Archive for the ‘Physical activity’ Category

Don’t be that guy…

Posted: September 12, 2012 in Exercise, Gratuitously Naked Guy, Physical activity, Weight loss
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I went to the gym this morning (and no, I didn’t skip an exercise appointment to work out) and was totally killing it on the elliptical. See, Ryan had told me to not lift on consecutive days and since I’ll be lifting tomorrow, well I made today a cardio day.

Gym was pretty sparsely populated today, so no problems getting my favorite elliptical. It’s the one at the end of the row. I choose that one so the maximum amount people working out next to me is one. Not that I’m antisocial, I just find having people on either side of me messes up my pace. It’s all those years as a band geek.

Anyway, after killing it on the elliptical, I did some time on the bike. It’s hard to get used to, though. I can never seem to get the height of the seat exactly right. That and the muscle groups are subtly different. I don’t have nearly as much endurance on the bike. I’ll get there. Anyway, I went back to the locker room to use the facilities, wash up, and wait for Supportive Partner Woman to be done. That’s when I encountered Gratuitously Naked Guy. Gratuitously Naked Guy (in search of a colony!) is this old guy who likes to parade around the locker room buckass nekked, y’all. It’s the moon, sun and stars in all their wrinkly glory. He likes to hold conversations. Naked conversations. With other guys. With his foot up on the bench. No towel within 50 feet. Just a guy (who looks like The Joker) wandering about the locker room waving his junk all over Hell and creation. I’ve never spoken to him before.

That all changed today.

As I was washing my hands, Gratuitously Naked Guy sauntered over and started the following conversation:

GNG: Say, nice weather out there.
Me: Uh, yes. Yes it is (concentrating on studiously drying my hands)
GNG: (no lie) Come here often?
Me: a few times a week
GNG (who is not exactly what you would call svelte): Good to see overweight people such as yourself here working hard.
Me: Er, thanks?

That’s the truth.

Gratuitously Naked Guy then wandered off on search of another victim. You might be wondering why I actually spoke to the guy. Other than it would be rude to ignore him? Well, I always figure that you should be nice to the crazy naked people. Here’s the funny thing, though… as many times as I’ve seen him touring the locker room, I’VE NEVER ACTUALLY SEEN HIM WORK OUT. In all fairness, I probably wouldn’t recognize him fully clothed. And for the record, he looks a lot like a bloodhound.

So, to anyone out there considering taking up the hobby of trolling the locker room at the gym sans apparel, here’s some advice…

Don’t be that guy.

Song of the Day: Escape – Journey
Currently Reading: Steve Jobs – Walter Isaacson

How to tell when you’re getting old… or, Senior Moments… I haz dem.

Posted: September 10, 2012 in diabetes, Exercise, Physical activity, Senior Moments, Weight loss
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So, after a nice weekend which included a wonderful break to the heat we’ve been having, Monday dawned sunny, cool and breezy. Having been cleared by the physical therapist to attend water Pilates, Supportive Partner Woman wanted to be at the gym by 10:00 for class. I thought that would be an excellent time to go… I could get my cardio in while she was doing the Pilates thing.

I had a great workout. 30 minutes and decent resistance on the elliptical, followed by a training loop on the bike. I’m still leery of the treadmill, as I don’t need a blister relapse before vacation. I finished and waited for SPW to emerge from the pool area. We went home and I was browsing through my calendar, wanting to make sure that my scheduled session was in fact at 11:00 tomorrow. Turns out I made a whoopsie and the session was for 11:00 today. That would be 11:00, or 33 minutes earlier than the current time. So, I skipped my session at the gym because I was at the gym. Sigh.

I called in and Cory had a good laugh at it… I was still pretty mortified. The sad part is that if I hadn’t decided to check, I probably would’ve missed the Thursday appointment as well, thinking it was on Friday.

So, the weekend was pretty good… had an unexpected Saturday off, so SPW and I traveled to Berks County to see her family and I took a side trip to see my mom. See, I’ve been a bad son… I haven’t stopped in to see her for several months. No particular reason, I just got caught up in life. It’s not a good thing, though. There’s more to life than working and not taking enough time for your family. Let’s face it… when it comes down to it, family is all you can really count on.

It was nice to see Mom, though. In a surprise move, she was trying to feed me, but I managed to escape without damage. I had stopped at Chick-Fil-A on the way to her house, as my sugar level was starting to go low. I ordered a #1 with a fruit salad, as opposed to fries, and it was very tasty. I probably should’ve gotten a grilled sandwich, but I felt that I needed the carbs. Three hours later, the blood sugar was going low again, so that necessitated me taking a glucose tablet. That held me off until we had dinner.

Crab quesadilla with onion rings and green beans.

We went to a new place for us, after getting shut out at Bonefish Grille. It’s a place called the Black Knight Tavern and Grille. We’ve been getting mailers from them for a couple of years, just never got around to trying them. Turns out the food is pretty good. Maybe not the greatest cuisine on the planet, but it was serviceable and filling. It also had the advantage of being pretty nicely priced. They offer a couples special. You get an appetizer to share, a choice of two selected entrees, and two small desserts. All for around $25. So, SPW (lover of fine crustaceans!) and I agreed on a crab dip appetizer that was served with some yummy warm bread. For her entrée, SPW went with a grilled swordfish, served with fries and green beans. I opted for a crab quesadilla topped with shrimp, served with onion rings and green beans. Like I mentioned earlier, the food is not haute cuisine. It’s basically pub grub, kicked up a notch. My quesadilla was fresh, loaded with plenty of crab meat. The rings were very crispy, and the only drawback with the beans was that they were a little oily.

Is this place going to earn a spot on our dining rotation? Probably not. The service was a little slow and the ambience isn’t that great. Our server seemed to have a regular in the same room as us and spent most of her time chatting up the regulars rather than attending to her other tables. I also realize that this probably wasn’t the smartest choice in terms of nutrition, but with my sugars running a little low all day, the carbs were probably a good choice. That’s what it all comes down to… making a smart choice. You have to weigh your options and know that if you had ice cream earlier in the day, you’d be better off having a big salad for dinner.

That pretty much sums it up for today. Keep making the good choices… your body will thank you.

Song of the Day: Learn to Fly – Foo Fighters
Currently Reading: Return to Atlantis – Andy McDermott

Quote of the Day:

Progress is impossible without change and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. ~George Bernard Shaw

Less stress = good

Posted: September 4, 2012 in Cooking, Doctors and Dentists and Nurses... oh my!, Exercise, Physical activity, Stress, Supportive Partner Woman, Weight loss
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This would be about right…

So, I might have mentioned Supportive Partner Woman’s wonky back. She’s been dealing with it for five days now, and don’t let it be said that she doesn’t have salt… she went to work four out of those five days. The rest of the time, she was pretty much cuddled up in bed with her best friend, the heating pad. Seeing as it was a holiday weekend, she couldn’t get ahold of the doctor’s office to schedule an appointment. So, I woke her up and she called this morning. She scored a 10:20 appointment and managed to get poked and prodded and x-rayed and scheduled for physical therapy. She’s finally starting to move a little better, but I’m very relieved. I was stressing pretty hard because she was in so much pain. It was hard for me to watch. Let me just say that getting older isn’t much fun.

Otherwise, things are pretty good. Had a decent holiday weekend… didn’t do much, but did manage to chauffeur SPW to and from work. I felt a little better about that as she didn’t have to walk as far as she would’ve had she parked in the garage. I did mostly domestic stuff, laundry, rotated the mattress, all that stuff. I even whipped up a couple of dinners using Stuff From the Fridge. I’m always excited when I can do that… makes me feel like I’m doing something important. The one thing that fell by the wayside was my gym-going. I went over to the Rec on Thursday only to find the fitness center closed for annual cleaning. I was told I was welcome to use the tennis courts, but that wouldn’t do me much good, as I don’t play tennis. I was supposed to have a session with Ryan this morning, but I had to reschedule so I could take SPW to her appointment. I’ve got an appointment tomorrow morning at 8:00. Yes, it’ll be early, but I need to go. I have three weeks until we head off to Florida and I plan to get to the gym as much as possible. The good news is that Cory will be back next week, giving me my usual appointment times and class sizes. Ryan did a heckuva job running the show all by himself, but I’m sure he’s looking for a break.

The other thing that happened was that I wasn’t particularly mindful of what I was eating between meals. I know… NOT a good thing. I think it just made me feel better at dealing with my stress and I didn’t want to do anything else in case SPW needed me for something. My actual meals weren’t too bad… cereal or eggs in the morning, a sandwich for lunch, and a sensible dinner. It was the between meal visits to the fridge for cheese or ham or a tortilla that caused the problems. I need to refocus and remember how good it was feeling.

Well, that about sums it up. Not only is SPW on the way to recovery, Stubby is in pretty good shape. We will see how he does tomorrow.

Song of the Day: Bad – U2
Currently Reading: The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins

Back on the field

Posted: August 28, 2012 in Exercise, Foot issues, Physical activity, Stubby the Wonder Toe, Weight loss
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Hey everyone!

The Boot of Shame

What a difference a couple of days make. I was bemoaning my lot in life and talking about a reboot, then I went to the podiatrist yesterday and received some good news. It really made me that much happier, but I am out of the Boot of Shame. This doesn’t mean I’m full court back into the treadmill life. Dr. Miller wants me to stick to low impact stuff for another week or so, give the newly grown skin a chance to strengthen. I was, however, allowed to go back to the elliptical and arc trainers. So, yay me!

Since Stubby the Wonder Toe is out of the Boot, Dr. Miller still recommended cushioning him and, well, he gave me a little padded cuff to put around Stubby. It makes him look like he’s wearing a little g-thug hat. The only downside is that Stubby isn’t quite long enough to wear the padded bandage well, so I’ll stick to moleskin and gauze for cushioning.

I hit the gym today and Ryan had me doing a solid 25 minutes of cardio and working it the entire time. It was only 25 minutes as I had an appointment with the dietician as well. We did 10 minutes on the elliptical, another 10 minutes on the X-Ride and closed with five minutes on the arc. It felt good. I didn’t quite realize how much I missed it, but I started noticing my energy level being down the past couple of weeks.

Anyways, Shauna (dietician) is pleased that even with all that’s been going on, I’ve managed to lose 2.7 pounds. She wants to see me another time before SPW and I go on vacation. I know I can do better, but honestly, as bad a week as I’ve had in terms of food and exercise, I expected to gain weight.

I came home, fired up the grill and cooked up some chicken breast to take for dinner. I made some brown rice to go along with it, accompanied by peas (because it’s the only frozen vegetable I have at the moment. I also made some veggie flatbread pizza for lunch… this time topped with tomato (including one of our own!), mushroom asnd turkey bacon. Turned out pretty good. Shauna suggested that I try turkey pepperoni… thinks I might like it better than the bacon.

One of the other blogs I follow on wordpress, Fat Teacher, has a feature that I’m thinking of borrowing… the author likes to share a song of the day and also what she is reading. It’s a nice way to get a few things out there, and, knowing the music I like, prove how old school I am. So, look for that in future posts.

It’s about time to head off to work… hope I can write some more tomorrow.

Song of the Day: Stone in Love – Journey
Currently Reading: 56 – Kostya Kennedy

Quote of the Day:

It’s kind of fun to do the impossible – Walt Disney

Well, did you reboot?

Posted: August 26, 2012 in Baseball, Physical activity, Stress, Stubby the Wonder Toe, Supportive Partner Woman, Weight loss
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Seems like that’s the question our IT guys are always asking when we call to bitch about something not working.

I think it’s time for me to do a reboot of my life. Not a complete cold start, but that hold the home button and power switch on the iPhone until the Apple logo appears. I’ve been stressing hard, and well, it’s not a good place to be.

I mentioned howe pissed I was about the blister. It’s pretty much healed… in fact, I see the podiatrist tomorrow. I’m hoping he will see fit to say I can back to my usual workout routine. It has really been depressing the last few days, not being able to do the workout I’ve become accustomed to. I also have a consult session with Ryan on Tuesday. Hope I’ll be fully back into it by the end of the week. I will probably avoid the treadmill for another week, but the elliptical or arc trainer should be fine. I can hopefully start getting back over to Hempfield Rec on my off days. I just can’t believe how much I miss it.

We’ve also been dealing with some personal stuff here at Chez T that I’m not going to go into any details on. Suffice it to say that SPW and I are both fine, but there has been a recent issue that’s taken up a lot of our time.

The other place I really need to reboot is my attitude. It’s really not been particularly positive. A lot has to do with the job… well, not the job but with the work environment. I’ve mentioned before that I don’t mind people chatting, but for the love of God, please use the indoor voice and STOP CALLING ME DARLING OR DEAR OR HON! There are two people allowed to call me that stuff… one gave birth to me, the other married me. I might make an exception for elderly relatives, but it’s really unprofessional to call your coworkers stuff like that. You might think you’re being friendly, but it comes across reeking of insincerity and obsequiousness. I’d much prefer to be called Brian. Or if that’s too many syllables, I’ll even answer to “B”

So, as you can tell, I needed to do something fun. I had mentioned this to my friends Hollie & Charles and they turned around and invited me to the Lancaster Barnstormers game tonight. I had a lot of fun. We were sitting right behind the plate and it was nice to just relax, enjoy some nice weather and good company. It’s something I really needed. I also got to fix something yesterday. The electrician determined that a feedback loop in the cable modem’s transformer was causing isssues with the outlets in my office. I had to retire the 8-9 year old Linksys modem after so many year of faithful, pretty much 24/7 service. It’s been replaced by a new Motorola Surfboard. If it lasts half as long, I’ll be impressed. It’s amazing how costs have dropped. This ran around $53 at Best Buy. I remember buying a 14.4K telephone modem in 1991 or 1992 for around $300.

Next up on the docket is to start clearing space up here to add SPW’s desk. We’ve determined that it makes more sense to do it this way… especially now that the outlets are working right.

Well, as I mentioned, I have appointments the next two days. I’m thinking I need to do margaritas soon. There’s something about making them with fresh fruit that really does it for me. Here’s a couple of my favorite recipes:

Mango Margarita:

approx 10 oz of fresh mango chunks
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2/3 cup tequila
2 tbsp triple sec or Cointreau
2 tablespoons superfine sugar or simple syrup
Approx 2 cups ice

Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth, unless you have a frozen concoction maker, in which case, put everything but the ice in the blender, load the ice hopper and flip the switch.

Makes 4 cups (approx)

Pineapple margarita

2 cups ice
1 1/2 shots tequila (preferably silver)
1/2 shot triple sec
splash of fresh lime juice
splash of sweet and sour mix (or simple syrup)
1 1/2 cups of fresh cubed pineapple (or more)

Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth, unless you have a frozen concoction maker, in which case, put everything but the ice in the blender, load the ice hopper and flip the switch.

Makes approx 4 cups

So, that’s pretty much it. If you are interested in any way in Disney animation, Supportive Partner Woman (now being followed by Hollywood director types on Twitter!) has done a review of the upcoming animated short Paperman. Find that review here:

I’ll keep you posted on how my attitude adjustment and doctors appointments wind up going.

That feeling’s back

Posted: August 16, 2012 in Doctors and Dentists and Nurses... oh my!, Exercise, Foot issues, Futility, Physical activity, Stubby the Wonder Toe, Walking
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Morning.

I’d say “Good morning”, but I’d be lying.

I got home from work last night and removed my shoes and socks, only to discover that I had a blister. A big blister. Right on the bottom of Stubby the Wonder Toe. A large piece of skin had sloughed off and, well, it wasn’t particularly pretty. I was tempted to post a picture, but Supportive Partner Woman (photo critic!) put the kibosh on that. You can thank her later.

GAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!

This has my feelings of frustration and futility measuring off the charts. I’ve been doing this for months and no sign of a blister. I was even at the foot doctor yesterday and he didn’t see anything. The toe was fine when I took a shower yesterday, but somehow, while I was at work, I get a blister the approximate size of Los Angeles County and I didn’t even go for a walk. It’s enough to drive you to drink.

My first thought was, “What’s the point?” Why the hell am I doing all this work? I’ll just get another blister, and another, and another. I’ll never reach my goals. This was followed by a general thought of just bailing on our vacation and letting SPW go by herself. I’m sure if I tried that, she’d hurt me.

These feelings are followed immediately by that sense of loathing. Like Stubby is an actual person instead of a toe. I know I joke that my toe has adopted a gangsta personality, but in reality, it’s just a toe. But I hate this toe so much right now. I hate it more than I hate peanut butter. I DESPISE peanut butter. I even confess to wanting to go to the garage get a saw, and take the whole foot off. Then I can’t get any blisters on the toe, right? Yeah… I didn’t think that was an option.

So, what do I do? I emailed my trainer who is sadly off for a long weekend, and I guess the gym is right out for now. I’ll have to rock the Boot of Shame for a while and just have to keep my calories down if I want to make any progress. I see Rachel, the CRNP extraordinaire on Monday… maybe she’ll have some suggestions. I can’t let the blister stop me, though… I’ve come too far for that. Maybe this is nature’s way of telling me I was working too hard. When this heals up, and it will heal up, perhaps I just start using moleskin every day and padding the hell out of my toe. I don’t know. But I’m going to find out.

Hope you have a better day than mine has started out to be.

Wow… what a downer

Posted: August 8, 2012 in Exercise, pet peeves, Physical activity, Walking, Weight loss
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I just reread what I posted earlier and I was struck by how down it seemed. It wasn’t meant to be bitter… I don’t actually know what I was trying to get across, other than it’s NOT futile. It’s a struggle, but most things are.

All in all, not a bad day

So, I went to the gym this morning/afternoon. I wanted to top my previous time best on the treadmill. I started out at around 2.7 miles per hour… faster than my usual walk. Upped it to 2.9 about 7 minutes in, then upped it again to 3.2. It was a good workout… I managed to make it 46 minutes… I’m catching up to my friend Glenn. He’s really been an inspiration to get in some treadmill work. It hurts… I won’t lie, but the pain fades and my ankles will feel better. In fact, the more weight I lose, the better it’s going to be on my joints. I’ve noticed vast improvements in my cardiovascular health… I can walk at a brisk clip, kind of uphill for over two miles and only get to a 120 heartbeat? Wow… whoda thunk?

My biggest gym beefs allude to some people who Supportive Partner Woman (certifiable gym rat-to-be!) has mentioned in the past. Those she refers to as American Stick Insects. These would be the ulta-fit women who show up and make the StairMaster their figurative bitch clad only in spandex shorts, a sports bra and half gloves. I don’t mind that somebody’s fit… I wish I was at the point I could tame the evil beast that is the StairMaster, but what I do mind is that after sweating like the Nototious B.I.G. after he ate a gallon of hot sauce, said Stick Insect did not wipe down the machine, then went to the elliptical and proceeded to pull the same bush league act.

The other people I have issues with are the late 40’s early 50’s midlife crisis guys who walk around like frat boys and act like frat boys, too. SPW (observer of people acting like chumps!) reported seeing the biggest douchenozzle of them all of them go walking out of the gym doing the George Jefferson walk while wearing wraparound shades and his garish yellow shirt. He was probably heading out to his midlife crisis car.

These guys just spend the entire time they are there just trying to show off… it’s kind of, well, immature. Usually I want to gripe about these kids today, but with the exception of some chatty teenage girls who like to text on the elliptical, most of them show up, are serious about the workout, and don’t clown around too much.

Anyways, it’s off to another exciting night at the office. Once again, I apologize for the tone of the earlier post. Anything that makes me healthier is not futile. I know I’m going to have down days, but just have to move on.

Kicking my own arse

Posted: August 7, 2012 in Customer service, Exercise, Physical activity, Southwest, Weight loss
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Good morning!

First of all, an update on the Southwest saga. I spoke with someone in their customer relations department and they were very helpful and listened to what I had to say. There was no talk of compensation, I wasn’t looking for money, just an explanation. The woman I spoke to, Lauren, was very candid and described that they had the entire IT team in trying to nail down the issue and to make sure it didn’t happen again. I’m proud of myself for not letting Captain Furious out… the lady was just doing her job and it wasn’t her fault that things got jacked up. Anyway, to make a potentially long story shorter, I received an email later in the day yesterday apologizing for the screw up and that they would be sending me a travel voucher in hopes that I would consider flying with them again. Voucher arrived today and I’m looking at the return leg from Reunion in December.

So, on to more serious business.

SPW (Wearer of very blue Nikes!) and I went to Hempfield Rec yesterday and I got on the treadmill. Instead of setting a time, I just started walking, figured I would go as long as I felt like it. Not counting the warm up and cool down cycles, I kept the speed between 2.7 and 3.2 mph (a good, brisk walk) and stopped around 42 minutes, just because I knew I had to get home, shower up and go to work. This means I’m over half way to my 70 minute goal. I actually felt pretty good afterward… legs and feet weren’t barking too much and what really has shown up is that my heart rate averaged 114. When I first got started on this program, the heart rate would register well over 130 for ten minutes. I’d say that’s a nice improvement in my cardiovascular health.

The downside has been that while it hasn’t been a bad food stretch for me, it’s not been a great one. There’s been some bread being consumed… probably not the best thing for me. I need to refocus on that part of things. See, I had made one of those Pillsbury French loaves for the dinner I had on Saturday, and there were a few leftover pieces. I didn’t want them to go to waste and, well, that stuff is like legal crack, so I eated them.Speaking of mom dinner, both she and my sister enjoyed the food. I got a really lovely piece of sockeye (on sale… boo-yah!) and corn from the Corn Wagon, and threw together a simple, yet healthy dinner that turned out to be really tasty. I even put out shrimp for an appetizer. Of course, there are leftovers, including a giant bowl of salad, so I’m set for dinners this week. Sunday, SPW (Apple tech junkie!) and I went out for dinner. We were in the Downingtown area and found a new location for PJ Whelihan’s Pub. We’ve been to other Whelihan’s locations over the years and I was really in the mood for a burger. I was proud of myself… I ordered the chili as an appetizer and then had a bison burger. Bison is a better choice than standard beef… lower in fat and almost twice the protein. Whatever the nutritional impact, it was pretty dang tasty.

Headed to a rare afternoon session with Ryan today. It’s the only time he had an opening for, so I will have to take some clothes and shower up there in order to make it to work close to on time. I’m going to refocus on kicking my own arse. I let it slide in the food department for a couple of days and it’s not going to slide any more. It can’t.

I’ll keep you posted.

The T-shirt contest

Posted: August 3, 2012 in Exercise, Physical activity, Supportive Partner Woman, Walking, Weight loss
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And, no, it’s not wet. Sorry, folks.

It’s been an interesting couple of days here at MOASTBFFG. A few weeks ago, I wrote about how SPW (possessor of lots of clothes!) and I were cleaning out our closets. I had mentioned finding a stack of t-shirts that I hoped to be able to wear again soon. Soon has arrived. I’ve actually busted out a few more since the Alzheimer’s Walk shirt… one that proudly proclaimed that “REAL MEN WEAR KILTS” and a vintage 2009 Scopa Towers tee. The best was this morning, when I thought I’d wear something new to the gym and found a MouseFest 2008 shirt.

They call me… Tim?

The Binge

This has been the single biggest highlight, other than feeling better. Being able to put on stuff and it’s not too tight. I might not always see it on a scale, but the clothes don’t lie. In fact, for general wear today, I actually fit in a Woot! shirt. That’s worth a… woot? It’s a Monty Python tee, as many of my purchases tend to be. This featuring Tim the Enchanter. I have another that has swallows and coconuts and SPW and I share one with the Knights of Ni. Others that I am looking forward to breaking out would be The Binge, featuring the Cookie Monster. I have a soft spot for goofy t-shirts and I’m really looking forward to wearing much of my collection again.

So, for the first time in years, I made it to the gym for five straight days. Plenty of cardio and lifting, and I felt so good after today’s session, I’m thinking of heading over tomorrow morning for some more cardio. I’ll take Sunday off… since SPW (proud attendee of BlogHer 12!) will be coming home, maybe we’ll journey to the Lego Store and Wegman’s… see what’s going on. I know this will be a great opportunity for her to network and see our friend April, but I still miss her terribly.

Well, I think that might wrap it up for today. I hope to continue to fit in stuff and keep up the good gym habits. I’m not going to lie… it’s a struggle to get there most mornings, and the first ten minutes of cardio is an absolute beast, but if I get through that, it gets a lot easier. I have a new goal to strive for, though… my friend and fellow weight warrior Glenn has recently managed to crank out 70 straight minutes on the treadmill. My personal best is 35 straight. I’m going to strive to get to that 70 minute mark. Maybe not next week, but next month? I’m feeling that anything is possible… if I can get my chubby self into a shirt I never thought I’d wear again, well, I can do more. I have to do more.

Going to make it…

Posted: August 1, 2012 in Exercise, Physical activity, Supportive Partner Woman, Weight loss
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I woke up this morning with a nasty kink in my back. My normal reaction would be to kind of hang around and bitch about said kink until it went away.

I’m a changed (ing) man.

My response today was to try and stretch it out as much as possible and I’m headed to the gym to try and work it out. This is a big week for me… I’m going to try to make it for five straight days. I have an appointment with Ryan on Friday (8 AM… gack!), so today and tomorrow are the tough ones. I think I can do it.

Yesterday’s session had a little drama. I woke up and for once had a decent blood sugar reading. It was 139. I took my insulin, ate a bowl of cereal with skim milk, and headed right out to my appointment. The bariatric fitness center’s policy regarding diabetes is iron clad… you check your sugar when you start, you check it afterward. If it falls below 80, you’re done. Simple and clear cut. When I got there, my reading was 100. I hopped on the treadmill, did 10 minutes, then went to the elliptical and did another 10 minutes. I then moved onto the weightlifting portion. I got through the rows, chest presses and pulldowns, but on my second set of squats and shoulder presses, I couldn’t manage more than 6 reps. I can normally do 12. I noticed the shakiness and fatigue, so I took another sugar reading and stuck a 71. Not good. With the staff being so on top of things, well, Ryan sat me down and made sure I took a glucose tablet. In about 10 minutes, I was good to go.

These sugar lows are a scary thing. While 71 is nothing near my low, it’s scary enough especially when being physically active.

So today’s workout was pretty good. Got my cardio in and worked legs and some crunches. Trying to do something about my keg (note I didn’t mention a six-pack) and trying to build some core strength.

I still haven’t asked about the yoga. That’s maybe on my to-do list on Friday.

One good thing from today is that I’m wearing a t shirt I haven’t been able to wear since soon after my hospital stay. It’s a shirt from the Alzheimer’s walk that SPW and I participated in back in 2010. Its not as baggy as I prefer, but I don’t look like a sausage in it, either. Tangible results! Yay!

I’m working on something special. I don’t want to say any more right now just because the video might not work too well. Until next time!

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