First Steps on the Road to Somewhere

Finally! I can finally (again) say "I lost 100 lbs!"

I can't find my bleeping sewing tape measure to take my measurements. Probably some kid stole it to play with it. Hmmn, I wonder which of my only child that could be, since she will insist it's not her if I ask. ;-) I want to get a body fat measurement (using the measurement method linked on the sidebar) as of now so I can use that as one of my main "measures of change" (as opposed to weight).

Yesterday I did the shoulders #1 group (upright row, seated rear lateral raise, arnold press, front lateral raise). I think 8# is enough to start. I'm so embarrassed. I mean really, that's just pitiful! But what the hell. You gotta start somewhere. The Seated Rear Lateral Raise was kinda hard, my body gets in the way, I can 'sort of' do it. I'm just going to keep doing it. I suppose eventually it'll get more elegant. For the moment I feel kinda like I'm doing some bizarre variant of the bomb drill where kids crunch up under their desks.

Today I did the torso #1 group (bent-over row, fly, side bend, incline shoulder raise). That was harder than the arms. Actually I thought the bent-over row was going to do more for my leg muscle than the ones I was supposed to be working (as in, it wasn't the weight, it was the time taken to lift it that was a problem for it!). Nice, though. By the time I was finished with the group, I was breathing kinda hard and sweating a little, and I had to rest between the row sets. And this was with the first two (3 and 5 #) being way too easy, and probably 8 as well, next week I'll start at 10# for all the torso group and see what the true max should be.

Gods I love free weights. I had kind of forgotten how much. I used to love just working so hard and sweating and feeling the muscles so clearly. I was so young then it seems like a million years ago. Which I guess about 22 years nearly is, in a lifespan.

I can see I need to get a couple more dumbells of >10 lbs. I do have dumbells you can put plates on, and at higher weights I'm sure that's good, but it's sure a lot easier to just pick up what you need. I gotta be sure and get the metal kind from now on, not the coated kind I got for 10#, because I have fractional weights that'll magnetically stick to the ends if I need between-weights.

Besides. Those coated dumbells make me feel like some dumb chick in "shape" magazine who would talk about toning... in designer pink spandex. Puhleeze.

Well my food has sucked, though today is looking to be slightly better. For a few days I just barely ate, didn't feel like it, and then yesterday, my first day to really make an effort, I was so totally swamped at work I didn't even have time for a potty break let alone food. If it wasn't for the high-protein/low-carb slimfast, I would be seriously up a creek for ingesting anything at all. I know it's imperfect, it's processed, it's not food, but it beats not eating. Do the best you can with where you are, and live to do better another day.

I came up with a menu for next week though, and a shopping list for it, which I wouldn't be able to afford if I didn't already have chicken and hamburger in my freezer. I'm going to see how I do actually eating 6x per day. 2 are slimfast, 1 is a big cobb salad for dinner, so only 3 are actually something to make -- and the food is the same the whole week. It's a lot cheaper that way, a lot easier to prep all or partly ahead of time. We'll see. So far, aside from the SF and cobb salad, the three meals for the first week are red mexi-chicken mix, burger with blue cheese mixed in it (quick on the foreman grill), and 3eggs/2oz Soyrizo in the late morning. I have other options but I'll try those week after next.

If I can keep that menu up for the week, the nutrition count numbers are just awesome for me, the protein is very high which I really want, and all of them can be at least partly pre-made, so it's superfast to grab 'em. I even have enough room in my numbers that I could have a chocolate protein muffincake, plus a mocha (get this: 100% Kona coffee, made in a french press, with some 24% butterfat cocoa, and some half&half... sound good? :-)), and still have my numbers be fine. Yay.

Is it fair to get chocolate and coffee and STILL lose weight? I say yes. Getting insanely fat on starvation response is like getting poorer the harder you work. It's just profoundly unfair. So I figure I deserve to be able to eat really WELL and lose weight. In some bizarre way, this seems like a proper balance.

Tomorrow is arms and legs on the weights. Wish me luck on the legs. Right now just my body weight is generally too much for lower body work without a machine. But I'll work it out... eventually I will be there. I have faith in myself.