Still fat, still a guinea pig

Alright readers, let's start this post up right. I try to post once a month, but it's harder to do some months than others. Besides, it takes a considerable mental battle to take these pictures, versus sitting down on the couch and cracking open a pack of pringles.
So, diet update. The diet is mostly unchanged. I've taken some of the cooked veggies and the soup out of it, and substituted more whole grains (like a bit of brown rice) and fresh veggies (salad, minus the egg, minus the dressing). I'm having lots of fun coming up with new recipes, and all told, with a few simple ingredients, like balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard, some spices, a few fresh greens, olive oil, lots of veggies, and a bit of chicken, I've been able to come up with some pretty interesting dishes. They're occupying my tastebuds well enough and keeping me full while keeping the calorie count down. The weight is still standing steady. I had a few breaks in the diet during spring break, mostly because a few good friends took me to the Purim feast and a Shabbos dinner. If you've never been to either, I highly recommend it. It's a gastrointestinal pleasure, and you will end up overeating, no question. But you won't mind it, and will likely be more than willing to repeat it the next day.
Remember, now, this is the "getting fit" blog for normal people, not crazed celebrity fitness types. thus, delving into exercise. Now that the weather is above freezing (but not by much), I've gone back to running. On spring break in Florida, I got in a few good runs (one on the beach, the most grueling mile of my life, but also one of the most enjoyable ones), and a few good sessions of the regular body weight stuff. One session in the gym reminded me of why I don't go - the other people in the gym. This one was empty and I absolutely loved it, just my cousin and me for about an hour - just enough to both try out new machines and do a good all-over circuit.
Alright, before I post the pictures, one thing that I've noticed in the mirror. It seems like before a workout, my stomach will look smaller than after one. It doesn't show up as a sixpack, just the expanded keg. I'm not sure how much I like it, but it takes it a little while to deflate. Same thing with my chest, but I can take more pride in that than a keg stomach. So, having said that, on to the murdering of unsuspecting eyeballs.

Holiday Dinner and Post-Holiday Breakfast

This is a marinated skirt steak with grilled mushroom/garlic/onion toppings. This isn't a usual dinner. Pasta is pretty much never on the menu, and neither is a hunk of meat this big. Although, with all that, this meal clocks in at about 650 calories.


The sandwich is the next morning, onion/mushroom egg-white omelet.



More updates to come later. I'm also going to start putting up general ingredient prices and how long they last, just because it's useful stuff. Finally, the mile morning runs have gotten dropped by the wayside since it's 5 degrees outside, so I'm substituting other cardio exercises in. More details to follow.

So, for the most part, the diet is going swimmingly. I was down to about 193 on a digital scale, but I have no idea where I am now, as my scale seems to add and subtract weight when it seems fit. For example, before breakfast, I'll be 191, and after breakfast, 205. Mind you, that's one small sandwich and a small cup of tea. Clearly not 14 pounds' worth. So I'm just using it as a motivational tool, and not as a measurement of my weight. When the weight is high, I tell myself that I need to stick to the diet more and lose it. When the weight is low, I tell myself that it's all progressing as it should and that sticking to the diet and exercise will keep it going down.
The hardest thing with exercise that I've found is forcing myself to go outside and do cardio when it's below freezing. It's hard, but doable, I've found, with the right clothing. So, other than that, no big news, so here are the obligatory pictures.

Re-emerging

So, the past few weeks have been weird. I let myself go during finals, I dropped the diet, the exercise, everything. I had gotten tired of running and working out, especially with winter. I reached 211 pounds and couldn't fit into a size 34 anymore (I figure I was a tight size 35 or a comfortable 36) right before going skiing in Colorado. I was the same weight after I came back, and got back on a diet. Here is the revised meal plan:
Breakfast: one sandwich
-one-half bagel
-one slice of deli cheese
-up to three slices of meat OR a small one-egg white omlet
-one glass of orange juice or tea
Dinner: at 5:30
-one cup of soup
-one serving of chicken or fish
-two heaping tablespoons of cooked vegetables

Since I've run out of soup, I'm substituting a bowl of salad for the soup and one of the teaspoons of cooked veggies. The salads, so far, have been cabbage, lettuce, cucumber, onion, beets, a sprinkle of salt, and a bit of olive oil. It's fairly tasty, but I'm still missing tomatoes, it's just too cold to go to the store.

The exercise I'm getting is a 2-3 mile bike ride twice a day to and from class, plus body weight exercises and a lot of stretching/imitation youtube yoga. For most of the body weight exercises, I'm following the Men's Health magazine plan. Three weeks in, I'm back down to 197 and back down to a size 33 (34 is baggy on me now).

So, here are the obligatory pics.