Mostly Game

Got this link from a friend and it is a chock full of life-saving information. It is from the blog of Mario Vittone, a marine safety expert for the Coast Guard. I recommend everyone read it, including parents.

Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning

Man, this blog has been badly neglected the last few months. I actually feel like getting back to it, but my free time is eaten up with a lot of World Cup soccer right now, and various summer activities. Okay, July 12th I’ll get back on the wagon!

• Jan 2010 = 196.5
• Mar 2010 = 194.5
• Apr 2010 = 190.5
• May 2010 = 193.0
• June 2010 = 193.0

Not so good on the weigh-in this month, and I was expecting that. We had a stretch of nice weather with lots of cookouts and eating out, and I’ve discovered I always overeat when we have a cookout. The problem (for me) is that I want to eat everything: a hot dog, a brat, a burger, every side dish. I really need to quit that.

• Jan 2010 = 196.5
• Mar 2010 = 194.5
• Apr 2010 = 190.5
• May 2010 = 193.0

I have been pretty spotty on the exercise (running and pushups) but I feel we’ve made some solid progress on improving our diet. I’m putting tons more veggies in everything I cook (my chili this month was outstanding, if I do say so myself, with yellow bell pepper, onion and shaved carrot that practically dissolved after simmering). I’ve also started logging my food intake on SparkPeople.

Both Wii Fit and the bathroom scale are showing me with a good weight loss in the last 35 days.

• Jan 2010 = 196.5
• Mar 2010 = 194.5
• Apr 2010 = 190.5

Sweet! I’ll be rocking if I can keep up 2-4 pound monthly loss for the rest of the year.

Phew, my posting has been sucking hind teat this year. I’ve been meaning to get back to it, really I have.

Anyhoo, weighed in at the end of February and was surprised to see I was down a couple pounds. We’ve been making an effort to eat more veggies, which is going really well — it just sucks doing dishes a lot more because we’re cooking at home more, but that’s a good problem to have. We’ve also decided to start cutting high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) from our diet, especially in products the kids consume. I’ve actually started using the Wii Fit for some daily exercise, although that is far from a habit yet.  I went running once when the weather warmed up, then we’ve had a few weeks of illness in household that put a damper on things.

• Jan 2010 = 196.5
• Mar 2010 = 194.5

I need to get a habit going for both exercise and blogging. I think my eating is under decent control, if I could just get the exercise going along with it.

Well, finally got around to my official year-end weigh-in. Actually, I stuffed myself so much at Christmas and New Years Eve that I was afraid to weigh right away, haha. Anyway…

• Jan 2009 = 197.5
• 2009 Goal = 180.0
• Jan 2010 = 196.5

So, officially down one whopping pound for the year, which is almost progress toward my goal. Over in the half-full end of the glass, though, I didn’t gain back any weight, which means I’ve been sub-200 for two years now, yay. I think I’m still aiming for 180 pounds, and I don’t think 1-1.5 pounds per month is at all unreasonable; I just need to actually get with it on the exercise.

• Jan = 197.5
• Feb = 194.0
• Mar = 193.0
• Apr = 192.0
• May = 196.0
• June = 196.0
• July = 193.5
• August = 195.0
• September = 196.0
• October = 198.0
• November = 196.5
• 2009 Goal = 180.0

Well, holding steady at the end of the year again. I actually didn’t weigh till last week, so I’m behind on that — I won’t weigh at the start of December and will just have the final end-of-year weigh-in after New Year. I feel like I’m back in control of the eating and I’m running and doing push-ups a couple times a week, so I’ve got a modicum of exercise going on now. Maybe I can step it up for the next 6 weeks and make it to at least 190.

I’ve been eying the Couch-to-5K program for a while now. A friend on Facebook is doing it, and now Brian V. has challenged me to completing the program. Well, actually he wanted someone else to do it with him, and he guarantees my participation by making it a challenge. Apparently, I’m competitive or something.

We’re building in some repeat time. The program, originated at CoolRunning.com, is a 9 week regimen but we’re setting our deadline as Sunday, January 10th, 2010. It is a pass/fail challenge — we don’t really want to do a footrace — with the sole criterion being able to do 3 miles in 30 minutes. Not terribly difficult, I don’t think, if one just jogs regularly.

We haven’t discussed the stakes yet, but based on past challenges, it will probably be a game for the winner if one of us can’t meet the goal.

I did W1D1 today. Lessons learned:

• Don’t eat at the pizza buffet just 15 minutes before starting the exercise.
• Don’t start the exercise less than 40 minutes before you have to go pick up your kid from preschool.
• If the weather is cold-ish and you like it, it will be even colder once you start running — wear a hat and gloves, dumbarse.

Or, as I am famed for saying in my local gaming group: Dammit, I did that wrong.

Yeah, I’ve got a gimp wrist right now. Carpal tunnel or RSI or whatever… it’s my own fault. I’ve been writing a lot of documentation and reports the last couple weeks at work, plus I’ve been typing like a mad man on game design. It’s not just a matter of over-doing it, though, I think it’s also when I don’t sit properly and/or type with the laptop in an awkward position.

Now my wrist hurts quite a bit. I’m sitting with my forearms flat on the table so I don’t have my wrist at a funny angle (”It was at a funny angle!”), and I’ve been dosing up on ibuprofen and staying away from the Xbox. I just can’t stop working on game design, though. I might have to type one-handed for a while, or maybe switch to a notebook while working early stuff.

Ugh, so annoying.

• Jan = 197.5
• Feb = 194.0
• Mar = 193.0
• Apr = 192.0
• May = 196.0
• June = 196.0
• July = 193.5
• August = 195.0
• September = 196.0
• 2009 Goal = 180.0

I don’t think I’m going to make much progress until I start exercising regularly. I know I ate “heavy” this month, although I’ve been sticking with my pushups. Maybe I gained a pound of muscle? lol