Day 10

Shoulder: Feeling a bit better each day.  Still stiff and painful when I exert too much force on it.  The progress is slow but it’s expected since the shoulder typically takes a long time to heal.

Cardio: Ran today actually which was good for the shoulder because it got some blood flowing to it and kept it loose.  I’m a little stiff today but I want to keep active.  The doc told me to keep the shoulder moving, just don’t stress it with weight.

Eating: Blah, I did decent but by days end I’d snacked a bit too much.  Not a blowout by any means but just not as well as I’d like to have eaten.  I’m looking for moderation, not perfection.

Coupon Diva

Well this is exciting.  Yesterday Coupondiva.net got quite a few hits via another website.  It was either www.moneysavingmom.com or www.couponmom.com  I can’t remember!

The wife posted her deals to one of those sites and it generated some nice traffic.  I’m glad for her because I think it’s a good thing that these coupon crunchers do.  In a time where saving money is incredibly important, couponing and strategic shopping are a great way to do it.

I compare it to a game of chess.  You have to plan a strategy to make it work.  While using the occasional coupon will save a few bucks here and there, do it right and you can save a lot more.  Plus this is just a plug for her site!  I can’t wait to add video to it, weee!

This is her latest post 

Day 9

Much better day today.  Went to the doctor and the rotator cuff appears to be sprained/strained ( I can’t remember exactly what he said ).  I made sure that he knew I wasn’t seeing him for ILLNESS today.  At any rate he ran a battery of simple tests on me regarding moving my arm around.  I had some mild pain here and there which indicated to him it wasn’t “serious”.  He recommended I keep the arm moving but not to put stress on it, i.e. lift weights.

The irony is I got into this position by exercising!

Well eating wasn’t the best early in the day but I straightened up by days end.  The visit to the doc helped give me a good bit of piece of mind.  My mind tends to wander and I end up imagining myself going in for extensive shoulder surgery.  Which additional treatment isn’t entirely ruled out but he says 90% of these things can clear up on their own over time with rest and care.

I hope to get back to golfing in a couple of weeks!

The order of the Phoenix

Ok, J.K. please don’t sue me for that reference

I’m talking about the Phoenix lander ladies and gents.  The first spacecraft to ever land in the arctic circle of Mars.  Also, it’s the first spacecraft to land the way it did in 32 years (Viking I and Viking II).

I left a poolparty to go and witness this historic event.  I had another reason for leaving the party [see previous post].  This is my superbowl/world series/stanley cup/etc.  It’s Humans vs. Mars and prior to Sunday night, Mars was outdoing us.  The failure rate of missions was 55%.  It is now 50%, so we’re tied with Mars!

I started watching right about 6pm and the commentary didn’t start until around 6:30pm EDT.  Some swift impromptu interviews were done with some of the project leads and so forth.  Man, these guys looked like they could chew through nails.  They were so nervous, particularly Barry Goldstein, the project manager (I think).  Every event from cruise stage separation onward was a major event.

At 14 minutes to land the cruise stage separated.  7 minutes was atmospheric entry which was to take away the energy of it’s 420 million mile journey.  After a few minutes of that the craft went from 12,000mph or so around 1100mph.  The main parachute would deply and slow the craft to around 120mph.  At around 30 seconds to land the craft separated from it’s backshell and freefell for about 2 seconds.  The 12 thrusters kicked in after that and would pulse the rest of the way down until the lander touched down at around 5mph.

Just to put this into perspective, a few numbers.  The accuracy of this event is 1 in 10,000,000.  You’d be shooting an arrow from Dodger Stadium and hitting home plate at Wrigley Field.

Watching these guys made it look easy but what they did was incredibly difficult to do.  You’re launching a projectile from a moving target in space to hit another moving target in space.  These moving targets are also rotating on an axis.  That projectile has to land with little more than a thud after the hundreds of millions of miles it has traveled.  Everything has to go right in those last few minutes and especially last few seconds.

These are are the kinds of things that are the pinnacle of human abilities and achievement.

I watched the EDL replay twice.  EDL = Entry Descent and Landing.

I am nerd; hear me utter a loud, deep, prolonged sound of rage!

Learn more here.  They have pretty pictures too!

Regarding mission failures

Day 7 & 8

I’m not going to lie, the past couple of days have sucked.  It’s mostly due to my shoulder injury.  Either a rotator cuff thing or a sprain.

I’d looked forward to a pool party for a solid few weeks and when the time came all I could do was watch my kids play.  It wasn’t a very enjoyable experience not being able to play with them or play anything else for that matter.  At least they had fun and that’s what matters most for them.  I wasn’t going to rain on their day!

I narrowed it down to what happened also.  I went to do a set of pushups and instead of kneeling down and assuming the position, I dropped to the floor in a quick motion.  I apparently dropped too fast and hit at a funny angle?  It didn’t hurt at all, it just felt “funny”.  I proceeded with my workout.  If it had REALLY hurt I wouldn’t have continued.  I’m a bit peeved that a “funny” feeling has caused me so much grief.  I’m not in agony but I’m sore and my ROM (range of motion) is limited.

From what I can tell, it’s not serious.  I can move my arm around a good bit but certain positions are unpleasant.  I also have some weakness when lifting it a certain way.  Lastly there is some popping sounds, but I also have those in the left shoulder so I dunno if they are just louder because it hurts.

I am going to the doctor this morning and I’ll get his take.  I will likely get a referral to an orthopedist and get X-rays at some point.  If X-rays don’t show anything then they usually do an MRI.  I can only guess at this point.  I’m pretty sure I’ll have to keep it immobilized for a few days which is going to kill me for a number of reasons.   Most of those reasons come in the form of two small children.  Ugh.  Well lesson learned.  Don’t be cool and remove a step from assuming your push-up position.  Kneel, then assume the position!  Thank you sir may I NOT have another!

But hey, for ONCE this year I’m going to the doctor and I’m NOT SICK!!!

Day 6

Day 6 is coming to an end.  I’m very irritated by my shoulder but it will be ok.  Read previous post.  I did have a couple of shots of jaeger this evening.  wee…

Calories, I went around 2500 for the day but possible I’ve maintained a deficit, no matter I didn’t go overboard at all.  I’m done eating for the day.  Tomorrow will be a test though.  Going to a party so I gotta watch it big time.

No exercise today with it being Saturday and all.  I did manage to do a tad bit of yardword.  With my shoulder paining me I will take it very easy on workouts for a couple of days and go from there.  If nothing else, I can keep my eating strong and shore up some of my nibbling habits.

I am down a pound or so though, slow and steady makes for happy people.

Rotator cuff

Well, I did something to my rotator cuff a few days ago and it’s really pissing me off.  Usually things like this mentally derail me.  I’ll be all feeling good and doing good then bam, something goes wrong.  I’m not letting that happen this time.  I can still do plenty of exercise without over doing my shoulder movements.  So F U CUFF!  Well not really, I like the cuff.  I need it to get better.  I’ll take care of it with ice and meds and heat and more meds.

I’m going to avoid the doctor for a few days unless this does not go away.

Here’s hoping that I don’t have to go to the doctor.

Day 5

Sorry, this is actually day 6 but I’m writing about day 5!

Day 5 was great.  I did splurge on lunch and a small dessert after dinner.  I had a hamburger and baked beans at lunch and dessert was some of that double extra super mega churned icecream.  Calories were in the range of 1900 which is still a deficit for the day.

I went to the gym last night too.  I cannot remember the last time I went to the gym on Friday.  It’s been at least 2 years.  I did a killer cardio workout.  My shoulder still hurts, I think it’s a rotator cuff thing.  I’ll go easy on it for a couple more days and see how it feels.  I should probably ice it up…

Oh well, good first week.  My scale this morning said 210 but more than that I can comfortably wear some jeans I’d been avoiding for a few weeks.  They aren’t falling off yet, but it’s a great start.  Looser clothing speaks way more than numbers on a scale.  Aside from my shoulder bugging me, I feel great!

Day 4

Well I’m ending another good day.  STILL need to up my protein intake.  That’s coming though in our next grocery trip.  Going to add tuna into the mix.  Ending the day around 1700 calories.  I worked lower body today also.

I must have pulled something or aggravated something in my shoulder the other day.  It’s sore and kind of aching.  What the hell?  I’m still a week away from being 30, I’m still 29! I can’t be having aches and pains! 

So four days in and I feel great and the willpower is sticking with me.  I do, however, keep getting up at night and eating a bowl of cereal, no fear though, I add it in my count *sigh*.

Crap, I munched a couple of fries from my kids happy meal this evening, Ok so i ended at 1750 for the day!

Plan for fitness

Fitness is a scary word and if it were a four letter word it’d be more fitting.  Fitness, to me, does not mean sporting track pants chugging water every waking hour of the day.  The truth is that most of us don’t want nor can we actually live like that.  It’s like a movie, fiction, fairytale.  Sure some can, like professional athletes.  We’re not professional athletes.  We’re professionals at living our lives.  The key to succeeding is to plan, plan and plan.  This isn’t stressed enough.  Before you do anything, at all, you plan.  Period.

What are your goals?  Short-term, long-term?  You can’t go into a mindset of “after 12 weeks I’m done for good”.  You should have short term goals but you should think long term as well.  In planning and following carefully that plan, you set up good living habits.   These good habits will establish themselves into your life and follow you.

For years upon years there have been too many schemes and scams to get us into shape.  Sadly, an overwhelming majority of them do not work or even make things work.  I had one of those Ab Roller things a few years back.  All of the people in the commercial were ripped or flat bellies using this thing.  Well I fell for it and bought one.  I used it once.  Ok, I used it twice.  Three times would have been way too much!  The point is, we’re easily bought and sold with this idea that getting something nice requires hardly any effort.

Well how do you plan?  You have to know your limits.  You have to know how much time per day/week you can devote towards exercise.  You must plan your diet out and track it.  It’s not as bad as it sounds.  Lets start with exercise.

Exercise

The system I follow is something I picked up from the Body-For-Lifeprogram.  It mixes cardio exercise with strength training.  Now, as I’m typing this, I am currently restarting this program!  I fell off the wagon for a few years and honestly it was my fault.  Now, back on track.  The system I use might not be right for the next person or the next.  I know a couple of people that have added it to their routine.  I suggest researching this program if it sounds up your alley.

The most important thing is to make time for exercise.  I’m serious that you can get a very good workout in a 15-30 minute period depending on what you’re doing.  A key here is to make sure you’re doing your exercise correctly.  I am not a morning person, so I prefer evening workouts.  You might prefer mornings, it’s up to you.  If you want to achieve your goal then you simply must make time.

Between diet and exercise it’s really hard to say which is more important.  They’re both immensely important.  If you eat just right and do zero exercise, you will lose weight probably.  The problem is you might end up losing muscle.  That’s a very bad thing because muscles metabolise fat, they make us strong and in the end make us look and feel better.  If you exercise your face off but eat horridly, you’ll have a fair amount of strength but it’s likely to be hidden under layers of fat.

Diet

Now with my eating, I also fallow the BFL method.  I eat 6 or so small meals a day.  I really try to keep them balanced using the 40/40/20 method.  This means the ratio of calories is 40 protein, 40 carb and 20 fat.  Lets say my calories for the day are 2000.  I’ll have 800 from protein, 800 from carbs and 400 from fat.  You don’t have to be dead on, just in the general area.  This is important to keep you feeling fuller longer and also providing necessary nutrition to power and build your body.

I recommend something like www.fitday.com to help track food intake.

Now, must you track it for the rest of your life?  No!  You do have to teach yourself how to make wise food decisions.  Do not give up if you’ve given in to a bad food decision.  Never resort to the “tomorrow I will start” syndrome.  Start now and start by planning now.  Make sure you are capable of what you plan.  If you want realistic results, then a realistic plan is what you need.  It can take months or even years to reach your fitness goals.  You have to start somewhere and if you’re going to start, then you need to _____!  Correct answer: Plan!

I really hate typing these things up this late.  I feel like I leave things out and jump around a tad.  I am not a doctor or a fitness expert.  I’m an abnormal nerdy guy who wants to take care of himself and family.   This blog is a chronicle of my journeys through fitness and slaying debt.  I like the idea of being able to inspire others through success.

Well, stop reading, start planning!