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Before we get into the rant of the day, I thought I’d take a moment to update you-all (who, I am sure, are as equally obsessed with such things as I) on my diet! Wait for it…

Weight lost (6/11-6/18): 4lbs, bringing me to 196.5 pounds, or 8.5 pounds lost so far.

Calories consumed (6/11-6/17): 9787, or right around 1400 per day.

Caloric deficit (6/11-6/17): 10183, or a little over 1400 per day. A lot of that is due to extra calories burned during exercise.

Notes of… note: I actually gained weight one day last week, which I’m deciding to attribute to muscle gain, as I’ve exercised in some fashion every day for the last two weeks. Yesterday was the least I’ve exercised so far, with a 2.1-mile dog walk in the evening, preceded by a nap and followed by a movie. Next week, my major goal is simply not to gain weight.

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In the Triathletes-Nearly-Killed-Me department: So I mentioned I was swimming last Tuesday. I get to the pool, and it’s not all that busy. It’s just me, two guys practicing scuba in the corner, and Four Freaking Triatheletes. Now, I have nothing at all against triathlons in general, but when I’m swimming for the first time in three years, I don’t want to be in the lane next to four super-humans, all hairless and flawless, seemingly sculpted out of stone. Lighter-than-water stone, at that. Pumice, I guess.

So the pumice people were already engaged in their last big practice before the big triathlon this last weekend when I waddled in, all flabby and awkward and squinty (my glasses were waiting for me in the locker room, where I was wishing I’d stayed). After a few seconds of scanning, I figured out how to get into the damn pool, and then took off for a lap. One lap later, my heart was pounding, my arms were aching and I had a momentary fear of drowning for the first time in my life. I paused at the end of the pool to catch my breath and watched the triathletes race past, trying to figure out what they were doing that I obviously wasn’t. Unfortunately, they were going too fast and I couldn’t see far enough. So I gave it another go.

I ended up doing 8 laps in all, or 16 side-to-side. I proudly estimated this at nearly a mile before I asked one of the chiseled swimmers how long the pool was. 25 yards… really?! From my vantage, I would’ve sworn it was the length of a football field. So in reality, I only managed to thrash my way to 400 yards, or 1200 feet, or less than a quarter of a mile. Pathetic no matter how you slice it.

To make matters worse? I pulled something in my left arm, and couldn’t use it much Tuesday - Friday, making it one of the most longest-lasting injuries I’ve had since early in college when I messed up my ankle. Insult to said injury? Amanda went to the pool the next day, and even without the driving presence of the pumice people, still managed to go over three times further than me.

I’m going back to the pool tonight. Presumably, the triathletes will all be recovering in their respective spandex-swathed beds, leaving me to work on my stroke without giving myself one. I don’t know how hard I’ll push myself; at this point, getting from one side to the other, sans-death, is still a major accomplishment. But I feel the need to try a little today, considering my exercise for the rest of the week will probably be limited to walking to and from the convention center and Justin’s place (mapped above). That, and I think I’m going out to eat with friends tonight, and then with Amanda tomorrow to finally celebrate our 6-month anniversary 10 days late. And then, I’ll be spending the rest of the week in Seattle. As I said, the goal this week is simply not to ~gain~ weight. :)

Because it occupies a nearly unhealthy portion of my thoughts, here’s an update on how my diet is going so far (Monday morning the 4th - Monday morning the 11th):

• I lost a total of 4.5 pounds (205 - 200.5). My weight loss has slowed from earlier in the week, which could be because I’m just hitting my average loss rates now, or possibly because I’m gaining muscle. Either way, I should be under 200 pounds some time this week, for the first time in a couple of years.
• I consumed an average of roughly 1600 calories per day, which combined with my estimated resting metabolic rate (~2300) and my average additional exercise burning ~600 calories/day, gives me around a 1300 calorie daily deficit, or right around what I was shooting for.
• My spreadsheet is still really cool.
• I burned over 2300 calories using Dance Dance Revolution alone, although I’m currently a little bored/frustrated with it (it doesn’t always work right). So I jogged 6 miles in the last two days to compensate.
• I walked the dog over 9 miles last week. Luckily for both of us, it wasn’t all at once.

So yeah, I’m a little weight- and diet-obsessed. Part of that is because I’m a little hungrier than usual (need a more fibrous diet, I guess), and part of it is my spreadsheet: when I have all of this statistical information at my fingertips, it’s tough ~not~ to check it out and add it up. ;)

In only slightly related news, last night Amanda and I got a membership at Des Moines’ Central Campus to use their pool and weight areas. Between splitting the cost in half (we have a family membership) and August Home picking up half the tab, it’s an extraordinarily cheap way to gain access to a pool, and thus, a new form of exercise. I’m planning on heading to the pool after work tonight for my inaugural swim.

After my swim, I’m going to be heading north for a little Mandate action (or a MANage-a-trois as Scott and I have started calling it) with Quinn and Scott, meaning Amanda is stuck taking Miles to his obedience class by her lonesome this week. I think the plan is to barbeque at Scott’s place, hang out for a while catching up, and then watch a hypermasculine movie at the dollar theater. The current plan is to see Shooter. And let’s face it: nothing says hypermasculine like Marky Mark.

The rest of the week is shaped thusly: Wednesday night I start my Spanish class with AnneJanotta. Thurday night, Amanda’s playing sand volleyball and I plan to get in another swim and mow the lawn. Amanda will be gone most of Friday on a business-type trip in Kansas City, so I’ll be self-entertaining. Saturday, we’re going to a barbeque at Lindsay Rees’ place. And Sunday, we’re hoping to celebrate our six-month anniversary, eight days belated (Amanda spent last weekend in Minnesota with her parents, so I spent it hanging out with all of her friends instead). :)