2009-06-05 Oscar 218.0

26.5% Fat, 53% Water. Yesterday I worked out on the exercise bike for about an hour, burning 625 calories. I didn't have time to make a lunch, so I ended up just buying food at work, which is expensive garbage and in no way helps with weight loss. Fortunately my leg is hurting less and less. I plan on just doing the bicycle for a while until my leg doesn't hurt at all to walk, then I'll begin adding walking to the plan, then jogging, and at some point running. As the numbers show, not being able to run has really put a bit of a kink into my plan. I still think I can make it to 200 before we go to Hawaii (although secretly I want to reach 190 before so I can eat all the pizza I want on the cruise and come back at 200 or less).

2009-06-04 Oscar 218.0

26% Fat, 53% Water. Monday and Tuesday I didn't do any cardio, and only a bit of weight lifting. Yesterday I decided My leg didn't hurt enough anymore to keep me from working out. I just did bicycle work for 80 minutes, but felt like I could go forever. Part of what I did was hold my breath for 30 seconds, then continue for 4 minutes. Later, I cut it to 25 Seconds holding my breath followed by 3 minutes, 20 seconds + 2 minutes, 15 sec + 1 min. I will probably do bicycle today, but no holding my breath.

2009-06-01 Oscar 218.0

26.5% Fat 53% Water. Yesterday I didn't do any working out since it was Sunday. Despite not working, my leg still hurt, as it does this morning, but not as much as yesterday. I intend on doing some working out today, but I don't know what I can do other than arm workout and crunch-type exercises.

2009-05-31 Oscar 218.0

26% Fat, 53.5% Water. Yesterday I didn't do any working out. I did walk to and from work, which made my right leg hurt enormously. I don't understand that the less I work out (walk), the more the leg hurts. I woke up at 4:45 this morning, used the bathroom and tossed and turned because of my leg for an hour. I have to figure out what the problem is because rest doesn't seem to be helping any, and stretching makes it worse. I hope it's not something that can calcify and become harder to make flexible again (like a broken finger that heals wrong). If it doesn't start feeling a bit better tomorrow, I think I will visit a doctor on one of my days off to diagnose it.

2009-05-30 Oscar 218.0

26% Fat, 53.5% Water. Yesterday I jogged for 3.5 miles on the treadmill, staying at a 2.5% or greater incline. I burned 625 Calories total. The distance was actually quite difficult and I'm not sure why. I don't think I've given myself enough rest. My right leg (thigh) continues to hurt and I'm starting to think it's because of my stretching rather than my working out. I may try going to work early and just doing the rowing machine for an hour (as today is a weight training day).

2009-05-29 Oscar 217.0

26% Fat, 53.5 % Water. This is great! Yesterday I had to be at work by 10:00am, so I only spent 20 minutes working out. Just weight lifting. Then I walked to work. At work I did 10 minutes on the Rowing machine during lunch. Over-all, yesterday I figure I burned about 500 calories. I also only ate around 1900 calories yesterday. Today I will spend a while doing light cardio while my right leg recovers a bit. Hopefully it won't be long before I can do some running again. I just want to make sure I don't hurt myself.

2009-05-28 Oscar 217.0

26.5% Fat, 52.5% Water. Yesterday I jogged for 1 mile as a warm-up, stretched, then decided it was time to run a 5K. My fastest time prior to yesterday was about 31 minutes. I know I've run 3.1 in 33 to 36 minutes a bunch of times. I set a goal of 30 minutes (which is 6.2 MPH average). I did it in 29:43. I did the whole thing at 1% incline as well to make it a bit more realistic. After Running I did the bike for 22 minutes and burned a total of 1025 Calories.
Today my right leg hurts more than typical and I'll need to give it a bit of a rest. I don't know if I can force myself not to do much legwork. I will just do some weights today and maybe a little cardio in the evening, but not as much as I typically do.
I began logging my food yesterday as well and CalorieKing says with a month of days like yesterday, the average person would lose 12.7 lbs in that month. I agree.

2009-05-27 Oscar 217.5

26.5% Fat, 52.5% Water. How exciting. As you can see, I'm .5% less water than normal which can account for about 1.25lbs of my weight loss. Even after that, I definitely lost some weight yesterday. 4 miles on the treadmill at 3-5% incline and 4.5-5.5 MPH + 85 Minutes on the stationary bike. 1750 Calories Burned. A new personal record.
Yesterday night, Stacy felt I was getting too obsessed with working out. She was under the impression that I was running exclusively and not spending much time on other machines. She was worried I would injure myself from working too hard too soon. It was a valid concern considering my personality.
Fortunately, that same obsession has kept me reading on the internet to understand each little ache I may feel and be sure to give that area enough rest, while still allowing a tough work-out. I have no intention of working out less than 500-700 calories each day, hopefully reducing my body fat by about 1 pound per week.
Stacy also mentioned that I won't understand my results fully if I don't log what I eat. Once again a valid point. I know I've been cautious this month about what goes into my body, but in order to be VERY good, I need to know what my current standing is within 50 calories or so. I told her I would start logging on June 1st, but she convinced me that there's no need to wait. I'm starting to log all food today.

2009-05-26 Oscar 220.0

26.5% Fat, 53% water. Seems like some things just don't change, except my haircut. Hopefully I see a drop sometime this week, but if not, that's OK. I know I've been gaining muscle, so eventually that muscle will require more calories than I'm providing and help me lose fat. This should be evident as the scale should read a lower fat % over time.
Yesterday I did circuit training since my right thigh was still hurting a bit from Saturday (don't know why). This morning my bum hurts pretty badly, probably due to the endless leg presses, but my arms don't hurt as much as I expected. I was doing some pretty crazy curls and really thought my arms would feel it. Anyway, today is a cardio day, and should be a very long one. I'll start out on the treadmill and go to the elliptical after my toes begin feeling my new shoes too much. Today's goal is 1500 calories burned - more than I've ever done before in 1 day.

2009-05-25 Oscar 220.0

27% Fat, 53% Water. Yesterday was Sunday, so there was no working out. I probably ate a few hundred more calories than I burned. My legs were hurting from Saturday. I looked up what may cause the pain and found it's likely that my heel is striking first when I run, and due to how over-weight I am, this will cause shin splints or even fractures. Hopefully I haven't fractured anything.
The solution to that problem is to take shorter strides and force the ball of my foot to hit sooner, taking stress off the heel. Also, spending more time on cross-training machines such as the elliptical and stationary bike will help any splint or fracture heal.

2009-05-24 Oscar 220.0

And the scale says 26.5% fat, 53% water. Yesterday I jogged 4 miles and burned 700 calories including warm-up and cool down. Running is the fastest way for me to burn calories. Unfortunately, it seems like my body doesn't recover quickly from it. I only stopped at 4 miles because I was starting to feel my pinky toes beginning to blister. Eventually they will callous and I'll be able to go much further distances. What concerns me is the shin splints that hurt much worse about an hour after my workout than they ever do during the workout. I wonder if I may be stretching incorrectly afterwards and causing the pain myself.

2009-05-23 Oscar 220.0

Good news- still at 220. Yesterday I burned at least 1000 calories in the gym. It was perhaps the longest workout I've ever done so far. 40 mins on the elipical, 1 hour on the horizontal bike, and 14 minutes walking to finish off the 1000. Today I'm not even sore from it. I would like to burn another 1000 today, but I may not have time. Also, running is the fastest way for me to burn, but I can't run much yet due to the shoes giving me blisters. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

2009-05-22 Oscar 220

Another 220 day. I was worried that it would go up since it dropped so quickly. I can only describe yesterday as a contrast of empty and full. As soon as I finished blogging yesterday I started studying for an assignment that was due last night at 11pm. I even took pages I printed off to study- into the gym with me. Since I only had one packet of oatmeal yesterday morning, I started feeling really hungry after only 40 minutes of working out. I wanted to keep going for another 40 minutes or so, but decided it would be better to fuel my body than starve it. I went home and had a shake and studied some more while stretching.
Since the car is dying I walked to work (and it was a beautiful day). Work was very busy. We had a lot of catching up to do, so I really just focused on getting things done quickly. Every hour or two my stomach would ask why I hadn't fed it enough yet and I would keep throwing things into it like jerky at 1:00pm, a fiber bar around 3:00pm, all the while sucking down large quantities of water not typical of a 500 calorie burn in the gym.
After walking home I really wanted to go back to the gym and round out my day with 200 to 300 more calories off, but instead continued reading my chapter and doing my assignments. It's a good thing I did, since I only finished my homework at 10:55pm. Once again I was VERY hungry and threw together some milk and protein powder to let my stomach know I still cared.
Now that it's a new day, I'm hoping to not experience as much hunger. Starting the day with 2 packets of oatmeal so I can do a good, long workout. Todays goal is 1200 calories to burn or about 2.5 hours of gym. 1.5 before work, .5 after, as well as walking to and from work.

2009-05-21 Oscar 220

I worked very hard yesterday. In the morning I wore my new shoes and ran 4.1 miles before I had to get off the treadmill because my toes were beginning to blister. I don't remember exactly how many calories I burned but I'm going to say 700. I'll give my feet a rest from those shoes for a couple of days before trying them again. I did push-ups and sit-ups at home between stretches after the run. I fear that I may not be doing enough warm-up or cool down and my muscles are remaining too tight. I'd like to work out longer, but my body won't always let me.
In any case, at about 7:10pm I went back to the gym and did 20 minutes on the elliptical with just my socks, then 60 minutes on the bike, also just my socks for a total of 700 additional calories and a Grand Total of 1400 Calories. Probably the most I've ever burned in 1 day.

2009-05-20 Oscar 221.5

Yesterday I only did push-ups and sit-ups at home. I didn't do any real cardio or weight lifting. This is mostly due to the fact that our car is totally dead and we will need to be getting a new one. I personally think we could figure out a way to live without a car and save the money it costs, but my wife believes our quality of life would be too far diminished. Today I'm going to work out with my new shoes. We shall see how far I can go in them before they hurt my feet.

2009-05-19 Oscar 221.5

Yesterday I worked out on the elliptical for 1 hour. For about 5 minutes I had my heart rate above 180 BPM. The highest I measured was 185. The Fitness heart rate thingy in the gym says my Max Heart rate should be somewhere near 194. I believe it because the difference between working out at 175 and 185 is huge. Getting to 194 would be that much more difficult.
In total the elliptical said I burned 510 Calories I'll be trying to track this number each day where it is measurable.

2009-05-18 Oscar 222

Still 222. I'm happy that it remains there rather than go up.
As yesterday was Sunday, I really didn't do any exercise. I did however walk home during my lunch break and then ride my bike back, then rode home at the end of my shift. The part were my bum was on the seat is quite sore. My legs still hurt from Fridays run. We shall see how hard I can work today.

2009-05-17 Oscar 222

27% fat 53% water.
Lots of weight lifting yesterday. It was such a hard workout that I had to go to bed by 11pm (that or we haven't been getting a good enough sleep lately). My pecks are quite sore as I expected. My lower back and abs are not as sore as I was expecting.
I calculated that 505 Miles of running should drop my weight 20 pounds. We'll see how it goes.

2009-05-16 Oscar 222

Today's picture is in the living room because my in-laws have filled the corner where I normally take the picture.
Woo Hoo! 222.0, 27% Fat, 53% Water
Yesterday was killer- I ran 7.2 miles on the treadmill. One of those miles was at 7.0 MPH. I don't think I've done a whole mile that fast in a very long time. The total calorie burn came to over 1150, which is a good 1/3 of a pound.
Many parts of my feet and legs hurt, so today will not be a very heavy cardio day. Since it's Saturday though (and I don't workout on Sunday) I will be beating myself up with weight training.

2009-05-15 Oscar 222.5

Didn't sleep all that well last night. My in-laws are here for the next 3 days and my wife and I are sleeping in the living room. The cats are rather loud, so it's hard to sleep for long.
Yesterday I did no more than some squats, so I don't expect much. Today I need to make a nice long workout then do homework like it's never been done before.

2009-05-14 Oscar 222.5

I weighed in today at 222.5, 27.5% fat, 52.5% water. Yesterday I didn't think I'd get much of a workout in, but once I got going on the elliptical my right foot didn't really hurt much, so I kept going. I did a biceps workout and then the elliptical for an hour. I measured my heart rate at one point where I was pushing really, really hard and it read 179 for about 3 minutes. The rest of the time I kept my heart rate around 165. I'm glad I'm finally back on routine. Today I won't be doing any cardio, just situps/pushups and body resistance because I've got too much homework to make it to the gym (Mostly because last night's excursion to the opera took close to 7 hours).
See you tomorrow.

2009-05-13 Oscar 222.5

Looks like the scale remembered that I AM losing weight. Hopefully this goes with gaining muscle since it is muscle that will help me look better as fat comes off. The scale reads 27% fat, 53% water today. Right now, the goal is 200 pounds by Sept 16th 2009 which is just 4 months and change from now.
The ultimate goal is a six-pack. The average man would have to get down to about 8% fat for a full 6-pack to show. Choosing a set date for this is tough since depending on how much muscle I have it might be 182 pounds or as low as 170 (which I've never even imagined since 185 is as low as I can remember being). We'll stick with 200 for now and go from there.

2009-05-12 Oscar 222.5

Yay! The scale finally recognized some of my effort. We shall see if it lasts.
Yesterday really wasn't anything special. My workout was 20 minutes of jogging 4.5-5 MPH, then 45 minutes on the elliptical since my shins are still recovering from sprint-walks. I think I'll not do sprints for a couple more weeks (even though the original plan was to do them each Saturday).
I didn't eat anything bad for me, except 3 chocolate-covered macadamias given to me by my friend Shelly who just returned from Hawaii with her husband. They were delicious and I'm proud of myself for not eating them all.
Today needs to be a big workout (long at least) because were going out to eat. Toodles.

2009-05-11 Oscar 225

Thank goodness I'm not on the biggest loser or I'd be going home. Most people don't expect to gain weight on their first week, working hard and eating right. Fortunately, I don't care much yet what the scale says, I'll start caring more later if the pictures I post don't show any change.
Today the scale read 225 Pounds, 27.5% Fat, 52.5% Water.
My legs still hurt from the sprint-walks I did on Saturday. I'm not sure what level of working out I'll do today, but it will probably involve less cardio and more weight training as most of my muscles don't hurt.
Yesterday was my birthday and I ate well. My wife made lemon cake and I had one piece. It was good, but I haven't had that much sugar at once for a week and I could tell. I probably won't eat much more of the cake this week as it's not part of my approved diet.

2009-05-10 Oscar 225

Well, still the same weight despite being very good at only eating fruit, vegetables, and meat yesterday. I had very balanced diet that would be the poster-child of what TO eat.
I did sprint-walks which were even more difficult than I remembered. I did an 8 minute warm-up of .6 miles, then started the real work. I did 2 minutes at 5 MPH followed by 1 minute of 10 MPH. Then 2 min 4.8 MPH, 1 min 9.6, 2 min 4.8, 1min 9.3, 2 min 4.5, 1 min 9.0, 2 min 4.5, 1 min 8.7, 15 min 4.5 and slower. I had intended on doing 8 sprints, but only did 5 because my shins couldn't handle it. I walked until the total distance on the treadmill for the day was 3.0 miles. (I later walked .8 miles from work to home).
As soon as I got home I filled the bathtub with cold water and sat in it. I can't remember the last time I got in cold water, but it was horrible. After about 3-4 minutes, I couldn't feel the cold anymore, but I stayed in for about 10 minutes. I think it has helped my shins and calves from hurting too much.
Today is Sunday, Mother's day (and also happens to be my birthday). No workout today.

2009-05-09 Oscar 225

Ugh! I've been working very hard and have yet to see a change in the numbers. I guess I need more patience. The scale read 225 pounds, 27.5% fat, 52.5% Water. This means that I got fatter by jogging and weight training. Of course I know I'm not fatter, but it would be nice for the scale to reflect some effort.
Yesterday I walked for a mile and then did weight training. Lots of sit-ups and side-crunches. Quite a few presses and pulls as well as bicep curls and lifting a 50 lb weight from the floor to my belly. I thought my back would hurt this morning, but it's definitely my abs that are feeling it today. I'll be doing jogging and sprint-walks today, as long as my shins don't feel a lot of pain.

2009-05-08 Oscar 225

Yesterday, after a breakfast of oatmeal I went running at the apartment gym. After a 10 minute warm-up I jogged 5 miles in 57 minutes. It came out to about 940 calories and I was SOOOO tired. I ate quite healthy, minus the Marie Calendar's Chicken Pot Pie. Fortunately, it was the last one. Overall I estimated my total calorie count for the day to be about 2300 and the last thing I had was chicken (because what I've read suggests ending the day with protein).
This morning I woke up with an ENORMOUS head ache. Perhaps I didn't have enough water throughout the day yesterday. I'm off to the gym now to do weight training today. Tomorrow will be sprint-walks.

2009-05-07 Oscar 221.5

This morning's picture was taken at about 8:00am. I slept for a little under 8 hours last night. I'll tell you about yesterday. On May 6th, I didn't get to working out until about 11:30am. My calves were somewhat sore still, as were my arms where the bicep meets the forearm. I was on the tredmill at 15% and 3.5 mph for about 10 minutes. For the next 20, I lowered the incline, increasing the speed incrementally. After the cardio, I did about 30 sit-ups and 25 push-ups. Yesterday was a rest day for the most part. My eating wasn't bad. I focussed on protein, but had a fiber bar and protein bar (which don't have all that much protein). I'm sure I ate more than normal as my body seemed to be constantly hungry. I also drank a lot of Vitamin Water (about 48 oz) which comes out to 300 calories, so quite a few calories from fluid.

2009-05-06 Oscar 221.5

Oscar's Six-Pack Blog

The idea is to take a picture every morning and post it. After a month or two, I'll edit the pictures into a time-laps weight loss video. My goals are to be under 200 pounds by September 16th, when I'll be taking a cruise from Vancouver, BC to Hawaii with my wife.

On May 1st, I made a resolution to drink no soda for the whole month. I've kept it up no problem so far. I also started working out that day, doing 10 minutes of slow jogging, then stretching, followed by 20 minutes of medium speed jogging. That night I went to a bachelor party for a friend Tim. I ate A LOT of pizza, but only had water. (remember I never made a resolution to eat well yet).

May 2nd I did about the same as the 1st, with a 10 minute warm-up, stretch, then 20 minute jog around 5.0-5.5 MPH. I also lifted a 35lb weight with both hands off the floor, up to my chest about 50 times, until my lower back felt like it was going to explode. My weight measurement was 226.5, the highest I've ever weighed-in.

May 3rd (Sunday - No Workout)
I weighed in at 225.5, my body purging the pizza. My wife and I went to the Opera "Marriage of Figaro," and ate at Bucco di Beppo's. The procuito filled-chicken was the best chicken dish I can remember ever eating.

May 4th - Monday - 224.5 Pounds
I worked out forty-five minutes today, doing about 3 miles on the treadmill (including warm-up and cool-down). I also lifted a 35lb weight from the floor, to my chest, then in the air with both hands. This I did about 50 times. I also did bicep curls to exhaustion where I couldn't do any more (starting at 35lbs and moving down 5 lbs each time).

May 5th - Tuesday - 223.5 Pounds
I worked out 45 min this morning on the treadmill, going about 4.5 mph, but increasing the incline as I went, up to 3.0%. I also did leg presses; 10 at 175lbs, 15 at 125 lbs, and about 40 at 75lbs.
Since it was a day off, I went back to the gym at 7pm and did 30 minutes on the horizontal bike (abt 300 cals burned). I also jogged for 20 minutes on the treadmill. My calves were throbbing at the end.
I also did really well in eating today, getting plenty of protein at each meal, and finishing the day with some chicken breast cooked with cilantro and lime. Yummmy!

May 6th - Wednesday - 221.5 Pounds, 27% Fat
My scale can measure what it thinks your fat is. I'll be posting that regularly as well. My calves are pretty sore, so I don't know if I'll get a lot of cardio in today. Also, the part of my arms where my bicep meets my forearm is extrememly sore (it was yesterday too, but I thought it'd go away faster). My lower back is still sore too, but not as bad as yesterday. I'll post the first picture of me later today when I figure an easy way to put it on this machine, and report tomorrow about what I did today.