Friday, May 20, 2016

DFW Brewery Map


Monday, December 16, 2013

C6W1D1

Today is the first day of my new challenge. I woke up 35 minutes before I had to get up. No time for a workout before catching the 6:15am train to work but I plan to get one in this afternoon or evening. Nutrition so far has been greek yogurt and granola. Lunch will most likely be a grilled chicken salad. 200ml of water down a 3 liters to go.

I took my before pictures yesterday. I went on a run and it hurt. Did 2.4mi and felt like quitting 15 minutes into the run. It was sunny and in the 50s so I could not pass up the opportunity.  Later in the day Ellen and I rode our bikes because it was so nice.

My job contract ends two weeks from tomorrow and I am going to have to push hard to keep a consistent routine until then. Once it is up I will be working from home on Monday & Wednesday and commuting by train to work on Tue/Thur and maybe Fridays if my work load calls for it. If I do cardio MWF and weight TTHS then I will not have to buy a gym membership. I do want to pay a year pass to the city gym for only $150.

Things are looking up and good nutrition happens one choice at a time.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

New Challenge Notice

Yesterday I left my jacket on at work because my pearl snap shirt kept popping open.
I refuse to buy new clothes and I have 3-4 lawn bags of old clothes waiting to bo away that I cleaned out of my garage. About my excuse of not being able to exercise. My office has a small fitness room I have never used. My part time job has a huge fitness room. I filled out a form for a memebership (free) but I need to follow up on it. I rode my bike to the commuter rail today. Also wiped out on some ice but it was fun and COLD.

New challenge starting on Monday since it is the 4 years anniversary of the start of my first BFL challenge. I plan on running a St. Patricks day 5k at the end of the challenge.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

BFL Coffee Crew!

http://bodyforlife.com/community/boards/bfl/f/13/t/80.aspx

This was my biggest support group. When I started a new job in April and lost all my support. Bad habits I had not had in many years slowly came back. Last night I ate a double cheese burger, 6 chicken nuggets, a bean burrito, and a flatbread taco.

I have made 2-3 attempts to start back up that crashed and burned. I had the fuel but this group was the wind beneath my wings. I quit the new job two months ago and now I am working two jobs as a independent contractor. I quit my gym membership because I had not used it in months and only went 20 times the whole year VS. 3-6 times a week in the past.

I got thru for a long time saying as long as I am under 190 I am doing ok and maintaining all the hard work I put from 2008-2009. Right now I am 204 and had to switch to an old belt to go to work. My wife is worried that I am out of control as she never knew me before I lost most of my weight and started living healthy.

Last week I turned 30 and I feel like a whole new chapter is opening. I am starting a business from home that we plan to launch in the spring. I am losing my full time contract at the end of the month. I slept in till 11am yesterday when I was suppose to be at work at 6:45am. I drank a red bull on the way to my second job and could not sleep last night.

I plan to take before pictures and measurement this week. My very first BFL challenge started December 14th 2009 (weighed 182) and I hope to start a new one or some type of training plan soon.
I miss this support group. It was one of a kind and everyone moving to Facebook then all the members fading away really hurt. The forum was magic because anyone could post and there were always new people who wanted to join in. The Facebook group was closed so only 1 person in it is still motivated and posts.

This is only my 17th blog post of 2013. I had 248 in 2012 and 340 in 2011. I have not had much to say and have not done much to write home about.

With 2014 on the horizon I am still optimistic about what the future will bring. I have been laying the stepping stones to escape the cubicle and draining commutes and focus on what I am passionate about to make a living. Depends on how a talk goes with my boss at my part time job my freedom might greatly increase. Freedom of time and freedom of living closer to what I believe in and what I want the future to bring.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Ideal Physique

Steve Reeves, who competed in body building in the 40's and 50's was probably the ultimate body builder from the pre-anabolic steroid era. He tweaked the calculations used by the Victorians slightly whereby for his perfect symmetry, the calves, neck and biceps should be the same circumference, the chest should be twice the thigh and the waist double the neck. Although I can't verify this last ratio, his measurements satisfied the other criteria for what he considered the ideal body.
 
For me ideal.
Neck 16
Calf 16
Bicep 16
Chest 42
Thigh 21
Waist 32
 
6-15-12
Neck 16
Calf 16
Bicep 14.5
Chest 40
Thigh 22.75
Waist 33
 
I will take measurement tonight to find out how far I have gotten in the past 9-13 months.
 
Re-watching Thor last night inspired me to start lifting weights again. I have not done it since late August. Chris Hemsworth is only 3 months older than me.
 

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Annual Progress Pic Year 5

10-1-2009 was the end of the second round of the first year of the Levings Biggest Loser. I won $100ish dollars in a family pool. This was right around when I first read about Body for Life and two months before my first challenge. I have continued a weekly spreadsheet since then and have taken a progress picture on Oct 1st each year since then. Each year I made improvements but this year showed a huge setback. I am 20-25 lbs heavier than last year and maybe 5 pounds heavier than 2009. I made a promise to myself in 2009 that I would never get above 190 again. I have been hovering just above and below 190 since last December. Summer of 2012 I was down to 165 and that felt too small. Is anybody down for a challenge? I want to get back to the comfortable 175ish range by Christmas. There are about 12 weeks left in 2013 and about a pound a week is a good way to loose weight and keep it off. I posted my progress pictures on my blog. Starting weight for me 190.2 lbs. 15.2 pounds in 12 weeks. I took better quality pics today and I am starting Monday.

10-1-09 185
10-1-10 179
10-1-11 175
10-5-12 170
10-5-13 190


Sunday, September 8, 2013

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Water

Recently I am back to old drinking habits... Water 3-4 liters a day! Yesterday's the high was 104f. Instead of going on the weekly social run I volunteered to hand out water at the halfway point. I was surprised that 80ish people still ran. Anyway all the water is taking me back to the "potty for life" days. I am the only one at my new job and have to take the office phone with me a lock the office every time I go.
Training for my upcoming 20K and Half marathon officially starts Monday. 12 weeks to get back in endurance running shape. I am hoping all the bike riding I have been doing will help with my cardiovascular endurance while running.

Monday, July 15, 2013

15 Weeks

It is now 15 weeks until the DRC Half Marathon.

Ellen started a Juice Fast on Friday. Check out her blog: http://moodyfoodylady.blogspot.com/

Last week I attempted to do a full 5-6 day workout routine. I ended up running Wednesday, biking Thursday, and lifting weight on Saturday. This week is the new beginning. No more road trips and no more excuses. I am already signed up for the Palo Duro 20k on 10-19-13 and that is my main focus. If I can run 12.4 miles on sandy trails I will be able to run 13.1 miles on streets two weeks later.

I just downloaded the Hal Higdon's Novice 2 Half Marathon Training program. For some reason I cannot find the one I used in 2011 but this one is better because it works up to 12 miles before the race instead of 10. I have only run over 3 miles once in the past 6-7 months so I need to work on building back up to an easy 4-5 miles in the next 3 weeks.

We spent July 1-7th in Colorado. I used the time to eat healthy and stay active. I dropped from 198 to 191 in two weeks and plan to get back to my ideal racing weight (165-170) over the next 3 months. I peaked out right about 200 lbs which is my heaviest in almost exactly 4 years.