January 2012
3 posts
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Day 56 - Runs, Push-ups, Sit-ups, Squats
January 2, 2012
Workout:
Did my own made-up circuit today. Sort of like something you might see with Crossfit. I’ve done this one before…
3 Rounds for time: 1/3 mile run, 25 push-ups, 30 sit-ups, 40 squats
Round 1: 7:07
Round 2: 8:19
Round 3: 9:29 Total: 24:57
So, in all I did:
1 mile run, 75 push-ups, 90 sit-ups, 120 squats
This was hard. I was sucking wind on the runs. Not...
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Day 55 - 2012 is here
January 1, 2012
Workout: None
Food: Clean
Not a lot to say about today. Haven’t worked out in a few days. This is a recurring problem.
Weight: 196.6
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Day 54
Happy New Year’s Eve!
I actually went to a pot-luck thing at church tonight and didn’t cheat. You’re proud of me, I’m sure.
No workout - food was clean.
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December 2011
28 posts
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Day 53 - Weekly Weigh In
Weigh-In
Weight: 195.8 lbs (-13.4 lbs)
BF%: 22.5% (-3.5%)
My weight was unusually low, which always happens the morning after I run in the evening. BF% actually is up just a touch from last week - these are based on my stomach measurement.
I didn’t know what to expect after Christmas break. Holding steady is sure a lot better than losing ground.
No workout today - clean food.
Original...
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Day 52 - 3.65 Mile Run
December 29, 2011
Workout
I did the 3.65 mile route in my neighborhood today. Bad idea - it was cold! I figured I’d warm up once I got going. Not so. My legs, face, neck, and hands hurt. My lungs did too - in fact, my whole chest cavity felt frozen from breathing in all that cold air. I know - whine, whine. Oh well - going to the treadmill in the gym next time.
3.65 mile run
Time: 32:52...
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Day 51
December 28, 2011
Not a lot to report today. No workout (for a while, now…). Food was clean.
I dropped four pounds overnight and weighed in at 200.4
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Day 50 - Day after the Christmas food coma
December 27, 2011
Back from Christmas at Oklahoma, where I ate and ate and ate - and almost none of it Primal food. Feeling good to eat better food again.
Weight: 204.6
That’s a huge jump - about 7 pounds. That’ll come down quick, though.
No workout today. Food was clean.
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Day 46 through 49 - Christmas
December 23 through 26, 2011
Merry Christmas!
Angela and I spent Christmas in Oklahoma with my family. Good to see everybody again! We only make it back to Oklahoma about once a year.
I had decided that I’d try to stick to my Primal ways, but deep down inside I figured I might not. Well, I was right - I didn’t. Pretty much a cheat-fest the whole time!
A few notes on cheating:
As...
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Day 45 - Weekly Weigh-In
December 22, 2011
Did a weigh-in today:
Weight: 197.4 (-11.8 lbs)
BF%: 21.9 (-4.1%)
Lean Mass: 154.2 lbs (-0.6lbs)
Fat Mass: 43.2 lbs (-11.2 lbs)
So, weight is dropping. Lost almost 12 pounds now in just under two months. Bodyfat dropping as well, which is more important. You can see that I’ve not really lost any significant muscle mass.
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Day 44 - 3.65 mile run
December 21, 2011
Workout:
I did a 3.65 mile run today. This is a route that I ran for the first time a few weeks ago. At that point, it was the furthest I’d run in years. So, here are my numbers today:
3.65 mile run (neighborhood) Time: 30:50 (8:26)
Today’s run was about 1:30 or so faster than a few weeks ago. I’m also pretty happy to break the 8:30 pace mark.
Food
Meal 1:...
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I'm afraid to eat junky food
I’m 44 or so days into this Paleo/Primal thing, and in the last 6 and a half weeks, I’ve only really cheated on one single meal. My body has grown very accustom to paleo/primal eating.
Today I ate two rolos. That’s a mere 46 calories of candy. Just under 8 tiny grams of sugar. And I felt like crap for about 10 minutes. It was remarkable. Immediately I felt sick to my stomach and...
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Day 37 through 43
December 14 through 20
This is really a week-in-review post, but nearly every day has been the same story. To be extremely brief…
Food:
Clean, no cheats, but not a lot of variety. I’m also not really eating all that much (more on that later).
Workout:
None. That’s right - no working out in the last week. Pretty pathetic. I keep finding excuses. Ultimately, I’m going to...
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Day 36 - Rest
December 13, 2011
Not enough working out. I need to be more consistent. Food was clean.
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Day 35: Clean and Jerks, and a 1 Mile PR
December 12, 2011
Pretty excited about today - finally doing some power cleans in the gym, plus a 1 mile run PR (on a treadmill).
Workout
Warm-up:
2 rounds of: 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 10 sit-ups, 15 squats
Workout:
Power cleans, 5 x 3
135 x 3
155 x 3
165 x 3
95 x 3 (Clean and Jerk)
95 x 3 (Clean and Jerk)
Shoulder felt pretty good, but I lost form on the 165 set.
Cash-out:
1 mile run...
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Day 34: Rest
December 11, 2011
Not a lot to report today. Food was clean - no cheating.
Weight: 199.6. Back under 200!
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Day 33 - 5K PR
December 10, 2011
I ran a 5K today in my neighborhood, and I set a 2+ year PR! My fastest ever 5K time is around 22 minutes, but that was on a treadmill, and a long time ago. Tonight’s was the real deal (in other words, not on a treadmill), and my time was…
25:45
Food was clean.
Weight: 201. Up a bit from yesterday.
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Month One Review
November 8 through December 9
The last month has been GREAT. Here are some quick stats:
Weight Loss: 9.8 pounds (209.2 to 199.4)
Body Fat % change: -2.2% (26% to 23.8%)
Waist Size: -2 inches (40 to 38 inches)
Other stuff:
Set a 2+ year PR on my 5K run: 25:45 (8:16 pace)
I only had one major cheat on my diet, and that was on Thanksgiving day. Otherwise I kept it pretty clean (~90 to 100%...
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Day 32 - Weight goal achieved
December 9, 2011
No workout - again. I’m getting into a bad routine of taking 3 or so days off in a row in the middle of the week. I need to find a better rhythm.
Food: Clean!
Here’s the big news…
Weight: 199.4!
I had set a goal to drop below 200 pounds by Christmas. Well, Christmas came early. I also took some measurements today. Bodyfat is down to 23.2% - that’s down...
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Day 31 - Rest
December 8, 2011
Another off day from training. This makes 2 in a row. I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be 3 in a row. Food was clean today - no cheating.
Weight: 201.2. Dropping…
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Day 30 - Rest
December 7, 2011
Legs are pretty shot today. The trail running really takes it out of them.
Food:
Meal 1: Eggs, bacon, coffee, whole milk
Meal 2: Chicken (rotisserie), squash, zucchini, butter, guacamole
Meal 3: Banana, peanut butter, beef jerky, whole milk
I went a long time (12:30p to 9:30p) between meals today (meal 2 and meal 3). Didn’t get too hungry, though.
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Day 29 - 2.62 Mile Trail Run
December 6, 2011
The weather is still awesome, so Bill (my pastor) and I did a trail run at Umstead Park. The route we did was 2.62 miles. Lots of up and down, and tons of tree roots.
Distance: 2.62 miles
Time: 27:12 (10:22 pace)
This was pretty slow. For me, on trails, the downhill stuff is actually the slowest. I feel that if I’d open up speed-wise, I’d fall. So, you lose some...
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Day 28 - 3.65 Mile Run
December 5, 2011
I haven’t run anything longer than a 5K in a long, long time. I did this run in the evening (a gorgeous evening for early December) with my wife. She said the route was about 3.2 miles. I looked at my watch after we were done, and I concluded that we either ran farther than 3.2 miles, or we ran a lot slower than it felt. Turns out the route was 3.65 miles.
Workout:
3.65...
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Day 27 - Rest
December 4, 2011
Yesterday’s workout was hard, and today ended up being a pretty busy day. I just decided to give it a rest. I didn’t track food, either, but it was clean.
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Day 26 - Pull-ups, Thrusters, Runs
December 3, 2011
Workout
As many rounds as possible in 15 mins:
10 pull-ups (gravitron)
20 thrusters (45 lbs)
200m run (treadmill)
Rounds: 4
This one hurt and felt great all at the same time, ha. Turns out the thrusters were the limiting movement for me. My shoulder felt good - no pain, and my back felt better. Taking the time off probably helped my back out.
Food
Meal 1: Apple, Coffee,...
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Day 25 - Rest
Four days with no workout. This is getting bad. Fridays are crazy for me because we do two youth meetings in the evening, so if I don’t get a workout in before I go to work, I’m toast.
Food: no cheats. Didn’t track meals, though.
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Day 24 - Rest
December 1, 2011
Third day in a row with no workout. Weird/busy day today, ended it playing a gig with the band this evening.
Didn’t track food, but no cheats. I think this officially marks the longest I’ve ever been this consistent with Paleo.
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Day 23 - More rest
November 30, 2011
No workout again. I really wanted to, but the day got away from me. Excuses, excuses.
Food
Meal 1: Protein, milk, peanut butter
Meal 2: 3 eggs, 3 slices bacon, cheese
Meal 3: Grilled chicken, green beans, butter, guacamole
Meal 4: Beef jerky, apple, cashews
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Day 22 - Rest
November 29, 2011
I’m taking today off. I’m in pain, so I’m letting my body heal. That’s about all to report. Food was clean, but I didn’t track what I ate.
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Day 21 - Nutts
November 28, 2011
Workout
Nutts:
This is one of the crazy “Hero workouts” from CrossFit. I scaled it way down and still didn’t even finish it all. Here’s what I ended up doing:
10 Pike Push-ups
15 Deadlifts, 175 lbs
25 Box jumps (20 inch box)
35 Pull-ups (gravitron)
35 Thrusters, 45 lbs
250 Jump rope singles
400 meter run
Total time: 24:48
Honestly, I was happy...
WatchIn my non-fitness life I’m a worship leader and indie musician. I recorded this little acoustic Christmas album and I’m giving it away for free. Enjoy!
November 2011
37 posts
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Day 20 - Rest
November 27, 2011
Not a lot going on today. I didn’t work out today. I’m really sore from the Thruster/Pull-up workout I did yesterday. I’m finding that I’m way out of shape, ha. Doing these kinds of movements are hard, but I’ll get up to speed soon.
Food
Meal 1: Eggs, butter, cheese, coffee, creamer
Meal 2: Pork chop, mixed veggies, butter
Meal 3: Hamburger,...
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Day 19 - Thrusters and Pull-ups
November 26, 2011
First day back home after the quick Thanksgiving vacation. Flying home on a Friday night gives you the advantage of recharging from travel the next day rather than going to work (Sunday is a work day for me). I slept in a bit, and then hit the gym for this…
Workout:
15-12-9 rep rounds of:
Thrusters (95 lbs)
Pull-ups
I’m weak and out of shape, and I had to scale...
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Day 18 - Michael (without back exts)
November 25, 2011
Last day on vacation here in FL, and managed to squeeze in another workout before we left. Food today was pretty good, too, considering I’m on a vacation.
Workout
Michael:
3 rounds for time of:
800 meter run
50 sit-ups
(you’re supposed to do 50 back ext’s, but I couldn’t find the proper equipment, so I just did the sit-ups)
Time: 18:49
Round 1:...
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Paleo/Primal Challenge (continued)
This blog started off with a 10-day Primal Challenge that started on November 8, 2011. Day eleven came, and I wasn’t ready to quit, so here we go. The challenge continues. Hopefully forever.
I’ll update this page periodically - hopefully weekly - until I hit my goal weight or body composition. In the meantime, you can stay up to date with:
Daily updates
Weekly/monthly...
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Day 17 - Happy Thanksgiving!
November 24, 2011
Two and a half weeks in and here’s my first cheat meal. And it wasn’t the turkey dinner, either!
Still in FL visiting family. We went out on a cruise for Thanksgiving lunch. It was really cool. Went out into the Gulf and had the traditional meal - turkey and all. I stayed clean except for just a little bit of sweet potato stuff. Sweet potatoes are fine, but these...
Cheat meal
I had my first real cheat meal in over 2 weeks tonight.
I did have this crazy notion to stay clean and eat paleo over the entire Thanksgiving vacation, but I suppose one meal isn’t too big of a deal.
The funny part is that I stayed strong through the traditional turkey dinner meal. It was the lasagna and bread for dinner that did me in. Plus a margarita or two.
How did everybody...
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Day 16 - 3 Mile Run (on vacation)
November 23, 2011
We woke up around 3:30 this morning to leave for Florida to spend Thanksgiving with family. I stayed Paleo (almost 100%) on vacation, which is probably a first for me. Also, I did a 3 mile run around the neighborhood where my Father in law has a place.
Food
Meal 1: Eggs, sausage, coffee (airport)
Meal 2: lunch meat, cheese, mustard
Meal 3: 1/2 rack of ribs, slaw, corn (this...
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Day 15
November 22, 2011
No workout today. I was going to do “Michael”, which is a crossfit workout, but I got stuck in traffic on the way home, and blah, blah, blah I’m just making up excuses.
Food
Meal 1: Salad from Chipotle: steak, lettuce, salsa, sour cream, guacamole - love these!
Meal 2: Salad from Super Salads: lettuce, ham, onions, eggs, pepperoni, sesame seeds, ranch...
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Day 14 - Snatch Balances
November 21, 2011
Workout
Snatch Balances: 75x3 (these felt really unstable with my shoulder), 55x3, 55x3, 55x3, 55x
Pull-ups: 3 sets of 5
1 mile run (treadmill): 7:32
The 1st set of snatch balances really didn’t feel good on my shoulder, so I backed off to lighter weight. Pull-ups were hard (I’m weak and overweight). Mile run felt pretty good. I was happy with the time.
Food
Meal...
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Week 2 Review
Another week down - still going strong. Two weeks in is still in what I’ll call the motivation phase - in other words, it’s easy to keep things up. Once you get 3 or 4 weeks in, things will start getting difficult.
Weight Loss:
Nov. 14, 2011: 204.4
Nov. 21, 2011: 202.8
About 1.5 pounds. If I average this kind of weight loss per week, I’ll be happy.
Best Shape Of Your Life...
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Lunch: Fast-Food vs Grocery Store
I didn’t bring my lunch to work the other day, so I had to go out to eat. I work right next door to a McDonald’s. Down the road a few blocks is a Wendy’s, Chic Fil-a, Chili’s, etc. There is even a Chipotle right down the road, which is the Mecca of fast-food for Paleo folks.
Well, I didn’t choose any of the above for a couple reasons:
I didn’t want to spend a...
American Apparel T-Shirts
I’ve concluded that American Apparel t-shirts are for people with really, really long torsos and freakishly skinny necks.
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Day 13 - 5K Run
November 20, 2011
Workout:
5K run: 27:14
Ran the business park route by my house. Felt pretty good - actually felt like I was running faster than I did, but it’s almost a full 2 minute improvement from the last 5K.
Food:
Meal 1: Milk, ON Whey, peanut butter, coffee, creamer
Meal 2: Lettuce, steak, guacamole, sour cream, cheese, salsa
Meal 3: Peanut butter, milk
Meal 4: Chicken,...
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Ten Day Primal Challenge Recap
Ten days down with no cheats. Here are some highlights:
Weight
November 8: 209.2
November 17: 204.4
You can’t argue with 5 pounds of weight loss in ten days. Sure - at least half of that is water weight, but still, it’s a great start. Even more impressive when I say that my November 18 weight dropped down to 203. I’m very satisfied with this. Especially considering that I ate...
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Almond Crusted Chicken (recipe) →
Here’s a standard chicken recipe that I like to make. It’s super easy with only four ingredients (chicken, almonds, oil, and egg whites), and you can have it done in 30 mins. Plus, it tastes awesome. It also tastes great reheated in the microwave, which is something you can’t say about all chicken dishes.
I’ve tried this with cashews as well, and it’s...
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Day 12 - Rest
November 19, 2011
Not too much to report today. No workout for the 2nd day in a row. My legs need the break, and I’m trying to do better at listening to my body and not overdoing it. Didn’t track food today, but it was clean Paleo - no cheats.
Twelve days running now. We’ll see how far I go with no cheats.
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