242.5

Wow, I guess I’m not doing so well here. At least I’m still lighter than in April.

Working at the new café should actually help, though… I’ll be eating salads for lunch every day, plus biking 11.6km (7.2 mi) per day just for commuting. I’m only allowed one espresso drink per shift, which cuts down on milk consumption (and I’ll try for it to be with skim milk always). Taking bits of food here and there is also highly discouraged, unlike at B&J’s where we “had to” eat the ice cream all the time “to be able to describe it…”

I’m also looking into doing some really basic yoga stretches in the mornings.

240.5

The past two days, I messed up with running. That is, I didn’t run.  Today was meant to be a rest day, so I decided to do yesterday’s run and forgive Monday’s.  I have a few days left:
Thursday: 4/1 x6
Friday: 2/1 x5
Saturday: 5/1 x5
And then I’m done!  I do think I’ll keep running, though probably not as often.  I’d also like to work on situps and pushups, and maybe do some web-guided yoga stuff.  We’ll see.

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239.5

So if you read my Facebook notes, you’ll know I’ve started running.  Unfortunately, I don’t think my diet is very healthy right now.  Working at Ben & Jerry’s, I tend to snack a lot on ice cream, which is obviously not the best idea when I’m wanting to lose weight.  But the running is good.

238.0

So far, biking is great.  Amy and I are both committed to it!  It takes about 20 minutes to get downtown, which is really not a lot of time at all… it feels way shorter than the trip to Monkland, and there are several ways to get there: google maps – to Atwater Market is always the same (that takes about 5 minutes) but once downtown, I can choose a variety of ways.  I think the easiest, though, is to go up Atwater, over Ste-Catherine, and up Bishop to park at Concordia.  I just can’t wait for the new piste cyclable to open up on De Maisonneuve. Also, I hate that even though it’s nice out, since it’s not tourist season yet they haven’t opened the water fountains for drinking!  You always have to have water with you when you leave the house this way!

245

Well, things aren’t going so well in the weight-loss department.  Being sedentary (i.e. not ever riding my bike and hardly ever going to the gym) all winter has made me gain 15 lbs since January.  My new goal is to be at 215 by sometime in June, because Amy and I want to go horseback riding and some of the places we might want to go have a limit of 220 lbs.  Back to WW, let’s see how it goes.

230.0 – Second day at the Gym!

Today was my second day at the gym, and the first real day! Last time I went, I spent only about five minutes on EVERY machine, so I could see what they were, how they worked, etc. I didn’t get tired at all, and didn’t feel anything in my muscles.

Today, however, was a different story.

I’ve decided to stick to a 4-day rotation, per 8 days. It doesn’t have to be one day on one day off, but I will be trying very hard to do it every 8 days. Here’s a link to the workout plan.

Today was day one: Warmup, 30min. of Cardio, Upper Body Training, and Stretching.

1. Warmup:
   I took a shower and walked on the treadmill for 5 minutes at 1, then 2, then 3 miles per hour.  At the end of the five minutes, I realized that it was good to warm up, even though it felt stupid: I could feel my blood flowing a lot more than it had been while I was outside or in the Métro.
2. Cardio:
   1. Elliptical, 10min
      I used the short elliptical instead of the long one… I guess that’s the only way I can put it.  All the “long” ones were in use so I used this one.  It felt more like jogging, less fluid of a motion.  I enjoyed it a lot, I did the program that’s like two mountains, the second one being higher/more difficult.  by the end of the ten minutes I was sweating a ton and loving it!
   2. Bicycle, 10min
      I used the bike that has a chair, rather than a bike seat.  I’m not sure which I’ll end up using more often: this one’s more comfortable, but does that mean the other is less effective?  I also wonder if the stationary bike can help to train for The Trip this spring?
   3. Stairmaster, 10min 3min
      HATED IT!  I couldn’t get into a right rhythm… because of the way my legs had to move, my iPod wasn’t staying in my underwear ban, and it was impossible to do it without holding the bars.  I kinda wish they had a solid place to put things like iPods, I guess I can just clip the case I have onto something or use the neoprene CD player holder Amy has.  I’ll probably use the clip, I had forgotten about it ’til just now.  But I probably won’t use the Stairmaster anyway!
   4. Erg (Rowing Machine),  7 min
      Since I didn’t do more than three minutes of the Stairmaster, I went over to the ergometer like I had originally planned.  I only did seven minutes because I had already done three on the Stupidmaster.  While using this machine, I made sure to keep my back straight, all the lessons I remember from when I did crew for a month freshman year at Lowell High.
3. Specific Training: Upper Body
   1. Chest Press: 2 sets of 15
      I enjoyed doing these.  The first set I did more straight up and down, and the second I spread my arms a bit more, and it felt more like I was actually doing a bench press with a bar.
   2. Pushups: 1 set of 15
      I don’t enjoy these as much… I tried to just do them on the ground and it didn’t work, so I tried with the exercise ball.  It didn’t really help, I felt like I was going to roll away every time I was far enough forward on the ball to feel like I was doing any real “pushing up” of my body weight.
4. Stretching
   Nothing went incredibly bad or good during this part… it feels silly doing this in front of everybody, but it’s ok because I know everbody else does it too!
   1. Standing Quad Stretch
   2. Triceps
   3. Chest/Shoulders
   4. Shoulders
   5. Biceps
   6. Shoulder Rolls

All in all it was a very successful trip to the gym!  Tomorrow will be <a href=”http://jeromeisaloser.wordpress.com/workout-plan/#day2″>Day Two</a>! ‘Til then…

234

Great.  Still no progress… I’m slipping, actually.  I’m starting today at a new Starbucks.  This is my chance to have a fresh start on a lot of things, mentally.  I’m going to try to always shave at least every other day instead of once a week, and to shower every day instead of whenever I feel dirty.  Also we’re waiting to see if I can get into the gym at Concordia, and if not I’ll get a membership at the YMCA.  I’m really excited about being able to work out!  Maybe it will help me lose some weight.

230.5

I need a miracle.

231.0

Stasis?  I guess I’m losing, since I weigh less then before… but it really seems like nothing’s happening.  I want to lose weight faster.  Or look/feel better.  But I can’t bring myself to like do situps every morning or anything like that!

234.0

Oh My Goodness! This took so long and I slept so long after!

Originally uploaded by jeromeandamyeno.

Wow, maybe if I have crazy adventures like this more often, I’ll steadily lose weight! I was just planning to take the Métro to Angrignon and ride along Canal l’Aqueduc, but Amy was like “Why don’t you go to Nun’s Island?” So I did. But I didn’t stop there. I went across the bicycle bridge to the Estacade, which is a long strip of land? I don’t really understand why it exists, because it must serve SOME purpose other than being a recreational trail. In any case, I quickly found myself bored of the main trail, so I went down to the left, to the river bank. I rode some of what my bike is made for, “Mountain Trail.” I don’t have any shocks, so I can’t do anything too crazy but I went up and down hills, through very narrow portions where plant matter was attacking me from all sides, around a few small “lakes” and through one mucky muck, which was disgusting. I saw four beavers (!) and countless insects, a few of which splattered on my face. I saw the lamest beach ever (basically a fenced-off tidal pool), a giant ship from Greece called the Pytheas, a lot of shipping containers, and some familiar sights along the Lachine canal. I got lost in an Indian reservation and had to take a $10 taxi across a bridge that wasn’t traversable by bike. All in all, it took about 4 1/2 hours, and it was so much fun. I’ll just have to remember to bring more food next time! Oh, and sometime I want to ride my bike to the border!