Those hungry freaks

7 degrees below zero currently, commute was brutal - felt bad for wife and baby, so I went out and warmed up their car for them. Wife came down with my wool hat and a coffee in the new mugs we ordered. Kissed her and N. goodbye, then off to work - took an hour to get to work with everyone driving 5 mph on Lake Shore. Wish I could be home on the couch with my wife, under a blanket of some type, watching one of her documentaries. We have a three day weekend coming up which I'm really looking forward to. I don't plan to leave the house for any reason other than J's party on Sunday and working out/fetching groceries.

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Work went ok yesterday, pretty slow day at the office. Spent a lot of time trading mp3s with J., setting up my server at home, bullsh*tting with the guys. Boss bought deep dish pizza for everybody for lunch, he let me order a salad instead as I can't eat pizza right now with my race training. Spoke with T. about some projects I'm working on, they're going fairly slow but I'll be in a position to finish them next week. Of course I spent all of yesterday playing with N. when I should have been working from home. Feel good that yesterday was a good wholesome day of family time, there will be time to get work done later.

After work, I went to Trader Joe's and bought enough groceries to last us the weekend, so we don't have to go out into this f*cking cold. After I come home, unload the groceries, kiss the wife and baby, then I change into thermal running clothes, go back out to the car, drive to the gym and run 4 miles on the treadmill, do some yoga. Then I cooked dinner for K., chili lime chicken, baked potatoes, steamed vegetables, a bad pinot noir. Chocolate sorbet for dessert. Watched the season premier of Battlestar Galactica which was brilliant.

After dinner, laid in bed and tried to get my wife to watch this Joy Division documentary online, she refused and instead snuggled up to me while reading a book. Fell asleep with my laptop on my chest.

Woke up this morning, fed and changed the baby and put her back into bed with her mom. Made coffee, played guitar for an hour or so, watched the Daily Show. Thought about the day ahead - I have therapy with J. at 3, I still have to go to the gym, K. wants to go get sushi later on. God this Joy Division documentary is good. K. of course, doesn't appreciate them. I feel like playing Unknown Pleasures until she realizes their greatness.

Weight ranges

I'm at 192 right now - still fat. I'm 5'11" by the way. Still working on losing the weight, hope to be back to my ideal weight by Christmas.

I've been thinking - at least for someone with my body type, weight goes something like this:

190 and above, especially over 195 lb - fat, ugly and borderline obese, thick neck, man tits and big belly - you look fat no matter what you wear unless you want to buy a whole new wardrobe in XL and XXL.

180 to 190 lb - You look presentable, but don't kid yourself that you are 'skinny'. You look ok with clothes on but don't think that you can take your shirt off credibly on the beach. You wear L shirts, M shirts still look tight and stupid on you.

175 to 180 lb - Borderline nice physique. Probably what I've been the majority of my life. You can start wearing size M shirts credibly.

165 to 175 lb - This should be your ideal weight. You look good with clothes on or off, you look great with a shirt off or in a tank top. Libido and energy level is great. You wear size M shirts and they look great on you, waist is around 30-31. You should stay in this range for life.

Still training - 5k week 7

Still training. I repeated week 6 4 weeks in a row.

Back at work. I did 45 mins on the elliptical this morning and feel pretty good. Still kind of mulling over the results of my blood tests yesterday:

red blood cell count ok, white blood cell count ok, basically no anemia, no diabetes, testosterone level ok, thyroid ok (so basically I can't blame my inability to lose weight on my metabolism).

The one glaring thing is my high cholesterol - level is 245, ldl level is 165. Overall level should be under 200, ldl level should be beneath 160. My Dr. tells me that 250 used to be the cut off point for high cholesterol, so I'm right on the border - so I won't need to go on any cholesterol drugs like lipitor, but I need to keep watching my diet and continue with the running. I think when I hit 10 percent, or goal, my cholesterol will be about normal.

Back from vacation as well - I thought I had gained 4 lbs when I got back but I weighed myself this morning and I lost the extra weight, it was probably water. Running is going well I'm able to run 4 miles without stopping, times are good. Only 2-3 weeks to go til my 5k race.

I'm Fat - 10 pounds by my birthday/Running workout

It's time I accept that I'm fat. My current 'weight loss' plan of tracking my points on weight watchers and working out at the gym haphazardly is just not cutting it. I lose a few pounds here and there, but over the past year my weight has remained relatively stable. It also doesn't help that I'm living with a pregnant woman who is eating double the amount of normal calories and is fond of chocolate and ice cream. Some days I just give in and eat whatever my wife is eating, it's certainly a lot more pleasurable.

I gave up for a while - for the past few weeks I haven't been tracking my points and haven't been going to the gym. My intense cardio work outs at the gym at the beginning of the year have also sort of tapered off.

I will probably not be able to lose a lot of weight in time for our wedding party - but that doesn't mean I should be a fat slob for the rest of my life. I have too much self respect to let my physical appearance continue to deteriorate, in the end it will also be better for my career, relationships, etc. as well as my self esteem.

I've decided to get on a running work out, and possibly compete in a 5k by the end of summer, I'll try to run as much as possible outside because I hate the treadmill. I take my inspiration from my friend B. who got a treadmill for Christmas and now is competing in half marathons and looks fierce. I have decided to cut down on the weight training, it just makes me look bulky, makes it difficult for me to lose weight, and it was never my goal to look like a body builder anyways. I like a slim build with some muscle tone. My plan is to use 2 resources online: running.about.com for training info and mapmyrun.com to log my training.

Here's my training schedule for the next 8 weeks.

5K Advanced Beginner Training Schedule

Week Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
1 Rest 1.5 m run CT 1.5 m run (race pace) Rest 2 m run 30 min EZ
2 Rest 2 m run CT 1 m run (race pace) Rest 2.5 m run 30 min EZ
3 Rest 2 mi run CT 1.5 m run (race pace) Rest 2.5 m run 30 min EZ
4 Rest 2.5 m run CT 1.5 m run (race pace) Rest 3 m run 35-40 min EZ
5 Rest 3 m run CT 1.5 m run (race pace) Rest 3.5 m run 35-40 min EZ
6 Rest 3.5 m run CT 1.5 m run (race pace) Rest 4 m run 35-40 min EZ
7 Rest 3 m run CT 1.5 m run (race pace) Rest 4 m run 40 min EZ
8 Rest 3 m run CT or Rest 2 m run Rest Rest 5K Race!