Andy - Week of 6/16/11 Stats - Biggest Loser Week 5

Week Starting Weight: 347.6 lbs

Week Ending Weight:  357.4 lbs

Lost Since Last Week:    0.0 lbs

Exercise

Thursday: 45 minutes of hiking, 1 hour of swimming
Friday: None

Saturday: 3 minutes of Treadmill Warm-up, 160 lbs, x 25 Lateral Pulls and Rows, 100 lbs x 60 Double Bell Squats*, 160 lbs x 25 Shoulder Presses, 45 seconds x 4 sets of Planks, 110 lbs x 25 Bench Presses; 25 minutes of Walking
Sunday: None

Monday: 4 minutes of Elliptical Warm-up, 160 lbs x 25 Shoulder Presses, 45 seconds x 4 sets of Planks, 110 lbs x 25 Bench Presses, 100 lbs x 17 Double Bell Squats**; 20 minutes of Treadmill Cardio; 20 minutes of Walking

Tuesday: None
Wednesday: 3.25 minutes of Elliptical Warm-up, 110 lbs x 25 Bench Presses, 50 lbs x 60 Double Bell Squats, 160 lbs, x 25 Lateral Pulls and Rows, 45 seconds x 4 sets of Planks, 160 lbs x 25 Shoulder Presses

*This was the point where I proceeded to put too much strain on my right trapezius muscle in my neck near the base of my skull.  This was probably due to poor alignment of the neck and trying to do too many repetitions in one set.
**This was the point where I was a little too forgetful about my previous injury and tried to go back and do it over.  This time, the resulting pain caused me to stop my strength training all together for the day.

Reflections

I would love to say, "I give up on trying to understand my body" but I understand it all too well by this point.  The foods we eat act as ghosts, coming to haunt us days after eating them (see my post on Carbs).

The stats from this week are a combination of many things.  The first being a terrible sleep and work schedule.  This is what happens when you work way more than you should are used to and on varying shifts.  The second factor was poor eating choices when in a hungry pinch.  The third being fatigue from loss of sleep and injury combined.

In other news, I did get to find a great little nature trail that I got to go out and walk earlier in the week.  It took me about 45 minutes with my son, but I'm sure I could sprint/jog it in about 25 minutes (3 year-olds need to make periodic stops to check things out).  It has a relatively level terrain and it's really beautiful to look at.  I expect to go back a lot.

Goals for Next Week

I've got three more weeks of scheduled madness at work.  There is a small chance that it may get cut short if the new-hires being trained finish up sooner than expected and start working regularly scheduled shifts.  I'm not going to get my hopes up or anything, but the relief will be nice.  The bottom line is that I would rather them be ready for the job than to come out half-cocked and not last.  That's three more weeks of doing my best to cope with 4-5 long days of madness.

In the meantime, I'm going to have to do my best to utilize the time I have to get adequate rest.  This should help with the fatigue I'm experiencing and not cause the foods I eat to affect me so badly.

Of course, making better eating choices is going to be key.  I've did a lot better over the past week than I have in the past few, but improvements still can be made in many areas.  I want to make a return to intermittent fasting.

I'm happy with my cardio time and the number of times I'm making it into the gym for strength training.  The only thing I have to work on now is practicing good form when I do my lifts.  Without proper form, I am setting myself up for a needless injury.

Andy - Week of 6/9/11 Stats - Biggest Loser Week 4

Week Starting Weight: 350.6 lbs

Week Ending Weight:  347.6 lbs

Lost Since Last Week:    3.0 lbs

Exercise

Thursday: 25 minutes of Walking; 3 minutes Elliptical Warm-up, 150 lbs x 25 Shoulder Presses,  100 lbs x 60 Double Bell Squats, 110 lbs x 25 Bench Presses, 45 seconds x 3 Planks, 30 seconds x 1 plank, 160 lbs x 25 Lateral Pulls and Rows, 10 minutes of Elliptical Cardio

Friday: None

Saturday: None

Sunday: 5 minutes of Treadmill Warm-up, 110 lbs x 25 Bench Presses, 45 seconds x 4 Planks, 160 lbs x 25 Lateral Pulls and Rows, 100 lbs x 60 Double Bell Squats, 150 lbs x 25 Shoulder Presses

Monday: 20 minutes of Jogging

Tuesday: 3 minutes of Elliptical Warm-up, 45 seconds x 4 Planks, 160 lbs x 25 Shoulder Presses, 160 lbs x 25 Lateral Pulls and Rows, 110 lbs x 25 Bench Presses, 100 lbs x 60 Double Bell Squats; 20 minutes of Walking/Jogging

Wednesday: None

Reflections

Head colds are nasty.  That's how I have spent the past week.  The only times that I've felt any relief from it have been when I worked out, which may surprise a few (see my post for tomorrow).  

What surprised me was losing that additional 3 pounds this week.  I suppose that a lot of it can be contributed to the fact that I wasn't eating much of anything due to the cold.  But believe me that I probably would have been eating crappy food.  I've had a hard fall from the paleo/primal train lately.  I can feel it too.

Goals for Next Week

Weight loss is 80% diet and 20% exercise.  Lately, I've been doing 50% paleo and 50% crap food.  I've got all the resources I need to eat a proper paleo diet.  All I need is the motivation to stay away from crap food.  That will be my goal for the week.

My strength training is going well, but I need to boost my cardio hours back up.  I only spent 1.4 hours on cardio this week, and that isn't nearly enough.  If I'm going to be eating crap especially.  My optimal time should be between 3-5 hours a week.

Andy - Week of 6/2/11 Stats - Biggest Loser Week 3

Week Starting Weight: 352.2 lbs

Week Ending Weight:  350.6 lbs

Lost Since Last Week:    1.6 lbs

Exercise

Thursday: None
Friday: None

Saturday: 10 minutes of Walking; 3 minutes Warm-up, 110 lbs x 25 Bench Presses, 100 lbs x 60 Double Bell Squats, 150 lbs x 25 Shoulder Presses, 45 seconds x 2 Planks, 30 seconds x 2 planks, 160 lbs x 25 Lateral Pulls and Rows, 5 minutes of Treadmill Cardio, 15 minutes of Elliptical Cardio
Sunday: 10 minutes of Walking; 15 mintes of Elliptical Cardio, 10 minutes of Treadmill Cardio, 5 minutes of Bicylcle Cardio
Monday: None
Tuesday: 3 minutes of Treadmill Warm-up, 160 lbs x 25 Lateral Pulls and Rows, 45 seconds x 2 planks, 30 seconds x 2 planks, 110 lbs x 25 Bench Presses, 100 bls x 60 Double Bell Squats, 150 lbs x 25 shoulder presses

Wednesday: None

Reflections

This past week was rough because of all the hours I'm pulling at work.  I was really off the paleo track and I only got to do my strength training twice.  For somebody that is used to doing it three times a week, it's a huge loss.  I love being at the gym because it gives me time to think, but this past week was just too hectic to get in there much.

Goals for Next Week

I want to get back in the gym on a regular basis.  This is going to be hard with my work schedule being combined with that of my wife, but I'll figure out a way to make it work.  Three times a week is what I need to get myself up to.  I'm also going to try and work on walking more during my non-gym time.  If I can get in 30-40 minutes of extra walking a day, I know that I'll gain a lot of ground.

It looks like I'm going to have to make a trip to the grocery this week by myself and find some good paleo/primal food.  It's not that I haven't wanted it, I just haven't had time or access to get to it.  I would imagine that a late night trip to the grocery either right before or right after I get off work will be in order to get what I need.

Andy - Week of 5/26/11 Stats - Biggest Loser Week 2

Week Starting Weight: 356.0 lbs

Week Ending Weight:  352.2 lbs

Lost Since Last Week:    3.8 lbs

Exercise

Thursday: 3 minutes Elliptical Warm-up, 150 lbs x 20 Lateral Pulls, 150 lbs x 20 Rows, 110 lbs x 25 Bench Presses, 100 lbs x 50 Double Bell Squats, 140 lbs x 25 Shoulder Presses, 2 hours 30 minutes of Hiking

Friday: None

Saturday: 3 hours of Swimming

Sunday: 4 minutes Elliptical Warm-up, 140 lbs x 25 Shoulder Presses, 45 seconds x 4 sets of Knee Planks, 150 lbs x 20 Lateral Pulls, 150 lbs x 20 Rows, 100 lbs x 50 Double Bell Squats, 110 lbs x 25 Bench Presses, 20 minutes of Elliptical Cardio

Monday: 1 Hour of Yard-work

Tuesday: None

Wednesday: 5 minutes Elliptical Warm-up, 140 lbs x 25 Shoulder Presses, 30 seconds x 4 sets of Planks, 150 lbs x 20 Lateral Pulls, 150 lbs x 20 Rows, 100 lbs x 50 Double Bell Squats, 110 lbs x 25 Bench Presses

Reflections

I'm glad to see nearly four of those pounds come back off.  The workouts over the past few days along with the cardio thrown in have felt good.  I'm finally starting to be able to do regular cardio again after doing whatever I did to my toes.  I've been able to run and do planks at the gym again, so that should help with regaining the ground I lost.

My diet has been slipping recently due to a few factors.  The first being the Memorial Day weekend that we had.  It was hard to eat completely paleo while I was at so many cookouts, but I managed pretty well.  The other problem has been access to paleo food at the grocery stores.  The local places seem to be slipping in the amount and variety of fresh foods that they carry, and what they have been putting out has been expiring a lot quicker than it used to.  It's bad mojo for my salads.

Goals for Next Week

My biggest goal for my exercise is keeping on a steady routine.  I've been working a lot, and my wife works opposite of me.  When I'm not at work, she is and that leaves me no way to get to the gym (especially with a three year-old).  Where I'm picking up the extra hours at work lately, I've been feeling quite a bit of fatigue when I get home.  Often times, if I have a day off I find myself just laying on the couch trying to recover.  The only solutions to this problem are either (1) grinning and bearing it, or (2) getting more coworkers that can pick up hours and share the load.  Only one of those is in my control.

My big goal for my diet is to get back on the paleo/primal bandwagon in a big way.  I'm going to be venturing out to see if I can find new sources of food from different locations.  I think if I can change up the variety of what I'm eating, get more fresh food, and find new and awesome ways to cook that food, I'll be alright.

Hard work is ahead.

Andy - Week of 5/22/11 Stats - Biggest Loser Week 1

Week Starting Weight: 346.7 lbs

Week Ending Weight:  356.0 lbs

Lost Since Last Week:    0.0 lbs

Exercise

Sunday:   None

Monday: 100 Wall Pushups, 100 Full Squats, 50 Elevated Jack-Knife Presses, 20 Two-Leg Pullups, 3 minutes of Knee Planks, 5 minutes of Steps Cardio.

Tuesday:  15 minutes Walking

Wednesday: None

Reflections

I have no comments to make about the start of this contest.

Goals for Next Week

I obviously need to lose the weight that I seemed to have gained back in the last four days.  I don't know if I should attribute it to using a different scale or taking it easy because of my injury.

Hard work is ahead.

Trying something new.

Josh and I originally started back in November with a "Biggest Loser" contest between the two of us.  The terms were that whoever lost the most percentage in BMI, would be the winner... or loser.  The loser (or is it the winner?  Whoever didn't lose as much.) would have to watch the other's kid, and buy them dinner and a movie for them to enjoy with their wife.

Of course, we were idiots for trying to start a contest like this between the two biggest food holidays in the US.  But we've learned our lesson now.

Mostly.

We're still idiots, sometimes.

Now we've decided that with the new year, we will get back on track.  Instead of a contest, we are just going to track what we do.  Not everything has to be about competition.  Something we did realize is that a major part of successful weight-loss includes a strong support system.  We will be using this blog, not only to display our results from what we try, but also for a system of checks and balances on the other's progress.

(And for the record, I would have been the biggest loser.)