Good morning, campers! We’re two weeks shy of the halfway point in the Big Skeezy Challenge and things have certainly been interesting thus far. Last week Big Skeezy dropped a couple of pounds bringing him closer to clearing the 290 hump. He’s been stuck in the 290 range for five week now. Would this be the week be breaks the barrier? Did he dance with the devil? Let’s break it down:
Ah, another week. To be honest there’s not a ton to report, as my weeks all kind of look alike after a while. It’s the shenanigans that vary and, ultimately, lend a hand in my weekly demise. One of these days I’m going to stop that but life is too short and too fun to not unwind after a week at the office.
Week twenty-four started as most do, with two-a-days, fender benchin’ and the like. I’ve continued to eat well during the week and exercise my nuts off. It’s still bicycle to the gym in the morning, weights, then work all day followed by a return to the gym for an hour of cardio and then the bike ride home. That regimen kept up until Friday, which is where our story begins.
Friday morning was the usual bike/gym pairing and then the day wore on as usual. I ate salad for lunch and was prepared for a quiet night ahead. There wasn’t going to be a trip to the track this week. My friend Kyle picked me up at the office and our plan for the evening was simple: pick up steaks and a few beers, go to his place, consume steaks and beers, watch Friday Night Lights and be done nice and early. On the way to the store we began to discuss the evening ahead and decided that there was a fair desire to be out for a bit. The decision was then made to go to Baja Cantina and have dinner, the thought being that we’d eat dinner and then go home. This was around 6:30.
Fast forward to 11:30PM. Kyle and I are still at the Cantina and we’re holding court. Various friends have shown up and we’ve made friends with people around us. Another Friday night, indeed. The group slowly disbands and we decide to hit up a bar down the street that we had a friend working at. Well, a girl we sort of knew anyway, but allies are allies. We got to the bar and paid the $5 apiece to get in. We were there for all of five minutes before we decided against staying any longer. It wasn’t really our scene. I won’t go into why it was a bit unsettling, but it was. Think of it this way. Remember that scene in “Animal House” where they go to the bar to see Otis Day and those dudes say, “Mind if we dance wit’ yo dates?” Yeah, it was kind of like that.
We segued to a friend’s house to bask in the pool and hot tub for a bit, stopping en route to grab some refreshments that looked a hell of a lot like a bottle of Jack Daniel’s. We stayed there until security kicked us out and I figured it was time to go home. “Nay,” said Kyle. “There’s only one course of action here.” And so it was back to the bar we’d left so abruptly. We ended up closing it down.
Saturday rolled around and I didn’t do much other than futz around the house. That night was spent at Dodger Stadium watch the Dodgers get whipped by the Astros. It was a hell of a night, though:
I had a few beers and a Dodger dog there, as well as the obligatory salty nut sack full of peanuts. After the game we made our way to the good ol’ Tattle Tale where we stayed for a couple of drinks. To be honest, we weren’t really feeling it that night.
Sunday rolled around and I dragged my big ass to the gym for a decent workout. I then went shopping for some new duds because I needed smaller pants, so that was nice. Monday was spent doing the usual workouts and dietary things in preparation for today when I stepped onto the scale and discovered…
…I’d gained four pounds. That takes me back up to 296 and reduces the total weight loss on the year to 75 pounds.
Here we go again. You know, the last time this happened and I gained five pounds it was gone a couple of days later, so I’m not terribly concerned with this. It’s a marathon – not a sprint. The BSC isn’t a race. It’s a competition, yes, but only with myself. Despite the disappointing weigh-in I still feel good about what I’m doing. I’d like to get out of the damned 290s, that’s for sure, but I will in due time. I could crash diet and do awful things to myself and while that will generate faster results it wouldn’t be a good way to do it. Sure, I get that I don’t help things at the end of the week but I’m not going to turn myself into some sort of hermit, either. I’m doing right by me and that’s what matters.
Besides, the slate gets wiped clean as soon as I step off the scale. It’s a brand new week. Time to hustle harder.
