Psychosis pays off

The psychotic weight loss plan has worked. I have taken to having coffee before running at work. I have lost another 4 lbs. since starting phase 2, and the Wii says I am no longer obese, just overweight.

And just in time for the cruise. I've decided phase 2 applies on the ship. In addition, 3 miles a day minimum on the treadmill. My goal is to at least maintain, if not lose, weight on the trip. For excursions I'm thinking about adding a couple that are physically active, like rock climbing.

Phase 3 will begin at the end of the summer, maybe even before. I have some even more psycho rules to add to the self-torture routine. Will blog on the ultimate goal later.

As expected

Guy who can't sing and has no range and no personality wins American Idol.

Well at least his title is accurate. That's all Americans want these days. Same old bland bubblegum crap.

Unfortunately my exposure to this horrid series cannot be avoided. Even if I try to go to bed I can hear it through the basement floor. Dammit.

Oh well, I'll end with a great quote from the Colbert Report this week, referring to a new robotic teacher unveiled in Japan:

"Teachers aren't supposed to BE mindless automatons, they're supposed to PRODUCE them!"

Exercising Discipline

After I began working at the NRC, I realized that I needed to lose some weight. The frustration and negative habits I had picked up at Carderock had ballooned me to a peak of 265 lbs. My NRC ID picture looks pretty bad. On the first day at NRC I went down to the on-site gym and signed up.

For the previous two years I had focused on weight training with limited cardio sporadically thrown into my workout. My alcohol consumption was at an all-time high the last year at Carderock, and my eating habits were pretty inconsistent and unhealthy. Though I had reached my goal of benching 300 lbs while working at Carderock, I had gotten out of shape in the cardio department.

Phase I

Not long after I started at NRC, I got into a weight loss pool competition with a couple of my roomies. I had already started my diet, but figured a competition would be a good motivator to add on top. Phase I of my diet involved going to the gym for cardio workouts three times a week, doing elliptical for 30-45 minutes each workout. In addition, I modified my diet to eating a healthy lunch, no breakfast, and a normal dinner. On weekends, I would eat normally.

I added additional stipulations. I could eat a meal replacement bar for lunch except for the occasional bagel deli sandwich in the cafeteria. I worked in two sets of lifting to my exercise regimen. When it came time for Lent, I gave up everything to drink except water and unsweetened ice tea and desserts. In the meantime I upped the elliptical workouts to 5 times a week.

At the beginning of February, I switched the cardio to the treadmill. I began running 10:00 minute miles for two miles, which at a weight of 256 seemed like a long way and it wore me out. I did this three times a week for a couple of weeks, then added another day of running to do 8 miles per week. I was slowly increasing the speed by a tenth of a mile per hour each week. I added a mile run and/or a bike ride to bring the cardio back up to 5 times a week.

In early March, near the weight deadline for the competition, I began running in increments of 3 miles 3 times a week. I went back to 10:00 minute miles. My first goal was a 5k in 30 minutes, which I accomplished pretty quickly. After a few weeks of ramping up the speed slowly, I got the 5k time down to 27:30. The new goal is a 25:00 minute 5k, which I am working toward now. I added 1.5 mile runs, as fast as possible, to the workout to bring it back up to 5 days of cardio per week, and have now made it 2 miles on the off days. On the compressed weeks, I do 4 mile runs to make up the difference, and am now averaging 13 -14 miles per week. In addition to the running, I have added two weight workouts and a cross training day on Wednesday (run 2 miles as fast as possible, perform weight lifting workout, run 1 mile as fast as possible). My weight is hovering around 242, which is approximately 53% of my weight loss goal. My weight vs. time since I started losing is given in the chart below:

Phase II:

My ultimate goal is currently 225, and I will re-evaluate once reaching that goal and stabilizing. However, to reach that goal, I must implement a rather drastic Phase II effort. There are several issues, including my desire to retain most of my upper body strength and a missing thyroid gland, so I will have to push myself farther and farther to keep losing weight.

Here is the plan:

Keep the current running and lifting schedule:

Day	M	T	W	Th	F	S	S
Exercise	3-4 mile run	2 mile run as fast as possible Bench and Back workout	Cross training: 2 mile run Arm-centric Weightlift 1 mile run	2 mile run as fast as possible Squats, Abs, and Dips	3-4 mile run	Climbing or bike riding – 30 minutes minimum	Swimming or bike-riding

In addition to the above exercise regimen, I must add dietary restrictions. This is where self-control is really going to be in effect and enhanced.

Phase II: Eating Rules.

1. No dessert
2. No snacks
3. No alcohol, unless it is replacing a meal (2 drink limit for meal replacement)
4. Lunch is limited to a meal replacement bar.
5. Breakfast is not allowed unless aforementioned replacement bar is consumed and lunch is foregone.
6. Dinner must be limited to a minimal portion. If eating out, eat half and take the rest home.
7. To combat post-workout fatigue, 1 teaspoon of peanut butter may be ingested only to prevent fainting.

I plan to start this phase next week. Once I reach the goal of 225 lbs I can ramp up cardio workouts to compensate for an increased energy level intake and stabilize the weight. After all, running at 242 is very noticeably easier than running at a weight of 265. I can’t wait to see what 225 feels like.

Wish me luck,

J