Quickie!

I know that it's been awhile, so I wanted to give a quick update of my status.

After a trip to AZ full of Mexican food, a visit from Mom, a trip to Chicago, and a trip to Grand Rapids on my end, coupled with a visit from Tushar's in-laws from India, I haven't been to the gym in a long time. And my food consumption was pretty crap.

We finally made it back to the gym last week (though there were other trips since my last post prior to AZ). We played two games of raquetball to 15 followed by one to 11. Then I ran and did a quick three pull ups, then met Tushar upstairs where we played some one-on-one basketball to eleven. I managed to hold my own, loosing 11-10. It was quite the cardio workout, but it felt GREAT to have exercised. Thursday I then went and played two sets of tennis with Chris Andersen, which I lost 6-4, 7-5. It was a challenge to switch raquet sports after so much raquetball, but it was also very fun.

This week Tuesday Tushar and I went to the CCRB again and played three games of raquetball to 15, though number two went to 16 before I finally lost. He won number's one and two, while I picked up the third. There were a couple of crotch shots that we didn't know the rules to (we do now) but it was fun. Then I went and did three pull ups followed by one and a half. Next we went upstairs and played a game of full court 5-on-5 basketball! Urgh! It was a lot of cardio for one night, but I was able to play the basketball game without much problem. I might try and go play basketball from time to time now that I know I can do it. That's all I've got on tap for this week as far as exercise goes.

Foodwise, I seem to be having issues comsuming vast quantities of ice cream. Hopefully the urges will subside (or I just stop eating it).

The good news is that even after all the time off and all the bad eating, I'm right back to the 237-240 range (depending on the morning...). Hopefully I'll be able to pick up dropping some more weight soon.

Gym Update

I managed to get down to the CCRB last night for my weekly racquetball game with Tushar. We were supposed to meet at about 7:40, though we didn't have a court reserved until 8. He didn't even get there until about 8, but there weren't any courts available anyway.

So while I was waiting I ran a mile on the treadmill! Fun and exciting. I did manage a mile in 7:37 this time, though! I knew after the 8:45 of the other day that I could do better, but I wasn't expecting a full minute better. I don't really like the treadmill for time trials' sake, but it is the easiest way for me to time myself down to the second.

We played two games of racquetball, with me injuring my right calf in the course of the second game. Thus, no usual third game. We are playing much better and at a much faster pace now then when we started several months ago. It really is a fun game. Tushar bested me in the first game 15-10, but I got him back in the second game by the same score. I hit him really solidly with my racquet in the second game. He snuck up on me and I hit him on my follow through. Oh, well...

After racquetball I went up to the weight room and did the inverted-bench crunches that I have come to favor. I used my normal 10 lb plate on my chest, with the bench set to 5 (which is the highest this one goes). I think that this one's 5 is about the same as the Y's 4. I did my three sets of 15 to completion. I'm up to 3.5 pullups now, too. I did 3.5, 2, and 2.5 before calling it a night.

My legs are really sore today. I have been making an effort to walk much faster to the busstop the last two days, and that combined with my workout last night seems to have drained the musculature of my legs. Blah...

Weighed in at 238 this morning, though! Thirty full pounds are history!

Burger King

Aimee and I were feeling a little "whatever" late last week, and we were hungry. Not wanting to put forth any effort regarding dinner, we thought Burger King sounded good. We hadn't been there in months.

I got a six pack of those new "Burger Shots" (660 calories, 33 g fat (13.5 sat, 1.5 trans), 1260 mg sodium), a med fry (480, 23 (5, 0), 820), and a med Coke Zero. Aimee got a Whopper, which I ordered without mayo out of habit (520, 23 (9, 1), 880), a med fry, and a med Coke Zero. Leo got the smallest container of Kraft Mac'n Cheese that I'd ever seen (160, 5 (1.5, 0), 340) with apple fries (which he doesn't even know comes with caramel sauce) and 2% white milk.

So what did I get for my 1140 cal and 56 g fat? A MAJOR disappointment! The burgers weren't very good, I didn't even finish the fries, and the Coke Zero I got didn't taste at all like the stuff in the cans in my fridge. I literally dumped 3/4 of the drink down the drain.

Aimee seemed to enjoy her dinner, but I asked her a few days later what she thought anyways. She said it perfectly: "It wasn't as good as it used to be." I agree. I won't be going back to Burger King ever unless they have some salads or something that isn't overloaded with fat and salt to the point of rendering the food tasteless. After eating much more healthily for a while, my palate has for sure become more refined and in tune with differing tastes.

Here is a link to the Burger King nutrition information. Look at all the salt!! No wonder the food doesn't taste like anything!

Gym Update

I visited the Y today. I ran a mile on the treadmill at no incline in 8 minutes 45 seconds. I can still only do two pullups. I did crunches on the decline bench with a 10 lb plate on my chest. 15, 11, then 10. I had the bench in the fourth position.

I am really happy with the mile time! I hadn't set out to run a mile since middle school, and I was able to do it faster than I'd hoped. My goal was to do a 10 minute mile. I did way better than that! I'm getting a little frustrated about my pullups. I guess I just need to do them more than once a week while expecting miraculous gains in ability. I'll do more on Tuesday or Wednesday after racquetball. I'm not too thrilled with my ab work, either. A week and a half ago I was able to do three sets of 15 with a 10 lb plate. I think that I was just too tired because I did them after running. Again, I'll do more after racquetball this week.