New goals

After weighing in at my usual time, I realized I have finally cracked 175.0 lb. I had been wavering around there and was starting to worry that was my body's comfortable weight. Anyway, I was working out and I started to evaluate my journey here.

I left high school at 155 lb. Okay weight. I had the benefit of my younger faster metabolism. I graduated college at 165 lb when I added some bulk from periodic exercise. Then something happened. I started to work. I was still able to squeeze in workouts, but as my responsibilities grew, my stress grew. I had a job where I was pretty much 24/7 and I didn't feel like working out at the gym at work after work. It took my 45 minutes to get home. By the time I unwound it was 7-7:30PM. Dinnertime. My workouts were further and further apart. I hit my goal of "bulking" up to 175 lb. But I hadn't been working out. It was fat.

Then a couple years ago, I went on a hike to summit Mt. Monadnock. It was supposed to be an easy summit as I had done that before. My legs were screaming when I was halfway down. I told myself to start working out. The mini-workout was born. But I did nothing with my diet. Finally the wake up call. I weighed myself and I was at 189 lb; just shy of 190 lb. I knew I had to do something. And though it wasn't a quick-fix, I gradually made my way to where I am today.

Anyway. Since I've never felt better. I'd like to make some new fitness goals. I'd like to be sub-170 lb. I think that's a good weight for me. There are some pretty fit guys out there who are taller than me at my current weight. I must be carrying excess. I'd like to be at 8-11% body fat. I'd like to run a faster mile. I'd like to have a good right shoulder again. All these goals have an ulterior motive. I want to be fit enough to tackle some of the more physical goals in my life list. I mentioned before that I want to summit all 48 4,000 footers in NH. Kinda hard if I'm not in shape. There are some more items on my life list, but no need to list them all here. Anyway, here's last week's breakdown:

Sunday: Chest/back/abs

Monday: Run

Tuesday: Shoulders/biceps/triceps

Wednesday: Run
Thursday: None
Friday: Lunges
Saturday: Calf raises


Last weigh-in:
173.0 lb

Got sick

No running at all last week. I caught something over the weekend when I went to NYC. Had a sore throat for a couple days then just felt blegh for a few more days. I managed to squeeze in the weights, but it was tough. Here:

Sunday: None
Monday: Chest/back/abs
Tuesday: None
Wednesday: Shoulders/biceps/triceps, weighted calf raises
Thursday: None
Friday: None
Saturday: None

I hung out with my cousin midweek and was able to use her body fat machine. I lost 2.2%. So 1.8% to go! I doubt I'll make it by June 1st, but I like the changes I've made to my life, so I'm gonna keep it up. I just added the 48 4,000 footers of NH onto my life list, so I'm going to need to be in good shape.

Last weigh-in:
175.0 lb @ 13.5% body fat

Two week update

I was a bit busy last week with my office move, so I didn't post a fitness update. So, I'm just going to put the last two weeks together:

Sunday: Chest/back/abs
Monday: Run
Tuesday: Single leg calf raises, shoulders/biceps/triceps
Wednesday: Run
Thursday: Lunges
Friday: Run

Saturday: none

Weigh-in:

175.5 lb

Sunday: Chest/back/abs

Monday: none

Tuesday: Run

Wednesday: Shoulders/biceps/triceps, calf raises
Thursday: Run
Friday: Squats
Saturday: none

Overall, I've been mostly good. I've been sticking with my weights workout and keeping with a 2-3 times run every week. I'm making very good progress in terms of my running. When I started I would break up my half hour run so I can preserve myself. Typical "run" was a 5 minute warmup, 10-13 minute run, 4-5 minute fast walk with incline, then a quick 1 minute of a fast run followed by a gradual 0.5 mph drop every 30 seconds until I hit 3.5 mph for a cool down. I would then walk at 3.5 mph at an incline until my heart rate drops to a more or less stable rate. However, my last run was warmup followed by 21 minutes of running. I went straight to my fast run with an incline then a cooldown. I felt very accomplished. I just wished I tightened my shoes beforehand. Had a small blister on my right foot afterwards, but that went away by Saturday.

As for weights, I'm at 20lb dumbbells with sets of 10 reps. I'm pretty satisfied with the healing of my shoulder, but I do notice that while strength is returning, power is not. I haven't tried throwing anything, but whenever I make sudden movements with my right arm, there's a twinge of discomfort. Not pain, but something. And with my paranoia, I am pretty slow with my reps, which probably is a good thing because I am working out with good form. I'm just worried about how I can't seem to do fast things with my right arm. One thing that was good about the last couple of weeks was my office move. With the move, I was the go-to person for most things heavy. I was very careful whenever I had to move or lift anything. And I feel the moving was a real-world test of my shoulder, and the stress of real-world lifting helped with the rehab a bit.

I went away for the weekend, and as you know, going away means eating. I didn't have my normal weigh-in, but a quick weigh-in after a dinner post-trip was at 178.0lb. The last weigh-in at my normal time and conditions was before my trip and is listed below. I did hit my goal of 175.0lb, but now that I've been working on cutting fat, I'm not placing as much emphasis on my weight. I haven't measured my body fat lately, but I'm paying more attention to how my clothes fit and how much I see my veins, which is a simple test to see if you've lost fat. Veins are more visible and "pop" when you have less fat (for a guy anyway). Based on what I've observed, I've lost some body fat, but I doubt it was 4% loss. I started at 15.7, so my goal is 11.7%. And I don't look like I'm at 11.7%.


Last weigh-in:
175.0 lb