Day 39

is done. And now on to day 40. Yikes. I still can't believe I'm doing this. Sometimes I think this stupid Burpee challenge is a bit much, but what the hell, I've come this far.

Week 11 Weigh-In

Well... Not too much excitement here. I'm down to 235.9, which is about 0.4 lbs down from last week, and 24.1 lbs overall.

It will be difficult to get cardio in with this class coming in. We shall see what next week brings.

Day 36

Do you need further proof that the Burpee Challenge is evil? Day 36, if you do the exact number of burpees per day, will leave you with a to-date total of 666 BURPEES.

I just got chills. Also, I was able to top my previous best and today did 16 burpees in a row. I feel good tonight. I didn't save my burpees until 11:47pm, I am sporting some new underwear (don't worry, we're a long way away from those pics), and I start a new class tomorrow at work. Tomorrow is ALSO the start of week 11 of weight loss, which means a weigh-in! I'm hoping for a good one, having downed less than 800 calories today. No, I'm not starving myself!

What I've been doing to help cut back on calories on a meal is take a can of Progresso Light soup and add a cup of frozen mixed vegetables to it. That's 2 servings of soup and more than one serving of the veggies, and with water to drink, you're under 250 calories for a whole meal. It's been pretty good, but beware the French Onion soup they have. Only 50 calories a serving, but it tastes like French Butthole soup instead. Maybe not even French. Maybe, like, Luxembourg.

It's not without its problems, though. The soups are, like you've probably guessed, high in sodium - usually well over 1,000mg per can. I'm upping my water intake along with it, and it's not an EVERY meal thing, so I think it'll be alright. Hell, it's got to be better than what I was cramming into my body previously, right?

Either way, it has been a fantastic week, and I'm looking forward to another one as well. We'll see what tomorrow morning holds on the weigh-in!

Back on Track... For Now

So Thursday I came to grips with the fact that I've been slacking too much on the diet and exercise. I'm back on track with the diet. I never went over my calories, but I really wasn't watching what I was eating very much, and if I had the calories to spare, then what's a fried chicken sandwich going to hurt?

I'm no food saint or anything, and I'm still not exercising like I really should be. The burpees, though, are still right on track, and those things are awful. Twelve in a row seems to be the new constant, which considering I started with about 5 or 6 at a time, is pretty good.

Day 31

Day 31 is done, and this brings me to over 500 total burpees I've done. I've done a few extra on some days here and there, and without those extra few, Day 32 is when you cross the 500 threshhold. Fun fact.

Week 10 Weigh-In

At the start of week 10, I'm down a total of 23.7 lbs and 9 inches in my gut. I'm pretty excited, to say the least, but I'll admit I've been slacking on exercise.

I've been doing the Burpee challenge, which is nothing short of torture, and today is day 30, so for the next 70 days I'll be doing plenty of them. Fitting those in while at work should prove entertaining for my colleagues, if nothing else.

I've been meaning to start up on cardio seriously all this time and still haven't gotten around to it. It's so hard to get motivated to do it, but I know that's where I'll see even more fat fall off.

How do you stay/get motivated?

Day 29.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Burpees and work are eating up my time. I challenged a friend to the 1000 Pushup Challenge, because I'm an idiot. Basically, you do 1,000 pushups in a week. Break them up however you want. I quickly realized earlier today what an awful idea that was and will shortly be messaging said friend with my tail between my legs, telling him that I'll be waiting until perhaps day 101 of the Burpee Challenge - i.e. when it's over.

15 in a row today, though. Pretty happy with that one. Weigh-in tomorrow!

Week 9 Pictures

Kind of silly for someone showing weight loss to not show a side view, huh? Let's fix that. These photos were taken a few minutes ago.

Day 24

You know, after doing 45 burpees yesterday (and hitting my first streak of 12 in a row at the end), 24 kind of seems like a break. They're hard work, but my arms are much more defined. It's pretty awesome. I'm glad I've stuck with it. I know it's going to be hard, but I think I can make it.

If you're doing the challenge, let me know in the comments. What day are you on? How do you feel?

Monday Weigh-In

After the meals I had yesterday, I was sure I would have packed on some pounds. But, funnily enough, I'm down 21.7 pounds this morning. That's the good news.

The bad news is no burpees yesterday. That means 45 today. Yikes.

I knew it!

I hit the 20 pound mark this morning. Figured it would be on a Wednesday. And now for the final day of a short work week, and then all of the cooking.

I'm not going to lie.

This sucks. Workout out sucks. It's hard, it takes too long, and it can be boring. It's even harder when you hurt, or you're sick, or you're in a lazy coma. Dieting sucks. I want to eat a hamburger with a large pack of salty, golden-brown fries and wash it all down with SugarSlop brand soda.

No, I'm not quitting. I've no intention of that. But I know I usually stay positive and people think I have great willpower or great fortitude or something. But I don't. I'm just like you. I want it. I want the fried chicken and the chocolate and the lying around doing nothing.

When it comes right down to it, I guess I just want to get slimmer more than all that other stuff. And deep down inside, you want to get healthier more than you want a large side of onion rings. It's something to think about.

For the sake of variety, my wrist hurts today instead of my ankle.

I was able to get 7 of the day's 17 off before leaving work. Some people count their day from wake to sleep, I count from midnight to midnight. This weekend I'll be cooking a ton of food for a once-a-year LARP event a bunch of friends and I do, and it won't exactly be health food. I've no idea what calorie count I'll be looking at, but I'm expecting it'll be the first time I go over. After all, my character's not on a diet!

This means that I'll be stopping mid-soup-making and bust out a few burpees. Which excites me, because I am a strange person.

Watching calories really is pretty easy. I feel weird calling what I'm doing a diet, since I'm currently munching on a fried chicken sandwich at 1:30 in the morning, but hey, like I've said, it's about doing things in moderation rather than just outright taking them out of your diet all together. I do feel a LOT better than I did before I started this whole thing, and one or two fried items a week won't put all the pounds back on at once.

In an unrelated note, when you search 'welcome home' on youtube, Coheed and Cambria comes up before Metallica. Too bad.

Monday Weigh In

I was hoping to hit a total of 20 pounds lost by today. That didn't quite happen.

Yesterday was day 15, and I was able to knock them out before 6pm, which is only possible on weekends, it seems, as my weekday work schedule runs me to midnight. Unforunately, I've been slacking on not only my exercise, but my intake of water. I need to get back on track with those, but I've been keeping up with tracking my calories, of course.

So what is my total for the start of week 8? A total of 19.5 pounds lost, although there hasn't been any noticeable difference in measurements since the last time I measured. It seems most of my weight loss seems to happen around the middle of the week, so I'll post here if I finally hit 20 pounds. I'm so close!

Day 14

So I had a friend who joined in with me on the challenge and is attempting to catch up with me. A few, actually, but this one had put it off, and needed to catch up from days 9 and up. While I was feeling proud of myself for finally completing my first set of 10 consecutive, this fit bastard knocks out 20 at once.

I did another set of seven, three over the day's goal! He did two sets of fifteen. Burpee jealousy is very real, and it is tearing at my soul. Oh well. He has to do 34 tomorrow to get caught up. I just have 15. It does make me look forward toward day 30... 50... 78... on and on and up and up. It seems never ending. A co-worker (the same one that pointed me to the Lose It! app in the first place) asked me if I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I said absolutely not.

On the plus side, I have heard from at least person that I've inspired them to start making some healthy changes too. It's also nice when other people in my department ask me, "what is this burpee thing?," to which I have to show them in response, so there's one for the day (lately, I'll work two in there - gotta make sure they understand).

Weigh in and measure on Monday, as always. I'm going to try and not weight myself every single day like I usually do until then. Two milestones I'm looking forward to: 20 lbs lost; 26 lbs lost (10% of my starting weight!).

Hope you have a happy Day 15!

Burpees: Day 13

The Burpee Breakdown goes as such: 4 on break, 9 immediately after my shift was over. Shooting to get 10 in a row tomorrow.

I also posted a photo on my twitter of my patented "half Burpee," as seen below.

'Beginner' Workouts

Type in 'beginner workout' into YouTube sometime and you'll get a very mixed bag. Some are good, with them including things like 'if you can't do a full pushup, do this' or 'if you can't stretch all the way, just do as much as you can.' Others, though, depict shirtless guys, bulging with muscles, who say they have a great beginner workout that anyone can do. This usually consists of nine hundred pushups (over the course of sixteen strange variations, each more awkward than the last), a quick, invigorating 16-mile jog, and they'll end it with a workout you've never heard of that they show once.

Get real. These videos made me feel even worse about trying to work out - it's one of the main reasons I stayed away from working out in a gym. No one that is trying to be healthier should feel ashamed. It's something to be celebrated!

Just like with setting a weight loss goal in the Lose It! app I mentioned the other day, start realistically. I've heard plenty of people say, "I'm out of shape and overweight. I have trouble doing one or two pushups! Should I start by doing P90x, or should I just go straight to Insanity?" Neither. P90x is an effective program, sure, but if you're really overweight and really out of shape, chances are you'll be dead on the ground halfway through the warmup. Start with something simple and realistic.

Begin with stretching. Before working out at all, stretch. These should be done one muscle group at a time, for 30 seconds at a time (use an actual timer, don't estimate!), and when you stretch, hold it. Don't bounce or continually flex while stretching, this can actually be detrimental.

Focus on doing exercises you can do with proper form. There are no shortage of weird exercises someone made up on the internet you can watch, and most of them will show how they are going 'beast mode' on their apartment building's staircase by hopping up and down them while holding a 600lb kettleball. Is this effective for building leg strength? Probably. Is it safe? OH GOD NO.

Build up. Start slow and safe. Do 8 to 15 reps of an exercise with a weight that is heavy enough to make you struggle on the last rep, but not so heavy that you're in danger of dropping the weight on your toes (if you're using resistance bands, this isn't as much of an issue). Don't overexert yourself. Injury means more time sitting around doing nothing.

A typical exercise routine for me may look something like this:
5 minutes stretching

Set 1: do 8-12 reps of each, with 20 seconds to 1 minute MAX between exercises
Chest Flys
Back Rows
Bicep Curls
Tricep Pulldowns
Shoulder Lat Raises
[wait two minutes and then repeat set]

Set 2: 8-12 reps of each, with 20 seconds to 1 minute MAX between exercises
Squats
Pushups
Lunges (reps per leg)
Calf Raises
[wait two minutes and then repeat set]

Set 3: 20 seconds MAX between exercises
30-second Plank
30-second side plank
30-second side plank (other side)
[wait two minutes and then repeat set]

5 minutes stretching

This is a good general routine I've found that will help you to tone, build muscle, and burn some fat. I generally don't do pure cardio workouts, mostly because it's so difficult for me to at my weight, but I am hoping to start incorporating some soon. Instead of straight jogging or walking, though, I may try to go for Non-Pushup burpees, which feel deceptively easy on the first two reps. I'll post when I start doing that and we'll see where it goes.