Almost forgot: 100 Pushups (plus team status)

With all the excitement over my current weight loss, I forgot to post my progress on the 100 Pushups challenge.

I completed week two of the challenge last night, with a total of 87 repetitions.  My neck and shoulders were sore last night (I woke up with a headache). I'm now on to week three--further than I made it last time.

Here are some additional details on where I fall in with my other workplace losers (I'm on Team 5):

Only Week 2 Ranking

TEAM 1 TOTALS	4.91%
TEAM 4 TOTALS	2.76%
TEAM 3 TOTALS	2.64%
TEAM 5 TOTALS	2.45%
TEAM 2 TOTALS	1.87%

Total Weight Loss Ranking

TEAM 5 TOTALS	20.90%
TEAM 4 TOTALS	12.45%
TEAM 3 TOTALS	8.09%
TEAM 1 TOTALS	7.82%
TEAM 2 TOTALS	6.18%

Top 5 Individual Ranking for Week 2:

M.S.	2.52%
J.R.	1.68%
Andrew Riemer (ME!)	1.68%
S.M.	1.55%
D.M	1.37%

Top 5 Total Individual Ranking:

J.S.	6.59%
Andrew Riemer (ME!)	5.67%
J.B	5.51%
D.M.	5.40%
N.Y	4.21%

 

The one benefit I have, going forward, is that I have a lot more to lose than the rest.  That gives me the potential to keep losing (though I know it will get harder) even when the others start bottoming out.

Anyway, that's all for now.

Almost another bad weekend (almost!)

We had another one of those weekends.  We had an event to attend on Sunday, so we ended up taking the kids to an area favorite, Pizza Ranch.  My original plan was salad bar only, but their salad bar was pathetic (sorry, Pizza Ranch).  No green peppers, no onions, and no vinaigrette.  I opted for the regular buffet, which included the almost-a-salad bar, and had good intentions.

Epic fail!

During that meal, I consumed 1,600 calories--more than my daily goal of 1,592.

It was very good, and I did stop myself from having more, so I'll take the small victory.

After the meal, we went on to our activity, which was at the Waterpark of America.  I got in a lot of walking, and quite a few sets of stairs.  Nowhere near enough to counter my lunch calories, but I was glad to be moving.

Well, this morning, I decided to check the scale to see how bad things were looking. I'm down 1.6 lbs. for the week, with my official weigh in tomorrow morning. I won't need to starve myself today just to show a loss, and that's a good thing (on more than one level).

In other news, I got to the end of last week without working on 100 pushups, so I got my week two day one and two workouts in on Friday and Satruday.  I definitely felt it during that Saturday workout.  Tonight I'll finish up day three of week two, and then will start week three on Wednesday.

I have yet to restart Couch to 5k, but I'm getting closer to being ready to do so.  Being on my feet all day (except last week--I was in a class) has really helped my mood and leaves me feeling better overall.  I'm hoping that, between my standing and my hall-stairs laps, I'll be up to the challenge again.

I've not lost a lot of size, but things are fitting better and, overall, pulling in.  The sides of my belly have really receded. I'm wearing suspenders today with pants I normally could wear without.  Fat along the sides of my chest and under my arms is loosening.  It looks worse than before, but that's because the muscle is changing and accentuating the difference between the two.  I wonder how long before those two areas start to shrink noticeably.

Anyway, I'll be back tomorrow with the official weigh-in results.  For now, I have an appointment with a yogurt container.

Post Thanksgiving Day and Pushups

Well, today was the day after Thanksgiving, and I'm thankful that I had the day off.  We woke up early--4 AM--to get in some Black Friday shopping today.  It's the first time we've done it in a number of years.  We knocked off a bunch of our gift shopping during the year through clearance purchases and our regular monitoring of bargain websites, so we didn't have a hard and fast list for the day.  The way we approached it was with a number of door-buster items noted, but we'd be fine if we didn't get any of them.  We figured it was some time together, for Marie and me.

Overall, that went well.  We got plenty of walking in, and got some good deals.  We were home before lunch, and the kids had kept the house in decent shape, so we decided we'd all go out to the budget theater to see G-Force.  It was a fun film!

The later afternoon had me feeling exhausted.  I couldn't concentrate enough on my reading to get my final chapters done, and I ended up falling asleep in my chair.  The rest of the evenign went well, too. I don't have any aches or pains from yesterday's race, and that's a good thing!

Right now, it's going on 9:30 PM, and everyone is already in bed, including Mrs. F.  I stayed up a bit later to get my pushups in.  It's W2D2 for me,  I did a total of 53 pushups tonight, in five sets (10-12-9-9-13).  The final set (13) was the minimum required for that set, but I really had to strain to finish it, so I'm happy with that set.  My next workout will put me 1/3 through this six week program.  The earlier sets tonight were surprisingly easy.  The fourth was tough, but not horrible.  The final one really required some fighting to get through it.  Instead of collapsing near the end, I paused in my up position a couple of times (after the ninth and twelfth), and was able to finish them all.  I'm waiting to be able to see some of the benefits in my chest; some benefit is already visible in my shoulders (deltoids).

Anyway, I'm going to take this opporunity to get to bed early.  I'm glad tomorrow is a Saturday and work free.

Race tomorrow, second thoughts, and pushups

Well, it's official.  Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and we will be running our second 5k in as many weeks.  Right now, as it is already two hours past when I wanted to be in bed, with a turkey that is still too frozen to dress and get in the oven (we traditionally sear the bird and then turn down for a long, slow roast), I'm wondering why were were so crazy as to sign up for a race on Thanksgiving morning.

Only our eldest son will be running with us tomorrow.  The rest will stay at home, the younger ones in the care of the remaining elder ones.  The race is early, so they'll spend a good chunk of our absent time eating breakfast and playing.  We'll be back before they'll have a chance to get too antsy.

I started Week Two of the One Hundred Pushups Challenge tonight.  My sets were 9-11-8-8-(min. 11).  I collapsed during my 10th pushup during the final set, but after a few quick breaths, I got up and did three more, so I'll count that as 12. That means I did 48 pushups tonight.  That's amazing considering the fact that I only managed six (6) during the pre-program exhaustion test.

We did preliminary weigh-ins today, just in case the clinic is closed on Friday, and it looks like I'm up a pound.  I'll really need to watch myself tomorrow.

Good night, all, and Happy Thanksgiving!