lifegard2’s BodyBlog

It’s been awhile since I posted. My journey, thus far, has lasted longer than a year now. In that time I lost 70 lbs, and put back on about 20. I’m ecstatic about a net loss of 50, but not done yet. The holidays were a much bigger road bump for me this year than they were last year (06). My neck injury in the second half of last year also threw me for a loop and is still lingering. I did the PT, but I need to keep up w/ the specifice isometric exercises for my c-spine.

This past week I started up a program from jillianmichaels.com, the trainer from the Biggest Loser. I’ve been having a very hard time putting together a workout routine for myself that I can follow. I’ve grown tired of the ‘machines’ at the gym as their workouts are very rigid and targeted and don’t offer the variables that something as simple as balancing on a ball can offer. After one day on this routine I was sore for about 5 days, to the point I could barely walk. It was an amazing feeling, but I know I did too much at once. I guess I’m the kind of guy who spends so much time planning something that I never get to do it. So this way, the website plans the workouts for me and I get to be a worker bee and just do it.

I’ve managed to keep my diet on track for almost a full week now with yesterday being a cheat day. With work, the last few weeks have been very hard to maintain a good diet as my schedule has typically changed day by day with nothing predictable (server crashes, workstation crashes, network crashes, geeez, can’t something stay stable for a change???)

That’s enough whining for me for now. Perhaps more tomorrow. . .

Well, the weekends over. Went to go see my folks w/ the fam for my Dad’s 60th b-day. Man, there was a TON of good food there. Let’s just say Mom can cook and homemade potato salad never tasted so good, nuff said. Stepped on the scale tonight, for that we’ll just say I’ll be back at cardio this week.

Physical therapy is ongoing. It’s very frustrating not being able to hard charge into the gym. So many days lately I’ve felt like giving up, or taking time off until my neck heals. Unfortunatley, I know if I do that I’ll never make it back to the gym. So to the grind I go.

So now it’s o-dark-thirty and I’m posting a blog. I suppose sleep is something I need. . .

I went 5 days without soda. That was the longest I’ve ever gone. I’m actually surprised that when I had my first diet pepsi this weekend, it was hard to finish it. I found that about half way through the can I really didn’t want the rest of it. Too weird. Given the trip over the weekend, it was hard to stick to water, but I was pretty faithful about it. I’ll be back to my hard core no soda again tomorrow. Now if I can just find a decent tasting energy w/ no carbonation, no or minimal calories, and full of flavor and caffeine, I’ll be in great shape!

Today was day #2 of physical therapy. I learned some isometric exercises to strengthen my c-spine. I am very frustrated about this *(&*^% injury, but what can you do? I guess it will eventually get better. I just wish insurance wasn’t so *^&^# expensive and what you do pay for actually covered some of the services you need. I’m whining again, I know.

For now I think I’m going to lay off the HIIT training. I’ve been feeling very tired lately and think I’m going to focus on some low intensity cardio w/ HR around 60-70% of MHR. I’m trying to get my hands on a BFL book. I’m too darn impatient to order one online, and WalMart didn’t have it yesterday. I supposed after dinner I may take a drive over to Barnes and Noble.

This week I’m going to try an experiment. I’m giving up all soda for at least a week, or trying to. I still need my caffeine intake, and I’m not a coffee drinker, so I’m a little nervous. I don’t mind a caramel or java chip frap at Starbucks for some caffeine, but those puppies still have calories. I figured if after four years in the Navy I didn’t develop the taste for regular coffee, it probably will never happen. But, I’ll try some of the blend my wife likes tomorrow AM and see if I can keep it down. If so, it will be a much lower calorie way to get my caffeine without using my usual Diet Pepsi.

That’s it for tonight. Anyone got any good tips for minor caffeine intake (around what you’d find in a cup of coffee or four cans of Diet Pepsi) without resorting to soda or black coffee or calories?

I considering adding creatine to my regimen. Can anyone point me to some links, pro and con, for it? I’d like to look at both sides of the argument. I’ve always been VERY skeptical of using any supplement. I really don’t like the fact that the industry isn’t regulated and there’s no government oversight (not that the FDA does a great job of overseeing actual pharmaceuticals anyways).

Anyways, I’m looking for articles that have links to actual studies or reference actual studies instead of just saying "Recent studies have shown. . ." In other words, spell out what study has shown which, etc, etc.

Hope this makes sense. Thanks for anything you toss my way. I guess I may post this in a forum somewhere also.

Met w/ PT today. After seeing the doc last week, my neck was feeling better so I resumed upped body work outs. Well, the burn was incredible to feel again in my back, shoulders, chest, arms, neck, arrrrrrrr arrrrrrrrr, but then the burn subsided and the bad pain returned. Ahhhhhh, found a place with good cash rates for PT and started today.

I learned that my posture sucks. Years of looking down at a computer screen, shoulders hunched over, slouching, neck leaning forward, has taken its toll.

My therapist wants me to stop any workout that requires me to lift my arms above my head until the pain subsides. I can do curls and extensions to my heart’s content, so long as I keep my head straight while I’m at it and my elbows at my side. She also said I could do some rowing (or rowing motion-type exercises) if my shoulder could tolerate it.

To add insult to injury, I emailed my doc today (he’s actually a PA working out of a clinic about an hour’s drive away) and learned that today was his last day w/ the clinic. This was the first doc I found after leaving the Navy that I REALLY liked seeing and trusted. His clinic was close to home, but we moved a few years back. I’ve continued seeing him as needed, driving the hour to get to his office, but I guess now I’ll be forced to find someone closer to home. Crap. The only thing worse than finding a good doc you can trust and rely on is trying to find a new church.

But, I digress. Tomorrow’s a new day, maybe I’ll even stop feeling sorry for myself and get my lazy butt back in the gym and HIIT it.

Until next time. . .

Finally decided to go see the doc about the neck/shoulder. Found out I have Spondylolisthesis in my cervical spine area. As I understand it this is where one of the vertabrae slides forward on top of another. I think it boils down to my spine is out of alignment. This is causing some nerve pinching in the spine which is radiating pain along the length of the nerve from the neck, down to my shoulder blade.

Unfortunately, I’m self employed, read: sucky health insurance, so physical therapy is going to be pricey. The cool thing is that the pain has abated enough that I resumed my upper body workouts this week.

I hit the chest on Monday and shoulders today. It’s been awhile since I’ve been sore in those areas, the good sore, and it feels great! Of course I modified the workout a bit and found that I’ve lost a little strength in my right shoulder, but I’m just glad that I’ve made it through two upper body workouts without feeling the same type of pain that I was feeling before.

I called around to a few physical therapy places today and I think I found one that’s reasonable priced. Of course it sounds reasonable until I actually get the bill, but we’ll see.

That’s it for now. Weight’s still hovering around 219, but I’m not terribly worried about it at the moment. I feel good, especially after a double birthday weekend. Until next time. . .

Had the missus do my measurements today and posted here. They are up from last week, but that’s only because I’ve been measuring myself differently (wrong?) than as prescribed in the body stats pages. SO, i took the hit today and measured as they describe there.

The BF meter we have at the house is way off. It said I was up to 27%, but my weight is down, my clothes are feeling a tiny bit baggier, my belt is just about ready to move another notch in the good direction (tighter), and my wedding ring feels like it’s gonna fly off my finger (we’ve already resized it once since I started w/ the diet last October). All that being said, I’m not putting much stock in the little BF meter. Does anyone have any recommendations for something a little more trustworthy?

I’d like to do hydrostatic testing, but I’ve got no idea where to get that done around the house. I am sure I could drive to Los Angeles, but that’s about an hour or two away, no thanks.

Anyways, my knee is feeling a little better. It hurt a little on a walk I took while pushing my daughter in her stroller tonight. But, if it weren’t for that walk, I’d say it’s about 80-90% of what it was. My neck/shoulder, however, is still in pain. I suspect I’ve gotta pinched nerve in there that I’m not sure how to get unpinched. The pain is a constant pain from day-to-day. It doesn’t get better, it doesn’t get worse, it’s just there.

I worked my upper body for the first time in a week today, since I hurt my neck/shoulder. I went w/ about 60% of the heaviest weights I would normally use, did only 2 sets instead of 3, and 12-15 reps instead of 6-8.

I guess I’m starting to ramble here so I will shut it down now. Have a great weekend all!

I don’t get it. All of a sudden my weight has shifted. Today, 216.5 – BLAM – just like that. I’ve noticed lately that my wedding ring seems to be slipping a little more and tonight it seems like I’m fighting hard to keep it from flying off my hand. I also noticed this morning that I just about went to the next belt loop (the good direction, narrower, not wider) on my belt without even realizing it. I wonder why our bodies just go in spurts like this? I’ve been hovering at 221-223 for the last three weeks. This past week I’ve been hovering right at 221 until yesterday when I hit 220 and then today. Too weird. But, while it’s weird, I’ll take it! Tomorrow’s the ‘official’ weigh day, so hopefully the downward trend continues and doesn’t hiccup back up  bit. Until tomorrow. . .

Crud! My knee is still bugging me after a week on the treadmill (a few weeks ago) and then a hard leg workout. I’ve been wearing a brace during my cardio, but I think that’s making it worse. It’s getting a little less painful everyday, but I’m nervous it’s taking too long to heal. I haven’t worked my legs since the day I injured about a week ago. Crud.

To top it off, I know I’m whining, my neck is bugging me again. I think it was healing and then I slept on it wrong. The pain runs along the right shoulder blade and feels like something is pinched inside. This has prevented me from working my upper body. So I haven’t had any lifting in about a week.

On the flip side, I have been sticking to the HIIT-style cardio workouts that are shorter in duration than what I was doing for Cardio. In the last two days I’ve also added an extra low intensity cardio session at night on the recumbent bike at home. Shoot, I’m not doing anything else while watching TV, may as well get something out of it.

Watched the Biggest Loser premier tonight. It looks like they are getting bigger peeps than ever on the show. It’s almost like they’re looking for the largest folks they can find so they have more WOW effect at the end of the season. I guess that’s good for the contestants, but I wonder what all the weight loss so quickly does to their bodies and skin.

Off to bed. . .

Getting frustrated. Been trying some HIIT workouts for about two weeks now without seeing results. My BF was UP the last time I checked (I’m due to check again tomorrow). My weight is hovering around 220-223. This sucks! To add insult to injury, after a week on the treadmill, my knee started to ache. I had a heavy leg day earlier this week and now it REALLY hurts! Crap! Gotta brace on it now, popping Motrin, icing it, and sticking to the non-impact cardio/HIIT. I went back to my old favorite, the elliptical, today. I tried the upright bike the other day, that was boring and darn near impossible to do HIIT with. Oh well, enough moaning and groaning. Time for bed to get up and do it all over again tomorrow. . .