preface: for those of you who weren't aware, i have gained 35 lbs in the past year, primarily because of stress. my cortisol levels are through the roof, thus the only place i've gained a considerable amount of weight is in my stomach. my eating habits haven't helped and i partially tore my left mcl last summer and only recently have i been able to run again.

i'm working on controlling my stress levels, and am on mood stabilizers to control my bipolar. the stabilizer is not an anti-psychotic, so the weight gain isn't related to the medication. i've also started cooking more (which is about 1000% more than i been cooking previously) to take control of what's going into my body, and how much i'm actually eating.

i've also started working out like i used to, easing into my split to avoid overtraining and burn out. i've got a workout partner who i'm trying to get to build mass, so we've got different goals but having the obligation to meet him at the gym at 7 a.m. is good motivation.

now for the weekly recap...

ok, so i didn't do a week 1 wrap-up. sue me. the eating habits continue to improve ... one cheat meal a week, although that's not going to be the case in week 3 ...

i'm going on vacation. of course i'll still be working out as well, but i probably will end up having three or four cheat meals, especially since wednesday is $1 hot dog night at the rangers game. my brother is coming in town friday and i promised him pizza, and we're going to the astros game saturday, so that's three right now. he doesn't eat normal food. i'm going to try not to follow suit.

anyway, the workouts went well this week. i'm still struggling with a little pain underneath my left scapula, but lots of motrin and heat are slowly alleviating that.

workouts at 7 a.m. monday and tuesday, 6:30 a.m. thursday and 7:30 p.m. saturday. blame the british open for the super-late weekend time. i had to work from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

hiit for speed monday, tuesday and thursday, hiit for incline saturday.

a note about doing hiit with incline as opposed to speed ... the difficulty of speed work pales in comparison to running uphill at a high intensity.

soreness is minimal, shoulder is the only thing posing any real discomfort.

another note: during week 1, i lost a lot of water weight because i phased out so many processed foods. i had to pee 15+ times a day. that number is down, thank God.

peak weight at week 1: 194lbs
weight at end of week 2: 189.1

---

Comments