Aww hell...

El Sapo is back bitches! 

Rabbit Food

I have not been doing very well the last few weeks and the last few days I have done very poorly.  I have eaten every meal since Friday out and have not had much green on any of my plates.  In addition I have ordered deserts at least three times that I can recall and eaten a ton of junk between meals.  I drank three smoothies (not the healthy protein packed ones) and last night ate a whole sleeve of Oreo cookies while watching one of the worst movies of all time - Blue Crush II.  Needless to say it is time to get back on the wagon as El Sapo put it. 

My wagon is not too far in front of me but I am feeling too fat to even chase it right now.  Maybe after a plate of rabbit food for lunch (pictured left) I will have the energy and motivation to jump back on the wagon and take control of my flight deck (El Sapo can have a helm I want a flight deck). 

An Early Fall

My first week of training was a success.  My second week was going well until I fell off the workout wagon on my long weekend run.  I'd like to maintain that I did not fall off, that I was pushed off by some evil high school kids who are intent on causing drama that deters my wagon's straight path.  This all sounds very cryptic.  Let me explain.

Up until yesterday (which is when I took charge and took care of my situation), I felt like I've been in high school for the last 6 weeks or so.  Within my close group of friends (most of whom I work with), there has been useless, catty, high school drama.  Even my mother (Chuck look-a-like's wife) said to me, "What are you in high school again?"  Mother knows best. That's exactly how it felt.  And it has worn me down.  I'm sick of people saying we "need to talk", people over-exaggerating stories, and the backstabbing.  And unfortunately, rather than using my frustration to drive me to work out harder and get to the gym, it drives me into bed for extra sleeping and naps.  So, I've been exhausted for a week and those dumb kids have knocked me off my wagon.

So, here I am, broken and bruised on the street watching my little red wagon (since that's the type I chose) roll down a slight decline without me.  Now, it's rolling pretty slowly but kind of erratically because nobody is at the helm.  Don't judge me, MY wagon does have a helm.  So now I just need to get up, brush it off and move forward.  I'm going to have to repeat Week 3 of my training since I've failed so miserably but at least I've given myself sufficient time to do so. 

I just wish jumping back on a little moving wagon wasn't so hard. 

Trouble

My wife is worried about the "could result in death" part of this activity and fears that I will die a young age and my kids will not know their father.  I am still in the process of convincing her to let me participate and assuring her that I wont die.  Some of her concerns stem from the fact that I do not have a very high tolerance for pain.  It is not that it hurts too bad it is that my body shuts down for some reason.  Once when I was nine I was kicked in the shin by a little girl I had been teasing.  Next thing I know I am on the ground looking up at her.  My body shut down and I fell to the ground.  In chemistry my sophomore year in high school I was pestering Ant Hill to the point that he felt it necessary to stab me with a pencil and I nearly hit the ground.  Age 19 I was hit with a ball of Silly Putty, yes I said SILLY PUTTY, and I started to have convulsions.  Are my wife's concerns legitimate?  I would argue yes.  But I cannot allow Silly Putty, pencils, and/or mean nine year old girls keep me from living life - I cannot allow the fear of pain to keep me from running through fire or electrical lines. 

The real trouble I am in now is that my wife just found where I had charged the Tough Mudder sign-up fee to the credit card she thought I had closed.

Enchancing the workout

Well i was going back and forth about getting some type of supplment to help with workouts and increase that fat burn. I final decided to give something a try, so off to GNC i go. THe rep at GNC was helpful and was knowledged about the product he wsa selling. Since i am not looing to bulk up so much that i cannt put my arms down or even tie my shoes, the rep pointed me in the dircetion of a multi-vit fat burner pack call MEGA MEN SPORTS pak. Its a combo of 6 horse pills, a multi-vit, stuff called burn 60(which help your body burn 60% more cals.) and some time of glutamine pill. The bounus was it was n sale and i got a free sample of another fat burner call Oxyelite(the first time i took it i chased it with a cup of coffee, wouldnt do that again, made me jittery as all hell). I have been taking the sports pak for a few days now and i can tell i sweat alot more during my work outs and i have more energy as well. Iam down a few lbs already, tipping the scales at 257. I hope this is a start of a downward trend.

Enchanced or natural?

So I was wondering if any of you guys will be using any supplments to help with you work outs? I have started taking whey protein after I work out and was thinking of maybe picking up some type of fat burner/metabolizer booster. Has anyone used anything with results? Is there anything all natural I could use? Any input or info would be great.

The GOZO Diet Plan®

As promised (or threatened) I am here to post about my thoughts on dieting and possibly my planned approach(es).  While I respect that some of you are not in this to lose weight - weight loss is a huge motivator for me.  I want to do it healthy and a way that is sustainable.  I watched a Discovery episode of Extreme Bodies over the weekend and it had an interesting stat (whether it is true or not is not known to me).  It stated that 97% of people who lose 100 pounds or more put it (or more) back on within 5 years of meeting their ideal weight.  I think the reason for this is because they are losing weight in a way that is not sustainable long term - be it purchase food plans, extreme diets, starvation, etc. it is not something that can be done long term. 

I watched another show, don't remember the name, but it followed a AU guy on a 60 day juice diet.  He managed to lose a ton of weight in 60 days and years later still has it off.  He has retrained his taste and body to welcome fruits and vegetables which in the past had almost been completely absent from his diet.  He also incorporated much more activity into his lifestyle.

This is a lot of build up isn't it.

I am going to try and incorporate many ideas into one diet.  My doctor wants me low carb and I have done that for a while but it caught up to me and I now eat carbs, just fewer.  I enjoyed Weight Watchers but do not want to pay for it.  Live Strong has a free calorie counting tool that I like but honestly I am just too lazy to do it every day.  I am not a huge meat eater and think I could do a vegie thing but not 100% juice (like the show I watched - plus I don't have a juicer).

So here is what I am going to do.

I am going to plan many 500 - 600 calorie meals.  Live Strong says I should be eating no more than 2300 calories if I want to lose 2 pounds a week with moderate physical activity.  Small portioned calorie counted meals would allow me to eat 3-4 meals a day and snacks between.  I am going to make my own 100-200 calorie snack packs of things I like but portioned out to avoid splurges. 

I also want to recognize most of what I eat - meaning as close to its natural form as possible.  This means limiting processed foods which are usually high in carbs, sodium, calories, and low in nutritional value. 

I think this plan will work for me because I can still eat the things I like, the meals are planned taking out the thought process, no daily recording or counting because that has been done already, and finally it will work because I am destined to make it work since I invented it (an element of pride in it). 

How does this plan sound to all of you?  Any one have a juicer the want to sell/give/lend to me??

The Prologue

It's a standard reaction to a threat: fight or flight.  Well, until this morning, my reaction to the TM race was flight.  Avoid.  Deny.  Resist.  And then probably cry about it in a corner somewhere. 

But today is Day 1 of my training regimen.  In fact, so far I'm only halfway done with today's workouts.  Ran a mile this morning and did some upper body lifting.  And then tonight, zumba.  So, unlike before, now I'm working on the offense. 

I bought a scale and a pedometer yesterday afternoon and while I don't intend on making this TM goal about a specific weight loss, I do want to check in weekly or so to see what progress I've made and be able to tweak things if I'm not seeing the results I want. 

I have a set plan for how I'm going to defeat TM but I can't say I've seen any of it work.  It's too early to tell.  I'm starting with the 10k training schedule (www.marathonrookie.com) along with some weight lifting a couple of times a week. And zumba with a friend Monday nights.  So, ideally that's about 7 workouts a week, some of them doubled up on days.  Which, in all honesty, frightens me.  Especially coming from 1-2 workouts a week, tops.  However, the morning workout felt really good.  After the fact.  The 3:45 a.m. alarm was kind of a kick in the face.  And I immediately turned it off before telling myself, "Wait, you're not allowed to be a slacker anymore because people are going to ask about it."  And then I got my not-so-happy butt out of bed.  I don't love the idea of morning workouts (if 4 a.m. is even considered morning) but LA Fitness is packed in the afternoons, even when I get off at 3:30, so I hate being there.  The 20 minute max on cardio equipment while people are waiting is going to be limiting once I start getting into longer runs.  So for now, during my "trial" week of this schedule, mornings are going to be my calling.  And I'm hoping to replace at least a few meals a week with protein shakes.  Most likely on the evenings I have workout plans.  Dinner seems to be the meal where I splurge (calorie wise) most often so limiting my dinner options will hopefully bring my calorie count down.

I wish I could tell you guys what is working and what isn't.  All I can say is that I feel pretty good at work today after my morning run.  Although it didn't feel as productive as I wanted (it was a slow mile), it's a start.  And that's all I can ask for as of now.  However, within the next several weeks I have an internal goal for TM; I want to be able to outrun The Compromise when I steal his Nicorette gum.  He's been picking on me and that's my method of revenge.  But at this point, since he's working out like a madman, I don't have any chance of escape.  That's about to change.  Everything is about to change.

P.S. I understand that zumba isn't exactly a TM worthy workout.  But a girl's gotta have some rhythm in her victory dance as she crosses the finish line.