Derailing The Man Boob Express

This week’s weigh in put me 1.5 pounds over last week, which I’m still having a hard time wrapping my head around because the day before, on the same scale, I was half a pound under the last week. And, no, I didn’t go home and eat all the ham!

I came home feeling the harsh sting of defeat. After a short chat with my brilliant Spirit Guide, I realized that there will be days like that and I can’t let it get me down, so I decided to hit the weights. I felt a bit better afterwards. 

I ended up lifting twice this weekend. My lower back has started to get sore again. I’m going to try my best not to irritate it too much, because I don’t want a repeat of what happened last year.

In culinary news, I had some tasty sushi for breakfast today, and I’m assembling the ingredients for an oven version of the Mexican dish “al pastor”, which should be super tasty (once I get around to actually cooking it).

I find it odd when people who are in far worse shape than I am give me fitness and nutrition advice. Some of these folks look like they’re two steps away from being issued a Rascal scooter, and they’re telling me about how cardio is sooo much more important than strength training, or that Clif bars have traces of arsenic in them (according to an article they read about brown rice syrup)… Meanwhile, they’re breathing heavily due to their walk to and from the Coke machine.

This week’s competition weigh in found me down 3.5 pounds from last week. Yippee!!! So in actuality, I’m 2 pounds below my starting weight. 

Yesterday, my bench, Olympic bar, weights, and weight rack were delivered to me. After a couple hours of putting it off, I finally disassembled the adolescent starter bench and erected (snicker) my awesome big boy bench! I broke in the new bench with a pretty good upper body routine. Didn’t go super heavy because I haven’t lifted for about half a year, but I still managed to work up a sweat and make my arms feel like jello. So I consider that a victory!

This upcoming week, I’m going to alternate between the Kinect cardio program (and see if I can do more than 15 minutes at a time), and lifting.

Last week, for my take to work meals, I made a chicken fajita type dish in my crock pot and served it over rice. I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to cook this week. I’m leaning towards a pot of lentils, or possibly a stir fry. 

The competition I’m in is a 12 week deal. I’m really curious to see where people are at the end of it. Week one, everyone (except for me it seems) was super gung-ho about it and lost a big chunk of weight. I’m not entirely sure if it was all water weight, fat, muscle, or some combination of the three.

I think it being 12 weeks could be an advantage to me, being a late starter and all, if my coworkers do what seems to be typical and go really hard for a few weeks then crap out. However, if they stay dedicated… I’m boned! Hehehe!

Thursday was the end of week 1 of the weight loss competition I joined. Between the very minimal exercise I did, and the horrible food that I ate, I ended up being 1.5# heavier than my starting weight. So I owed four bucks to the pot. Go me.

This weekend, I started to get my poop in a group. I purchased a Kinect for my xbox 360 and borrowed a game called Your Shape: Fitness Evolved. I chose this title for two reasons: 1.) I watched my spirit guide (the ever fantastic progressiveresistance) give the game a try, and though he made it look easy (big surprise there), he told me that it was a legit workout. 2.) My buddy was willing to lend it to me.

Anywho, so I went through my first workout with it. I wasn’t prepared for how ridiculously out of shape and practice I am! The first workout is basically the game feeling out where you are physically. It consisted of squats, lunges, and knee raises. Midway through the first set of lunges, I was ready to tap out.

Today, my legs are a victim of my laziness over the past 6 months.

In other, less whiny and painful news, by the weeks end, I should be the proud owner of a new (to me) Olympic bench, bar, weights, and weight rack… Huzzah!

The last two nights I’ve had dreams that I was a cast member of The Jersey Shore. I was heavily muscled, ultra tan, and my head had twelve pounds of hair gel on it. And all I recall from the dreams was that I was on my way to the gym.

I take this to mean that I need to stop being my typical, lazy self and get back to how I was for a good chunk of last year. 

There is a “Biggest Loser” style competition that’s about to start in my office, and I’m signing up. Progress and whining to follow. 

Oh yeah, and I’m finally getting an Olympic “real boy” bench!

After two months of sedentary living, and a slipping diet, I am still able to do ten (pretty decent) push-ups! There may still be hope for me yet!

The Man-boob Express is back on track to be derailed! I swear that sounded better in my head…

So for those just tuning in, I’ve been having difficulties with my hips and back. After a few weeks of pain and stiffness, I decided to go to a chiropractor (or Witch Doctor as a couple of my friends call them) to see if there’s anything that could be done. Turns out that my hips weren’t moving like they should be and I had a few discs that needed to be adjusted… there’s a much longer version of what was wrong, but I don’t feel like breaking out the dictionary.

Anywho, I’m finally starting to get results from the chiropractic care I’ve been receiving. Rather than waking up feeling like someone was wringing my spine out like a dish rag, I’m usually only waking up stiff (snicker)… and hopefully that will go away after a while. So now, I’m going to resume exercising. This time, I’m going to start a bit slower so I don’t wind up back where I was.

I don’t really have much else to say at present, but I’ll probably start posting more often now that I’m getting back to work.

And by country, I mean lower body exercise.

So here’s the thing: my mid and lower back have been really sore and when I try to do goblet squats (my go-to leg lift), it feels like my back is ripping in half. Also, I can do a few Bulgarian split squats on my right leg, but none on my left because I lack the strength and balance. Front squats hurt the bejeezus out of my elbows, wrists, and fingers. Back squats are pretty much out of the picture because I can’t safely negotiate the bar onto my shoulders (I don’t have a squat rack). When I try lunges, the 300 pounds I’m putting onto the toes of my back foot feels like it’s going to break them. And finally, I haven’t tried deadlifting or clean/pressing since my back started acting up for fear of messing myself up further.

This seems like a laundry list of whining and complaining, but it’s not. I don’t want sympathy, I’d like a solution. Any advice on new exercises or alternatives to the ones listed would be much appreciated. 

I weigh under 300 pounds. Yay for more progress!!!