Monday, June 6, 2011

Day 24 – I’m Baaack!

Three things I have never been good at keeping up: dieting, exercising and journaling. So here I am doing all three! I guess I figured that, whether you succeed or fail, do it spectacularly.
My absence over the past few days mostly had to do with my laptop being in the shop. (I hate viruses.) But in the meantime I have kept up my (somewhat) healthy eating and my (moderate) exercise regimen. And what do I have to show for it?
On the downside, I am repeating week three of the 100 Pushup system. I could not keep up with my final reps last week, but on Friday I did manage over 100 pushups over the 5 reps. I am slightly ahead of last week’s pace, so I am optimistic that I will move on. On the upside, I lost another pound, meaning that I am down 5 pounds since I began. All in all, I feel pretty good. A slimmer, stronger version of me is being sculpted every day.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Day 19 – Hitting The Wall?

Today I had a minor setback in my pushup reps. My numbers were 20-25-15-15-20, meaning my last rep was 5 short of the goal. If I can’t reach my goal on Friday, I will probably need to repeat week 3 before progressing.
Athletes (real athletes, not people like me) talk about hitting the wall or plateauing, about coming to that place where progress may still be possible, but is very difficult. Having practiced more spiritual disciplines than physical disciplines, I know that much the same is true there. You can hit a dry spell where, despite your best desire, you seem like you are not progressing.
The secret to both is in pressing on. You may need to do more of the same thing, you may need to vary the routine, but you don’t give up. Progress is seldom made by coming to a halt. So if I have to repeat a week, I will do so. My goal is 100 consecutive pushups, and I am going to make it.

Monday, May 30, 2011

Day 17 – The Wall

What do Pink Floyd and Robert Frost have in common? A wall, of course. Although the wall we finished today was outwardly more like “another brick in the”, functionally it was more like “good fences make good neighbors”. And trust me, with three English majors in the family, we had some Frost discussions over these past few days.
For a 55 year-old wall it was really not in bad shape. It partly fallen down in a few places, but it needed repair, not replacing. Some things just need fixing, not tearing down. Which is sort of how I feel about myself. This focus on weight and exercise and journaling is about fixing up, not tearing down. After years of neglecting a wall or two, I am trying to set them right again.
And how am I succeeding? Well, this morning my pushup reps were 14-18-14-14-20; that is 80 if you are counting. Tonight I get some rest so tomorrow I can work on my walls again.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Day 15 – Exhaustion Test #2

My pushup program says that at the end of two weeks I am supposed to take an exhaustion test. When I started I was able to do 23. Now, two weeks later…36! That is still a long way from 100 by week 7, but I am definitely going in the right direction.
I may have sweat off a few ounces helping my brother-in-law Joe lay bricks in the 90 degree heat. I know a lot more about mixing mortar and laying a straight line than I did yesterday. Anyway, the wall is looking good and our neighbor is very happy.
Our big event today was going to the Museum of Biblical History in nearby Collierville. They are about to open a great exhibit on the St. John’s Bible, the first commissioned hand-scripted and illuminated Bible in hundreds of years. We got a sneak peek, and the prints we saw were outstanding! If you are unaware of the project, see their website; your time will be richly rewarded.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Day 14

Weigh day number 2, and I am down to 180 pounds! That’s another two pounds lower, which isn’t bad considering the week I have had. Today was another one of those.
It started fine with my pushups (16-17-14-14-max). My max was 23 today which matches my pretest from two weeks ago, so I felt great. My plan was to do a little work at the office and come home to help rebuild a brick fence along the property line. (Short story… my brother-in-law has many skills, one of which is laying bricks.) But I was kept away by a copier salesman, a dead phone, and, sadly, a sick dog.
One of our two dogs, Hannah, was diagnosed with cancer today. She is a 12 year-old American Eskimo. She only has a short time left, so we are going to give her some loving these next few days and maybe let her chase some squirrels while she feels up to it. We have lost a dog before, so I know what we are in for.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Day 13

I finally went out and got a new bathroom scale: a Taylor 7023 with a lithium battery. I’ve gone digital! I figured that if I am going to measure my weight loss every week, I might as well be as accurate as I can be. My only problem is that I don’t know if the scales are calibrated the same. Like two violins that are in tune to themselves, it doesn’t mean that they will be in tune to each other. I guess all I can do is presume that they are the same and go on from there.
One of the things about digital scales is that they read out in tenths of pounds. That sounds natural until you realize that the British (or American or Imperial) pound is made up of 16 ounces and is not easily divisible by 10. Have you ever heard of a newborn baby weighing 7.3 pounds? Of course not!
Do you remember when you were in school and the teachers confidently told us that by the time we were adults, American roads would be measured in kilometers and gasoline in liters? The metric system was just around the corner! Years later and nothing has changed. Nothing, that is, except for bathroom scales where Taylor has apparently invented the metric pound. Who would have guessed?

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Day 12

The last two days have involved a fast and harried 1600 mile trip. Needless to say, blogging took a back seat to driving. But the trip gave me some insights to trying to control eating on the road.
Travelling the way I was, I didn’t have time for nice sit down meals. So the two most readily accessible food sources were 1) fast food restaurants and 2) convenience stores. Trying to get anything not built exclusively with carbohydrates is almost impossible at a convenience store unless you are inclined towards beef jerky (which I am not). Trail mixes can have lots of nuts, so there is one possibility. I was trying to avoid carbonated beverages, too, but I have a stubborn resistance to buying water in a bottle. So mostly I settled for fruit juice or ice tea.
As far as fast food, we found a relatively healthy alternative in Chipotle’s. Their meals are filled with rice and beans (not bad), and if you go for a burrito bowl and forgo the big tortilla it is even better. All in all I got home feeling only half as bloated as I usually do after a trip like this. And you know what they say: half a bloat is better than…no, that doesn’t work, does it?