Feb 21

Feb 21 Gearing Up...Weekly Weight Update

Before I get started I wanted to share a cute picture. You all already know that every Sunday I make pancakes for the family. If that isn't cute enough (I know, I'm adorable), Rizzo bought Cece a stool so Cece could start learning about stuff in the kitchen and learn to help out. Last Sunday I pulled out the stool and I was teaching Cece how to make pancakes. I love this picture and I'm taking this moment to be a proud Dad. I can do that because it's my blog and I can do what I want. I dare you to look at this picture and not think that it is cute.

One day she will be making the pancakes for me.

This was the last week of freedom before every accountant's hell begins. That's right, on Monday the dreaded "tax season" begins so I had to take advantage of the time as much as possible. "How did you to that?" I can hear you thinking because I have magical powers that allow me to read your thoughts. (1) Really took to heart my "afternoon constitutional"; (2) moved around my workout schedule to make time for Rizzo's birthday; and (3) took advantage of a nice little Saturday.

Afternoon Constitutional

I thought my reflection during my walk made for a cool picture. I was mistaken.

According to urbandictionary.com (which is my primary source of obtaining definitions of words and phrases), a constitutional is defined as a bowel movement, poo, dump, or crap. This is exactly the reason I chose to call my (at-least) daily walk I take around the neighborhood near my office a constitutional. Why wouldn't that be amusing? It's also amusing because people haven't referred to taking a walk as a constitutional since Lincoln ran for his second term.

I've made it a point to get out of the office at least once a day, if not twice, and take a quick stroll around the block where my office is located. I work in an industry where it isn't at all uncommon to spend 9-10 straight hours sitting in front of a computer screen without so much as getting up to go to the bathroom. I'm pretty sure that such a sedentary lifestyle will not only cause blood clots to rush to my eyeballs to prevent me from staring at another number. I've heard rumor that sitting for some many consecutive hours can literally make men shorter, fatter, balder, and shrink their penis size. Ladies, don't think you are immune from these side effects. Studies have shown that women who work at a computer for longer than 8 hours straight will also become shorter, fatter, balder, and shrink their penis size.

Not wanting to become a statistic I made sure to get into my daily routine of a walk. It isn't a strenuous walk so I'm not going to be shedding tons of weight because I go outside for 10 minutes a day. This is just a way to let my eyes refocus, to allow a ray of sunshine to hit my already pale skin, breath in some fresh (i.e. car exhaust filled) air, and get away from the computer for a few minutes.

Rizzo's Birthday

I have no pictures of Rizzo's birthday. None. I'm clearly a terrible husband in this case but you should cut me some slack. Not only did I move around my workout schedule a whole day (yes, I went running on Wednesday instead of Tuesday) so we could hang out, I gave her the pleasure of picking up her own sushi from the restaurant. I'm such a good husband that I didn't even get her a cake for her birthday. Name me one other spouse that would go through that kind of trouble? Cece did get Rizzo a lovely gift of a gardening set so the two of them can take up gardening in the spring.

If you are keeping score for Rizzo's birthda I (1) made Rizzo pick up her own dinner, (2) didn't get her a cake or any kind of dessert for that matter, and (3) essentially gave her a gift of a chore to do when spring finally rolls around. Winning day on all counts.

Nice Little Saturday

5 of the 7 readers of my blog live in the DC metro area so you are well aware of the bombardment of snow that we have suffered. 1 of the 7 readers is from Denver so she could care less about our snow problems because the kind of snow they get makes our little snow storm look like a flurry. The last reader lives in Florida so she just sits back and laughs at how stupid we all are to be living here anyway then goes for a walk on the beach. Regardless of where you live, you should know that this Saturday brought us a preview of the spring to come and we tried to take advantage of it as much as possible.

Since it was warm I went out running. And running I did. I got in 6 miles, which I'm pretty sure is the longest run I've done. I also tried out the mapmyrun app in order to compare what my FitBit was recognizing without the GPS to what a GPS in my phone would recognize. This was going to determine whether I not I spent the extra money on a FitBit that had GPS. The GPS registered 6.00 miles. My FitBit registered 5.95 miles. Close enough for me so I'm sticking with the FitBit I have.

Since I had regularly checked my weight during the week I was confident that I'd do some losing when I hit the Weight Watcher's scale on Sunday morning. The results were grand! Down 1.2 lbs this week bringing my current weight to 207.4 which represents 60.0 lbs lost. I never thought I'd drop 60.0 lbs! It's hard to believe that about 18 months ago I had 60 more pounds of mass than I do now. To put that in perspective, I was carrying three Cece's around my waist. Crazy and exciting. Next goal. Under two bills.

Last week Rizzo made a triumphant push to over take my mileage mark and nearly made up the entire difference. With my lead trimmed to a microscopic 1 mile I had to do something pull ahead. The miles during the week left much to be desired but my Ace in the Hole is always a Saturday. Saturday is my long run day. Saturday is the day I can make up the extra ground. All I needed was Saturday to be a nice day. It was. I accumulated a whopping 10.2 miles on Saturday. When the miles were tallied Team Rizzo was disappointed. I clocked in 38.4 miles. Rizzo had a measly 38.3.

With just over a week left in the February challenge I'm holding on to my lead by the skin of my teeth (just 1.1 miles). Think about that saying for a second. Seriously, if you have skin on your teeth you may need to see a dentist.

P.S. So you don't think me a complete brute, Rizzo picked sushi as her birthday meal and happened to be out so it was convenient for her to pick it up from the sushi joint. She also wants to start gardening with Cece in the spring so this was a very thoughtful gift. The cake thing, that's all me. My bad.