I did 2×30 mins on the treadmill in the morning. I got stupid in the afternoon and got talked into taking my afternoon swim before doing my lifting. This was a bad idea. Since I’d just put the heart rate monitor on I, of course, did laps instead of the nice gentle swim I’d have done afterwards. At 15-mins I finally stopped and decided that if I did anymore I’d be toast for the lifting. I was still toast though, and completely beat by the time I finished. I did a 15-min warm-up on the treadmill, followed by:

Where there is a single number that confirms that I did the number of reps called for. Where there are two numbers the first is the amount of weight I used, followed by reps.

Followed with another 15 mins on the treadmill. I’m still struggling a lot with getting the bar on to my back for the squats, but managed to make it. And since I’m slightly nuts I made it a point to do all the push-ups on my toes. So all of these things combined have left me completely shot (and it’s only 9pm). So no question that it will be an early night tonight!

From the HRM:

Water: 20 cups

Food: 2793 (27% fat, 36% carbs, 35% protein)

Breakfast: egg white/egg omelet with cheese, cracked wheat oatmeal bread, jam, grapefruit (576)

AM Snack: almonds, protein shake (344)

Lunch: beef mushroom barley soup, smoked back bacon, apple (421)

PM Snack: protein shake, fruit salad, soy nuts (465)

Dinner: pork vindaloo, broccoli, butter, salad w/dressing (563)

Late Snack: protein shake, fruit salad, biscotti (425)

From the HRM today:

Water: 20 cups

Food: 2403 (27% fat, 39% carbs, 32% protein)

Breakfast: pecan cherry bread, jam, grapefruit (289)

AM Snack: almonds, protein shake (299)

Lunch: mixed bean soup with parmesan, smoked turkey, apple (408)

PM Snack:  protein shake, cheese spread with rice crisps (360)

Dinner: szechwan beef with snow peas, rice, salad w/dressing (700)

Late Snack: protein shake, fruit salad, biscotti (348)

It was a quite, kind of lazy day today.  I did my treadmill time but little else.  I think it’s the sudden change in the weather back to cold and icky out.  It’s probably a good thing that it’s to be warmer at least by the end of the week.  Hmmm… can’t think of much else to say, so I suppose that’s it for me tonight.

It was one of those gray miserable mornings which made it hard to get moving.  I did some walk/jog intervals in 3×20 min sets. In the afternoon I did a 15-min warm-up on the treadmill, followed by:

Where there is a single number that confirms that I did the number of reps called for. Where there are two numbers the first is the amount of weight I used, followed by reps.

Followed by another 15 mins on the treadmill.  That 30lb dumbbell shoulder press was the tough one today.  I don’t think much else went on.  I was really just in the mood to climb back into bed and not do anything this morning, but I didn’t.  The weather was cold and miserable in the afternoon so we skipped the swim today.

From the HRM today:

Water: 20 cups

Food: 2804 (27% fat, 37% carbs, 33% protein)

Breakfast: egg/egg white omelet, cracked wheat oatmeal bread, jam, grapefruit (450)

AM Snack: protein shake, almonds (299)

Lunch: lentil soup, smoked turkey, apple (431)

PM Snack: soy nuts, protein shake, fruit salad (465)

Dinner: szechwan beef with stir-fried veg, rice, salad w/dressing (685)

Late Snack: protein shake, apple, fruit salad, biscotti (474)

Exercise: none, planned rest day

Water: 20 cups

Food: 2384 (29% fat, 35% carbs, 35% protein)

Breakfast: protein shake, cracked wheat oatmeal bread, peanut butter, jam, grapefruit (409)

AM Snack: almonds (164)

Lunch: beef mushroom barley soup, smoked turkey, apple (400)

PM Snack: soy nuts, cheese spread with rice crackers (313)

Dinner: sirloin steak, corn, snow peas, butter, salad w/dressing (727)

Late Snack: protein shake, fruit salad, biscotti (370)

Today was a nice sunny day (our last warm one for at least a week). Finished cleaning up the few small tasks in the back yard. Now it’s just a case of prepping the pots for planting. Although that won’t happen for close to a month so it’s not a big rush. So I suppose I should do some dusting and cleaning this week.

Ask and you shall receive. I took a couple of photos this morning. fatbaby - the garden isn’t well tended yet. There’s still a lot of spring clean-up to do, but that’s okay. I’ll take pictures of the berry bushes later (perhaps with berries on them). Right now they’re mainly just sticks with a little green on them. You can click on any of the pictures to see a bigger version if you wish.

The cherry tree:

The daffodils in the back:

The side border in the front with mainly daffodils, but a few tulips coming:

And my favourite - snake head lily (fritillaria meleagris):

Today’s weigh-in brings me to 311.8 which is 0.6 pounds less than last week.  I’m not surprised with this week’s weight, with last week’s 3 pound loss I pretty much assumed this one would be low.  As long as the month to month trend is down, I don’t really care much about the weekly weights.  Since I started keeping track this is day 110 on plan.

From the HRM (just showing that I did make up my 30 mins from yesterday):

Water: 20 cups

Food: 2412 (31% fat, 37% carbs, 30% protein)

Breakfast: egg white/egg omelet with cheese, pecan cherry bread, jam, grapefruit (476)

AM Snack: almonds (164)

Lunch: onion soup with whole wheat baguette and cheese, smoked turkey, apple (563)

PM Snack: soy nuts (134)

Dinner: shrimp with citrus/wine sauce, snow peas, whole wheat pasta, salad w/dressing (692)

Late Snack: protein shake, apple, fruit salad, biscotti (383)

The evening meal was supposed to just be the shrimp and the snow peas, but sometime in the late afternoon I decided it needed a little pasta with it. So I dropped part of my afternoon snack and added that pasta. It’s funny, but I added 2 oz for two servings and it really was enough. So I actually ended up a little light on calories for the day so I added an apple to my evening snack. That’s what I like about FitDay (the PC version). I can copy/paste things in and planning the day’s meals are quick and easy. I took a few minutes and planned tomorrow’s meals (even though I haven’t had the last of my snack today). And like today, a last minute change can be quickly figured out.

I know, I know, I should be able to do these things without the software. I’m willing to admit that I need the software. It keeps me on track, and that’s a good thing. I’ve also decided not to work on the new lunches until I’m closer to having the soups used up. I also think it’s probably a good idea to make sure I have room in the freezer for things that I purchase, so I think I’ll let it empty out for a bit first. I didn’t do the baking today either for the same reason. There’s lots of the small sweet breads for breakfast, as well as a half loaf of the cracked wheat oatmeal bread. It can wait until next weekend (at least).

Also, the last boysenberry clump is out. Hooray! I’ll send them off to their new home tomorrow. I tied up the ones we’re keeping today, as well as the raspberries. I also took great big hunks off the grape vine even though it’s not the best time to prune it. It was in three feet of snow when I wanted to do it and it was just far to overgrown to leave. When I was finished the male cardinal came down and sat on the vine and chirped at me. I think he was concerned. The cardinals sometimes get more grapes than we do. I think it was a couple of years ago, but I was checking the fruit and found the mother cardinal in the vine with the baby. It was like ’see, here’s the yummy fruit we can eat in a week or so’. And I found the gooseberry bush behind the boysenberries. It’s actually in pretty good shape, although I need to go look out my pruning book and prune it back. It’s been fighting for survival and it’s huge, so I’ll likely trim it back. Since we don’t plan to put much into the bed that was cleaned out I suspect we’ll add another gooseberry bush.

I did 30 mins on the treadmill, and blew off the 2nd set to go work outside. For my troubles I got rained on, and didn’t get my work in the yard completed either. So, I did some prep stuff for my baking and had an early lunch. I’ll probably throw in the missed 30 mins tomorrow morning. In the afternoon I did a 15-min warm-up on the treadmill, followed by:

Where there is a single number that confirms that I did the number of reps called for. Where there are two numbers the first is the amount of weight I used, followed by reps.

Followed with another 15 mins on the treadmill. Today the problem with the squat was getting that 65lbs over my head to start the squat. I’ve found a very inelegant way to get the bar down after though. And no, I don’t mean dropping it. I thought I might get all the push-ups done on my toes, but I had to split the last set. I have one more shot next week so we’ll see how that goes. It won’t be until the week after that I’ll do the AMRAPs, but I’m thinking about what weights to use. AMRAPs stands from As Many Reps As Possible.  It’s meant to show how far you’ve come from the start of Stage 1.  If I remember, the book suggests going back to starting weights, but I think for some it just doesn’t make sense. ie. I started with bodyweight squats, so that wouldn’t really tell me anything. Same thing with push-ups (started with 60-degree). The truly sad thing is that I’ll be lucky to do 15 of the prone jackknife although I did manage all three sets of 15 today without falling off once.

I also got some of my planned baking for tomorrow done today. Yes, more mini loaves from that damn Amish starter. Today it was pecan/raisin and pecan/chocolate (used cocoa powder) with two of the pecan/raisin ones going away tomorrow. Although that leaves me with 8 now in the freezer. The chocolate one probably could have used some sugar, but toasted with a little jam on it should work. So tomorrow it’s maybe just a little more of the cracked wheat oatmeal bread and that should keep me going for a little while. If the weather is nice I likely won’t be doing any baking but so far the weather report is poor. Might as well do the baking on a poor day and spend the nicer ones outside.

Also, after talking about maybe doing my own cooking for my lunch meat the local grocery store has two good specials this week. So, glutton for punishment that I am, I might go shopping tomorrow or Sunday and have a shot at some lunch roast meats (turkey / beef). I am slightly nuts. However, I know that once the weather gets nicer it will be better to have things put away since I won’t feel like cooking much. We tend to go pretty fast to summer here sometimes. Most of the daffodils are out, the tulips are starting, and the cherry tree is in bloom. The cherry tree is at least a couple of weeks early. Here it’s a May blooming tree.

That’s enough rambling for the evening.

From the HRM:

Water: 20 cups

Food: 2816 (33% fat, 36% carbs, 30% protein)

Breakfast: egg white/egg omelet with cheese, pecan cherry bread, jam, grapefruit (474)

AM Snack: almonds (164)

Lunch: 2 whole wheat tortillas, mustard, smoked turkey, cheese, apple (528)

PM Snack: protein shake, fruit salad, soy nuts, tiny piece of chocolate pecan bread (475)

Dinner: hamburgers (2), whole wheat roll (1), condiments, salad w/dressing (867)

Late Snack: protein shake, fruit salad, biscotti (309)

From the HRM today:

Water: 20 cups

Food: 2421 (28% fat, 40% carbs, 30% protein)

Breakfast: protein shake, pecan cherry bread, jam, grapefruit (348)

AM Snack: almonds (164)

Lunch: 2 whole wheat tortillas, mustard, smoked turkey, cheese, apple (528)

PM Snack: soy nuts, protein shake (269)

Dinner: baked pasta with meat sauce and cheese, snow peas, butter, salad w/dressing (766)

Late Snack: protein shake, fruit salad, biscotti (347)

Nothing much going on here today. Did the 90 mins on the treadmill this morning so I could have a nap in the afternoon (before a quick swim). Now I’m trying to get to bed before 10 so I can get a good sleep as I have a busy day tomorrow.  Tomorrow is the heavier exercise day, plus I have more of that damn bread starter (my own fault - I agreed to take it) so I’ll have to bake as well.  Or at a minimum divide it up and put it in the fridge overnight.  I was already going to bake on Saturday so I might do that.  I still have a few berry bushes to take out (ran out of time and steam this morning).  If they don’t get done tomorrow it will also be a weekend task.  Although I think the forecast is for rain on Saturday so I really should try and get it done tomorrow morning.

For now, sleep!

So between the gardening and the laps I’m finding my one shoulder a little sore. So this morning after the gardening I stuck to the treadmill and just did a little light swimming in the afternoon after the workout. I just wasn’t into it so I ended up doing some walk/jog intervals in 3×20 min sets. In the afternoon I did a 15-min warm-up on the treadmill, followed by:

Where there is a single number that confirms that I did the number of reps called for. Where there are two numbers the first is the amount of weight I used, followed by reps.

Followed by another 15 mins on the treadmill. I was actually surprised today that I managed to up the weight on the pullover, but I did. These were the ones that I dropped last week trying with 17.5lb dumbbells. I also thought I might be maxed out on the shoulder press, but managed to up the weight on that. I’m tired though, so another early night for me.
From the HRM today:

Water: 20 cups

Food: 2784 (28% fat, 33% carbs, 37% protein)

Breakfast: egg/egg white omelet, pecan cherry bread, jam, grapefruit (556)

AM Snack: protein shake, almonds (299)

Lunch: 2 whole wheat tortillas, mustard, smoked back bacon, cheese, apple (567)

PM Snack: soy nuts, protein shake, fruit salad (465)

Dinner: pork souvlaki, cauliflower, butter, salad w/dressing (505)

Late Snack: protein shake, fruit salad, biscotti (392)