YooHoo...here I am....

It has been so long since I blogged that I almost forgot how to log into this site!! I apologize for being so elusive...like a butterfly...lately, but with the wedding and all I have been neglecting duties and people in my life that aren't...well...weren't my daughter and her wedding. But that is over and the bride and groom are back home beginning life as their own family.
Now to get back to my life.
I don't think many of us overate at the wedding but it was really good food. I know that we indulged in some awesone stout right after dinner but I heard there was still room for wine in the wee hours of the night. Back to the gym you Heathens!
Anyway. The wedding was beautiful and I felt truly blessed to have my family and friends there and (did I mention this before) I got a son without the labor pains! And he is a wonderful addition to our family.
I feel that I am standing at a crossroad right now in my life and I have important decisions to make. One of those decisions that I have been putting off, naw, seriously resisting is JOINING THE GYM. Someone tell me it is air conditioned!!
I have come to the conclusion that I am just not motivated on my own. No, I don't motivate myself. Nothing is working to make me work.
I belonged to the gym once and I paid money every month but I never went. I was thinking that maybe if I made a gym date to meet some of you there, I will feel too guilty to let you down and I would have to show up. NOt that I want to partner exercise, I KNOW I'm a loner exerciser, but I would at least feel obligated to show up. What are you all thinking?
And maybe Microe can show me some weight lifting moves--hes so strong now that I saw him pull a galvanized steel bucket apart with his bare hands! Or maybe he was just really excited about getting the beer on ice! So should I spend the $$ or what? I want to hear from all the gym goers???

In Memory of Fat...

Memorial Day weekend is upon us and hopefully you will all take a moment of silence in memory of the fat you have shed. Sweetpea and I are headed for ShortStory's daughters wedding in Indiana Saturday. It will be a challenge to not over eat and drink too much, but I'm up for it.

Went to Mug Club Wednesday. Had 3 beers (encouraged by ShortStory no less), and then a night cap at home. Felt it in the morning Thursday and at the gym Thursday night. Need to stick to my 2 beers on a school night limit or simply drink diet-Pepsi on Wednesdays.

Progress. Down a couple more pounds. Weightlifting is not going to bad considering I am only getting to the gym about twice a week now. Notable, Tuesday night I rack pulled 550 pounds a new personal best. Most significant is that it is jean day at work and I am sitting here in a pair of size 40" waist jeans I haven't been able to wear for two years. Bonus!

Hope to hear lots of reports next week! l8r Alpha Microe

Summer Plan

I'm holdin' my own. I'm down 6 to 7 lbs from when we started this -- when was that? April 1st? And I'm holdin' on to that pretty good and with very little effort. I think I have past that point where I've moved from a "diet" to a "healthy life style" -- I really don't think much about eating good stuff -- it's what I WANT to eat and I'm not at all tempted by the crap I used to eat. Don't get me wrong, I'm no saint -- still enjoying my dark beers, but even that is in moderation (for the most part).

I'm not being quite as good at the gym as I should - I really wanted my minimum average to be 4/wk and I am hitting 3/wk consistantly. At that rate, I don't feel like I'm getting near as much out of the weight training as I otherwise would and I really ought to be getting my cardio workout in more often if I really expect to burn off my saddle bags.

So what to do about this delema -- well I bought a bike this weekend. Okay, to tell the truth, I did not buy a bike because I'm overwhelmingly concerned about fitness (but that is a BIG bonus!). My sweetie (a recent addition to my life) is an avid cyclist and I am looking forward to our spending many fun hours over the spring/summer/fall months peddling around. I have the perfect body for cycling -- good strong lower body -- finally I can put these thighs to good use!

So that's my summer plan -- continue a healthy diet, gym as often as I conveniently can, and enjoy my new bike. So if you have a bike and you want to go out for an adventure - give me a call, I'm in!

??????

I sit at my computer,
My fingers lightly aligned on the keyboard,
Wondering,
Where o where have the diet bloggers gone?

Prehaps they have been distracted,
pre-occupied,
Attention drawn to other subjects,
More pressing and urgent...

ShortStory caught in the chaos of a quickly approaching nuptials ceremony,
10-8-ious drawn to a new love while dashing her flute on the rocks of dispair.
Sweetpea stranding between Stargates on the Sci-Fi channel,
Ginger lost among the ditch lillies in search of the perfect mulch.

So here I am.
Alone,
Reporting on my progress, my trials and tribulations,
Maybe I should get a life.

But I feel so good lately,
More stamina, more strength, more horny, more alive.
I've come to need the exercise, if I miss it I feel deprived.
It's just so quite in this blog lately.

So come back,
ShortStory, 10-8-ious, Sweetpea, Ginger,
Keep this old man company,
l8r, the Alpha Male......

Lunch with the Alpha Male

A smoked chicken breast, a few sun dried tomato Wheat Thins, a piece of cheese, a bowl of Strawberries and a 32oz bottle of H2O, lunch with the Alpha Male. Just got back from my walk. A little tired today. Been exercising particularly hard this past week. Trying to get in shape for a Boy Scout Campout and Mountain Biking at Fort Custer this weekend. Hope it doesn’t rain.

Was talking to Aaron down at Strength Beyond about re-arraigning my workout schedule to accommodate my summer activity. I don’t want to stop working out, but I can’t commit four nights a week now that the boat is in the water. We talked about some options and I decided to modify to 3 workouts per week, Tuesday and Thursday nights and Sunday afternoon. Same workout rotations just spread them out. Aaron said a lot of older guys (like me over 40), go to this as it gives them more muscle recovery time. So I started into it last week. In the mean time I have been riding my bicycle as much as I can to get my butt in shape for Fort Custer.

Progress this week – 3 lbs more. I’m pleased that the Cinco de Mayo Blue Margaritas didn’t seem to hurt. An interesting thing happened Sunday. Sweetpea and I had the day to ourselves so we decided to go to breakfast at the Breakfast Place in Lawton. Everything on the menu seemed huge! I ordered a Steak Omlet and it was so big I could only eat half. It tasted good, but as I’m eating I quickly start getting this bloated feeling. I got a box and half the omelt and potatoes are sitting in the fridge at home, waiting to be a science experiment. I felt crappy until the afternoon when I went and worked out at the gym. I’m taking all this as a good sign that my healthy eating habits are taking over and pigging out on a big greasy breakfast just isn’t going to be my thing anymore. Hope I can keep it that way.

Alphaout….l8r

Alpha Progress

10-8-ious asks, "Where did everybody go?", to which I answer, "The gym to work out!" Yes it is a busy time of year and finding time to blog is tough. I have been running all over the place, seems like there is always something else to be done. But that is another Blog. This is about my diet blog.

Minor setback last week. I had an elbow problem. Seems I possibly had an infection in my left elbow that triggered a bout of gout in the same elbow, or at least that is the theory without poking me full of needles. They ran some blood work and Uric Acid was high. Anyway it hurt like hell for two days and swelled up big time and knocked me off my weight lifting regiment for about 5 days. But I was back at the gym on Monday and the elbow is feeling much better and lifting has not been a problem.

Since I have had a history of gout, though no recent flare-ups, and this being the first in a joint other than my big toe, I decided to do research into what may have caused the high Uric Acid. It always used to be brought on by bad diet + no exercise + too much red wine or dark beer, etc. But my diet has been stellar, I hadn't had any red wine or dark beer in 3 days before the attack and I've been exercising like a banshee. A little research on some sites on gout.com (yes they is actually a site) and I have some big clues. First, weight loss (especially quick losses) can raise Uric Acid. Second, dehydration keeps the body from flushing it through the kidneys, and I think I have been dehydrated. Third, foods that increase Uric Acid include Spinach and Mushrooms which I have been eating like 5 days a week in large quantities (my lunch salad). On sets of gout are often triggered by trama to a joint. The doctor thinks this trama was the infection that I had from a scrape. Put it all together and bingo, I'm up at 3 am with an elbow the feels like someone hit it with a sledge hammer.

So I have modified things to prevent a re-occurrence while still staying on the weight loss program. First plenty of water, at least 40 - 48 ounces a day. Second limit spinach and mushrooms, I replaced them in my lunch this week with Strawberries, Red Grapes and Wheatables. Fourth, take care of the cuts and scrapes. It seems to be working, though you can never tell with gout.

Progress!!! I'm down another 4 pounds. Weightlifting is going good. Feeling good, clothes are fitting better. Lifted weight last night new Personal Record Dead Lift. Which got me thinking... So I went back through the archives to my first blog on this diet site. March 1, two months ago to almost the day. It was about me doing deadlifts in the gym, lifting 335 pounds and tweaking my back in the process. Since then I have worked out about 32 times in the gym. What a difference some hard work will make. Last night I deadlifted 405 pounds, no back pain, a good strong lift. And it felt really encouraging breaking the 400 pound mark.

What has my weight done? Since the first of the year I am down over 35 pounds. So while my weight went down about 11% my deadlift went up 21%. By the way, when I went to see the doctor last week, my blood pressure was lower than it had been in over a year 110/80.

Another thing I noticed in some of my early blogs was I talked about getting through hump day with limiting my beer consumption at Mug Club. Well tonight was Mug Club and for the second week in a row I drank Diet Pepsi. And I didn't feel deprived. Progress is so sweet.

One other observation, I think the change in the lunch menu from Spinach/Tuna Salads to Fruit with Smoked Chicken Breast has put the metabolism back into high gear. I'll have to see if it is the food or just the change. Stay tuned..... From the Alpha Male, l8r.

Routine Maintenance

Where did everyone go? Has everyone fallen off the wagon and they are too embarassed to blog? Spring is here and your all too busy to blog? You've fallen and you can't get up? Somebody send a signal!

Last week I was in maintenance mode -- which I'm not going to beat myself up over, but I'm not where I want to be yet, so I need to push forward. I had several distractoins from attending the gym - some work related and some pleasure related, but I only got there ONCE last week (UGH!). I'm doing really pretty well with my food though -- I'm hanging out in phase 1 1/2 of South Beach - which is to say, I'm mostly in phase one in my routine, but I stray over to phase two occasionally. But I only really blew it on one meal -- a full plate Mexican dinner (which was really good by the way) but even that was a chicken dish and nothing fried.

I've just begun a new (and really incredible) relationship, which of course I'm really happy about. But relationships are notoriosly not good for my diet plans -- I usually end up eating more often and not good stuff and I fall out of exercise routines (it's hard to get up and go to the gym when you didn't get enough sleep the night before!). So I am doubly pleased with this guy because he is a VERY healthy eater - lots of veggies and fruit and granolla and yogart; lots of whole grains and natural ingrediants, no peservatives, that kinda stuff. And he is very active - hiking, canoing, he's a cylcalyst, etc. so we tend to do active things together and he's supportive of my efforts. (Of course this is just the icing on the cake - I won't go into all his other wonderful and beautiful traits here).

So - the bottom line - it was a maintenance week - I went down a little, I came back up a little, pretty much in the same spot I was 2 weeks ago. But not discouraged at all.