Quick note: Mrs. 1500 is getting in on the fitness act! If you haven’t already, see her Wednesday post and then join us for a run in May of 2019.
I have a hard time controlling my diet when I’m on vacation. And by hard time, I mean that my modus operandi is to completely submit to my sweet tooth. And really, I should call it my food tooth because I love to eat.
At Greece Chautauqua, the food was excellent. The food called my name day and night. The food taunted me. The food won.
It all started on day 1.
And then there was dessert. Attentive readers will notice that in the previous photo, I had gotten a head start on the sweets.
I didn’t even know what this was, but that did not stop me from stuffing it into my mouth with reckless abandon.
I had three plates of food on a mid-week evening. Here was one of them.
Luckily, this cake wasn’t served buffet style. If so, I would have had multiple slices.
This dessert was served on the final evening and was the best one.
It also didn’t help that I had injured my hand and couldn’t work out. And who am I kidding? I was on vacation, so probably wouldn’t have even tried to find the weight room. Sigh…
Anyway, I’ve been home for two weeks and am back on the workout wagon. Brace yourselves.
Strength Training
Because of the aforementioned “struggles,” there isn’t much to see in this update. I’m posting pics anyway to keep myself honest and transparent.
Front: Meh-riffic!
Chest: Similarly crap-tastic.
Back: I’ve lost a little muscle here. Queue the sad trombone.
The numbers on the scale reflect my lack of progress:
The good news is that I’ll be mostly at home through the rest of the year. I plan on eating like a glutton on Thanksgiving, but will practice restraint otherwise.
Steps
If there is good news to report, it’s that I’m not far from making my step goal for 2018 (6,000,000). I’ve now walked 5,508,342 steps for an average of 18,120 per day (as of 10/31).
If I keep this up, I’ll finish the year at 6,613,800.
A Small Pivot…
I’m unhappy with the trajectory of my gut and 18% body fat isn’t acceptable. I’m going to change up my routine to focus on weight loss for now. I’m still going to keep on with the weight training, but I’ll be eating less. When I get my body fat under control, I’ll pivot once again.
I’m still trying to figure this whole thing out. It can be painful at times, the battle is half the fun.
If there is anything I’ve learned from strength training and fitness, it’s that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. I’ll have more to say on that in a couple week…
You should check out my post about eating. Just read the 2nd half.
https://retireby40.org/how-to-avoid-overspending-and-overeating/
I’ve never had any success with portion control, eating less in a meal, or eating a healthier diet. But intermittent fasting is working really well for me. I’ve been on it for 2 months and I lost about 10 lbs. Hopefully, I can keep up with it indefinitely. You already know the key is to change your eating habit. You can’t just eat less for 2 months then stop. You’ll gain it back.
Anyway, good luck during the holidays. That’s always tough.
I do the intermittent fasting too and wow, I agree that it totally works. In Greece, I only ate breakfast once. However, I the incredible volume of food I ate for my two meals was enough to overcome all of the benefits of the fasting. I’m back to more sensible meals now. I think I’ll be way down in 2 weeks. Stay tuned…
Time to get your focus back! I need to do this also to lose the last 10 kg! So let’s treat it like a ‘pants on fire’ emergency and finally get the body that befits our great personality and beautiful mind 😉
Yes, focus indeed! Less cake, more vegetables…
That is the nice transform, I managed to reduce around 2lbs just with low carb diet, But I have managed to lose around 3lbs in two weeks just with low carb diets, but one of my friend she lost around 5lbs just avoid eating one veggie that’s it https://bit.ly/2JzdGOI
My weight has been steady for about three months but I’ve lost 3 inches off my waistline. Not ideal but I’m glad for any kind of progress.
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Holding steady ain’t a bad thing.
Are you familiar with nerdfitness.com? I’m not saying you need it, I just think you might like poking around the site. Steve’s whole system and blog articles are geared towards people who like dinosaurs (and Legos and other nerdy stuff).
No, never heard of it. Just went to the site. Looks promising! I may give it a go if my current routine doesn’t work. Stay tuned…
Carl, what’s your weight training program right now? I’ve used a 5×5 (strong lifts) before and really liked it for its simplicity and effectiveness in building muscle and shrinking the body fat. Lots of squatting, deadlifting, and other compound goodness. Keep after it. I’ve fallen off the wagons. #dadduty
I LOVE the 5×5 for my lower body. It is a little more of a challenge with my upper body though, so I’m trying something else for the next month. Stay tuned.
And yeah, dad duty can certainly knock you off the wagon.
i can’t/won’t change my eating habits so the only thing that worked for me in my 40’s was working out more frequently and consistently. it’s that mid-week wine that does me in. it doesn’t taste like many calories but it is. sneaky calories.
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Mid-week wine! I try to cut out booze during the week, but sometimes it isn’t easy…
Looking good bro-tato-chip, keep up the good work.
I’ve had to train myself to eat proper portion sizes and have been taking it up a notch recently as I get ready for our vacation.
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Bro-tato-chip! Ha!
I finished my workout today 2 hours ago and I’m still feeling it! Oof! Phew.
I believe you or Alan referred to those as “balls of deliciousness”. Lol! At least I only ate 2. Lord knows I visited the buffet more than once, though. 😉
Balls of deliciousness indeed! That buffet… Oh that buffet…
Proper nutrition is one of the most important requirements if you want to be in good health. You can consult the doctor, also can study the menu on the basis of each person. Its effect is extremely unexpected.
So firstly HOW GOOD does that food look (obviously the answer is VERY good). Secondly I completely empathise with this. I was away with work at the start of October and I had the double-whammy of eating rubbish and not going to the gym. But worse I realised that I also had the triple-whammy of realising how much better I felt with the extra hour of sleep compared to getting up to go train. Net-net I’ve not been to the gym in over a month.
So I’m in the same place as you in terms of thinking that Something Must Be Done. I’m also with you that the right thing is going to be to focus on the first instance on what I put in my mouth.
Going to follow this with interest. Best of luck!
Caveman
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