I always look to set mini goals for myself.  To keep me motivated and always working towards something new.  It keeps me fresh, looking forward and free of too many workout pitfalls.  Tomorrow morning I leave for Vegas to hang out with my best friend Geoff.  We’re doing a guys weekend in celebration of well….being guys I guess?  We got a great deal and were staying at the Hard Rock Hotel for the weekend.  Should be fun!

One of my mini goals was to get “pool ready”.  To be able to go to the pool and not look like a whale beaching himself.  I think I’ll be ok as long as I dont hit the buffet before the pool! lol  It’s nice to be able to fit my clothes for the weekend in the small carry on bag opposed to one of our larger ones.  Back when my clothes were much bigger, that actually was an issue.  Now I wear Large shirts opposed to XL and XXLs.  It feels good.

This morning, when I went to workout at ASI on Patewood, my trainer Danial (see video) was bragging about how some guy burned 650 calories on the speedflex system in one hour.  For those of you who workout on the treadmills and think, because of the false treadmill readings, that’s not a lot….I assure you, burning that many calories is harder than you think!  Treadmills and eliptical machines LIE! Anyway, Danial was braggin on the guy this morning. So what do I do?  SMASH THE CALORIE NUMBER! LOL!!  I burned 731 calories this morning in 1 hour of working out!  Meanwhile, I was starving the rest of the day!  Wanna justify a big Italian dinner like I had tonight?  Burn 731 calories in a workout, then you dont feel so bad about all that pasta.  Overeating is still not a great thing to do, but I dont feel guilty about it today.  Maybe tomorrow?

More after my Vegas trip!

This morning I worked out at ASI on Patewood Rd in the GHS building.  I’ve been there for a few months now and it’s been great.  I can feel myself getting stronger and healthier with almost every workout.  It feels good.  Yet, no matter how hard I try, I cannot seem to do pull-ups very well.  I can lift a lot of weight over my head, off my chest, from my shoulders, but pull-ups are not my friend!  Every time I step off of the stool to begin the pull-up process, I revert back to 3^rd grade gym class and after doing 4-5 of them, I dangle there like a fish on a stringer.  The only thing missing is a bully coming over to pull down my shorts. 

There is some good news!  It appears that my blood tests have come back AWESOME from my recent visit to Dr. Messer’s office this past week.  My good and bad cholesterol are almost perfect!  I was a little worried because I had not been as militant in my eating as I was for the last 2 blood tests.  This is where the workout stuff comes into play.  You can’t lose weight or get healthier just by dieting and you can’t lose weight or get healthier by just working out.  They come hand in hand.  I’d always worked out, but hardly ever watched my food intake; assuming that I deserved to eat this and that because I was working out.  Rewarding yourself is important; just make sure you are not rewarding yourself TOO much!  (Oh I deserve this chocolate cake….I walked up the stairs at work today).  I did reward myself a little too much this past weekend and ate what seemed like a whole side of beef!  I smoked a brisket and it was AWESOME!  I think I am part cow now….I’ll be eating chicken, turkey and veggies for the rest of the week.