Success Warrior: The Blog That Embraces ADHD

Still Goofing Off

 It's feeling very holiday-ish around here today.  With the sudden drop off of homework and Trey being home, it's been a lazy day.  As soon as this posts, I'll be playing some Super Mario Bros with Trey.  I'm not a big fan of Mario Bros and have no desire to play but I am a big fan of Trey so I'll be giving it a try. 

I was going to do a post for my fitness journal today but instead I made another one of those stupid cartoons.  Maybe I should do some fitness related ones but for now, it's more on the ninja training.

 

Day Off

So,

I have the day off from work today.  I've doing a little bit more cleaning.  Trey and I have been playing some games and doing some puzzles.

And, I ran across a site that allowed me to do this:

Fitness Journal - Day #3

 
I'm using www.fitday.comthis go 'round to help me zero in on my goals.  It's a great program and the basic version is free, which is nice.  I've been entering in everything that I eat and what I have found in the first three days is that I'm undereating.  That's so not like me and we'll see how long that goes on.  It's not like I'm starving myself.  So far, my average daily calorie intake is 2,006.  Look, I'm on the 2,000 calorie diet that every percentage on the nutrition label is based off of. 

FitDay also tracks a lot of the vitamins and minerals that you take, measured in that percentage (based on a 2,000 calorie diet).  Because I take Universal's Animal Pak multi-vitamin, I've got all those percentages spiked out.  FitDay quits counting at 200%.

My favorite feature (at least for today) is the goal tracking graph.  You put in your goal weight and the target date and it graphs out what a steady loss to that date would be.  Another section tells you how many calories per day you would need to eat to reach this goal (in a perfect world).  Every time you enter in a new weight, it places a mark on the graph to show how you are doing in relation to your goal. 

This is what mine looks like so far.  The purple line shows what a progressive weight loss to my goal would look like and the green line is my weight.

It looks like an impressive start but it's a bit misleading because the first time I weighed was in the afternoon while wearing clothes.  The second time was the typical second-thing-in-the-morning weigh-in.  This second weight would be what I would actually classify as my "official" weight if I was being technical.  It does give you a good idea of how the graph will work. 

I would imagine that my weight will zigzag across the goal line as I move forward.  It will give me a good idea of when I need to tweak things.

I checked out the BMI portion of FitDay just to see where 175 pounds would put me.  Right now, I'm obese.  175 will move me into the overweight category.  I would have to get down to 169 to be healthy.  To get there I would probably have to give up all weight training and do excessive amounts of cardio to try and break down my muscle and get rid of it.  Not going to happen.  Then again, I haven't been down to 175 for a long time so maybe I have no idea what is possible. 

FitDay also tracks your Protein/Carb/Fat/Alcohol intake and does up a pie chart to show you how you eat.  This would be great for people who are doing something like a Zone diet or something where you aim for a certain amount of each of these.  I'm not aiming for anything (other than severely limiting grains and sugars) so I check the chart just out of curiosity.  Right now, I'm eating about 50% fat, 27% protein, and 23% carbs.  It will be interesting to see if this trend continues and what effect it will have.  That may be why I'm undereating.  Taking in fat can help make you feel satiated. 

Here's a cool little tidbit that I learned on FitDay.  When a 43 year, 204.4 pound, male has active vigorous sex for 10 minutes, it burns 1,206 calories.  That lends some credibility to my NPC Workout.  I was looking over all the activities that FitDay has to pick from and saw "Sex" so I, of course, had to go check it out.  No wonder people that take Viagra have heart attacks.  My 3 mile run burned 407 calories (and it's still burning - at least my quads are).

I don't know why I haven't used FitDay more in the past.  I don't think I really understood everything that it had.  The foods are easy to add to the diary because of 3 drop-down menus on the left side.  One of which is your recently eaten foods so if there is something that you eat often, it's super easy to add.  You can create your own foods.  I added the information for my multi-vitamin and my protein shake.  Now they are entered into my diary with a click on the drop-down menu.

It tracks everything that I need and there is a premium service that tracks even more but I can't imagine what else I would need to track. 

If you are making a weight loss goal for this year, you might want to give FitDay a try.

***

Remember, I'm going to be funding my return to college by being an affiliate of BeachBody.com products so please visit the site and make a purchase, no matter how small.  Insanity has been released so go check it out.

Feel free to "friend" me on Facebook

7th Day; 7 Words

Note to self: Never stop exercising.  Ouch!

Leave seven words in the comment section. 

Fitness Journal - Day #1

 
I'm going back to my original format of tracking by day.  Not that I will blog every single day about fitness but I have found that I do better with my goals by holding myself publicly accountable so I'll probably post a couple times a week.  I have 157 days in which to achieve my goal (if it's even possible). 

Today is Day #1.

Why Saturday, December 26th?

Why not?

I'm usually one of those people that likes to start something on a Monday because it just seems like that is the day for starting something but it's quite arbitrary.  You can start something any time you want.

Even a week before New Year's. 

I have no fondness for New Year resolutions because it's more of a habit based on wishing than actual change.  I do think it's a great time to look back at the year and look forward to the next year but just like starting something on Monday, starting on New Year's isn't set in stone.  In fact, for some people, it might be better to start on January 8th (or 11th if you like starting on Mondays).  Give yourself a week to empty the house of the junk that has built up over the holidays, take one more breather, plan for a few days, and then jump into it.  This would probably work better for a lot of people.

This blog is my personal accountability system but it also acts as an example for some of my readers.  To that end, starting on a Saturday, the day after Christmas, is a perfect time to start.  You can start any time you want. 

What's happening today?

Grocery shopping and a short run.

The eating plan is easy.  Meat and vegetables.  Simple enough.

I am going to track my eating using fitday.com so I can watch my calories.  Normally, this isn't necessary for me but my goals this time involve both speed and going way below what my weight has been for the last couple of decades.

The goal is to create a deficit of 700 calories per day.  Right now, that seems easy but we'll see what it's like when I get going.  Optimism always runs high before the actual work begins.  =)

I have no idea how the run is going to go.  I can't remember the last time that I went running.  Today I'll be aiming for 3 miles.  There are a couple of important things to remember about my running.  First, don't expect any land speed records.  I mosey along at about 10 minute mile pace.  That's probably not much faster than walking.  I just like the feeling of getting out and doing it.  Secondly, you really don't need to do lots of cardio to lose fat.  It burns calories but there are negatives that go with it as well so if you're trying to maximize fat loss, you're probably better off not copying this part of my plan.

Unless you enjoy it.  There is no getting around the enjoyment factor.  Anything that you enjoy, that gets you moving, is great in my book.  Just don't lock yourself into thinking any one thing is "the best" and try to force yourself to do it.  That won't last.

That's another thing that I should point out.  157 days is just something that I made up just to give me a target date.  There is no real beginning or ending.  After 157 days, I'm just going to keep on going with some form of fitness lifestyle.  This whole 175 pound thing is just out of curiosity.  Whether I make it or not, I'll still be healthier, and I'll just keep on going for the rest of my life in some fashion.

As in the past, I welcome questions and comments, either here or by email. 

***

Remember, I'm going to be funding my return to college by being an affiliate of BeachBody.com products so please visit the site and make a purchase, no matter how small.  Insanity has been released so go check it out.

Feel free to "friend" me on Facebook

9 Years and Going Strong, So . . .

SUCK IT!

Okay, in reality, I have felt that way for the last 8 years but not so much this year but since I don't remember posting on the topic, I felt that it would be good to catch up on the last 8 years and move ahead next year.

Side Note: Mark, I went with the candy cane theme to go with the topic of "Suck it" because, well, when you do a search for everything that matches "suck it", you come up with a lot of NSFW stuff and while this blog has been on the edge a few times (okay, almost every day), I thought that anything that was sucking it might just be too much.

Back to the point.

Tomorrow is our wedding anniversary.  Our 9th.  With no signs of things coming to an end anytime soon.  When we got married, there were a lot of people that were against us and to them is directed the "SUCK IT!"  In fact, in the first few years, because of everyone that was actively trying to mess with our marriage, we decided that no matter how we felt, we would stick together just to spite them.  It never turned out that we needed that motivation but I think it's safe to say that the attacks only drove us closer.  We had only each other to rely on and we became the best of friends and the only people that we could really count on.

Even our friends, who weren't out to separate us, didn't believe that we would stick together. 

We went out to dinner tonight because tomorrow is Christmas Eve.  When we got married, we didn't have any plans to have any children so we didn't think anything of getting married on Christmas Eve.  A few years later, we decided to have Trey and plans changed.  We went to dinner tonight so we could spend Christmas Eve with him as a family.  In fact, we'll be seeing my daughters tomorrow as well so how cool is that?

Anyway, we were discussing our marriage up to this point and it seems to be broken into two five-year periods.  The first phase was the defensive phase where it seemed everyone was attacking us and we spent most of our time either planning our defense or discussing it with our attorneys.  The second phase has been a stabilization and goal setting phase.  We had to recover from the defensive phase and then decide what we wanted to pursue now that the choice wasn't being made for us.  When you're under constant attack, you don't make a lot of proactive choices.  When those ended, we were lost for a bit but then found out that we could pick what we wanted to focus on.

It's obvious that we'll be entering a new phase soon, which seems odd that they run in 5 year increments but that seems to be the pattern.  The next phase will probably include the completion of college and the beginning of new careers.

Tonight, Tia said that she couldn't believe that I had stuck with her this long.  Pushaw!  Are you kidding me?  With all my quirks and flightiness, I'm lucky that she stuck with me.

Once she asked why I don't blog about her more and I think that some of that comes from the defensive phase of our life.  I didn't want to share her.  I'm not going to explain it all here but I really do depend on her.  She is the groundedness to my flightiness.  I see the vision of the future and what can be.  She points out what needs to be done today.  I could live my life in dreamland.  She pays the bills. 

I am who I am and where I am in life because of her.  There are 9 years of back story to that but suffice it to say that I would not be the Success Warrior without her.  So much of my strength in life comes from knowing that she is there for me. 

This is probably why I haven't blogged much about her and why I responded the way I did to the bad guys that thought they could scare me by threatening my family while I was taking them to jail.

"Thanks for warning me.  I'll add that to my report," I would say.

"So?"

"So, when you step on my property I am going to unload my gun into you, reload, and empty it again.  By warning me, if you ever even accidentally step on my lawn, I will make you so dead that not even god will recognize you when you get to the gates, and it will all be legal."

Not surprising, no one ever bothered me at my house. 

One guy thought about it once.  He was talking to Ninja, a friend of mine that was also a police sergeant and even more tactical-minded than me.

"I'm going to his house right now," the bad guy said.

"I can't stop you but I'll be right behind you with the body bag," Ninja said.

"What?"

"When you get to his door, he's going to kill you," Ninja said matter of factly.

The guy changed his mind.

I think that after 9 years, and 4 years after the defensive phase, I'm ready to drop the "SUCK IT!" attitude and even share more on my blog.

As far as physical threats go, that part isn't likely to change . . . ever.

To all our friends that have been on our side or who have come to the realization that this is permanent, I would like to thank them.  We have talked about you and thanked you between ourselves.  I'm not going to list them here because I'm afraid that I would leave someone out but you may never know how much it has meant to us for some people to recognize us as a couple and as a family after Trey arrived.  We may not have *needed* it but it really made us feel good when people treated us kindly as a couple.

To my wife I have to say that I am the one that is surprised that she has been by my side for 9 years.  People have been incredibly hard on her and she has been incredibly strong.  She's amazing and I consider myself lucky every single day that I wake up and she's there.

Planning Stage

 
Here's the second attempt at this post.

So,

While trying not to chomp at the bit and accidentally wish myself past Christmas (because the next three days *are* going to be fun), I'm working on what my plan is going to be to get myself back into shape. 

First step, know where you are.  I weighed myself today, in the afternoon.  I usually do the morning naked weigh-in but figured that I didn't need to be that technical today.  208.8.  That's 8.8 pounds heavier than I've been in a loooong time.  These last two months have been rough on me.  I haven't worked out and I haven't eaten anywhere close to normal.  The stress probably didn't help.  Did you know that stress causes weight gain and a reduced immune system? 

Second step, decide where you want to go.  This is a tough one because I don't really know where I want to go.  I am going to arbitrarily pick 175 pounds because I'm curious what I would look like if I was that lean.  When I get there, I'll have to decide if that's something sustainable.  My guess is no but let's just see what it all looks like.

Forgot dates.  Starting date is 12/26/2009.  Goal date is 6/1/2010.

As a step in the right direction, I'd like to get rid of the bonus 8.8 pounds that I gained in the last two months as quickly as humanly possible (without damaging my health, of course).

The next step has multiple parts.  How am I going to get there?

I'll be going with a combination of calorie restriction and exercise.

I took a wild stab at a guess (which probably wasn't that wild considering how much I've tinkered with my diet in the past) and picked 2,500 calories a day.  I didn't know if this would get me to my goal on time but I thought it would be a good starting place.

A couple of days later, while still working out what I would actually be eating, I remembered www.fitday.com.  If you haven't tried this site and are doing some kind of goal that revolves around food, I can recommend it.  It's a great way to track what you eat and measure it against your goals.

I just found out that it will also compute how many calories a day you should eat to reach your goal on time.  Fitday said that I can reach my goal by eating 2,503 calories a day.  How cool is that?  A bonus 3 calories PER DAY.  I'm going to have to do some research to see what I can spend those calories on.  Maybe I'll save them up for a whole week and treat myself to two almonds.

Anyway, as for the foods, I'll go back to my old trick of eating pretty much the same thing for each day of the week.  Let's face it.  I'm too lazy to keep going around looking to see how many calories this food or that food has.  Once I know how much something is, that I like to eat, I'm just going to eat that, especially in the beginning.  8.8 pounds as quickly as possible.  I'm going to find what works and just keep at it.  If it's working, I'm not going to tinker much with it even if I get bored.  It's just fuel and right now the goal is more important than variety.

I'll be going with 5 "meals" for the weekdays and then 2 or 3 on Saturdays and Sundays.  Weekends are hard for me because of work.  Some of those "meals" will probably be protein shakes and I may try to get a couple of shakes in on Saturdays and Sundays to help make sure that I'm getting enough protein.  Muscle is important, both for fat loss, for combat, and quite frankly, for my vanity.

On that note, I'll be starting up my weight workouts next Monday.  I'll probably won't be able to walk on Tuesday.  My workouts are absolutely killer and after skipping them for 2 months, my muscles are going to literally cry when I put them through the workouts.  Mentally, it's going to be great to be working out again.

These workouts will increase the calorie deficit that I'm aiming for.  Besides telling me how many calories I should eat each day, it also told me how it arrived at that figure.  It took my base metabolism and subtracted about 700 calories a day.  So, I don't actually have to eat 700 calories less each day if I exercise.  The exercise will also create a deficit and my workouts create a deficit in the hundreds.

Speaking of "mentally", I'm going to run a few times a week.  This is more for my mind than for my body.  I'm just one of those freaks that likes to run.  In fact, running isn't really that good for you unless you're training to do some kind of running.  Otherwise, it's better just to do weight circuits and maybe some sprints once in a while.  Running can be hard on the system, joints and muscle.  I just feel better when I do it so I'll be heading out the door a few times a week.  Probably low mileage to begin with, nothing over 3 miles, just to see how I feel.  I haven't been running in a long time.

I think that I included other information in the first post but it slips my mind now.  I'm sure that as I get going that things will come up and I'll be sharing them with you.

***

Remember, I'm going to be funding my return to college by being an affiliate of BeachBody.com products so please visit the site and make a purchase, no matter how small.  Insanity has been released so go check it out.

Feel free to "friend" me on Facebook

You Have to Be Kidding Me!

So,

I just spend over 30 minutes typing up today's post about health and fitness and when I hit save, it wiped it all out and now it's gone and I don't know if I'm up to typing it all up again.

Is This Bad To Say?

No, I'm not talking about the Cuban Prime Minister calling Obama an imperial and arrogant liar after being around the president for a week in Copenhagen.  Although I will add that the Cuban Prime Minister could have saved himself some money and watched CNN to come to the same conclusion.  I know I criticize Obama a lot because of how corrupt he is and how obvious his lies are but there is one thing that I can't argue about and that's the fact that Obama would have to be on the short list of the most arrogant people of all time.  I wonder if it's something that he worked at or if it just comes naturally.  Anyway, he's dang good at it and he should definitely get the Nobel Humility Award.  Not that I would turn down an all expenses paid trip to Copenhagen to form that opinion in person so I can't fault the Prime Minister for not using CNN as his source.

What I really wanted to comment on was this: I'm glad Christmas is almost behind us.  See how well the pic ties in with the post?  Christmas . . . behind.

Not out of any bah-humbuggery (okay, that doesn't sound at all right) or anything of the nature.  I'm a big fan of Christmas but I'm also a big fan of behinds. 

Actually, I'm still suffering from that last college semester, which is behind me and yet my life has not returned to normal because of the holiday season. 

So, it's not so much that I want Christmas behind me (but then I would have to find a new pic) as much as I just want to get back to a groove that is sustainable.  I swear that being a full-time student was way too much for me and took away from other pursuits, like exercise.  So much of my life, usually, revolves around exercise and to take that away has left me feeling a bit lost (and soft, even in my behind).

For the last week, I've also over-indulged in the holiday spirit of eating stuff that I shouldn't be (at least, not in the quantities that I have been eating them).  That hasn't helped at all.

I don't do well when my life is done by improv.  Not as far as "moving forward", whatever that is.  I'm only going to take two classes this next semester.  Shakespeare anyone?  That and Language Study, which I looked up for some kind of description: "A consideration of language history, function, and use. Topics include the historical development of languages, language acquisition, descriptive grammar, language controversies, etc."

I'm not a big Shakespeare fan but the Language Study sounds interesting and two classes sounds very do-able while still getting time in for reading for fun, meditation, and exercising my behind.

Hell, after that last semester, anything is do-able.  It's just a question of the price that has to be paid.  In the end, I'm not willing to pay the price of giving up everything else in my life to race through college.  So, I'm going to slow down, remind myself often that as long as I'm moving forward it's okay, and get back to the zen of running down the road with my headphones on (which will freeze my behind right off for the next couple of months).

This week has several activities planned, which I'll probably blog about individually.  For this post, it's enough to know that there is nothing at all usual, or groove-ish, about this week.  Next week will have a bit of hiccup because Trey is out of school and I have to deal with New Year's Eve but I think I can work around some of that.  Maybe a slow start up so that I hit the next week running (quite literally).

It's only a week, right?  I'm going to focus on the holidays for the week but I'm telling you that I'm really looking forward to getting back to my normal life.

***

Remember, I'm going to be funding my return to college by being an affiliate of BeachBody.com products so please visit the site and make a purchase, no matter how small.  Insanity has been released so go check it out.

Feel free to "friend" me on Facebook

7th Day; 7 Words

Actually physically going to a store today.

Leave seven words in the comment section.