A personal training & food journal. Read about our weight loss progress at Train With Ron in Chicago, our nutritional habits and the life changes we're making to get in shape and stay healthy!
November 27thMonika and I stepped it up in advance of the holidays, and did 3 workouts in the last 5 days. Monday I worked with Ron, and it was very tough… I had two other guys in my group who were younger, in better shape, and not as heavy as me… that’s a big factor when you’re doing pushups and pullups, which we did quite a few of. We also did relay “sprints” (I put it in quotes because you could hardly call what I do, “sprinting”) as a threesome… those were pretty brutal. Luckily, we beat our time the 2nd time through, and this saved us from 20 “burpees”, or squat thrusts as we called them when I was back in gym class.
We then did “team pushups” – each of us had to do 100 in two sets of 50… the angle was, when it was your turn, you did the pushup and returned to the down position and held it… utterly brutal and I couldn’t really do all of them.
We wrapped this up with some squats and wall sits… progressively longer and progressively harder. My thighs were screaming… and today, there is still an echo. Not to mention, my shoulders are still sore from the pushups… but we went again today and DB got a hold of us.
It was pretty tough… we had to run 40 yards, do 5 squat thrusts, run 20 yards, go down what amounts to about 5 flights of stairs, back up the stairs, 20 yard run, 5 more squat thrusts, and finish that with a 40 yard run. We had to do this… four times.
That was just the first 20 minutes or so. I won’t give the rest of the details but needless to say, Monika and I are both recuperating.
For Thanksgiving, we are going to eat turkey, stuffing (whole wheat, mushrooms, and apples, of course), Moni’s cranberry sauce (made from scratch, and is excellent), garlic mashed potatoes (guilty pleasure), string bean casserole (we had this when I was a kid, I make it, the only bad thing in it is cream of mushroom soup) and she is making her FAMOUS pumpkin cheesecake pie (no thanksgiving would be complete in our house without that… it is HEAVENLY!!!) So we’re going to live it up a bit tomorrow, but I plan to keep the quantities small.
After Thanksgiving we plan to boost our Training With Ron to 3X a week, and I have an opportunity to get into a hockey league again, which I think I’ll be doing… so that will amount to four active days per week… 4X as many as I used to have!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING everyone!!!!
November 21stDAY 46: 11/21/09
It’s been a while since I wrote, so I’m going to start this entry with the Facebook status that I entered this morning, followed by comments from some of my friends:
Me: “Changed my diet and started working out on October 5th – 45 days ago. I have lost 17 lbs and reduced my body fat % by about 12%, I’ve lost 2 inches off my waistline and best of all I FEEL GREAT!!!”
Paula, Philip, Martha, and 3 others like this.
Lincoln: way to go, Dan!
Dan Arturi: We’re going to be adding a 3rd day to the personal training after Thanksgiving. That should really kick things into high gear. I might be ready to play hockey by end of January… if I can get down to my playing weight by then…
Renee: You’re a rockstar Dan!!!!!!! That’s awesome!!!!
Martha: Great job!!!
Chuck: Trudge Danno! Trudge! Congrats!!
Philip: Good Job Man!!!
Dave: Excellent Dan!
Mike: Holy fitness Batman!!! Dude, that is awesome 
)
Eric: Damn dude! That is awesome. Now if only I could do that.
Paula: Totally Awesome!
You know, it just makes me feel so amazing to have my friends supporting me in this. It’s not easy, it requires some discipline because I was so used to eating a lot of sweets and a ton of processed foods. I didn’t eat a lot of fast food, maybe 2X a month, but I crave it at times. I was telling Monika this morning that I couldn’t do this without her… there are times when I’m working and really hungry and the fruits and nuts just aren’t getting me feeling full, and I want to go to Wendy’s and just say “screw it” for a day… but then I think of her and how hard she’s working too, and I just can’t let her down or cheat.
So, since my last entry, I’ve been working very hard and also I caught the flu, which took me down for about a week. I only missed one workout, but that combined with the weakness of being sick took a heavy toll on my ability to really go at it for the full hour in my workouts at Train With Ron. Today was the first day since getting well, where I got through the full hour without taking a 10 or 15 minute break.
Ron, Matt, and DB have been splitting Monika and I up lately, presumably because Moni is able to do more than I can. She’s doing some more advanced moves now, agility walks with weights, things like that. Today we were together, though, and we had some stair work. This is kind of tough, especially when interlaced with weight training and some jogging.
As far as food is concerned, we have remained very consistent – whole foods only. Moni and I haven’t been eating oatmeal in the morning, my breakfast has been a fruit (apple or banana) this week. Lunches I have done extremely well, even when involved in work functions, at staying with vegetables and salads, with very little dressing, if any. Monika has been cooking very healthfully, as usual, and once per week we go off-roading, but even then we have small portions and keep it to a minimum. No desserts, either. The only liquids I drink anymore are water and my daily cup of coffee.
So when I started, my weight was exactly 275 lbs. and my body fat was a whopping 44% if I remember correctly. Today was day 46… I weighed in at 258 lbs (in sweaty clothes) and body fat of 32.7%. I’ve lost about 2 inches off my waistline and when I put my clothes on in the morning I can see and feel a big difference. I’m not the only one though…
One of my co-workers plays a lot of hockey and anyone who knows me knows I used to play a lot too… I want to get back to it! If I can get down to about 230 or so, I think I could start to skate effectively. The ultimate goal for me is to get down to 200 lbs with 10% body fat. I think that is reasonable and very achievable.
I’d also like to get back into a band and get on stage! That would be awesome, but there is no way I’ll try that until I am comfortable with the way I look. So, my two workout goals will be a) to get back to playing hockey EFFECTIVELY (not dragging my butt around the rink) and b) get comfortable enough with the way I look that I could go on stage and not think twice about how I look up there.
I’ll keep on working on it… thanks for reading!
November 11thThe facts: Nuts are one of the best plant sources of protein. They are rich in fiber, phytonutrients and antioxidants such as Vitamin E and selenium. Nuts are also high in plant sterols and fat – but mostly monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats (omega 3 – the good fats) which have all been shown to lower LDL cholesterol. In 2003 the FDA approved the following for almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts & pecans:
“Scientific evidence suggests but does not prove that eating 1.5 oz per day of most nuts as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease.”
As with anything, moderation is the key. Nuts can be high in calories and fat. They are also very easy to sit and munch on for a long time. So don’t over do it. We keep a bowl of mixed nuts on the counter, but just enough for a snack or two. Our choice of nuts are peanut, almond, cashew and walnut. As we’ve found out our dog Brady likes them as well. Then we have to clean the bowl and add fresh nuts (of course!)
Important to note that the nuts we eat are not salted, roasted or seasoned. They are plain. We buy ours at Whole Foods where they have, what I like to refer to as, the “Wall of Nuts”. You can even make fresh penut butter in a grinder they provide. Very cool! The “Wall of Nuts” has seeds and nuts of all varieties and allows you to take as many or as little as you’d like. I find this helpful when I want to try a new nut or just mix it up.
That’s my speech on nuts and now for an update on my progress, which is going really well by the way. Other than the feeling great part, I have definetly lost size and feel much more toned. Yes, I have a ways to go and I know that, but with a little over a month under my belt, I am on my way. I’m not only on my way to weight loss but on my way to becoming a healthier person who will be able to eat nuts for a long long time.
Going to work out with Ron tonight.
Stay tuned 
November 3rdI’d like to think that I always did well with lunches. For the most part, lunches were light. yes, there were times when I skipped them or delayed until I cracked and ate something because I was starving. Then there were the times when I had Jimmy Johns sandwiches with chips. Lately though I’ve been paying more attention to my body and feed it when it’s time and not when I am starving. I’ve also made different types of lunches. More salads and whole foods.
Recipe:: Boston lettuce, snow peas, green onions, bean sprouts,
mushrooms, tomatoes and carrots with a light Asian sesame garlic dressing.
More healthy recipes coming soon.
November 2ndDan and I enjoyed dinner last night at Carmichaels with an old friend who came into town. Carmichaels is a steak place and that’s pretty much all they have. Yes, they do have fish, but you go for the steak. So we all had steaks. I ordered a plate of steamed asparagus on the side to share and our fiend (who is NOT on a diet) ordered garlic mashed potatoes. After I was done with my steak I did have a scoop of the potatoes and so did Dan. Typically we would have mashed potatoes on the plate first thing and more than what we had last night. What Dan I were really proud of ourselves for was the rejection of the dessert selection. I saw the waiter coming with the tray and I should’ve just stopped him there but maybe our friend wanted something. We let the waiter describe the Coconut cheesecake, the big cookie with ice cream, lava cake and many more and then we politely declined. Now this is where your mind starts working over time. Letting you know ‘it’s OK, you’ve worked hard and you deserve to treat yourself’. It’s amazing the amount of energy the body exudes on just trying to manipulate you to do the wrong thing. We prevailed and walked away feeling good about it.
Saturday we had our 8th session at TWR and with each we feel stronger and leaner. I look forward to posting a new picture of us to share our progress soon. Up until now Dan and I worked out together with the trainer but this past Saturday Dan worked out with Matt and I with DB. I was teamed up with a couple of people more advanced than me so I had to work extra just so i could sort of keep up with them. I can’t let it get me down though because I am still in the beginning stages and they’ve been at it for much longer. If anything, it’s positive motivation.
I look forward to next week when we have Dr. Chiu, a board-certified Chiropractic Neurologist at TWR to talk about healthy diets and what the latest in nutritional and genomic science has to say say about how we can use food not only as fuel, but also as a delicious way to activate the genes that can allow us to burn fat, build muscle, and boost the brain.
