What the Hell are the Numbers (Part IV)

Greetings again, folks. A sudden request from my school to present a paper on my research at a symposium sort of took up a lot of time last week, so sorry about the missed update. I do have some new and exciting numbers for you fine internet voyeurs, however, so lets get straight to it.

Height: 6'4"
Age: 23
Weight (as of 4/18/10): 289.2 lbs
BMI: 35.2
Body fat percentage: 30.98-36.48%


Making some great progress so far, and the push for 30 lbs by May 8th continues! Still running, still limiting my diet and as you can see, its having some profound effects. If you are ever curious about when and how much I am exercising, poke on over to my twitter page http://twitter.com/Richek as I fairly consistently post the results of my runs. As is the norm, however, there is also a lot of trivial bullshit that will be posted there, so keep an eye out for that as well.


See you in the next post!


Here's to Health!

Where the Hell Has He Been?

 Ok, so I kinda screwed that one up. The posting, no so much the weight loss I mean. Almost three months since my last post? Yeeeesh, sorry about that. There is much to discuss, but before any of that, here are the numbers for today. Its all below the cut!

What the Hell Are the Numbers? (Part 3)

Here are the numbers for the week ending in on January 24th.

 Height: 6'4"
Age:  23
Starting weight for week:  301.33 (the corrected weight for last week)
Weight (as of morning of 1/24/10): 298.6
Corrected weight (for 1/23/10): 300.65
Adjusted weight change for week: .68 lbs
Approximate weight change per day: .10 lbs
BMI: 36.3
Body fat percentage: 32.45-38%

As predicted, there was a rather dramatic drop off in the weight loss this week. Part of it was the lack of exercize, and part of it was the way the numbers work out. What you cant see here are the scores for the week which are a lot more stable than the week prior which were all over the place. The variation has settled down quite a bit, with an average top (evening) weight of only 301.88 and an average bottom (morning) weight of  299.43. Contrast this with the week prior with an average top weight of  302.48 and an average bottom weight of 300.94, and you can see why I am still confident. The numbers are a little misleading at this point, but only at first glance. I'll be putting the daily numbers into a more readable form in a week or so when I do some graphing.

More later!

What the hell, man?

Ok, so I kinda dropped the ball on posting again. Classes have started in earnest so my time is at a premium. Exercise and diet are going well, expect a numbers post later tonight.

Sorry folks!

How the Hell Did He Work Out? (part the first)

Getting back into the crossfit game, here are the numbers:

2x 15 squats
2x 10 lunges
2x 15 pushups
2x 15 second plank

I shortened the routine until I can get a better handle on it, and thank god I did. The lunges nearly did me in again and by the last plank I was fairly light headed and very happy to stop. Feel a little better about the workout this time but the morning will tell if the pain will return.

I tried a new way to go about this and actually did the workout while waiting for my dinner (the ragout I posted last week) to finish cooking. It worked well and actually provided the perfect break in between sets to stir it and make sure everything was ok.

More on wednesday!

Here's to health!

What the Hell Are the Numbers (Part 2)

So, its that time of week where I share with you all the numbers of my (hopefully) diminishing shame. I did a spot of math and came up with this week's changes, and so far it looks pretty good. Numbers below the jump!

Why the Hell Hasnt He Posted?

Ok, so I admit, I sort of slacked off there for a few days. The long and short of it is that classes started this week and a few days were eaten up by settling my schedule. Now that its all said and done, its time to get back to the blog.

So, a few updates and a confession. First, the confession:

My birthday was back on Wednesday (the 13th) and on Tuesday, a good friend took me out for dinner. I got was I thought was a vegetarian friendly pasta dish, but I later found out that the sauce had meat in it. Whoops. It was a fairly minor slip up, but hey, this blog is all about full disclosure.

Now for the updates.

What the Hell Happened to My Muscles?

So my lungs have cleared up to a degree that allows me to finally start the cross fit in earnest.

All I can say is "holy shit."

My legs are killing me in ways that are new and terrifying to me. Dont get me wrong, I am very much enjoying the exercise, but I vastly underestimated the routine and overestimated my own abilities. I posted a link to the crossfit routine I am following when I started this blog. I am supposed to do three sets of the exercises described there. This is what I managed today:

1x 20 body weight squats
2x 10 push ups
1x 20 walking lunges
1x 10 dumbbell rows (using a gallon milk jug)
2x 15 second plank
1x 30 Jumping Jacks

Truth be told, it was the lunges that did me in. This is a fair start to the routine and I will be doing small updates to show my progress four times a week.

Until next time, here's to health.

What the Hell are the Numbers? (Part 1)

So I seem to have forgotten one very vital bit of information on this blog, namely my starting statistics. Now, please understand that my shame over these numbers is near palpable. As there are pictures of my terrible shame involved, I will do you a courtesy and put this post under a cut.

What the Hell is He Eating Today?

So I made my food schedule for the next week today, and since I promised to post a recipe or two, here's one that I am very much looking forward to eating. I figure it will be a nice change to the previous posts focus on flatulence. 

Mixed Bean Portobello Ragout

10oz baby Lima beans (frozen)
1 cup green beans, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 1/2 cup sliced/halved portobello
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp cold water
2 tsp cornstarch
1 can Italian/Cajun stewed tomatoes
1 cup chickpeas

Cook lima/green beans according to packaged instructions (i.e boil until tender). In large skillet cook mushrooms in olive oil on medium heat for five minutes. In a small bowl, combine cornstarch and water, then mix into mushrooms. Stir in chickpeas and tomatoes undrained. Cook on medium heat until it thickens and bubbles. Add green/lima beans and reduce heat. Let simmer until heated through. Season to taste, serve with bread.

This stuff is easily more filling than any meat stew I have ever made, however the flavor can be a little light. I am going to experiment with adding some squash to this recipe and playing around with spices until I find something I really like. Give it a shot yourself! Its easy and awesome!


Cheers and happy eating!

What the Hell is Going On in My Gut?

So a little more than a week has gone by on the veggie diet and so far I have good things to say about it! I feel great and have had no ill effects.

Well... Ok, one ill effect. Apparently switching to this sort of diet causes some pretty awesome and rank gas for a week or two while your body adjusts. I was sort of expecting a few changes in the plumbing, but room clearing gas? Impressive and useful at times, but was not expecting that. My sister, a veggie for years, tells me this is to be expected and will go away in a week or two, however, so I will have to use this new and awesome power.

I havent been able to start the cross fit, unfortunately, due to a fun chest infection that is just now clearing up to the point that I can breath to any great degree. I did to a few rotations of the routine this week, and due in part to decreased lung capacity and the hidden difficulty of the work out, my ass was very much kicked. Once the lung butter clears up I can begin in earnest.

Another update in a few days, but until then, here's to health!

What the Hell is This Guy Doing?

Its the new year but rather than make a new goal for myself I am going to up an old one to new levels. I have become increasingly sick of my appearance as of late. The manboobs, the paunch, the female rejection the overall self disdain, its all gotta go.

Back in August I started to eat better. Less meat, more whole grains, smaller portions, etc. So far its worked well enough, but recently I have stated to see the pounds come back on and I don't like that much. As a result I will be changing my diet even more and focusing on an exercise routine that I cant half ass or back out of. So here are the goals:

-20 lbs by March
-an additional 20 by my May graduation
-Overall target body fat percentage of 12% by the end of the year

In order to obtain these goals, these are the changes I am going to be making:

- Crossfit routine 4 times weekly. Routine can be seen here.
- Become a vegetarian for one year starting on the 1st of January. There are very minor exceptions to this such as fish, but otherwise, no meat for a year
- No baking for myself unless it is sugar free or healthy alternative
- No soda
- Cut sugar wherever possible
- One salad a day, minimum
- Double daily fruit intake
- No fast food (though this one was already pretty much the standard)
- Cut processed foods by at least half. This means ramen, mac and cheese, and pretty much anything that requires less than four steps to cook.
- Walk to class whenever weather permits

That should be enough, and thankfully this is all stuff that I can stick to easily.

This blog will serve as an incentive system for myself. With the masses of the internet watching, it would be harder for me to slack off on this plan. I'll be posting updates, at the very least , every week. These updates will include weight changes, exercise updates, and recipes from my new diet.

Should be good times, and I fully intend to make this interesting for everyone!

Here's to health.