Listen to the Bell Grossbar, it tolls for thee.

 

Only 36 more hours until the final weigh in.   This has been a good week.   Racquetball each day along with a P90X workout.   Tomorrow I might take a break from P90X because I have racquetball at 5:30am and then 36 holes of golf. 

 

I am hoping to show a little loss from last month when I weigh in on Saturday.  One thing is for sure, I feel so much better than I did when we began earlier this year, let alone last year when I entered the 2011 contest.   By being a participant, it has allowed me to totally change the way I live my life, and hopefully live a much longer life because of the weight I have lost. 

 

While I may have wasted the decades of my 30’s with poor eating habits and lazy exercise routines or lack of exercise routines, to borrow a phrase from my brother, I am going to Make every day of my 40’s decade Count, and everyday thereafter.

 

 

 

 

I am ramping things up this week as we head to the final weigh in.   Each day will consist of a P90X workout and then also 1-2 hours of racquetball at the Y.  I will also squeeze in some hill running at some point this week along with 36 holes of golf.

 

I am looking forward to seeing everybody Saturday and to see the changes everyone has gone through over these last 6 months.

 

 

I participated in the Johnnycake Jog yesterday and it was nice to see Laura and Desirea.  I am not a runner by trade, and actually hate it as an exercise aside from sprints or hiking.  I need to have some sort of action when moving (hitting a ball, climbing a mountain, etc).   Running just seems boring to me.  I arrived at the Fairgrounds about 45 minutes prior to race time and people are already running around, practicing I guess.  Needless to say, I am thinking to myself, “Save yourself, you only have 5 miles in your tank today”.   I also should not of stayed out so late Saturday night or imbibed as many beers as I did.  I actually woke up after about 5 hours of sleep and felt like staying home.   But, I made a commitment to run and I was not going to back out.

 

I finished the Jog in a little over 53 minutes.   I ran the 1^st and last mile, and the 3 miles in between I did a circuit of walking/sprinting every 200-300 meters.   So I ended up getting a good workout from this event.  It was great to see the support from the community.

 

By the way, not only do these crazy runners practice before the race, once they are finished, some of them turn around and run the track in reverse. 

 

I was imagining my legs would be sore today, but they are not too bad.  I am guessing all the racquetball I have been playing has gotten them into somewhat decent shape to endure what I accomplished yesterday.

 

Kudos to other Lighten Up folks Desirea and Margaret for participating in the event yesterday.  12 more days.   I am up a little bit since last weigh in due to Holiday Week.  I am aiming for a total of 35 pounds lost, which would mean I need to average over a pound a day for the next 12 days.  I need to stay on track with nutrition and exercise to accomplish that.

 

Good Luck.

This was a great week for exercise and nutrition for me.   I played racquetball every weekday, and plan to golf 18 holes tomorrow and walk them instead of taking a golf cart.

 

Food for the week has been omelets for breakfast, turkey/ham/cheese for snack, protein shake for lunch, spoonful or two of peanut butter for snack and then either chicken or rice over quinoa for dinner.  If you have not tried quinoa, please do.   It has a similar texture to rice, but is loaded with protein.

 

This weekend is the Johnnycake Jog, and I am going to attempt the 5 mile run.  Hopefully I can finish before then let the cars back on the streets.

 

 

Holiday week is over thank goodness!

 

Back on track this week with racquetball each morning and good nutrition.

 

Our complimentary YMCA membership ended (thanks again Laura and News Herald), and I enjoyed it so much that I signed up for a year to continue my exercise routines up there.

 

 

Happy Birthday America!!!  With the holiday in the middle of the week, that seems to allow for more cookouts and get togethers throughout the week.   Definitely not good for my nutrition plan.   So this will be a Holiday Week for my nutrition.  Beers, fried chicken, Italian sausage, hashbrowns, brats, burgers smokies, and ribeyes until Monday.   However, my exercise routine is not on Holiday.  I will have gotten in 4 days of racquetball this week when all is said and done, including a 2.5 hours session this morning which left me soaking in sweat.  Sweaty clothes indicate a job well done.  I also got in 18 holes of golf on the 4th (which I added a bonus to the exercise by walking).

 

22 more days until the final weigh in.  Next weekend is the Johnnycake Jog, 5 miles by the Lake County Fairgrounds.  I have not done much jogging recently, but I think I might give it a try.  I enjoy pushing myself, and I will just will myself to run the 5 miles.

 

 

Nutrition: I over indulged this past weekend with a couple of family/holiday parties, so today was a cleanse day very low on caloric intake.  I had a turkey/ham/cheese combo dish with some tabasco mayo for midday snake, and then a protein shake for dinner.

 

Exercise: Played a game of softball (biked there and back – 3 miles roundtrip), and did 20 hills at a local park (10 frontwards and 10 backwards).  The backwards hills were definitely killers, awesome workout for the legs.

 

 

Yesterday's weigh in was very different from my previous two weigh ins where I had gained weight each of those times. I had a 22.6 pound loss this month. I attribute it to my lack of travel (which has been a nemesis of mine), lots of racquetball at the Y, and a great nutritional plan of omelets, protein shakes, turkey slices, chicken and fish.

I plan to continue those habits this month as we have 27 more days until the final weigh in. It is the fourth quarter and time to turn it up a notch.