Clem's fitness journal

[Clem]

Back before Christmas, I had made some pretty good progress losing weight. I had dropped 20 lbs (with a target of 45), then I just took my eye off the ball. I've put back on 10 of the 20 I lost. I think between rereading Day by Day Armageddon and seeing the new Mission Impossible trailer, it occurred to me that if I ever had to run away from a threat, I might as well just curl up in a ball and save myself the frustration.

So this morning, I got up and ran. Not very far (only a mile) and not very fast, but it's a start. Hopefully by keeping this journal, it will work as a "forcing factor" that will help me behave -- both in terms of what I put in my body and what I do to burn it off.

[Jammer]

Good luck man. Are you looking to lose weight or get back to your condition when you boxed?

[Clem]

Good luck man. Are you looking to lose weight or get back to your condition when you boxed?

When I was boxing, I was training close to 3 hours per day -- so I'm not going to get back into that condition. If I can get to a place where I can feel good about being seen shirtless and can climb a few flights of stairs without getting winded, I'll be happy.

[rabb]

good job brother

[Clem]

Ran again this morning. Today, I managed 1.5 miles without stopping to walk. Yesterday, it was run for a 2 blocks then walk for 1 block. Got back home, picked some spinach from the garden, sauteed it with some sun dried tomatoes and garlic, mixed in an egg and ate it on whole wheat toast. Pretty tastely.

On the down side, my thighs are fucking screaming.

[Elwood]

that's awesome man! "no pain, no gain"...right?

[Clem]

Didn't run last week while in Cedar Rapids. Haven't run this week because it's a trillion fucking degrees outside, though I did hit the eliptical machine for 30 minutes yesterday.

Last night, I watched "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" on Netflix and had a bit of an epiphany. I believe so much of what ails me (and has made me 30-40 lbs heavier than I ought to be) is all the garbage I put in my body. A lot of stuff in the movie really resonated with me, so I just ordered a juicer off of Amazon. When that bad boy arrives, I'm going to start a juice fast to clean out my system.

[Clem]

I weighed myself Wednesday and was at 215 lbs. Target is 175. Yesterday (Thursday), I didn't get my juicer until after work, so for breakfast I grabbed a Special K protein shake and for lunch I had a V8 juice and some hummus. Also at lunch, I did 60 minutes of cardio (30 on an elliptical machine, 30 on a ramp climber). Last night, I had a couple glasses of juice. The orange/carrot was very good. Then I got brave and combined tomato, celery, carrot, kale, spinich, parsley, lemon, jalapeno and garlic. The result was thick, green, and while not terrible, certainly not a mixture I will do again soon.

Also, yesterday was my first day without alcohol since my 30 day period back in November. That means I've gone 6 months without ever missing a day of drinking. Today will be a solid juice fast and then I'll weigh myself tomorrow.

[Elwood]

good job clem.....seems like you're heading in the right direction.

[Clem]

Yesterday was my first full day of my juice fast. It felt odd not to eat. Sometimes I was physically hungry, other times it was psychological cravings. It reminded me a bit of when I did Atkins about 10 years ago -- I think you crave stuff more because you know that you can't have it, rather than because you've been away from it for so long (after all, it's only been a day). Besides the juice, I drank a shitload of water.

For exercise, I mowed the lawn, which equates to about 2 miles of walking. I weighed myself this morning and am down to 206. I have yet to take an epic, cleansing shit. From what I've read, today will be the tough day, so before I have time to talk myself out of it, I'm going to go do a couple mile run.

[Clem]

Saturday was kind of rough. Got up to ran and decided to challenge a very steep hill next to my house that runs about two blocks. I was flying up it until about the 75% point, then absolutely hit a wall. I was running in slow motion after that, and to compound things, it start to rain. Only did 1.6 miles and my pace was embarrassing, but at least I got out there.

Yesterday, I got very big doses of what I have come to realize are two of my least favorite things: hunger and sobriety. I was crazy hungry all day and in a pretty pissy mood by evening.

Got up this morning and weighed in at 205.

[Clem]

Broke the fast Sunday night after reading that for every two days of a fast, you need one day to work your way back to regular food. Given that I'm going to Chicago on Thursday to eat at Rick Bayless' Frontera Grill, I wanted to make sure that I'm fully ready to hit that hard. So Sunday night, ate some cherries and some celery with hummus. Still weighed 205 this morning.

Today has been some orange/carrot juice from the juicer, more celery with hummus, and a dinner of stir fried chicken breast and broccoli.

[Clem]

Okay, I went through about 3 weeks of travel for work and for the kids' activities. By the time I got back from Topeka on Monday the 8th, I was back up to 215 lbs. Starting on Tuesday the 8th, I began easing into a juice fast. I would juice a couple of meals a day and have a sensible, mostly veggie, meal for dinner. I've been hitting the fitness center at work 3 times a week and I'm down to 202 this morning -- so 13 lbs in 10 days.

I can't decide if I'm going to go into a 100% juice fast or just keep this partial fast going. I'm kind of taking it day by day.

[RayRay]

How have you felt with the juice fast? I've thought about it but it seems really tough for us food lovers.

[Clem]

It's rough when everyone around you is eating. Right now, I'm tailgating at the Brewer game with a bunch of work people and it's killing me.