Left Me In Stitches

I had a dermatologist appointment this morning to follow up on two moles we attempted to cut off my back about six months ago. The pigmentation was back so we took a new approach to get rid of them. Hopefully this will get rid of them for good or else we’ll have to try a more comprehensive approach that will leave a big scar.

Unfortunately the current procedure still required a few stitches to be sewn with doctor’s orders to avoid strenuous activities that cause my back muscles to flex and pop the stitches before we take them out in 2 weeks. I’m not a fan of going to see doctors and generally try to avoid it when possible—who wants to be told to lose weight all the time? – but when I do give in I try to follow their directions to the T. Why pay the medical bills if you’re not going to follow their advice?

So what does this mean for my exercise regimen? It definitely rules out push-ups, dips, and other upper body exercises. Most ab-work that we do really expands the back muscles so those wouldn’t help either. I really don’t want to drive to Smyrna at 5 in the morning if I’m just going to run on my own, so I may take a sabbatical from the actual boot camp. I plan on getting up before work and split days between distance and interval training. We’ll see if I can stay motivated on my own. If I can’t, I may suck it up and just drive to Smyrna…

Stress Test

The past 2 weeks have been brutal, professionally and personally. I logged 140 hours over the previous two weeks for the client. Personally, it hasn’t been any better, but I’d rather stay away from that topic in this forum*. Put the two together and I haven’t spent much time sleeping or eating well, let alone drinking empty calories since Memorial Day weekend. I’ve lost 7 pounds since the last test date but the stress levels required to do so have not been worth it. Luckily, work is getting back to normal levels and I don't have much choice but to work through the personal stuff. In the chart below, you can see that I actually increased in a few areas from the May 27 post test because of the week off and the dry weekends. I revised goals as appropriate.

Exercise	May 27	Original July 1 Goal	June 6 Test	New July 1 Goal
Weight	325	310 (weighed 323 on 6/1)	318	310
Mile Run	12:15	11:30	DNF**	11:30
Regular Pushups	64	70	66	75
Regular Dips	--	40	43	50
Sit Ups (in 1 minute)	27	30	31	35
Planks to failure	2:10	2:30	2:48	3:00

* If you are concerned and do not know what happened, please talk to me in person, give me a call, or shoot me a text.

** I did not finish the mile because I was not feeling well.

May Post Test Results

Another month is in the books, and the wheels are starting to get a little traction after spinning in the mud for a few weeks. Proof is in the table below! I’ve been working a crazy work schedule, billing 78 hours in the last 7 days! Luckily, we have an off-week this week, or I would be even more exhausted than I already am. One of the “benefits” to the crazy hours is that even though there hasn’t been any time to do anything productive like work out or blog, there also hasn’t been any time to party or otherwise screw around. I went for a mile run this morning and it felt really good, especially for not doing anything since Friday. The client catered breakfast, lunch, and dinner over the holiday weekend, so my diet has been full of take out and fast food lately. Despite the high calorie meals, I still dropped a few pounds since Friday because I can count all the beers I’ve drank in the same timeframe on one hand! I weighed in at 323 (-2 from the table) this morning after my jog. Combined these results are interesting food for thought going forward and some motivation to curb my weekend adult beverage intake.

Exercise	May 9	May 27	July 1 Goal
Weight	330	325	310 (weighed 323 on 6/1)
Mile Run	13:12	12:15	11:30
Regular Pushups	53	64	70
Assisted Pushups	0	0	0
Regular Dips	34	--	40
Assisted Dips	0	0	0
Sit Ups (in 1 minute)	24	27	30
Planks to failure	1:51	2:10	2:30

Ryan has threatened to "push me even harder" in the next boot camp to make sure I get out of my plateau entirely. Should be fun, a little miserable, and ultimately rewarding come July first. For those astute readers, if I make my weight goal for July 1, that means I will have lost 56 pounds in 6 months! I already get lots of compliments from friends and coworkers who have not seen me in a few months, so I can't wait to tell them I've lost 50+ pounds. Its a huge milestone and half way to my original, long term goal of 100 pounds. Crazy awesome! If you're on the fence about starting to Step It Up, the results definitely come to those who are willing to put in the work. Get motivated, and get lean!