Well it was bound to happen, I got frustrated with my scale. So I decided to just pitch it and ignore the scale for the next 30-days. Really, I would have loved to do to my scale what Peter and the guys from Office Space did to that obnoxious printer/fax machine, but my wife would be angry since we paid for the scale and she likes to use it- so I am stuck with metaphorical retaliation. No more weigh-ins until May 20th. I am stuck at around 194 or so lbs. Where will I be in 30 days? No clue. Hopefully nowhere near 194 lbs since that weight is most definitely an unhealthy weight for my body- plus at that weight only 20% of my pants fit

It is abeautifulday for a new beginning. Sure, yesterday was supposed to be my first day but I blew it before it even began thanks to a box of Oreo cookies; I hate those delicious cookies and their clever marketing campaign. As a result of that poor judgment I postponed the start of my reboot until today. Consequently, my weight is also now around 194.4lbs and my waist is at a terrifying 39 inches (few of my pants fit anymore!)

Today will be a difficult day since we have to spend several hours on the road (picking up our foster daughter from her social worker) and we will be meeting them at a McDonald’s. My plan is to buy a grilled honey mustard chicken wrap and leave it at that;m but we all know what happens to plans whentemptations(and tasty salted deep-friedFrenchfries) rear their ugly heads.

Despite the pain in my shoulder I was able to get through my stretching routine just fine this morning. Although my neck is still a bit stiff and my shoulder isn’t 100%, I hope to be able to do a H.I.T. workout either tonight or tomorrow. I will try to work around my shoulder and do some low-weight/stress exercises to strengthen my shoulder before I go back to sandbag presses and sledgehammer training.

Over the last several months I’ve lost focus and struggled to stay on top of various issues in my life. I thought that given the circumstances this would be a good time to return the accountability of regular (or at least semi-consistent) blogging. A couple things you might read about on this blog over the next month or two:

(1) Getting back to a routine of disciplined exercise and nutrition. Various injuries have frustrated me and caused me to ignore training; and when I ignore training it usually also ignore anysemblanceof healthy eating (I’m talking about you cookies and Pringles).

(2) Getting back in Ninja Warrior shape. I was pretty close to my goal a year ago, but such is no longer the case. My waist line has ballooned back up to 38.5 inches and my weight is around 192 (OUCH!). My energy has flat-lined and my neck and shoulder are still hurting from a snow shoveling injury from February. But over the last few weeks (and with the help of muscle relaxers) the pain is finally beginning to decline.

(3) Getting back to eating healthy will be difficult as my budget is now tighter than it was before. With a budget of $65/week for groceries I can’t afford as many Myoplex shakes and protein bars as I used to. I will have to be more creative and plan my meals better.

I will start getting back on track when my feet hit the floor tomorrow. Taking this day-by-day, week-by-week, I hope to get back to where I was a year ago…if not even further.

Outdoors

• Jumping Jacks: 1 minute
• Sledgehammer Drills: 1.5 minutes per arm
• Grapevines: 1 minute
• Tire Toss: 3 minutes
• Sandbag Slam: 1 minute
• Total Time: 9 minutes (no rest)

Indoors (it was too darn cold outside)

• Jumping Jacks: 30
• Push-ups: 7,7,7,6,6,6
• Sit-ups: 10,8
• 1-legdead-lift: 10each
• Lunges: 10each
• Total Time: 10 minutes (minimal rest)

Shoulders hurt….but otherwise I feel ready for tomorrow’s lower body workout.

1) Cutting Back on Wal-mart. While there are great savings to be had at Wal-mart, there is also a great potential for abusing your wallet. We used to visit Wal-mart three or more times a week, and it seemed like every time we visited Wally Mart my wallet vomited money (not a pretty picture..but just be glad I didn’t go with thediarrheaanalogy). So many cheap things that only cost $1 here or $3 dollars there, add it all up and it amounted to spending anywhere from $45 to $225 per trip. Between implementing shopping lists andrecognizingthat I am the impulsive buyer in the family (and taking steps to address that weakness) we have significantly lowered what we spend at Wal-mart each month.

• Previous Spending = $600
• New Spending = $275
• Savings = $325 ($3900 annual savings)

2) Cutting the Cable Cord. Between Hulu.com and Netflix, there is no reason to hang on to cable anymore.

• Previous Spending – $26
• New Spending = $0
• Savings = $26 ($312 annual savings)

3) Eating IN. We were spending so much money on eating out it was ridiculous. Even the local pizza place cost $22 for three people to eat a large pizza, three sodas, and a small side of garlic knots. Some months our dining out habit cost us $200/month. But usually we spend about $125 betweenlocalpizza places, McDonald’s, etc.

• Previous Spending = $125
• New Spending = $20
• Savings = $105 ($1260 annual savings)

4) No More Phone Bills. Well we do get phone bills, but we cut our long distance service on our land line and we only use MagicJack for long distance calls.

• Previous Spending = $49
• New Spending = $21
• Savings = $28 ($336 annual savings)

5) Staying at the Pump. One of the biggest surprises in reviewing our spending habits was discovering how much money we wasted at gas stationconveniencestores. Buying a pack a soda and a small package of beefjerkymight only cost $3.50 each time, but added up over a month it totals about $30. So pay by credit card, stay at the pump, pack your travel snacks- and store a few non-perishable extras in the glove compartment for when you forget to pack a snack one day.

• Previous Spending = $30
• New Spending = $0
• Savings = $30 ($360 annual savings)

…The Results…

• Wal-mart $325
• TV $ 26
• Eating In $105
• Phone $28
• Convenience Store Spending $30
• TOTAL SAVINGS/MONTH = $514 ($6,168 annual savings)

Some of these budget cuts won’t work for you, and that is fine. We each have different spending habits and ourbudgetshemorrhagecash depending on our ownimpulses, weaknesses, tastes, etc. When you review you spending habits (write down EVERYTHING you spend even a penny on for a month and review your bank statements from the past) you will see the areas where you’re spending beyond your means or wasting funds. It’s not as hard as you might think and making these changes isn’t all that painful either. Please feel free to post additional ideas on cutting budget or your own success stories when it comes to budget cutting in the comments section.

Since we had a beautiful 65 degree day here in NC, I decided to take advantage of it with an outdoor workout. This was a tough one. Comingon the heels of a tough indoor workout yesterday my body wasn’t very happy about this. To make matters worse, my outdoor workouts are faster paced (with rest breaks kept down to 10-30 second between exercises….if that). So they give me really good feed back on how good, or in this case poor, my aerobic conditioning is.

Exercise 1. Agility ladder, Cycle 1- 3 Minutes/cycle 2- 2 minutes

Exercise 2. Sandbag Press, Cycle 1 – 2 minutes/Cycle 2 – 90 seconds

Exercise 3. Backward Tire Toss, Cycle 1 – 3 minutes/Cycle 2 – 3 minutes

See minute mark 1:22

Exercise 4. Sprints with Cones, Cycle 1 – 90 seconds/Cycle 2 – 90 seconds

Exercise 5. Bear Crawl, Cycle 1 – 2 minutes/ Cycle 2 – NONE

I felt exhausted after this workout and my lower back was begging me not to do a third cycle. In total I did about 20 minutes of exercise with 4 minutes rest between cycles.

My wife has started work on a bunch of home made dolls with interchangeable outfits. She wants to sell them on the side either through the internet or through one (or several) small specialty shops. I am posting some images of them here, and would love your input regarding how much you would pay for one, who you might buy one for, and what you think of them in general. They are made of 100% cotton and would come with one or two extra outfits.

Groceries represent a major part of our budget. They also represent a major issue when it comes to fat loss since what’s in your fridge has a great deal to do with your nutritional intake. So this budget move aims to fix two problemssimultaneously; we will hopefully fatten our savings while slimming our waists. How will we do this:

(1) We are giving coupons a second chance. We tried this several times over the last four years but we never planned in advance, it was usually a matter of buying a Sunday paper at thegrocerystore, then shopping. And predictably enough, it was a debacle and a half. We ended up buying a bunch of stuff we didn’t need (not to mention plenty of unhealthy snacks).

(2) Our Grocery list has authoritarian powers. Our grocery list has become the closest thing to a dictator in this house (and in the store). When we hit the Wal-mart or the Kroger we only allow ourselves ONE item that isn’t on the list (just in case we forget an essential).

(3) The calculator called shotgun. We write down the cost of everything that goes in the cart and we tally it up before we hit the register. That way there are no surprises.

(4) Pre-planned major meals. While breakfast and lunch are usually individual meals (especially during the week), we plan each dinner for the week and most of the weekend meals before we draw up our shopping list. It keeps the food included on the shopping list down to a minimum and it also keeps us from overeating.

(5) Buy LOTS Non-perishableswhen they are on Sale. Make sure you take advantage of the sales on paper towels, tissue paper, cleaning supplies, etc. when they come along. We recently got Boston Butt pork roasts for .79 cents a lb at the local Harris Teeter. If only we had more freezer space we would have purchased more. Usually that cut of meat goes for anywhere from $1 to 1.79/lb. One five lb roast, left in the slow cooker or the rotisserie and combined with some spices or sauces can feed our family of three for at least three meals.

Using these techniques we are hoping to bring our grocery budget, once a whopping $550+/month, down to a moremanageable$65/week.