seedoggie’s blog

First week I lost about 5, probably to cutting out salt, adding more water, and tracking what I ate as well as cleaner eating.

Middle 6 weeks level or up (weight wise), and I started doing some 2 a days. Upped the cardio too (weights 3 times a week the whole time - I did not want to overdo it for me). Started doing barbell squats and deads… I think I may have added leg muscle, adding weight there while I was losing some belly.

The last week (#8) was more cardio and no lifting, due to work travel and injury when lifting. I took no creatine this week, and I missed one dinner, and ate two “less than stellar” meals while on the road. Drank a lot of water near the end of the week. I felt trimmer the last 3 days of BOC, and the scale jumped down 3 pounds and stayed down the last 3 days. So I’m thinking the upset routine in eating (poorer diet) and no creatine contributed to weight (and belly fat) loss.

Now I’m thinking I lost muscle over the 8 weeks (though I’m lifting heavier), or is it that what I saw as bigger muscles 8 weeks ago was the fat around them? I’m pretty much a tall ectomorph, so, at my age, I’ll probably never be huge.
It’s a puzzle!

I’m trying to figure out what worked this past 8 weeks for BOC, and what didn’t work. It seemed things didn’t work mostly, in my case. I figured that I could lose an average of 2 pounds per week, or 16 pounds. A group of challengers who had some experience working out and eating pretty clean, and didn’t have really big weight loss goals, stalled in the middle of the 8 weeks. I did just about the entire middle 6.

I’ve heard of not eating enough, but I was eating 2000 to 2500 calories on a calculated maintenance level of at least 2900. And I gained weight, in the past, on probably (not measured) 500 calories a day more than this diet (extra: pretzels, cookies, crackers daily). So I’m guessing that my maintenance must be lower, and I wasn’t NOT eating enough this BOC, I was eating too much. Which is strange, the calculator being wrong, especially since I generally have always had a high metabolism.

My goal was to lose about 16. I lost 5 the first week. The next 6 weeks I stayed the same or even gained. The last week I lost 3 pounds. My diet was pretty much the same the whole time. Workouts too (maybe even increased in the middle, which was stalled).

more to follow later….

Stalled. Stumped. Bumped.  Good diet, great workouts, my weight has stalled for the past 4 weeks. Or gone up.

I’m eating at 2200 to 2500 calories a day, maintenance is 2800 to 2900… so what’s up? Tried some new things, can’t seem to make the weight come down. Although my pants feel better, and I feel thinner, the scale and most of all, the photos don’t show it.

But I feel a change coming. Felt it at the first week of the changes I made, and felt it maybe 3 weeks ago. My midsection changes from a solid bump to a more floppy, sloppy jiggy area. I imagine it’s changes in the bodyfat. I think it’s gonna disappear another level very soon.

I think I’m gonna like it. I’m gettin jiggy wit it!

What a game! Though I wanted Arizona to win, that’s the way for a Superbowl to be!

What a halftime show! Though I’m not a “super” Bruce fan, that’s what a halftime show should be, fun, raucous, rockin’! No equipment failures, no crotch-grabbing, no U2 cheap flag waving… just rock and roll, great music, great flow!

And “The Office” is on after it! Awesome!

Darn Fitday! It works!

When I track my diet through Fitday, I eat better, and lose weight. It’s a little hassle to put in though. But it works.

That’s it. KISS. keep it simple, seedoggie.

I find that it’s better for me to give up holiday sweets completely if I want to do well. One bite leads to an avalanche of more. The sweet taste triggers something that gives way to another excuse, another bite, another type of sweet. And I love packing away a lot at one time.

It may be better if I preferred very sweet treats, that a small amount would overpower my tastes, and I’d stop. But I prefer slightly sweet things, and tend to eat a lot of them. Graham crackers. Ginger snaps. Ice cream (okay, it’s pretty sweet, but it’s almost like a liquid and can be downed quite quickly). Okay, scrap that, peanut brittle and mini candy bars don’t stop me at just one. Oh, and salty, crunchy snacks too.

Others seem to get away with just a small taste, and that satisfies their curiousity. For me, nope. Not gonna go there. Wouldn’t be prudent.

Physiological response - brain, insulin, whatever…. sugar, you had me at hello.

I heard a snippet on the radio today (December 18, maybe 30 seconds worth) that made me stand and take notice. The radio was on in the other room, so it wasn’t loud, but I almost didn’t recognize it. Simply, I heard our president speaking. I think it was the American Enterprise Institute. He was talking at a moderate pace, without that phrase choppiness he always does. He made sense, sounded well, and made the point that in his economic plan he didn’t want to do anything that would negatively hinder the new administration.

I am not a fan of his speaking, nor of most of his policies or actions. But his speaking has been atrocious, like an angry person explaining something to a seven year old, in bursts stopping and starting. It makes me, as he would say, go ”nuc-U-lar”.

Maybe he’s relieved he’s leaving office. Maybe he’s learning from Barack’s presentation. Maybe I didn’t hear clearly. But I have to figure that there’s more to him than we have seen. I am an optimist, anyway.

I put on a push to meet my goals for the challenge. I got behind in both RT and CT, and with some injuries both were a little tough to make. And I wondered if it was worth it. Is it worth chronic muscle soreness and minor injury to meet the goals?

It’s the process, the steady day to day. Sure, I did some doubles (morning cardio then back to the gym at night for another cardio) to meet my goals. Somehow it feels like cheating, but I know it isn’t. I have to fight the feeling of perfection, that a CT is a minimum of 5 miles run at a pace that is no more than 1:30 per mile slower than my 5K race pace.

That’s the wrong attitude. I guess the meeting of a goal is important enough. And I made it without beating up my body too much. And it was good to make it. But if it led to hazard to my body I would have given up the goals. My goal is long term, ongoing, and each challenge is just a step in the means to that end.

New woman working out at the gym! Looks like a runner, lean and sleek. Wears form fitting clothes. Caught my eye!

But that’s all. I don’t stare or change my workout routine for her. Yeah nice scenery. But my sympathies to you ladies! The guys (48 there with his wife, 67, 63 and short & round, 43 and fit, all married) are using equipment near the women’s workout section that they never used before. They’re standing and talking for 15 minutes - when they should work out - not by the front desk, but where they get a view of her. And trying to find out about her.

Probably just human nature, and maybe I should be as bold as they…. but my sympathies to you ladies. I understand Curves and women-only health clubs.

But though I don’t stare….. and I try not to bother her…. damn! you motivate me to kick it up, and trim down and look as good to you as you do to me. That’s an advantage I have on the twenty year olds, I can appreciate form and function without the craziness, at least sometimes!

It was a dark and stormy night….

He comes into the gym about 55 minutes till closing, on a weekend afternoon. (OK, sometimes I do too, 65 minutes to closing. But I’ve seen Nick come in 30 minutes to closing several times.)

Spends 15 minutes in the locker room. He may have been in workout clothes when he came in. (OK, I was on the elliptical near that door, was bored, and had nothing else to watch. Besides, I’m trained to watch. It’s my job. Might just keep me alive.)

He came into the workout area and proceeded to read the newspaper for about ten minutes. He’s maybe 40. Got 30 left. Thirty minutes…. that is. (OK, but when he came in, he looked a little dejected. Maybe it was the check-in guy, that the college girl who usually is at the desk wasn’t there today.)

He hit the treadmill next to the (only) girl (maybe 20 years old) in the gym for some maybe 5 mph jogging. (OK, that’s probably good for him, I think I’d call him obese. His weight hasn’t probably changed in the couple years I’ve seen him every month or so. The treadmill’s right behind the 50 year old guy with a towel over his head - I imagine it’s a badge of honor for his sweaty workout each week, sitting there cycling, Red-Page-Boy-Style-Towel-Headed-Guy.) Just had a thought that hit me like streetfight on a February night - those are gym towels, what if the next time I go I pick up that one?

He’s a lawyer, and a politician. (So he’s probably not getting off a timeclock job, regularly late - he probably has other free time.)

I don’t know what happened this time. I wasn’t there till closing. (Other times sits at protein drink bar when I leave at closing.)  I was done with my 30 minutes of (what can I say? It’s an affirmation) the machine I LOVE, the elliptical. ( I have to make up a lot of CTs without running/stairstepping.)

I ‘m seedoggie, Private Eye.

I feel that maybe I’m being a little harsh on this guy. OK, maybe. He makes it in. I don’t know his intentions. (I do have good instincts - keeps me alive in this type of work.) We all have different goals. He does make it in.

But mostly I feel good. I get in  4 to 5 times a week. I work briskly. And hard. Some may find me unfriendly, I’m not; they chat and spend time, I’m tortured and focused and on to the next demon.

I’m seedoggie, Private Eye. I feel lucky. I feel I do work good.