When there's beer involved, I honestly suck at fitness.

       In the spirit of what this whole series of the blog is about, I feel like accountability is the most important thing; and, in that, honesty is paramount.  So, last night I was all ready to go to the gym after work and then our logistics rep came to the office and gave us a $50 “Appreciation Incentive” gift card.  Super stoked.  So I grabbed Dave and we headed over for a pint…or three.  And thennn, on the way home, Liz and I stopped at the gas station and loaded up on cookies (for her) and some cold ones (for me).  We then proceeded to go home and watch guilty pleasure television and lay on the sofas like a couple of atrophically, useless, broken legs. Long story short, I was the epitome of a fat, lazy, sack of shit last night and essentially did the opposite of go to the gym.  Sorry for letting you down Healthy Daris, every week can’t be a winner buddy.  I’ll make it up to you.

In the spirit of making myself feel better, I present to you a picture of my brother.  Whom I love dearly.  And who has made me laugh continuously since 1988.

Back in the Saddle

So the wedding this weekend was great.  Good times were had by all.  I went into the weekend hoping to accomplish 2 things; number 1 – Don’t spend too much money; number 2 – Don’t drink too many beers and blow my diet.  I’m 1 for 2 as of today.  I only spent something like 38 bucks this weekend which was AWESOME (20 of which was spent on a bottle of Jameson that was purchased by the wedding party; the bottle itself I then presented to the head of the wedding party as a drunken gift).  So, to the beers…I drank many.  BUT, it’s a wedding, and if I’m going to drink many beers, where be a better place? 

Always hilarious to go through pictures of the boquet toss and see your uncle going for the leap

 

Back to the diet, I made a militant amount of zucchini, squash, and those swirly green and beige wheat noodles last night so I should be set for a couple of days on that stuff.  I am going to the gym today to hit my interval hill treadmill program (for the first time since Thursday). L  So I don’t have much to report on my recent workouts as they are non-existent, but, writing this stuff down is accountability 101 and it will guarantee I have something to report tomorrow!

Wheat sprial noodles, squash, zucchini, and pasta sauce.  Om Nom Nom.

 

Also, I signed up for a website called SparkPeople.com which, other than being a totally great website for tracking your weight loss / healthy lifestyle habits, also is a great tool for paring with your accountability journal.  I highly recommend checking it out.  As I’m still figuring out how to properly use the site to track my progress (it is my first day on the site after all) I don’t really have any pointers or highlights yet; I’ll keep you posted as I figure them out.

:)

Doing alright. Day 4.

Hit the sit up bench with a fury last night and now can barely breathe without wincing slightly.  Did three sets of twenty on the incline sit-up bench and did some elliptical but that was it; still pretty sore and tired from the last two days.  Good news is, I have been sticking to my dietary restrictions that have been making me more “regular” in the “poo poo” department which is super nice.  Aaand, I’ve been waking up an hour earlier than normal and going to be an hour earlier at night.  I’m not going to get on the scale until day 7 so I can have a decent representation of my change. 

 

The hurdle…

 

I am going to a wedding in California this weekend and I know I am going to be eating less-than-optimally; not to mention the copious amounts of champagne and beer I’m sure I’ll be consuming.  So, I am kind of hoping that I am able to keep it under control and not waste the last three days. 

 

Bright Side…

 

I am super broke so that will keep me from going to bars and stuff like that.  Open bar consumption only.  Also, my cousin is getting married, so that’s definitely a bright side.

 

Dinner last night was pretty basic.  Thanks to a friend who gave me two of the LARGEST vegetables I’ve ever seen in my life.  Squash and Zucchini with some BBQ’d corn on the cob.

 

Don't eat with fingers directly from grill.  You'll burn your mouth and cry in front of you dog.

So sore. Must not sneeze. Might cry.

     I started working out on Tuesday (like I've been saying I would do since 2007). As I am still a light-mild smoker, I am taking it kind of easy on the heavy breathing stuff and focusing on the intensity cardio. Example, the last two days I've done an hour on the treadmill using the following intervals:

Speed level: 4 (15 min mile) for a 3 minute warm up.

Incline level: 2 at Speed level 4 for 4 minutes.

Back to flat land at Speed level 4 for 1.50 minutes.

Jump to speed level 7 on flat ground for a running 2 minutes.

Back to flat land at Speed level 4 for 1.50 minutes.

Incline level: 4 at Speed level 4 for 4 minutes.

I then simply alternate between a Zero Incline for 1 minute intervals and an Level 4 Incline for 4 minutes for about a half an hour, keeping the speed at a level 4 (15 minute mile) the whole time. This keeps my heart rate alternating in a higher range. If I need a rest, I don't change my Incline alternations; I just drop my speed slightly until I feel rested enough to re-pace.

In my last 10 minutes I go backwards down the progression:

After my last level 4 incline, I go to my flat land 1.50 minute rest and then do a 2 minute run at Speed level 7. After that, I finish out at 3.5 Speed level and cry myself to the cleaning spray bottle to disinfect my sweat covered treadmill.

I've found that (because I am unable to consistently run due to my shitty, soot coated, lungs) this lower paced, hi intensity walking routine is actually KICKING MY ASS and I'm feeling real good.

Dinner for the last two nights has consisted of stir fry veggies and rice.

 

 

I am going to need to get on diversifying my meals but I'm broke right now so I'm going through my freezer, cleaning out the things I've been too unhealthy to bother making. Face it, I don't keep Burger King in my freezer.  However, now that I'm avoiding eating anywhere but at home, I'm finding there's some surprisingly good grub in the back of my freezer from the last time I was going to "make a healthy change".

Alright accountability log, ttyl.



Hit the Dodger game today. Hollywood Suite style.
Good first day back in LA!!

Doggie Aftermath

So Liz's mom is in town and she is kind enough to have taken the time to repair all of the dog toys in the house that have been annihilated or mutilated.  Now we have half a dozen misfit stuffed animals with missing eyes and legs and noses hanging out on the kitchen table.  It's essentially the best way to start any vacation Friday.