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New weight bench

Originally uploaded by rjaynes

I purchased a new bench and weight set for the house. The bench is a “Keys Fitness ST-IB”, and the weight set is a bundled 300lb package.

The weight set is a 45lb olympic sized bar and the following plates: 45lbs x 2, 35lbs x 2, 25lbs x 2, 10lbs x 2, 5lbs x 4, 2.5lbs x 2

So far it’s been great working out at home. This Thursday the foam gym flooring should arrive and the room will be finished. I’m going to keep building up the equipment as I can. The next thing will probably be dumbbells. I’ll buy a couple each month to finally make up the set. I’ve also been looking at resistance band systems such as Body Lastics.

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Last night I registered for a Bodyspace on bodybuilding.com. My page is http://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com/rjaynes/. I suck at keeping postings to regular internet based things (this blog, facebook, etc.), but hopefully I can turn that around and actually use this. They also offer a “Body Blog” with each account, but I think i’ll keep my postings to this site instead. Stay tuned for updates!

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It seems all I make now are diet updates and posts. This past week I had abulged disc problem (old injury, flared up!). I had to stop going to the gym for the entirety of it, as I could barely walk. The anti-inflammatories I was prescribed did the trick, and today I went riding with Rob on the trace.  We went from the USM Gateway to Clyde Depot and back. It was about 15 miles. The ol’ back was great for the whole ride, and the day was beautiful.

This trip was also my first ride with the new saddle, jersey, and panniers I purchased. The new saddle is one of the lower end San Marco’s (link), but I really like it so far. It’s definitately an upgrade to the stock Schwinn saddle, and the large Bell saddle Bonita got me for Christmas last year. It also happens to be the thinnest saddle i’ve used yet, go figure.

Today was another “start over” days. Last night we had a big chocolate and margarita blow out. It was delicious to say the least, but i’m glad all of the chocolate is out of the house finally :). Today’s food intake has been:

• Breakfast:
  Eggs and Oatmeal (with flax seeds) w/ Orange Juice
• Post Trace Ride:
  Surge recovery drink
• Lunch:
  Turkey Chili with one piece of home-made cornbread
• Afternoon Snack:
  Strawberry protein shake, 3 fish oil caps, 3 fiber caps
• Dinner:
  Rotisserie chicken, brown speckled beans, 1 half corn on the cob

All in all I consider today a good day. Tomorrow i’ll have more protein shakes and hopefully we’ll go out for a walk. We’ve set a “mini” goal for ourselves of February 14th. Our next goal past that is March 11. On March 12th my company is having it’s annual goals and achivements dinner, and we want to make the previous day a goal for us. I promised Bonita a new dress if she makes her personal goal We have to iron out the details of both goals, which I think we’ll do tomorrow.

I’m wanting to start commuting to work on my bike next week. I really enjoy riding, and adding on that extra exercise will be a big plus. I need to get a helmet, front head light, and bike lock and i’ll be set. I don’t necessarily need the bike lock just for going to work as we can store our bikes inside, but anytime I may need to go somewhere i’ll need it.

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So i’ve completely modified the diet. I eat 1-2 solid meals a day, but still 2-3 shakes a day. I’m trying to stay around 1500/1800 calories, and doing pretty good in those ranges. Also, on workout days I’m still using the Surge post workout drink. Last night I went nuts in the gym and it felt great. I’m feel fantastic this morning, even though it’s always hard to get up after a previous nights workout.

For now we’ve hidden our scale. I have to admit I was pretty bad about weighing every day, and not having the scale out in plain site is a relief. I’m going to keep up with my Sunday measurements, but just not weigh for a long while. This is also good for Bonita, she was feeling particularly chained to the thing :).

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Whew, these days were rough. I actually had to eat a solid meal each day. I felt so sick, and the last protein shakes of the day were making me gag.  I just couldn’t force myself to drink it down, I tried! However, I feel fully renewed and am doing it complete again.

Part of this diet is to teach you self control, portion and intake control, and to try and springboard you into healthy eating for fat loss. I’ve relearned to do some of these things, and eating a solid meal every day or every other day that is clean and healthy doesn’t make me feel like i’m going against the diet. After the honeymoon I shot up in weight quickly, and now being back down around 200 lbs has helped re-energize me.

I can continue losing fat now, and stop eating bad

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I’m towards the end of day 3 of the diet. I did choose to have my healthy solid meal today which included baked grouper, a sweet potato, lots of spinach and green beans mixed, and a little sauerkraut (Rob wanted it with his meal, I had just a small portion). Today is rough as far as stomach cramps and feeling run down. I’ve been reading the cramps come from the flax seeds, and I now believe this to be true with me as well.

You really aren’t supposed to weigh every day, but I have been so far. When I started this on the 1st, I weighed 209 lbs. As of this morning I weigh 201. Extreme water weight loss? I’m not sure yet. I do know i’m almost back to my state of vascularity before our cruise. The diet is incredibly healthy, and I think the slight sickness i’m feeling is the transition of sugar burning to fat burning. I’ve also noticed i’m constantly hot, and i’ve read that an increased metabolic state will raise your body tempature.

I need to try and keep at least a small post for every day, it’s helping me to get this out!

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Day 2 has been exponentially harder than day 1. The cravings today are really horrible. Every thing food-related I smell drives me up the wall. Bonita also made rosemary cakes at Rob and Karen’s, so that didn’t help matters! I love her rosemary cakes!!!!

This morning the scaled showed 204.5. I also tried a vanilla shake with fruit punch, sugar free, crystal light in it. Delicious! I’ve noticed some light stomach cramping, not sure what that was from. Overall energy is still pretty good, and I feel a bit shaky. The last shake of the day was Strawberry/Chocolate with Peanut Butter mixed in. It was pretty thick and definitely ended the night well.

(Note: I wrote this post on the 3rd and back dated it to have a more complete journal)

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I suck at posting! I’ve always been horrible at keeping an up to date journal / blog / etc. So we got married in November (woo), and went on the honeymoon cruise this December (woo). The cruise was so much more fun than we anticipated. You can view our pictures on my flickr page.

Lets see… what else… Overall things are going well. Christmas was fun, and thankfully uneventful with how much travelling we did. I am going to start the Velocity Diet January 1st. I’m waiting on my order of supplies and supplements to get here, but i’m starting it as soon as they do (which should be hopefully the 31st). I will be keeping up with weekly stats and photos, and if I can get my butt in gear i’ll keep everything updated on here (on it’s own new page). I’ve been wanting to do this diet for some time, and it’s time I actually did something good for myself.

2008 was a good year in weight loss for me. I actually saw under 200 lbs. for the first time since I was 15 or 16 (10 years!). After the honeymoon I came up in weight but i’ve been working on that. I feel really resolved now, and failure just simply isn’t an option anymore. I’m tired of feeling bloated and nasty, and I simply want to look amazing naked. I will definitely update more when I get everything, as it will help me be more accountable!

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Wow, what a weekend. I believe this best sums up what happened:

camaraderie
–noun, comradeship; good-fellowship.

Rob planned for my bachelor party a trip to San Antonio, TX. The agenda was Six Flags on Saturday, and the Alamo on Sunday before coming home.

My excitement really began when we picked up the rental van on Friday. I was already looking forward to the trip, but once I saw the actual van I knew already what was to be my favorite part: The ride together. There’s a lot to talk about, and to learn about each other, when you’re crammed together for 12 hours at a time.

All in all the actual road trip was uneventful (luckily). We encountered some congested traffic, wrecks, and VERY crazy road conditions both ways. Oh yeah, to the roads in Beaumont, Texas, screw you. Seemingly at times the concrete barriers were squishing you into the other vehicles at interstate speeds.

We arrived at our hotel, The Knights Inn, at roughly 3AM Saturday. After the van and bladders were unloaded, everyone crashed pretty hard. Everyone’s sentiments were “Lets not get up early, and there’s no scheduled plan.” Worked for me. Everyone more (Branden) or less (Rob, Havard, Jake) woke up around 9-9:30AM. Our first event of the day was Denny’s (right across from the hotel); Denny’s is always delicious! Post pancake pandemonium, a short 10-15 minute trip up the road we found ourselves at the gates of the Six Flags Fiesta theme park. We arrived right around noon, and knew right away that coming towards the end of the season was a good plan. We were able to park fairly close in a practically empty parking lot (considering the size of the lot).

Everyone prepaid for their tickets online and we all had ticket print outs. This resulted in a super fast entrance (Also note, there were no entry lines, we walked straight in!). Once we were in the gates, it was on like Donkey Kong, so to speak. I have very little experience with roller coasters and theme parks, so this was a nervous/exciting experience for me. We all agreed we would ride the Goliath as our first coaster. It was also the closest to the entrance. The Goliath is an inverted coaster, meaning that the seat attachment is above your head and your feet are dangling. It’s hard to describe the insanity of the Goliath, but I think it lasts somewhere around 20-30 seconds. Being my first real twisty, turny, upside-downy, coaster, it was a religious experience.

I won’t describe in detail all of the coasters (we have some videos to prove that!), but we hit up almost every single ride in the park. One of the last couple rides we did was the Gully Washer. It’s a water rafting ride that thrashes around concrete walls and wooden, spinning tumblers. Little did we know that toward the end of the ride was a waterfall. About half of us got soaked, the other half was on the lucky side. Since the day wasn’t very hot, there wasn’t much to dry us out except riding more roller coasters!

We stayed until they closed, which was 6PM if I remember correctly. It just occured to me that time had very little meaning for me this weekend. I just didn’t care what was going on of if we got there fast. Leaving the park, we headed back to the rooms for a much needed change of clothes and refreshing before dinner.

At Branden’s suggestion, we ate at Pappadeaux’s restaurant. It’s a seafood/cajun style place with a good atmosphere. The place was very packed, and our wait time was estimate around 1 to 1.5 hours. I think in total we waited a little over an hour. All I can say about this place: phenominal. The food was a flavor orgasm, every single bite. I’m not kidding when I say all 8 of us repeated over and over “That was the best (insert food) i’ve ever eaten!”. It was also great that we all shared food, passed around plates, etc. Everybody got to taste everything. In our eating frenzy, the liquor and beer was almost free flowing. I personally had a pina colada, two long island ice teas (large glasses), and a glass(maybe two?) of red wine. Needless to say I was feeling pretty good.

After dinner we headed to the historic river walk/Alamo area in downtown. What a beautiful place. The alamo at night was beautiful (I tried to take pictures, we’ll see how those come out). On the river walk there are no rails protecting you from the river as you walk around. Granted it’s not a raging river, and I don’t imagine it to be too deep, but it added to whole experience. We walked up one side for a bit, went into a gift store, and then hit up a mexican restuarant. This is where things get fuzzy. Mark ordered one of their large pitchers of frozen Margaritas, and we both proceeded to guzzle the thing. After that we went back to to the river walk, and headed down our original path towards the van. We left the area and headed back to the hotel room.

The next morning we planned to go back to the Alamo for a real tour. It’s amazing being inside a piece of history, and actually getting to touch some of the cannons that were used, the walls, and the artifacts that are out for public display.

On our way back home we stopped at the Ikea in Houston. Also another amazing experience. I can see furnishing my whole house from Ikea

All in all this was one of the most incredible weekends i’ve ever had. I have tons of pictures to upload to my flickr account, which i’ll start working on tonight.

Jake, Mark, Rob, Matthew, Rory, Havard, Branden - You guys are awesome.

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So this morning the scale said 199 lbs. I broke free of the 200’s! Now all I have to do is keep it up and i’ll keep going down in no time. Huzzah clean eating. Huzzah size 34 pants now

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Yesterday I purchased a new Schwinn hybrid/comfort bike. It has 28″/C700 wheels and is a 21 speed. I was initially going to rent a bike for our Longleaf Trace ride yesterday, but decided it’s time to get a bike anyway it’s actually a bit humorous… We went to Target to look at bikes, found that one, brought it home, adjusted the brakes and inflated the tires, and went immediately to the trace. We rode a 23 mile round trip yesterday from the USM Gateway to Epley Station. Later that night I purchased an under-saddle bag, bike multi-tool kit, comfort padded grips, and a wireless bike computer.

More Pictures

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Today is her 29th birthday I love you!

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I sat in the car Monday morning, and went to push the clutch pedal in to start and it just slammed to the floor. Doh! I had to recently bleed the clutch and refill it with fluid (I figured it was leaking somewhere). Yesterday I knew it was out of fluid, which means it’s now a major leak. When the engine was out of the car I rebuilt the slave cylinder, but never touched the master cylinder. I’ve now ordered a new/rebuilt master cylinder for the car, a new slave cylinder hydraulic hose, new clutch pedal (mine wore down and broke off), and a new horn.

While i’m excited about replacing the master cylinder, i’m really most excited about the new horn It’s a high output, high tone, universal replacement horn. Hopefully my car will now sound like all the new cars on the road, and have people actually notice me when I honk.

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It’s been a minute. Lets see, what’s been going on…

1. Last Saturday night we went to New Orleans for Karen’s 21st birthday. It was a ton of fun. We stayed the night at the Best Western on N. Rampart. The location was perfect, as it was just a couple blocks up from Bourbon street, and not close enough to hear all the noise.
2. I started book 3 in the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. This is an excellent series.
3. I’ve lost a good bit of weight the past 6-7 weeks. I was at 221, and a couple days ago I was at 206. This is the lowest I’ve been in almost 10 years. It’s hard to keep on trucking down to 200, I feel comfortable at this level, even though it’s not my goal!
4. Car updates: My car has still been running great. I believe the regulator in the alternator is going out, but then again it is a 21 year old car (with an original alternator I believe). My future plans are now doing a MegaSquirt DIY ECU, with EDIS. I’d also like to get new cams, adjustable cam gears, and possibly independent throttle bodies
5. I got contacts! This is a big change from glasses. It’s taken me a few days to get used to them but I’m really enjoying it.

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I never did follow up, but we got our endorsements! This upcoming Saturday i’m taking the motorcycle with a group of work friends to go dirt/trail riding. I’ll be the only motorcycle in the group (all ATV’s), but it should be a blast. I’m also going today for a contacts appointment, so hopefully I can get the contacts today and not have to worry about the goggles I bought pressing into my glasses.

I tried on the new goggles with the helmet last night, and finally got fed up with my glasses. They have been a minor hinderence over the years:

1. Paintball - The worst. It’s so hard to keep your glasses from fogging up inside a mask.
2. Motorcycle - Just having to take them off, put the helmet on, put them back on (and have the legs smash into the side of your head) is a pain.
3. Sunglasses - I’ve never worn them. I also never found a pair of clip-on style sun glasses I liked.
4. Swimming - I don’t swim with them on, so that means everything 5 feet away from me is blurry. This also goes for snorkeling. You can’t wear glasses and a snorkel mask, but you can buy prescription masks.

I’m happy in the fact that glasses do allow me to see, but it’s time to upgrade!