July 1, 2023

Weigh-in: 219 lbs.

PT (Physical Therapy)

No

Exercise

No exercise today.

Food

July 2, 2023

Weigh-in: 219.4 lbs.

PT (Physical Therapy)

No

Exercise

Boulders Gym:

• 1-hour rock climbing sesh

Food

July 3, 2023

Weigh-in: 218.4 lbs.

PT (Physical Therapy)

No

Exercise

Outdoor pool:

• Casual morning swim

Food

Other Thoughts

Yesterday, my buddy told me that he barely recognized me! He hasn't seen me in person since before I started this challenge, so it felt good to know the difference in my weight has shown up in my physical appearance! I'm not sure I've noticed that difference as much because I'm always looking at myself and so is my wife, but if I go back to a photo of me a year ago, I think I can see what he means. Just means it's working!

July 4, 2023

Weigh-in: 217.6 lbs.

PT (Physical Therapy)

No

Exercise

No exercise today.

Food

July 5, 2023

Weigh-in: 216.4 lbs.

PT (Physical Therapy)

Yes

Exercise

Morning at the Y:

• Bike ride to YMCA & back
• eGym circuit
• Lap swim - 100 yards

Food

Other Thoughts

I'm starting to see gains from the weighted squats already! I'm going to guess that most of that is from correcting my form via 2 coaching sessions with my strength coach. I'm correcting for my anterior pelvic tilt and keeping my foot placement on my bad leg in sync with the good leg. I don't think I've hit my max weight yet for squats, but today I did 2 sets of 115 followed by 1 set of 135. On a side note, I've noticed some eardrum pain after swimming, so I'm going to start doing some post-swim hygiene stuff that the lifeguard recommended to me. Some way to drain/dry out my ear canals after I'm out of the pool to prevent ear infections.

July 6, 2023

Weigh-in: 216.4 lbs.

PT (Physical Therapy)

No

Exercise

No exercise today.

Food

July 7, 2023

Weigh-in: 218.4 lbs.

PT (Physical Therapy)

Yes

Exercise

Morning at the Y:

• Bike ride to YMCA & back
• eGym circuit

Food

Supplements

✅ L-Glutamine

✅ Fish Oil

Other Thoughts

I'm going to start tracking my supplements intake as a new goal. Everything else stays the same. The specific ones I'm tracking are flax seed, fish oil, and L-Glutamine.

July 8, 2023

Weigh-in: 220.2 lbs.

PT (Physical Therapy)

No

Exercise

No exercise today.

Food

Supplements

✅ 1 tbsp. ground flax seed

✅ L-Glutamine

✅ Fish Oil

Other Thoughts

I'm thinking the weight gain the last couple days has been water retention from eating a lot of Cheez-Its and possibly from not getting enough sleep & the stress that resulted from that. Hoping that getting good sleep and eating fewer processed carbs will get me back on track.

July 9, 2023

Weigh-in: 218.4 lbs.

PT (Physical Therapy)

No

Exercise

No exercise today.

Food

Supplements

✅ 1 tbsp. ground flax seed

✅ L-Glutamine

✅ Fish Oil

July 10, 2023

Weigh-in: 218 lbs.

PT (Physical Therapy)

Yes

Exercise

Morning at the Y:

• Bike ride to YMCA & back
• eGym circuit
• 250-yard swim

Food

Supplements

✅ 1 tbsp. ground flax seed

✅ L-Glutamine

✅ Fish Oil

July 11, 2023

Weigh-in: 218.6 lbs.

PT (Physical Therapy)

No

Exercise

Morning at the Y:

• Bike ride to YMCA & back
• eGym - abs - 1 set eccentric & concentric
• 250-yard swim

Food

Supplements

✅ 1 tbsp. ground flax seed

✅ L-Glutamine

✅ Fish Oil

July 12, 2023

Weigh-in: 217.2 lbs.

PT (Physical Therapy)

Yes

Exercise

Afternoon at the Y:

• Bike ride to YMCA & back
• eGym circuit

Food

Supplements

✅ 1 tbsp. ground flax seed

✅ L-Glutamine

✅ Fish Oil

July 13, 2023

Weigh-in: 218.4 lbs.

PT (Physical Therapy)

No

Exercise

No exercise today.

Food

Supplements

✅ L-Glutamine

✅ Fish Oil

July 14, 2023

Weigh-in: 218 lbs.

PT (Physical Therapy)

No

Exercise

No exercise today.

Food

Supplements

✅ L-Glutamine

✅ Fish Oil

July 15, 2023

Weigh-in: 220 lbs.

PT (Physical Therapy)

No

Exercise

No exercise today.

Food

Supplements

✅ 1 tbsp. ground flax seed

✅ L-Glutamine

✅ Fish Oil

July 16, 2023

Weigh-in: 219 lbs.

PT (Physical Therapy)

No

Exercise

No exercise today.

Food

Supplements

✅ 1 tbsp. ground flax seed

✅ L-Glutamine

✅ Fish Oil

July 17, 2023

Weigh-in: 219 lbs.

PT (Physical Therapy)

Yes

Exercise

Morning at the Y:

• Bike ride to YMCA & back
• eGym circuit

Food

Supplements

✅ 1 tbsp. ground flax seed

✅ L-Glutamine

✅ Fish Oil

July 18, 2023

Weigh-in: 218 lbs.

PT (Physical Therapy)

No

Exercise

No exercise today.

Food

Supplements

✅ 1 tbsp. ground flax seed

✅ L-Glutamine

✅ Fish Oil

July 19, 2023

Weigh-in: 218.2 lbs.

PT (Physical Therapy)

No

Exercise

Biking:

• 15-minute bike ride

Food

Supplements

✅ 1 tbsp. ground flax seed

✅ L-Glutamine

✅ Fish Oil

July 20, 2023

Weigh-in: 219 lbs.

PT (Physical Therapy)

Yes

Exercise

Morning at the Y:

• Bike ride to YMCA & back
• eGym circuit

Food

Supplements

✅ 1 tbsp. ground flax seed

✅ L-Glutamine

✅ Fish Oil

July 21, 2023

Weigh-in: 218.2 lbs.

PT (Physical Therapy)

No

Exercise

No exercise today.

Food

Supplements

Other Thoughts

A LOT to mention here...We had to put our eldest cat, Minnie, down today. This was a low point for me. I caved and had a small Oreo Frappe from McDonald's and a sugary lemonade from Olive Garden. I didn't feel like being on top of things today. The events of the day were too sad. I even missed the swim I was going to do at the YMCA today, despite having the day off today. On a brighter note, Sam and I are going kayaking in Door County tomorrow, and we're stopping by our favorite local bakery while we're there for some cherry pie. I'll likely have a small slice because I consider it a special occasion whenever we make the trek out there, which isn't more than once or twice a year. Regarding the swimming habit I've been forming, I took a break from it for a week or so because I was starting to get a skin condition that I thought might have been from the pool. The nurses at Trek think it's folliculitis, so I'm on antibiotics for that now. My new swim goggles came in last week, and now that I'm pretty sure I know what this is and it's not contagious, I'm planning to resume morning swims next week.

July 22, 2023

Weigh-in: 220 lbs.

PT (Physical Therapy)

No

Exercise

No exercise today.

Food

Supplements

✅ L-Glutamine

✅ Fish Oil

July 23, 2023

Weigh-in: 222.8 lbs.

PT (Physical Therapy)

No

Exercise

No exercise today.

Food

Supplements

✅ 1 tbsp. ground flax seed

✅ L-Glutamine

✅ Fish Oil

Other Thoughts

Saturday didn't go so well nutritionally. I broke the rules of the challenge and had a strawberry Frosty from Wendy's, and a slice of cherry pie and a blueberry danish from Scaturo's bakery in Sturgeon Bay. When I woke up and saw the scale today, I realized that I couldn't even let grieving our cat sway me from the path I'm on because it's too easy to reverse my progress. Beyond that, it just ruins my mental clarity and physical energy levels to eat like that. One thing I'm proud of, though, is that I didn't feel the need to have large servings of anything, and I was eating the treats more slowly than I used to. I do feel a sense of control over how I enjoy sugary foods like that, but I don't think that'd hold up if I kept letting myself have one of them every day. I don't regret having these snacks, but I think it's wise to get back on the horse now.

July 24, 2023

Weigh-in: 219.8 lbs.

PT (Physical Therapy)

Yes

Exercise

Morning at the Y:

• Bike ride to YMCA & back
• eGym circuit
• 250-yard swim

Food

Supplements

✅ L-Glutamine

✅ Fish Oil

July 25, 2023

Weigh-in: 220.6 lbs.

PT (Physical Therapy)

No

Exercise

Yoga:

• 1-hour yoga sesh at Trek

Food

Supplements

✅ L-Glutamine

✅ Fish Oil

July 26, 2023

Weigh-in: 220.6 lbs.

PT (Physical Therapy)

No

Exercise

No exercise today.

Food

Supplements

✅ 1 tbsp. ground flax seed

✅ L-Glutamine

✅ Fish Oil

July 27, 2023

Weigh-in: 219.8 lbs.

PT (Physical Therapy)

No

Exercise

No exercise today.

Food

Supplements

✅ 1 tbsp. ground flax seed

✅ L-Glutamine

✅ Fish Oil

Other Thoughts

I started tracking my macros again today. I wasn't able to maintain my weight loss velocity when I was just using a checklist approach. In fact, I stalled out for about a month and a half. So, I'm being honest with myself, and I know that I do better at hitting my protein and fiber goals when I'm counting my calories. I'm using MyFitnessPal again. The difference in my approach this time is I won't be describing my food on this blog like I did last time I was tracking everything. I just find it less stressful to keep these posts simple.

July 28, 2023

Weigh-in: 219.8 lbs.

PT (Physical Therapy)

No

Exercise

No exercise today.

Food

Supplements

✅ 1 tbsp. ground flax seed

✅ L-Glutamine

✅ Fish Oil

July 29, 2023

Weigh-in: 218.6 lbs.

PT (Physical Therapy)

Yes

Exercise

Longer bike ride:

• Bike ride to Panera on East Wash & back
• eGym strength test - 1 rep max on each machine

Food

Supplements

✅ 1 tbsp. ground flax seed

✅ L-Glutamine

✅ Fish Oil

July 30, 2023

Weigh-in: 218.2 lbs.

PT (Physical Therapy)

No

Exercise

No exercise today.

Food

Supplements

✅ 1 tbsp. ground flax seed

✅ L-Glutamine

✅ Fish Oil

Other Thoughts

Not much to say today, other than I've noticed my weight dropping again. The daily weight decrease coincided with me starting to track my food again. Definitely can't be a coincidence. I suppose I'll keep doing that, then!

July 31, 2023

Weigh-in: 219.4 lbs.

PT (Physical Therapy)

No

Exercise

Trek Gym Sesh:

• Bench press
• Push-ups
• Rope climb
• Vaulting (parkour)
• Precision jumps
• Box jumps

Food

Supplements

✅ L-Glutamine

✅ Fish Oil