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daily recap

Day Nine: Progress and Respite

George and Weezie may have been content with movin’ on up, but not me. I’m movin’ on down. 1.5 lbs. worth of down. As always, I’ll believe it after a couple of days. But now I feel a bit more confident that this is a bona fide trend and not the capricious will of the tides.

Wii Fit Weight - October 15th, 2009

The Wii Fit Age hasn’t budged. I’m okay with that. 29 was a pretty good year.

Wii Fit Age - October 15th, 2009

Today was a day of rest in EA Sports Active, and since I haven’t taken a break for the last eight days, I decided to limit my activity to some walking and some pushups. Tomorrow its back to the 30-day challenge and a shoulder and back workout on daily burn.

Dinner today was a nice chicken breast stuffed with basil and a little cheese. Some salad, asparagus, and bread. I also had a couple of beers.

Dinner - October 15th, 2009

All in all today hasn’t been the healthiest, but I don’t think it’s been a complete train wreck either. Taking a little break every once in awhile without going completely nuts is probably a good thing for gradual change and my overall sanity.

What do you think? When you’re trying to exercise regularly is it better to take a day off to rest once in awhile? Or do you think that it’s better to hit it every day to maintain momentum?

Day Eight: Leaping Lizards and Lugubrious Legs

A wise man once said no g-news is good g-news, unless it’s gary gnus. In keeping with that gentle spirit, there is no news to report on the weight front. Since it’s the exact same as yesterday, I feel like the balance board should reward me. It’s usually so pleased when things remain perfectly still.

Wii Fit Weight - October 14th, 2009

Despite the limited movement in my tonnage, the board saw fit to reduce my age by a couple of years. Perhaps that was my reward for keeping my corporeal heft motionless from one day to the next.

Wii Fit Age - October 14th, 2009

Moving on from Wii Fit to EA Sports Active, I have here a prepared statement:

EPH JUMP SQUATS & JUMP LUNGES

As we touched upon yesterday, there is an inherent dissonance between the idea on the one hand of being overweight, and on the other of flinging your body up into the air as high as you can. Yes, it’s good exercise. But it doesn’t make for good neighborly relations if you’ve got someone living underneath your stomping ground.

What’s more, I was being criticized the entire time for my pace and enthusiasm. I don’t know what I was doing wrong.

A jump lunge is performed by getting into a lunge position, jumping, and switching the placement of your feet in the air so that when you land you are lunged on the other leg. It’s a little tricky, but easy enough to pick up. The thing with jump lunges is you have to make the transition fast, or you land funny. I felt like I was doing them right, but every time I got a warning from the trainer that said TOO QUICK.

What was too quick? Did I jump too soon? I don’t think that was the problem. The problem seemed to be that I wasn’t suspended in mid-air like a tubby weather balloon for as long as it would have liked. Then comes the messages from the instructor, “I know you can do better than that” or “You’re not going to break a sweat with that pace.”

I’m sorry I’m not a buoyant as you’d like, jackass. I’ll suck down some helium next time and curse at you in munchkin voice, will that make you happy? I’m guessing not.

Aw well, here are the results:

EA Sports Active - October 14th, 2009

Wait… “Excellent timing and power on my jump lunges today?”

WHAT???

EA Sports Active is an abusive boyfriend. It tears me down with unrealistic demands, and then takes me out to its camaro. It tells me I’m the best. Promises it’s going to be better to me. We go out to the Pig & Poke and eat french fries with ranch dressing out of a cone, and it drapes its threadbare letterman jacket over me as I fall asleep drooling on the dashboard to the sounds of Bat Out of Hell.

And I’m never heard from again.

After finishing with EA Sports Active I moved on to the Daily Burn abs and legs workout. Since my legs were already sore from the squatting, lunching, jumping, and running that EA-SA had me doing, everything was kind of rubbery ad non-responsive. Still, I got through all of it except the squats, which just weren’t happening.

Since it’s been a week now, here’s an updated progress picture. Not a lot of change. Wearing the same goofy outfit for consistency’s sake. Probably should have used the flash since the sun was going in and out. Oh well, you still get the idea.

Progress Photo - October 14th, 2009

Have you had to do any of the leaping activities on EA Sports Active? Did they make you want to die, or actually die? Did the game recognize what you were doing properly?

Day Seven: Jumping Jehosaphat

Today the weight is up by a little over a pound. Overall it’s down from this time last week.

Wii Fit Plus Weight - October 13th, 2009

Wii Fit Age is matching up with my real age. I have no idea why. Maybe the balance board picks the age out of a bingo tumbler.

Wii Fit Age - October 13th, 2009

Today’s EA Sports Active workout introduced side to side jumps. Now, I’m sure that this is a very good exercise, but there is a flaw with it. This is a game targeted toward overweight people. And wile the trainer is clear that you should try to land softly on your feet, there’s only so soft you can land when you’re heavy and your legs aren’t super strong. Plus, I’ve got downstairs neighbors so I’m really hesitant to fling myself around the room. Moreover, I found the trainer was constantly criticizing me for doing it wrong. I’m not sure how you can screw up jumping, but apparently I was.

I was not excited to learn that tomorrow’s workout introduces jumping squats and jumping lunges. I’d be fine with jumping jacks, those I can do without knocking the plaster off the ceiling. I suppose I’m just grousing. Harumph.

EA Sports Active - 30-day Challenge (Day 3)

Today’s fancy feast was salmon steak, fingerling potatoes, salad, avocado slices, and tomatoes stuffed with turkey meatball. It was a pretty big meal.

Dinner - Salmon Steak, Potatoes, Tomato, Salad

I’ve been tracking my daily nutrition on dailyburn. I’ve found it relatively easy to stay within calorie goals, but I’ve had a difficult time hitting targets for protein, fat, and carbs. I seem to always be behind on protein, and too far ahead on either fat or carbs in a given day.

I guess that says something about the kinds of foods that I gravitate towards. Fat and carbs is a good summation of my favorite things.

I’ve been drinking a protein mix to try and get protein up without adding fat or carbs. Ideally I’ll reach a point where I don’t have to rely on that anymore.

Day Six: Pumping Neoprene

Holy crap, another day of relatively significant weight loss. I’m not going to consider two data points a trend, but this is an encouraging development.

Wii Fit Plus Weight - October 12th, 2009

Since I’m a little skeptical of the results, I’m going to round up and call this 173. I’m not sure if I’m just losing water weight, or what the cause is. I don’t feel as though I’m losing fat. Oh well, I suppose it’s bast not to look a gift balance board in the mouth. If it had a mouth. Which it doesn’t.

Wii FIt Age - October 12th, 2009

While my weight has been going down, my Wii Fit Age has been going up. Oh well, guess you can’t win ‘em all.

Today I didn’t do a Wii workout. Instead I did the arms and shoulders dumbell workout from daily burn. As with last week’s weight lifting workout, I took it easy. I only used the small 5 lb. hand weights. Nevertheless, some of the shoulder exercises were really difficult. I suppose it’s not a part of the body that I ever use.

Dinner was mandarin orange chicken and basmati rice. Not super healthy, but since I hadn’t eaten much throughout the day, I was still within my calorie goals.

I expect to see a correction in my weight in the next couple of days, but for now I’m happy with the progress.

Day Five: Coke Cupcakes and Curious Calories

Hey, check it out. I’ve lost a noticeable amount of weight today. I don’t want to count any chickens, hopefully it’s an indicator that things are moving in the right direction.

Wii Fit Plus Weight - October 11th, 2009

The Wii Fit age is up a little bit, but the Mii is still looking pretty satisfied so I’ll take that as a good sign.

Wii Fit Age - October 11th, 2009

This was the second day of the EA Sports Active challenge. Again I played it at high intensity, but I didn’t find today to be quite so tiring as yesterday.

EA Sports Active - Day Two Results

I’m a little suspicious about the calorie count in this game. It feels a bit too easy to burn calories. For instance, the calorie counter continues to tick off fairly rapidly even during bicep curls and other anaerobic or minimally aerobic exercises. I feel like it would be best to treat the calorie count as a ballpark, and use it as something like a score rather than hard data. And for those purposes, it works just fine.

I followed the 30 day challenge with a few additional exercises:

Wii Fit Plus

  • Push Up and Side Plank (6 reps)
  • Single Leg Reach (6 reps)
  • Balance Bridge (6 reps)

Push Ups

  • 10 / 16/5

Modified Push Ups

  • 10/13/6/6

Dinner was an array of scrumptious turkey meatballs, broccoli, and roasted fingerling potatoes. Very tasty, and relatively healthy.

Turkey Meatball Dinner - October 11th, 2009

Today I also enjoyed some cupcakes using a recipe suggested by my sister. Basically you just take some store bought cake mix, pour in a can of diet coke, cook, and eat. It couldn’t get much simpler. The cupcakes were pretty good, and still kept me within my calorie goals for the day.

Coke Cupcakes - October 11th, 2009

Day Four: EA Sports Active 30-Day Challenge

Here’s the daily scuttlebutt pertaining to my ample butt. My weight bounced back up by 0.2 pounds. Seems like a blip. I’m not super concerned.

October 10th, 2009 - Wii Fit Plus Weight

Apparently this wasn’t enough of an increase to trigger one of the balance board’s guilt trips. You know, the ones where you must confess all your dietary sins to an anthropomorphic step stool.

I did okay in both the balance and agility challenges. Much to my surprise, this was my Wii Fit Plus age…

Wii Fit Plus Age - October 10th, 2009

I thought I understood how Wii Fit age was calculated, but now all bets are off. I gained weight, managed to stand on the balance ball without falling over, and sat on a few numbers. Based on this criteria, I’m in the best shape of my life. Of course, I don’t consider the Wii Fit age to be a useful indicator of anything. I treat it as a novelty. Still, it is a fickle mistress indeed.

EA Sports Active

After putting it aside for quite awhile, I’ve gone back to EA Sports Active. Upon starting the 30-Day challenge, I got to choose between these two handsome young folks who were vying to be the guide on my fitness odyssey.

Kimmy Gibbler or Barack Obama? Take your pick.

The game doesn't name them, so I call this pair Kimmy Gibbler and Barack Obama.

The trainers are supposed to be inspirational motivators, but they inevitably become the focus of my rage during events like inline skating and alternating side lunges where the game doesn’t seem to be very good at detecting movement.

I actually got the hang of inline skating after awhile (The trick is, don’t jump when it says jump), but the motion detection on the lunges seems wonky. Left lunges take longer to register than right, which throws off your rhythm, and if you wobble at all you can fail the rep. I’m just getting started though, maybe in time I’ll get used to the way that the game wants me to move.

With the workout set to high intensity, this game is a lot more strenuous than a Wii Fit. I was out of breath a few times, and dripping with sweat. In spite of the fact that my thighs were reduced to quivering goo toward the end, I still managed to do pretty well.

EA Sports Active - Day One Results

Hey! what's that crack about walking the track? I was running! Jerk.

To add insult to exhaustion, my avatar looks like Roy Orbison.

EA Sports Active - Me & Roy

Day Three: Lightweights and Ice Capades

Today’s weight difference was less dramatic than yesterday’s. Still around 176 pounds.

Wii Fit Plus Weight October 9th, 2009

I actually find these gradual shifts of fractions of a pound comforting. It seems to me that’s the way it should work. The days where I’m 2-3 pounds up or down are more disconcerting because it feels like the fluctuations are up to random chance or the whim of something I unwittingly did or ate.

The Wii Fit Plus age is still 28. Square in the prime of my pudgy Mii’s life.

October 9th, 2009 - Wii Fit Plus Age

I played 30 minutes of Wii Fit Plus, with most of that time spent in Advanced Obstacle Course. The advanced level introduces conveyer belts and ice. Since the there’s no way to come to a complete stop on the ice, you have to be more conscious of your timing so that you’ll slide to the edge of a platform at just the right time to make a jump to the next.

The conveyer belts speed you up, slow you down, or drag you to the edges of the platform. So you need to take this additional movement into account when dodging the obstacles.

I played four times, getting to the very end of the level on my last attempt but not quite completing it. The pacing and rhythm of the game really feels just like the original NES Mario Bros. games. I found myself missing jumps and cursing at the TV in just the same way (“Oh for f**k’s sake”), and getting the same sense of satisfaction at the end of a difficult sequence.

Today’s Wii Fit Plus session Included:

  • Advanced Obstacle Course (4x)
  • Super Hula Hoop (6 minutes)
  • Bird’s Eye Bullseye (2x)
  • Island Cycling
  • Palm Tree
  • Tree
  • Triangle

In addition to Wii Fit, I also introduced some light weight training. And when I say light, I mean it. Five pounds light!

5 Pound Weights

Why so light? Well, in the past when I’ve started exercise regimens I ramped up to fast too early and ended up hurting myself. Which, of course, discouraged me from exercising. So I’m going to start with these 5 lb. weights and work my way up very gradually using a workout from Daily Burn. So today wasn’t very strenuous, it was primarily to see what I could handle.

Here was today’s workout:

  • Pushups 6/7/9/7
  • Dumbell Flys Flat – 10/10/10
  • Bench Press – 10/10/10/10
  • Stiff-legged dead lift – 10/10/10/10
  • Bent Over Row – 10/10/10/10
  • One Arm Dumbell Row – 20/20/20/20
  • Shrugs – 10/10/10/10

Incidentally, when I first started this project I was kind of parochial about only the Wii to exercise. I’ve since come around to thinking that such a point of view is limiting and self defeating. The Wii is there to make exercise fun and to get me motivated to do what’s best for my body. And there will be cases, like weight training, where the Wii just doesn’t offer anything for me.

Day Two: Further Adventures with Wii Fit Plus

Today’s workout consisted of just over an hour of Wii Fit Plus. Admittedly, I spent more time checking out the new games than I did focusing on strenuous exercise. I worked up a little bit of a sweat, but in total the whole hour felt more like a warm up.

To my surprise, I was down almost 3 pounds today. I hadn’t eaten anything before playing, so I’m guessing that’s the major difference.

Surprisingly immediate results!

Surprisingly immediate results!

Similarly, my Wii Fit Age is down as well. I feel like Plus has changed the way that age is arrived at, because I completely bombed the “mental agility” test, but still ended up a spitely 27.

Please excuse the double faces

Please excuse the double faces

Here are the Wii Fit Plus games that I played:

  • Perfect 10 (3x)
  • Driving Range
  • Obstacle Course (2x)
  • Tilt City (2x)
  • Rhythm Parade
  • Big Top Juggling
  • Table Tilt Plus (3x)
  • Balance Bubble Plus
  • Basic Run Plus

And here are the exercises and Yoga routines. These were chosen from the preset routines, and also by asking the balance board to put together a 15 minute routine in the “My Routines” mode.

  • Basic Step
  • Yoga Chair
  • Rowing Squat
  • Single Leg Extension
  • Advanced Step
  • Standing Knee
  • Plank
  • Sideways Leg Lift
  • Downward Facing Dog
  • Single Leg Twist
  • Lunge
  • Standing Knee
  • Balance Bridge
  • Torso Twists

It would be nice if these routines were more focused on specific areas of the body, and if they rotated from day to day. For instance, if I did a lot of arm exercises one day, I would like the game to recognize that and offer leg or core exercises the next. I don’t think Wii Fit Plus is that intuitive.

Despite being a bit random, the flow from one exercise to the next was much improved over the original Wii Fit.

For food today I’ve had some chicken breast, snap peas, salad, a slice of bread, vanilla yogurt w/ nuts and bran, water, water, and more water, and… a Three Musketeers bar.

When I first started this project earlier this summer I would have been freaking out about the candy bar. Now I’m approaching it with a different perspective. If I try to cut out all the “treats” at once, I’ll just start thinking about them more and resenting the fact that I can’t have them. Then when if I do slip up and have one I’ll say, “To hell with the whole thing” and start overeating.

Instead of doing that, I’m going to focus on eating better overall. And if occasionally I have a nagging craving, I’ll indulge it enough to make it go away, and then let it go. I think that’s going to work out a lot better than the all-or-nothing approach I tried earlier.

Day One – Progress Photo (Before)

I know we’ve already done the before picture. But since we’re rebooting it seemed like a good idea to start off with a new one.

Octoboer 7th 2009 progress (Before)

I think the “t-shirt tucked into cut-off dress slacks swaddling 30 pounds of spare meat” look is going to catch on. This image is my first salvo in a campaign against the fashionistas who claim people should attempt to look, as they say, good.

Is my posture really that bad? Maybe Wii Fit is on to something.

This is the longest pregnancy ever.

179 lbs. today.
36.5″ waist

Day Twelve: Recap – Injured by Wii Fit?

While playing Wii Fit today, I noticed that during some of the activities I was getting a strange tingling sensation in my right forearm. At first I just dismissed it as fleas or some creeping fungus, but then while playing Rhythm Boxing it switched for a tingle to something that felt like a line of hot liquid pressed against my forearm.

This turned out more gruesome than I intended. I only meant to illustrate where I was getting the weird sensation.

This turned out more gruesome than I intended. I only meant to illustrate where I was getting the weird sensation.

I’m not sure if there’s a better way to describe the “hot liquid” phenomenon. It wasn’t pain. It didn’t hurt at all. It just felt like intense heat moving from my wrist down toward my elbow. I found that it was quite severe if I snapped my arm while throwing a punch, but barely noticable if I kept my movements small and controlled.

I can only guess that with the flailing of my arms that’s been going on this week I may have irritated some nerve or bundle of nerves. It’s probably my own fault for my wild out-control-waggles that I’ve been doing to try and make the activities a bit more intense.

My guess is that this minor inconvenience will pass on its own, but just to be on the safe side I think that tomorrow I’ll focus on activities that don’t involve so much snapping and flailing. It’s a shame, because that’s what I do best.

Nutrition Facts:

Total Calories: 1907.5
Calories from Fat: 459
Fat: 50.2 grams
Carbohydrates: 222.55 grams
Fiber 19.95 grams
Protein: 134 grams

Exercise Level (moderate):

Walking    1.8 miles    Easy
Wii Sports – Returning Balls    ?    Easy
Wii Sports – Home Runs    ?    Easy
Wii Sports – Putting    ?    Easy
Wii Sports Fitness    6 minutes (Age 49)    Easy
Wii Sports Tennis    12 minutes (7 games – 7 wins)    Easy
Wii Fit – Push Up & Side Plank (10 reps)    100 points    Moderate
Wii Fit – Push Up & Side Plank (6 reps)    100 points    Difficult
Wii Fit – Single Leg Extension (6 reps)    65 points    Easy
Wii Fit – Single Leg Extension (6 reps)    67 points    Easy
Wii Fit – Torso Twists (6 reps)    89 points    Easy
Wii Fit – Torso Twists (6 reps)    0 points    Easy
Wii Fit – Plank (30 seconds)    42 points    Difficult
Wii Fit – Plank (30 seconds)    15 points    Difficult
Wii Fit – Lunge (15 reps)    100 points    Difficult
Wii Fit – Rhythm Boxing (3 minutes)    321 points    Easy
Wii Fit – Super Hula Hoop (3 minutes)    813 points    Moderate
Wii Fit – Snowboard Slalom (beginner)    1:16.41    Easy
Wii Fit – Snowboard Slalom (beginner)    1:15.25    Easy
Wii Fit – Snowboard Slalom (beginner)    1:07.9    Easy
Wii Fit – Chair Pose    82 points    Easy
Wii Fit – Sun Salutation    78 points    Moderate
Wii Fit – Tree Pose    69 points    Easy
Wii Fit – Warrior Pose    98 points    Easy
Wii Fit – Deep Breathing    86 points    Easy
Wii Fit Total    42 minutes    Moderate

Foods Devoured:

Chicken Super Burrito
Tortilla Chips
Diet Coke
Grande Skinny Vanilla Latte
Water
Water
Chicken Breast
Ciabatta Bread
Broccoli
Quinoa
Water

Today higher repetitions for some of the Wii Fit activities were unlocked. The push ups & side plank as well as the lunges kicked my ass at the higer reps. I also tried the plank, which seems simple enough. But I was shaking the whole time and sure I wasn’t going to be able to hold it the full 30 seconds. In the end I was able to hold it, so I was just being a wuss.

During the plank I found myself putting all my weight on the part of my arm near the elbow, which was just off the edge of the balance board. This caused the board to dig into my arm, which was pretty painful. I may be doing it wrong. I think the weight was meant to be evenly distributed through my forearms. I just didn’t have the strength or control to do it like that. Maybe this pinching is partly responsible for the mystery liquid feeling later on.

Today would have been pretty great on the food front if it hadn’t been for that super burrito. I found myself feeling extremely hungry and craving something very substantial, and the burrito fit the bill. Since the place it came from doesn’t post nutrition facts, there’s no good way of getting data for the thing. So I went online and found a bunch of chicken super burritos, and just picked one that seemed in the ballpark for the nutrition info.

I’ve found that one nice thing about fast food and packaged food, at least as it relates to this project, is the clear labeling either on the product or online. With home cooked stuff you need to keep track of how much of each ingredient is used, and when you’re eating out at a place that is not a chain, you have to guesstimate.

Oh well, so much for precision. The burrito certainly felt like it could be over a thousand calories. It was heavier than some cats and twice as delicious.

May this burrito cleanse your palette and whet your whistle.

May this burrito cleanse your palette and whet your whistle.