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Holy crap-tasticical pain!

My freakin' body hurts...it hurts...it hurts...dang it. Two Saturday's ago, I only played one soccer game (my first in a while) and I was hurting after it. But nothing like this week. I am pretty sure that there isn't an inch of muscle fiber that doesn't feel like complete shit. This past week we played 3, 40 mintue games. I am feeling every step on the gym floor; every lunge for the ball; every kick; every knee in my thigh; and every run. Dang it I suck. To top it all off, all 3 games were against KIDS. Trying not to sound too old...but these really were kids. The first and last game (same team 2 games) our opponent probably averaged 15 years old...these kids couldn't even drive yet! The middle game the team average was probably 16. That is freaking crazy. These kids would not stop running. Unfortunatly for our team I am one of the youngest players...one dude's son was there and he is probably ~16 yrs old, but whatever. Everyone else is well into their 30s.

Regardless of how my body has felt since late Saturday, I can honestly say that I had a great time playing. Two Saturday's ago, I was a little caught up in getting used to the game (we play on a gym floor with a small-deflated ball...strange) and wasn't really having fun. This week, I was creating, making runs, and using a little more skill. It felt good. I even scored a goal and got about 3 or 4 assists. And a ton of exercise!

Now, how did I do last week with the *new* task-based goals? I think I did OK. I screwed up a couple of things, but I think overall I am on track. However, I do think I need to change one goal - the gym. I think 5 days a week just isn't going to happen. There is always something that knocks me out of a couple of days at the gym...last week it was my taxes...they screwed up Monday for me...and dinner plans. This week it will be travel...Maria and I are heading to KC to see family and friends. So, there is no way I am going to be hitting the gym over the weekend. Then next week, I am in Omaha, NE on business. I should be OK gym-wise as the hotel has an exercise room. But that following weekend, I am back in KC...so, no gym there either. Needless to say, I need to make the goal a little more realistic. So, I am (retroactively) knocking it back to 4 days a week.

Here are my results for last week:

1. FOOD
a/b/c. Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner - OK. I ate out 3 times last week for lunch, but none for breakfast and only 2 for dinner. Need to do better on lunch this week.
d. Snacks - Did terrible on the fruits. 3 days I had none, but did have carrots on those days. Nuts every day.
e. All meals (including eating out/ordering in) - I think all my meals were healthy, but one. Sunday I had this awesome "sandwich" from "Juniors" (a famous NYC deli/restuarant). It is called "Something Different" and is a pile of beef brisket between 2 potato pancakes - AH, it was good. Only ate 1/2 of it that night, the other 1/2 for lunch on Sunday, so that should've helped spread the calorie intake.
f. At least 8 cups of H2O per day - I am really good at drinking water during the week, but suck on the weekends...need to get better.

2. VITAMINS
Same as the water intake...great during the week, suck on the weekends.

3. BOOZE
2 nights. Friday and Sunday (a bunch on Friday, only a couple on Sunday)

4. BOOB-TUBE
Did OK sticking to this. I caught myself watching LIVE TV a couple of times, but overall I did well.

5. GYM
a. Visits - made it 4 times, which fits the new goal (Monday did taxes, Friday had dinner plans). Worked out Sunday, Tuesday, Wednsday, and Thursday + Soccer on Saturday.
b. Workouts - 1 interval; 3 full (on target for the new goals)
c. Weekly increases - Will increase for the first time this week - Ug.
d. Speed - Always had an eye on the clock and never let my rest periods last more than 30 secs...which makes a huge difference in the work out...keeps the heart pumping and really makes everything seem more effective.

So, I grade myself with a B+ for the week. Week 19 will be tough with all the travel and what not...but I'll try.

Btw, the new gym goals will be:

a. Visits - 4 days/week
b. Workouts - 3/4 must be "full" work outs; 1/4 must be "interval" training; any extra must be "interval"
* Everything else remains the same

Later. JV

Week "something like 16 or 17 or something"

Alrighty...vacation: Was awesome. Was sunny. Was warm. Got sunburnt. Got my drink on. Had a great time. Some much needed relaxation. Yay.

In my mind, traveling/vacations are "outside" of normal life. So, the "lifestyle" (read: diet, drinking, exercise) can kind of be "outside" the norm (the "new" norm, in my case) as well. There is always more indulgence when on vacation. And I fully par-take in the additional indulgence. However, I did make it the gym a couple of times and tried to make them meaningful work outs. The hard part is getting back on track (see: the holiday posts). For example, I got back on Tuesday night...I haven't been back to the gym yet and Maria and I have ordered out dinner Wednesday and Thursday. Time to give myself a kick in the ass.

On vacation, I read a couple of articles in "Men's Health" that got me thinking about my progress, my current place in this "journey", and moving forward. One thing that stood out was the fact that I have reached a point where weight measurements and goals can get too discouraging to do any good (see: the last 3 week's updates). I would say that the 30 lb or so loss to date is pretty good...not the original goal, but whatever. I also think that I can hit the original goal (or close to 185) by changing a couple things...especially my goals.

My original goals were all weight loss based (3 lbs/week, 2 lbs/week, 180 by 1/27, etc.etc.). And that worked for the most part. It gave me a consistent way to understand "where" I was in the process. Now, I know "where" I am and don't need the weekly reminder of how much I weigh. I am going to NOT weigh in (after this coming Saturday) for 4 weeks. That's right 4 weeks. Weight will now just be used to regulate where I am and play a much smaller role. All my goals are now going to be "task-based". In that, I mean, I am setting up some goals for the next 4 weeks dealing with the tasks around working on this new "lifestyle"...keeping Jason 2.0 progressing.

GOALS:
1. FOOD
This really a continuation of what Maria and I have been doing for the past couple of months. But I am making it an official goal now:
a. Breakfast - Eat pre-purchased breakfasts 5 of 7 days/week
b. Lunch - Same as breakfast
c. Dinner - Smae as breakfast
d. Snacks - Eat at least 1 peice of fruit (apple, orange, or banana) each day; Eat a 1/2 cup of nut mix each day
e. All meals (including eating out/ordering in) - must be "healthy" - protein-filled, very little bread, very little potatoes, more fruits, more veggies
f. At least 8 cups of H2O per day
We will continue to decide on a dinner "menu" for the week and shop for all (my) breakfast, lunch, and (our) dinner ingredients on the weekend. This gives me/us 2 days per meal to eat out or order in.

2. VITAMINS
Again, similar to whats been going on, but stated as a goal, now:
a. Take 2 Ola Loa vitamin packs/day every day (been slacking on the weekends)
b. Take 1 Omega-3 pill every day
c. [may add in a protein supplement in the next week or so]

3. BOOZE
No more then 2 nights w/ drinks per week - easy enough.

4. BOOB-TUBE
No LIVE television - all tv watched needs to be recorded on the DVR, On-Demand, or DVD. Exceptions: [1] sporting event (Read: KU basketball and English Premier Football) and [2] gym TV (I gotta have a distraction while on the bike).

I spend way too much time in front of the TV...it's my favorite way to pass time. But it breeds laziness. I have done this before and got things done. So, I am adding it to the list. WE DVR a number of shows, so it doesn't get rid of all TV, but it reduces the whole "sit on the couch-watch crappy shows-shuffle through 100 channels-get fat" time wasting that I have come to enjoy.

5. GYM
This is the big one. If I can hit the gym-goals then everything else will be A.O.K.
a. Visits - 5 days/week
b. Workouts - 4/5 must be "full" work outs; 1/5 must be "interval" training; any extra must be "interval"
c. Weekly increases - Each week non-warm-up reps must increase (based on exercise) over the next 4 weeks; Intervals must get longer (see the work out chart below)
d. Speed - Keep "rest" periods (between reps and exercises) less than 30 seconds (another tip from an article in Men's Health)

THE WORKOUT:
(The exercises are the same...the increases, etc. are different)


So, week one looks like this:


(Click the images to enlarge)

You may notice that Saturday is filled with "Soccer". That's right. Finally. Starting this Saturday (2/3), I am joining an indoor league. It is sort of strange because we play 2-4, 40 minute games a week...but that is A.O.K. with me. This was one of my big goals for the year and I am freakin' stoked to be playing again...can wait to hit the pitch.

There are a few other "big ticket" goals that I want to take care of this year as well. But I will save them for another post.

Later.

Testing 1,2,3

For some reason the blog is this morning and I wanted to see if creating a post would revive it...did it?