Up a bit

I was surprised to weigh in at .6 pounds up in my WW meeting yesterday.  I’m sure it will be back off next week, it caught me a little off guard last night though.

In addition to lowering weight I’m starting to pay much closer attention to my cholesterol intake because although I’m active, only a tad overweight, and eat pretty well my bad cholesterol is up around 160.  My doc said it should be around 100.  I’m genetically predisposed to high cholesterol but it did catch me off guard and I’m looking at another line on the nutritional information now.

This morning I did situps and a 3 mile run.  I’m pretty sore from lifting after my long layoff.

A New Beginning

I re-arranged my basement gym last night and this morning - for the first time in a while – I lifted weights.  Not anything fancy, just a basic routine, and with around 80% of the weight I used to lift.  Going forward I’m going to stick to tried and true types of routines.  I’ll post the schedule I’m using later today or tomorrow.

In other news it looks like my weight is down about a half pound from my last weigh in two weeks ago.  My fingers are crossed for a loss on the WW scale this evening!

My lifting routine took quite a while so no run today.

Wow

I’ve gotten a new high for blog hits today – 30 my previous high was 18!  Not that it matters a lot, just a little curious.

I’ve gotten a lifting schedule together for myself and I’ll be posting it on a page for anyone who’s interested.  I’ve still got to put together a running schedule, and I’ll post that as well.

Just  a quick summary of my last few runs:  Saturday was a 40 minute run no idea how far.  Monday was a good 50 minute run – again I’m not sure how far – I’ve just been running for relaxation as it were.  This morning I didn’t even wear a watch I just went for  a 3 mile run.

I’m looking forward to my WW meeting tomorrow, I think I’ll have no gain and maybe even a little loss – which I’m quite happy with considering the last week included two Thanksgiving meals and I was constantly surrounded by cookies, pies and candy.

A Bit Angry

I’m pretty angry, and will never be following a routine from Men’s Health again.  I’ve tried various suggestions for increasing the number of pullups you can do etc. and none have worked particularly well. 

The Tabata Protocol routine provided by Men’s Health boasted a big increase in strength and aerobic capacity.  I ditched my weights and took up Tabata.  Today I decided to lift a little to see where I was.

I’ve lost so much strength it makes me angry.  It will take weeks (and probably months) to get back to where I was.  It also sets me way back on my goal of benching 200 pounds.  Thank god I didn’t accept that I didn’t need to run to increase my aerobic capacity… My new workout is going to include 3 days of lifting and 4 or 5 days of running each week.

I always follow the rule in other areas of my life and have to learn to do it in my running and strength training:  “If it sounds to good to be true – it is”.  I’ll be rearranging my home gym and creating a new program I’ll post here within the week.  A plan put together by myself with realistic goals that will be attained.

Please note that my beef is with Men’s Health, not Tabata per se… I’m fairly confident they misrepresented his research in the article I read.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Although it s nasty,  cold, and rainy tody I went for a 40 minute run with a few pickups in the middle (about 5 miles).  It went well except for the lousy weather. 

Today was one of those days where when I was done with my run, and about halfway through my walking cool down I felt like running some more.  I didn’t because its Thanksgiving and I have other commitments but it was quite nice. 

All trouble with my toe/foot seems to have disappeared, and I’m going to be working on my training schedule that was supposed to be up a while ago.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Pre-Thanksgiving Post

Its been an odd few days – had a family funeral and lots of housework etc. so I’ve exercised but not as much as I’d have liked.  I’ve also eaten entirely too much with Thanksgiving number 1 at my parents Sunday, left over pie since then and I’ve got Thanksgiving day coming tomorrow – although honestly at this point food is kind of losing its allure.

This morning I did Tabata – the most pullups to date, and well over half the pushups for a full workout.  Afterwards I did situps and ran 4 miles at 8 mph pace (30 mins) so it was a good hard workout. 

I’m looking forward to a run tomorrow as well.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Steady Weight Loss

I’m really happy about my weight loss during my WW membership.  Its been 10 weeks and I’ve lost almost 11.5 pounds!  Over the last week I lost 2.6.  I hope to maintain (although I’d like to lose a little) over the next two weeks which include Thanksgiving 1 with my family and Thanksgiving 2 with Jacki’s.

I also realized that my group leader has sloppy writing as opposed to poor math skills.  I actually did lose .2 pounds last week, so my unhappiness about gaining was for no reason.

I did Tabata and situps this morning and hope to run ~ 3 miles tomorrow.  The toe is still sore but much better.

Only 8.8 pounds to my weight goal (although I may lower the goal a little).

Optimistic Today

I’m looking forward to my WW meeting this evening, I weighed in at 160 this morning so I’m expecting around a 2 pound loss for the week!  This after not being as active – really paying attention to what I eat.

In other news my toe/foot is feeling a bit better and I actually managed a 20 minute easy run this morning.  It hurt but you know its a bad kind of hurt :)

Something Is Better Than Nothing

This morning I still had toe/foot pain but was able to do Tabata and situps.  I managed to do a few more pullups than I had been, and completed 5 of 8 sets of pushups.  The other 3 sets I completed at least a half set. 

I was feeling a bit downtrodden when I wasn’t able to run yesterday, but I’m feeling a bit more optimistic today… I’ll get better, I just hope that it is soon.

I stepped on the scale this morning and saw something I hadn’t seen in a while: 

The 150s!  159.5 to be exact.  I’m not putting it on my weight page because its not my ‘official’ Wednesday weigh in.  Hopefully I’ll be down a smidge more tomorrow!

An Unexpected Event

Something occurred that is always a troubling possibility but never expected… an injury.  After a 70 minute run Saturday I felt good, and was looking forward to creating my new training plan.  Later on Saturday I cleaned the gutters on my house and took an odd step… and had to compensate with my right foot to keep from falling down (and perhaps off the roof).  It just felt a little odd when it happened but now I have a dull ache in the ball of my foot under my big toe… and I’ll be sidelined from running for at least a few days.  I’m going to give it until Friday to ease off -if it doesn’t improve then I’ll be off to see the doctor.

The effect I worry about the most from this is my weight loss.  I really depend on exercise to allow me to eat more.  If I’m not able to remain active I will have to be very vigilant about what I’m eating.

Just in time for the holidays too.

My fingers are crossed in the hope that this will just disappear while I’m asleep tonight (or tomorrow night – I’m not greedy).

Boo.