journey to 100: 11.7
This week went by so fast. I made some HORRIBLE food choices this week. Last Saturday was my “high calorie day” – a cheat day – where I can eat whatever I want. Well my cheat day turned into 3 days. It was not good. Last weekend I had:
- Saturday – 3 taco meal from Taco John’s and a LARGE Dr. Pepper. I had pizza that night.
- Sunday - I went out for Mexican and did ok. I got the burrito meal with a tostada. Then Bible study came and I failed big time. I had 4 rice crispy bars with chocolate on them. I had chips and bean dip and I also drank 2 Dr. Peppers.
- Monday Night Football – I had a HUGE plate of tater tots. I had some chips and 3 bags of fruits snacks and about 5 glasses of lemonade.
So my cheat day lasted 3 days where I consumed over 3500 calories each day no doubt. So this week was rough on me. Then yesterday on my way home I got sick to my stomach and had to pull off the road and go out behind my van to – well – you know. I had great workouts though. I bumped my elliptical time up to 60 minutes over the past 3 or 4 days and that has been kicking my tail but going so good. My weights have gone up quite a bit this week too. So it was an ok week overall – made some poor eating choices but my workouts went really well.
So here it is. The weights for this week:
Last week: 338
This week: 331
Total: 37 in 6 weeks
journey to 100: just a typical meal
Some people have been asking me what a typical meal looks like for me. Or how I can eat healthy and still get full on a meal. It’s pretty easy. Above is a picture of a typical meal at my house. Sometimes I do a chicken breast, veggies and yogurt. Other times I’ll do a sandwich, fruit and yogurt. For breakfast I’ll have a bar of some kind. Maybe a Nature Valley or a Cliff Bar (I will also have one of either of these for a snack between meals), an apple or banana and maybe some yogurt. Some days I’ll just grab a protein shake and drink it on the go. My meals usually hit between 450-650 calories. Sometimes when I’m done working out if I haven’t had supper I’ll grab a foot-long chicken breast on wheat and or a foot-long black forest ham on Italian or honey oat from Subway loaded with veggies. I go in there so much they know how to make my sub without asking. It just depends on the day and whether or not I will be able to snack between meals. Sometimes for a snack I’ll do a 100 calorie min-bag of popcorn. I’m not a big popcorn guy so it’s a rare occasion when I do grab some popcorn.
Honestly eating meals like this there are some time when I cant’ finish the meal completely. It’s pretty satisfying knowing I’m only getting 450-650 calories in one meal.
why i’m a winner…
Because Chris from Canada will pick me as the winner to the contest on his blog. What contest? The one where he’s giving away a copy of Paul Baloche’s new cd “Glorious.” I have been a fan of Baloche’s music since I was in college. He has written some classics that will probably never fade. His music is a lot of the reason why I write worship anthems now. They are simple yet profoundly true and can easily be used in corporate worship. When I was in Western Nebraska I traveled to Colorado Springs to an Integrity worship conference and Baloche lead one night. He was amazing.
I am excited tow in Chris from Canada’s contest. I know he’s excited at declaring me the winner..and if not it was worth a shot. There are 5 blogs total giving Baloche’s new cd away this week. They are below;
- Rich Kirkpatrick
- Joshua Seller
- Brent (in worship)
- Chris from Canada
- Fred McKinnon (his blog is having issues today)
my uncle’s recovery
This past week has been a roller coaster of emotions for our family. I found out last Tuesday night that my uncle Paul was going in Wednesday to have a double bypass open heart surgery. It was supposed to be pretty routine and it was everything but routine. The surgery was only supposed to take 4.5 hours and took almost 7 hours. They ended up doing a triple bypass heart surgery on him. They couldn’t find veins they wanted to use to repair the old ones. They got everything done then they couldn’t get his heart to pump. All on Wednesday night.
From the way things sounded everyone was pretty sure he wasn’t going to make it. Thursday came and they were going to try to take him off of the heart pump to see if his heart would take over and his blood pressure dropped while bathing him and changing his linens so that was postponed. Friday they took him off of the heart pump and his heart kicked in. Saturday they were able to take him off of the ventilator and his lungs were working strong. By Saturday afternoon they had him up and walking and were moving him into a room away from ICU. The doctors are now saying he is going to make a full recovery.
So many people were praying for him. Our congregation here in Newell was praying. My friends on Facebook were praying. My friends on Twitter were praying. I tried to text a friend of mine and was one digit off on the area code and got some guy named Steve from Houston – he was praying for him as well. The body of Christ always amazes me when someone is in a pinch.
Thank you for praying. You are truly appreciated.
jounrey to 100: 10.31
I can’t believe I’ve been at this for six weeks now. It was a good week overall. I thought I would have had a bigger loss than I did. I’m down a notch on my belt and my t-shirts are fitting looser but my arms are starting to fill them out better. I’m starting to be able to tell a big difference. I kept at it pretty good all week even through my nasty cold I had.
Here are the results:
Last week: 344
This week: 338
Total: 30 pounds in 5 weeks
I’ve got 3.5 weeks until Thanksgiving. I should be able to knock off at least 20 more pounds by then making it 50 by Thanksgiving. This is going to be easy.
what would you do?
How does the fact that the rapture is going to happen shape how we do things and treat people? Would you do this?
Thanks Aaron for this video.
journey to 100: my workouts
I have been asked by a few people recently what my workout looks like. Honestly it varies but here are the workouts broken down by days. This gives an idea for what I do.
Sunday: Day off
Monday: Chest/ Triceps/ Cardio
- Cardio – 45 minutes of hills intervals on the eliptical working up to 7mph. I also try to get 45-60 minutes on the treadmill doing incline intervals on level 5 up to 4mph
- Chest – I LOVE working my chest. I always have. I start off with the Hammer Strength Iso-lateral bench. I do 2 warm-up sets with a 45lb plate on each side. Then I do 5 sets of 5 reps with two 45lbs plates on each side. Then I do 3 sets of 8-12 reps of incline bench with dumbbells. Then I do 3 sets of 10 reps (20lbs dumbbells) of fly’s (going almost to the ground with straight arms) on the bench. I usually count to 6 seconds per rep. This really allows for a good strength and gives a good overall form to the pecs. I also do 3 sets of 10 reps on the bench press machine (150lbs) as well as the pec-deck (175).
- Triceps - It goes without saying it’s my second favorite body part to work. I start off with 3 sets of 10 reps French Press style with 85lbs dumbbells. This really stretches your triceps. I then do 3 sets of 10 reps on the cable tricep push-down with about 75lbs. Then I do 3 sets of 10 reps of bent over tricep pushes One hand on the dumbbell rack – pushing the hand with the dumbbell backwards until fully extended) with 20lbs dumbbells.
Tuesday: Biceps/ Cardio
- Cardio - 45 minutes of hills intervals on the eliptical working up to 7mph. I also try to get 45-60 minutes on the treadmill doing incline intervals on level 5 up to 4mph
- Biceps - I do 3 sets of 10 reps (35lbs dumbbells) sitting on the incline bench. They key here is to keep your biceps pinched in to your sides if you can. Then I stand up and do 3 sets of 10 reps with 30lbs dumbbells – I try to go slow so I don’t rock and “cheat.” I give a tight queeze at the top to give the bicep a good burn. Then I do a pyramid with the dumbbells. I start of with the 5’s and do 10 reps. Move to the 10’s and do 8 reps and on up until I get to 1 rep with the 35’s then immediately I start back down and end up with 10 reps on the 5’s again. Don’t give yourself much of a break through the entire thing. I usually finish with 3 sets of 10 with the 75lbs curling bar.
Wednesdays: Shoulders/ Back/ Cardio
- Cardio - 45 minutes of hills intervals on the eliptical working up to 7mph. I also try to get 45-60 minutes on the treadmill doing incline intervals on level 5 up to 4mph
- Shoulders - I do seated military press with dumbbells. 3 sets of 10 with 50lbs. Then I do front shoulder raises 3 sets of 10 with 20lbs. Then I move to side shoulder raises 3 sets of 10 reps with 10lbs. Then I do shoulder fly’s 3 sets of 10 with 40lbs.
- Back - I’m pretty new to working my back. But here’s what I do. 3 sets of 10 (200lbs) seated cable rows. 3 sets of 10 (140lbs) lat pull-downs. Then I do 3 sets of 30 seconds putting a 45lbs plate over my shoulders (switching sides) and stopping shortly at my waist so I don’t rock and “cheat.” Then I do 3 sets of 10 oblique standing crunches with 65lbs dumbbells.
Thursdays: Cardio/ Legs
- Cardio – 45 minutes of hills intervals on the eliptical working up to 7mph. I also try to get 45-60 minutes on the treadmill doing incline intervals on level 5 up to 4mph
- Legs - 3 sets of 10 on leg extensions with 130lbs – I’m a weannie when it comes to legs. 3 sets of 10 hamstring curls with 100lbs. I do the hip abductors for inside and outside – 3 sets of 10 with 170lbs. Calf raises – 3 sets of 10 with 90lbs on the seated machine. Then I finish with the leg sled. I do 5 sets of 10. Last time I worked up to 560lbs on my last set of 10 but probably did 480 for 4 of the 5 sets.
Fridays: Cardio/ Chest/ Triceps
- I do everything I do on Mondays on Fridays also.
Saturdays: Cardio/ Shoulders/ Back
- I do everything I do on Wednesdays on Saturdays – might even work in biceps again. I try to pick up the pace and make it more of an anaerobic workout though to burn more calories.
I might work in some circuit training instead of the last 45 minutes on the treadmill. I’ll do 4 laps of 30 seconds on all 12 machines. It usually takes me about 40 minutes with travel time between each machine. I’ll use lighter weights and go for high reps in 30 seconds for more of a physical burn and calorie burn. It’s all about keeping moving, cardio and counting calories.
super bowl party 2010
It’s a tradition every year at Bethel to host a HUGE Super Bowl party. Last year we had 200+ students show up. It was a blast. At half-time I exploded some cans of pop with my bare hands, rolled 3 frying pans and broke a baseball bat. Then I gave the Gospel – you could hear a pin drop off of the carpet. It was amazing. I was actually asked by my leaders to do the frying pans and stuff. They had heard a rumor or something that I could do it and thought it would be a great half-time show. So I did it.
This year we talked a little bit about some ideas that we could do for half-time. Nothing was really striking an interest with them until someone said,
“Hey can you do something like last year but different? The kids loved it so we need to do something bigger.”
I now have my work cut out for me. I can’t say yet exactly what I will be working on. I do know this – I have about 3.5 months to get ready for it this time. I’ll be a little over 100lbs lighter and a whole lot stronger by February 2010. I’m now praying about it to see if I can get some confirmation from God about what we should do this year.
We definitely want to make this year bigger and better than anything that has ever been done. We have talked about having Michael Fugitt come back and do an after show concert for the students that come. Last night I talked with one of my leaders, Geoff, about doing something huge with Michael. Pray for God’s leading in this. If we can swing it it’ll be huge and we could draw in more kids than we ever have to hear of God’s redeeming love. That’s what excites me more than anything.
We’re not sure what we’re doing this year but we do know this. We want God to be honored and we want to see lives changed.
journey to 100: 10.24
This is week 4 since i began my journey again. I’m excited about how it’s going but I feel like it should be going better. I haven’t been eating my “snacks” between each meal like I should be so maybe I’m getting enough caloric intake right now. That could be it. Still I’m pretty happy with where I’m at right now. Still have a long ways to go but I can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I think another thing that is keeping me from losing more than what I am right now is that I’m lifting pretty aggressively with free weights right now. I used to do some power-lifting and I have caught that bud again. I’m still getting 90 minutes of cardio every day so I think what I’m starting to see is fat to muscle transfer. I’m starting to notice pretty big differences in my arms, shoulder and my quads right now. It’s been nice to see some progress being made.
This week I hit it pretty hard. I didn’t sleep for one night. We hosted a concert. Then I got this stupid cold I’m fighting off right now. On top of that I think I have a stress fracture in my left foot now. I went running last week and did pretty good. I got further than I thought I would. Shortly after running I started getting a stabbing pain across the top of my left foot. I thought it would go away but hasn’t yet. So if by next Thursday or Friday it doesn’t go away then I’m going to have it x-rayed to see what is wrong with it. I can do the elliptical fine. I’ve been getting 45 minutes done on it lately and I’m bumping that up to 50-60 next week. I can do the treadmill fine as long as I don’t get above 3.8 mph – then my foot really starts to bother me. Keep that in your prayers if you would.
Here are the results for this past week:
Last week: 349
This week: 344
Total so far: 24 in 4 weeks
I feel pretty good about how it’s coming along. Still I really want to average between 8-10 each week. Or maybe ave 3-4 double digits weeks in a row. That would be nice. Also I’m growing my beard until I hit 50lbs lost this time around. I’m hoping for that to be at Thanksgiving because honestly my beard drives me nuts.
michael fugitt: concert review
Last night we had Michael Fugitt down to do a concert for our student ministries. I love doing concerts/ events. A ton of work and energy goes into them and honestly sometimes it’s not worth the hassle. Last night was worth every minute, phone call, detail. I have spent numerous hours on the phone with Michael and some good time yesterday and this morning. He’s the real deal. So many times in Christian music you find bands that don’t want to share the Gospel. They just want to provide entertainment to your kids and move on. Michael’s different – his main driving force is the Gospel and the person of the Gospel.
If you are a leader in ministry or a youth pastor you need to get to know Michael. I get so tired of Christian telemarketers calling and I know first hand when a music act calls most of the time I feel the same way,
“just tell me what you’re selling so I can hang up and go on through my day.”
Michael isn’t selling a product. In fact he is willing to come into a location on a donation basis becuase he feels the Gospel should never be sold. He feels so strong about that that he puts a sign by hid CD’s that says,
“CD’s – HONESTLY what you can afford.”
Michael is real. His ministry is valuable. Please don’t take my word for it. Check him out. Call him up and feel him out and see if he can be a good fit for your ministry. We will have him back again. All I’m doing is asking you to check him out. You won’t regret it.
