Sorry for the Delay

(Here is the second update from Don – with my remarks in italics. Fist of all, sorry for my delay, this will get better in August once my wedding is over and Field Day is over.)

Sorry for the delay.  I've been feeling like shit the last couple days.  I was unsure as to the cause, but after yesterday's dizziness and elevated body temperature, I am guessing some kind of bug was building up momentum in my system.  I feel much better today, though.

(This brings up an important question - Should you exercise when you're sick?

I have heard arguments both ways, but after 11 years of consistently working out and trying both, I have come to the conclusion that if you're not feeling well, skip your workout until you feel better.

And I define "not feeling well" as having a body ache, or weakness, or nausea, or stomachache, or sore throat. If you're just blowing your nose a bit more than usual -- get your ass in the gym. But if your body is fighting something, I've found that it is best to let it rest and fight off the sickness rather than working out and burning all of your energy that could otherwise be used to fight the bug in your system. Another example of Don knowing what to do.)

You know, this exercise has been beneficial already.  There have been at least a dozen times in the past week when I thought about grabbing candy, ice cream, fast food, etc. but didn't because of this project.  I am not sure if that is reflected in my weigh in.  Today, I weighed in at 318.  That is significantly less than what I was expecting (~330).  I know that my muscle mass is greatly reduced, but it still gives me a little boost to see 300 within striking distance.

(Don enjoys eating more than anyone I've ever met, but just doing this exercise has been enough to keep him from eating some tempting junk food. One of the things I was curious about when starting this project was how much motivation it would take for Don to start eating healthier. My hope was that it wouldn’t take more than just a little bit of structure. 

For me, eating is often a product of boredom. Sometimes I am so bored at work that I will want to pass the time by eating something from the vending machine. Not eating junk food can simply be the product of having something else to do.)

Report:

thurs (6/3)

1/3 lb spaghetti (Kraft Parmesan)

2/3 lb chicken (see earlier)

Gym: 15 min stationary bike, 3x8 military (hammer machine)

(two notes here:

1) I was opposed to eating whole grain pasta – until I tried it. Now I highly recommend it.

2) I am a firm believer in doing weight training just as much as traditional aerobic exercise. Weight training exercises will break your muscles down, and for the days immediately following your workout, much of your nourishment will be used to rebuild your muscles.

This doesn’t mean that someone who has never lifted weights before should go into a weight-room and start doing power lifts. Just use the weight machines once or twice a week, and work hard, but maintain proper form – it will put the next day’s food to work rebuilding muscles instead of turning into fat on your ass.)

wed

1/3 lb spaghetti (Kraft Parmesan)

2/3 lb chicken (see earlier)

1 pint OJ

tues (6/1)

2 cans Miller Lite

2 pint OJ

1/3 lb spaghetti (butter, Kraft Parmesan)

2/3 lb chicken (see earlier)

(I asked Don about the Miller Lite, and he replied, “The Miller is with food, to provide a palate clearer.  I like to have something bubbly, and I do not always feel like drinking diet pop.  I rarely, if ever have it in my house, but I had a 12pk from a beer sale prior to when we started this thing.  Sometimes I drink it half/half with OJ.” 

Two quick things: 

1) Don is not afraid to mix drinks, on multiple occasions I have seen him drink a mixture of Dr. Pepper and Milk.

2) I respect Don for having the Miller Lite only as a palate cleanser. We're men in our 30's, we don't drink Miller Lite when we're looking for a buzz.)

mon

1/2 pint 1% milk

3/4 lb chicken (see earlier)

1 sleeve Town House crackers

1 can Miller Lite

sun

1/2 lb chicken (see earlier)

2 pint oj

1 glass scotch (see earlier)

sat

2 pint 1%

3/4 lb chicken (boneless/skinless breast, dry, pan fried)

2 pkg Ramen

2 Miller Lite cans

1 romaine salad (croutons, Kraft Zesty Italian)

friday

bagel sandwich (egg, ham, cheese, Einstein Bagels)

bagel w/ cream cheese (toasted Asiago, Einstein Bagels)

1/2 pint OJ

pint 1% milk

white rice (part of bourbon chicken order)

bourbon chicken (mall food court, double meat serving)

thurs (5/27)

1/2 lb egg noodles (butter, Kraft Parmesan)

1 pint 1%milk

turkey sandwich (see previous)

(It’s good that we didn’t get any more red meat this log, although the double meat serving of Bourbon Chicken may have been a tad excessive. I may start trimming down these food logs and putting highlights. And I’ll probably have more time to contribute to this after my wedding.)

Quick Update

After my last post, I got an e-mail from Don saying, "I wouldn't wipe my ass with whole wheat bread."

(I wouldn't wipe my ass with whole wheat breat either.)


And I got a food update for Tuesday

one 1/2 lb burger (see previous days)

two turkey sandwiches (see previous days)

one can Miller Lite

one pint 1% millk

(This is an improvement from two 1/2 burgers. Every journey begins with one step.)

Week 1

For this first entry I'm just going to cut and paste the meal log that Don emailed me exactly as he wrote it -- with my thoughts in italics and parentheses after.

-----

Here is the damage for the last few days:

(I think it is important that he used the word "damage." It shows that he knows this food is doing damage to his body)

Thursday

- One packet of premix noodles and sauce (spinach Alfredo, required addition of butter to create sauce).
- 2 pints of 2% milk
- 1/2 sleeve Town House crackers
- one large tortilla w/ shredded cheese
- one butter sandwich (two slices buttered white bread)
- 1 glass scotch (12 year Balvenie)

(I commented on the butter sandwich, and he replied that he ate it because there was no other food in the apartment. So lesson #1: keep your kitchen stocked with at least some mildly healthy snacks. I'm not a nutrition fanatic or anything, but if you search my kitchen for snacks, you'll find sunflower seeds, avacados, cheese, water crackers, shrimp flavored crackers, mangos, and Indian Hot Mix (I wouldn't necessarily recommend the hot mix to people who live with a spouse and whose stomachs aren't used to gas inducing foods. I can eat this stuff like cereal and nothing is going to happen, but I can't promise the same for others.))

Friday

- 2 pints of 2% milk
- one pound baked tilapia fillets
- one turkey sandwich (two slices white bread, two slices of smoked deli turkey)
- 1 can Miller Lite

(I recommended that Don make the switch from white bread to whole wheat bread, to which he replied, "I understand the entire argument behind the brown breads.  After various atttempts throughout my life, I have only this counter-argument:  If I wanted to eat dry tree bark, I'd skip the middle men and walk outside to the nearest tree.")


(I never said this was going to be easy.)

(And I've never been a fan of the superfluous beer with dinner. Unless one really loves the taste of the beer -- which is highly unlikely in the case of Miller Lite -- leave it in the fridge for when your friends are over and pour yourself a glass of water (or Balvenie if you're looking for a buzz.))


Saturday

- one pound baked tilapia fillets
- two turkey sandwiches (same construction as above)
- 1 bowl Frosted Flakes w/  1% milk
- 2 cans Miller Lite

(One pound is a lot of tilapia. But at least it's fish, and it's baked.)


Sunday

- two 1/2 lb. hamburgers (sesame seed buns, dunked in ketchup)
- one Royal Gala apple [not all apples are created equal]

(Red meat is bad for you. Hamburgers are even worse. And two half lb. hamburgers in a day will get you a punch on your frequent diners card (19 more gets you a free heart attack.) I've heard full time athletes say they can eat five burgers at a time, but that's because they are FULL TIME ATHLETES. They are exercising and burning calories all day long. Their bodies are starved for energy. Most adults sit on their asses all day -- so we need to eat accordingly.)


Monday

- two 1/2 lb. hamburgers (see previous day)
- 32oz pure tangerine juice
- 1 pint 1% milk

1.5 mile walk

(Ok, the burgers have gotta stop. A half pound burger per week might be ok. But two pounds of ground beef in two days is definitely not ok.)


----------


Ok, so in conclusion, I think this was a good start. Don is going to write what he eats, and I'm going to give him shit for the bad stuff.


First picture and weigh in coming soon.

Day 0

(His name has been changed for identity protection purposes, but the rest is true)

Bloomington, Indiana. 2003.

After our regular Friday afternoon basketball game, a handful of us went downstairs to do a little lifting. I was preparing to do my heaviest set on the bench press (1 rep at 225lbs) when Don came over and asked if he could join me.

Don was 30 years old, 6’1, 260 lbs, and from looking at him it was difficult to gauge what kind of shape he was in. He was not especially fat, nor was he muscular. His stomach did not protrude. He just looked kind of big and soft. He had just played basketball with us for hour without any trouble, and I knew him to run with a friend of mine who was a former cross country runner (and still in excellent shape.) But I didn’t know what to expect from Don in the weight room.

I told him he could work in with me on the bench and asked if he wanted me to remove any weight so he could warm up. 225 lbs is a lot of weight. I had been lifting for the previous five years, the last of which had been spent focusing almost exclusively on muscle strength training. I had also spent the previous 10 minutes warming up on the bench so my body would be ready for the 225 lbs lift.

Don told me to leave the weight on. He said it in a way that make me think he just didn’t want to inconvenience me with having to remove any of the weight.

I asked if he wanted me to spot him, but he said not to worry about it.

I didn’t think he knew what he was getting himself into, so I stood close behind and watched carefully in case anything went wrong.

Don calmly laid down on the bench, took the bar off the rack without any help and easily completed eight reps with near perfect form. I was impressed.

For the next few years, Don became one of my more consistent workout partners and taught me a few things along the way. (not all necessarily relating to exercise)

Bloomington, Indiana. 2005.

I had won a bet against Don. The stakes were a lunch at Long John Silver’s.

I approached the counter and ordered two pieces of fish with a side of hush puppies.

Don ordered an eight piece Treasure Chest Family Meal.

Don ate the entire eight piece Treasure Chest Family Meal in one sitting.

I’ve seen Don eat a lot.

I’ve seen Don eat a sirloin steak the size of a dinner plate with a loaf of Italian bread and a box of macaroni and cheese on the side.

I’ve seen Don eat $17 worth of cheap take-out Chinese food.

I’ve seen Don eat two steaks for lunch.

I’ve been in a room at 2:30 in the afternoon when another man who had spent the entire day with Don genuinely asked, “Don, how many steaks have you eaten today?”

(And if you had asked the other 15 guys in that room to guess Don’s answer, none of the would have guessed one or two.)

I’ve seen Don surreptitiously eat a cheesy garlic stick that belonged to our good friend’s 13 year old brother, and then deny eating it. (That kid is now 18. I spoke to him recently, and he was still joking about it.)

I remember Tony setting the over/under on the number of  buffalo wings Don could eat at 100. And then realizing that he was being ridiculous, and changed the over/under to 150.

But regardless of the extreme eating, as long as Don was exercising regularly, he never got too big. The 260 he weighed in 2003 crept up to 285 by 2005, but even at 285, Don could still play basketball and run without limitation. And he was actually getting stronger from our lifting, so some of the weight he gained was muscle.

I pride myself in not being too polite, so whenever I would warn Don about his weight, he insisted that he wouldn’t let it get out of hand and that he’d eventually start eating better, but he never did.

A Warmer City, 2008

Don slipped and fell and badly injured his leg. The injury kept him from working out, but didn’t keep him from eating.

A Warmer City, 2010

After almost two years of minimal working out, Don is now bigger than ever. He probably weighs in the neighborhood of 330 lbs (I’ll get an exact number from him), and in my opinion, he’s reached the point at which it’s either time to slim down, or continue coasting along what is left of path to obesity.

The funny thing about Don being as big as he is, is that he knows what it takes to be in shape. He knows what foods are bad for him, but he eats them anyway. He knows how much he should exercise, but even though his leg has now healed, he just hasn’t been exercising.

We’re not going to document anything unusual or profound here. Don isn’t going to turn his life upside down and start exercising six days a week and go on some crazy diet. He is simply going to eat better and exercise more.

The exercise goal is three or four workouts per week, with a mix of cardio and weight lifting each time. It doesn’t have to be a strict routine that is mapped out day-by-day. He’s just gotta make sure he works hard.

The dieting goal is to eat more healthy food, and less unhealthy food. If Don wants to eat a steak once in a while, he can eat a steak. If he wants to drink a few beers once in a while, he can drink a few beers. Our theory is that everything is ok in moderation.

We haven’t decided on a format for this blog yet.

He will send me an e-mail every couple of days telling me what he ate and what he did for his workout. He can list any achievements from his workout, and anything else he wants to tell me. I will post the highlights.

He will weigh himself once a week and he will take a picture of himself once a month.

I’d wish him good luck, but I don’t think he needs it.