DarqByte

I’ve never really worked out on a regular basis. I’ve tried in the past for different stretches of time, but ultimately I’ve never been successful at it. The only times I’ve ever lasted any amount of time is when I got to work out with Laura. But with her early-morning schedule of working out conflicting with my work hours, I can’t join her in the morning.

So this month I thought I was making decent enough progress on losing weight that I might actually hit 175 pounds by February 1st. That’s not looking like it’s going to happen, with only even a couple of days late last week that killed some progress I’d made. Apparently my margin for error on losing weight is very small now, so there’s almost no way for me to continue losing weight with what my willpower looks like.

Couple that with the fact that I do generally want to be in better shape, and you’ve got the recipe for me to attempt to work out again. Now keep in mind losing weight via a proper diet and working out are two separate things. You can work out and not really lose weight. But in combination, they can actually work to help you lose even more weight and to get into better shape.

I started working out again last night at the UNLV gym. Being a student I can use the facilities for free, so I gave it a shot last night after my last class ended at 8:15pm. Yeah, that’s kinda late, especially since I get up for work at 6am and only have any kind of a break from 4pm-5:30pm, the time between when work ends and my first class begins. So it was a long, filled day.

But it went well. I’m a bit tired and slightly sore today, which means I pushed my body a bit, which is what you need if you’re trying to get into better shape and lose weight. All I really did was this elliptical-type machine, I don’t know what exactly it was. What I do know is that it required a bit of endurance and some leg strength in muscles I don’t normally use. I was sweaty and tired afterwards.

I’m going to vary my routine up, hitting different equipment at different times. I do want to do some weight training as well, but I need to figure out what muscles I want to focus on and when. In weight training, I’ve learned that you need to leave a day between times when you work out the same muscles, so if I do my upper body one day, I shouldn’t do them the next day. I think this’ll work to my advantage, since I want to combine cardio and fat burn with strength training. Oh, and I need to make sure I work out my abs, since that’s where most of my fat is.

Basically, my workout routine will be on weekdays. I can’t see myself heading up to UNLV on the weekends to work out, since Laura can’t go there, it’s far enough from my house that driving there to work out isn’t palatable, and I’d be taking up time I could be spending with Laura. My schedule will be:

Monday: After work ends at 4pm
Tuesday: After class ends at 8:15pm
Wednesday: Indoor soccer
Thursday: If indoor soccer starts 9pm or later, then indoor soccer. Otherwise, after class ends at 8:15pm
Friday: After work ends at 4pm

All of these times are pretty convenient for me in terms of distance from my last activity of the day and not overlapping with potential Laura time much. I get off of work before Laura does, so working out immediately afterwards doesn’t impact seeing her much. Indoor Soccer overlaps with her church choir practice. The only day that gets impacted much is Thursdays.

So today is day 2. Not sure what exactly I’ll be doing yet. Probably some weight training of some sort and maybe ending with a small dose of cardio.

With the exception of last weekend, I’ve been pretty damn busy the last three weeks. It’s had its highs and lows, but at least I wasn’t totally bored. Well, I think the pretty damn busy stretch is mostly ending.

Laura and I have gotten the house cleaned up a lot. Most of the outside work I needed to get done is done, save for clearing out debris and potentially planting two new plants. We want to get bar lights installed but that’ll take a little more time to get together. And we’ve got a couple get-togethers planned soon, but nothing big.

So I think we may be out of the woods. I may get to work out a lot more now. Let’s hope.

Speaking of working out, our neighbors want us to get a membership at Snap Fitness, this little gym within walking distance of our home. Apparently it’s $55 per couple per month for membership and there’s no contract, so that’s appealing. We may actually do it, because Wii Fit can only go so far for a cardiovascular workout.

Good times, good times…

Did I misspell that? Yeah, I think I did. Probably should have been something like Weight Update.

So as many of you know, especially since I mentioned it in a previous post, Laura and I are on Weight Watchers and also working out. I figured I’d give you all a progress report since we’ve been doing this for something like a month and a half or so.

My max weight was about 210 pounds. That’s pretty hefty for me, although apparently I concealed it well. Nobody would ever believe I was even over 200 pounds, especially my family. See, back when Laura and I first started dating, I weighed about 145 pounds. I was as skinny as a rail. Again, my max was 210.

Last night I weighed myself after a grueling day outside. I’ll talk about that in a bit, I suppose. In another post. I weighed in at about 200.5 midday. Before dinner, so I anticipate I woke up somewhere around 201. That’s not bad. Not great progress, considered I’ve got a friend who’s already lost something like 30 pounds in 3 and a half months, and Laura’s already lost about 11-12 pounds. But it’s progress. Eating better and working out have definitely helped turn the tide for me.

So I’ve lost nearly 10 pounds. Once I get under 200 consistently, something like 198 for a few days, then I’m considering that milestone #1. Getting under 200 pounds is my first milestone. The second one is getting under 185, which I imagine is going to be tough.

Laura says she thinks I’m skinnier than I used to be. I do know that my belt is a little looser than it used to be. At some point I’m hoping to be able to move it up one notch. I’m also hoping that all of this weight loss will help me fit into my good pair of pants, which I definitely don’t want to replace.

In any case, good progress. Nearly lost 10 pounds. I’ll post later as to how my uber-busy weekend went, specifically yesterday and all its outdoorsy goodness.

Man, I need to get back on the horse as far as creative post titles.

So this week, Laura decided to start Weight Watchers. This means I’m participating in Weight Watchers by proxy, since any meal she’ll cook at home will be WW-friendly, and any leftovers associated with be WW-friendly, and most meals on weekends will be the same.

We’ve both also started working out recently. She started about a couple weeks before I did, but I’ve gotten into the swing of things really well this week after having started last week.

I’m “participating” in WW with her, but not fully. That is to say, I’m not explicitly counting points and making sure I come in at or under my WW number every day. I don’t even 100% know what my number is, but we have an idea. So I’m just trying to keep a rough gauge of where I’m at each day and to keep numbers down. The biggest thing I’m doing outside of eating her WW cooking is to just try to be smarter about what I eat for lunch.

In any case, I think I’m progressing well. I’ve been feeling more awake this week and like I’ve got more energy throughout the day (although at this very moment, not so much, because last night was indoor soccer and I’m always annihilated for awhile after a game).

In the long run, I’m just hoping to lose some fat weight and get more in shape than I am now. I really don’t care what my actual weight ends up being, just as long as the fat on my torso goes away and I can do more physical things without getting so tired. Oh, and there are benefits in the bedroom too.

So far, so good.