Good morning, friends and family! Can you believe eleven weeks have passed already? Coming off of last week’s one pound loss, henceforth known as “The Spring Break Miracle”, I was determined to make this week count. Unfortunately, looming on the horizon upon my return from Arizona was one of the greatest holidays known to man – St. Patrick’s Day. Is it possible that I got derailed? Let’s check in and see:
The week started off in Beast Mode, as I hit the gym every day. Starting last Tuesday and ending yesterday, I was at the gym five out of a possible seven days, with one day devoted to doing a lot of work around the house, which counts as a workout in my book. Here are the results from the week’s gym sessions, just to give you an idea of what went down:
I ate right. I exercised. I was working hard towards the “26 pounds in 25 days” goal I set for myself last week, which would mean a sub-300 weight by my birthday…and then St. Patrick’s Day arrived. If you’ll notice in the chart above, I did hit the gym on the holiest of drinking days and had a very good session at that. What happened afterwards, though, leaves a little to be desired regarding my willpower.
It all started at a friend’s house (we’ll call him “Tim” to protect his anonymity) where the gang was to congregate before going out to a local watering hole. As people filtered in and began to pre-game I declined because I had to pick young Kyle up from the airport at 8:00 PM. I was not about to go to LAX on St. Patrick’s Day with even the slightest bit of alcohol on my breath. Luckily, Kyle arrived a bit early and we returned to Tim’s to gather everyone and head out.
We toddled on down to the bar and everything started out well for me, all things considered. I was drinking vodka and sodas, and not at a quick pace, really. I was avoiding the green beer and the delicious bar food that was hitting the table. As the evening wore on it got a little crazier and I finally decided that one green beer on St. Patrick’s Day wouldn’t kill me.
That “one little green beer” quickly became three and, around 11:00 PM, we headed off to another bar. There it was a bunch of chips and salsa, whiskey (St. Patrick’s Day immunity, I figured), and the lights coming on which prompted our departure.
I slept a good two and a half hours and then went to work, not terribly refreshed. I was a bit happy about it, though, knowing that I could now get back on track and had four days left until Tuesday’s weigh-in. Kyle called mid-day Friday and suggested we go to a local sports bar after work, meet Tim, and have “a couple of beers”. We did so and had diner, mine consisting of salmon and steamed vegetables. I did have a couple of delicious Fat Tires and all seemed well…until “Arwa” (name changed – anonymity) showed up.
Suddenly, the switch got flipped and we decided to make a night of it. We started ordering ridiculous drinks, much like this one:
See the bags under my eyes? Two and a half hours of sleep.
We stayed there for a while and then made our way to yet another bar. Was it karaoke night there? Why yes, yes it was. We continued drinking like jerks and welcomed our friends “Evelyn” and “Jenn” to the party. After a few more drinks and two epic performances by yours truly (“Friends in Low Places” and “Don’t Stop Believin'”) it was time to race to the grocery store and pick up supplies to carry us past 2:00AM. Why? Because we’re morons, that’s why.
Seven layer dip, a frozen pizza, vodka, mixers, chips…a truly healthy haul at the store, I tell you. We dined and fell asleep where we sat watching “Jackass 3”.
On Saturday it was back to the gym with me and then I spent the rest of the day doing very little. Sunday I decided to get out, do some shopping and engage in six and a half hours of spring cleaning. Monday was business as usual and that brings us to today. I had some good gym sessions and, despite the two day bender, I felt good about my chances to stay mostly on track. I was worried, however, that I had St. Patty’d my “26 in 25” chances away.
You know the drill. I awoke, stepped onto the scale and discovered that I’d…
…lost eight pounds!
Not bad, huh? For those of you keeping score at home, that brings me down to 318. It also brings me past the 50 pound mark. I’ve lost 53 pounds since the beginning of the year.
Now it’s 18 pounds to lose in 17 days. Technically, 19 now that I think about it. Oops. Math was never my strong point.
I’ll see you all next week with the next check-in.
