As of last night, I no longer host the Wednesday pub quiz at the Uptown Tavern and Rooftop. Now, that isn't because I got fired or anything, I just had too much going on with nightly activities Monday-Thursday and I needed one of those nights back. So, I decided to let one of the new hires take over that quiz, and from now on I'll have some flexibility during my week day evenings (I expect to spend them mostly at home trying to relax a little.)
Now, I did not host the quiz last night, but I was required to be there to make sure that armageddon didn't come on the new guy's first night.* After a bit of a rocky start, we got the quiz going and I was able to enjoy the REAL Wednesday night draw, all you can eat crab legs.
*Funny thing is, it did come. Last night around 6:45, the power went out for four square blocks of uptown and we were all sitting there in the dark. There were a ton of people there just for the pub quiz, so the new guy was about to just yell out the questions from the middle of the bar and do the whole quiz by candle light (which would have actually been pretty rad.) Luckily, after scrambling around trying to figure out what to do for an hour and fifteen minutes, the lights came back on and we were able to commence the quiz as planned.
I love crab legs, and being that they are pure protein, they are completely ok under the diet. True, the practice of dipping crab legs in melted butter has some... adverse health effects... but I limited my butter intake and instead chose to focus my energy on the heavenly crustacean. In order to bring my order more in line with my diet, I also chose to forgo the choice of potato in favor of garlic green beans. In the end, I probably laid waste to about 4 whole crabs worth of legs.
Seen here: about half of the devastation
Luckily, because of this plan I'm on, I was able to consume an ungodly amount completely guilt free. You know, sometimes this dieting business isn't half bad...
For those of you that don't know (man, I sure start out a lot of posts like that, don't I? Jiminy Christmas, I'm getting boring. Let me start over with a new intro.)
To Whom It May Concern: I have been playing racquetball for a long time. I can still remember the first time I ever played. I was a freshman in college at Miami University and a guy I knew from the mock trial team took me to the Rec center on campus to teach me the game. He was a very nice guy, though, looking back now, not a very good player. Still, he knew the rules, so he whipped me. Unfortunately, this little session occurred on one of the last days before the spring semester ended, so I went home with only the one experience on the court, having not yet been bitten by the racquetball bug.
My next year of college, by coincidence, I lived right next door to the auxiliary racquetball courts on campus. While the facility right next to me was not the pristine, recently built complex that I had learned the game in, this dungeon of a building provided courts that were only 30 steps from my front door. True, I didn't get a chance to check out the girls walking by in their exercise attire, which is regrettable, but I was able to waltz onto a court anytime I wanted and hold it forever.
Yeah, I got hooked. There was a period where I played EVERY DAY for a month. One day, I played for 6 straight hours. I would come home exhausted but I got into extremely good shape (for me) and eventually I got pretty good.
You see, racquetball offered something that I hadn't found up until that point. An even playing field. Growing up fat, it always meant that I couldn't run as fast, or for as long, as most of my friends. Obviously, this puts a guy at a disadvantage when it comes to competing in sports. In racquetball, everything is condensed to a small court, so if you're good, there isn't that much running. Additionally, even if you do have to run, you don't have to run for that long.
In any case, I kept with it well into law school. I joined the St. Thomas Racquetball Club when I was there and was playing twice a week. Obviously, since I stop attending the school, my availability has diminished a bit. 2 months ago, I played in my first tournament in about 2 years (Where I got my ass handed to me with impunity.) On Saturday, I played in another tournament.
Get your game face on?
Overall, I did alright. I lost my first match (to the eventual champion) and I won my next two. After that, I was drained, but I still tried to go another round. I lost the first game of the match 13-15, then started the second game. I found that I was so tired, if a ball was more than 3 feet away from me I wouldn't move to get it. After seeing how lazy I had gotten, I decided to stick a fork in myself and concede the match.
It was an exhausting day, but a fun one. Luckily, it was my cheat day, so I got to hang out and eat all the most amazing food possible immediately after my matches with 0% guilt. Man, I gotta start doing this every week.
Lately, I've been really slacking off, and that is bad. Allowing my schedule to serve as an excuse for "falling off the wagon" so to speak. Don't get me wrong, I've still been doing better than I was before I made the decision to get healthier. I haven't been eating turbo crap every day, and I've been doing a tiny bit of exercise here and there. Still, I haven't been as committed as I was in that first two week period.
I suppose it's because I did so well in that first two weeks that I told myself "don't worry, Nick. You are doing great! You can slow down a bit, not take it as seriously and still lose weight. You just won't do it as fast, that's not that bad." The problem is, I have still been losing weight, but I haven't been dedicating myself to the lifestyle change that I originally set out for.
I've been skipping breakfast because I forget. Eating things that I shouldn't when it isn't my cheat day, allowing my cheat day (usually Saturdays) to drift into the night before and generally falling back into bad habits. Because I haven't had time to go to the gym, where I have access to the scale and the measuring tape, I haven't been taking the metrics I need to track my progress correctly. Because I haven't been tracking my progress enough, I feel like I can slack on new healthy lifestyle way of life.
In the last couple of days, I've been getting signs from the universe that I need to recommit myself. Some of those signs have been coming from my friends and family telling me to keep my blog up to date (once again, I very much appreciate how much you all care about me, even if I act like a brat initially when I am called out.) Some signs I've been getting are less personal, and they make me believe that we recieve signs from the universe all the time if we just listen closely enough.
For those of you that don't know, I listen to a lot of podcasts. I have an audio jack in my car, and a long commute to and from work everyday. Of course, I could listen to the radio and hear that new Mackelmore song 50 times a week
Don't get me wrong, that song kicks ass, I just prefer to hear the uncensored version at my pleasure on youtube.
Check it out.
Instead, I choose to listen to a lot of podcasts. It's easier for me to pass the time in my car listening to interesting conversation than the same eight 4 minute pop songs ad nausium. In general, I like sports and comedy podcasts. Some of my favorites are The B.S. Report, The Savage Lovecast, Sklarbro Country, Doug Loves Movies, The Nerdist, WTF, You Made It Weird, and Stuff You Should Know. I know, I've probably lost some of you wondering, how this relates to weight loss in any way shape or form. Don't worry, I'm getting there.
As I've discussed before, one of the big motivational factors for me starting this whole thing (other than my own repugnance) was getting my copy of the book "the Four Hour Body" by Tim Ferriss. Essentially, the book laid out a diet I felt I could follow, gave me ideas for motivating myself and gave my some tips I could use to speed up the process. Before I read that book, I had always heard that it was impossible to lose more than 2 pounds per month and stay healthy. This book challenged that idea and told stories of people who lost up to 20 pounds per month just by following a few simple tips. Yeah, it sounded to good to be true, but it has been working for me. So when I am waning in my motivation, who should appear as a guest on the WTF podcast but Tim fucking Ferriss. That along with all my friends giving me shit for not posting was almost all the kick in the ass I needed to get back on track.
Then, just as the thoughts were percolating in my brain, I listened to this week's You Made It Weird episode with Joel McHale. For those of you unfamiliar with Joel McHale, he is a comedian who is one of thestars of the show Community and the host of E's the Soup. He is also known for having the exact body type I would want if I could choose that kind of thing.
Ok, so a big part of it for me is that I wish I could pull off all the suits and skinny ties that dude wear. I love the guy's style.
In any case, Joel discussed his diet on the show and apparently he follows the same Slow Carb diet recommended by Tim Ferriss. Of course, learning that one of my style icons has some of the same plan for keeping his body in shape as I do helped me to get back on the plan. I know that I will never have his body type (I'm too short and too broad, even if I weren't overweight) but it's good to see the general type of results one can attain from following the plan. Consider me back on the wagon.
I know, I know. I've been awful about blogging lately. The fact is, I let me busy schedule become an excuse. Luckily for me, I've got great friends who have done exactly what I asked of them. they gave me shit for being a lazy bum.
So I will be recommitting myself to posting and keeping you all abreast of my progress. Stay tuned!
Upcoming posts will include:
-My experiences at a raquetball tournament on Saturday
- My expeirences at all you can eat crab night (on diet, son.)
- Tim Ferriss' appearance on the WTF podcast
-and of course, a fitness update (I haven't done a full one yet because I don't have the measuring tape or a scale at home and I haven't been able to get to cross fit. That said, my weight, at least, is still going in the right direction.)
My week seems to always be jam packed these days! First of all, as I discussed in the last post, I picked up a new job Mondays and Wednesdays hosting trivia. On Tuesdays, I participate in pub trivia with my regular team (this, by the way, is how I got the job in the first place.) In two days, my regular Thursday night bowling league starts back up. Obviously, this leaves my old plan of exercising after work a little undoable. Obviously, this puts my weight loss goals back a bit.
So I've been trying to exercise at home. For example, before I eat dinner I always try to do some push-ups (about 20) and air-squats. Allegedly, this helps put the body into gear for using rather than storing the calories it is about to consume.
Also, sometimes on the weekends, I like to just kick it and watch DVDs or play video games. I've been doing a set of my work out between each game (so about 1 set every twenty minutes) and probably 2 or 3 sets for each hour of TV I watch. So far here is what I've been doing:
-10 push-ups
-30 sit ups
- 25 15 lbs bicep curs
-20 air squats
Obviously, this doesn't work out the whole body, but I figure it is better than nothing. So I'm looking for suggestions here. Are there any other great quick exercises i can add to these standards?
As many of you know, I am a quiz master for the exceptional company Geeks Who Drink. This week, I will be starting up regular, weekly quizzes at two new locations: The Aster Cafe and The Uptown Tavern and Rooftop. Now, being a quiz master is certainly not going to make me rich, it is a job that I do mostly for fun. However, one of the big perks of the job is that I get my bar tab paid for when I host a gig. Being both poor and thrifty, I'm planning on using this as a good chance to get some meals paid for.
The problem, of course, is that I need to find things on the menu that are delicious AND fit my diet. Unfortunately, I can't drink beer, so that is right out. After spending a little time looking at the menus for both locations, I've made some predictions about what I will be enjoying on a weekly basis. On Mondays, at the Aster Cafe, I will probably have the Braised Short Rib Stew with Truffle Butter, washed down with a cocktail (right now, the Gin Et Jus #99, which is gin with berries tea and home made lemonade sounds amazing.) Wednesdays are looking to be Chicken Ceasar Salad days (or possibly wings, if I am feeling saucy) washed down with a diet Gin and Tonic.
One of the key elements of the diet I am using is that one must consume a high protein breakfast soon after waking. The idea is, you get your system working to process fuel and build muscle quickly, thus speeding up your metabolism for more of the day and burning more fat. Of course, when one hits the snooze button to get the extra sleep until the exact moment they must get up and shower before leaving for work, this virtuous breakfast goal is hard to attain.
Last night, in preparation for today's meals, I made a big batch of salted edamame. Edamame is a delicious soy bean served in the pod, usually with some coarse salt sprinkled over it. It is delicious. The problem, in this case, was that in my haste to rush out the door, I forgot to take the tupperware container filled with my high protein green treat!
So what is a boy to do? Well, luckily, my office is very close to a grocery store. This means I could grab something quickly before work, if only I could find something that fits the criteria. Unfortunately, more things that can be obtained from a grocery store and eaten without first being prepared with pots and pans are a no-no on this diet of mine. So eventually, I went with a combination I have never had before in my life: Cottage cheese and raw cashews.
While dairy in general is not allowed on this diet, Mr. Ferriss does say that cottage cheese is begrudgingly allowed for breakfast (hey, at this point, I'll take what I can get.) Nuts in general are a big draw, especially if they are served raw. Now, I hate most raw nuts in general. Some nuts, like the lowly almond, are nothing without their delicious roasting oils and the crunch that comes therefrom. However, the cashew has been called the King of Nuts (by me) and can be relied upon to pack a flavor wallop even sans oils.
The breakfast was not the best thing I've ever had, but in a pinch, not a bad option.
