6 Week Challenge - August 6 - September 17

I am on day three of my third 6 week challenge through NerdFitness. My specific challenge thread is here. 

For those of you too lazy to click the link, here are my goals:

1. Two family athletic activities per week.
2. Continue daily exercise and food tracking, and cut out caffeine completely.
3. Finally get that stinkin' 10 pull-ups goal.
4. Pass my certification tests, and either get a new job or get paid more at the current one.

And here are some before pictures. They aren't very impressive since I didn't take pictures before my last two challenges. I have noticed some increase in my arm and shoulder muscles.

I hope that there is a visible improvement in the near future. At least by the end of the challenge.

Anyway...lets be healthy.

Inspiration

Nerd Fitness Challenge

I never blogged about my last challenge on nerdfitness.com, but I should have. It's awesome.

First of all, you create a character. You chose a race and a class. Then you ive yourself some starting stats. That's right, it's the DnD of fitness.  Here's my charater currently:

Trovan
Level 2
Half-elf Ranger
STR 5
DEX 2
STA 5
CON 3
WIS 4
CHA 3


With each 6 week challenge (one is starting today), you set goals and assign the stat points you'll earn for each goal.

Here are my goals for the next 6 weeks:

1. Exercise 6 days a week. (STR 1, DEX 1, CON 1, STA 1) No matter what. I usually do good for a week or two, and then fail miserably for a month or two. The goal here is to break that cycle. 

2. Track diet and eat healthy. (CON 4) I have the same cyclical problems with diet that I do with exercise. And again, I will break that cycle. To accomplish this goal and get full points, I will track my food consumption every day, and I will be below my goal calories 6 out of 7 days a week.

3. Get to 10 unassisted pull-ups. (STR 4) This was one of my goals last time. I got from 2 to 5 without really even trying that hard. If I work at it the whole 6 weeks this time, I will make it for sure.

4. Blog 2 times a week. (WIS 1, CHA 1) I love to blog, and to write, but my poor blog has sat untouched for months now. This is goal will get me doing again something I love.


As you all know, I'm a lazy SOB. That's why I set goals that require some dedication and consistency.


Now, since today is the start of the challenge, I will definitely be working hard to start off right. I didn't work out this morning, since I needed extra recovery time from the weekend. The hike I went on yesterday took a lot out of me. I will exercise tonight though. It's an Insanity day.


Also, I'm tracking my food at myfitnesspal.com. Which has always been a helpful tool, but I've not been consistent at it.

Why I Want to Lose the LBS

For the second day in a row, I am stealing from 125. I'm not sorry for it. I figure the link counts as adequate payment.

Now to my highly organized and bulleted list of the reasons I want to lose weight. Just to inform you all, every item listed is something I have thought long and hard about, not just made up to blog about. We both (my one reader and I) know that I would never stoop so low.

• I want to FEEL healthy. The difference between how I felt 9 months ago and today is about as drastic as I can imagine. I couldn't run more that a dozen meters, I felt tired and sluggish and all I ever wanted was to stuff my face with junk food. Now, though tired from lack of sleep, I can run for miles without a problem, I am stronger and feel fitter. I am more agile and get sick less. I imagine that losing the rest of the weight will be another, somewhat less drastic, change.
• I want to LOOK better. I will never be a handsome man, no matter how healthy I am. I would literally need more help than modern medicine is prepared to give, at any price. I wasn't blessed with good looks to begin with, and the mutilation of my face with a freeway didn't exactly make it better (although, the face scars automatically qualified me for a Man Card at an early age). However, I do think that I can have a good looking body. Despite my advanced years, I really want to see my six-pack again. I know it's in there somewhere.
• I want to be judged positively. This is a weird one, I know. I have seen for years, and participated in it as well (much to my shame), the judgement of people based on appearance. Just about everyone does it. It's wrong, whether they judge nicely or not. Since I know people will judge me based on my looks, I want to have a physique that will cause them to judge me as hard working, intelligent, etc. Overweight people are immediately judged by most people to be lazy and ignorant. It's wrong, and doesn't apply to any overweight person I know. But there it is.
• Don't let the kids/prudes read this one. Consider yourself warned. I want better sex. Healthy skinny people have better sex. Plain and simple. My sex life and satisfaction has improved as my wife and I have lost weight. I assume that I can get even better. And perhaps more acrobatic. *wink*
• I want to be an athlete. I want to run faster, jump higher, and lift more. I want to run in 5k's, 10k's, half-marathons, and even (*shudder*) marathons. Well, maybe just marathon. And I want to learn Kung Fu.
• I've always seen myself as a protector. Or, I guess I should say, I have always felt that it is my calling to protect others. So much so, that I almost joined the military. Obese people aren't protectors. They cannot move fast enough to respond to danger. I've seen it, so don't argue. There are obviously varying degrees of obesity, however, the better shape you are in, the more equipped you are to act in a given situation.
• I want to help other people lose weight. I don't want to be a personal trainer. But, perhaps people who knew me fat will see me skinny and ask me how I did it. And when I tell them "eating right and exercise," they won't get snarky and slink away.
• It's part of my overall health plan, which also includes spiritual, mental, and social healths. I live by a relatively strict health code, and though not expressly forbidden, I believe that living within a healthy weight range is implicit.
• To prove the nay-sayers wrong. There are two kinds of nay-sayer. The first kind says it can't be done. Such as "you will never reach your goal of ___ lbs." The second kind says it doesn't need to be done. They say such things as "you don't have any more weight to lose." Both drag you down and demotivate you. I will do it, of for no other reason (even though I just list like 7) than to flash my six pack and say "I did it, $%@$#-canoe."
• I want to set a good example for my children. This one is pretty straight forward. The best way for my kids to learn how to live a healthy life is by my teaching them. Setting the right example is a major part in that.

So, some of my reasons are pretty shallow. Some, I hope, are not-so-shallow. This is my first time ever listing my reasons for losing weight. In written form, at least. It proved to pretty cathartic.

If you read this (then I'm married to you, haha), please let me know what you think.

Oh, and I need to add pictures to my posts more often, so here you go:

And if you buy me the shirt that this is from, I'll love you forever. Seriously.

So Flippin' SORE

I thought that, having worked out regularly, with running and lifting weights, that I was past the phase where your muscles would hurt for the next few days after a workout. I did, however, find a new way to make me hurt: Biking.

Seriously, my back muscles, leg muscles, butt muscles, etc all hurt today.  A lot.  What was I thinking?

I guess I have a long ways to go before I am ready for my April 9th bike ride.

Tauni, it might be a good idea to take out a large insurance policy on me before then. Just sayin...

Bad Weekend Remorse

I ate bad this weekend. Especially on Sunday. The regret that hit after each morsel of food I stuffed into my mouth didn't deter the next morsel at all. What is wrong with me? Seriously...

Well, to make up for my horribleness yesterday, I am being extra hard on myself today. I burned almost 1000 calories this morning before work, and so far have eaten a total of 677 calories. So, I am still in a deficit. And, I plan to end the day in a deficit, as I plan on working out a little more this evening. And nothing, unless it is absolutely healthy, is going in my mouth today. For the rest of the week I wont be as extreme, but today, I need punished.

I also signed up for the Front Runner Metric Century (100km) bike ride on April 9. That's 62 miles, for us Americans. So, this week you will see some stationary bike added to my workouts, as I do not have access to a real bike. I need to find one, though.

I'm also, if I can swing the $100 entrance fee, planning on running Ragnar this year.  That, and if I can get a Friday off work.

I am working to get the weight off, get in shape, and to look super sexy*. It's a long, uphill road. But it was a longer downhill glide that got me here.



*Actually looking even remotely sexy in any way is beyond my physical limits, even at peak physical condition. The best I can hope for is to no longer scare small children.