Issues

The 2 biggest issues I have right now are time and nutrition. If I was single and childless, I wouldn't have the same time issues. I'm sure there would be other problems, but that's for another day. I'm having a hard time finding guilt-free time to work out. I don't do anything well in the morning, so my natural time to work out is in the evening. It seems like 8 or 9 O' clock is when my energy level is the highest. The problem is, after being home with the kids alone for a couple of hours, Kary is ready for a little help when I get home from work. Perfectly understandable, because I feel the same way when she's been working and I've been at home with the kids. I don't really have time at lunch to fit in 45 minutes to an hour of cardio, so it looks like my best bet is to get my ass out of bed and work out before going to work. If I can plan my workouts right, I may only have to do this a few days a week. Instead of taking either Saturday or Sunday off each week, maybe I can schedule a couple of days off during the week. Once summer rolls around, I'm hoping Kary and the kids can go to the track with me, and that may solve the whole issue.

The biggest problem I am having right now is diet. Right now I am eating anything, and a lot of it. I'm not looking to go on a diet, because that is a temporary solution. What is the point of living if you can't have any carbs?? I'm looking for a more sensible, permanent solution. Daylen suggested the ABS diet from Men's Health today, and from what I've seen, it sounds like a very common sense plan. I need to take a look at the bookstore and make sure I have all the details, but in the meantime, I'm just trying to do the things I know I should be doing. I need to drink more water and less pop. I probably drink 500-1000 calories a day. If I drink soda, it needs to be diet. I definitely need to eat more fruits and vegetables. The bottom line is that I just need to eat less, and what I do eat needs to be quality. A lot of my food problems are mental, though. For some reason, I hate to be hungry. At the first sign of hunger, I always seem to be gorging myself. I eat when I'm bored, tired, stressed, etc., etc. I'm hoping that eating smaller meals more frequently will help curb that a little bit.
On a related note, at work Monday, we are starting a new weight loss challenge. Everybody puts in 20 bucks and weighs in, and then everyone who loses 8% of their body weight in 8 weeks splits the pot. Seems like perfect timing. Fully clothed at work (luckily for everyone involved), I weighed 254 today, so 8% means I need to get down to around 234. That would be a good start towards getting to where I need to be. I'm hoping my buddy Chad will get involved also, but I'm not sure it is going to happen. It would be nice to have someone to struggle along with! Since he can't figure out how to answer his new phone, I'm not sure how Aaron's training is going. Speaking of Aaron, if you want to see picture of another weight loss success story, check out Aaron's blog at AaronHambysWorld.blogspot.com. He has some really cool pictures of OU offensive lineman Duke Robinson. Man, a year working out with Schmitty seems to do a body pretty good. I can't imagine what kind of hell he must have gone through!

As for me, no working out today, but I did do some pretty good grocery shopping, so there is no excuse for not eating well this weekend. I'm hoping to get in 3 or 4 days straight exercising, whether it is biking or walking. Hopefully I can get this problem in my back straightened out in the next day or 2. It doesn't affect my walking much, but it still hurts like hell when I turn my head. Oh well, I guess that is the price you pay to be an elite athlete, huh? Maybe I'll mention it to my sponsors....