Good morning, everyone, and welcome to yet another week end wrap-up in the Big Skeezy Challenge 2011. It’s the end of the seventh week – the Elway week, as I have just now dubbed it – and it was a long week of ups and downs. It was NBA All-Star weekend here in Los Angeles and temptation was everywhere! Could The Skeeze fight it off and continue the weight loss or would his celebrity and the perks attached get the best of him? Let’s break it down:
After last week’s success I wanted to keep it going so I decided against my usual “no gym on Tuesday because of the weigh-in” rule and hit the gym hard that night. It was a solid 450 calorie burn, though you won’t see it on the graph below because the week shows Wed-Tuesday and I can’t seem to figure out how to change it. In any case, I went again on Wednesday and Thursday, getting in some solid workouts:
You’ll notice a large gap between last Thursday and today, and it’s a gap whose contents had me very, very nervous about this morning’s weigh-in. You see, I had three straight days of activities surrounding All-Star Weekend to attend and I knew that I wasn’t going to behave myself. Why would I? Okay, aside from the BSC and being healthy, there was no good reason to contain myself. It’s not like the All-Star game is in Los Angeles every year.
It all started Friday night at Dwight Howard’s party, where I consumed more than my fair share of cocktails. I didn’t even stick to my usual vodka/soda combination, which has become my drink of choice since I started the BSC. Instead it was tequila and fruit juice, Jack and diet coke and a handful of vodka/Red Bulls. Sugar sugar carb carb drunk. Then it was off to Roscoe’s where I actually ate a salad…and a single piece of fried chicken (how could I not?).
Saturday was a night spent away from the All-Star festivities but still involved drinking too much. I met a friend I went to college with (who we’ll call “Susan”) and we started in around 3:00 PM at a local tavern. It was vodka/soda for the most part, but then her friends showed up. Fried calamari, a few nachos, a Lemon drop (blecch) and two Jaeger Bombs later it was time to go meet more friends at another place. The drinking continued there until the bartender cut us off. Well done all around, I must say.
Sunday wasn’t as bad, as I had tickets to the game. I did have a couple of hangover cleansing beers with my chicken and shrimp enchiladas (not the best choice) and then, of course, the single ceremonial beer at Staples Center. I then settled in to watch Kobe go H.A.M. on everyone.
All of that in the books, I spent yesterday getting back on track. I had my morning oatmeal, my usual seeds, a couple of pieces of rotisserie chicken for lunch and then a malad for dinner. Loads of water was consumed as well.
Now you can see why I was so damned worried about this morning. It’s funny, actually. I wouldn’t say I slept poorly but I did sleep anxiously. I’ve come a long way and still have so very far to go. To have blown it all off for a few days of fun was worrying me, but it helped to teach me a lesson in perseverance and self-control. I know that I can’t be angelically good all the time, as that would be annoying and boring. I do know, however, that I need to toe the line a little more often than I tend to leap over it, flying by with two drinks in hand.
So how did I do? Did I ruin everything? Was it the first step backward I’ve taken all year?
Nope! I lost three pounds!
How I lost three pounds is beyond me, really. Luckily I have no more big festivities for a few weeks so I can go H.A.M. on the challenge until early March when I end up in Arizona for spring training. Oh, man, that’s gonna be a doozy.
Thanks, as always, to all of you who are in my corner. See you next week with another update!
