3-11-21: It has been a long while since I have written about this four month journey that I have yet to finish. Well, here I am at 43 and no better time then now! Lets go back to fall of ‘20 during the pandemic. Flag football was just finishing up. I organized a make shift team of 5th grade kids and dads who were looking for things to do since all sports were cancelled in our community. This was great, running around with the kids on the field feeling like 17 again. This was followed by an upcoming ski season where I help coach on the race team. Wanting to not fail the kids I went into a mini boot camp mid October to Thanksgiving. Workouts consisted of the usual treadmill ( I hate running) and bodyweight exercises. My workout consisted of the following: Lunges, squats, wall sits, leg lifts, crunches, and balance. I threw in treadmill time and the standard bench, and back workouts. I dropped about 10lbs and felt really good heading into ski season. Fast forward about 4 months and ski season is winding down. I could tell I lost all my muscle gains on the top half. The bottom is still holding strong and I just got back from 4 days out at Breckenridge with the family and besides sore legs at the end of the day they were fresh to go the very next morning. Win win for the Jim!! Sitting in the car as we drive back from Colorado to Wisconsin, eating all kinds of crap food, from McDonald’s breakfast to Culver’s for lunch, which is the best. I started to develop a game plan into a two month dash into summer. So the new plan is to go from tomorrow (Friday) to Memorial Day weekend and hit it hard with the weights and the cardio. I love to play golf and have a boat so the dad bod needs to come back out. Stay tuned to see what I can do to transform myself into in a few short months.

10-29-18: Well I happened to fall off the wagon for the last two weeks. No workouts and no hard core dieting. Weighed myself and I’ll be, holding at 218 lbs. I’m down from my last weigh in on 10-16-18. Picture of the scale came out like crap. But I have the Withings smart scale and booyah, saved to my phone. Not impressed with my steps though. Treadmill does not count towards steps. Might have to be next on my list of tech.

So the plan is to work out here for the next three weeks before Thanksgiving hits. If I can drop another 3 lbs I will be ecstatic. I have bow hunting coming up this weekend which is a lot of sitting. Followed by the guns deer season. Lost my hunting land and the plan is to hunt public near where I used to hunt. I will have the hike in and out plus if i get a deer the drag it to the truck for exercise. I am taking my child hood friend for his first time out. Wife noticed that a couple of lbs. came off me. Could say it made her a little…..that is another story.

Today I held steady eating and exercised in the morning. Took my son and i for flu shots after work and ate at my favorite taco joint. Afterwards sat at the high school pool for swimming lessons. Sure enough open lap is right after lessons. To bad is was to late otherwise i might have made my kid wait for me for 1/2 hr.

Diet:

• Breakfast – bagel cream cheese, yogurt, orange juice
• Lunch. – protein shake, banana, gatorade
• Dinner. – 2 carne Asada tacos, chips and salsa, beans
• Snack. – 3 Hershey mini chocolates, string cheese, Margarita

Exercise:

• Treadmill – 35 mins walking

Saturday I golfed a round and drank a few at the bar. Came home and watched the Brewers lose and the Badgers lose too.

Sunday we went to the pumpkin patch. It was a good time. Ran all over the farm and explored. Managed to get stung by a yellow jacket in my palm when were feeding the goats. That sucked big time. Hand swelled up pretty good and itched. We did the corn maze and that was actually about a 30 minute adventure as we checked out the dead ends and meandered our way through. The kids had a blast and it was good to get out for the day. Got home and took 2 Benadryl for the bee sting. It messed me up pretty good. Tried to sleep a little while I watched a movie with Sam. I was irrational and irritable from the medicine. Ate some meatloaf dinner and had to sleep.

Weekend:

Diet Saturday:

• Breakfast – two eggs sausage toast
• Lunch. – Nothing
• Dinner. – cheeseburger on grill, chips
• Snack. – 6 budlights. – 3 October fests.

Diet Sunday:

• Breakfast – cereal, banana, toast and jelly
• Lunch. – Pulled pork sandwich, cold French fries, Pepsi
• Dinner. – meatloaf, mashed potato, gravy, corn

This week I was not feeling up to working out or dieting all that much. I was mindful on the overeating. The lack of quality sleep is what got to me. The house has been exceptionally quite without the dog around. Went to work and flag football was rained out 3 of 4 days.

Weekday

Diet:

• Breakfast: bagel, yogurt, orange juice

• Lunch: subs or protein shakes

• Dinner: whatever

10-8-18: Today we put our dog down. After twelve wonderful years we had to day goodbye. It was an emotional day, after Pete tore his ACL he never quite healed enough to get around and the extra stress ended up being to much for his good leg. He was a great dog. James our oldest had a hard time accepting that he was gone.

Did not work out and had the standard diet items. Ended up losing about a LB this past week.

The week has come and gone and here I am wondering if I did good on my weight or if I had too much lapse on eating and exercise? Either way a the weights were not being thrown around.

Saturday came and the kids and I went to the grocery store and bought fresh donuts. This was their request Friday night and I obliged. Mid morning comes, it was time to start turning over the garage for winter. Working on putting stuff in the shed and storing items in the garage attic for the season. Happened to get all of that done at an early enough time that I worked on my dirt bike. It has needed a kick starter since it was bought 12 years ago. One was procured this summer and installed today. Little bit of gas and oil and viola it fired right up. Rode it down the road a couple of times and around the yard and that was it. It needs to go hop for sale. Do not ride at all and it needs some TLC. Hopped on the other bike afterwards and took a hot lap on the Ducati. Much better feeling riding the Italian stallion. Coat was actually feeling not as snug as usual. Liking the fact the couple of pounds lost is making a subtle difference. Thought about moving the lawn today but the grass is still a little spongy. The wife came out and said something was wrong with our dog. I came in and he was limping pretty bad on a lag. 4 months ago he tore his ACL in the right leg and took him to the vet. At 12 years old the decision was made that we heal naturally and see what happens. His left leg is finally giving out form over compensating for the injury. Which was one of the possible outcomes. He has been a great dog and time caught up. Called the vet and made an appointment for Monday morning.

Tonight my oldest had a birthday party to go to at a friends house. So it is me, Sam and the wife. We asked Sam where he wanted to eat for dinner and he chose Mac’s. So we head out for the evening. The list consists of returning an item and target and checking Costco for a Halloween costume for Sam. We arrive at the big box store and sure as shit. A pair of winter gloves for me and long underwear for the kids wind up in the cart. Over to clothing and we get James a Snyder sweatshirt that he will end up receiving for Christmas while we looked for a fleece jacket for Sam. Found a zip up hoodie for him. Susan throws in a roasted chicken and 2 Mac and cheese meals, a couple of other items and we are done. All of the costumes have been bought up already and Sam is SOL. Until we head to Target. This is not so bad. We look at some toys while Susan is returning an item and Sam get a Flash costume. Then we have to buy some decorations to save $5. 15 minutes later Susan finds something. Now I do not completely understand. The costume is $20 or so. If you spend $30 you get $5 off. We spend over $30 to save the $5. Could have kept it under $30 and not bought the extra crap. Seems like a marketing trap to me…. Mac’s was crap. Waiting along time for some Mac and cheese. I got the Memphis one which is pulled pork and bbq over the Mac and cheese. Susan got the Jalapeño and Sam plain. No one cared for it. Extra calories of crap. We head home and finish watching the Badgers beat up on Nebraska.

Diet:

• Breakfast – 2 Donuts from bakery, orange juice
• Lunch. – Arby’s Gyro, fries, soda
• Dinner. – Mac and cheese

Workout:

N/A

Sunday. Susan takes the kids to Sunday school in the morning. I check the weather, it is overcast and raining to the South. The line of the storm looks as if it will be holding until after lunch. Decision is made and off to the golf course I go. I am shooting very well and about the 5th hole it starts raining. It rains off and on the rest of the nine holes I play. Shot a 53 which is good for me. I think I would have broke into the 40’s if the weather held out. Get home from golf and the Green Bay Packer games starts. I get Fortnite turned on for my oldest and I am 1/2 watching both. The second half of the game I move to the garage and watch the pathetic showing of football the Packers put on. Had a few beers and the kids played on their scooters. Afterwards, the Brewers / Rockies game started and had to watch it on YouTube TV because MLB decided to have it on the MLB Network (lots of complaints). Not very exciting listening to Bob Costas announce a baseball game. Brewers when and move onto the NCLS. Ate chicken pot pie and watched the Sunday night football game with the kids. Had to tell the kids this evening that the dog is getting put down on Monday. It was hard and Sam doesn’t quite understand. Everyone spent some time hanging with the dog for a little bit. Early to bed for everyone.

Diet:

• Breakfast – 2 eggs, hash browns, sausage, toast
• Lunch. – leftover Mac and cheese
• Dinner. – Chicken pot pie
• Snack. – 6 bud lights

Workout:

Nine holes of golf.

This week was a bust. Had a lot going on at work setting up new projects and traveling to Chicago area for job site walkthrough. Bought the guys lunch on Wednesday, pulled pork, potato salad and beans. While this week I do not eat any fast food, I did not make some of the most healthy choices. Mainly I did not work out or skip a meal this week. Everyday was the standard bagel, yogurt and juice. Lunches were tuna subs and dinners were complete meals. Laid off the beer this week which felt good. Thursday night watching the Brewers first playoff game i had 2 Stoli raspberry vodka and diet 7ups. Which were delicious.

Friday 10-5-18. Today I woke up and worked out again. Muscle wise I didn’t loose anything on the bench or triceps. Actually felt good putting up the reps. Lost a little steam and only walked on the treadmill this morning. Thought about running but….yeah walking counts. Looking back at my lapse of working out lately, that week and a half off was because of my knee taking a beating when I ran the week before. I have been dealing with knee soreness for a few years and think there might be a tear in around the kneecap somewhere. The kneecap moves pretty freely in the left knee. If I where a knee brace, the ones with the Velcro straps, it keeps the pain away from a workout. Not running a lot and lack of conditioning is showing my joints what it is like to be old. A little soreness and minor pain is not going to stop me. I have has my knee looked at by my nurse practitioner and she is not referring me yet to a specialist. This is because of the Shitty HMO my wife has us in. Having always had a PPO and am new to the “HMO-we don’t do shit unless your dying” spouses plan. She works for the UW system and it has a top medical hospital. My insurance for work now that I am office instead of in the field sucks too. Just cant believe how shitty of a plan you get and you have to pay in. While I am not taking on this battle and accept that this is how big insurance and pharma work.

After work me and 3 guys from work watched a few innings of the 2nd Brewer playoff game before I had to go. Nice to be able to chat and hangout while not talking shop. Got home in time to watch the last few innings and eat some delivery pizza from the local place. Brewers won! 2-0 and headed to Colorado for games 3-4. Continued drinking a bit while watching the game.

Me and the kids watched Captain America – Winter soldier tonight. It was a good time and retired fairly early. I am on Season 7 of Star Trek the Next Generation. Off and on I have been watching it for the past 3 years on Netflix and only a few episodes are left. I used to watch it every night in high school. It was on after the 10:00 news and was a warm welcome watching something so familiar. Yeah I could watch friends, Seinfeld, or 90210 but I have a little sci-fi in me. Wife came home a little tipsy from the girls night she went on after we ate the pizza. Wanted to talk when she got home but I was already coming down from the alcohol from earlier and was tired.

Diet:

• Breakfast – bagel w/ cream cheese, yogurt, orange juice
• Lunch. – Leftover chili, string cheese, gatorade
• Dinner. – 4 slices of pizza
• Snack. – 8 bud lights.

Workout:

• Bench press – 1 set 12x135lb 3 set 10x 185lb
• Tricep pulldowns – 3 sets 10x55lb
• Ab crunches. – set of 50
• treadmill. – walk 20 mins

So last week was not the best week for the diet. Lost only .5 lb this week and am very surprised that even happened. I am attributing that to not working out in the morning’s and hitting up the Brewer game. Need to focus more and be more disciplined to reach my goal. As everyone has setbacks I am not going to let this end my end goal. Did a monthly evaluation on my body changes and the little weight i have lost has not contributed to any body changes. Will need to work harder to create some toning and definition on the body. Wife thinks that she sees me thinning a little bit but I think she is patronizing me because she can see that I am being more active. I have not told her about blogging my way to the end of 40 yrs old and what it was like making subtles change in my everyday life.

Diet:

• Breakfast – bagel w/ cream cheese, yogurt, orange juice
• Lunch. – Ham and Cheese Sandwich, Gatorade
• Dinner. – Homemade chili and bread
• Snack. – 2 budlights

Exercise:

• None

9-28-18: Friday is here and I am stoked. The wife is out of town for the weekend with some girlfriends for a spa weekend and then off to the Packer game on Sunday. It’s me and the boys tonight and tomorrow morning.

Today was wake up and go to work. Started working on a new project that has to be done before the end of the year and is a logistics nightmare. We are essentially going form ND to TX and hitting 32 locations in-between. I came in early so i could leave around 4:00 to get the kids. I haven’t told them yet but I scored Brewer tickets for tonight’s game against the Detroit Tigers. We get home from pick up and let them know. They of course go wild. We gather our game day items and were off. Traffic was pretty good on the way down until the exit. I would say 10 min delay. We park and go in and. The boys stop at guest services and score some free baseball cards and we head over the kids activity area. They do a sausage race, James runs the base timer, Sam goes down Bernies kid slide, and they both do the radar pitches. Afterwards we find our seats and have hotdogs, cheese fries, and a Pepsi. I have a Coors light. The game was awesome! A lot of excitement at the park. 3 home runs tonight. I get the kids some custard and have another Coors. On the way home both of them fall asleep. We are home by 11:00. I put them down and have another beer while I wind down from the drive home. No workout today but did quite a lot of walking at the stadium.

Diet:

• Breakfast – bagel w/ cream cheese, yogurt, orange juice
• Lunch – tuna sub, Gatorade
• Dinner, hotdog, cheese fries,
• Snack – 2 Coors lights, 2 budlights

Wednesday and Thursday I find myself not working out and carrying out daddy duties. Slept in, worked and went to flag football. Had to take the youngest on Wednesday and the oldest had a game on Thursday.

Wednesday

Diet:

• Breakfast – bagel w/ cream cheese, yogurt, orange juice
• Lunch – protein shake, string cheese
• Dinner – noodles in Alfredo – broccoli bread
• Snack – 4 bud lights

Workout:

• N/A

Thursday

Diet:

• Breakfast – bagel w/ cream cheese, yogurt, orange juice
• Lunch – Protein shake, trail mix, Gatorade
• Dinner – 2 eggs, 4 sausage links, 2 toast