Decisions 1

10/8
Reed and Jen's wedding was a potential disaster, but I managed to limit myself pretty well. I had a beer, the dinner (chicken cordon bleu and a crab cake), and half of a mini-pie. Could've gone a lot worse. We're calling it a good decision.

10/10
Ahh, the Washington Capitals. My buddy was buying beers, so...I had several. Too many. Bad decision.

10/12
Went to fuel up at a gas station, and in a blink, I found myself inside buying a bag of Tostitos Scoops. What the hell, man? Not cool.

10/13
Another Caps game, another bad decision. This one was a road game, so I went over to my brother's house and munched down on some pizza. Bad, bad fella.

Current weight: 274.0 (even)

Psychotron/Disney Joe Update

So as you may have noticed (or not noticed, as it were), I haven't really been offering much in the way of updates on my progress as this "competition" has moved forward. I put "competition" in quotes, because I haven't really been doing my part to compete with the other participants in this contest. I have been lifting more than I have at any point in the past six months, but not so much that I'd say I'm really pushing myself to succeed.

The question of "Why?" is one I've been trying to work through in my head, and I've mostly come up empty. But I think perhaps one reason is that during this period, I haven't really been holding myself accountable by posting updates. So in an effort to stifle that weakness and see if I can't turn this ship around (despite the fact that it sounds like I'm ~20 lbs. behind already), I'm going to start posting more regularly. I haven't been counting calories since late September, and I think I'd like to find a way to be productive without having to do that. So I won't be posting my daily calories or anything like that.

What I will be posting is two things. First, I'll be posting my weight. While I do believe that I've gotten marginally more muscular over the past month, I'm still way too heavy for my lifestyle, and for my own preference/confidence. Losing weight is the end goal of all of this, and the one thing I want to hold myself accountable for more than anything else. So, I'll post my weight every time I post, including this post (at the bottom).

Second, I'm going to post decisions. My contention throughout all of this, including past attempts to lose weight, was that a person could improve their health, lose weight, and become more fit simply by altering a few decisions every day. I know when I was at my worst, I made a slew of poor decisions. I would buy bags of Doritos and Tostitos, knowing that they didn't stand a chance of lasting more than a couple days in my house. I would decline invitations to activities that required some movement on my part (walks, games of basketball, even trips downtown). And I'd order pizza every once in a while, and devour the whole pie (or pies) in a matter of hours.

These are the kinds of decisions I need to change. So what I'm going to do is start posting decisions, good or bad, that I make and remember. If I decide to pass on pizza and eat a Lean Cuisine, I'll post that. If I falter and do order Domino's, I'll post that as well. I won't post normal lifting sessions, but if I find myself debating whether or not I want to lift on a given night, I'll post my decision on that, positive or negative. The idea is that forcing myself to share my mistakes and my triumphs will help me to more frequently make good decisions. Maybe I can't win the monetary prize in this competition at this point, but the real prize is improved health, and that's still on the table.

So, as I mentioned, I've been pretty lackluster thus far, since my initial weigh-in. I've ordered pizza more than once, I've talked myself out of going for walks a number of times, and overall I've just disappointed myself with my decisions. However, when I weighed myself Thursday morning, I was surprised to see that I had actually stayed pretty much even (up 0.4 lbs). While up is worse than down, and I'm not proud of my process so far, I can't help but be a little pleased that I haven't lost much ground from where I was at the beginning of this competition.

I'm going to set a conservative goal of losing 5.4 pounds by November 1st (so 5 pounds off of my starting weight), and 10 pounds by December 1st. From the rumors I've heard, that will still leave me well behind our top competitors, but at this point, my competition is myself. Wish me luck.

Current weight: 274.4 (+ 0.4 lbs.)

Week 3

9/19

Calories: 1500 calories Cheerios, 1/2 Tuna n Chips,

Exercise: 825 Calories 7.5 mile walk

9/20

Calories: 1800 calories Cheerios, 1/2 Tuna n Chips, Greek Chicken, Salad, Pita, 2 Michelob Ultra

Exercise: 600 Calories 4.5 mile walk 2 mile run

9/21

Calories: 2200 Calories Cheerios, 1/2 Tuna n Chips, Scallops and Sweet Potato Mash, 2 beers

Exercise: 550 Calories 4 mile walk 2 mile run

9/22

Calories: 1400 Cal Cheerios, 1/2 Tuna n Chips, Chicken Sausage and Pasta, Sam Adams

Exercise: 850 Cal 6.5 mile (walking) 1.5 mile run

9/23

Calories: 1900 Calories Home made Wheat Pizza, Pot Bellies Sub, Tostitos, Sam Adams

Exercise: None

9/24

Calories: ??? Beer, Pizza, Wings, Garlic Bread, Chips

Exercise: 515 Calories 4.21 mile (walk/run)

9/25

Calories: 1600 Cal Burrito, Gatorade, Pirate Booty

Exercise: 725 Cal 7.25 mile Walk

9/26

Calories:

Exercise: 4.35 mile walk (500 calories)

Comments: Overall a pretty good week. Saturday was a bloodbath but I think that helps keep me honest rest of the week. I ended up going out to eat 4 times this week but was able to limit it to one bad meal. The exercise also has really been turned up as well.

Progress: As of Friday I was down 6.5 lbs. I'm hoping to get to 8 by the end of the month. (Next week)

Week 2

9/13

Calories: 1,400 cal Cheerios, 1/2 Tuna, Chips, Shrimp Bisque, Pirate Booty Whiskey

Exercise: 700 cal (5 mile walk 1 mile run) Lifting - Shoulders

9/14

Calories: 1150 cal Cheerios, 1/2 Tuna Chips, Guacamole Soup, Pirate Booty, Pita

Exercise: 470 cal (3 mile walk, 1 mile run)

9/15

Calories: 1,100 cal Cheerios, 1/2 Tuna, Chips, Sausage + Pasta

Exercise: 450 cal (2 mile walk, 2 mile run)

9/16

Calories: 1,150 cal Cheerios 1/2 Tuna, Chips, Sausage + Pasta

Exercise: 600 cal (5 mile walk)

9/17

Calories: 2,800+ (Chips, BLT, Pizza, Cookies, Rum + coke)

Exercise: Softball 2 games

9/18

Calories: 2,000 cal (Steak + cheese, 2 beers, tuna sandwich chips.)

Exercise: None

I was really good during the week but Saturday was again an issue. I also did not make time to get exercise in over the weekend.

Goal for next week: Keep up the exercise and try to keep to one bad meal a week.

Start off

Since high school I have seen my weight sky rocket to over 215lbs and drop to 155. This seems to coincide with crash dieting and exercise followed by months of eating out, no exercise and more drinking. (after 21 of course) In the recent months I have noticed that I seem to be slipping into bad habits again. This can be reflected in my opening weight. While this number was more than likely distorted because it occurred right after a food and beer filled trip to Boston, it is still a red flag.

Starting weight 183.4 lbs.

Week 1:

9/6

Calories: 1450: V8 Green Tea and Juice, Cheddar Biscuit, 1/2 Tuna, Chips, Oven Fried Cod, Low cal Potato Salad

Exercise: 330 cal (Elliptical, Run) + Lifting (Chest)

9/7

Calories: 1300 Cal: Cheerios, 1/2 Tuna, Chips, Tilapia Tacos, Snack: Pretzels and Cheese

Exercise: 325 cal (Elliptical, Run) + Lifting (Arms)

9/8

Calories: 1200 Cal Cheerios, 1/2 Tuna, Chips, Tuna Burgers Potato Salad Snack: Pretzels

Exercise: 310 (Ellip, Run) + Lifting (Shoulders)

9/9

Calories: 1500 Cal: Cheerios, 1/2 Tuna, Chips, Chicken Sausage and low cal Pasta, Pretzels

Exercise: 350 (Ellip, Run) + Lifting (Abs, Chest)

9/10

Calories: ??: Cheerios, Homemade Pretzels, Beer, Vodka RB, Homemade Pizza

Exercise: 472 cal (Walk 4.40 miles)

9/11

Calories: 2000 Cheerios, Small slice of homemade pizza, Country Ribs, Baked Potato, Blondie bar, Beer, Whiskey

Exercise: 478 cal (Walk 4.40 miles)

9/12

Calories: 950 Cal Cheerios 1/2 Tuna, Chips, Scallops + Shrimp, Asparagus, Dumpling

Exercise: 917 cal (Walk 4.26 miles, Run 1.25 miles) Lifting (Chest) Walk (2.5 more mile)

Comments:

Overall it was a pretty good week. I had hoped for Sunday to be better but with the long morning walk it was still a positive day. Overall not to bad. Probably should add a little bit to my caloric intake.

Goal:

My plan for the month is to burn at least 6600 calories. That' s about 220 a day. At the moment I'm at 3187 after 7 days so it looks to be an easy goal but I always find the start of an exercise plan easy to stick to. Hopefully I can really smash that goal and end somewhere closer to 10,000 for the month.

Overall goal: 160-165 lbs (I'll start updating next week. And continue for every 2 weeks)

Good Luck,

Pixar Pete

Yea that name stuff is not working.

Eddie

More Competition

On Friday evening, we added four more competitors to the contest. Here's our current list of combatants (sorted alphabetically by last name, of course):

Lanae Bradley
Ruby Edmonds
Joe Mattingly
Mike Mattingly
Mark Sabina
Marcus Walker

I didn't get final confirmation from any of the new participants regarding posting their starting weights, so in the interest of discretion, I've elected to not disclose them. New folks, if you want me to post them, let me know and I will. For me, I found posting my weight to be a good way to force myself to be accountable. But that was a different style of competition; who knows if it'll work the same in this instance.

If you haven't joined, you've still got a week to decide. I'm available most of the time through next Sunday (September 11) to provide the official scale for weigh-ins. Just let me know if you want to swing by. Once again, the wager is $25 from each participant. Right now, with an estimated 8-9 competitors, we'll be paying out the top two spots, but if we get a few more, we'll expand the prizes.

Happy dieting!

-Disney Joey

So It Begins

The first two competitors have weighed in:

Marcus: 186.8
Joe: 274.0

Note: your weight will only be posted if you give me clearance to post it. If you prefer, I'll record it privately.

After some thought, I've decided my goal is to get under 250.0 pounds during this three month competition. It's a reasonable but aggressive goal. During my previous competition, I averaged 11.43 (repeating of course) pounds lost per month. In order to reach my goal this time around, I'd need to lose just over 8 pounds per month.

So, if you're looking to set your own goals, you can use my 8.76% to frame your plan. And I do recommend setting your own goals. In month three of my previous competition, my goal was to get under 300 pounds. The morning of the weigh-in, I was at 300.8, and I spent the morning and early afternoon running in the rain and playing Rock Band to try to burn off the weight I needed to reach my goal. My registered weight? 299.6. Goals are good.

As a reminder, you have 9 days to register your starting weight (the last day you can weigh in is Sunday, September 11th).

A New Deal - Updated

Alright, so I'm changing the rules for this new competition. Hopefully the changes will draw in some more competition.

First things first: we're going back to percentages. I want people to feel like they can get involved regardless of their starting weights, and the only way to invite people of "medium build" is to give them a chance to win. So rather than straight pounds-versus-pounds, everyone will have their own starting point, and their progress will be evaluated as a percentage of that original weight. So all you sassy 160-pound people, bring it.

The other thing I'm changing is the whole format of the wagers. As exciting as it would have been to compete with each of you individually, some recent financial changes demand that I be a little more cautious with my money. So, instead of head-to-head wagers, we're going to all be contributing $25 to a common pot. We'll compete for three months, with our final weigh-in sometime around December 1st. I'll put together a payout structure based on the number of people who participate.

Starting weights can be recorded starting today, and through September 11th. For consistency, I ask that we all use the same scale, which I'll keep at my house. Give me a heads up and you can come by to weigh in pretty much any time between now and the 11th. Obviously, the sooner you weigh in, the sooner you can start hammering away at your starting weight.

Chances are, I'll use the culmination of this competition as a reason for a party. So, even if you're not competing, you can look forward to a party. And, if for some ungodly reason you'd like to contribute a $25 share without competing, just to create a greater incentive for the competitors, you're obviously welcome to do that as well.

As before, email me at jargonfacer@gmail.com (or whatever other email address you have for me) for details, or to let me know you're interested, and to schedule your weigh-in.

A New Deal

It's you.

The new competition is open to any and all competitors. As many of you know, we previously used this blog to chronicle a weight loss competition between Nick (Gargantuar) and myself (Psychotron). The competition was a success for both of us, and for me in particular. I went from 346.6 lbs at the beginning of January down to 278.0 in early July.

Because the competition clearly helped me lose weight and improve my fitness, I'd like to continue to harness that motivation. The ultimate goal is to be able to generate that competitiveness internally, but I think a good intermediary step is this new scenario: challenging everyone.

In this phase of my weight loss, I'm extending a wager to anyone who wants to take me on. The wager will be a standardized amount: $25 from you, $50 from me. That's right. If you best me, I'll pay out double what you would've had to pay me if I won.

However, it's not all easy street for you challengers. Unlike the original battle between Nick and I, all of these competitions will be raw, pound-versus-pound matchups rather than percentage-based.

I'll grant you that this makes it more of a challenge for those of you who haven't spent your lives getting fat, but consider this: it's always easiest to lose weight right when you start a new diet plan. I've been dieting for over eight months now. I hit walls virtually every day. You'll have every chance to succeed. And if you happen to BE someone who's got a lot of weight to lose, you're in the driver's seat.

Regarding time frames, I'm requiring any competitor to participate for at least 8 weeks. Losing weight over the course of a month is nice; losing weight over the course of two months is evidence of a commitment. And really, while the competition is fun, and the wager is a draw, the true goal here is to help all of us get in better shape, create better fitness habits, and live healthier lives.

You don't have to declare how long you'll be competing; however, you have to give me at least 1 week's notice before you want to weigh in (both starting and ending), and we have to both agree on a date, time, and place. This is to prevent you from taking advantage when you hear I'm going to a Chinese buffet on some random Saturday. You sneaky cad.

I'll provide the scale, and we'll use the same scale for all weigh-ins, for consistency.

If you want to share your strategies or progress on the blog, you're more than welcome to. If you want posting rights, just let me know and I'll get them to you. I'll obviously know your weights, but if you're not comfortable sharing them with the world, that's up to you. I'll continue to share my status, since that's been constructive for me (269.8 right now, by the way).

One last thing. The Psychotron character has run its course, so I'll be taking on a new persona for this competition...DISNEY JOEY!


Interested in battling? Email me at jargonfacer@gmail.com, and we'll arrange what needs arrangin'.

Psychotron Challenges Everyone

That's right, I'm challenging the whole lot of you.

I had spoken to a friend of mine about another one-on-one challenge, and he's being extended this same challenge. But I decided that a one-on-one challenge is only so much fun for people to watch; I think after two to three months, people here on the blog may have gotten a little bored of Nick and I yammering back and forth.

So I figured, hey, I've got money. And I know I benefit from the competition. So how about I do what Nick and I asked everybody else to do when we started, and put my money where my mouth is? I'm going to be extending a weight loss showdown wager to anyone who's interested. There are going to be some ground rules, to dissuade people from not participating in the spirit of the competition. The goal is, first and foremost, to lose weight, not to take coin off of your friends.

The framework will follow shortly, probably posted early next week, at which point any of you will be welcome to take me on. But just remember: I made mincemeat of Gargantuar. If you're gonna step to me, you'd better bring your A game.

Psychotron - Looking Back

After putting a couple weeks between myself and the end of the competition, I decided it'd be fun and a good exercise to go back and look at the whole six month period and try to take some lessons away from it. This may end up being a mostly individualized exercise, but it will almost certainly help me going forward, and might help some other folks, if you find yourself affected by the same circumstances as myself. So here we go.

Lesson 1: Chips are bad.

This I really knew without looking back at any data, but the data supports my thinking. On most occasions where I had more than 150 calories worth of chips (which would indicate that I had more than a single-serving bag from the cafeteria), I flew up to 400, 500, or more calories just from chips that day. For some reason, I seem to have trouble leaving a half-full bag of chips around; I don't know why. Theoretically, though, not having any big bags of chips around would prevent those explosions.

I recently discovered Popchips at my cafeteria. I guess they're some kind of potato crisp that has fewer calories. A single-serving bag is 100 calories, but more importantly, the bags in the grocery store hold just 360 calories. They're smaller bags, but that serves me better anyways. I'm considering ordering a few cases from the website, but I worry that having a bunch of bags around might run me into the same trouble as the big bags. I bought two bags from Target yesterday; we'll see how it plays out.

Lesson 2: Girls keep me honest.

Let's be real here: the whole reason to get in shape was to make myself more attractive to women. Sure, getting healthier is a nice side effect, and it's cool that I can do more things comfortably on a day-to-day basis, and I do like that it's easier to play the sports I like for longer periods without getting quite so winded. But mostly, I want to be more attractive, and just as importantly, I want to perceive myself as more attractive.

The nice/tricky thing is, it's got kind of a snowball effect. When you make considerable progress, people notice and compliment you. That breeds confidence, which helps to motivate you to make more progress, pull more compliments, make more progress, etc etc. I told a friend today that I expect to be basically Channing Tatum by this time next year. Maybe not, but I want to keep myself in that cycle, on that "carousel of progress" if you will (lol).

Oh, of course, the relevant data. Well, I had a couple instances where I got some fresh, definitive, positive feedback from girls (I won't get into specifics; a gentleman doesn't kiss and tell). The average number of daily calories in the subsequent seven days: 1,472. The average daily calories during my general romantic high points: 1,810. The average daily calories during other periods: 2,209.

I can't argue with numbers like that. It's time to get my flirt on.

Lesson 3: Weekends are tougher.

This should probably be followed by something like, "Church is boring," or "Ice is cold." Of course weekends are tougher, but since the data backs that up, I figured I'd mention it. Saturday and Sunday: 2,238 calories/day, weekdays: 2,012 calories/day.

I think there are two main things I can do to try to settle down my weekend numbers.

1. One of my easiest times to shine is at work during the week. I normally have 300-500 calories at lunch during the week, but on the weekends, it seems to creep up more towards 800 calories. If I can make myself a lunch consisting of a sandwich and a single-serving bag of chips or some veggies for each day of the weekend, I might be able to nix this whole issue.
2. The other thing I can do is simply make myself more busy on weekends. Go out of town more frequently, maybe join a team or volunteer somewhere, just something to fill up some time so I'm not wandering around the house, tempted by all of the food I've got sitting around.
   

Lesson 4: I need the competition, at least for now.

I can foresee a day when I don't need competition to hold steady weight-wise, because I've built up a higher base metabolism, or because I'm more active, or because I turn some corner on monitoring my diet.

But it is not this day.

As Gargantuar fell behind in this competition, my performance waned. I was at my best when he was either thrashing me (in month 1) or still mostly even with me overall (through month 4). A number of factors played into that, but at least part of it was, I believe, the fading of the competitive motivation.

The eventual goal would be to figure out how to extract that competitive drive from myself without needing external motivation. But for now, I've been talking to another friend of mine about a new competition. We'll try to incorporate lessons learned from this competition, and I think we'll try to find another way to involve our groups of friends. The prizes were of course fantastic and very much appreciated, but they were a little passive for my taste. I think I'd like this competition's supporters to be a little more "hands on," so to speak.

One last time, I'd like to thank everyone for their support and contributions throughout the competition between me and Nick. Between the parties and the prizes and the weight loss, it's been one of the most rewarding six month periods of my life. It was an interesting experience, and one that I think has helped me turn a corner as far as my personal fitness.

Pyschotron - Final Data

It's been a long six months, and it's only the beginning, but I do feel proud of my accomplishments so far. What I've done is no small thing (get it? small?). I'm still trying to figure out how I want to harness the blog going forward. I'm playing with a couple of ideas, but for now, let's go over the data. A future post will do the post-game analysis and talk about the next step. I can let you know that I'm still keeping track of my calories.

Final Weigh-In Results
Previous weigh-in: 283.6
Final weight: 278.0
Weight lost in month 6: 5.6 pounds (2.0%)

Starting weight: 346.6
Total weight lost: 68.6 (19.8%)

Before and after pictures:


Lighting issues aside, I'd say the most distinct and believable difference is in the face. Still not "slender" or anything, but after looking at the pictures, I can't be humble or dismissive any longer. Well done, self.

Final Weigh-In Pre-Results

Our final weigh-in took place on Thursday of last week. The two competitors registered their final numbers with the Battle Marshal, and then set off to set right that which had gone wrong, Quantum Leap style.

No, not really, but the last numbers have been tallied, and we do have a winner...

PSYCHOTRON
Congratulations to both competitors on a hard fought six month battle, and good luck to both of them going forward.

(Each competitor will write up a final post that includes their final weigh-in, along with any analysis they'd like to provide.)

Psychotron - Daily Diary 42

That'll do, pig.

7/5/2011

Calories: 2,527
Tennis: 45 minutes

Had a nice stretch of tennis with Chip before my body basically shut down. It was hot as hell, we were in direct sunlight, and for some reason every bug on the planet seemed interested in what was going on in Woodley Gardens on Tuesday night. But it was nice to get out of the house, get a little sun, and remember how unbelievably awful my backhand is.

Still a bit too much snacking, though. I think it's high time I realized that having any kind of chip in the house is a bad call. It's so hard to meter myself with chips and pretzels; I need to just stay the hell away from them.

7/6/2011

Calories: 2,277
Rock Band singing: 45 minutes

Chip swung by again after work. We had talked about some Rock Band, but I wasn't really feeling it right when I got home, so we played a board game and watched PTI instead. Then, later, I decided I did want to play some Rock Band. I wore long pants and tried to sweat out some calories, though I realize now that I was just dehydrating myself. Oh well, more lessons.

7/7/2011

Calories (prior to weigh-in): 460
Calories (total): 2,580
No activities

For those unaware, our final weigh-in took place Thursday afternoon at the Battle Marshal's "garrison" (site of Saturday's culmination party, which you should all plan on attending). We conducted the weigh-in blind; that is, I know my weight, and Nick knows his, and Eddie knows both, but that's it. So when the results are announced Saturday, it'll be news to even us competitors.

Anyways, as a celebration of such an accomplishment (regardless of this last month's numbers), Nick's brother Kenny bought tickets for all four of us to go to a Frederick Keys game and enjoy a fully catered luxury box experience. It was magnificent, though the only reason I was able to stay remotely low on the calories was because I came in so low beforehand.

Looking Forward

I've decided that Friday and Saturday are going to be "free" days for me, while I figure out what my plan is going forward. Tentatively, I believe I'll continue to count my calories every day, because that's the one thing that I think has been a legitimately successful strategy for me. I think I'll also go through all of the previous posts, and all of my diet data from these six months, and try to draw out some useful information. I'm surprised to say that I'm actually looking forward to that "homework," for now at least.

See you Saturday, everybody.

Psychotron - Daily Diary 41

Son of a bitch this is getting tough.

7/1/2011

Calories: 957
No activities

My first day back in town was a rousing success. Well, speaking calorically. I didn't get any activity in, but I did go to a happy hour after work. I'd say keeping my daily calories under 1,000 including a night out is pretty goddamn impressive.

Oh, I mean, I played cornhole for like two hours, but I don't think I'd call that "activity."

7/2/2011

Calories: 2,210
Lifting: 20 minutes
Walking: 45 minutes

Saturday was like the epitome of what I'd like every day to be like. I had a solid amount of calories, nothing too extravagant, I ate food I liked, I got plenty of physical activity. A day to be proud of.

7/3/2011

Calories: 2,730
Walking: 40 minutes

I thankfully thought early in the day that I should get some walking in before things went south (or northeast, rather; the party was in Baltimore). I stuck with beer and a little wine for the party, but it turns out that doesn't help me at all when it comes to hangovers. I was a wreck the next day all the same. It's back to liquor for me.

Technically I did some walking in Baltimore on Sunday night, and some dancing at Mother's when we got there, but I can't assign any specific values to that activity, so I'm leaving them both off the list.

7/4/2011

Calories: 3,040
No activities

Okay, yes, Monday was a disaster. The only solaces I can take from it are A) it still wasn't as bad as my old school "bad days" used to be, and B) I only ordered the one pizza. We have to find the positives where we can, people. I spent most of the rest of the day sleeping or watching television, trying to recover from the madness of the night before.

Looking Forward

We'll have one more Daily Diary post, including the information from the remaining days before the final weigh-in. It's high time we start to talk about that, too. Six months have passed, and Nick and I have done some very good things, as well as run into some snafus. The trick here, maybe the toughest part, is what to do after our competition culminates. I know Nick and I still have weight loss goals that we haven't achieved, but I'm not sure if there's any more motivation to get out of this vehicle.

So how do we push forward? I know I've learned a ton of information about calories, as well as exercise suggestions, and I've gotten myself into some much better habits these days on both fronts. But can I really trust myself to continue on this path towards a healthier lifestyle without some kind of external accountability? I really don't know.

I know I don't want the time and effort spent on this competition to have been in vain. I want to become more fit, so I can play more sports for longer periods, and play them better. I want to keep losing weight so that, sometime in the year 2013, I feel comfortable enough to go up to a stranger and try to chat her up (I expect 2012 to be mostly apocalypse-related).

Whatever suggestions you can offer, I welcome.

Month 6 update

To sum of St. Michaels I will only say it was a show. I think most days and nights I ate my fill and drank at least a few mixed drinks. While the mixer was always diet that was pretty much the only concession I made on being better. That being said I had a really good time reading and relaxing. I played basketball with Kevin and Joey. This included my first lost to Kevin in my life. Changing of the guard I guess. I also managed to spend a good amount of time in the pool.

After coming back I weighed myself and found that I was .5lbs over for the month. While this might seem to be terrible it really was a relief. I was pretty good the first two weeks but nothing exceptional. I figured that paired with vacation would lead to me struggling to get into a negative.

Since weighing myself I have run a mile every morning. I did not have a good diet night Sunday but I was very good Saturday and Monday. I'm going to try to continue to eat well until Thursday and keep up with my runs in the morning. I'll probably end up on the short end of the stick this month but hopefully being involved added incentive to both Psycho and Gargan. Also I know there have been times I have stayed away from bad decisions because of it. Good luck to Joe and Nick and I hope to see a ton of people on Saturday.

Psychotron - Update

You'll notice that this post doesn't have a "Daily Diary" in its title. That's because I have no information for you regarding my vacation week. I had fun, I ate my face off, I played a little basketball, did a lot of swimming, and went kayaking (check Facebook for pictures). But I didn't keep track of calories, or the lengths of time I spent doing the various activities. I know that I mostly made bad decisions regarding food, and fairly good decisions regarding activities.

And I haven't weighed myself since getting back, but I'd venture to say I'm close to or equal to what I was when this month started. I'll have more information on that tomorrow morning (I always weigh myself in the mornings), but that'll be information for me, not you.

What this all means is that our final competitive month will basically come down to how much progress I can make in a single week. I did excellent today in my first day back, and we'll see how things shake out over the long, holiday weekend. I was invited to a party in Baltimore on Sunday, which will probably be messy, but I bet I can regulate myself so that it's a decent day. And I'll definitely be tracking my numbers for the rest of the way.

Look for my second-to-last Daily Diary on Monday or Tuesday.

Psychotron - Daily Diary 40

Hey guys, no explanations this time around, I just wanted to get stuff posted before I head to the beach. Holla!

6/20/2011

Calories: 1,965
Rock Band drumming: 50 minutes
Lifting: 30 minutes

6/21/2011

Calories: 2,427
No activities

6/22/2011

Calories: 2,030
No activities

6/23/2011

Calories: 2,397
Rock Band singing/guitaring: 150 minutes

6/24/2011

Calories: 1,810
Walking: 30 minutes

Food Choices Study

I came across this article on the internet, and it was both interesting and frustrating.

Potatoes bad, nuts good for staying slim, Harvard study finds

Some of the analysis is interesting, and probably all of it is worth further study, but I worry about the tangible usefulness of it. I'd like to know what sort of attempts they made to eliminate other variables, though, specifically calorie intake. Like this analysis:

"Potatoes fared particularly poorly, possibly because starch, like refined grains and sugar, is less satisfying, so people eat more."

The "eat more" comment makes me think that they didn't try to isolate food choices from calorie intake when determining the effect of food choices. Like, potatoes leave you hungry, so you eat more calories if you eat potatoes. Well, shit, if you eat 9,000 calories of bananas every day, you're gonna get fat. It's 9,000 goddamn calories.

If they didn't try to account for differences in calorie intake, I'm not surprised that yogurt came out as a good food. Nobody who's not on a diet eats yogurt. Nobody.

The Final Push - Gargantuar

OMG! It has been way to long since my last post. I apologize to the many fans that have been left bored at work and without my posts to keep them from doing busy work. A lot has happened since my last post, so I will try to break it down for ya.

Myrtle Beach Trip

Before the last weigh-in, I took a trip to Wilmington, NC and Myrtle Beach, SC. The trip was pretty awesome. Diet-wise, I definiteky could have done better, however, I definitely made some conscience choices about drinking water instead of soda, or not eating quite so much.

Month Five Weigh-In

Soon after my vacation, we had our five month weigh-in. I think both competitors were not as happy as we could have been with our results, though I wasn't too upset because of the aforementioned trip. The party itself was a lot of boozy fun, if I do say so myself. We know how to throw a party in Baltimore.

Warrior Dash, Pennsylvania

The weekend of June 10-11th, I went camping in the Poconos with some friends and my brother's family to compete in Warrior Dash. As I mentioned in a previous post, Warrior Dash is an obstacle course race about 5kilometers long, often reffered to a "muddy buddy" run. And Buddy do you get muddy. The camping trip got a little rained out, so we ended up leaving Saturday after the race, but the race itself was awesome! There were thousands of people, some dressed in hilarious costumes, some already drunk, running in waves of 500 through the woods and taking on obstacles along the way. Worse than any of the obstacles was the actual trail throught the woods. The ground was slippery due to the recent rain and there were rocks and roots wherever you stepped a long a narrow path. Many times the pace halted to a walk just because of the amount of people and the narrow path. I completed the race in about 1 hour and am very happy with that.

Final Month Goals

For the last remaining month I would really like to work hard to get to at least 60lbs total for the competition. That would leave me at 249.8 and well on my way to getting healthy again. Of course I would like to win the competition, and still believe I can with a very solid month, but ultimately it's about getting healthy and I just want to continue that goal going beyond the competition. I promise I will update frequently now, I again am sorry for the long delay between posts. I also promise to be wittier in the final posts as well.

Psychotron - Daily Diary 39

Still waiting for that first Garg post of the month...

6/15/2011

Calories: 2,005
Walking: 45 minutes

Made myself another pizza. This one was a southwest style dealy, with seasoned chicken, onions, and various Mexican cheeses. The chicken runs a little higher on calories than turkey pepperoni, but it was delicious, and I stayed within my daily target, so I was pleased.

6/16/2011

Calories: 2,467
No activities

I had about 700 calories in high fiber foods, from raisin bran to fiber bars to vegetables, all trying to kick this stomach thing. I also had plenty of non-high fiber foods, though, and that's where the problems came from. Add in a lack of activities, and you've got a bad Thursday.

6/17/2011

Calories: 2,404
Walking: 30 minutes

If it makes anyone feel better, 1,600+ of these calories were from lunch at Hard Times.

It doesn't, though, does it?

6/18/2011

Calories: 2,350
Walking: 25 minutes
Lifting: 20 minutes
Rock Band singing: 20 minutes

While the calories were a bit above my daily target of 2,200, I feel like I came away with a lot of good information. I went up to Jen and Chris's place for a little barbecuing, and I spent a good chunk of time talking calories with Jen and Rachel. Does that make me a little girly? Probably. But if this competition has taught me anything, it's that it helps to have people fighting alongside you when you take on a big project. Talking to other people who count calories helps me find out about all sorts of other food options, and I think it'll prove to be beneficial going forward.

6/19/2011

Calories: 2,655
No activities

Just a crazy, lazy, snack-heavy Sunday. I watched a couple movies, played some video games, and basically had a nice shitty Father's Day. Still, 2,600 calorie "bad days" are better than 2010's 4,100 calorie "bad days," right?

Looking Forward

So I think I'm finally on the other side of whatever stomach bug or condition I was dealing with. I think I have a tendency to try to solve problems with food (all problems, physical, mental, arithmatic...), so I'm expecting to have a much better week this week. Also, I've got to get in some good days while I can. I'm going on vacation with my family (and Gargantuar's) starting on Saturday, so it's fair to expect some straying.

The day isn't over yet, but Monday looks like a good start.

JigglyPuff Week 2

I was going to wait for the end of the weekend to do my next post but it looks to be a pretty full weekend. I did not want to take the chance that I forget what I ate and give false information. Could I write it down... sure, But I'm not going to.

6/13/2011

Calories: 1,200 calories
Walking: None

I was pretty good on Monday. Rachel made some salsa chicken that was real cal and low fat. I also was able to avoid any real snacking over the night. I had a beer with dinner but even with that a real low intake day.

6/14/2011

Calories: 1,600 calories
Walking: 20 min run 45 min Walk

I stepped up my calories and eating but I also made the effort to be more active. I went for a pretty quick jog around my neighborhood. It wasn't anything crazy but it was nice to do something a little tougher then walking. I followed up the jog with a nice long walk while talking Gargantuar. I went a little heavy with a double meat extra cheese potbelly sandwich but I skipped any sides and was good every other meal so it worked out.

6/15/2011

Calories: 1,580 calories
Walking: Softball

Rachel was sick so I was on my own for meals. I ended up eating chips and salsa for lunch. The salsa was ghost pepper salsa which if you don't know is butt spicy. Pretty tasty though. I also split a CPK freezer pizza with Rachel before softball. It was a pretty long night of softball (2.5 hours) but I really only played catcher and ran bases so I'm not sure how much exercise I got. I did notice a little more spring in my step and speed when running though. I feel like David Ortiz last week where as now I'm a Youkilis so nothing crazy.

6/16/2011

Calories: 650 calories
Walking: None

This is obviously being written in the middle of the day. So far so good. Was pretty good for first two meals.

Looking Forward

I figure both Friday and Saturday night I will be pretty loose with my calories. I hope to get some running in before each to limit the damage but overall feeling good. Oh and Chip I was at 183 when I weighed in two Sundays ago. It was after a pretty much horrible weekend so I was probably just around 180 but still a lot more then I want.

Psychotron - Daily Diary 38

My apologies for both the length of time in between posts. Initially I was waiting for Gargantuar to post his monthly kickoff comments (which we're still waiting for, fella). Then I got a little woozy over the weekend, and I've been dealing with stomach discomfort for the past couple days. It's still there, but it's my responsibility to keep you guys in the loop on the happenings, so I'll give you a post.

However, my stomach bug is the reason for the brevity of some of the individual daily discussions. I assure you I'm not leaving out anything interesting. The way you know you can believe that is that it's me; nothing interesting ever happens around me anyways, remember?

6/7/2011

Calories: 1,855
Walking: 45 minutes

Still carrying the kickoff torch on Tuesday, I was able to have another positive day in both calories and activities. Unfortunately, it was the last really good day for a while...

6/8/2011

Calories: 2,515
No activities

I'm not going to say who I blame for my downward spiral over the next few days, but I absolutely blame one specific person. And I know it wasn't their intention, as they've tried to be supportive throughout all of this, but we had an interaction on Tuesday that messed with me psychologically, and I'm only now starting to be able to put it behind me.

Anyways, did a bunch of snacking on Wednesday, no activities, had a bad day.

6/9/2011

Calories: 2,385
Drumming: 30 minutes
Walking: 30 minutes

I was able to get myself back on the activities train on Thursday, though it was short-lived. I couldn't get myself going on the drumming, so I ended up bailing pretty early. The walk helped, probably, but it could've been a much more active day. And I've noticed that the more satisfying my activities are, the less I feel like snacking. So it's a double-whammy when I can't get rolling on some exercise.

6/10/2011

Calories: 2,535
No activities

Fridays are always pretty crummy as far as diet and exercise go. This one was made slightly worse (fitness-wise) by an extended outing that included a happy hour and a trip to the movies. It is not easy to resist buttered popcorn...or at least I assume it's not easy. I've never actually tried.

We saw Super 8, which literally everyone else hated, but I thought was fine. For all of my talk about hating everything, I think I actually like most movies. Not love, though, just like; we save words like "love" for movies like Jurassic Park, Zombieland, Lord of the Rings, Hoosiers, and Apollo 13. But Super 8 would get three stars on my Netflix ratings. Matter of fact, let me go do that right now...

6/11/2011

Calories: 2,985
Rock Band singing: 150 minutes
Lifting: 20 minutes

The calories were atrocious on Saturday, true. But I cite two reasons that it didn't really hurt me from a mental standpoint.

A) I had a really fun time. I went up to Joey's for a barbecue, then headed to a birthday party at another friend's house in Clarksburg. Both events were full of good friends and good times...and good drinks. But the point here is, good times.

B) The lifting I did (push-ups) got me SUPER sore. Only today on Tuesday am I starting to feel the tension wane. And the more muscle I build, the higher my metabolism, and the more effective my dieting and exercise will be.

So while it was obviously a bad day for the diet, I feel okay going forward.

6/12/2011

Calories: 2,170
No activities

Did I mention I got pretty drunk on Saturday night? I spent most of Sunday wandering aimlessly around my house, foraging for food and watching TV and movies, and reading. Finished the first Twilight book, by the way. It had some slow parts, but overall, it was decent. I'm in no rush to read the second book, but I imagine I will soon enough.

6/13/2011

Calories: 1,741
Walking: 45 minutes

I seem to almost always have good Mondays, which might be telling. Start of the work week, I'm coming off of good times over the weekend, feeling positive. Then I go to work, have the life sapped out of me, and by Wednesday I'm munching on everything in sight again. So, maybe it's time for a new job...

6/14/2011

Calories: 1,981
Walking: 35 minutes

Normal, average day. Nothing really noteworthy.

Looking Forward

...to Nick's first post this month.

Week 1

I came up with the idea to compete against Psyco and Garg because I was becoming a little more round as of late. I had begun to slip into bad eating and exercise habits and needed to get back on track. After a week I feel like I have changed a lot of things for the better but still left myself room for improvement.

6/6/2011

Calories: 1,700
Walking: 25 min

It was a pretty solid first day. I probably would have done even better if the woman at subway understood a little light mayo meant. Instead I received a crap load of regular mayo.

6/7/2011

Calories: 1420
Walking: 50 min

Again another good day. Rachel made some frittata that was really good and low cal. I went on a decent size walk with Psychotron in the evening.

6/8/2011

Calories: 1500
Walking: Softball 90 min

I was able to avoid eating too many calories again. It was around 95 degrees when playing softball. I didn't get much action in the field and didn't manage to hit all that well so the actual running was limited.

6/9/2011

Calories: 1400
Walking: None

I'm a little unsure where my calories really ended up. I had about 450-500 between breakfast and lunch. For dinner I went out to Uncle Julio's with Rach, Joey, and Julie. I had two light beers and a grilled salmon fillet with veggies. I'm not sure how much that really ends up being but 900 seems high if anything.

6/10/2011

Calories: 2500+
Walking: 20 min

This is where the wheels came off a little bit. Dan and Kristie came down to the house after work. I skipped breakfast knowing that it was not going to be a good night. I was pretty hammered by the end of the night so the actual calories are anyone's guess. I did manage to go for a walk at about 1 am with Dan. Weird.

6/11/2011

Calories: 2500+
Walking: None

This again was a pretty terrible night. I went up to hang out with Eddie in Westminster. I was able to limit my calories before going up which probably helped my overall numbers. However eating pizza, beers, and Crown XR lead to a lot of calories.

6/12/2011

Calories: 1050
Walking: Basketball

After the train wreck of Friday and Saturday it makes sense I wasn't very hungry. I had a bowl of chili, some pretzels and a Gatorade after basketball. I was actually pretty active during the game. After the team was down 20-25 pts I started to take any open shot I was given. Not the best option for the success of the team but I figured I had been pretty passive all game. How did it turn out.... not great but I was able to bank a three. (I didn't call it)

Overall thoughts

I'm pretty happy overall. Two bad days over the weekend was not great but I was really good the other five. With the temperature dropping to a tolerable level I plan to be a little more active. We'll see how it goes.

Psychotron - Daily Diary 37

Is it early? Yes. Is it too early to make judgments on how this month is going to go? Yes. Is it too early to feel good about my direction?

No sir.

6/5/2011

Calories: 1,665
Walking: 50 minutes

A Sunday under 1,700 calories is a good sign. Normally I have a lot of trouble keeping the calories under control on weekends, Sundays especially, so I'm pretty excited. My whole mindset feels good, though. I feel like I'm just back, plain and simple.

6/6/2011

Calories: 1,613
Tennis: 45 minutes

What's interesting and encouraging here is that the tennis, on top of being a very good workout, helped me avoid snacking. I knew I didn't want to be weighed down going into the tennis, so I didn't eat anything when I got home from work. But my tennis game wasn't until 7:15 (actually 7:30 due to some miscommunication). So there was a nice two-hour period which historically has been an issue for me in which I had the extra motivation to not eat. And it worked, and it was great.

Also, after playing tennis, I definitely affirmed that, while it's good to walk and play drums and everything, there's a whole other level of exercise out there.

Looking Forward

Sure, it was only two days, but they were two good days. More than that, though, I feel a whole different mentality coming into the competition's final month. I'm not sure if it was the letdown from last month, or the fact that we're in the stretch run, or the natural high that comes from a good party. But whatever the reason, I want to harness it, capture it, and employ it going forward this month.

Bee tee dubs, anybody want to play some basketball?

Psychotron - The Reinvention

So you've all seen how last month panned out, or didn't, as it were. There were a variety of reasons why things went poorly, mostly related to a lack of willpower. So now, I'm focused on how to get back on track.

First things first, the whole "going dark" experiment was informative. I do believe I need the public accountability to force myself to stay true, less so for exercise, but definitely for the diet. My activities were fine during the dark week, but I did a lot of unnecessary snacking, and I'm sure that at least part of it was because I didn't have to worry about sharing that information with others. BUT, it was nice to find out that I was still motivated enough to be active, regardless of the accountability.

The party was awesome; kudos to Nick on putting together a nice event. And while everything after about 11:00 is a haze for me, the pictures look like I had a good time. And I woke up in my own bed, so that was a success. I think I'm going to try to start drinking more beer; it should help me regulate my pace a little bit better, plus maybe I can do a better job of keeping track of calories if they're neatly packaged in an aluminum can.

I'm re-establishing the calorie goal of 2,200.

And I've got a new tack for weekends. Historically, I had a little more trouble being active on weekends, because I felt like I should be taking advantage of every moment of my downtime from work doing fun things, like playing video games, watching movies, visiting people, etc. The better way to think about it, though, is that I've got way more free time on weekends. Plenty of time for both recreation and exercising, as well as the opportunity to combine the two with basketball, tennis, Rock Band, or other activities.

Let the final face-off begin. Good luck, Gargantuar.

You're gonna need it.

Month 6

It seems not that long ago Nick and Joey were a combined 656.4 lbs. Now they come into the last month of our competition at 547.4 down a combined 109lbs. While there was not a ton of weight lost this past month both ended the month in the red which is a positive thing.

For month 6 we are pulling out all the stops to try to have the biggest weight loss of the competition. To do this I'm implementing several new wrinkles to the competition.

The first of these wrinkles is that all competitors will post at least once a week. I think last month both Gargantuar and Psychotron were a little loose with their responsibility to post their experiences, trials, and triumphs. The reasoning behind this change is two fold. The first reason being that many people have donated money, time, and support to motivate Joe and Nick and make this weight loss competition a success. I think its important to show these people the experience and that you are working to make their donations worth it. The second reason is that with transparency it is harder to hide lapses in exercise or good meal choices. If growing up in a catholic family taught me anything it was the power of guilt.

The second wrinkle will be the final grand prize. This will be the largest of the entire competition. The winner of the Psychotron vs Gargantuar challenge will win 100$ and a gift card to Dick's sporting goods. As always we are open to any additional contributions. Both Psychotron and Gargantuar are greedy SOB's so the more we put up the more motivated they will be to skip that snack or go for that extra walk. Nothing is too little.

The final wrinkle is...

I will be joining the final month of the competition.

Rules: I will be going head to head with each competitor for the final month. This will be based only on total weight loss. There will be no percentage of total weight. For the prize I will be putting up 50$ of my money. If either Psychotron or Gargantuar beat me they will receive 25$.

Why am I doing this? To hopefully motivate both these guys to lose as much as possible. So bring on your healthy pizzas, and spin classes you little sissy girls.

Good Luck in Month 6.

Month Five Weigh-In Results

Well, you know what they say: month five is the bane of all competition. Come on, who watches baseball in August? Nobody. Literally nobody.

This competition was no different. Nick and I both had pretty rough month fives. There are plenty of explanations/excuses, including trips, events, willpower issues, and the fact that doing anything for five months is a challenge, especially when it's a set of life-changing decisions like we've undertaken. But in the end, we were both pretty disappointed with our performances, and neither of us would fault any of you for feeling the same way.

The numbers...

Psychotron
May 7th: 288.2 lbs.
June 4th: 283.6 lbs.
Difference: -4.6 lbs.
Percent Difference: 1.6%
Total Weight Lost: 63.0 lbs.
Total Percent Weight Lost: 18.2%

Gargantuar
May 7th: 265.2 lbs.
June 4th: 263.8 lbs.
Difference: -1.4 lbs.
Percent Difference: 0.5%
Total Weight Lost: 46.0 lbs.
Total Percent Weight Lost: 14.8%

With a score of 1.6% weight lost from last month, Psychotron wins again, his fourth straight victory! A little quick math indicates that he'll receive a prize of a Best Buy gift card in the amount of $40.

Post-Game Analysis

Well, you can see from the numbers, but it was obviously a tough month for both competitors. Honestly, Gargantuar at least has the excuse of having gone to Myrtle Beach for a raucous time just a week before the weigh-in. Psychotron simply didn't bring his A game this month, and just barely managed to eke out a hollow victory.

Look forward to posts by both of our competitors talking about how they plan to use month five as a learning experience, and how they plan to bounce back from an unexceptional performance.

Tropic Thunder

So our fifth weigh-in is this Saturday, up in Baltimore at Nick and Colin's place. Which, of course, means another party. I'm sure most of you have already gotten the invite over on the Facebook, but in case you didn't, you're getting this invite right here.

It's going to be a tropical themed party. Ladies, you should use this picture as recommended attire. And remember, less is more.

I actually didn't own any kind of beachwear, so I hit the old Target and picked up a couple shirts and some flip-flops. Normally, you might not think this is noteworthy, but I used to not be able to buy clothes at Target because they were all too small. Granted, I haven't actually tried on the clothes I purchased, but they should fit. Hopefully. God, now you've got me worried. Thanks a lot, you twit.

Anyways, should be a fun party. Bring some beer/margaritas/daiquiris/pina coladas.

Month 5 Prize Announced

I have somewhat ignored my tremendous responsibility as Battle Marshal in recent weeks. I will strive to be more involved and visible as this competition comes to a close. The first portion of this will be to announce the Month 4 prize.

For Month 4 we have a best buy gift card. The gift card's value will be dependent on the competitor's weight loss up to the end of June. The gift card will start at a value of 10$. This value will increase 5$ for every 10lbs lost from the start of the competition.

Example If prize was last month:

Psychotron: 58lbs lost = 40$

Gargantuar: 44.6 lbs lost = 30$

I'm not going to be able to make it out to Nick's this weekend but I'm sure it will be a good time. I would advise against the micro machines but what do I know. Good luck over the last week.

Psychotron - Daily Diary 36

5/24/11

Calories: 2,140
Rock Band singing/guitaring: 80 minutes
Walking: 40 minutes

I must have waited too long to write this up, because I have no memory of Tuesday. Just none, at all.

5/25/11

Calories: 1,900
Walking: 50 minutes

A classic good day. I took some time to cook up a nice dinner for myself, and I definitely saved some calories with newly purchased Fudgsicles (only 40 calories apiece!).

5/26/11

Calories: 2,391
Rock Band singing/guitaring: 160 minutes

5/27/11

Calories: 2,427
Rock Band drumming: 140 minutes

A bit of a Rock Band marathon session between Thursday and Friday. I still don't know how much value I can assign to the Rock Band activities, outside of working up a sweat. But it's something. Better than nothing.

Going Dark

I've decided that for the final week of this month, I'm not going to tell you folks anything about my eating or exercise habits. Part of it is to keep Nick in the dark about how I'm doing, a little bit of gamesmanship if you will.

The other part is that I'd like to see how I react to a lack of public accountability. I'll still write down the numbers for myself, and I have the same 2,400 calorie goal as I've always had. I'm just not going to tell anybody whether I reached it or not. Should be interesting.

Good luck this week, Nikolai.

Psychotron - Daily Diary 35

5/19/11

Calories: 2,208
Rock Band drumming: 60 minutes
Walking: 50 minutes

A nice combo of exercise, the Rock Band drumming was a fun activity, and the walking was focused and deliberate. I like these days because it feels like I sort of make up for days in which I get little or no exercise...

5/20/11

Calories: 2,200
No activities

...like this day. Apparently I have trouble getting myself to be active on Fridays. Back to back weeks I didn't do any sort of activity on Friday (I mean, besides walking between my car and Buffalo Wild Wings). There is something to be said, though, for my decision to eat dinner at home for 650 calories, rather than scarfing down 1,000+ calories of wings...which I really, really wanted to do.

5/21/11

Calories: 2,445
Basketball: 120 minutes

The good part: I played two hours of basketball, worked up a nice sweat, got the muscles going.

The bad part: I jammed the holy hell out of my finger, which has stifled my non-walking activity since then.

5/22/11

Calories: 2,780
Walking: 15 minutes

As I said, my finger was pretty roughed up, so rather than doing any Rock Band drumming, I just went for a short walk around my neighborhood. I had thought it was longer than 15 minutes, but the clock doesn't lie.

I've also noticed that I eat/drink when I get bored, and it seems like Sundays tend to be my most boring days. So, it's about time for me to find an activity for Sundays...and other days.

5/23/11

Calories: 2,690
Walking: 40 minutes

The full caloric effect of getting drunk isn't felt until the next day, when I make foolish decisions to try to get my head back on straight. A breakfast sandwich, three servings of rice, and a variety of snacks put me into the red on my calorie goals. Blah.

Looking Forward

As I said, I think I need some activities, some distractions to keep my mind focused. Exercise is a good thought, and when he gets back from Myrtle, I think I'm going to take Spag up on his offers to play tennis. I guess I could play more Rock Band, but it's a lot more fun when used as a social event. I've also been trying to do some more writing, which is nice, but can be frustrating. And of course, frustration leads to boredom leads to snacking.

You guys got any other ideas on how to fill up time? I can only play through Dead Rising 2 so many times...well, probably. I haven't gotten to whatever that number is yet, but still, there's probably a limit.

Psychotron - Daily Diary 34

Initially I had tried to put together a formula for physical activity, but with all the various things you can do to get exercise, it's a little daunting. So I basically set a general goal of one hour of activity. It's a lot of time, but it's not like I really have anything to "do" after work anyways. Setting aside an hour of time every day to try to better myself is pretty reasonable.

The other thing is that, if it were easy, and something I would have no trouble doing every day, that's not much of a goal, is it? If I set a goal to walk 15 minutes every day, whoopie, who cares? Any day in which I accomplish my goal of one hour of physical activity, I can feel like was a productive day.

5/16/11

Calories: 2,020
Rock Band drumming: 90 minutes
Walking: 40 minutes

Monday was my first foray into the Boboli pizza realm, and I have to say, I was pretty happy with the results. I went for a "white" pizza, just threw some sliced red peppers and onions on the crust with some margarine and Parmesan cheese, and it was a tasty little deal. I had initially planned on just eating half of it and saving the other half, but space is limited in my fridge, and it was goooood. Even so, the whole pizza was 1,080 calories. And this was the full size pizza, not one of the personal pizza size ones (which are the ones I think I'll be using in the future.

Over on my other blog, Chip and I have been coming up with some ideas for pizzas to make. Chime in if you like, here or there.

5/17/11

Calories: 2,115
Weightlifting: 30 minutes

Tuesday is when I ran into my first question mark. Because I actually lifted weights over the course of about an hour, but it was while watching TV, sometimes breaking for 4-5 minutes at a time. The end result was a success, as I definitely got sore, and I worked up a sweat. But I couldn't really say that I "lifted weights" for an hour. What I should've done was gone for a half hour walk to make the point moot. Something to keep in mind for the future.

5/18/11

Calories: 2,250
Weightlifting: 15 minutes
Rock Band singing/guitaring: 60 minutes

My sister's boyfriend offered to grill up dinner for the family on Wednesday, so I went home for that. I had a few too many potato chips, but overall stayed mostly within my intended zone. When I got back to my house, I felt like singing, so I booted up the Rock Band. In between sets, I did some half push-ups. Half push-ups because they're sort of at a 45 degree angle; I do them on my stairs. I haven't got the upper body strength to push up my whole body just yet, but I get a good soreness out of this for now, so it'll do.

Looking Forward

Nothing really of note so far. I've done pretty well sticking with my physical activity plan. One thing I think I'd like to work on, though, is incorporating some more intense activities, or some more extended sessions. Like a 2 hour walk, or some serious basketball. Who's in?