Grrrr

Not gonna lie...the last three days may have been a little bit of a setback. I have been exhausted most of this week, and unfortunately, I didn't get to the gym nearly as much as I wanted to. I went Monday and today in the mornings, and I played basketball on Monday and yesterday afternoon. That does put me over my weekly amount of burned calories, but I've also been snacking too much, and not drinking enough water.

However, as I said, I did go to the gym this morning, and I'm going to fight through this setback, and keep going to the gym, and keep working on this. Hopefully, it will all pay off in the end.

Step One (we can have lots of fun?)

Okay...well, I'm back at the blogging, with some fantastic news.

Today marks the 2 week anniversary of the start of this fantastic journey, and I can officially state that it has moved along exactly on schedule. It is now only 36 pounds and a Jackass. I weighed in this morning, with fingers crossed...then I thought that might put more pressure on the scale, so I uncrossed them (j/k). And as it did it's little digital tabulating, it showed that I weigh 185.8 lbs. That is down over 4 pounds from the start of this little jaunt.

Now...that is fantastic, and it's a great step in this journey, but I have to make sure not to let myself get complacent. I'm happy with the way things have progressed, and I feel like I've been doing a good job. Now I need to keep up the good work, and not let myself be fooled by a great first step. After all, I don't want to trip when I try and make the second.

I've been pleased with my efforts so far, and I've tried to give myself even more tools to help. First, I bought a Wii Fit on Friday, since I couldn't go to the gym (Sarah had to work, and my mother-in-law was out of town, so I had Tommy, our youngest, at home with me). It was really fun, and my abs were kinda sore from the hula hooping. So, I'll add that to my gym regimen (which totally kicked my butt this weekend...my calves are still sore from doing reverse calf raises on Saturday), and it's just one more thing to go for. Also, Sarah and I went grocery shopping on Saturday, and I got some meal replacement shake powder...so that'll help me with my calorie intake.

I'm excited to say that I've made the first step on my journey to better health, and a better look...now where did I put that Snickers bar?

Just kidding.

Feelin' Good

I'm Feelin' Good

Alright...so, after my day of rest, I got back into the swing of things today, and worked my back and forearms. I feel sore, but great. I'm really looking forward to get on the scale on Monday. I feel different. I have way more energy, and getting up in the morning to go work out has not been a problem at all.

After lifting, I did a half hour on the treadmill, and burned about 300 calories. I'm planning on going to play basketball this afternoon, so that'll be another bunch of calories that I'll be getting rid of.

Unfortunately, I did go over my calories yesterday. The biggest problem with it is that it was totally avoidable. We had italian herb grilled cheese for dinner last night, (using Tastefully Simple's Italian Garlic Bread spice mix, available as part of the fall collection...it was really good) and if I had only had one sandwich, or if I'd only put one piece of cheese on each sandwich, I would've been fine. But...I'm pleased with how I've done over the first two weeks of my renewed commitment to weight loss.

Weight Training starts today

Well...I wanted to work out yesterday. I went to the gym, but they had a power outage, so I went home instead. Then I went downstairs and started trying to figure out which of the training programs that I went through last week I was going to use.

I ended up printing out two of them, and after some comparing and contrasting, I went with the one from FreeTrainers.com. The interesting thing about that one is that they give you a separate workout for every day, and I think it changes from week to week, which will be good for muscle confusion.

The program consists of lifting 5 days a week, plus cardio. I lift on Monday and Tuesday, rest on Wednesday, (which for me, means that I'll probably play basketball for an hour), and then lift again on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Because I didn't work out yesterday, I doubled up today, which I figured was okay, due to the fact that they were different muscle groups, and I have tomorrow as the rest day.

Now, I'm going to have a banana, and spend the rest of my day working for the man. Then I'll probably go back to the gym and play some ball.

The Weekend

It was pretty quiet over the two day break from work. I didn't work out very much, just a 150 calorie burn session on the treadmill, and I didn't really track my calories over the weekend, either. However, I did burn way more than the number of calories specified on Sparkpeople, and I don't think I went over the specified number of calories consumed on any single day last week, so I'm okay with my weekend.

I didn't get up and work out this morning, so I think I'll probably go and play basketball after work. I love playing basketball as a work out, because I have so much fun that I don't really think about how long I've been playing. Plus, you can't just quit in the middle of a game, whereas, if I'm bored on the treadmill, I can quit at any time. So, I think for the time being, I'm going to continue working out in the morning and playing basketball in the afternoon. That way, I get more than the recommended amount of cardio, and I'm not bored while doing it.

Day 4 or "A day late...and a workout short."

Well...day 4 was uneventful. I didn't end up exercising at all yesterday, but part of that is because Sarah, my wife, is out of town at a business conference, and so I'm home alone with the kids. I couldn't go to the gym and leave them at home alone. Now...I could've run on the treadmill in the basement, and I had planned on it, but when I woke up yesterday morning, my knees were really sore for some reason, so I didn't think it would be the best idea.

I did, however, stay within my calorie goals...although I did have a minor setback. I did have a soda yesterday. Even so, as I said, I did stay within my alotted calories, so I'm not going to beat myself up too bad.

I haven't exercised so far today either, although I am planning on running on the treadmill tonight when I get home.

That's all for now.

Day 3 (cont)

I did end up going to the gym again after work.  Played basketball for an hour, and wore my heart rate monitor this time.  According to that, my heart rate was at an average of 145, and I burned 735 calories.

That will definitely work.  Especially considering that going into dinner I've still got about 600 calories left of my daily maximum...and I think my dinner is probably only going to be about 300-350 calories.

Day 3

Well...I didn't exercise today, but I'm okay with that. After work yesterday I went to the gym and played an hour and a half of pickup basketball (and I was playing pretty well, btw.) However, I did make one mistake, although it could've been a lot worse. I was jonesing for a soda after I left the gym, so I decided that I'd stop by McDonald's and not get a soda, but one of their vanilla shakes instead. I knew that I'd take a calorie hit, but I was hot, and I needed something ice cold, plus I knew that I'd just burned somewhere in the neighborhood of 600-700 calories, plus probably sweated out some water weight too. So, I wasn't too worred about the calories. After that, I went and picked my kids up from my mother-in-law's house, and headed home to enter my day into Sparkpeople. Unfortunately, that's when I found out that a medium vanilla shake from McDonald's has 740 calories...WHAT?!?!?

740 Calories? That's insane. I figured it would be around 500. I could've had a double cheeseburger and a small order of fries, and had less calories. Oh well...it was worth every calorie, and I still stayed under my calorie count for the day, thanks to the judicious application of a Subway 6" veggie delite with marinara sauce.

I'm thinking I might go to the gym this afternoon...but I'm not sure yet.

Day 2

1st thing's first. Went to the gym this morning, did 32 minutes on the treadmill, plus some crunches. Burned right around 300 calories...which is extra over what the plan says I'm supposed to burn. I've also already had 16 of my 64 fl. oz. of water. So...I'm in a good spot as a begin my work day.

I've started looking around the web for different fitness sites, to try and find a good fitness routine that will work for me. I have such a hard time figuring out what to do, because I don't have a lot of upper body strength. I tried to do P90X, but the reliance on pull ups killed me, because I felt like I wasn't doing anything on the upper body days, and it was really discouraging. So, I've been shopping different sites trying to find something. Exercisetv.tv, the homepage that is tied into the cable channel of the same name appears to have some pretty interesting plans, with a bunch that fit people in general categories...however, they all cost money, not something that I'm willing to deal with right now.

The following sites have piqued my interest, and I'll probably be setting up something from one of them fairly soon.

fullfitness.net - completely free, only has a few set routines, but the ones they do have look good after a quick glance.

workoutbox.com - also free, with some interesting plans. One that I'm seriously considering.

freetrainers.com - Another free site that gives you a questionaire to fill out, so they can determine the right options for you. I'm going to fill out the profile and see what they give me.

shapefit.com - Doesn't seem to have workout plans (that I can find, anyway). They do have a bunch of exercises, though, and I could easily build a routine from this site's choices. What they do have, though, is a bunch of interesting articles.

oops...never mind...I found them. I was just looking in the wrong place.

So...I figure that I'm not going to start an actual workout routine until next Monday, so that gives me 6 days to figure out a routine that seems like it will be best for me.

Ground Rules

Okay...I guess I should point out how I'm going to go about losing 40 pounds in the next 4+ months.  The main component of this is counting my calories.  To do this, I use a website that I've been using off and on for the last 3 years, http://www.sparkpeople.com.  It's a great site that has some really cool tools, and essentially acts as a food and exercise diary.

Based on their calculations, in order to make my goal, I need to eat 1500-1850 calories a day, and do 20 minutes of cardio a day, burning at least 200 calories.  On this first day, I did 23 minutes and burned about 235 calories.  I'm lucky enough to have gotten a membership to 24 Hour Fitness a couple of years ago from my beautiful wife, and there's one that's fairly close and convenient.

I've got a couple of other goals that should help me in my quest.  I'm attempting to drink no less than 64 ounces of water a day.  So far today, I've had 80 oz.  Also, I'm giving up soda.  I've been off the "sauce" for a few days now, and I haven't had a craving so far today...we'll see if that holds up (What is...not likely, Alex?)

I'm sure that if I've forgotten anything, I'll add it in this space as the weeks go on.

BTW

I should point out that the title is a play on the idea of 40 Acres and a Mule, which was the compensation that was promised to freed African-American slaves after the Civil War.  It's also the name of Spike Lee's film company.

I just thought that I should incorporate the 40 pounds I want to lose into the title of the blog, and that was what I thought of.  I then changed mule to jackass...because...well...I can be a bit of a jackass.  There is, however, no political motivation behind the title...I just thought it sounded somewhat catchy/witty.

Starting Here...Starting Now

I'm David Kincannon...the titular jackass, who's attempting to reduce himself by 40 pounds (from 190 to 150) in the next 20 weeks. That puts me right at the end of the year. I'm hoping that the combination of this blog, Sparkpeople, and my Facebook updates will help me to stay on track.

The great reduction process has started today.

As of 2:25 mountain time, I've exercised for 45 minutes (mostly cardio, but I did do some small amount of weight training), and eaten about 700 calories, which is a little less than half of my allotment for today. I was going to go play basketball, but I've decided against it, because I've got a terrible headache, and I'm going to go home and take a nap instead.

I'm going to weigh in every other Monday, and I'm going to blog as often as I possibly can.

So...today is the start...and my initial weigh in puts me at 189.7 lbs. We'll see where I am by the start of 2010. 150 here I come.