(Day 291 / -132 lbs.) Speedy Recovery

Feelin' good, feelin' fine and why not? Started my day with some exercise and my regular smoothie and that nasty evacuation business is behind me (no pun intended). All that and I'm down another pound- wahoo!

I added another set and another 5 pounds to my workout. It's a little more of a grunt but when I max-out-plus-5lbs on the biceps-curl machine I feel really strong. This brings up a change in strategy that I'd like to explore.

I've used weight lifting throughout the entire 291 days to help burn calories and promote weight loss and it's worked pretty well. The thing is, what I've managed to do is mainly shrink in most of the places I've been measuring. That is, I'm just a more compact version of what I looked like when I started. People have always told me that I carried my weight well- which I took as a polite way of saying that I looked like a giant Shrek-like freak. I've been kind of like the Michelin Man- going through a period of deflation. Now that I'm getting closer to goal I'd like more definition than merely form.

Logic tells me that less body fat shows more muscle definition. I've been lifting as much weight per rep as I was physically able (plus a little) since I started this journey. What I'm told and what I've read leads me to believe that this type of training helps increase muscle mass and strength- which is cool but may not reduce fat as quickly as a lighter-weights-more-reps strategy would. My thinking is that's the strategy I want to adopt for the next 90 days. Onward and upward.

Today's smoothie was my typical recipe: banana, berry, protein, flax. You can look at prior entries for the recipe and nutrition info. This reminds me of something else I read just the other day. I read that you should limit your menu to just a few simple items and never stray. Variety, it seems, may be the spice of life but can sabotage your diet.

If achieving goals is all about focus, determination, and tenacity, limiting your intake to a focused, repeatable menu sounds productive. Looking back over what I've been eating I think I may have been doing this to a degree already and I haven't felt deprived. I guess there were times when I felt "tired of eating the same old thing" but perhaps that's just because I temporarily moved my focus to the food rather than my goals. I think I may of done that a little too much throughout much of my life; focusing on the food rather than what was truly important. I mean, every family gathering I can remember was centered around a meal. The focus should have been on enjoying each other's company. Most of the business meetings I've attended have either been stocked with pastries, catered or at a restaurant. Food has always been either at the focus or part of the environment of every gathering I can remember. How the hell did I get so fat?

OK, back to business. I'll ramp things up a little- these last 90 days are going to go by quickly.