4 Weeks Progress

Here are the pictures from last Friday. They don't show a whole lot of difference to me, but I know that my clothes fit better, and that I've lost about eleven pounds. They say the biggest changes take place after the first month, so I'm looking forward to that.

Reading from the Good Book

Today just to get myself motivated I started reading my Body for Life book again. It's amazing how inspirational some of the stories are, even though I've already read them at least ten times already. I also find myself thinking about the people in my life, and how I think some of those stories would really speak to them. I've learned by now that people need to find the will on their own to really make a change, and I am hoping that by accepting and ultimately completing this challenge that I will be able to lead by example. Once I have completed this first challenge, I am going to really start "preaching the gospel," to some of the people I care about that I think could really benefit from the Body for Life program.
I have four week pictures that I was going to upload today, but the batteries in my camera are dead, and so I have to charge them up. They should be posted tomorrow.

Back In Action

I had a great birthday. I ended up taking basically two days off from training and dieting, and I could totally feel it today when I was running. It felt like I started over from scratch. Like my body was saying "Whew, I'm glad we're done with all that exercising nonsense, back to slug land," and then I just shocked it back to life by running my balls off on the treadmill.

I got a new tattoo for my birthday. And I was looking at some of the pictures of me while I was getting it. Some of them were actually kind of encouraging but the ones of me with my shirt off definitely showed me that I have a lot of work left to do. My abdominal section is still flabby as all get out, but my arms have definitely showed improvement. Hopefully the tattoo will give me another good reason to hit the gym hard.

Adventures
I made a pledge to myself that while I was going to get through the 12 weeks of Body for Life, I wasn't going to let it totally dominate my time and ruin my summer. I knew I was going to have to be careful and plan my diet around some of the activities I wanted to do. I have had a really eventful and fun summer so far, even with all my responsibilities.

A Day in the Life...

Here is a quick summary of my day today.
Got up way too early this morning to go to rescue class, but I was psyched because I knew we were going to cut up cars.
Got to rescue class and had to scrounge through piles and piles of old turnouts (firefighter gear) because nobody told us we should bring our own. So I ended up wearing mismatched and ill-fitting gear all morning long.
Cut up a bunch of cars with cool tools like the jaws of life and the sawzall, even got to cut up an old ambulance. Learned a lot about auto-extrication. Sweated a lot in my jacked up gear in the blazing sun. Grabbed a quick lunch after class.
Went to ridiculous Intro to Computers class where I found out I did the wrong assignment. Had a talk with my hippy teacher after class and played the birthday card so she'd forgive me for missing homework and doing the wrong homework. Totally worked.
Headed out to work because I was on shift today. As soon as I walked in the door we all got called out to a field fire. Had to jump into my wildland gear even though I was still sweaty from Rescue Class. Jumped into the truck with Wes and buzzed out to the fire.
Me and Wes were some of the first to arrive in the Squad (small truck with a pump and hose set up) so we drove out into the field that was on fire and I jumped out grabbed the hose and hustled along side the truck putting out the fire. My first real fire!
Got back to the station and had to clean up everything. Then I was told that I was going out to the local fair/rodeo to work as an EMT in the first aid booth. Got dressed up in my new pants and boots and headed out to the rodeo.
Watched an awesome rodeo full of minor accidents that really didn't need too much attention from me. Put a band-aid on a pretty girl who got a rope-burn. Talked a lot of shit with my fellow EMTs working the rodeo.
After the rodeo there was a concert, some minor Country star that I can't remember. Did a lot of people watching (checking out girls) Drove around a lot in the Gator (golf-cart like thing) for no reason other than it was fun.
Went on the Zipper with Moon, the biggest guy in the department. We definitely did not meet the weight and size standards for that ride, but the carny didn't care, he just rammed us in there and we were off. Pretty sure I went from "this is a terrible idea" to "that was the best idea I ever had" in a few short moments. Screamed and laughed a lot.
Concert and fair over. Headed back to the station. Beat. Awesome day.

Week 4 Begins with a Hangover

I guess if I am going to blog on my days off, I should probably do it in the morning, because they have a way of getting away from me. Yesterday I went to my friend's baby shower/luau/bbq. It was all very wholesome and family friendly, in fact I think I when I showed up I was the only single person there, which is always so much fun. But as the night wore on and the grandparents and older folk began to disperse, the beer and assorted adult beverages began to flow more liberally. My friend (who I've decided to call Lacey) showed up and kept me company, so that I didn't have to feel like too much of an outcast amongst the seas of couples. We had lots to drink and eat, and it was a good night, but I was definitely a little slow moving this morning.
I really had to fight to maintain my diet today, for some reason nothing sounded better than getting some Taco Bell and just veg out in the air conditioning all day. Somehow I conquered that impulse and got through the day.
Tonight I made vegie burgers for dinner. I don't know, but for some reason they've been sounding good, so I decided to go for it. Turns out they are really good. The only problem is that they don't have near enough protein. So I ended up having a handful of almonds with my burger on whole wheat bread with fat-free swiss cheese.

The Parts That Won't be Forgotten

We got a call to a person who had "overdosed on alcohol" tonight. When I showed up, it turned out to be a painfully young girl. She was drunk, but probably not in any real danger health wise. Her family was there and all very concerned, but her father was angry. We asked him if he wanted us to take her to the hospital, and at first he said no, but then after a minute he reconsidered and was like "yeah, take her to the hospital, do everything you need to do." So we loaded her up and gave her an IV and some anti-nausea medicine. She howled when we gave her the IV. And our medic gave her the talk about all the bad things that could have happened to her because she got so drunk. It was hard for me to concentrate on what was happening because I couldn't help but think about the girls, that I used to look out for, and wonder if anyone is looking out for them now. The one part of my old life that still haunts me at some point everyday are the thoughts of the daughters I no longer have.
That girl is now at the hospital, and she'll be ok. She's obviously on a bad path. I can only hope that this gets her family's attention and they do a better job of protecting her from herself.

Week 3 Comes to a Close

Well, it has been a good week. I just finished a strong leg workout, and my back is feeling really good. This is due no doubt in part to the 2400mg of Ibuprofen I've been taking these last couple of days.
I am at work and I have to get back to my chores, I just didn't want to miss a post. Tomorrow is my friend's baby shower, and it's a barbeque type event, so I plan on gorging on some good (but bad for me) bbq. Yay free day!

Oh yeah, I weighed myself the other day on a whim. I hadn't worked out or anything and it was late in the day, but it looks like I've already lost about eleven pounds. I know a great deal of that is water weight, but it's still really encouraging!