Monday, September 26, 2011

Sick and losing weight HIIT Running

Well it's been a long week and weekend. Last week I was sick all week, I made it through the week thanks to Mucinex 1200D.  Monday I went to the YWCA and did 1200 calories on the stair climber to start my week off. Then the cold really hit me. By Wednesday I felt like I could not move. I made it to work for a 10 hour day and made it to the challenge the trainer event at the club. Well me and my partner came in last but it was a great work out.  We did 100 plyo jumps, 100 bike crunch, 50 burpees, 200 mountain climbers, 100 glute decks, and 50 curls with each arm. That was just the beginning.
     I made it home after and pretty much fell asleep until Thursday. I got up, went to work, skipped the gym because I had to watch my kids and went to bed early. Friday I worked and went for a 20 mile bike ride with my buddy Mike. Then I went to the gym for dodge ball, it rocked.
     Friday night my wife had to work an overnight and I didn't sleep well. 






I woke up and we went to the apple orchard with a friend and his kids. After the orchard we came home and all took naps.  We cleaned the house and played in the yard. For dinner we went to the never ending past bowl at the Olive Garden. It was packed because Cavalia is right next door. I didn't eat much because I began not feeling well. Right after dinner I got sick and I was very sick until 2am. 


     Well Sunday we got up, I made it to the Down Syndrome walk. It is a really nice walk that raises a lot of money and awareness. It was a fun day but I had to nap again and went to bed early.
     Today I got up, did some work, worked out and weighed myself. I was down to 295.  YAY, Now maybe I just need to get sick more often =)
     I think what it proved to me is maybe I don't need all the protein I take and maybe I will lose more weight without it.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Death by Fat time to Change



Hello Friends.
It's been a week since I posted last. I have gone up and down with my weight. I am hovering about 298. I still feel that I need to get down to below 280. I did however go get a  blood sugar test at the state fair and it said I was not diabetic. I also got my blood pressure take yesterday since I went to the doctor for a cold. It was 120/80, I am not  worried about how I am doing right now. I just want to make sure I have a long life and don't miss out on years in the future because I was too heavy. I have seen what being  overweight does to people when they get old. We lost my grandpa Bob when I was little because of many things but they were complicated by weight, recently we lost my friend Roy who was also a large guy.  I want to make changes now before it is to late for me.
     I think sports teams do a real disservice to big guys, sure we can hit harder in football and throw farther in shot put if we are bigger and have more muscle. But to put on that muscle you learn to eat way to much. I remember years of eating plates piled with chicken breast and chugging protein shakes until I could not hold any more liquid.
     When we get older, have kids, and our metabolisms slow down we need to change everything about our bodies to stay in shape. It means eating less, eating differently, and maybe dropping some pounds of muscle in order to take down overall body weight.
     I want to be able to walk with my own knees, hips, and ankles when I am 50 not with replacement ones because I was to active and to heavy.
    This fall I am pledging to myself to stop the insanity and do something different. I don't know what that is yet but it will happen. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. When it comes to weight loss , we often fall into cyclical behavior, we diet and exercise and lose weight. Only to re gain it months or even weeks later because we fall off our diet just for a little while.
    I am fed up, I am changing. 
Last fall we cut out corn syrup from our diet, we cut out most meat, we switched to organics, now we are cutting out anything boxed.
    I hope I can make changes big enough to save my life and maybe help others do the same through sharing what I am doing.
    Today I am home sick and didn't really work out, otherwise I am doing 1000 calories a day at the club and some weights. I  know in the new year you will see a leaner, happier me.


Peace,


Gabe

Monday, September 12, 2011

Up a Few Pounds BBq Season Kettlebells Squats and P90X

Well I haven't been posting for a while. A friend who reads my blog asked me about it last night. I have been spending more time in the gym and less on the computer. I did over 10 hours at the YWCA last week. I have been getting into the stair climber and treadmill. I also got back into Bench press and squats, I even did some dead lifts today.
     The type of stair climber I use is the one with real stairs that rotate as they go down and come back up to the top to form the platform. I think it's the most realistic type of stair climber, I have been doing a 35-40 step per min warm up for 5 min them 55-65 per min workout for another 10 min. I then switch to 3-4 exercises of free weights, the bench, clean, dead lift, squat, or bicep curls. Then back to the Arc trainer for another 20 min or so. Then I hit the rowing machine for either 10 minutes or 1500m what ever my back and biceps feel up to.
     I have also been throwing in some running. Today I ran for 30 min. I got some New Balance shoes 1200 series, they are really nice. I love Adidas for most running and weight work but could not find any in my size, I wear a 15 men's. Nike is a close second for workouts. I like New balance for walking shoes but they always rub on my big toe which kinda bothers me about them. This happens with every pair I have. One thing I never skimp on is running shoes. If you are a person who works out you need good shoes all the time. They save your feet, knees and back from pain and impact. When I was on the Track team at St.Thomas I would get a new pair of shoes every 3 months or so.  Never underestimate the impact of good shoes on training.


     I have put on a couple of pounds so I need to hit the cardio more. I love being on my bike but the heat and the need to drop more calories has me in the club more. Gladiator and dodge ball start in a week and I can't wait. next week is member appreciation week at the Y and I am doing the challenge a personal trainer competition on Wednesday evening. I won this last time =)
     I love summer for all the biking I do but I also love winter for all the the activities I do at the club. I can't wait to get back into Kettlebell I love the feeling, reminds me of my cheerleading days at St.Thomas and Benilde. Nothing better for working out the whole body.  Have you ever seen an out of shape cheerleader?
     As a man if we dropped a woman we had to do 100 pushups and a 2 mile run, every time we made a mistake. Plus we ran for 2 miles before practice and did a lot of weight training.
   I am off to eat my lunch, about 700 calories and 90 grams of protein. 3 cups Spinach, fresh tomato from the garden and fresh cucumber, boiled eggs and fat free turkey, YAY.

   

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Bike Rides and Running gotta cut some fat

Well I have been getting back into the swing of things. I did a 26 mile bike ride yesterday and I am doing another 35 mile one Sat. I have been running as much as I can and I am going to make sure I get an hour of cardio in per day.
     I was reflecting on how I kept lean years ago. I think the biggest thing was I worked out all the time. I had friends who worked out with me and I had more free time to do what I wanted. Now with another kid on the way I really need to make working out a habit that I don't let myself get out of. It wouldn't hurt to have some friends who wanted to meet with me and work out.
     In the fall I will start doing gladiator again with Tony at the Uptown YWCA and dodge ball starts again as soon as the snow hits. I just need something to help keep me wanting to work out the other 5 days of the week. Maybe in the future I will be able to afford a personal trainer or to take small group fitness classes every day.
     I keep working on my diet and cutting where I can. I made the switch yesterday away from sugar or corn syrup based sports drinks and onto NUUN. It help that I have about 40 samples of it at home right now that I keep being given from people. In the past I have been a big fan of caffeine based energy drinks but I feel like as I get older I need to get away from them and try to work up more natural energy.

That's all for today, more later stay skinny at the fair.

-Gabe

Friday, August 19, 2011

Getting Back at it

Well it's  been some time since I did a Text post. I have taken some time off my training too. After the Red Ribbon Ride, The Warrior Dash, and the Breast Cancer Ride I felt like I needed some time to work on other things. I did a bunch of work on the house, a lot of work for work, and now it's time to do more work on myself.


I did gain back a little from what I lost, I was up to almost 315 last winter then down to 289 and now I am back to about 298. I need to kick it up a notch in the cardio and the diet. I have been working on cutting how much I eat and changing what I eat. We have tried to cut fast food out of what we eat all together. We cut corn syrup out of our diet, except where it comes to powerade when I do long rides. I am going to try and switch to Nuun for next year. Then I will be totally out of the corn filler world. We need to cut down our sugar intake more but we still eat a lot less sugar than most people. My biggest vice is eating something starchy and sweet when I have a good hot cup of coffee. I love my coffee but I need to not be tempted to eat something sweet with it.


I have started eating Greek yogurt and a lot of spinach. Angie keeps saying if I eat to much spinach it will give me stones. I don't know about that. The rest of the summer I am going to try to get a good bike ride in a week and keep getting to the club. I seem to see a lot more people doing tire workouts, I wonder why it is catching on so much now. It's nothing new that pushing, dragging, and flipping heavy things will help you gain muscle and explosive power.


Oh well, Ill try and keep you updated more.


Peace,


Gabe