Shuroki Online

I had a another week of “fail” where I didn’t exercise that much and my weight was even — however I’ve turned this around and went down 3 pounds. This brings me 1 pound down from where I stalled and gained, so I’m back on the right track. Wait, wha? Math is hard

We’ve purchased a new scale that shows total fat % and stuff like that. The weight measurement is more consistent than the old scale, but I’m surprised to find the old scale was accurate, averaging the variance

I started the second week of the Couch to 5K podcast. I say “second week”, but we actually repeated the first week so I’m a little behind but there is still plenty of time before the Richmond race, so that’s fine. The running sections are longer (from 60 seconds to 90 seconds) but my legs don’t feel as bad as they did in the first week.

And the biggest news was that during my after-workout stretching I actually bent down and touched the ground!! Granted my legs were pretty far apart, but I haven’t been able to bend straight over and touch the ground since High School! I was so excited. Viv had to stop me from overdoing it.

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Last week I was really sick and didn’t work out at all.. As a consequence my weight was even, ie: no loss.

This week I was feeling better and I exercised every other day. I did, however, splurge on some of my eating. Valentine’s day brought sweets and a mexican feast. The feast was on the healthier side (whole wheat tortillas, etc.) but had real queso Also, earlier in the week I had eaten out when getting side-lined by icey-road-induced traffic.Unfortunately I cannot escape the siren song of Applebee’s Chicken Fajita Roll-up.

All of this just means that I gotta work a little harder. I still have the biggest struggle with portion control. I eat way too much, even if it is mostly healthy. In addition, I have an unhealthy addiction to crackers. I loves me da carbs. I’ve been hooked on the Cheez-It Party Mix for awhile. It has a decent fiber to carb ratio, but I know I eat too many of them. The flavored Wheat Thins also rock most hard. Check out the Ranch and the Parmesan Basil - my favs. So I need to work on that as well.

The running training is going well. We’re going to do another run today. Still on the week 1 program, but I have a feeling the running spurts will come a little easier. That’s the dream at least.

Here is a weight loss ticker. I’ll try to find a way to make it part of the website.. Hmm, I’ll at least place it on my “About Chooch” page. It dynamically updates. I’ll include it with each of my updates though for sure.

The ticker shows a goal of 200 pounds. That is my first goal. The second goal is to get to the “ideal weight” for my frame according to the health sites which is about 175. I know that the more you lose, the harder it gets so I figured I would break the ticker into two goals to make me feel better watching the numbers move. It would help if they kept moving down

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Viv and I have been discussing off and on about running the “Race for the Cure” in DC. She has actually run it previously after her mother beat her first round of breast cancer. Due to a number of reasons we are not going to be able to do the DC race this year, however we decided to run in Richmond on May 10th.

I’ve never done any kind of marathon, or much running of any kind past PE class in Junior High and High School. I’ve done bouts of jogging as a form of exercise throughout my life but its always been short lived.

With our renewed emphasis in our health that started this year, I think that a goal, such as the RFTC is a great motivator to stay on top of our diet and exercise routines. Viv tweeted about our participation this morning and was given a link to a workout plan to prep for a marathon in two months. There’s even a companion podcast to walk you through each run.

It looks pretty aggressive, but with such a short period of time it seems it needs to be. She actually started on it today. I will likely start tomorrow. Of course, I’ll post the progress here!

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I was sick all week. I don’t even know for sure what it was. I’m guessing stomach flu as I was somewhat nauseous for much of the time and generally achy. The largest symptom was just extreme fatigue. It has mostly passed now, but it kept me from working out all week. I’m expecting bad news when I hit the scales tomorrow. I might skip the weigh-in this week and see what happens next week.

Oh, and speaking of scales: as of my weigh-in last week, I dropped another two pounds. So my total weight loss for January was 10 pounds! Hopefully the lack of working out this week won’t bring a bring a backslide.

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Today my wife and I saw the movie Juno and we both loved it. I’m kinda sappy when it comes to movies, so I’m not sure this one is right for most “dudes”. It had a lot of humor but no action, little conflict, and is just one of those quiet, pleasant little films.

The movie follows a teenage girl (Juno, played masterfully by Ellen Page) who becomes pregnant and has to decide what to do about it. She decides that she will give the baby up for adoption, and chooses a nice couple from a free shopping magazine.

Juno’s spirit is just so endearing that she carries the film, and you become invested in her decisions and I found myself truly wanting to know how things would end up. Like I said there are no major conflicts or outrageous drama, but it is an interesting story that held my interest to the end. That’s not to say that there wasn’t high emotion, moments that made me hold my breath, and a few tears shed.

One thing that I liked is that Juno’s relationship to her dad and step-mom were very happy, healthy, and loving. No stereotypical “evil step mother”, and no controlling ogre of a father. I appreciated that as both a father, and a step-father because those stereotypes constantly get revisited in Hollywood.

I can see why this sleeper indy movie has taken audiences by storm and placed it in contention for Oscar season. Juno delivers excellent storytelling, excellent movie making, excellent acting, and a quirky little soundtrack which all made for an enjoyable few hours well worth the cost of admission.

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