Whole 30: Day 4

Energy:
It's getting easier to wake up early in the morning since I seem to be sleeping better.  It's humid out and my bedroom is stuffy.  I also found I was more alert during the day.

Mood:
Work notwithstanding I think my mood and mental clarity is improving.  The usual Capital District white trash stuff didn't bother me as much as it usually does.

Cravings:
Management brought in doughnuts and bagels this morning to celebrate an achievement, but I was able to resist without too much trouble.  I'm still jonesin' for some sugar though and I'm still eating quite a bit so I think more detoxification is needed. 

I'm in the tricky part of this challenge because the initial enthusiasm has worn off a little and I'm not fully cured.  If I can tough out the next two or three days, I'll be golden.

Progress:

I've lost three pounds since I've started and my scale is telling me it's all fat.  Sweet.  My goal is to drop 10 fat pounds and my stretch goal is to lose 15.  I'm on a good pace, but I'm not going to maintain roughly a pound lost per day.

Total Recall (2012)

This re-imagining is cheesy with questionable movie physics, but it was still entertaining.  Biel and Beckinsale are smokin' hot and Farrell seemed to show more range than in his previous movies.  Walter White kicks some ass as well.

I recommend this movie.

Whole 30: Day 3

Energy:
I slept better last night and was able to get up at 5 this morning and complete my workout.  I had pretty energy during the day.

Mood:
This category is tricky because work is hectic, but I think I was less irritable today.

Cravings:
They're still there, but are reducing.  I'm not as tempted by crap food, but I am hungry often and eating quite a bit.

Progress:

In two days I've lost five pounds which seems to be mostly water.  My waist did shrink a little so there has been fat loss.  The fat measurement is not all that accurate so expect to see a bit of variation.  The overall trend should be downward though.

Whole 30: Day 2

Energy:
I slept poorly last night and had trouble getting up this morning.  I slept in and missed my morning barbell workout.  I was sluggish at work, but got pumped during my boxing lesson this evening.

Mood:
Today was my first day back to work after four days off so I was a bit grumpy, but I'm feeling better now.

Cravings:
I brought extra food to work which I ate in the morning and I got a salad from the cafeteria to supplement lunch.  I still have sugar cravings, but they've subsided slightly.

Progress:

In just twenty-four hours I lost over three pounds, 1.3 of which are fat if my scale is accurate.  I believe the weight loss, but perhaps there is some error in how much of it is fat.  I imagine the rest is water since going Paleo flushes your GI tract out.

Whole 30: Day 1

Energy level:
I had trouble waking up this morning and have felt sluggish all day.  I took a nap this afternoon and didn't make it to squash for no good reason.

Mood:
I started out ok, but became more irritable as the day went on.

Cravings:
I was ok until about lunch time.  Since then I've been pretty hungry and craving something like ice cream or maybe a piece of pizza.

Progress:

I haven't been this chunky in a few months so I'm sure there is progress to be had.

Weeds: Season 7

Surreal, bizarre and over the top yet strangely entertaining.  The show jumped the shark a couple of seasons ago, but I don't have a reason not to watch Season 8.

Sweet Silver Blues by Glen Cook

I enjoyed Cook's first Black Company book so I thought I'd try out his other series.  This one seems to be the inspiration for Butcher's Dresden Files, but the pacing was off.  Parts were slow enough to turn me off while the ending came by in a rush.

Cook is a great writer and economical with his words.  His novels involve a lot of characters so you have to pay close attention.  You can see his influence on several other popular fantasy authors.

I recommend this book.

Parks and Recreation: Season 4

This season was more even than Season 3 and was more enjoyable because of the focus on Leslie and Ron rather than Ann and Tom.

Unfortunately, Season 5 isn't free for Amazon Prime folk so I'll have to wait.

I highly recommend this show.

Whole 30

My blood sugar is completely out of whack due to some craptastic eating habits this month so I'm going to start a Whole 30 tomorrow.  The idea is to cut out grains, dairy, alcohol, legumes and other stuff for 30 days.  It's more or less my paleo diet, but I'm going to be a bit more strict and eat only stuff which are fewer than ten percent carbohydrates by mass.  I like this site for checking nutrition content.  So...no fruit and no sweet potatoes.

I'll continue to follow my exercise plan so I expect to lose around two fat pounds per week, but we'll see.  I'll update my blog daily so follow along.

Fitness update

May has not been a good month for me health-wise.  I've been eating like crap and it shows in increased chunk and foul moods.  I'm going to fix it by starting a hardcore Paleo detoxification on Tuesday.

The good news is I have been keeping up with my strength training.  I'm definitely getting stronger, but I'm just building muscle under the fat rather than getting ripped.  It's definitely better than nothing, but I need to exercise discipline.

I bought a few new fitness gadgets like ab rollers with two wheels so I can do them one-handed.  I also bought an ab wheel you can put your feet on so you can crawl around.  A friend helped me install my fitness rings so I've started using those.  My goal is to build functional strength and power which means I need quick muscles and quick muscles come from loose muscles.

You can definitely see some upward trends in the measurements related to chunk.

Here is a link to my progress picture album.

Ironman 3

I really wanted to like this movie, but it felt more like one of the bad GI Joe movies than a comic book movie.  The suits had little screen time and parts of the movie were overly introspective.  The Mandarin was not portrayed well and the movie physics was poor.

The Clifton Park theater was ok, but this movie was not worth the $11.50 ticket price.  I am neutral towards it and hope Thor 2 is more exciting.

Archangel

Too slow for a Tuesday night though it did pick up a bit at the end.  The plot was intriguing, but there wasn't enough detective work.

I do not recommend this made-for-TV movie.

Parks and Recreation: Season 3

This season had some good parts, but felt a bit more uneven than Season 2.  I realized I don't care for Tom since his schtick has worn its welcome.  I prefer to see more episodes focusing on Ron fucking Swanson.

I recommend this season.

American Reunion

Pathetic cash grab.  I do not recommend.

Parks and Recreation: Season 2

I'm starting to really dig this show.  You can clearly see the influences from The Office, but it has its own style.  This season is a bit funnier than the first because the writers realized Ron Swanson is the key.  They also cut back a bit on Tom which is always nice.

I highly recommend this show.

Brave

This movie was trite and predictable.  The animation is awesome and the voice acting solid, but it was a weak effort from a previous powerhouse.  I guess I blame Disney for corrupting Pixar, but it's hard to say.  I'm not that enthusiastic about the upcoming Monsters University, but who knows?

I do not recommend this movie.

Death Masks by Jim Butcher

I just finished another of Butcher's Dresden Files and it was one of his better ones.  I like the ones which focus more on the action and detective work than Harry's romances.  He borders on being an anti-hero which makes for more interesting stories though there are plenty of good and evil foils.

I highly recommend this book.

Bike ride

I picked up my bike last night from its tune up.  I had also gotten speed pedals along with speed shoes.  I opted for the kind of shoes you can't really walk in on recommendation from my boss.  He claims the wider pedals are easier and I didn't know any better so I listened to him.  The dude at the bike shop also had the same opinion.  I gave it all a shot today and like using speed pedals, but I'm not sure I like this style.  The shoes are not good for walking around and I wasn't able to easily dismount.  I damn near fell off my bike onto a tree when I was practicing in my driveway and I don't know how easily I could dismount on command.  I gradually got the hang of it, but I think I might try out the other style in the future.

I ended up riding around the area for about an hour.  My ass is a bit sore, but my knees feel fine.  It's gorgeous out so it was good to get some sunshine.  A lot of people were out running and biking.

Soapless showering

I like to do what is right, not just what conventional wisdom says.  I had read about people taking the soapless shower challenge so I gave it a shot this week.  I didn't use any soap on my body for five days and just used a wash cloth to get any dirt off.

I didn't notice any difference and didn't feel dirty or anything.  The idea is modern soaps strip off your skin's natural oil and replace it with something else.  Skipping the soap should leave your skin healthier.

I already only use baking soda and water for shampoo and vinegar for conditioner so it's not a stretch for me to go soapless going forward.

Parks and Recreation: Season 1

I've been watching this show on Amazon VoD because I'd wreck the mess out of Rashida Jones.  It turns out the show is actually pretty funny.  There is no laugh track which definitely piques my interest. Amy Poehler is a little over-the-top, but it's intentional and the rest of the cast is dry enough to provide some contrast.

"I'm Ron fucking Swanson."

I highly recommend this show and I'll keep watching.