Monday, August 1, 2022

100 Day Challenge: Second Week Complete

 Well, I didn't run this week but I did keep busy. I got up this morning and was a little worried I had overindulged this weekend so I really didn't know what the scale was going to say. Turns out, the activity and the eating I did do actually worked. 

I weighed in this morning at 189.2 lbs! Remember, I started at 197.2 originally and last week I was 193.2 lbs., so I'm down 8 pounds in two weeks. As I mentioned before, I suspect my weight loss will start to slow down. I don't expect to lose 4 pounds each week, nor do I necessarily want to. As I've said before, more than 2 pounds per week typically means you're losing muscle as well and I don't want to do that. Here's a summary of what I did this week:

Day 8 - Monday, July 25th (Start of Week Two)

I had mentioned in my last post that I was on the road this day. But just to keep the weeks together, I'll recap.  The county I was in had Mellow Mushroom Pizza for lunch. I only had one slice, and man that was a bit of challenge. The pizza was so good, I could have easily eaten another 2 slices. I was good though because I felt satisfied with the one slice. Eating more would have just been for pleasure and not for necessity. I did cave and had a can of Coca-Cola despite initially reaching for the water bottle. For dinner, I had 3 Taco Bell crunchy Supreme Tacos and a huge glass of water. 

As for exercise, I did 10 push ups, followed by 25 squats, and repeated both with no rest just to say I did some form of exercise. 

Day 9 - Tuesday, July 26th 

Today was Election Day for 3 of my counties. I was up at 5:30 so I could get dressed and get to my first county by 6:30 a.m. As is usual for me, I skipped breakfast. For lunch, the county brought in food from a really good Asian restaurant. I had Spicy Chicken, white rice and grilled veggies. It was the perfect amount of heat. Nose ran like crazy, but the flavor was spectacular. Sometimes, food is just too spicy and it's basically no flavor to it. I drank a ton of water...to help with the spice.

For dinner, I went through Wendy's and had a bottle of water and a Dave's Single Classic. When I got home that night, I was snacky so I had some Siggi's 0% Milkfat Yogurt. I had read that Yogurt can help with weight loss. It has something to do with getting good bacteria in your gut. I figured, what the heck. Can't hurt to try it. 

I didn't plan on exercising today but I was pretty jazzed up from the excitement of the election that I had some energy. I decided to do 10 push ups and 25 body weight squats. 

Day 10 - Wednesday, July 27th

Not sure why, but I woke up starving today. Also SUPER tired from yesterday's 15 hour day. Needless to say, I did not run this morning. Instead, I ate breakfast. I know...Shocker! I had an English muffin with butter, and some of the Siggi's yogurt for breakfast. 

For lunch, I wasn't too hungry and I debated skipping because I did have breakfast. But instead I chose to have some Campbell's Chicken and Sausage Gumbo soup with a slice of Sourdough bread and butter and a huge glass of water.

For dinner, we had fish tacos and a salad. I also had some tortilla chips with homemade guacamole. As usual lately, I just had water to drink with dinner.

Since I hadn't felt like running in the morning, my wife and I went for a hike around a lake near us. It's only 1.64 miles or so, but it's pretty and it's relaxing. Relaxing is important for weight loss believe it or not. Cortisol is a stress hormone that causes weight gain. All in a all...a really nice day.

Day 11 - Thursday, July 28th

Today, I woke up starving again. Still felt really tired too so I didn't run. I was very mad at myself. I had yogurt, a banana and an English muffin with butter for breakfast, but because I ate late, I skipped lunch. I just wasn't hungry. That Siggi's yogurt is pretty satisfying. It's high in Protein which helps you feel full. I have been measuring it out each time with a food scale. I eat 170+/- grams. If you don't have a food scale, I highly recommend getting one. It really helps with portion sizes, plus if you're into counting Macros - which I'm not - the good ones will give you that info too.

For dinner, I had a double roast been sandwich (1 sandwich, double the meat) from Arby's. I just drank water and I skipped the curly fries. 

Since I was mad about not running, I got out a pair of 20 lb dumbbells and did 10 curls and then 10 overhead presses before going to bed. 

Day 12 - Friday, July 29th

Woke up again this morning, really tired with no motivation to run so I stayed in bed. Not sure what's going on, but I woke up hungry again! So, for breakfast, I had some Siggi's yogurt and a banana. I was on the road again today so for lunch I had a 6" subway sub. I had their new Steak and pepper jack cheese on white bread with the garlic aioli. It was actually really good. I skipped the chips and a drink option. 

On the drive home, I was really wanting a snack. I stopped and got gas and went inside after pumping. I almost got a Coke, but instead opted for a Lipton Peach Tea. It's less sugar than the Coke and it's not carbonated. This may sound weird, but I swear the carbonation makes me bloated. Even diet sodas I've tried give me a big stomach. Not to mention that I had Aspartame as a sweetener. I've just read too many articles about how bad it can be. I also wanted some candy, but for some reason, opted for a Slim Jim instead. By the way...I really enjoyed it. I used to eat them when I was younger. The tea satisfied the sweet craving I was having and the Slim Jim filled me up just enough.

For dinner, I went a little crazy. I got Outback and got the Ribeye (my favorite). I did get the smaller one, but I have always done that. I had the mixed veggies and a loaded backed potato. Now normally, I would get cheese fries, but I did skip those. That actually wasn't too hard because we got it to go and cheese fries (to me) are not as good at home. They cool off too much on the drive. I also skipped the bread they give you. Again, not too hard because by the time you get it home, it's not nice and warm any longer. I just had water to drink.

Feeling like I went overboard today with the eating and snacking, I did my 10 x 20lb curls and overhead presses right before bed. 

Day 13 - Saturday, July 30th

Today, my wife and I woke up early, skipped breakfast, and hiked what turned out to be 7 miles. We only planned on hiking about 4, but then we kept seeing signs for cool things to see if we just went a little farther. Signs like .6 miles to a lake. .8 to another lake, .03 to a covered bridge...and so on. We ended up seeing 3 waterfalls, 3 lakes and a covered bridge at Dupont State Forest. 

After the hike, we went to Brevard, NC which is right there by the forest essentially and had steamed bagel sandwiches for lunch. I had the corned beef and pastrami on an everything bagel with spicy mustard and a cup of water to drink. The steamed bagel takes some getting used to, but really good. The place is called Sully's Steamers if you'd like to check them out. I'm pretty sure it's a chain. 

Since I wasn't sure how healthy the steamed bagel was, I decided for dinner I would have Sushi. I got the 8 piece sushi deluxe with miso soup and water to drink. 

Day 14 - Sunday, July 31st and the End of Week 2

As I mentioned above, I weighed in this morning at 189.2. Eight pounds down from when I started. While I was a little hungry this morning, it was nothing like I have been experiencing all week. So I skipped breakfast and waited for lunch. I was really beat from the hike yesterday so I did not run this morning like I planned on doing. 

For lunch I had a weird combination of things. My wife was cooking and just using stuff in the pantry that we had rather than get take out. So what I had was this chickpea & fresh spinach that was sauteed in a pan, four small Spanakopita, and this really good fried cheese. It's called Halloumi cheese and fries up really well. As you know, I've been trying to avoid fried foods, but I couldn't resist these "fried cheese sticks" because they are so good. I had 4 and I could have eaten the whole plate.  I also had a banana just to have something "sweet". 

For dinner, my wife made gnocchi & spinach with a vodka cream sauce. I had a huge glass of water to drink.

As for exercise today, I was annoyed I didn't run in the morning when it was cooler so I headed out the door at 5 p.m. for a 30 minute run. I had to walk three times because it was so hot. But since I had to walk several times, I decided to add on 3 x 24 second hill runs. These were not sprints, but were hard effort. I walked back down for recovery. Later that night, I also did my tiny workout with 20lb dumbbells....10 curls and 10 overhead presses.

I would like to add in closing, that I have not felt like I'm dieting per se. Yes, I'm skipping things l usually get like a soda and fries with my fast food or having cookies in the house. But if you don't buy it, it's pretty easy to avoid. The other other day, my wife made a sort of monkey bread. It's two cans of cinnamon rolls and then the icing poured all over it. That was really tempting because it was in the house, but I successfully avoided it. 

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