Brief Update on Jogging and Status

I had lunch with my friend Shayne yesterday. We talked about jogging and how it was going. I told him that this time around it seems to take a lot more energy for me to run.  I am through week five of Couch 2 5K and I seem to be laboring to get through it. I finish my jogs and I am winded and in pain.  This has been true since I started back in January.

Shayne reminded me that when I was running last September that I was lighter. I gained on a lot of weight through the holidays and then end of 2011.  Thus, I am running with that weight now, so I am carrying more weight running.  I think that could very well be why I feel so miserable when I am doing the jog now.  I have lost a few pounds since I started, but not a lot.  I have to keep in the motivation and stop focusing on how much I have lost.

The part that is causing the most problems is that unlike when I did this back in 2011, I am enjoying a few beers whenever I want.  Last year, I cut out all alcohol for weeks.  That helped to really drop the weight fast. This time around, I have not done that complete cut out of alcohol.  I planned on doing so, but I have not done it as of yet.

I have a few races in mind to do for the year, so at least I have events that will help me be focused.  I have a lot of work left to do and must keep the motivation.  I am still weighing daily which I like to be able to look at my weight graph, but that might also be working against me in motivation.

Wings for the Super Bowl... More Grilling!

We had a lot of food for Super Bowl Sunday.  I managed to grill some wings as well.  We were no where hurting for something to eat or drink that evening.  Nothing too fancy in regards to what was grilled.  My main problem was keeping the grill going.  I had problems lighting it and then half way through the grilling of the wings I had to swap out propane canisters.  When doing so, I could not get the flame high enough to get heat in the grill.  I had to disconnect everything and hook it back up to get it going again.  It was odd!

Anyway, regarding the grilling, this is what we did for simple wings that I think are pretty good for quick and easy (when the grill works).  Grilled the wings without any sauce or rub directly over medium-high heat until done.  Once they were done cooking, put them in a container, poured a little Frank's Red Hot Original sauce into the container, put the lid on, and shook it up to coat the wings.  The picture above is the finished product.

While they do not look hot, they had a nice kick of heat without a lot of sauce.  It was a quick and easy recipe for game night.  We have some other recipes for wings that I will post later this year.

Don't forget the Ranch with your wings and a ice cold beer!  Enjoy!

Second Month Day 35 Update

It has been a little bit since my last update and I missed updating with pictures for month two at the February 2 mark.  Better late than never.  So, here I am at day 35 and my second month under way.  Based on the picture to the right, there is not a lot of change from what Week 1 Day 1 Begins showed at the start.  To me, I still see a (beer) gut hanging over my workout pants and I do not see that I have lost much at all.  My face and body basically look the same as they did back in beginning of January.

Twenty-eight days ago, I was sitting at 226 and today I am sitting at 220.4.  So, not a lot of weight lost during that time, but there has been a lot of fluctuation during this time.  My lowest weight being 218.6 during the past month.  Last weekend and this weekend have proved to be tough with lots of things going on and I have not been able to completely cut out alcohol as I had hoped.  The longest I went without beer or wine was about two weeks.  I did not keep notes, but I believe that's when I went down to my lowest weight loss point during this past month.

I have been running consistently during the past month with only missing a session or two.  I have stayed on pace with the Couch 2 5K program and just completed week 5 day 1 today.  The running has been going well with some minor pain.  Primarily the pain has been in my calves or my sides (stomach) hurt a few times when running.  I ran seven minutes non-stop in one segment today and it felt good.  No pain or tightness, so I was happy.

Again, the side view just as I did in the first update back in early January (Week 1 Day 1 Begins) is to the left.  Not a lot of difference between the two pictures.  I believe this is primarily due to the way I am training.  I am doing the Couch 2 5K as I have mentioned a few times.  It builds up from running only a few minutes a session to running a 5K non-stop.  So, this first week has not been a lot of sweat or workout.  Gradually building up to longer workouts and then eventually more fat burned which I hope will be noticeable in future pictures.

In regards to eating, I think I am doing a good job.  It has not been difficult to keep counting calories and I enjoy doing so with MyFitnessPal.  Yes, there are some days where I have gone well over my calorie count, but most days I am well below.

I have enjoyed reading and getting encouragement from a friends jogging diary.  He recently ran his first 10K.  Not an actual race, but simply ran on his own a 10K.  That gives me drive to try and do the same some day.  He has also lost over 100 lbs.  If you are looking for another blog to read with interesting updates, check out Ernie's Web.

I apologize for posting this three days after I should have, but I am happy to keep this up along with pictures of my status.  It is about time for the Super Bowl to begin, so I better sign off and finish cleaning the house for guests.

Tuna steaks on the grill... Turned out Great!

Prepped Tuna for Grill

Picked up tuna steaks from Hy-Vee on Saturday.  I got a new grilling cookbook for Christmas and this is my first attempt at grilling using one of those recipes.  I received the book "The Cook's Illustrated Guide to Grilling and Barbecue".  Tonight, I tried the recipe for Grilled Tuna Steaks with Watercress, parsley, and spied vinaigrette (page 244).  We changed the recipe slightly as we were unable to find the watercress at the store (not in season).

The preparation for cooking was fairly easy. Blend everything in a bowl, grill the tuna, combine ingredients in a bowl, place cooked tuna on top of leafy parsley.  We loved it!  Turned out great and it was simple to cook.  I cooked the tuna for about seven minutes.  We have some friends who will really enjoy this sometime later this year.  I am hoping to be able to grill more and more this year.  Like last year, I plan to post blogs about my grilling and it will also help me to remember which recipes we like.  As you may recall, I did not post many blogs or updates regarding the grilling I did last year.  Hoping to change all of that this year.

We are trying to eat healthy (see my Life Style posts) to lose weight.  So, many of the recipes we will pick out will be low calorie or easy split.  This recipe tonight was perfect for a Sunday night and turned out great!

Tuna Steak Hot off the Grill

The finished product was exactly what I was hoping to accomplish.  Pink in the middle and nice grill marks on the tuna.  The bed of parsley was perfect with the cooked tuna.  I cooked two tuna steaks.  Carrie and I split one and we will have the second one tomorrow night with a pasta dinner.

The tuna with the parsley was good and to split the portions was only 536 calories.  I definitely like this new book that I received.  Made a note next to this recipe and I see others that I want to try.

Carrie has bunco this Friday and I think I am going to grill again.  I picked up another gas tank from the store today.  So I am ready for more grilling!

Primarily it has been Carrie who has cooked our meals.  Unless we are grilling of course in which case I have done the grilling.  While I enjoy grilling, I also enjoy cooking in the kitchen too.  Although, I have not had the need to cook my own meals for the past ten years.  I told her I would love to cook our meals at least once a week.  More than simply grilling, but to actually cook in the kitchen.  All preparation and then cleanup.  Give her a night off.

I am looking forward to cooking our meals each week.  I did let Carrie know that I might need help cooking.  Since I have not cooked much in the past few years, I forget things that I use to know.  Still, I expect her to simply help, give direction, or recommendations on how to do things better.  I would like to be able to get to the point where I can cook the whole meal.  More than just a simple sandwich, but things a bit more complicated.

My first blog of the 2012 year regarding grilling.  I hope to have many more throughout the year.  Maybe not all with pictures, but at least my posting about recipes I like or recommend.  Until next time, have a great week!

Three Weeks Done Status Update

I officially started this life style change on Monday, January 2.  I just finished the third full week of trying to improve my eating and exercise habits.  How am I doing so far?  Well, I am feeling pretty good.  I am slowly getting back into being able to jog long distances and I am eating better.

I just finished week two day three of Couch 2 5K, so I am jogging about three minutes without stopping.  I could really feel it on Friday when I did my last session.  I admit it that I like to sweat and I like to sweat a lot.  I believe it helps to motivate me to keep going and it of course is a indication to me that I am burning calories.  Now that I am getting deeper into the Couch 2 5K program, I am starting to sweat more and more.

Along with running, I am also lifting weights.  This is not something I have really done in the past.  I am trying to track it as part of the MyFitnessPal diary.  I have been doing weights for probably about two weeks.  I could really feel it the first week and then on Thursday after working on my legs, I could really feel my legs.  It is a good feeling and lets me know that I am working out correctly.

The good news about finishing the second full week of jogging is that so far I do not have any pain in my legs.  You may recall that last September when I ran my last 5K of the season, I was having major pains in my legs after each run.  To the point where it was difficult to walk following a workout or race.  It was even difficult to stand after sitting for a period of time.

So far, non of that has happened so far.  I believe that part of the reason I did start having pain is due to the fact that I tried to run faster than I should have and I was working out four times a week.  I put too much torture on my legs which caused pulling of muscles.  In a way, I believe it was good that I took off the four or five months off from jogging.  It helped my legs to repair whatever was hurting and hopefully with lots of stretching before working out, I will avoid having any pain in my legs.

Everyone, have a great week and keep the focus on your life style change...

Windows 7 Problem After Failed Hard Drive... Problem Resolved!

I had a hard drive failure on my Dell Windows 7 system back at the end of November.  I ended up purchasing a new drive and copying the drive to it.  Everything appeared to work without any problems.  Updates were working and overall the system seemed to be working correctly.  I thought the problem was resolved and everything was going to work correctly.

Starting a few weeks into January, I started noticing problems with Windows 7 not being able to get Windows updates.  It would display a error message that "Windows update can not currently check for updates, because the service is not currently running".  I checked to confirm the service was running and could not get it check for updates.  I even tried clearing out the directory where updates are stored to see if perhaps it was corrupted, but the updates still would not run.  This was true for Microsoft Security Essentials as well and it had not received updated since the last week of December.

I tried various things to try and resolve the problem.  Going into the middle of last week I was planning on reformatting and installing Windows 7.  Not a huge problem in itself, but I did not look forward to getting all of my music off or the various programs I use re-installed.  I spent the rest of last week preparing to do the re-installation this weekend.  Backing up files, locating installation disks, etc.

Saturday morning I was ready to do the installation and decided to do one last search to see if I could find a solution for the problem of why Windows Updates would not work.  I found a article that spoke about having a old, outdated, or not installed Intel Rapid Storage Technology causing the problem I was seeing.  I decided to give it a try, so I downloaded the program.  The system rebooted and when it came back up, I found that I could at least get into the Windows Update section now on my computer without the error.  The system starting checking for updates and since I had removed all previous history of the updates, there were a lot to download.  It was working again and all because when I re-imaged to another drive the Intel Rapid Storage Technology had to be re-installed.

Everything is working again and I do not need to install Windows 7 again.  I made sure that Microsoft Security Essentials was running too and that it would update.  I promptly ran a full scan on the computer and found a few trojans that had gotten through when apparently I was unable to check or do Windows Updates.

As of today, the computer appears to be running smooth with Windows Updates running correctly and no errors showing up in the logs.  Ah, it is good to have my computer back and working properly.  I would provide a link back to the file I downloaded to correct the problem, but I cannot find it in my history.  If you are having a similar problem, I would suggest searching for the Intel Rapid Storage program.

Friday Night Food Implosion.... Ouch!

Finishing up my second full week and I was doing good.  I had eaten well through the week and not had any alcohol.  Well, Friday night, we decided to get take out from Chili's which was not the bad part.  I love the Margarita Grilled Chicken from there and it is only 550 calories.  Very tasty!  In addition to the chicken, I also had a lot of chips.  Again, not too bad as it was only about 240 calories.  The down fall came with Spangles shakes that we picked up.  It was our treat for the week... er, well, my treat anyway.  One large shake (yes I went for the large) is 4,200 calories.  For just one freak'n shake.  Ouch!

If I had stopped with the chicken and chips, I would have had about 300 calories to spare.  Nope, I had to have a shake too and it was delicious!  That one shake put me in the negative calories by -3,620.

I believe it is worth it to have a free day or have a few beers if I have been doing well, but this was over doing it a bit.  I need to be smarter in what I reward myself with or my cheat days.  Anything over 1,000 calories is probably not the best choice.

I weight this morning and remained the same weight from yesterday which is good.  I am sitting at 222.2 lbs.  I will probably see my free night tomorrow morning when I weigh-in and it should not shock me at all.