February Recap

After last Friday's workout, I weighed 348 pounds, the same as the previous week's end but down 18 pounds since January. Given that I missed a workout due to work travel and didn't eat particularly well on the road, no gain or loss is about what I'd expect.

You can see the results from my February 25 post-test below. SIU had an off week this week, but Ryan and Danny – from the Whitfield camp – are holding a mini-camp so we don't get fat and lazy. Next week regular camp starts up again so I'm sure we'll pre-test, and I'd guess we'll be outside and swap the mile for the 55s.

Exercise	January 31	Goal	February 25	% Change
Fifty-Fives (55s)	11.5	13	13	+13%
Regular Pushups	35	40	35	0%
Assisted Pushups	10	10	5	-50%
Regular Dips	23	30	19	-17%
Assisted Dips	10	10	8	-20%
Sit Ups (in 1 minute)	17	20	26	+53%
Planks to failure	1:04	1:15	1:50	+72%

While I didn't meet my goals for strength, I blew my fitness goals out of the water. My endurance and core strength skyrocketed. Man, I was rocking it to get 13 laps on the 55s. I am not sure how much more room those have to go up before I plateau due to just not being fast enough. I had a sneaking suspicion that sit-ups and planks were going to go up, but I didn't expect that much! Feels great seeing tangible results like that.

I'll have a post after tomorrow's workout about the mini-camp's agony and ecstasy. Agony seems to be winning at the moment.

The Agony and the Ecstasy – 3rd Week of Feb.

The Agony

The weather cooperated last week, so the class moved outside to the football field. Man, that's a different work out than inside the gym! The best part about being on the field is that you can really get a good stride going. In the gym, you are changing directions as soon as you reach top speed so there isn't a lot of sustained sprinting. Since we're on the football field, our warm up sprints really start feeling like the actual workout. The important difference about moving outside is Ryan's ability to get us moving in one direction for longer distances. Thursday's workout instructions basically were, "Run half a mile then climb the bleachers. Rinse and repeat for 40 minutes." Thank goodness Ryan warned everyone to bring an iPod so we were mentally prepared for a distance run.

We did a lot of shuttles and circuit training this week. The 300 yard shuttles Ryan mentioned on Tuesday were a killer. What you do is start at the goal line, run to the 50 yard line and back, then 100 yards to the opposite goal line and back. Friday can mean a lighter workout some weeks, perhaps concentrating on abs or running relays and competitive games. This Friday was definitely a work day though. Ryan had us doing pushups, crunches, burpees and Mary Catherine's – think lunges combined with jumps – sandwiched between 100 yard sprints. After that, we did towel runs with a partner. A towel run is when a partner holds a towel around your waist and provides resistance as you're sprinting 30-40 yards. After the towel runs, we did sprints, lunges and bear crawls around cones spread out about 30 yards between each point. And that was just the first set! Do a couple circuits of those exercises and you'll sleep really well at work.

The Ecstasy

Sounds like a lot of hard work, right? It is, but each and every day I can do a little more, run a little faster, or sprint a little further. My fitness level increases every week so the physical limitations are subsiding and I can really push myself longer. When I started in December, for example, bear crawls were torture and I didn't make any bones about it in a previous post. I struggled to even bear crawl 55 feet across the basketball court once. Now bear crawls are probably one of the exercises I can push myself the hardest in and perform the best at. In a similar vein, I stayed away from mountain climbers and burpees for a while because my hip flexibility wasn't good enough to get my feet into the correct positions, not to mention my gut was probably in the way too. Burpees still give me problems but I can at least do a few no whereas I substituted body squats before.

I feel light years better, but what about tangible results? At the start of the January camp, I weighed in around 365 pounds. Friday morning I weighed myself at 348 after the workout and 350 after I got fluids and breakfast in me. 15 pounds since January started, and I think 10 of those pounds were dropped so far in February. Not too shabby! No doubt the nutrition plan that I followed to the T last week has been a huge boost. Thanks, Bethany! You probably know that I spent last weekend in Boston with Sarah, and she could definitely notice that I was slimming up, gaining muscle, and getting lean. She particularly liked the muscle mass building up in my arms and shoulders.

Want another reason to be ecstatic? It's 70 and sunny, and today is my diet plan agreed day to enjoy some frosty beverages! It's time to go enjoy a patio out in the Highlands somewhere. I'm playing golf tomorrow with some coworkers, so this weekend can't get much better.

Paul was a beast this morning!

Paul - You are doing a great job! Now that you have added the nutrition piece, the lbs will begin to drop faster and safely. Great job thi morning during the 300 yd shuttle runs.  You ran every yard!!  You are a true inspiration to the entire class.  See ya Thursday morning!

Exercise Analysis – Midterm Edition

In accordance with my nutritional goals, I weighed myself this morning and came in at 355 pounds. This is actually better than I expected because of the long weekend in Boston and the awesome Valentines Day dinner on Saturday. I mean, we waited so long the restaurant comp'd us a free appetizer of the best mac 'n cheese you've ever tasted! This leaves me at 11 pounds under my weight at the start of January, and I hope to shave off a few more pounds this week as the beer bloat exits stage left.

I slacked off about posting the results of the January Post-test/February Pre-test. In the chart below, I posted my baseline from the beginning of January, the results of the testing at the start of February, and my goals for the end of February test coming up in just under two weeks.

Exercise	January 3	January 31 (Goal)	% Change	Goal for Feb. 25
Fifty-Fives (55s)	10	11.5 (12)	+15%	13
Regular Pushups	24	35 (30)	+45.83%	40
Assisted Pushups	10	10 (--)	0.0%	10
Regular Dips	18	23 (20)	+27.78%	30
Assisted Dips	6	10 (--)	+66.67%	10
Sit Ups (in 1 minute)	18	17 (30)	-5.55%	20
Planks to failure	55 sec	1:04 (1:15)	+16.36%	1:15

For the uninitiated, Fifty-Fives refer to the width of a basketball court from sideline to sideline (in feet). The test is a cardio replacement for the mile run when it's cold. The number listed is the highest number of sprinted, one-way trips across the court completed in one minute. Across is one, back is two, etc. For a frame of reference, Ryan says a prospective high school basketball player must complete 16 trips under a minute to be eligible for the varsity squad.

I must have eaten my Wheaties on January 30^th! I made substantial improvement in every category except sit-ups, even if I didn't quite make my goals. I am still getting used to how much improvement to expect on a month to month basis, so the targets are more art than science. I think I'm still in the finger painting era.

Anyways, January was a weird month, coming on the heels of the Holidays and then Snowpocolypse barricading us in our homes for a full week. All in all, I feel good about where I'm at and the workouts we've had the last 2 weeks. I suppose we'll find out if my optimism is warranted on the 25^th!

You are what you eat – Part II

Last Wednesday, I met with the SIU Nutritionist and Dietician Bethany. We had a great initial consultation. She started off by taking a general inventory of my vitals, current eating habits, and other things a nutritionist finds interesting or needs to know. It evolved more into a conversation about food, and how I can use it as a means to an end as opposed to guilty pleasure or comfort. I'm an analytical person and micromanager of my money, so her analogy of sticking to a daily budget for calories just like I try to stick to a budget for my wallet hit home.

So what is the game plan? She deduced, by calculations assuredly influenced by complex derivatives and multiple regressions, that I would need 3,500 calories a day to maintain my current body weight. Who wants to exercise and stay the same weight though? The goal for my diet will be to take in around 2,200 calories per day spread over 5 or 6 meals a day.

Next, she walked me through creating two full days worth of meals. Bethany was great creating meals that fit into my schedule and I will enjoy eating, and in some cases I already am. The problem in my head was portion size. Bethany suggested only eating four ounces of meat for lunch and dinner. I'm sure my old habits are probably twice that! The idea is that even though the meals are smaller, I can fight hunger cravings by eating more frequently during the day. She was a big advocate of measuring portion sizes in measuring cups and bowls until I am used to it and I think they will help keep me honest.

Bethany was really understanding that nutritional changes are a difficult lifestyle change to undertake, and that the dieter must be completely sold on the changes or else they're not going to follow the guidelines. There were a few times during our meeting where she frankly asked, "Would you really do this?" which I think was great. It got me actually thinking about the ramifications of each meal we put on the sheet. While a breakfast chock full of eggs each morning sounds delicious, I don't see myself willing to clean the pans every morning so we re-evaluated and went a different direction. The end result is a plan that I really am excited to follow.

Bethany really compromised with me about alcohol use. We decided to cut back, but not cut it out entirely. On a normal weekend, I am out with friends and coworkers drinking beers on Friday and Saturday nights. She offered up a plan of limiting the quantity both nights but I proposed cutting back to one night a week where I can consume as usual. I really do think I would prefer to just cut it out entirely for one night a week so long as I could catch a buzz the night that I do allow myself to drink. I'm sure we'll re-evaluate how this plan works for me down the line.

Still riding on the wings of compromise, Bethany was awesome to not put any pressure on me this weekend. We had talked about my plans to come to Boston to see Sarah for Valentine's Day (aww, he's so romantic!). We decided that I would start my new diet when I get back to town this evening or tomorrow morning. Ryan was worried but I actually don't think I did half bad this weekend! I was able to relax and indulge a little on vacation but I did try to eat clean whenever possible. We did a lot of walking this weekend so I don't even feel that out of shape! I'm sure tomorrow morning's workout will be the judge.

Check out my goals for February 14 – March 14:

1. Reduce calorie intake from alcohol by one-half by limiting alcohol to one vs. two days on the weekend.

2. Weigh portions of cooked meat at dinner during the week and measure out portion for lunch meal next day.

3. Post photos of each dinner to Twitter and/or Step It Up Blog 7 days per week starting Monday, Feb 14. Bethany will be a follower on Twitter.

4. Weekly weights, same time/day each week.

All in all, Bethany set me up with a plan that I can stick to. Now it's just time to get back to town and get started!

You Are What You Eat

Sorry it's taken me two weeks to blog again! Work ramped up and it's been kind of crazy between billable project work and studying for a technical certification in my field.

It's a ridiculous thought, but the 4:45am wake up alarm doesn't seem as crazy any more. It's amazing how things can change in a few months. Sure, some days are worse than others but at the end of the day (start of the morning?) I know that I'm going to make it to Smyrna by 5:30. Ryan may be right to say you get used to the early rising – not that I'll ever particularly enjoy it.

My goals for the next month are focused around my diet because it seems I've gotten the consistent exercise moving in the right direction. The Regular Guys on the radio have a contest called the "Fat Guy 5000" going on right now. For the first week, contestants were not told to exercise at all but ate 6 meals a day of different shakes provided by the contest's nutrition sponsor. All of the guys were around 300 pounds and they lost 15-25 pounds in that week, without exercise, by focusing on their intake. I am not interested in something as extreme as only eating shakes because I don't think that's sustainable, but it did hit home about how important of a role diet plays in weight loss. I've been working out a ton but only have about 10 pounds of weight loss to show for it, and that's because I'm still eating poorly frequently enough that it negates the positive work I do at boot camp. Weekends, I'm looking at you. Last Friday morning, after eating decent but not great all week, I weighed in at 354 pounds. Monday morning, I was up to 358 from all the weekend beer and Super Bowl deliciousness. Because graphs and Microsoft Paint are fun, here's a rough sketch of my weight the last few month or so based on the bathroom scale readings when I hop on it (thanks Mom!)

My thoughts Monday through Thursday tend to wonder about "What if I didn't shoot myself in the foot every Friday and Saturday?" Then Friday afternoon comes around, I'm tired of the work week, and its party time. At least the general trend is downward and 10 pounds is still a good achievement for a month, but there is definitely lost opportunity in that graph.

I'm going to break my rule about making specific, measureable goals for a few days. I'm meeting with the Step It Up Nutritionist/Dietician, Bethany, tomorrow afternoon. Bethany is actually a fellow Boot Camper, so she feels my pain! We spoke briefly last week about what I wanted to get out of our meetings, so I'll repost them here:

• I have the most success eating well when there is structure in place. I've proven time and time again that I do not make sound dietary decisions when I have to make them on the fly. For example, cooking a healthy dinner with enough for leftovers at work the next day keeps me from going to the food court across the street. I think a schedule of meals for the week will do me a lot of good. I want to know that "Breakfast is A, morning snack is B, lunch is C, etc" so that way I'm not tempted to wing it.
  
• I have no idea how to create variety with healthy snacks. I couldn't count how many carrots I've eaten since December since they always seem to be the most accessible snack in my apartment. I'm waffling whether or not this coincides with or contradicts the first bullet, structure in my diet.
  
• Help me create specific goals that I can measure to keep myself in line.
  

I'll update again after we can hammer out a nutritional battle plan that I can follow. It probably won't start in earnest until next week because I'm heading to Boston Friday through Monday to see Sarah. Who worries about their diet on vacation?

A Few Random Thoughts

I had a few thoughts swirling around in the ol' Mind Grapes after the workout this morning. They aren't really connected at all but I wanted to post them.

• Stairs give me nightmares. I hate them. A lot. Football stadiums have more stairs than basketball arenas. I hate stadiums.
   
  
• I enjoyed doing the work on the football field this morning for a couple of reasons. First, the yard lines and goal lines are great for setting miniature goals for each sprint or activity. It's hard to push myself when it feels like I have so much further without end in sight, but I can amp myself up to finish strong when a goal is in front of me. The full field suicides at the end of the morning were a perfect example. I felt as though I got stronger as I got closer to the finish because I was getting over the mental hurdle that I had built for myself. Second, I was running on the hash-marks next to the sideline. I was able to gauge my stride length and keep a consistent pace when my feet started dragging. Last, we did some agility exercises that reminded me a lot of football practice. Took me back to a positive place where I had successfully done the whole "lose a second person" act before.
   
  
• Those full field suicides? Total distance: .625 mile or 2.5 laps around the track.
   
  
• Don't ever go ice skating. My company did a team building event ("Fun Team Event") at the ice skating rink at Centennial Park last Thursday. My ankles are still sore on Tuesday. It feels as though I am running and jumping on 2 ankles recovering from a mild ankle sprain. Going to enjoy the rest day tomorrow.
  
  
• I weighed myself this morning. Down to 357 from 365, so almost 10 pounds since the January boot camp started even with the snow storm taking a week away. Awesome!
   
  
• This morning made the decision final…No "State of the Union Drinking Game" for me tonight!
  

Back to the grind on Thursday.

Snow much for last week…

Well, I was really looking forward to getting back in the groove of things for a second consecutive week. Mother Nature had different plans. The weather reports turned out to be very accurate. My prediction was that we would be snowed in for Monday and Tuesday and the roads would be in good enough condition to resume normal schedules starting Wednesday. I made it outside to exercise both Saturday, for touch football with friends, and Sunday, for one of the weekend workout routines posted online. I thought I was going to be in a good position to resume Boot Camp after sitting at home for 2 days.

As we all know, my road forecast turned out to be wildly optimistic. Step It Up followed Cobb County Schools closing policies and we were forced to cancel all classes last week. Naturally, cabin fever set in and the diet turned from grilled chicken and veggies to whatever I had in the freezer. Somehow, I actually lost a few pounds since I last weighed myself. After this morning's workout I was down to 360 even.

This morning's workout was rough. We partnered with another camper and one would do an exercise while the other ran the perimeter of the basketball gym then the partners would switch. After probably 4 exercises, I was beat. I focused my energy on the jogging portion to at least get a good cardio workout but resistance exercises were a lost cause.

What does it feel like I always say? Get back on the horse. My diet is always better on days that I exercise than off days, so I really want to get in a good groove for the next few weeks. Hopefully Mother Nature will cooperate this time around.

Holidays – 1, Paul - 0

Vacation

A lot has happened since December 17^th, post-test day for our last boot camp. Two college graduations, Christmas, New Years, Sarah's birthday – that's quite a bit of celebrating to cram into two weeks off work! It's not rocket science to guess that I fell off the wagon a bit. My mom was gracious enough to buy me the bathroom scale I wanted for Christmas, despite her embarrassment and reluctance to give a scale as a gift. The holidays did some damage, as since Christmas I fluctuated between around 365 pounds depending on food and beer intake the previous couple days. At 365 lbs., the two weeks vacation made me gain back the few pounds I lost last month! Oh well, it's time to jump back on the horse and get back into it.

I reflected a little bit and realized how important structure and a routine are to my continued success. I spent most of my two weeks vacation in the Atlanta metro either at my family's or Sarah's house, but not at home. I was home so infrequently that I don't think I went grocery shopping once! Another routine buster was Sarah being in town from grad-school in Boston. I love her to death and we had a blast this holiday season together, but having a "guest" in town means that I wasn't doing a good job keeping to my newly learned Step It Up habits. Don't confuse me, that's not her fault in the least; I need to learn how to eat well outside of my apartment or work and make time for exercising.

Boot Camp v2

The great news is that Ryan is ready to whip me back into shape. I had my nice little sabbatical, but I'm ready to get back to work on my goals. We reported back to boot camp on Tuesday. This camp's pre-test results were expectedly a step backwards from my first post-test, but I am still better than my original pre-test!

Exercise	Pre-test	Goal
Fifty-Fives (55s)	10	12
Regular Pushups	24	30
Assisted Pushups	??	TBD
Regular Dips	??	TBD
Assisted Dips	??	TBD
Sit Ups (in 1 minute)	22	30
Planks to failure	55 sec	1:15

What are Fifty-Fives and where did the Mile run go? We did not test the mile run because we were forced inside due to weather. Instead, we tested to see how many time's we could run across the width (from sideline to sideline, not baselines) of the basketball court in 60 seconds, named "55s". Ryan remarked that to make the Whitefield HS varsity basketball team you must make at least 16 (8 times down and back). I need Ryan to remind me what my scores were for those exercises labeled with question marks; I will update when I hear back.

After we got done with our pre-test, Ryan was delighted to learn we still had 15 minutes left. He introduced some exercises to the newbies and we moderate ab work. Never one to let a step go un-stepped on, we ran stadiums around the gym for some cardio to finish up. After 2 weeks of inactivity, those did not go over well. Ouch.

Wednesday was a little warmer - a balmy 35-40 degrees Fahrenheit – so we were out on the field. Even after 3 weeks of camp last month, this was my first non-test day outside. After our usual warm up, Ryan had us jog and sprint several distances to warm up our legs in the cool weather. First twenty yards. Then thirty. Then forty. I'm going to let you all in on a little secret: When you are the slowest runner on these "warm up" sprints, there's not a whole lot of recovery time between when you get to the line and Ryan tells everyone to go back the other direction. I was pretty fatigued by the time we were done. I guess that means I need to get myself in shape where I'm not always the slowest, right?

The first real workout day was definitely an attention grabber! We went heavy on our upper bodies, doing lots of pushups and dips. Throw in 30 yards of bear crawls with pushups every five yards and cap it all off with crunches and burpees/squats separated by 30 yard sprints, and you have a recipe for some tired campers. As hard as Wednesday was, it felt good to get back in the saddle again.

Thinking back to my first "first day", I'm already ahead of where I was then. It's tempting to look back on the holidays and get frustrated that I made poor choices that jeopardized my goals. I'm trying not to look at it that way. I prefer to think during my first boot camp that I took 2 steps forward. My vacation took me one step backwards, but I'm still one step ahead of where I was. My goals are still in front of me and I'm moving back in the right direction again.

And the envelope please…

The "results post" deserves a little bit of a backstory. Follow me down the rabbit hole…

My company-wide Christmas – ahem, Holiday – Party last Friday was last week near the Mothership in Birmingham. It's always a good time for what it is, but a raucous event it is not. Now, the Atlanta office is no stranger to a good time. The local contingent decided we should have a separate Tacky Sweater party in addition to the main party, but this one with lots more booze or at least a willingness to let loose a little more. One problem – the party was last night and our post-tests were today! Saying that I am proud of myself probably is an understatement, but I was able to show considerable restraint to stick to H₂O last night. More than one co-worker thought I'd crack, but I would have hated to ruin 3 weeks of hard work for a night of partying. Besides, I'm heading to the best town on earth, Athens, GA, tonight for a graduation party. I've got lots more reasons to celebrate now than I would have if I was miserable this morning.

So, how far did three weeks of early mornings and busting my ass get me? Turns out, a long way! Let's go to the results! % Change in the Green shows where I met my goal, and red means I missed the mark.

Exercise	Pre-test	Goal	Post Test	% Change
Mile Run	21:12	18:00	14:00	-34%
Regular Pushups	20	30	29	45%
Assisted Pushups	5	N/A	7	40%
Regular Dips	8	15	10	20%
Assisted Dips	4	N/A	11	175%
Sit Ups (in 1 minute)	15	25	20	33%
Planks to failure	35 seconds	45 sec	58 sec	66%

Hopefully you noticed the improvements in every category, even if I didn't quite make my goal. These goals were always going to be a bit of guesswork since I had no idea what progress I could make in 3 weeks. I want to give myself a big pat on the back for that Mile Run time! For the pre-test, I was dog tired by the second lap , struggled to even keep putting one foot in front of the other, and my back barked at me the entire way since it wasn't used to carrying that sized load for so long. What a difference a few weeks make! I wasn't able to jog the entire way, but I paced myself lots better and used better strategy to navigate the track. "I'll walk this ½ turn, then jog the straight-away and the next half turn" was common in my head this morning.

My other goals are a bit of a mixed bag. They were:

• I will attend every boot camp session – A resounding checkmark! This was my number one priority, since even a tiny amount of exercise each day is better than what I was doing.
  
• I will keep an honest food log every day – I give myself a C because I did "passing work" but didn't do a superb job. The majority of my meals made it onto Twitter, but I did not do a good job snapping photos of my meals to show the portion sizes. There were also some cheat snacks or adult beverages on weekends that didn't make it online. The last few days I've fallen off the nutrition wagon a little bit with the holiday festivities and stress.
  
• I will lose 10 pounds – I lost 5 pounds during this camp. Now, I didn't meet my goal but I'm not dejected either. The point of starting this endeavor was to not only lose weight, but also make lifestyle changes and become "healthy" again. I definitely have started that uphill battle with more results, quicker, than I would have ever guessed. Remember, muscle weighs more than fat and my body composition is definitely changing by replacing fat with muscle. I've got a sneaking suspicion that the pounds melting away is just around the corner in the next boot camp or two.
  

See you guys at the mini-camp on Monday and then the full camps starting in January. Click here if you're interested in registering. The more the merrier.