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17 March Well, that diet didn't take long to failSo much for the HMR diet. We lasted about a day. It took me another week or so to find the time (and courage) to blog about our failure. Here's what we didn't like about the diet:
Now that I've had some time to reflect, I think the biggest thing we did wrong was jump right into it. We went from eating pretty much whatever we wanted whenever we wanted to a highly regimented diet plan that looks, tastes and smells nothing like what we've been used to eating. Gradually getting into the diet would have made it less of a shock and made for a better chance of success. I will say this for HMR: They're on the front lines of today's social networking tools. When I tweeted that I was giving up the diet already, I got this reply back a short time later: "Hi Jake. Saw your struggles with the program. Why don't you contact us at 800-418-1367 or DM and see if we can help you out?" Someone in their marketing department sure knows what they're doing. So the best part about dropping the diet? I was officially voted in as an assistant professor (along with my esteemed colleague Laura Johnston) at Friday's faculty meeting. My boss was nice enough to buy a cake for the occasion. Thank goodness I wasn't on the diet then, eh?  08 March Back on the diet, this time with HMRSo it's been a good, long spell since I last made a real attempt to lose weight. In fact, I've been pretty well satisfied with just existing ever since dropping my gym membership more than a year ago. But now Jenny and I are determined to try out a new diet that is being offered through her work, Columbia's Women's Wellness Center. The program is offered through Health Management Resources. The specific plan we're doing includes pre-packaged entrees and shakes, plus all the fruits and vegetables we want. As we're actually now on the cusp of doing it (we start in the morning), I'm having second thoughts. No more Coke. No more sweets. No more eating what I want when I want. Instead, I'll be on prepackaged foods and shakes. I'm going to need a lot of support. Then there's the whole taste factor, which is the big x-factor for me right now. The chocolate shakes mix with water and ice, or it can be whipped into a pudding. Somehow, this doesn't have me feeling hopeful I'm going to like it. The food looks tiny. You get two entrees a day, each running around 200 calories. The Bean and Beef Enchiladas comes in an 8-ounce box. This portion size may not work for me. Fortunately, you can sub all the fruits and veggies you want, which I'll no doubt be doing. You can have a third meal a day if you're really hungry, but mostly you should just drink more shakes (110 calories per serving) when you're hungry. I can see how it works -- with foods so low in calories, you can't help but burn what you have in reserve. I can also see how tempting it will be to say forget it and grab a cheeseburger. We have three weeks worth of food with the option of buying two weeks worth at a time after that. We get the food at a discount through Women's Wellness Center, but it's still an investment. Basically, we put our food budget for the next three weeks into this endeavor. So there's no turning back now. I plan to tweet the experience on my Twitter account using hashtag #shapinupwithsherlock. I hope you'll follow me and give me some encouragment along the way -- it's going to be a long three weeks. 08 January Happy anniversary to meToday marks three years since my last cigarette. And I still consider quitting to be my life's greatest accomplishment -- that's how hard it was.
 Powered by ScribeFire. 17 November Is it the end of Shapin' Up 2.0?This coming Friday will be my last time working out with Rob the trainer. It's also the last day of my gym membership.
I'm going to miss the hell out of that place, but I'll be back. Right now, we don't have the money to spend on the gym. It needs to be going toward the baby and all the things about babies that change your life: We need a more baby-friendly car, for example. And we'll need to start paying for day care.
And by that same token, I'm a little relieved I won't be there anymore. I've just gotten so tired of the fitness thing lately, and I can't explain why. I guess I just feel really, really lazy. I stopped the 5:30 a.m. cardio sessions more than a month ago, and I tend to show up late for my appointments with Rob, so I'm not even getting a full two hours of exercise every week.
So until I can find my motivation again, it just makes sense to spend the money on other things. Hopefully this is just a phase and I'll get my gym mojo back. 12 September Morning gloryJust a quick update this morning -- the early morning workouts are still going well for me. I'm up at 5:30 every weekday for the last two weeks (with the exception of the last two Mondays, when I've been allowed to sleep in because I didn't work on those days) to put in 30 minutes of cardio. Twice each week I also work out with Rob the trainer. So the exercise end is going quite well.
This week I started doing some meal planning too. Jenny has been wanting to eat more healthy lately because she's a good mom like that -- she still has her soft serve cravings, but only after getting her greens and vitamins. Our menu so far this week:
Monday: Shrimp and pasta from a recipe I got off the side of a box. It wasn't the most low-calorie dish (it called for a lot of butter), but it did get us some veggies (onions, carrots and tomatoes) in addition to protein and carbs. And it made for a nice lunch on Tuesday.
Tuesday: Last night I grilled fish fillets seasoned with onion salt and basil. Those were delicious, and the weather was perfect for grilling (the Missouri heat finally broke this week -- now we're into Indian summer). We had Texas cheese toast on the side, which wasn't the best side dish but still delicous. Tonight I'm going for tacos with low-fat burger and lots of peppers, tomatoes and lettuce.
 07 September Good news for me -- and for my Uncle BruceI'm quite pleased to report that my new early morning workout routine is going swimmingly. But before we get to me, I want to tell you about my Uncle Bruce. Bruce needed a valve replaced in his heart, which occurred earlier this week. In order to be eligible for the surgery (it's a less-invasive surgery where doctors only do a four-inch incision), he had to lose 100 pounds this summer. My uncle, being the total ass-kicker that he is, lost the 100 pounds. I'm very proud of him, not to mention very inspired. And relieved. Don't forget relieved, because heart surgery is no small thing on any level. Me? Well, my accomplishments aren't nearly as impressive. For the last two weeks, I've been able to drag my sorry action out of bed at 5:30 a.m. every weekday for a trip to the gym (except for Labor Day, when I rolled in at 10 a.m.). Some days, this means I'm working out twice. This week, it was Wednesday and Thursday. I did my 30 minutes of cardio in the early morning, then came back in the afternoon for my sessions with Rob the trainer. I'm down to 255 as of this morning. But more importantly, I'm feeling better during the day; I'm more alert in the early afternoon where before I would get those midday sleepies; and I just may start seeing my weight loss start to go down. Eating has been better too. I'm totally off of soda again and I'm drinking more water than ever before. I only drink beer on the weekend. And I haven't had a good vodka drink in a long time. Overall, I'm pretty darn proud of myself. By biggest worry now is keeping it up. I'm good about doing these kinds of things in spurts, but then I always fall off the fitness wagon. I have to keep my momentum up and not allow myself to take a day off. That's how the downhill slide starts. Technorati Tags: Fitness, workout, cardio, Bruce, Powered by ScribeFire. 21 August My workouts are improvingI am happy to report that my workouts are coming with more frequency, my beer and soda intake are way down and I just may start seeing some movement in the old weight department.
I'm down to 255 pounds as of moments ago (8:37 p.m. CDT Aug. 21). When I last weighed in about a week ago, I was at about 260. So that's something to be proud of.
One caveat there: I weigh myself on a cheap scale from Walgreen's that I have to hand-calibrate each time because it never stays on zero. So I'm not all that trusting of it, and I figure I have a plus or minus ration of at least three pounds.
To be honest, I'm more excited about the fact that I'm getting my discipline for diet and the gym back. Once I get over the bad habits, the weight loss will come. Here's my current diet and fitness plan:
Workouts: Twice a week with my trainer/friend Rob, then at least three other days of 30-minute cardio on my own. Last week I skipped Friday, so I made it up on Sunday. Starting this Sunday, I'll be adding a weekly softball game to the mix (at least through September -- fall season is short).
Diet: Nothing major here, just less. I allow myself one night of beer, but only if I go to the gym for five days. I've managed to cut soda completley out, and I'm going to treat that like I do cigarettes -- one sip and I'm back in the habit. I was able to ween myself off by just having one at lunch, though for a while there I was back up to around 100 ounces of it per day. That's at least 1,250 calories per day.
As for eating, I'm just trying to do less. I'm not necessarily eating low-fat or low-calorie meals, I'm just eating less. I'm trying to go to bed hungry every night. And I don't take Jenny up on her offers to get anything when she gets a Dairy Queen craving (OK, I did once this week, but I asked for frozen yogurt, which DQ didn't have. I got soft-serve instead. And did I ever enjoy it).
Knowing that there is just a little less of me to love is nice. But I've never been that hung up on what I weigh -- when the Buddha gut and man-titties are gone, then I'll be satisfied. And there is still a long way to go. 14 August Once a nicotine addict, always an addictI wanted a cigarette really bad today. I didn't have it, though. I quit back on Jan. 8, 2005, and I'm staying quit. Not even one. That's how it starts. Besides, my wife would kill me. She quit once we found out she was pregnant, but it hasn't been easy for her. Me taking up the habit again would be like pouring salt into an open wound. It's funny how after all this time the cravings still hit me. Today, it was at the end of a long afternoon at our editors retreat. We had some serious issues to hash out as a group, and the conversation got a little intense at times. It was tiring. And it created a stress headache. The kind of headache that I used to cure with a smoke. I think that's what sparked the nic fit. It wasn't a physical craving, more of a habitual craving. Of course, the more I write about it, the more I start thinking again how I want one. You'd think these cravings would go away after 2 1/2 years. But they don't. I remember back when I was going to a support group during the first Shapin' Up project, one of the group leaders told us about the time she had a similar experience to mine after quitting 20 years earlier. Her craving came after she had finished a series of household chores; all of a sudden, the idea of "now I can have a cigarette" popped into her head. Just like that. It's crazy what nicotine does to a person. Once an addict, always an addict. Technorati Tags: nicotine, smoking, quitting, Sherlock, Jake Sherlock, fitness, Shapin' Up Powered by ScribeFire. 13 August Never underestimate the power of sleepI just got back from the gym where I had one of my best workout sessions in several weeks. And I can attribute it all to a good night's sleep.
To be more specific, I can attribute it to the fact I'm finally getting my body back on a normal sleep schedule.
I've spent the majority of the summer working nights, swings and weekends at the Missourian -- except for when I was on vacation, which was quite often. But I often stuck to my late-night schedule while on vacation, only because I found that switching from day to night constantly was even more disruptive to my life and health.
But the summer semester is over, and I'm back on my usual dayside hours. Today I got up at 6:30 a.m., did my usual morning routine (make coffee, feed the dogs, eat breakfast while checking Google News, e-mail, Facebook, MySpace, etc. etc. I'm sure there's a shower in there somewhere too) and went to work. Then it was on to the gym, where I had my best workout in weeks. Even Rob the Trainer said I had a better workout than I had in several weeks.
Now I just need to get myself worked into a good routine for my days off with Rob to make sure I'm getting my cardio in. If I can continue to stay off the booze -- I did have some beer Saturday night after my last night shift as a celebration -- and try again to limit my soda intake (none today, and there was tons of free soda to be had at work today, too), I might actually see the old Buddha gut shrink in size some.
Here's hoping today wasn't just an anomoly.
10 August A fitness updateI just can't seem to maintain any consistency to my workouts, and that means I can't seem to get ahead in my quest to lose weight.
I'm not doing so well on the eating thing either, but first let's examine the workout problem:
I'm still seeing a trainer twice a week, and I'm happy with the results I get working out with him. I'm definitely stronger, and I'm starting to see some bigger muscles in my arms, my legs and on my backside (or, as my trainer put it the other day, "we're starting to put a little bit of a butt on you." All those lunges and time on the elliptical machine are starting to pay off, I guess). But I still have the beer gut, and the chest fat I despise so much doesn't seem to be going away either. I just weighed in this morning, and I'm actually a couple of pounds heavier than I was at the first part of July.
While I've been good about keeping my workout appointment, I've not been so good about going to the gym on my cardio days. Like this morning, for instance. I could be there right now, getting in some elliptical time before going to work. Instead, I'm home writing a blog. Then I'll get in the shower and head to work. After that, I have to come home and finish taking things to my friend's house for a garage sale in the morning. By that time, it will be late and I won't want to go.
As for diet, I decided to cut all alcohol from my system a few weeks ago. Beer and vodka just have too many calories. Unfortunately, so does a lot of the food I've been eating lately. For every salad I've eaten, I've also eaten things like M&M's, Swiss Rolls and other such snack fare that my pregnant wife stocks up on for when those pregnancy cravings hit (not that you have to be pregnant to suddenly develop a craving for M&M's, as I am living proof. Me and every other chocolate-loving person on the planet, I'm sure).
I'm hoping that getting back to a normal work schedule will allow me to get back to a routine of going to the gym every morning. This is my last week of nights and weekends, and it can't be over soon enough. I'm so tired of having my sleep schedule wrecked constantly. I really do hate working nights. 07 July A fitness updateThe old workouts haven't been too exciting lately, hence the lack of posts. Until this week...
I threw up at the gym on Thursday morning. I did my usual 10-minute warm-up on the elliptical, then I did two sets of crunches. Next thing I knew, I was running for the bathroom. My trainer, Rob, just laughed at me. Here's where I went wrong:
The night before was the Fourth of July, and Jenny and I spent all day building the patio. I kept myself pretty hydrated throughout the day. We finally got done around 8 p.m. I had planned to grill that night, but I was too wiped out from working in the hot, muggy July heat. The idea of standing in front of a hot grill was less than appealling. So instead, I opted to pick up a curbside order from Applebee's.
I had just gotten home with the food and was munching on the salad when my pals Jeff and Peggy called to tell us he would be there in five minutes to pick us up for fireworks. I quickly threw a cooler of beer together, wrapped up my dinner and was ready to roll when he showed up. After the show, he and Peggy hung out for a little bit to check out the patio and drink a couple of beers. They finally left around 11, which is about when I ate the rest of my Applebee's.
I woke up the next morning feeling pretty stuffed from eating so late the night before. I also had a slight headache from the beer I had drank. So I figured some vitamins would perk me right up. I popped a couple and headed out for my workout without eating breakfast, thinking the Applebee's from the night before was enough food in my stomach to get me through my workout. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to work with the vitamins, which caused me to get sick.
Otherwise, the fitness thing is going well. I'm getting stronger all the time, the ab workouts aren't hurting near as much as they used to, and I think I have lost a little weight. I've been really bad about scales since I joined the gym and started working out with Rob, mostly because I don't care how much I weigh. My true test is my favorite Pixies T-shirt, which is currently too tight for me to wear. When it's just the right fit again, that's when I'll know I've gotten to my weight loss goals.
I'm trying to eat better lately too, and I've had some limited success. I've taken a shine to salads again the past couple of days, mostly because I can get the ingredients cheap and throw them together fast. They really do make for a good, quick lunch. I just buy a bag of salad, a cucumber, some dried cranberries, a package of already-cooked chicken cubes and some grape tomatoes. In 2 minutes, I have a huge salad. A little low-fat creamy Caesar and I'm in business.
On the other side of the spectrum, Jenny bought fudge stripe cookies a couple of weeks ago. Oh, how I love the fudge stripes. They're a constant source of temptation. In fact, I just got up from typing this blog and ate one with my morning coffee. So not good ...
My goal this week is to figure out how much I can bench. It's going to be a question my best friend will be asking me when I travel to Denver to see him in a few weeks, and I want to have an impressive reply. That's something I've asked Rob to have us work on in the next week or two. 09 June Fitness updateMy goal this week was to make it to the gym five days. I made it for four -- I skipped Thursday because I overslept. I worked the night shift on Wednesday night, and I was pretty amped up when I got home. I didn't fall asleep until 3:30 a.m., and I didn't roll my lazy action out of bed Thursday morning until 11 a.m. I had a 1 p.m. appointment, and in those 2 hours I had some other stuff that needed to be taken care of. I had to work after my 1 p.m. appointment, so thusly I had no time.
That's my excuse anyway, and I'm sticking to it. I could have tried harder to go to sleep the night before, but I was watching Season 5 of Scrubs on DVD. That's what really kept me up until 3:30. I should have sucked it up and gotten up earlier and still gone to the gym, but I didn't.
But the four days I did go definitely gave me a lot of pep and energy this week. And the better fitness helped me to better handle the doubleheader we played in softball last night. I played both games at catcher and made some nice plays. I caught a couple of pop-ups and managed to get a couple of hits. I bought my first bat a few hours before the games and spent some time in the batting cage. That really helped, but I still need to practice my batting.
We lost our first game 17-4 but came back to win the nightcap 7-1. We're now 3-4 on the season, but that was our first "legit" win since the season opener (the other victory came via forfeit when the other team didn't show up). So it felt good to earn a victory for the first time in several weeks. And we have a doubleheader again next week, so I'm looking forward to that. 04 June The worst podcast EVERI managed to make it to the gym today for about 30 minutes of cardio work. But before I went, I spent some time trying to find a podcast or vodcast of last night's debate for Democratic presidential candidates. I didn't have a ton of time to search, so I ended up going with a podcast from the Washington Times. I thought it would be interesting to see how a conservative paper covers the Democrats.
Needless to say, WORST PODCAST EVER!!! I don't even mean that in a partisan way -- I mean it in a purely technical way.
If you're into the idea of a monotone, almost robotic voice reading stories directly from the pages of the Washington Times, then this is the podcast for you. I may end up subscribing to it if I ever have a bout of insomnia, but for now I'm still looking for a good podcast of last night's debates.
Oh well -- still plenty of time to follow this race with the first primary still about a year away.
As for the podcast, I haven't heard something that bad since I lived in Cheyenne and had to watch Channel 5. This week's fitness goalsMy goal this week is to make it to the gym every day. I have appointments scheduled with my trainer for Tuesday and Friday, so those days are pretty well taken care of. The big days will be today, Wednesday and Thursday -- can I pull my lazy action into the gym on those days, or will I make excuses and not do it? Stay tuned ... Powered by ScribeFire. 02 June Ideas for your iPodHere's what I'm listening to lately when I'm doing my cardio (or when I'm writing blogs):
VHI Best Week Ever video podcast: I love this weekly recap of the best and worst of pop culture, but I rarely get a chance to catch it on TV. Thanks to iTunes, you can not only download the show weekly for free, but you can also get daily Best Night Ever recaps featuring a lineup of comics you don't see on Best Week. There are also outtakes from the show, DVD picks of the week and other online-only content. Best Week usually runs around 22 minutes without the commercials (the best part of watching it at the gym instead of on TV); the other content runs about 5 minutes or less.
Real Time with Bill Maher: After the next-to-last season of The Sopranos (the one where Tony spends most of the season in a coma), I was so frustrated with the show I canceled my HBO. After the fact, I realized I was going to miss out on some other pretty good shows, including Entourage, Big Love and Real Time with Bill Maher.
Well, I can always catch Entourage and Big Love on DVD. As for Real Time, there's the Real Time podcast. It's an audio-only version of the show, which may not be ideal but it beats paying for HBO. Most of the show is about conversation -- or what passes for conversation, because it can degenerate into petty bickering at times -- so you don't miss too much not having the visual component.
The SModcast: I'm a huge geek for anything made by Kevin Smith, so I love his podcast. The SModcast is just Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier, is longtime collaborater and executive producer, talking about whatever is on their minds. Sometimes they babble endlessly, but the stories are quite reminiscent of his Evening with Kevin Smith DVDs. And the production quality is amazing -- the songs and other audio they play in the background correspond brilliantly with the conversation. Just be ready for a long investment in time -- the shortest so far is 45 minutes.
Comedy Central Stand Up: This one is hit or miss in terms of quality, but if you like stand-up comedy it's worth checking out. Largely it's clips from Premium Blend or some other stand-up show. Some of them will make you laugh out loud on the treadmill. Others will make you want to throw your iPod across the room.
The Man Show video podcast: This is simply a weekly clip from the original Man Show starring Adam and Jimmy. Thank god it's not the short-lived version with Joe Rogan and Doug Stanhope.
FrankBlack.net podcast: Two of the guys who run the best site ever dedicated to the genius that is Frank Black (aka Black Francis of the Pixies) do twice-monthly podcasts that explore his musical genius. The man himself even stops by on occassion for interviews or to take the hosts on board his tour bus. Great stuff if you're into Frank Black or the Pixies.
The Onion Radio News and the Onion News Network: The Onion is branching out into radio news and TV reports. Radio News is a true podcast, often shorter than a minute. The News Network is a longer version designed to mimic a report you might see on CNN or Fox News. These are often hit or miss themselves, and so far I'm largely unimpressed with the News Network -- they just haven't been that funny. The Radio News version contains a few more gems but neither is a worthy substitute for the web site or print editions yet.
All of these podcasts are available for free through the iTunes Store, except for the Frank Black podcast. For that one, go here. 01 June How I fell off of the fitness wagonHere's the story I've been promising on the site about how I fell off the fitness bandwagon.
After the original Shapin' Up project came to a close at the end of 2005, I was able to keep my momentum going pretty well for a few months. But without a weekly newspaper column or a blog to update, I started losing my motivation. The $30 monthly dues for Gold's Gym would motivate me some -- I hate wasting money, so I had to feel like I was getting my money's worth.
I finally canceled the membership in the summer of 2006. I had spent a week back in the Rockies to visit some friends, and on the drive home my truck blew up on me. The water pump went out that morning as I crossed eastern Colorado, and before I realized there was a problem, I had burned up the entire engine. Here's a look at what was left of the engine:
 A new engine for a '99 Dodge Dakota costs a lot of cake, so I started looking for expenses in our household budget that could go to help me pay off the truck. The gym membership was the first thing I canceled. I tried to reason with myself that I would get the exercise I need by doing situps and pushups each morning in my bedroom. I would walk more places instead of driving, which would be good for the budget and for my fitness. I even kidded myself into thinking I'd look on Craigslist for a cheap exercise bench to put in the basement.
I did none of it.
I pretty much spent the next eight months getting fat and sassy. I may have stayed somewhat active (or as active as I get) about keeping up on yardwork or chores around the house, but I don't think I ever did situps or pushups each morning in my bedroom. And I know I didn't start walking more places -- I may have walked my dogs a little more, but it wasn't like I started walking to work everyday. And the exercise bench? Ya, right.
Meanwhile, Jenny started working out with Rob, our new friend and personal trainer, back in October or November. Originally she talked about just working out with him until our wedding in December, but after the honeymoon she resumed her sessions with Rob. In a few months time, she was finally able to convince me to get off my fat, lazy behind and get back into it too.
So when Spring Break rolled around, I started working out with Rob. I've been faithfully going twice a week ever since. 26 May Great day at the gymNot sure why it happened this way, but I did have a great day at the gym today. I did 45 minutes of hard cardio on the elliptical trainer. Rob, my trainer, was doing his own workout today and commended me on the effort. For whatever reason, I just got into a groove and really enjoyed it today. I haven't felt this good about my cardio in a long time. Now I'm at work, anxiously anticipating my final shift before a week of vacation. All we have to do is produce a Sunday paper, then I'm out of here! Powered by ScribeFire. This week's workoutsNot so much good to report this week. I made it to both of my appointments with the personal trainer, but I didn't do any extra cardio. I'm feeling pretty guilty about that right now, so I may still head to the gym this morning. I do have to work this afternoon, and Jenny and I are planning to give one of our dogs a haircut before I go. Still, should be enough time to do both if I can get myself motivated.
I didn't eat too badly this week. Liquids, on the other hand, are another story. I drank quite a bit of beer this week, which is unusual for me. Normally I only drink once or twice a week, but this week I think I knocked back a few beers almost every night. Not enough beer to get drunk on, mind you, but enough to catch a little buzz.
On the flipside, I've been better about soda this week. I've even come to stomach the taste of Diet Coke instead of the good ol' fashioned kind. I still much prefer the taste of Fatty Coke, but I can live with the diet stuff.
19 May Training and softballI had a good training session yesterday, I played some softball and I ate decently too. Not a bad day all around for the Shapin' Up project.
Training -- I worked out for an hour with my trainer, plus I did some cardio before and after. We mostly concentrated on legs, though we did some work on the abs as well. I hope to one day actually see my abs. But I need to lose about 50 pounds of fat before that happens.
Diet -- Again, not a bad day, but not a great one either. Here's the menu breakdown:
Breakfast -- Toast with a little bit of butter and coffee
Lunch -- Warmed up pizza from the night before (at least it was eaten in the middle of the day, right after my workout, and not right before bed)
Dinner -- I was starving before the game, so I grabbed a patty melt at Hardee's. That's not good, but at least it was just the patty melt. No fries, no coke, just the burger. After the game, Jenny and Amy had a hankerin' for Red Lobster, so we went there. I nibbled on a few of Amy's cheese sticks and a cheddar biscuit (the best thing about Red Lobster!), but wasn't hungry enough to order a full meal. But I do have to say, Jenny's ultimate platter did look pretty good. Especially the crab legs.
The game -- We won via forfeit because our opponents, Team USA, didn't show. I don't think they should be able to call themselves Team USA anymore. Don't give America a bad name by not showing up! I hope Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity stumble over this blog and call Team USA out on their failure to show. I also hope they stumble across future blogs where I rip O'Reilly and Hannity for being the partisan hacks they are, but that's a post for a different day ...
Anyway, with the forfeit we're now 2-2 on the season going into the bye week (no games Memorial Day weekend). And we did get a chance to scrimmage with a co-ed team, which was good because it gave us a chance to try out a different pitcher. And I got to play a little behind the plate again too. The sun was in my eyes the entire game (game time was right at sundown), so I let a few get by me that I normally wouldn't have. But I did all right, and I even got a legitimate hit. Rob gave me some pointers with my stance, and it really helped. 18 May May 18 updateToday should be a pretty good exercise day for me. I have an appointment with my trainer this morning, then the softball team I play on has a game tonight.
I didn't do so well yesterday. I took the day off from the gym, and I didn't do so great on the eating. I started out OK, but I ended weak. Here's yesterday's menu:
Breakfast: Bagel and peanut butter, coffee
Lunch: Sandwich at the Bread Basket, 20 ounce bottle of Cherry Coke. The sandwich isn't terrible for dieting, but the Coke is no good. And the fact I didn't eat until 4 p.m. is really bad.
Dinner: Imo's pizza (thin crust), followed by a slice of Jenny's French Silk Pie. This was all absolutely delicious, but it's also a lot of calories for late at night.
I know I'll do much better today as far as exercise goes. So far the diet isn't going too bad -- toast with a little bit of butter and coffee for breakfast. I know I'll work that off pretty easy at the gym this morning.
I hope the game tonight goes well. We've lost our last two games after winning the opener, and last week was a game we really could have won. We led 6-0 after the first inning and then our bats went pretty much silent. We ended up losing 9-7, and both Scott (our player/manager and one of my co-workers) and I have been grousing about how we coulda/shoulda/woulda won last week. So much for it just being a recreation league! I guess I'm just a tad more competitive than that. |
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