CHANGE IS GOOD

I just noticed my last post was on May 5th For those of you who know me, you know what a challenging spring and summer I have had both in my personnel life and my set backs I have had with my back and the surgery I had. Well this week, everything feels like it is coming back together and I am expecting a full return to my training and active lifestyle beginning in September.

So 1 goal I want to start working towards is riding the Seattle to Portland ride next year. I am hoping to find a few others that will be interested and start training for it by doing some weekly rides that range in different distances and difficulty. If anyone is interested in doing the ride next year, let me know.

Other then that, I just can't wait to get back into the gym and get my fitness level back up to where it used to be. However, I am not looking forward to starting off and becoming all sore like I did when I first started. haha

I have a slack line being delivered to my place today. I don't remember if you have seen people using these before, but they look like a lot of fun and good for the core and balance. I figure that I can start using this now as it is low impact but will still be a challenge.

Anyways, it feels good to know there is an end to all the bad luck I have been having and I want to thank all my friends who have been so supportive and continue to give me words of encouragement. I look forward to seeing all of you back in the gym!

It has been awhile since posting. I have been extremely busy for the past month so hopefully I can get back into blogging a little. My work outs have been going really good. I have been going through a cutting phase in my diet and have lost about 15 pounds in the past 3 weeks. Now before you start freaking out and thinking that is too much in that short amount of time, let me say that I don't believe this is for everyone and when I did this I followed a strict diet and was still eating 6 times a day and was strategically adding carbs, fat and protein where needed. The great thing about this is that I was able to still have great work outs and don't feel like I lost any strength in the process. Usually that kind of cutting will result in loss of muscle and energy. But because of the foods and supplements I was taking it worked out great.

So anyways, I am looking forward to finishing up my dieting and start eating like a normal human again. I have been dieting now for about a year and a half and have lost 150 pounds. I can't wait to get back to eating normal. I love the foods I am eating now and won't change that, but I will not have to be so strict anymore.

I posted a while ago about doing a small photo shoot with a friend of mine up in Seattle.  Well I finally got the chance to do it on Saturday.  The weather was crappy and we were able to get in a few shots between rain storms.  The location isn't what we had planned but with the weather being iffy we took what we could get.  Here are a few of them.

So I decided to to go do a couple things today to see where I am at medically speaking.  I scheduled a physical with my Dr. and also scheduled a hydrostatic body fat test.  

I stopped into REI yesterday to pick up a small gift for a friend for his birthday yesterday.  While I was in there I started looking at back packs and hiking equipment because I keep toying around with the idea that I want to jump into it this year.  Well after having dinner with him and his friends last night and hearing some of their stories and advice,I really want to start hiking.  I have always loved the outdoors and walking trails, but for whatever reason I have never followed through with actually going out and doing it!  I live in the Great NW for goodness sakes!  It isn't like I can't find anywhere interesting to go.  Between all the great places within an hour of Portland and all the trips I make up to Seattle there are probably hundreds of easily accessible challenging trails.  I want to find ones that are challenging and scenic so I can also do my photography while I am hiking.  I am curious to find out how my fitness level will work out on some of these difficult hikes/climbs.  I am sure I am in for a rude awakening!   So now the obsessing and research begins and equipment, trails, safety, rules, what to bring, etc...  Good thing I have some good friends that are very experienced with hiking and climbing to give me some advice. 

Of course yesterdays post was an April fools... Those pancakes looked good in that picture though. I might need to make some this weekend.

Work out:

travel-
burpees
pushups
modified wall push ups
sit ups
tgu
went to the small gym in the hotel....
lat pulls
press
tricep extensions

food
smoothie
trailmix
turkey sandwich, fruit
protein bar
sushi