And We're Back!!

Hello everyone! Good to see you all after such a long absence. Things are finally starting to level out back to normal now - back from Key West, settled after the move-in and ready to get back on track with things. I will say that I do have my work cut out for me - I indulged in quite a bit of the local flavors from the Keys, so I've added a couple of pounds back on. Thankfully, though, I'm still less than I started this whole thing with!

One thing I've decided to do on a whim is that I would go to "health food" grocery store and try to shop for organic stuff, see if I could make that sort of transition. I plan on watching the documentary Food Inc., and I've heard it'll change the ways you view some stuff about the food industry, so I decided I'd get a head start :) So, I headed to the local Earth Fare to give it a shot. The smell of patchouli wafted through the air as I strolled from aisle to aisle, looking for stuff that might interest this picky eater. In all, I ended up with a fairly decent sized amount of stuff, but holy hell, its expensive to eat that way! I'm going to give it a shot now as I'm in a fairly good financial spot at the moment, but I'm not sure its something I can sustain all the time. If nothing else, I figure I'll determine what I do and do not like, and split my time between the healthy grocery store and the regular grocery store.

AND, let me say this before you get any ideas or preconceived notions ;) I am not buying this organic stuff for environmental reasons - "organic" is a label that can be slapped on anything without any kind of regulation, so I do not believe in the movement to buy the organic stuff in order to help the environment. You could empty out a bottle of RAID, put it in a new container, slap an organic label on it and probably make a ton of money. My reasoning for doing it is to see if it has any effect on my health, which is certainly a more important issue to me.

Its also important to stress that even though buying organic may be a good thing, its still possible to eat like an idiot with organic food. Never let yourself be lulled into a false sense of security there.

The first thing I've tried is Nuovo Mozarella and Herb Tortellini, and I have to say that I was very impressed! Definite A+ there.

Look forward to starting this thing back up again - tonight, back to the gym!

RoRo

A title? Who needs a title?

Weight - 256.8
Body Fat % - 26.2
Today's Power Workout Songs:





Hello from blog land! It's been a while.

Yesterday I tried combined working out and studying, with fairly good results - the reading keeps my mind occupied while my body does its thing, and time just kinda flies by. Only problem was that it was not a true representation of what I would normally do workout wise. My main cardio machine is an elliptical, and those were all occupied - had to use an exercise bike instead. I'm worried that if I do something that requires more full body movement AND reading, I'm going to make myself sick.

I need me a drill sergeant...

Weight - 258.0
Body Fat % - 26.0
Today's Workout Songs:




Well, on second thought, I don't - that would probably just piss me right off. But, at the same time, I could certainly see the benefits from it. As you can see, progress is coming slow (and sometimes it isn't coming at all). It would be easy to blame school in this situation, but its really only partially to blame. While it has been playing a major role for me this week, there are certainly spans of time that I could find to dedicate to working out, etc., but I haven't. Even if school wasn't a factor, I'm still a lazy bastard - I can't deny my way out of that one.

It doesn't help that I squander my progress from time to time. For instance, I had hit 254 this weekend (that might have just been a result of a stellar weigh-in, but I DID do it twice), but managed to fill myself with enough beer and food to kick myself back up to where I am now (a concert and the Super Bowl didn't help in that regard). Still, though, I trudge onward. I may not meet my specific goals on time, necessarily, but I still intend to meet them, one way or another.

Speaking of the concert, the videos up there at the top are two of the bands I saw - Devin Townsend just being an all around great songwriter and performer, and Cynic... well, let's just say that was an immaculate set by one of the most talented bands out there today, or ever for that matter.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Today's Weight - 256.8

I love this weather - 8" of snow was quite nice! Despite that, the people who plow this apartment complex parking lot don't know what the hell they're doing - they plow so that all of the plowed snow piles up behind the cars, forming huge ice chunks. Needless to say, I got my exercise in tossing around ice chunks - moved one block that had to have been 200 lbs - no exaggeration.

I know I haven't been around in a while, and haven't been posting regularly, even after I called myself out on it - sorry about that everyone. Fact is, school and everything else jumps into my brain before the blog even crosses my mind... its going to be a tough semester. Either way, I intend to keep this going, no matter what.

Needless to say, I'm not necessarily on track. I've lost three pounds since the official beginning of this experiment, or one pound a week. My original goal was for 2lbs a week, but I've been slacking on keeping track of my foods. I've maintained my regular diet, which has kept in line, but I've certainly allowed myself to splurge from time to time by going out to eat. The temptation of letting someone else prepare your food is great - then again, I guess I could be making better choices. Still, although I've only lost 3 lbs since the official beginning, when I came up with this whole idea, I was weighing in at 264 - I can at least be proud that I've done that much.

My next idea for training is something that Brandon mentioned to me, and I found the concept elaborated further by Cosmo Lee at the Invisible Oranges blog (a highly recommended read for all metal fans). This deals with circuit training - specifically, Cosmo was mentioning the Spartacus workout, the workout done by Andy Whitfield, the actor in the new Spartacus television show. I haven't done it as a full workout yet (I injured my wrist the other day), but I have tried the exercises out without doing the full routine, and it seems like it will be quite the ass kicker.

Well, that's all for me today. See you all again soon.

RoRo

That's a bad RoRo

Today's Weight: 258.6 lbs
Today's Body Fat % : 26.8

Well, now comes the time for the accountability... as you can see, I haven't updated the blog in quite some time - at the same time, I've been eating like crap and not exercising for the past few days. Sorry about that guys. It finally struck me that I haven't been doing what I'm supposed to, so its time to get back on track, in all aspects of life. At any rate, at least I haven't really gained anything back yet, but at the same time I haven't made any progress either. So here's to getting back in the swing of things!

Insert Snappy Title Here

Today's Weight - 258.2 lbs
Today's Body Fat - 26.3%
Workout Sounds of the Day - These guys, Tom and Ray

Yesterday was the first day back at the actual gym (Planet Fitness, for those who are wondering)... it was quite a bit of fun to get back in there again, although it was more crowded than I remember it being back in the summer when I was going regularly. Still, I was able to find an open elliptical machine, and pounded out 20 minutes while I was listening to Car Talk (those guys you see above). I wish they made a daily show - they're great at making time pass by. After the elliptical, I popped into some weight training, and really realized how much I really do miss weight training. I'm making it a plan to go to the actual gym twice a week, but perhaps I'll shoot for more if my schedule allows for it.

The first couple of days worth of tracking this week will be missing, as they're incomplete - a combination of getting tired of doing it, and being a situation where I could not find the meals that I'd eaten. But I'm back on track with it now!

Monday, Monday

Today's Weight - 259.0 lbs
Today's Body Fat % - 25.9
Workout Songs of the Weekend




Twas a good weekend for working out - I went to driving range on Saturday morning, and that was a lot of fun - I'm improving my golfing each time, and I'm looking forward to going out with my dad sometime and be able somewhat competitive against him (he's quite good). Golfing will make you use muscles you never knew you had, it's amazing. I also ran 1.65 miles on the treadmill, and let's just say that I'm glad I was alone in the workout room at my apartment complex - when the above Opeth song came on, I was singing along for the whole tune, playing air drums and all around looking like an idiot, I'm sure!

This weekend, I came to the realization that with school now in full effect, its gonna be tough to juggle that, work, and the blog at the same time. But don't worry - it doesn't mean that I'm giving the blog and my goal up! I'm far from tired of working out and logging my food, so I don't intend to hang it up. What I do need to do, however, is it figure out ways to streamline the production of the blog in order to deal with time constraints.

First things first, I'm gonna do my damnedest to post to the blog every single day - but at this point, it isn't something I can guarantee (and obviously, I hadn't been doing that anyway).

Secondly, instead of posting the food log every time I make a post, I'm instead going to post the entire week's worth of food logs at some point during the weekend - its a little easier to do all at once rather than every single day.

Third, I'm going to brush up on some HTML stuff to see if I can make this process a little easier by creating some templates. That should help greatly.

Why hello there!

Weight - 258.8
Body Fat - 27% 
Workout Song of the Day:
 


Hello everyone... sorry I haven't posted in a couple of days, but I've had some things to do and just haven't been able to get around to it!

I've gone a little over my recommended calorie counts over the past couple of days. It's really hard when you have all of these women co-workers who love to cook, and cook quite well... its really, really hard to exercise restraint in those situations, but I am trying. Same goes for when doughnuts rear their ugly heads... I just cannot resist.

I went "running" on the Wii, and that was interesting. Running in place may not seem like its a lot of fun, but as you run they have your Mii run through a picturesque little park with others Miis playing, running, and sightseeing. It was kinda neat, really, but I'm sure the novelty will probably wear off sooner rather than later. Thankfully (and it tell you to do so, if you want to) you can change the channel and watch something else. I'm not sure exactly how accurate it is in the calories burned area - I know it certainly isn't very accurate in terms of distance ran. Your Wiimote acts as somewhat of a pedometer - putting it in your pocket or holding it in your hand while running at the same rate registers two different speeds. While it may not be the most accurate, it's more fun than I anticipated, and its hard to necessarily argue the accuracy of the machines you find a gym just as well.

If at First You Don't Succeed...

Today's Weight - 260.2
Today's Body Fat % - 26.8
Yesterday's Calories - Nun' Yo' Bidness (Cheat Day) 

Alright, guys, so I blew it on the first day :) I decided to go out to dinner with a friend, and said dinner had WAY more calories than I could have EVER imagined it actually having. So, as it is, I'll just be counting that as my cheat day for the week (remember, I allotted for those) - cheat day weeks will run M-Sun, just so you know. And future reference, I don't think I'm ever gonna eat Chili's Honey Chipotle Chicken Crispers ever again, good as they may be.

Today I discovered that coffee is a GREAT in between meal snack. I usually never even think to touch coffee - its not high on my list of favorable drinks. However, today my usual morning cereal was just not holding me over. After reading a little about coffee being an appetite suppressant, I decided to have a cup. It worked quite well! My cups cost me about 75 calories a piece, because I just cannot stand to drink coffee black - that's a flavor that's never appealed to me.

I'm going to try out something new here - I'm thinking that everyday, I'm going to put up a screen capture of my nutritional info from the day previous. I'll go ahead and post up today's to see how it looks, as I'm not going to be eating anything else for the day (except I may have one more beer)... now this way you can see just how exactly bland my eating habits can be ;) Expect to see things change a little here and there as I try to develop exactly how I want the site to look everyday.

Click picture to make larger

Well, I've found myself a new Game Informer in the mailbox, so I'm gonna go have a bath and a read!

Until tomorrow,
RoRo

Today is the Day

Today's Weight  - 259.8 lbs
Today's Body Fat Percentage - 27.8

Hello everyone!

So, today's the day where it all begins. I had full intentions to keep up with the blog and track over the weekend, but certain circumstances got in the way of me being able to do that. Not to mention the fact that I drank more than I should have (calorically speaking - it was still WAY less than I used to drink), and I really ate some not-so-good-for-me food. Perhaps I was just trying to have a bit of a fling before things really got started :D Today is when the real countdown begins, however, and according to my weight this morning, I've got 39.8 lbs to drop before I reach my goal... we'll see what happens!

I did track (but will not post the numbers) what I ate yesterday, because I ate particularly badly that day - it was the first time during tracking where I've put REALLY unhealthy food on there (Waffle House, Domino's Pizza). It was a real surprise to see the numbers on those things.

Saw a really good show this weekend - of the bands playing, Behemoth and Septic Flesh were both really great to see (it was actually my first experience with Septic Flesh) - high energy, great performances all around. Next month will be a great show month - Cynic, the Devin Townsend Band, and Nile are all on the slate.

Prelims, Round 2

Weight - 262.2
Body Fat % - 26.3
Yesterday's Calorie Count - 2,271 Calories Consumed/2,176 limit - 95 calorie overload
Today's Power Workout Songs:




So I had a little bit of a caloric overload last night as a trip to Olive Garden was in the cards... I know that I could have certainly halved the food and taken the rest home, but food never tastes quite as good the second time around ;) Still, I didn't go over too far, so I'm not that worried about it.

I know I promised that you guys would have sexy pictures to peruse, but unfortunately my old phone/camera and computer decided that they're no longer going to cooperate with one another. I've been meaning to buy a true, dedicated camera lately, so I guess now I have an excuse. Sorry to disappoint, though!

This morning, I did another stint of running/walking, and managed to knock off 220 calories in 20 minutes - not bad, I'd say. That's 2/3 of my daily breakfast, its definitely going to help.

Those videos you see at the top will be a new feature. That section will feature tunes that really pumped me through my daily workout - maybe you'll find some new stuff you like there (although today's selections are fairly mainstream). It won't be there everyday, though - I'm an NPR addict who loves his podcasts :)

Until tomorrow,
RoRo

Preliminaries - Round 1

Weight - 263.2 lbs
Body Fat % - 27.1
Yesterday's Calorie Count - 2,106 consumed/2,176 limit - 70 calorie deficit

For this week, I'm just testing out the calorie counts and various workout options before really getting started next week. To explain a bit about the calorie count above, Livestrong.com says that in order for me to make my 2 lbs a week goal, I need to have a caloric intake of 2,176 a day - not really having trouble making it thus far, and when I add exercise to the mix, it should make it even better.

This morning, I managed a quick 15 minute workout consisting of pushups, crunches, bicep curls, forearm exercises, and rows. I probably could have pulled something more comprehensive given the time that I woke up, but I have this nagging habit of not doing much in the morning other than screwing around on the internet - gotta cut that out. I also ran 1.3 miles on Monday - kinda surprised myself with that one considering I've never really been one to run (walking is much more my forte). Some good running shoes will definitely be a needed upcoming purchase.

My goal for morning workouts is to wake up at 6:30 am and do some exercising. I am a person who doesn't mind getting up early, however, 6:30 is still a bit of a pain - perhaps it'll just take some getting used to. I'm thinking I'll reserve morning time for cardio stuff and maybe a bit of weight training that can be done at home - it was easier when I lived only 5 minutes from work, but my current 25 minute morning commute makes it difficult to get up, get dressed drive all the way to the gym and get a quality work out. If nothing else, I may reserve weight training for evenings when I'm not pressed for time.

It's definitely going to take some serious time budgeting to make this all work. With a full time job and full time grad school, it can be a pain in the ass to find spare time. It'll probably take some strides towards being more proactive with my schoolwork to make the necessary changes - quite difficult for someone who thrives on being a master procrastinator.

The next post will have some pictures of my sexy self to feast your eyes upon - it'll probably be helpful to establish a visual baseline instead of just the numbers.

Until then,
RoRo

My Inspiration

So who's my inspiration in all this? The guy I'd like to look like?

This manly beast of a man right here.

That guy you see there is Magnus Samuelsson - Winner of the 1998 World's Strongest Man competition (and many time finalist), champion arm wrestler, farmer, Swede, and seemingly an all around genuinely nice guy.

I know I'm never going to be his size - unfortunately, being 6'7" was just not in the cards for me. And I'm not a farmer, and don't have a need to consume 8,000 calories a day. Either way, though, he's a big inspiration for me - and he's not the body builder type that a lot of people aspire for. He's just a normal guy (although a very big normal guy), rough around the edges, but accomplishes extraordinary things.

What am I trying to accomplish here?

For this post, let's have a look at what I'm shooting for, how I'm planning to get there, and how long (I think) it's going to take.

Goals

Have you ever taken a picture of yourself and thought, "F*$%, do I really look like that?" Unfortunately, that's becoming a more frequent occurrence for me – the bad angles are becoming too numerous, I guess. A few months ago, I went through my old shoebox of pictures and saw myself throughout the years – the older I get, the bigger the difference I see.

Narrowing it down, I felt like I looked my best in the range of 17-19 years old. I was still a big guy, but genetics has pretty much guaranteed that I'm never going to be a little guy – my bone structure is too large for that, and to tell you the truth, I've never wanted to be skinny anyway. Back then, right around the time I was starting my freshman year of college, I weighed roughly 220 lbs – unfortunately, I've kicked it up around five pounds a year to make it up to my current peak of 264 lbs, 11 of which I've gained back since my previous workout stint six months ago.

And there's that old sentiment of wanting to relive those "good ol' college days," even if in appearance alone. I'm not trying to fool myself; there's no way I'm going to look like I did then – androgenic alopecia and the grey hairs that I frequently find sprouting assure me that I'm never going to get back to that point. But, I figure if I can satisfy myself in terms of the parts that I can control, I'll probably be much happier about it.

Of course, vanity isn't the only reason for this change. My PA has been on me about not doing what I need to do to improve my numbers – it took her a good year or so, but I think she's finally getting me to listen. My liver is starting to make me pay attention too.

Methods

So, how am I going to do this? Well, one look in any bookstore will show you that there's myriad ways to accomplish these goals – some work, some don't, and you never really know unless you try. That's precisely why I'm not trying those methods. I don't like being sold something, and very rarely do I like coming out of my comfort zone (and I HATE being forced out of my comfort zone). So, I've decided to do this the simple way: less calories consumed = less weight.

Sounds revolutionary, doesn't it? It seems the perfect method for me – too many diets out there will tell you to eat all of this different stuff that I can't personally stand. If you know me personally, then I'm probably the pickiest eater you know, am I not? My diet typically consists of meat, dairy, meat, meat, pasta, meat, starches, meat, fibers, meat, some V-8 juice, and then a bit more meat on the top. I think you get the picture. I've not been able to bring myself to stomach most fruits and vegetables, and I'm not going to start now. While I know its not the same as actually eating them, for now I've got my multivitamins and V-8 juice to stand on the front line, ready to go into battle.

For this portion, I'll be using the Livestrong.com website and its MyDailyPlate feature to keep track of all the things I'm going to be eating throughout the day. This website is extremely useful in terms of setting goals and keeping track of them, so long as you're dedicated enough to use it and keep of track of it. I intend to pick a day out of each week to not track, and eat what I like – there should always be one treat day, I feel :)

Of course, the dietary changes aren't the only changes being utilized – I'll also be going to the gym again, or, if nothing else, working out at home. While I'm sure that cardio is probably what I should focus on the most, I just cannot leave out the weight training: I love pushing weight around altogether too much to leave that out. While cardio does kick your ass, you really feel like you've accomplished something when you lift things.

Overall

According to the calorie tracker at Livestrong.com, its going to take me 22 weeks (5.5 months), losing 2 lbs a week, in order to reach my goal of 220 lbs. Let's see what happens this summer!

Accountability

accountable

Pronunciation: \ə-ˈkau̇n-tə-bəl\

Function: adjective

Date: 14th century

1 : subject to the obligation to report, explain, or justify something; responsible; answerable.
2 : capable of being accounted for : explainable

Accountability. Turns out this is what I've needed all along.

I would venture to say that many of our personal failures in new endeavors are a result of not being accountable. At work, you're accountable to your supervisors and your peers. In endeavors of business, you're accountable to your shareholders and your customers. When it comes to endeavors of a personal nature, to whom are you accountable?

When we start something new, its usually a goal that we hold unto ourselves - if you're a strong-willed, strong-minded, dedicated person, your chances of follow through are greater. Unfortunately for me, I'm not one of said people. I get lazy, bored, and apathetic very easily. I can start new things left and right, but keeping up with it? That's a whole other story.

That's why, in this venture, I'm putting it all out there for everyone to see, to create that accountability I never had before. The last time I attempted some sort of weight loss venture, I kept up with it for a good two or so months - I was really only accountable to my workout partner at that point, but I'm not sure that even that was enough to keep me to interested - as such, you see me starting again today.

So please feel free to follow along - just have a read if you'd like, offer your comments of compliment or derision (don't worry, I can take it - a self-deprecating sense of humor takes one a long way), or actively participate - I have decided that if anyone would like to be accountable to a built-in audience, by all means, join me - I'll leave the blogging posting capabilities open to anyone who'd like to contribute.

So come along, have fun, and look forward to hearing from you/talking with you... after all, since you're the ones holding me accountable, if I fail, it's all your fault ;)