Weight loss update

Weight this a.m. 235 lbs.
Weight loss since June 19th: 3 lbs.
Lbs. to goal: 60 lbs. (175)

The sentiments from the last weight loss post remain the same, however, there has been activity towards the goal since then. Yesterday I signed up with a trainer and will be taking weekly training sessions and attempting to work out 6x a week (focusing on weight-training only, no aerobics). One of the things that I have maintained since the beginning is that healthy weight loss *is* possible without exercise. At this point, my gym sessions will not be geared to burn calories, but to build muscle instead (which, in and of itself will boost my metabolism more and burn more calories when I am at rest). The goal is to tighten up all the excess skin that I have accumulated thus far, and to hopefully avoid costly plastic surgery at the completion of my goal. The fitness center I will be using is just around the corner from my house, and is accessible 24/7. This means I have less of an excuse when I don't go to work out since it will only take me less than 3 minutes to drive there.

Now for the rest of the story...

Early to bed, early to rise,
Makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.

While this may not be true for everyone, I have definitely found that it is true in my life. While I dearly loved AIT, ABN and the Cam over the last decade, they really did mess up my internal clock. I'm just not a "night" person. Never have been. Having been raised by farmers, I was up at 6 a.m. every day of my life. Even when I first went to college, I successfully kept up the 6 a.m. wake-up call. I would get up and run 3 miles every morning... even if I had stumbled home from the bars at 4 a.m. When you're young, you can do that to yourself without great consequence. I did become a proponent of the afternoon nap during my college years (you gotta sleep some time).

However, once hitting 40 several years ago, staying up past midnight became a more and more daunting task. My body's instinct is to get up and 5-6 a.m., but my lifestyle wasn't in sync with that at all. Working 9:30-6 meant that some nights I wasn't even home until 7:30 or 8 p.m. - it's hard to unwind and go to sleep by 9 or 10 p.m. when that has happened.

Thankfully, my schedule is changing starting Monday. 7-3:30 p.m., which means I can get up at 5 a.m., work out and head straight to work. Then, my "off hours" will be more condensed (rather than getting up at 5 a.m. and not having to leave until 8:45 a.m.), and I should be able to get better organized and stick to a more consistent medication/food/water schedule.

This morning, I got up at 5 a.m. Since that time I have been to Kroger and BJ's, put away all my groceries, washed two loads of laundry and sorted the remaining loads, ordered my prescriptions online for pickup at CVS later today, planned my menu for the remaining week, watched 3 episodes of Trading Spaces on television (I use the DVR to get them during the week and then watch on the weekend), as well as watching about an hour of the Food Network live, fed the cat and unpacked from my trip last weekend.

As soon as I finish with this, I'm going to take a load out of the dryer, switch the load in the wash over, and start another load of clothes. I've got lunch plans with Dean and wytcheshonor at 1 p.m. at The Loop. This afternoon, I'm going to go browsing around Target and some other places for some miscellaneous items (I might not actually buy anything), pick up my prescriptions at CVS, and later I'll pick up dinner at Panda Express (this also takes care of lunch for Monday and Tuesday). I've got all my errands planned out for the coming week, and hopefully my new schedule will allow me to spend more time on the weekend doing little projects around the house and socializing. Needless to say, I'm in a good mood these days because I'm no longer seized in the throes of wondering where work was going to take me. I'm actually relieved that the whole thing is over and that I'm staying here.

Ciao for now.

My day part duex...

Since the last entry, I have washed two more loads of laundry (two left), and met with Dean and wytcheshonor for lunch. I have also picked up my prescriptions at CVS. This is just a "hit and run" entry, as I am about to eat a snack (the reason I came back home - I wanted to stay on my eating schedule), and then I'm going to head out and shop for a while until it's time to pick up dinner at 6.

Ciao for now.