Weekly Weigh-In
244.9 lbs.
Man. I’m feeling pretty static lately. I had to measure my gut for my wedding kilt.
Ugh.
A kilt measurement isn’t the same as for pants. A kilt is worn up near the belly button, so that means the measurement has to go a bit higher. Talk about an ego buster.
It’s time to put some more cardio into the mix.
Details
Mode
It’s a high rep/low weight kind of week. This week was there, but not.
Sunday
Had a really good Chest and Bicep day. Also got 20 minutes in on the bike.
Monday
Didn’t make it into the gym, but I did go for a long walk with Alicia at Bush Park. The break in my workday with some nature was definitely welcome.
Tuesday
Legs and shoulders for the win. These body parts are especially grueling for me on high rep days. I actually have fourteen exercises to go through…making it a very long session. Fitting it all into a 2 hour time slot, while that 2 hours includes travel time, has been tricky. If I can bump my workout up against my lunch hour, where I can sacrifice 15-20 minutes of my lunch, it’s golden.
I removed the weight plate leg press machine because of the time it takes to scrounge the weights up and swapped it out with Narrow Leg Presses superset with Toe Presses on the stack machine instead.
Wednesday
Back and triceps done. Felt great. I’ve been focusing extra hard on making this day slow and full range of motion. My back was pretty burny by the end of it all.
Got my Big Three in. I’m feeling pretty good about it.
Thursday
Had a fantastic circuit training day. These sessions go for around 1.5 hours with near continual movement. Due to the fact that things get crowded, it’s not a “traditional” circuit session, where I go to one exercise, then another immediately after, etc etc.
Instead, I focus on keeping my heart rate up. I’ll stay at one session through four sets, but I stand up and keep moving between sets and my “rest time” is only 30 seconds between each set, which is about enough time to exit the machine, stretch a little, then climb back in.
I’m totally wiped by the end of these sessions but it feels really good.
Friday
I had goals for Friday. I really did. I took the day off to make a long, holiday weekend. I wanted to get out and get a jump on some lawn work. However, I made the mistake of sitting on the couch after Alicia woke up and Jack jumped up, pinned me on the sofa, and started snoozing.
The pollen count has been really high lately and it’s been leaving me feeling kind of groggy. I made a command decision to just have an entirely lazy day.
Saturday
I didn’t get much activity in today. I had a request from some dear friends of mine to work through their wedding vows and polish them up. It took a little longer than expected, but it was really good for my heart.
I then spent some time puttering with my plants and office space. I still haven’t got things completely settled after the ac reconfiguration last week. Before I knew it, Alicia was reminding me that I had to get ready for our trip to Antiquum Farms to meet my Pops and his fiancée for a wine tasting event.
It was a beautiful day, a beautiful drive, and a really excellent time with family. I got my social and family muscles worked out on this day and I’m glad for it.
Diet
This week wasn’t terrible, but it also wasn’t great. I was in caloric deficit for about half of the week. Things started breaking down on Thursday, however.
I’ve also had a much higher than normal carb ratio for the entire week. Alicia made a huge batch of taco meat and refried beans earlier in the week and it’s been lunch for me for the past four days. When you combine the refried beans with flour tortillas it becomes a massive carb bomb. I’m thinking this has greatly contributed to a lot of water retention and bloat.
I am not anti-carb, and not gluten sensitive, however it’s a fact that carbs attract water and greedily hang on to it. I find that I’m at my best when I do a tiny amount of bread-related carbs early in the morning – like a single English muffin, and then stick with rice (preferably) or potatoes for complex carbs later in the day. When I think about it a little deeper, the past couple of weeks have been more carbs than normal. Last week there was an abundance of a farro-based salad, which I love, but it’s super wheat. I think this is where I need to make my most focused adjustment.
Let’s see what this next week brings.