Psychotron - Daily Diary 12

Please note: There is one swear word in this post. If mature language bothers you, please use discretion on continuing to read. Also, if mature language bothers you, how on Earth are you friends with Nick?

As promised, I will now share my experience at the Westat fitness center. Normally I'd just include this in the daily discussion, but it's kind of a big thing, so I figured I'd lead off with it for yins.

It was good.

I keed, I keed. I went on Thursday evening after work. A lot of people go right after work, so the fitness center is pretty crowded from 4:30 to 6:00, but since I live so close to Westat, I found it very reasonable for me to go home after work, unwind for a bit, then head back to Westat to go to the gym. The place wasn't very crowded at all, and there was really no machine that I wanted to use that I couldn't have. The treadmills were full for a period, but treadmills are lame anyways.

I did a couple sets of chest exercises, and I could tell right away that I was going to be sore as hell. Then I did a few more, and I've paid the price. My chest and triceps are tender, and could use a good massage. Ahem. I also rode on the exercise bike for about 15 minutes, just enough to get my heart rate up, and I burned about 80 calories. Lance Armstrong I'm not, but it was pretty gratifying. In fact, the whole experience was pretty much completely positive (outside of the searing pain in my pectorals), and I'm excited about going back next week. I'll probably need to plan for some cardio-only days here though, especially early on, when my muscles are adapting to being battered on a regular basis.

2/17/11

Calories: 2,316
Activities: gym

As I said, this was my first day at the gym. When I got home, I found that I was famished, and I had a couple sandwiches, then a couple more sandwiches. I was able to keep the calorie count under 2,500, but only just. In addition to incorporating the gym, I'd like to also redouble my efforts on the diet. Staying under 2,500 calories is good, but I'd like to be closer to 2,000 more frequently. If I can just focus on eating some of the thousands of Lean Cuisines I've bought over the past few weeks, I should be fine.

2/18/11

Calories: 2,323
Activities: tennis

Had a pretty good day at work. I had a chicken salad sandwich, which isn't great, but I felt way better about that than the slice of pepperoni pizza I have pretty often, and the calorie count is about the same. I also made myself a little side salad, mostly broccoli with some lettuce and carrot shavings to spruce things up. More vegetables is always good.

After work, I met up with Reed, Eddie P., and my brother to play tennis, but we were short a racket. We ended up just rotating our three rackets, and while it was a little chaotic and definitely not professional, it was fun, and the running around was nice. After tennis, I headed home, showered, and went up to Joey G's. Without going into details, I'll just say it was fucking awesome.

2/19/11

Calories: 1,480
Activities: walking

The short explanation for the low calorie count on Saturday is that I felt awesome all day. The middle-length explanation is below. The long explanation will be included in my book, A Dream Unfurled: The Rise and Fall of the Mattingly Empire, which will hit bookstores April 11th.

Got back from Joey's at about 11:30, and since I was running on adrenalin and instinct, I decided to go for a walk. It was brisk, and I probably should've brought a jacket, but it was a good little walk, at a better speed than I usually go. When I got back to my house from the walk, I passed out for five hours, then headed up to Chip's house for some much needed mellow hanging out. We got Chipotle for dinner, and I made a 790 calorie burrito. It's not a lean meal by any stretch, but it was fantastic, and it's something I'd definitely like to work in from time to time as a treat for myself.

Looking Forward

As I said, I'm planning to get back to the gym early next week. The fitness center is closed on weekends, so I have to make sure to get my workouts in during the week. I also need to go grocery shopping sometime this week, and try to dig up some ways to keep incorporating more fruits and vegetables. I'm out of pineapple again, so that's first on the list, but I'm also going to look at getting some peppers and onions and trying to put together a controllable cheese steak. The steak will be the harder part to figure out probably, but hey, nobody said this would be easy.

Well, except Spag. He wouldn't shut up about how easy this would be. Screw you, Spag. :)