Fitness update

It probably all happened on last Saturday's hike, but I lost a little bit more than two pounds of fat this week.  I'm surprised because I ate quite a bit and didn't exercise as much as I should have.  I'm not complaining though.

I really need to get back to some serious aerobic activity.  I probably should start riding my bike after work.

"Here we are - You're pins - I'm needles - Let's play..."

• This week was a lost week at work due to the fab shutdown. I suppose I shouldn't complain, but it was pretty boring. I left early most days.
• The golf clubs I wanted to buy are an online special only. D'oh. I should've ordered them a couple of weeks ago. No worries.
• I goofed up and waited too long to mow my lawn. I have just an old school push mower and it just pushes the grass over rather than cutting it. I'll have to see if one of my friends has a gas powered mower I can borrow. I should've mowed it three or four weeks ago, but I've been "busy."
• I was only able to do 11 pushups today which means I need to repeat Week 2 of my 100 pushups challenge. I shouldn't be surprised since I struggled during the week, but it is a little depressing since 11 pushups is nothing. I need to get more serious about exercise.
• I've been hungry throughout this week, but I'm working hard to avoid snacking.

Couscous, tomatoes and spinach

Tonight's dinner was pretty healthy.  I found a good recipe on Hannaford's website which was tasty, quick and easy.

I'm now up to 37 recipes.

Hiking Rooster Comb and Snow Mountain

Yesterday, I went for a hike with the Hiking Mates up Rooster Comb and Snow Mountain. We left from Clifton Park and got to the trailhead around 9. We didn't hike a particularly fast pace, but it was enough to get my heart racing. I'm out of shape and this hike proved it.

Here are some pictures from the top of Rooster Comb. Jason and Dylan getting in the way of my shot:

Keene Valley:

Nearby mountains:

Me throwing a gang sign:

We took the side trail over to Snow Mountain:

I didn't bring my camera to the better lookout spot, but you get the picture.

The weather was a little warm and humid, but not buggy so I was regretting my longsleeved, black Smartwool shirt. It kept me dry though since I sweated off a few pounds for sure.

I took my GPS along with me and here is our route superimposed over Google Earth:

Rooster Comb is the western most point and Snow Mountain is to the south. Near Rooster Comb we took a very short trail to another lookout point.

Total distance hiked was 6.4 miles with ~2200 ft of ascent. It was my first hike of the season and counts towards my challenge.

Too much cooking

One of my challenge tasks is to cook every night for a week for 15 non-consecutive weeks.  Last night I finished the first week.  I went to the store every day and got stuff to make dinner.  It was a struggle towards the end, but led to more variety during the week.

Sunday dinner was grilled sausage and salad:

Monday dinner was grilled hoisin chicken on rice:

Tuesday dinner was taco salad with Spanish rice.  It was supposed to be tacos, but the shells are too small:

Wednesday dinner was glazed turkey tenderloins and salad:

Thursday dinner was beef salad:

Friday dinner was scrambled eggs with smoked salmon.  I forgot to take a picture.
Saturday dinner was baked salmon with marinated vegetables:

The dishes were at least acceptable though some were not terribly exciting.  I banged out three new recipes bringing my total to 36.  The beef salad turned out really well.

Progress on my challenges can be found here.

Fitness update

I thought I was being healthy this week, but I didn't make much progress.  I've been hungry for most of the week and I thought it was due to a metabolism shift.  I guess it was, but I probably ate too much.  It's hard to ignore hunger pains though.

I'm going hiking for the first time this season.  It's only seven miles so I should do alright, but who knows?

Looking at the chart, I think I stopped making progress on the body fat when I hurt my finger and stopped playing volleyball and basketball.  I need some hardcore aerobic exercise.  It seems riding my exercise bike doesn't quite count.

Bloodwork results

I got my bloodwork results in the mail today from when I had blood tested on Tuesday.  My LDL cholesterol is 83 and my HDL cholesterol is 48 so things are great there.  The rest of my bloodwork was good as well.  I'm fairly healthy even though I'm 10-15 lbs overweight.

50 questions that will free your mind #4

Continuing to answer 50 Questions:

#4: When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?

This question is a little stupid because it's tough to predict the future. Sometimes I talk a big game, but I try to back up my talk with action which is why I'm doing these 101 things in 1001 days in the first place. My goal is definitely to leave a mark on this world, but it's unlikely to happen. I'm in the wrong field for world-changing and I don't know if I'm aggressive enough.

So, yes, I will have said more than I have done.

Ultimate

I drove down to Ithaca to participate in a hat tournament for ultimate.  The weather was great and the field conditions were pretty good as well.  I played ok, but I know I could've played a lot better if I were in better shape.  I can feel the extra weight slowing me down and I know it's not good for my knees.

Our team lost our first two games, but played well enough to win the third.  I even skied one dude for our 12th point and threw the winning score for our 13th point.  Sweet.  I wasn't able to keep up with everybody since most people there are at least 10 years younger than me.

Ithaca has changed quite a bit since I was last there in '06.  It looks the same around campus, but downtown and the area around Wegmans looks built up now with upscale shops.  I guess the typical Cornell undergrad is recession proof.

I'll probably drive down again for another pickup tournament later this summer.

Fitness update

This week's measurement seems a little more consistent.  I lost a pound of fat since last Sunday which seems about right.  I had a physical yesterday morning and the doctor said I was healthy, but about ten pounds overweight.  I'm not sure how he came to ten, but I can't really argue.

I've been making good progress on my weight this year, but need to work on reducing the chunk.  I need to get back to more consistent aerobic activity.  I'm going to drive down to Ithaca for a hat ultimate tournament today and I'll mow the lawn tomorrow.  I have a push mower and my lawn hasn't been mowed since last fall so the grass is tall and thick.  It'll be a pretty significant workout.

Challenge update

Today I banged out one item on my 101 list by giving the roofer the last third I owed him.  The roof is officially done and I can cross it off my list.  I hired Tim Gross who owns Inside Out Construction based in Glenmont, NY.  He did a bang up job.  He's not the cheapest dude, but he was thorough and professional.  He corrected some design flaws in the old roof so I should have less problems.  Sweet.  It cost me a new car's worth of money, but it needed to be done.

Here's a picture of my house from the driveway:

He took the trailer today, but still needs to grab some stuff.  I know you can't see the roof well, but it has been replaced.

Tonight I tried a new recipe for ginger beef stir fry that I found online.  It turned out well even though it has an unusual taste.  It's good, but unlike anything I've cooked before.

It has a fair amount of vegetables in it so it's healthy as well.  I served it over brown rice.

I've now tried 33 new recipes.  You can see my updated challenge list here.  I've only completed three items, but replacing the roof was a big one.

I've also started on my pushups challenge.  I was able to do 8 for the initial test on Monday, but easily completed Day 1 after work today.  I don't know if I'll get to 100 within six weeks, but I'll give it a shot.  I'm feeling stronger which is never a bad thing.

Sinus update

This new medicine, Astepro, seems to be working well since I can breathe more easily now, but the feeling of my sinuses rapidly draining is a strange one. It's not necessarily bad, but is more weird than anything. It's a little hard to describe, but it's like being a little light-headed.

Fitness update

Yesterday, I weighed myself as usual and couldn't believe my body fat percentage clocked in at 21.0%.  It definitely beat my record by a couple of percentage points and was surprising since I was more active the past week, with riding my exercise bike, but not active enough to drop several pounds of fat.  I remeasured and got about the same.

I went to our company picnic in Wappingers Falls yesterday and ate a lot of food and played some softball.  I weighed myself again this morning and, as you can see, the weight didn't change much, but the body fat percentage did.  What do I believe?  Did I convert a few pounds of muscle into fat in one day?  Not likely which means my fat measurement is not accurate at all.  I figured it would be at least a good indicator of relative trends, but it seems like it's too variable for me to trust.  I read somewhere the measurement is pretty sensitive to humidity.  It was raining yesterday morning, but is dry today.

It doesn't really matter though because it's pretty easy for me to tell if I'm in shape or not.  I just need to look in the mirror or give myself the jiggle test.

Cheese biscuits

Tonight I made cheese biscuits. I used feta instead of bleu cheese and I only had one green onion so I used some leek to make up the difference. They turned out really well and I'd definitely make them again.

I'm now up to 32 recipes for my challenge.

White trash mac and cheese

Tonight I banged out my 31st new recipe, working towards my challenge. I made macaroni and cheese out of my white trash cookbook. The other recipes out of there turned out alright, but this dish was pretty bland and unmemorable.

Visit to the ENT

This afternoon I had an appointment with the ENT to get my sinuses checked out. The doctor looked in my ears and up my nose. He said my Eustachian tubes are clogged and my nose a little swollen, but he didn't see any signs of infection.

He gave me a two week supply of Astepro which is a topical antihistamine you squirt up your nose. I tried it out as soon as I got home and now it's starting to do something. Some of it dripped into my throat, but the rest must've made it because I'm getting that light-headed feeling which occurs when my sinuses rapidly drain.

I'm supposed to use this stuff for two weeks. If it works, he'll get me a real prescription. If not, I'll probably need a CAT scan.

Fun times.

Sukhothai

I was down in Fishkill today and went out for Thai food for lunch. My colleague and I went to Sukhothai in Beacon. I had yellow curry with shrimp. It was alright, but nothing particularly noteworthy. The place was pretty much empty, but it was at the ass end of Beacon.

I've now tried five new restaurants for my challenge.

Herb garden

Today I completed the second of my 101 tasks, I planted an herb garden.  It doesn't look like much now, but I expect to see some herbs pokin' through in two to four weeks.  I didn't exactly follow the planting instructions, but it's ok.  The task was to plant the herb garden, not necessarily to ensure its success.

I planted dill, chives, basil and parsley since those were the seeds I got for Xmas.

This plot was used by the previous owners as a flower garden, but I've been working the soil the past few weeks to get it ready.  It's nice and dark so I expect the herbs to grown well unless the birds get to them first.

I'll take pictures once stuff starts pokin' through.

Fitness update

This week was roughly a wash which is a bit surprising.  I did lose nearly a pound of fat, but my finger kept me from any hardcore exercise.  I ate ok, but not great.  My finger feels better with each passing week and I have a physical in two Fridays so I should know more then.

My energy level has been decent, but some thunderstorms are rolling in this weekend and the accompanying pressure change is jackin' up my sinuses.  I have an appointment with an ENT this Thursday so hopefully I can figure out how to move forward then.

I really need to get my ass on my bike.