Unwanted Commentary

This week just didn't get much better for me after Sunday's rough start. Monday I messed up my cardio on the eliptical machine and ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time, I got it worked out but I it was still aggrivating. Tuesday and the lower-body workout started off good, but during my dumbell lunges I tweaked a muscle in my thigh and couldn't finish the exercise. I salvaged it by jumping on a machine that works the same muscles as the lunges, but it threw me off rythm and that effected the rest of the workout.

Today, for cardio I did eliptical again and that worked out well this time around. My plan was just about on the dot and level 10 was very challenging. I'm a bit more enthused now and am hoping that tomorrow morning's upper-body will be a success too, I really need to get a good upperbody workout in.

I think the wife and I have adapted to the new levels of energy and 'mental high' of working out and eating right. That's lead us to a few episodes of doubting ourselves as we look for more physical effects and while they're there they aren't really obvious. This plan requires patience, the progress is there, but it is slow and steady, instead of the spike and drop like fad diets.

I'm also encouraged after reading the message boards, it seems like a lot of people are having trouble with aspects that we've mastered. All the dieting and exercise plans that we've toyed with over the last two years has helped us adjust I think. We've made it to the third week without any major problems and we're still hanging tight to the eating and dieting plan. Morale is about the only thing we have to worry about and I think we can take care of that by occasionally reminding ourselves of progress.

Posted by Jeff at 02:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last week was a good week, we didn't have any problems with meal planning or exercise and the second week of the plan ended well. Progress has been made, though it's slow and steady pace is getting to both me and the wife. I think staying of the scale would be a big aid in avoiding feeling of frustration, but old habits die hard. Success was measured by the scale going down on every diet we've ever attempted before...but that is not the case here.

Week 3 started yesterday and it was a very rough start. My parents showed up late and we essentially missed our midday meal and this threw off our entire schedule. We ended up getting the gym around 4:15 (we work out at the YMCA and they don't open till 1:00 on Sundays which is frustrating) and then we couldn't find the wife's ID card in the box...so we didn't get started till around 4:20 or so...since the gym closes at 5:00 we only got two stations in. Frustrating, but at least we managed to get something done under unpredictable and adverse conditions.

Posted by Jeff at 09:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I don't listen or like Britney Spears' music and I don't particularly care for the pop culture she is a part of. The one thing that I have admired about her though, is her claim to be a virgin. The recent confession that she has had sex with only one person after a prolonged relationship brought the subject back to mind.

While I take all this with some skepticism I'm often surprised at how people…if you'll forgive my lack of vocabulary…seem to see it as "oh, who is she trying to fool?", as if she thinks we're all stupid and is trying to pull the wool over our eyes. When I first heard about this I took a different point of view, especially as a person who believes that sex should wait for marriage or at least a healthy relationship. I admired her courage for claiming to want to "wait for her wedding day" and taking on the tag of virgin in a societal climate where these are not popular things. A world where if you're over 20 and a virgin you get sniggered at and people ask "why couldn't they get any?"

I see Ms. Spears as a role model for a lot of young pre-teen and teenage girls, and whether her claims to chastity are truthful or not I think the intentions are admirable. Just maybe, those young girls who idolize her will understand that they don't have to engage sexually in order to be cool or sexy. That waiting to be married or waiting at all is something that is acceptable and even preferable; that having a healthy relationship with the other person is far more important than sexual intercourse.

I may be putting more into this than there really is, but I think there is some good here. It's an idea that needs to be put forward more.

Posted by Jeff at 09:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So far so good. We've entered our second week of the twelve week program and we're still going strong. Just that, in and of itself, is an accomplishment. Getting up at 6:00 AM six times a week to work out is a vast accomplishment, seeing as our previous efforts maybe saw us go two or three times a week.

The diet aspect got a little rocky at the end of last week as we found ourselves out-to-eat and had to sort of fudge a little, but all considered I don't think we did to badly. Planning ahead could have helped, but under the circumstances I don't think there was much we could have done...really.

Results are fairly minor as far as the scale goes. Physically, the body is starting to show some signs of improvement though they're slight, but energy has been improved a great deal. Mentally I'm feeling very positive and my self confidence has improved a good deal. The satisfaction of knowing that I've gotten up and done something in the morning and been challenged has helped a lot. Feeling that my body is changing for the better has been a big positive as well.

We took our before pictures last Monday or Tuesday...YIKES! I figure if we run out of motivation we can just check those babies out and get in gear again...hehe. Saturday was free day and on Sunday we did an evaluation, the wife measured my arms, chest, belly, waist, thighs and calves (and no...not that). It shows that I'm pretty scrawny except for the belly.

Posted by Jeff at 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The wife and I have decided to take the plunge and try the Body for Life plan and why not, we've tried just about everything else. We kind of started last Wednesday, but Monday was the official start and thus far I'm really happy with how it's going. The workouts are designed to get you in and out of the gym quickly, though I think it's going to take some time to get proficient at the new weight lifting techniques. The diet plan is great and I'm really enjoying eating six times a day with small healthy meals, it really is pretty easy and I can do some of the cooking so my wife doesn't have to do it all; the meals are fairly simple and straight forward.

This is the third day, we did lower body weights yesterday and my legs are soar, which is good. Cardio today on the treadmill was great. While the weight lifting might prove frustrating until we get more acclimated with it, the cardio system is easy and I get it, so it motivates me more.

So far so good, hopefully I can use my blog for something useful to myself and keep a log of how I'm feeling about this 12 week journey.

Posted by Jeff at 08:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)