahl's Tuesday morning

So I'm meeting my nutritionist and at least a camera person from WHO at Dahl's in Johnston at 8am Tuesday morning. Amy, my nutritionist, is going to show me healthy alternatives and whatnot. Should be fun! My boss is letting me adjust my schedule a bit to do this. She's great.
Not sure when this segment will air on WHO, whether it'll be this Wednesday or next Wednesday or just when.

My daily menu plan (edited to show amount of calories)

Here's an idea of my general menu for a day. The snacks vary from day to day sometimes and some of the meal accompaniments vary, but this is an idea of what I eat. I'll try to find out the general caloric intake to give you an idea of how many calories I eat a day.
EDIT: I'm eating about 1300 calories a day.



7:30 AM Breakfast (more like 6:00am if I'm going to the gym)

whole grain crackers (3-4 each) 1 starch
1-2 TB natural peanut butter 1 meat
8 ounces milk (Dannon light & fit smoothies) 1 milk


10:30 AM Snack

apple, holiday grapes (10) or banana 1 fruit
8-12 ounces milk 1-1 ½ milks


12:30 PM Lunch

whole grain wrap 1 starch
2 ounces turkey or other very lean deli meat 2 meats
raw vegetables 1 vegetable
apple, holiday grapes (10) or banana 1 fruit


3:30 PM Snack

Fiber One bar 2 starch


6:30 PM Supper

6 ounces salmon 6 meats
½ cup cottage cheese 2 meats
load up on cooked vegetables! 2 vegetables


8:30 PM Snack

almonds (18 each) 3 fats

Weigh-in last night and workout today

Weigh-in

So I weighed-in last night. I lost 4 pounds in the last 2 weeks. Not as much as I had hoped for, honestly, but they do say 2 pounds a week is healthy. I'm lifting more weights, so I know I'm gaining muscle as well, so that can prevent me from losing as much weight as I was originally as muscle weighs more than fat. My clothes are already fitting much more loosely, so I'm sure I'm losing inches.
I also had made some choices in the last 2 weeks that probably negatively impacted my weightloss. I drank a lot of beer at my birthday party. I got a gyro and fries at the new fast food place in Clive called Iowa Castle; wasn't worth it either because neither the fries nor the gyro were that good. I didn't get any pop when I went there, though. :) I also had popcorn and pop at the movies twice in that time. It's funny, because normally I don't eat popcorn at the movies.
I'll make some better choices this week and will continue to lose...maybe even more than 4 lbs.


Workout today

So my trainer teaches a class on Fridays. She gave me the option today to work out on my own or to go to her class. I picked her class. It was step aerobics. I guess she lets the class pick what kind of workout they want to do.
I had never done aerobics before. It was a great workout. My coordination was a bit off from time to time, but not too bad!

The people in the class were really cool. There was a guy in there (Paul, I think) who was maybe in his 50's. He was excited to have another guy in the class; apparently the last guy stopped going for one reason or another. There was a retiree in her 50's. There was another lady with a knee brace on that was maybe in her later 60's or in her 70's; she was behind me and in the other corner, so I didn't pay close attention to her age. There was another lady in her later 40's or maybe 50's. Right next to me was a girl 22 or 23 or so. We were all joking around during the class and having a good time.

We ended up doing some stuff with a bar as well. I think my bar was 18 pounds. 18 pounds isn't much, but when you've just done step aerobics and whatnot and you're doing a bunch of different things with the bar, it ends up feeling like more after a while!
We then did some ab and stretching stuff on our steps.
The class lasted 20 minutes or so.

After class, my trainer and I did the cross-trainer for 15 minutes I think it was. We went a mile or so anyway.
Straight from that, we went and did some stretching and ab work using those big exercise balls. I could really feel those ab exercises working, so it was nice. I think we did that for 10 minutes or so.
From there, we went to the treadmill for only about 6 minutes. I'd have gone longer, but I had to shower and get to work.
It was a really great workout. My trainer was like, 'You're really easy. You'll do any workout without complaining' or something along those lines.

Appointments this afternoon at Mercy and weigh-in

So I have two appointments at Mercy this afternoon.
I'll be meeting with my nutritionist from 4:30-5:30 then Stress Management class from 5:30-6:30.
I imagine they'll also be weighing me tonight. Tomorrow is two weeks since my program started. Last weigh-in was 286lbs (30 pounds lost on my own). I have a feeling I've lost more weight. I've been working out and eating well, and my clothes are much more loose. I've been lifting weights more as well, and muscle weighs more than fat, so it may not be quite as fast as I was losing before, but we'll see....

Stay tuned for a post tonight or tomorrow with my new weight!

5th Mercy Workout

We started a little differently today. Normally we start with the treadmill and do that longer than the cross-trainer, but today we did the cross-trainer first for, I think, 20 minutes. We then switched it up and went to the treadmill for 15. After that was weights, abs, and stretching.

I missed my morning snack. I got to work then had to come to my desk and grab my laptop then walk to another building for a meeting. Normally I'm 15-30 minutes early for work, but was only 10 early today (I tend to feel like if I'm on time I'm late -- for everything). I forgot to grab an apple from my desk to take with me because I was in a hurry. I sat thru the meeting hungry. I got back to my desk and waited for about an hour before I took lunch. I was feeling a bit light-headed. I feel better now, though. I am really tired, though, but that's just because I was up til midnight on the phone and got up at 6am. I should be back on track for the rest of the day.

Workout this morning at 24/7 Xpress

So I decided to throw in an extra workout this week. I wanted to do 5 mornings this week, but I have to come in to work early on Thursday so that I can make my stress management class at Mercy Capital on Thursday evening and my appointment with my nutritionist as well. I'd have to get up WAY too early to go workout.

So my workout this morning was at 24/7 Xpress right by my house. It'll be nice this winter if the weather gets bad, I can still go there and work out since it's a couple blocks away. No excuses!
I did the treadmill today for 20 minutes on an inclice level of 3 and a speed of 3.3 or so. Then I switched up and did the cross-trainer for 10 minutes then went back to the treadmill for another 20 minutes all with no break between. I must say I HATE the motion of their cross-trainer compared to Mercy's; my arches hurt so bad when I was done.
I was sweating so much this morning! Went right out into that cold air for the quick drive home and thought my sweat was going to freeze!

My muscles from yesterday's workout are feeling stronger. Such a great feeling; I want to get back to where I was strength-wise when I was in high school.

4th Workout. Made some new food last night....

Workout....
Well, I worked out today at Mercy for the fourth time.

Today I did about 20 minutes on the treadmill at around 3.4mph with an incline level of 4. I then went to the cross-trainer right after that and did, I think, 15 or so minutes on a varied workout (it would have you change your speed, have you use your arms more than your legs at some points, have you go in reverse, etc etc).
Right from that, I went to the weights for the remainder of my hour. We (my trainer Deb and I) did some new machines we hadn't yet used as well as the ones I had been using. We did some ab machines and some more leg machines.
From there, we did some ab exercises on one of those exercise balls. I was worried I'd pop the sucker! Anyway, we also did some push-ups using it.
From there we did some stretches to end the morning.

Man, this was my best workout yet! I was definitely feeling it when I was done! It felt great!


New food....
So I made hummus last night. I've had it before and liked it, but it can be a bit expensive at the grocery store, so I decided to try making my own. The stuff in the store comes in a little tub; can't be more than about 3 ounces but costs over $3.00.
I got a food processor for my birthday from my mom, so I enlisted its help. It was really simple to make...
First off, I never follow recipes, I just use them as guidelines then improvise.
I had no idea how many chick peas (garbanzo beans) to buy, so I bought two 16 ounce bags of dried beans. I boiled them for two minutes and soaked them for an hour. I didn't realize how big they'd get! I should've done 1 bag at a time! I also bought two heads of garlic and a lemon. I already had the olive oil at home as well as the kosher salt. So the lemon, 2 heads of garlic, and the 2 pounds of beans came to just over $3.00! MUCH more economical to make your own!

I roasted the 2 heads of garlic then threw them in the food processor along with some of the chick peas. I processed that together, added some kosher salt and some lemon juice and as it came together I drizzled in olive oil. I didn't want to add a ton of oil, so I spooned in the water that I boiled the beans in to thin it out. That helped a lot. I made it in batches and used most of the beans. I ended up with a huge bowl of hummus! Oops! Next time I'll know to buy 1 bag!

It turned out pretty tasty!

My 3rd Mercy workout. Meeting w/ nutritionist next week.

So I went to Mercy today for my 3rd workout.
I did about 25 minutes on the treadmill at about 3.5mph with an incline setting of 4 for most of the time. I then switched up without a break and did the cross-trainer for 7 minutes at between 5-6mph. Both the treadmill and the cross-trainer are improvements over Wednesday's speeds and incline. The cross-trainer is an awesome workout; it's low-impact and you really feel it. It's easier to go faster on it than it is on the treadmill, yet it seems like a much better workout. I hope to increase my stamina on it (I haven't gone long enough on it yet to run out of steam, mind you).
After the cardio, I lifted weights for 20 minutes or so going from leg press to bicep curl to a rowing thing (not the technical term haha), to lat pull, to shoulder press, to chest press (I think I might've forgotten a machine or two in there). I improved on a few of the machines over Wednesday's workout with weight and reps.
I just realized I forgot to stretch today at the end of my workout.
My trainer, Deb, leads a workout class on Friday mornings at 7am for 30 minutes, I think. I need to find out what the class is and probably attend. I can do that for 30 mins then maybe hit the weight machines.

I feel great today, a little sore, but not bad at all - I just feel like I got in a good workout. I'm thinking of going to 24/7 Xpress on Tuesdays and Thursdays and walking for an hour before work so I get in 5 days a week. I'd also really like to get in some more weight training.
I got to work then we had to move to a different office down the hall, so I ended up getting sweaty for the second time in the morning. I had to unhook and move my computer and my belongings then hook it all back up, so I had to get down under the desks. I hate that....right after I shower I have to get sweaty again. Oh well, I kinda like the new desk; I think I have like 30% more desk space. :) I'll miss you, cave!


So next Thursday night (11/8) I'm going to Mercy Capital to the weightloss clinic to meet with my nutritionist, Amy Clark. We're going to do some meal planning. The following week we're going to try to make it to Dahl's in Johnston on a weekday morning before work with the camera crew to do some grocery shopping.
Also on 11/8, I'm going to a stress-management class at Mercy Capital w/ Peggy. :)

Stay tuned, kids.
By the way, every Wednesday night on the 1oPM news they'll be featuring one of the four of us. It kinda depends who has a particularly good or maybe bad week for who they choose to feature.
Anybody see me this last Wednesday on the news? I kept my shirt on this time! I promise to do so every time until I get down to my goal weight. Heck, I don't even like to look at myself w/out a shirt let alone others have to see me!