My Journey - Slim Down Dad

Monday: September 25, 2023 I purchased the book Choose More, to Lose More for Life by Chris Powell a few weeks ago. My wife and I have been following the Classic Carb Cycle; however, I already have an exercise program, so the workout guide seemed excessive. Things in my house get a little tricky because I work from home, and my wife is a nurse who works 12-hour shifts. This makes exercising together difficult. By the time she gets home from work, the kids are going to bed, and the last thing I want to do is exercise late in the evening (I get up at 3:45 am). My wife has been struggling to exercise on work days, and the 9-Minute Missions from Chris Powell seemed appealing. She said she wanted to try them before work, and I was happy to join her for some early morning exercise. With a short warm-up and cool-down, we finished in 15 minutes and had a good sweat. It was a nice way to start the day with my Wife, and I look forward to more quick morning workouts to get the day started on the right foot. After finishing my work day, I headed to my basement to complete my lower body workout. I'm still tweaking it as I go, but I enjoy it. I've been watching Facebook Marketplace for a deal on a heavier kettlebell (approximately 50 pounds), but I haven't had any luck yet. Tuesday: September 26, 2023 Today wasn't a great day to be outside. It was cool, wet, and dreary, making a mid-morning bike ride unappealing. Between the bouts of rain, I headed to the local park with my wife. I would be running, and she would be walking. I planned to begin running and cover two miles. I planned to catch up with my wife and walk a lap or two with her as I wrapped up. Catching her felt impossible as she power-walked around the park. I ran three laps (2.25 miles) and then turned around to double back and meet up with her. After a quick break to get a bottle of water from my car, I covered a bit more ground and completed my run at 2.58 Miles in 37 Minutes. My time was a little slower than my previous run, but my heel felt good. There was much less discomfort, and I could push off my toes for the first time in weeks. After meeting up with my wife, we walked a half mile before it started raining. We made our way back to the car and called it a workout. Wednesday: September 27, 2023 Today consisted of an Upper Body Workout. To shave some time off of the routine, I merged all of my cycles into a mega-cycle. This eliminated two rounds of rest and became far too difficult to be practical. After I completed 15 exercises, I checked the clock, and I had been going non-stop for over twenty minutes. I was gasping for air and completely burned out. I rested and allowed my heart rate to come back down before returning to my usual cycle for the remainder of the workout. Overall, it didn't save me time and left me exhausted for the rest of the exercises. For all of my Strength Training workouts, I have been tracking them with the Strong iPhone App. It worked flawlessly until today, when it crashed, and I lost my workout. I'm not sure what happened, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it was a fluke and it will continue to work for future workouts. Thursday: September 28, 2023 I can be a creature of habit. When I want to get out for a bike ride, I often head to the nearby housing development and ride laps. It isn't very exciting, but it is convenient. Today, I went to the development for a bike ride and discovered that a large portion was blocked off for road resurfacing. I wound up riding my bike farther down the road to a different development (much newer - it is only a few years old) and discovered that they have a bike-friendly recreational trail. I had a lot of fun zipping along on the trail, winding around the park, and covering a little more than 7 miles before heading back home. I don't know that this will be my new close-to-home bike route, but I'll certainly return to mix things up. Friday: September 28, 2023 Today, I experienced something for the first time since I started my weight loss journey. I woke up at my usual 3:45am alarm and struggled to get out of bed. I hit the restroom, hopped on the scale, and made a pot of coffee before sitting down at my desk to begin my work day. I am a morning person and have followed the same routine for several years. I know it is an early start to the day but I've become used to it. Today, though, I experienced a mid-morning crash. I struggled to keep my eyes open and had an unbelievable urge to eat and sleep. By the time noon rolled around, I couldn't keep going. I got my daughter off the kindergarten bus, ate a huge lunch, and took what was supposed to be a short nap. I wound up sleeping for nearly three hours and woke up feeling starved. I got my middle daughter off the bus, raided the pantry, and laid back down for another nap. About two hours later, I dragged myself out of bed and hit the pantry again. Despite the extra sleep throughout the day, I slept soundly later that night. I don't know if it was my body telling me that it needed to recharge after a busy week, but there was no exercise and way too much eating.