3 weeks before going abck to work

2nd day after my circuit trial and shitey are things tender. Strange, after 30, DOMS seems to take longer to kick in. Yesterday I was a wee bit tender and today is much moreso. In years past, the tenderness was always worse the day after that initial workout.

Weigh in was 87.5kg. I’m sick of converting to pounds for a blog that no one reads but me so stiff.

Might try the circuit again tomorrow. Eating properly today refried beans, lentils and frozen vegies.

Finnigan Begin-again

Here are the crib notes…

Boys are home, about 15 weeks old (about 5 weeks corrected). Doing well and so are we, despite having to make the usual adjustments and having our own unique experiences and frustrations. Happy they are here and healthy.

195.36 lbs this morning after a significant binge day including Indian food and a disgustingly evil ice-cream concoction involving three types of confectionery. Today I have been just on liquids and a wee bit of cheese.

Interestingly, now my shed has been built I have a place to do some circuit work and created the first circuit workout and put it to the test after many weeks of too little sleep, too much food and too little activity. Gotta love babies…

Routine

• 10 x chin-ups
• 30 x push-ups
• 10 x lateral  raises (10 kilo dumbbells)
• 10 x hanging leg raises
• 20 x body weight lunges
• 10 x burpees
• 10 x biceps curls (10 kilo dumbbells)
• 10 x overhead triceps extensions (10 kilo dumbbells)
• 10 x dumbbell presses (10 kilo dumbbells)
• 20 x knee-to-elbow crunches

Tonight was the first of this routine and I managed to do 2 circuits in approx 17 minutes and 35 seconds. The first circuit took about 6-7 mins after which I was knackered. Not easy starting from scratch, but hopefully I can get into it before returning to work and inch closer to my target weight of 176 lbs.

Another bigiggity

Boys are de-SATing a bit much. Hoping they settle over the next few days or things will get a bit stressful.

194.48 lbs. Up? Wtf? I think I have some Mr Whippy backing up. My boss noticed my saggy gut today. Hmmnn. Slight tenderness from Tues gyms session. Cardio? weak as piss. Weights? Ditto. Only way is up baby.

Armful o’ babies

Got an armful of little tackers tonight. Grizzly little buggers!

Morning weigh-in for me: 194.26 lbs

Boys: 1800 & 1500 grams each (ish)

Some light intro gym work and I am memorising an economics text book just for fun. I really don’t know why, cos I am not studying formally and it has little to do with my work. Maybe I am sick of politicians throwing economics in my face as a voter and not knowing how much they are bullshitting me.

I’m a daddy

17 days old, two boys. A bit premmie, but doing well and back (finally!) in our home town from the big smoke. I’ve been living out of a suitcase for the last few weeks and the missus and I have just moved back in tonight with the kids at the local hospital until they whack on some weight.

Which is, incidentally, the relevant to the purpose of this blog. Weight. I do not do well without routine and can say with no small disgust that the old weight is up to 198.22 lbs. Junk food, no cooking facilities, odd hours and bad sleep. The joys of being away from home.

Anyway, I don’t feel like moaning and will simply resume my grand plan to  live a healthy life and be the weight I want to be. From tonight it is good food again, home cooking and simpl & healthy meals. Back to work until the tackers come home from hospital, so gym and no carbs. I have some considerable work to do as I haven’t been this heavy since coming back from overseas and that is not good.

Regular updates to come.

Well, hospitals are fun.

I can’t believe two weeks have gone by since my last message. Anyway, Geelong wins the Grand Final and I miss the whole game ‘cos the wife is in the hospital. Still there and with her legs crossed. Boys are growing well and so am I, with nothing but junk food and chocolate to ease my loneliness and lack of routine.

193.82 lbs is not the direction I was hoping for. No one to blame.

I need rest and want Top Deck. I hate segregated chocolates. A joyous union of milk and white chocolate. Looks like Howard is going down and Downer is still a tranny.

Another meaningless day

Wife in the hospital.

Visiting is bittersweet as the damn place is depressing as hell, but at least I get to see her and she is in the safest place if things move to a head. Home is lonely and comforting at the same time. I would hate to see me as a bachelor now. Messy business. 27 weeks is too early.

Weigh in 190.08 lbs. Today was stew, steak, cauliflower and broccoli, an apple, some muesli bars. Some stray chocolate my wife fed me.   It will be a great  relief when the boys arrive and we can face a different set of challenges. BTW, too much red wine, but don’t tell the missus, she thinks I am a latent alcoholic anyway.

I have no concept of how things will change. I really don’t think I have grasped how different things will be and  what I will be gaining and losing.

Enter the flagon!

Still drinking coke by the bucket load.  I really hope diet drinks don’t give me cancer or diabetes or kidney stones or some crap like that. I might have to get into some class action.

Anyway, tonight we are on 190.96 lbs. A light eating day, mainly stews. Not much in the way of physical action, I plan some gym work tomorrow, although the beautiful wife in back in hospital tonight for monitoring. Poor little lassie.

Some red wine to drown my sorrows, so random stumbling to distract my brain. Be excellent to your wives. (I myself have many…)

Back into it, Suckerrr!

I wish I was being 100% honest when I say that, when I was not diligently recording my progress, I was gaining massive amounts of muscle and shedding body fat much the way microwaved bacon does.

The fact is, I was within spitting distance of the end of the four week challenge and then got complacent, lost motivation and lost a wee bit of control. So here we are back again, with me recognising the value of dutifully recording my progress, which in retrospect was a good way, if not fool-proof, of reinforcing the behaviours I was seeking.

So a quick summary of the status quo. Currently 194 lbs (up from 179.3 lbs on day 20 of my challenge.) 4 lbs heavier than when I started the challenge.  Doesn’t sound too good.

I should mention that some of that is muscle developed since my last post, with a few strength gains in the chest and back and shoulders. As I recall, I wasn’t doing too much weights during the challenge. So rather than being a total disaster, I have built a bit of strength and proven that over 3 weeks, even without much in the way of cardio and weight training, I can shed almost 12 lbs.

So. From now on, daily reports. Although if my wife goes into labour in the next few weeks, that might prove a minor distraction. I won’t box myself into a rigid time-frame, on this occasion and will try to follow the rules below:

• Daily reporting on the blog;
• Low carb, high protein meals;
• Extra water – 2 litres;
• No crap food unless it be the cheat day;
• Cheat days are not to be abused as a goddammed crazy motherf@$king bingefest which makes my work colleagues think I have an eating disorder, just a sensible controlled reward;
• Twice weekly gym sessions (interval cardio and weights), and
• Supplement exercise with evening and weekend activities (currently inspired by http://www.IWantSixPackAbs.com – at a purely visceral level of course)

Ok. That’s it for now. Tomorrow morning, the weigh in and maybe a protein shake (soy isolate, milk & a tiny bit o’ choc topping). Stew for lunch, beefy & hearty and definitely no carbs after 4pm.

Day 23 of the 4-Week Challenge

Well yesterday was a stellar binge even by my standards.

Two quarter pounders, fries, two large bowls of the most oily pasta I have ever made and plenty of chocolate and biscuits and lollies in between.

Result – Happy to avoid junk today, but weight jumped up to  183.26 lbs.

This week coming: ramping up the cardio slowly on the treadmill to get some decent intervals happening. Should be a standard of 20 mins with 30 sec sprint and 90 sec recovery. I will try to make at least three days this week. I should probably not rush this however remembering how my hip tends to respond.

I may defer more weights until later in the week until my tendons and muscle soreness diminish. I love the feeling, but not for too long. Very tender tendons in my elbow where the bicep inserts. But easing up nicely.

This is the last week of the challenge and the Mrs is asking what is going to happen after next Saturday. At this point I anticipate continuing on in some fashion and experimenting to reduce fat, but perhaps re-building a solid muscle base. We will see.

I kind of like the binge day, although I wonder if I take it too far…

Naahhh!