30 Day Challenge: Week 1

It felt strange not to weigh in on Saturday, but part of our rules on the 30 day challenge include only weighing in at the beginning and the end.  All in all I have to say it was a pretty decent week.  For those of you who follow regularly, you know the start of my week was pretty tough.  I did manage to fight through the issues and I can say that although I felt terrible, I didn't waver on my diet and exercise.

Last Saturday I started a new workout program just for this challenge.  The timing was perfect as I had just finished 6 weeks of my last workout program and was looking to change things up a bit.  I'm now doing 1 hour of exercise each day for 6 days followed by a 1 day break.  I started on Saturday so my day off is on Fridays.  I've always been a fan of having my day off on the weekend, but I have to admit it's easier to get those weekend workouts in.

My workout now consists of both strength training and cardio work every day.  I start with 30 minutes of strength training and then I do 2.5 miles on the elliptical.  For the strength training I have 3 different workouts; one for upper body, mid body, and lower body.  I rotate through these workouts so as to give my muscles 2 days of rest before working them again.  So far the workout has been going well.

As far as eating goes, I've been tracking my calorie intake and trying to hold at 2000 calories.  My wife has been helping out and has been keeping me accountable for what I really eat.  I'm amazed at how I underestimate everything, but she's been making me measure it.  I bet when I'm estimating I probably eat 200-300 more calories than I realize.

When this weekend hit, I was over my depression and it was perfect timing as the weather has been great.  I can actually see grass now and I took full advantage of it taking the kids to the park to let them ride bikes.  I probably walked an additional 2 miles on top of my normal workout.

As far as Big D. goes, he also did very well this week and he says that he's feeling great.  He was off work in the beginning of the week and decided to go the NY, but his girlfriend was very supportive and helped him to eat healthy, fresh foods.  Now he's back to work but on day shift so it's not too stressful on his system.  We are actually going to walk our dogs on a 3 mile loop later tonight.

I do have one sad (well not really) piece of news to report.  Over the weekend I had to retire my last 3XLT business shirt.  I've actually been in 2XL shirts for a little while now, but this was my favorite shirt and I've been hanging onto it for way too long.  You may have noticed that I said I went to 2XL from 3XLT.  I used to buy shirts for tall people so the extra length could make up for the circumference of my belly.  When I hit 2X, I didn't need that extra length (go figure).  Anyway, when I came home from work my wife commented that my favorite was starting to look like I was hiding under a tent.  I've always wore loose fitting clothing, but this was beyond the normal fat person trick.  I think when you can stuff a basketball under your shirt and it's still loose, you probably need to retire it.  So goodbye favorite shirt... Here's to finding another one in the 1X size (I don't plan on being in 2X long enough to find a favorite).

Anyway I'm feeling better, doing the right things, and looking forward to winning this challenge.  This week I'm going to try to get a post out with some suggestions for easy and healthy snacks and I am hoping to continue discussing ways to lose weight without starving yourself.  The next discussion will probably be about ways to help boost your metabolism.  Good luck to everyone out there.  Stay Strong!