Pressed Hard This Week

Amazing! I was really surprised when I stepped on the scale this morning. Before basketball, I put on my shoes and then weighed myself ... I was about 208. So I figured I was about 204 without the clothes and shoes.

I played basketball. I played every game. We started at 6:50 and finished at 7:20. I was exhausted by the time we were done playing. I could hardly walk up and down the court. I drank a diet Pepsi yesterday before my database final and since I don't drink caffeine that often, I had a hard time getting to sleep last night. So I was playing basketball on 3 hours of sleep (I think I finally fell asleep at 1:45am and got up at 5:10am).

After showering, I stepped on the scale.

Same scale, roughly the same time of day (maybe about 15 minutes later than usual) with just the dry towl.

WEIGHT: 200.7
Difference: 16.8 lbs. since May 1, 2006

I think the dramatic drop was due to a few reasons. When I weighed in on Tuesday, I still had a lot of food and water in my system. By Wednesday, most of that food was out of my system and I had been drinking a lot of water. I also was back to my "routine" on Tuesday & Wednesday. I drank my SW in the morning, ate a light lunch, took my shot of ELOO in the afternoon and ate very light dinners. Then this morning, as I usually do, I didn't fill up on a lot of water when I played basketball. I usually wait to drink water until after I weigh in. I've always been doing this. So since I played for 90 minutes today rather than 60 minutes, I probably lost more H2O than normal.

So I'm .7 lbs off from my mark for the 4th. I'm going to be right around 200 for the 4th of July. I may even be below 200 next Tuesday.

Tonight, I'm going to bed early and then going to the gym tomorrow. I've only worked out twice this week. I need to get a session in tomorrow and then play some more ball on Saturday. I haven't done my plyometric workout for over a week. I've noticed my legs are a lot heavier. I need to get them feeling light again.

Hard Pressed This Week

I popped back up to 204.

WEIGHT: 204.2
Difference: 13.3 lbs. since May 1, 2006

I ate a lot of food on Monday. I also didn't drink my SW in the morning. I did take my ELOO in the afternoon. I intended to go to the gym in the morning, but our son has been sick and so he's been coming up to our room in the middle of the night. So I slept in ... a lot.

This morning I got a few games of basketball in. I didn't do well at all. My shot is off again. I weighed in and was disappointed. Tuesdays seem to be down days for me lately.

So I have 7 days to lose 4.2 pounds. Historically speaking, I lose just over 2 pounds per week. If I really want to hit 200 next week, I really need to exercise tomorrow, Thursday, Friday and Saturday and then eat good on the weekend.

Back In Business

Well the toe is better now. It's still draining a little.

I played basketball at 7:00am this morning. I used my new shoes for the first time and I think they'll work out great. My toe leaked into two pairs of socks while I was playing. But there wasn't any pain.

After ball, I came home, drank some Gatorade and then we all went to the gym. I shot around while waiting to play some more basketball. I got to play one game. After that, we all went swimming for about 90 minutes. I weighed in while at the gym.

I weighed in at 11:00am rather than 7:15am. But other than that, same scale with just the dry towl.

WEIGHT: 203.5
Difference: 14 lbs. since May 1, 2006

I'm ready to break the 200 mark by July 4th. July 4th is a Tuesday. Maybe we'll play ball that morning. Either way I'll be weighing in that day.

Injury

My toe nails have problems. I don't mean to gross people out, but I have fungus under my nails. A couple of months ago, my left big toe nail was so brittle that when I stubbed it on somebody's shoe in basketball, it broke off and it was kind of painful. Last year I talked to my doctor about the problem. She confirmed that I have fungus under the nails and prescribed the appropriate medication. But my insurance won't cover it. The medication costs hundreds of dollars. So I let it be.

This Tuesday I stubbed my right big toe on somebody's shoe. It hurt really bad. In the locker room, I expected to see blood when I took my shoe off. But there wasn't any ... just lots of blue under the nail. I drove to work in excruciating pain. I could hardly sit still it was hurting and throbbing so badly. It felt like a car was parked on my toe ... like a car door was shut on my toe and remained shut. I finally decided to leave work and go see the doctor. I knew the doctor wouldn't be able to do much, but I wanted to know if it was broken or not and I wanted some painkillers in case the pain didn't subside.

I had it x-rayed and it's not broken. But the nail was about 80% separated from the skin. There is a lot of blood built up underneath. I took lots of ibuprophen that day and that helped me cope with the pain. Tuesday was just a bad day ... the toe injury, didn't do too well on a group presentation and the Mavs lost. I'm glad that day is long gone.

After a good sleep, I woke up Wednesday morning and it was feeling much better. I could walk much better, but still had a gimp. I didn't have to take any ibuprophen.

Last night I had another good sleep and this morning I'm feeling much, much better. I can walk normally now. I think I might be able to play ball on Saturday. Before I play though, I'm going to buy some quality basketball shoes. The cheap ones I bought in January slide too much and I think the constant jamming of my toe to the front of my shoe doesn't help. Anyway, the pressure is mostly gone and I can bend it and apply most of my weight to it again.

What is so frustrating is that I think I was really starting to have some solid games in basketball between last Saturday and Tuesday and now it's all interrupted. I missed basketball this morning.

So back to the purpose of the blog ... I expect my weight will be about the same or even slightly more by the time I weigh in next time.

I'm still on the "diet" ... I'm drinking the SW and ELOO. Yesterday and Tuesday I missed, but today I'm back on. I ate breakfast this morning (wheat chex with blueberries) so I'll be taking the SW at 11:00am and eating lunch after 12:00pm. Then I'll take my swig of ELOO this afternoon.

Weekend Update

Friday morning I worked out ... I did my plyometric workout and then biked for 30 minutes. I weighed in and I had gained! I was 205.3 ... a bit suprising. Friday wasn't a good day for eating. I was working from home and had access to lots of snacks ... M&M's, Cheetos, leftovers and on and on. That night, we had a BBQ and I ate a lot. It wasn't a good day at all for the SLD.

Today I was going to play basketball, but we didn't have enough to play. So the family and I went to the gym. I shot around at that gym for about 30 minutes (I was on fire beyond the 3-point line). No one showed up, so I went upstairs and did bike for 20 minutes. After that, I was heading back to the locker room and saw that they were playing 8 on 8. So I got another warm body and we played 10. The streak continued. I bombed 3-pointer after 3-pointer. When you're on, it feels so good. I knew that it wouldn't last for long, so I kept jacking em' up. I played two games and then had to go because the family was leaving.

I showered and weighed in.

This morning I weighed in about 3 hours after I normally weigh in. Other than that, it was the same scale with just the dry towl.

WEIGHT: 203.8
Difference: 13.7 lbs. since May 1, 2006

After they gym, I made a big smoothie for me and my wife ... frozen berries, OJ, banana and strawberry yogurt ... that was lunch. Tonight we're going out to eat with friends, so I won't be eating all afternoon.

Great Start to the Weekend

To me, Thursdays seem like the beginning of the weekend.

Wednesday was a rest day. I slept in and went into work late. I drank a tbsp of sugar with about 3 cups of water in the morning. I always drink a few more cups of plain cold water too. I finished the SW by about 9:15am. As always, I waited an hour before chewing some gum. By the time 11:00am rolled around, I was getting hungry. I ate some homemade chicken parmasean and noodles. It was very delicious. For lunch, I try to eat just about two to four cups of food. I visually think about how many cups the food would be if it were diced up into tiny pieces.

After lunch, I chewed on some more gum. I'm pretty full for the next few hours. I continue to drink lots of water during the day. I don't know how much water fits in a styrofoam cup here at work, but I would guess about 5-6 measuring cups.

By the time 3:00pm comes, I'm starting to feel hungry. I drink 2 tbsp of ELOO. It is gross, but I survive. I leave work around 4:30 or 5:00pm. By the time I get to class or home, I feel hungry again. I will usually have a small dinner and then I'm full the rest of the night.

So that's a typical day for me.

Today, I played basketball. I was really tired.

After showering, I weighed in. I found that a dry towl weighs almost a pound ... .9lbs to be exact.

Same time of day ... same scale ... just a dry towl around my waist.

WEIGHT: 204.5
Difference: 13 lbs. since May 1, 2006

I am really going to make a focused effort to eat well this weekend. I hope I can actually lose a couple of pounds this weekend.

Down a Little

This weekend was rough. I broke down and ate a bag of Doritos and 4 ice cream bars (Moose Track).

I decided to workout on Monday. I started doing a little training to improve my speed and jumping ability. I am sore today. I weighed in on Monday and I was up to 208.6 ... ouch! Monday after work, I cut the lawn and watered.

This morning, I played basketball, as usual. It was fun, but our team kept losing, so we'd play a game then sit a game. Despite the resting between games, I was beat by the time we were done playing.

After showering, I weighed in.

Same time & scale with just the towl.

WEIGHT: 205.8
Difference: 11.7 lbs. since May 1, 2006

So I still end up down since Thursday. But maybe if I had eaten better this weekend, I would be down to 204 or even 203. I would really like to have one good weekend to see how much it would help.

I Fought the Diet ... and the Diet Won

Since Tuesday, I've been eating more food than usual.

Tuesday afternoon before class, I ate a Taco Bell burrito supreme. When I got home from class (10pm), I ate two slices of Papa John's pizza and a bowl of Moose Tracks.

Wednesday, I didn't exercise. For lunch I ate lasagna & yogurt. Before class, I ate about 3/4-ths of a regular size Asian chicken wrap from Roly Poly. I also drank about 3 cups of Dr. Pepper. After class, I ate two slices of wheat bread with peanut butter and honey. This was more than I usually eat in a day.

This morning at the gym, before I started playing basketball, I weighed myself (clothes and shoes on). I was about 210. I wanted to get a feel for how much I sweat off during a game of basketball. I knew that my clothes and shoes weight about 2 pounds, so that put be around 208 ... roughly speaking. I played basketball ... played one game, sat out one, then played two more games. I showered and then weighed in.

Same time of day, same scale with just a towl (today I used a dry towl instead of the usual wet towl. From now on, I'll weigh in with a dry towl.)

WEIGHT: 206.5
Difference: 11 lbs. since May 1, 2006

I was confident that I was going to be about 207 or more ... I ate at night ... ate more than I usually do ... I ate "tasty" foods. Maybe it was the dry towl that made the difference today. This is crazy. So it was a good week this week. I lost 2.3 lbs. since last Thursday.




I went to Academy Sports yesterday. I purchased some JumpSoles. Call it a childhood dream, but I really want to dunk the basketball. As a nice side benefit, I should get quicker too. I plan on going to the gym and working on this program on the off days (Mon, Wed). I haven't looked at the program yet, but if time allows, I'll also use Tuesdays and Thursdays too to work with the JumpSoles. My plantar faciiatis is still hanging around a bit. It is noticably less painful these days, but it is still there.

The Mavs & Heat are finally playing tonight. GO MAVS!!

The Diet Works

I think I'm just about convinced that this lifestyle change works for me.

Saturday morning, I played basketball. When I got home, I drank the SW along with lots of plain water. The rest of the day I just snacked. That night, I ate a Taco Bell salad and a burrito. Then I had a huge bowl of Moose Tracks ice cream (my absolute favorite ice cream).

The next day, I fasted. Once a month, I participate in a religious fast. I didn't drink or eat anything for pretty much the entire day. I was suprised at how easy it was this month. I didn't breakfast or have lunch. I didn't eat or drink anything until about 6pm that evening. Then I ate one chicken cordon blue, a cup of mixed vegetables. Later I ate another heaping bowl of Moose Tracks ice cream. Then I drank lots of water.

Monday was a normal day. I had the SW in the morning. I ate a yogurt for lunch and one leftover cordon bleu. Later in the afternoon, I ate a small bag of Chex mix. I didn't drink the ELOO. Monday night, I ate two helpings of my wife's delicious lasagna and two pieces of French garlic bread. After my 2nd helping, I knew that I would gain back some weight.

This morning, I played an hour of basketball. After I showered, I weighed in.

Same time of day, same scale with just a towl.

WEIGHT: 207.7
Difference: 9.8 lbs since May 1, 2006

The subtitle of Seth Roberts' book is "The No Hunger Eat Anything Weight-Loss Plan." I think the diet lives up to that reputation.

Little to Report

I normally lose more than a pound between Tuesdays and Thursdays. The only thing I can figure out is that I ate a Taco Bell Burrito Supreme before class Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons instead of a salad. However, last week, I only lost .7 lbs between Tuesday and Thursday.

This week, I only lost .6 lbs between Tuesday and Thursday.

Anyway ... today was an official weigh-in.

Same time & scale with just a towl.

WEIGHT: 208.8
Difference: 8.7 lbs. since May 1, 2006

So I lose almost 9 pounds in my first month of this diet ... not bad. This puts me on schedule to hit 200 around the 4th of July ... independance from food and weight.