Exercise Log (8/7)

Elliptical trainer: general 25.0 -389.0 calories
30 biceps curls
Hamstring stretches

Not too shabby. I’d like to get the time to go back to hitting the elliptical and the bike both on the same night, but this is my busy season, and everyone wants a piece of the birthday boy.

Food Log (8/7)

Kellogg’s Special K Honey Nut Cereal Bar 3.00 270
Lloyd’s Barbeque Company Sredded Chicken 2.00 140
Kroger Enriched Hamburger Buns 1.00 120
Lloyd’s Barbeque Company Shredded Bbq Pork 4.00 360
Coleslaw 1.00 147
Dole Greener Selection Salad 1.00 15
Kroger Bacon And Tomato Dressing 0.50 60
Cucumbers, With Peel 1.00 8
Buffalo Wild Wings Boneless Chicken Wing 3.00 591
Miller Brewing Company Miller Lite 2.00 192
Ore-Ida Shoestring French Fries 1.00 140

That was a really bad day for me. Free barbeque at work for lunch and hot wings for dinner as part of a slightly early birthday celebration means I absolutely trashed my calorie goal for the day. I want to keep it under 1600 calories a day, either before or after working out, and I had over 2000. Yeesh. Still, my workout got me back to barely under my goal, so at least there’s that. And hell, you only turn 27 once, right? One bad day won’t kill me.

Exercise Log (8/6)

30 biceps curls (10 preacher, 10 hammer, 10 twisting)
stretching (back, hamstrings, knees)
Absolutely no cardio!

My job has two aspects that we generally do. One of these is sedentary desk work (typing, very hard on the hands and eyes). The other aspect is printing work (we do this in the summer when we have no typing to do). Printing work is a lot of standing, twisting, throwing boxes around, sweating, and suffering (also hard on the hands, depending on if you have to spiral bind books or sort). I’d spent all day in printing, so by the time I got home, my back was screaming at me (I hurt it over there a few years ago and it hasn’t been the same since).

I like to take at least one day off a week anyway, and since I was already sore from physical stuff, I made last night a light night. One thing I did do is start some light stretching. At one point I could do a full-out Chinese splits, and I’d like to get that flexible again one of these days. I’ve lost most of that Gumby-stretchiness (that was at least 15 years ago), but I can get it back if I work at it.

Food Log (8/6)

Kellogg’s Special K Honey Nut Cereal Bar 1.00 90
Texas Roadhouse Mock Rolls 2.00 454
Chicken, Breaded And Fried, Light Meat (Breast Or Wing) 1.00 494
Stouffer’s Harvest Apples 1.00 190
Weight Watchers Lemon Cake 1.00 90
Weight Watchers Pineapple Beef Teriyaki 1.00 260
Quaker Cinnamon Sugar Multigrain Minis Quakes 1.00 60

More leftovers for lunch/dinner. That would be the light meat breaded and fried chicken and the mock rolls, all from Texas Roadhouse, as well as the last of the Stuoffer’s Harvest Apples (which are excellent, by the way). I was hungry and it had to be eaten, plus it was good, so I’m going to cut myself a lot of slack during Birthday Week. So long as I’m not gaining weight, I’m going to relax a little (and keep up my workouts, of course).

Exercise Log (8/5)

Elliptical trainer: general 25.0 minutes, -389.0 calories
Bicycling – stationary, light 15.0 minutes -135.0 calories

Nothing special to report here. Another impressive night of the elliptical, and I’m proud of myself for having energy enough to hit the bike for 15 minutes afterward, even if it was already well past 1AM. I need to start working out earlier, I think, so I can get more done.

Food Log (8/5)

Campbell’s Healthy Request Mexican Style Chicken Tortilla Soup 1.00 130
Kroger Bacon And Tomato Dressing 0.50 60
Dole Greener Selection Salad 1.00 15
Kellogg’s Special K Honey Nut Cereal Bar 1.00 90
Tyson Center Cut Bacon 0.25 13
York Peppermint Patty (snack Size) 3.00 210
Smoky Mountain Taffy Logs 0.33 53
Birdseye Steamfresh Frozen Mixed Vegetables 1.00 60
Texas Roadhouse Mock Rolls 1.50 341
Baked Sweet Potato 2.00 200
Sirloin Steak 1.00 400

I had my early birthday dinner with my parents on Tuesday (my birthday is on Friday 8/8), hence the steak and baked sweet potato and Texas Roadhouse mock rolls. I love those rolls, even though I know they’re way to calorie-filled to enjoy on a regular basis. Still, you have to have at least one day a week where you can just enjoy yourself reasonably, and I figure steak and rolls once in awhile is good for the spirit, as well as the body.

Exercise Log (8/4)

Elliptical trainer: general 25.0 minutes, -389.0 calories
30 dumbbell curls (10 preacher, 10 hammer, 10 twisting)

A new personal best on the elliptical! Thanks to a timely phone call from a friend, I was able to bulldoze through my usual 20 minutes, then add another 5 to crank it up to 25 minutes of non-stop elliptical training! I’ve done 40 minutes before, but that was always 20 in the morning and 20 later in the day, but this was a new best for straight walking.

My arms got a hell of a workout, too. Not only did I do 30 curls again (twice this week, which is a sign that I might be serious about doing something to make me look better as well as feel better), I also got an early birthday present from my parents in the form of Rock Band. You know how everyone says rock drummers are the fittest people on the planet? That’s no lie. Even playing the plastic toy drums on easy wore me out! I wonder if it would help my arms if I wore those jogging weights on them while playing… maybe I can turn my love of video games and my renewed interest in fitness down the same path.

Has anyone out there lost weight using video games?

Food Log (8/4)

Kellogg’s Special K Honey Nut Cereal Bar 1.00 90
Dole Greener Selection Salad 1.00 15
Cucumbers, With Peel 1.00 8
Kroger Bacon And Tomato Dressing 0.50 60
Campbell’s Healthy Request Mexican Style Chicken Tortilla Soup 1.00 130
Tyson Center Cut Bacon 0.50 25
Leeann Chin Peking Chicken 1.00 477
Bd’s Mongolian Barbeque Lo Mein Noodles 1.00 161
Birds Eye Asian Steamed Vegetables 1.00 110
Stouffer’s Harvest Apples 1.00 190
Kroger Mini Crisps Rice Snacks Apple Cinnamon 1.00 60

Had a CORN festival yesterday, what with all the leftover Chinese food, leftover soup, and leftover apples. Y’know, Clean Out Refrigerator Night? I also finished off the last of a bag of rice crisps with the apples, which made a good, relatively healthy dipping combination. Not as good as chips and salsa, but hey, it was decent for dessert-ish food.

Exercise Log (8/3)

Elliptical trainer: general 20.0 minutes -311.0 calories

Note: I really wanted to do more, but it was already well past 1 AM when I got on the elliptical, and by the time I did my 20 minutes I was feeling too lousy to continue on. It is probably related to the fact that I MSG’d myself half to death satisfying my craving for something spicy and Chinese. I still don’t feel at my peak, truthfully. Feeling a little groggy and dull from lack of sleep.

Food Log (8/3)

Tyson Center Cut Bacon 6.00 300
Sliced Tomatoes 3.00 6
Kroger White Bread 1.00 70
Kroger Mini Crisps Rice Snacks Apple Cinnamon 3.00 180
Weight Watchers Orange Sesame Chicken 1.00 320
HEB Good To Go! Rotisserie Chicken – Honey Jalapeño 2.00 360
Birds Eye Asian Steamed Vegetables 1.00 110

Note: The HEB Rotisserie Chicken is not actually that. It’s some sort of jalapeño-infused Asian chicken I got from Max Orient at the mall. Odds are it’s got way more calories than this filler food, but I had to put something there and I figure the honey balances out the stir-frying sauce or whatever they use. Most of this stuff is based on guesstimates, anyway, which is why I try to stay under my daily calorie goal even before working out, just to be safe.