63 Days

I know I shouldn't have but I got on the scale and I'm up another half pound. Fucker.

I'm kicking around the idea of getting a Polar M400 activity monitor. My goddess, Melty, has one. She knows me so well. I asked if she thought I should buy it and she said something like, "You will obsess about it and it will piss you off." And then pretty much, "Yes, you should get it." It's a good price on Amazon and mother fucker, I deserve it. But will it motivate me or piss me off? Both, I am sure.

Workout B

squat - 5x5x50 lbs
lunge - 3x8x10 lbs
single leg SDL - 3x8x10 lbs
hammer curl - 3x8x10 lbs

Food

Breakfast:

• coffee w/ Splenda & creamer [12]

Lunch:

• yogurt & pepper slices [5]

Dinner: I didn't eat my lunch until after 6 PM so I wasn't hungry for dinner.

64 Days

As usual, I have an excuse for why I'm so messed up today. A last minute 5-hour road trip late yesterday will do that to a person. I didn't have time to prep my lunch for today. Hell, I barely had a chance to brush my hair before leaving for work this morning. So no lunch for me.

Food

Breakfast:

• coffee w/ Splenda & creamer [12]

Lunch: Nothing. Not even the vending machine. Go me!

Dinner:

• chicken & baked potato w/ bacon & cheese [16]

Just under points for the day. But I didn't go to bed hungry.

I did prep my lunch for tomorrow. And dinner, since it's my late night and the boys are having homemade pizza.

65 Days

Officially +1.5 from last week. Grrr. No bueno.

Workout A

rack pull - 5x5x80 lbs
db bench press - 5x5x25 lbs
bent over bb row - 3x8x45 lbs
db fly - 3x8x10 lbs

Next week I will increase the weights.

Food

Breakfast:

• coffee w/ Splenda & creamer [9]
• banana [0]

Lunch:

• turkey slices & yogurt [4]

Dinner:

• chili [10]

66 Days

Well, I've stuck with this bullshit for two weeks and I'm cranky from not eating enough and not knowing how to fix it. I mean, yeah, eat more, obviously, but it's hard to plan and no one else in my house wants to eat what I want to so fuck me. I still look forward to my workouts though. And I'm thinking ahead to what I'm going to do with the 35 weeks remaining in 2017 after this little experiment is over. Eventually, I want to get into doing Olympic lifts, even though I won't have Oly weights.

I'm irrationally discouraged with the weight loss this week. As in the none! I know I have to be patient. And eat more. And be patient. That's the worst part. I was reading back through my blog and there were long stretches where I only averaged a pound or less a week. That's still enough time to get to my goal weight by the end of the year but I'm tired of being fat. I'll never be small - even at my lowest and fittest a few years ago, I still looked like a linebacker.

Food

Breakfast:

• coffee w/ Splenda & creamer [12]

Lunch:

• banana & cheese [4] - At 6 PM.

Dinner:

• shrimp w/ pasta & butter [15]

I was fucking starving tonight. Still had lots of points to spare this week.

67 Days

I hopped on the scale a day early. Up a pound. Wretched thing!

I forgot to take "before" pictures when I started last week, so I took them today. No, I am not sharing until I see some good progress.

Workout D

Romanian deadlift - 5x5x60 lbs
good morning - 3x8x50 lbs - I have my big barbell back so I didn't have to worry about getting the bar over my head. I started out with 60 lbs but I didn't feel comfortable with that once I got the bar on.
sumo squat - 3x8x20 lbs (2 10 lbs dumbbells)
db skullcrusher - 3x8x10 lbs

Food

Breakfast:

• coffee w/ Splenda & creamer [10]

Lunch: Nothing. 

Dinner:

• salad w/ avocado & homemade Italian dressing [10]

Snack:

• beef jerky [5]
• banana [0]
• English muffin w/ avocado [8]

Made it over 30 today!

68 Days

Holy crap, no time for details. Work has been insane.

Workout C

inverted row - 5x5
shoulder press - 5x5x10 lbs
db pull over - 3x8x10 lbs
front/lat raise - 3x8x5 lbs

Food

Breakfast:

• coffee w/ Splenda & creamer [12]

Lunch:

• banana [0]

Dinner:

• nothing

Snack:

• avocado & turkey slices [12] - This was a LATE snack, like 7:30 PM while I was finishing up at work. Which is why I ate nothing for dinner. Unless this was dinner?

69 Days

Another day, and I haven't gone off the rails. Last night I struggled a bit. I was hungry after my oatmeal and had points to spare, but didn't feel like editing my blog so I didn't have anything else to eat. I wasn't necessarily hungry - oatmeal is damn filling - but I wanted something. But lazy.

Food

Breakfast:

• coffee w/ Splenda & creamer [10]

Lunch:

• yogurt [3]

Dinner:

• chicken wings (baked) & sweet potato [15]

Hey, I actually got 30 points today!

70 Days

Today being my late day, I thought I would sleep in a bit, as usual. Nope. My body got up before I am normally up on an early day.

Workout B

squat - 5x5x50 lbs - I didn't use my bar because I really like using the 25 lbs plates. It helps with my form and depth.
lunge - 3x8x10 lbs, each side
single leg SDL - 3x8x10 lbs, each side
hammer curl - 3x8x10 lbs

In general, I really like this workout because I can focus on form and keep it challenging. I will probably maintain these weights for a couple weeks and really focus on my movements and balance. I love this workout.

 Food

Breakfast:

• coffee w/ Splenda & creamer [6]

Lunch:

• hard boiled eggs [4]
• green pepper slices [0]

Dinner:

• oatmeal w/ peanut butter and banana [10]

Snacks:

• yogurt & clementines [3]

Still under for the day. Obviously, I need to plan better.

71 Days

I hate Mondays. Not as much as Wednesdays, but close.

Food

Breakfast:

• coffee w/ Splenda & creamer [12]

Lunch:

• I packed yogurt, hard boiled eggs, and green peppers but didn't really get hungry until it was almost time to go home, so I didn't bother.

Dinner:

• chicken breast & salad [8]

Not a stellar food day.

72 Days

I think I am much better prepared for this coming week than I was last week. I searched for some recipes and planned out my dinners. I bought some more of the Oikos Triple Zero yogurt. I made hard boiled eggs. I have bananas and vegetables. I plan on eating more of my points. I had 78 points I could have eaten last week. I'm going to aim for 34 points a day - that is my 30 dailies and 1/7 of my weeklies. Activity points for emergencies.

I cannot get over how fucking amazing I feel, after just one week. I may have said that yesterday or the day before but today it really hit me, when I didn't dread having to go to the grocery store, when I didn't dread knowing I had a workout pending.

Workout A

rack pulls - 5x5x80 lbs
db bench press - 5x5x 25 lbs
bent over bb row - 3x8x45 lbs
db fly - 3x8x10 lbs
core:

• plank 1x30 sec
• side plank w/ row - 1x15, each side
• Swiss ball mountain climber - 1x10, each side

box jump - 1x5

Food

Breakfast:

• coffee w/ Splenda & creamer [6]
• banana [0]

Lunch:

• 5 Hour Energy Protein Drink [1] - I don't really like 5 Hour energy drinks but I had to try this. It has 21 g of protein. It definitely won't become a "thing" because they are $3.50 apiece. Eff that. Plus, it was fucking nasty. I only drank half of it. I will save the other half for when I have a protein emergency.
• hard boiled eggs [4]

Dinner:

• omelet w/ onions, peppers, cheese & sausage [17]

Snack:

• light multi-grain English muffin w/ butter & hot sauce [7] - This stupid thing just made me hungrier.

I think I did better today - 35 points eaten. I need more vegetables. I need to get some frozen vegetables (or hell, even canned) and just much on them. Like green beans. Yum. I can eat those straight from the can, no problemo!

73 Days

I've made it through a whole week of tracking and doing my scheduled workouts. Go me! I'm down 5 pounds but I know it's only because I've been eating very little. I need to work on that. I've started tracking how many points I don't eat.

Food

Breakfast:

• coffee w/ Splenda & creamer [12]

Lunch:

• Cobb salad [13]

Dinner:

• Nothing. Don't ask.

74 Days

It's my day off from work, but not my workouts!

Workout D

Romanian deadlift - 5x5x60 lbs
good morning - 3x8x30 lbs
sumo squat - 3x8x20 lbs (2 10 lbs dumbbells)
db skullcrusher - 3x8x10 lbs

Let's talk about good mornings for a minute. They are nothing like they sound. A good morning would be lying on the couch with my Kindle and endless coffee. Basically, you put a bar on your back and hinge forward at the hips. As opposed to hinging backwards - I don't recommend that at all. It's a back/hamstring exercise and I have really shitty range of motion for ham exercises. So anyway. I found the clamps for my squatting bar, and was going to use that for my good mornings but the damn bar is all rusted from sitting unused in my garage for years and I couldn't get the plates on. I will be sanding it down tomorrow. So I had to use my E-Z curl bar, which is hella uncomfortable because it has a big bump right in the middle, right where it rests against your back/base of the neck. And I had to use little enough weight that I could get it over my head and into position. So suckage all around for good mornings today. Hopefully next Friday will be better. I know I can GM more than 30 freaking pounds.

But let me tell you how awesome sumo squats and skullcrushers are! My favorites of the workout, maybe even in the whole program. I used two 10 lbs dumbbells for the crushers (unlike just one 10 lb dumbbell for my pullovers the other day) and my triceps hate me. It's ok. And sumo squats!! I can get good depth and it hits the parts of the quads that the other leg exercises don't really target. I love them. At rest, my legs feel like they could run marathons, there's so much something coursing through my muscles. In motion, I just want to sit back down.

It's amazing, though, how much better I feel already. I have a lot more energy than I did a week ago. Not go out for walks or runs energy, but enough energy to clean my house without dreading it and wishing I could just go back to the couch. Such a huge change! I can't believe it. I feel less anxious, there is pep in my step. I gotta keep this shit up!

Food

Breakfast

• coffee w/ Splenda & creamer [7]

Lunch:

• yogurt [3]

Dinner:

• chef said [17]

27 of 30. So yeah, it's been a lame week in terms of food but like I said on the first day, this was a spur of the moment decision and I didn't have time to prep. The fact that I didn't hit the vending machine once at work is an accomplishment. I think next week will be better, and I will eat more. I'm going to spend tomorrow evening going through all the WW recipes I can find, picking out stuff I would like and that I think the boys would like. Well frankly, I don't care if they like it. One healthy meal a day won't freaking kill them.

75 Days

Another day of agony with the sore muscles. I was determined to get my workout in before work though. 

Workout C

inverted row - 5x5
db pullover - 3x8x10 lbs
db shoulder press - 5x5x10 lbs
front/lat raise - 2x8x10 lbs each
core:

• plank - 1x30 sec
• side plank w/ cable (band) row - 1x15, each side
• Swiss ball mountain climber - 1x10, each side 

db snatch - 1x5x10 lbs, each arm

Ok, so I did alternating sets with my 5x5s and my 3x8s. Pullovers paired with front & lat raises are no fucking joke!!! OMG.

Food

Breakfast:

• coffee w/ Splenda & creamer [6]

Lunch:

• salad w/ avocado & homemade Italian dressing [6]

Dinner:

• leftover stuffed pepper casserole [8]

Snacks:

• Oikos Triple Zero yogurt [3] - This shit is filling as fuck. One container (5.3 oz) is 3 points and I couldn't eat lunch for a long while after I ate it.
• clementines [0]

Only used 23 of my 30...but I honestly wasn't hungry.

76 Days

Wednesdays are so rough for me. Most people hate Mondays. I hate Wednesdays. I work late on Tuesday, have to be to work early on Wednesday. I am always so tired. And today I am fucking sore as hell. I keep trying to move and stretch but these damn DOMS are something. And I have a crack in my nail, and no nail glue.

Thankfully, I have no workout planned for today.

Food

Breakfast:

• coffee w/ Splenda & creamer [12] - I devised a method for tolerating my precious. Still, it's a lot of sugar. But damn, only 300 calories. I don't get hungry when I have my coffee. 

Lunch: Nada. I still had my coffee,

Dinner:

• stuffed pepper casserole [8]

Snack:

• Clementine [0]

I only used 20 of my daily points. Fail.

77 Days

I went back to Sunday and upgraded my workout to high intensity. The more I think about Melty's advice, the more I think she is right - heavy lifting is fucking high intensity. I also downloaded iTrackBites and I like it much better than the Weight Watchers app, even if it does track slightly higher than Weight Watchers. So from here on out, I will be using the iTrackBites numbers, since I will be using that long term, as I plan to cancel my Weight Watchers membership when my three months are up. Interestingly enough, this particular challenge will expire before the membership.

Workout B

squat - 5x5x50 lbs - I couldn't find my clamps for my big bar so I just did my squats with 25 lbs plates. My legs hate me. Good thing I didn't go for the back squat.
lunge - 3x8x10 lbs, each side
single leg straight leg deadlift - 3x8x10 lbs, each side - My balance sucks balls.
hammer curl - 3x8x10 lbs

Creatine post-workout in some low calorie juice I found at the store.  It's like 2 points for the whole can, and I used 1/4 of a can, so like half a point that I will just round up on something eaten during the day.

Food

Breakfast:

• coffee w/ Splenda & French vanilla creamer [11] - I only had two cups of coffee, tried one cup with mostly milk and just a little creamer. Yuck. Second cup was all creamer, post work out after gagging down my creatine juice. Jk. It wasn't gross.

Snack:

• hard boiled eggs & clementines [6] - 3 eggs, 2 clementines - I was mother fucking hungry at work around noon (after only being there half hour). It was hard without my coffee. I was drinking water. It sucked.
• salad w/ dressing [3]

Lunch:

• salad w/ avocado & homemade Italian dressing [6] - Still fucking hungry.

Dinner: nothing

So I used 26 of my 30 daily points. Yes, I need to eat more.

78 Days

So Melty had a brilliant idea with regards to my coffee. She has been doing this forever and I look to her for guidance in trying nutritional and fitness times. Her assertion is that my workouts aren't really moderate and that the Weight Watchers FitPoints are geared toward cardo-based activities. Her suggestion was to drink my coffee and not eat my FitPoints. COFFEE CREAMER POINTS ARE FAKE POINTS!!!! She also reminded me to start taking the creatine and I will do that next week. I just need to figure out what to take it with. I was reading juice, but I want to find a juice that isn't too Point-y because I can only have so many fake points. I will still include my points in my counts each day but for the most part, I am going to pretend they don't exist for now. I am going to slowly transition from creamer to milk. That will cut down on the points significantly - a cup of whole milk is 7 points, whereas a cup of creamer is 31. I guess I will be looking for some sugar free syrups.

I moved my workout to tomorrow morning. My whole day was jacked up but I have time to do it tomorrow and I will do it before heading in to work.

Food

Breakfast:

• coffee w/ Splenda & French vanilla creamer [21] - No joke!

Lunch:

• Yeah, right. I didn't eat out of the vending machine at work. I was still drinking my coffee until almost 5 PM.

Dinner:

• tilapia w/ onions & peppers [4]

So, I was still under my daily points 25 out of 30, No fake points necessary today. But this is where Melty chimes in with, "Bitch, you're not eating enough."

79 Days

Until I turn 42.

My weight is 160.5 pounds and that wretched gut is 43 inches in Sir Cumference, Knight of the Buffet Table.

I joined Weight Watchers. Don't ask me why. I might as well have wiped my ass with a Grant. I could have muddled through the new SmartPoints for free, like I did with Points+ but I was having a hard time figuring my weekly and FitPoints. So I joined, $49.85 for 3 months. So far, I'm not liking it. You know why? Because my "small" cup of coffee is 6 points. So, I am looking at 2/3 of my daily points going towards coffee. I drink a lot of coffee with a lot of creamer :( Cutting back or giving it up is something that breaks my heart. My coffee, perfected over years, is my reason for living. I don't know what I am going to do. Obviously, I need to find an alternative. And I have flashbacks to when I went from regular soda to diet. I had to completely quit drinking soda for a few months before I "forgot" what it tasted like and could stomach diet. So maybe now is a good time to go cold turkey and drink nothing but water :( Fuck my life.

Workouts - back to heavy lifting and my beloved Baby Got Back (with some minor variations). I made a spreadsheet because of course I did. Four workouts per week - I'm not adding any cardio yet. I just want to get back into a routine with the lifting. I quite like what I've put together.

Workout A

rack pulls - 5x5x80 lbs - I originally put 100 lbs on the bar but it was a bit much for my first time back. I can go up to 90 lbs next week.
bent bb over row - 3x8x45 lbs
db bench press - 5x5x25 lbs - I felt a lot of weakness in my left arm while doing these. On my last set, I realized I was doing 8 reps.
db fly - 3x8x5 lbs - My intent was to do 10 pounds but didn't realize I only had 5 on there. No wonder it felt so easy.
core:

• plank - 1x30 sec
• side plank w/ cable (band) row - 1x15, each side
• Swiss ball mountain climber - 1x10, each side (so, 1x20) - These are fucking hard!

box jump - 1 set of 5 - Easing into this shit.

I was all set to do 3 sets of the core work and box jumps but I could barely make it through the first set. So I think I will add one set per week or every other week. Box jumps are my nemesis. I am always afraid I won't get enough height and bust my shins on the box and my face on the wall. On the bright side, I drank a lot of water during my workout.

And this earned me 3 FitPoints. I don't know how accurate that is. I selected moderate for 30 minutes. Meh. I hate estimates. It took me all damn day to figure out FitPoints. Apparently, we're supposed to add our "general activity" in order to bring us up to some baseline at which we are allowed to swap our FitPoints for food. Since I don't have an activity monitor, I have to give myself 60 minutes of light walking per day to account for all of my non-exercise activity. Again, meh. Whatever.

Tomorrow is leg day. I am very much looking forward to it. 

Food

Breakfast:

• coffee w/ Splenda & French vanilla creamer [6]
• Starbucks Vanilla Frappuccino [10]

Lunch:

• baby carrots [0] - I was going to add some dressing but not for 4 fucking points. And as usual, I got the hiccups. 
• apple & cottage cheese [4]

Dinner:

• Beef & broccoli [8] - This is the recipe I used. It was planned before I decided to do Weight Watchers and I didn't feel like re-planning my weekly menu. So I'm sticking with the menu for the week, but I will try to behave. I ate a lot of broccoli with this and was pretty full before I started the rice and beef. Damn it, I was eating my whole meal.

My handy dandy Weight Watchers app says I ate 27 of my 30 Daily Points. Not awful for a spur of the moment decision to waste my money. And of course, the frap was a really bad choice, and I knew that as I was buying it. I don't know how I will handle tomorrow and my coffee. I'm stressing out already.