Daily Recap

I didn't go to bed last night, I mean this morning until 3 am.  I had a good first night of gambling I went up, and went up big.  I thought it would be a fantastic week…more on this later.

When I did wake up it was almost 11 am.  I decided my night of sin required a good recovery workout.  I started with a session of Mountiain on the Life Fitness Elliptical.  Starting with a quick warm up for five minutes at level 8, I moved the resistance up to 10 start my actual Mountain.  Mountain normally is twelve 3 minute increases; I ended up doing fourteen, with two speed sprints at the end. 

After my Mountain work I created a recovery workout which I am going to call "Fat Guy Gone Bad".  I will use this as a barometer of my fitness progress.  It is similar to a Metcon workout broken up into parts doing different exercises and done for multiple rounds.  I did nine exercises for 5 rounds with only 15-30 second brakes at the end of each round.

 Each round is broken up as follows:

            20 Overhead Medicine Ball Throw downs

           20 Side twist Medicine Ball Throw downs

           20 American Kettle bell swings

            20 One handed Kettle bell swings

            25 Resistance Ball Crunches holding a 12 lbs weight overhead

            10 Push Ups

            15 Body Weight Squats

            10 Body Weight Back Rows

            1 minute treadmill sprint

Now that I see it on the page I think I need to add a 10th item for good measure, perhaps another abdominal exercise or some type of Olympic press to push the cardiovascular part of it more.  I was surprised to find myself feeling pretty good at the end.  I didn't have a watch so I wasn't able to measure how much time I used.  During the next week of recovery in about a month I will use this series again. 

Ian told me last week that when I take a week of rest it should be a period of active rest.  He told me that the activity would help move blood through my body and that as long as the level of activity wasn't strenuous it should actually help maintain my performance, further he did tell me that I should not take off more than three consecutive days in a row.  I’m sure if I’ve fucked this up he will let me know, and you all will read it.

Weight Loss Competition Results

So tomorrow morning I am going to get in another workout and probably not go to Crossfit on Friday. If I don’t get a workout in I will go to Crossfit or go box Friday, in any case I'll pick up my activity again this Monday. 

So this last week I gained 3 lbs, Dwayne stayed the same and Kent lost weight.  Sherri is in Europe so she doesn't have access to a scale while traveling.  After three weeks of competition I am leading by winning two weeks, with Kent not to far behind with his first win this last week.  Dwayne and Sherri are sitting with big fat "0" in their win columns. 

It is time to step it up bitches.

I have a feeling Kent will tie me with another win this week; hopefully Dwayne won't be too far behind him.  Going into next week don't expect anything else but seeing my ass as I pass you all for three more weeks.

Yes all you will see is large hairy Asian ass…

Day 2 Atlantic City WTF? Lesson in self control

I stated earlier I did really well my first night at the Casinos.  My second day and night were not so good.  While ultimately I barely stayed above water I found myself lost in a strange emotional place.  It was disconcerting because on more than one occasion my intuition was telling me to back away from the tables and take a time out to recover mentally, yet I didn’t. 

On two separate occasions I found myself in that weird place that you end up in when you are losing.  You start to double your bets or bet bigger to recover your losses.  I am for the most part a controlled gambler because gambling is purely for entertainment purposes so overall while I enjoy the feeling of winning I am normally not riding the emotional roller coaster of the ups and downs of gaming.  This allows me to step away when I need to step away.  Just one second away from a cold table or deck of cards is like taking a bath in a tub full of ice, yet when you are in this mired mindset you feel like if you get up you will miss the big hand that gets you back to were you where.

This is a feeling I've never experienced before.  It was also strange how this translated into my eating this evening.  For breakfast I had an omelet I made yesterday and brought with me to the Borgata, for lunch I ended up having Thursday morning’s omelet because the chicken I prepared wasn't cooked all the way through. 

In the afternoon I had some fruit and not much more, so when we got to the Waterfront Buffet at Harrah’s I was really hungry and in a bad emotional state.  This was the first time I had been to the buffet at Harrah's it's actually significantly better than the one at the Borgata.  I approached my meal at this place almost like the way I was gambling.  I was making up for either losses of calories from the day or cravings from 4 months of eating healthy. 

I did choose to get a bowl of greens, broccoli, mushrooms, and artichoke hearts.  The only issue was that I also got way too much tasty meat, and a bowl of Mongolian Sautéed veggies and beef.  I should have taken a picture; because this is the most amount of food I've put down in front of me since March.  It looked as if I hadn’t eaten in weeks, and I was now going to be executed consuming my last meal. 

If I had just taken a second to step away from the table I'm sure I would have slowed down and eaten less.  The funny thing was that when I looked at all the food there I said to myself that’s a lot of food there’s no way I’m going to finish it all.  I finished most if it.  I’m not sure about the calories I consumed but I felt really uncomfortable after the meal, it was the bad kind of post gorging uncomfortable where you find yourself adjusting, fidgeting, and burping to create a sense of relief. 

I’m not sure what’s happened to me in the last couple of days, but I feel on the one hand my body is prepared for work next week, yet my mind has taken a step in the wrong direction.  I realize I am not a robot yet it's frustrating knowing that I am human and that no matter how much progress I make I will fall backwards and that I will invent new ways to create obstacles to make success more difficult, maybe it's like an old car when you start fixing one thing it breaks another. 

Now that I am aware of this strange phenomenon I almost want another trip to a casino to be tested again.  I’m sure the connection I’m making isn’t wholly accurate but I believe the impetuous nature that caused me to act irrationally at the table, is the same place that my impulsive gorging comes from, it’s a subconscious behavior which needs to be fixed.  

As for the rest of my time here I am done, no more table games or slot machines for this guy.  Thank God for the iPad2 without which I would be angry about losing everything I won and then some. 

When it comes to my meals away from the safety of my routine I need to make sure that I can take a mental step back, and choose not only the right types of food but the right amounts.  Another lesson learned in the most improbably place.