50extra - My weight loss journey with all the embarrassing details
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Well last night was somewhat of a let down. All day I had to favor my knee while walking and I got home last night and listened to my body telling me to slow down for a minute. I didn't do anything and was over my calories...
Then I did the typical dieters thing and said "*kitten* it, I've already ruined today and ate a bag of popcorn to make it work"
Popcorn was delicious by the way, and I woke up a pound lighter than I did yesterday???
Back on the wagon tonight!0 -
Popcorn is a surprisingly low calorie snack as long as you don't dump on a ton of butter. I really enjoy that in the evenings if I'm watching a movie or even if I'm just a little munchy.
Great job with your loss - especially with the struggles you've been having physically. Remember that working out is only part of it and as the weight comes off, your joints will be happier and allow you to do more. Working up to that is key. I know you've been working really hard at it and you will get there!
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How is your knee today?0
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@Quzzdragon12 I agree that popcorn is a great snack and when I make it in my popper at home all I put on it is salt and pepper. The problem with the bag of microwave popcorn I ate the other night is it was butter flavored in a bag. High calories, luckily it didn't hamper any weight loss.
@WifiresGettingFit my knee is killing me but fortunately the walking I need to do at work for the next couple of days is minimal. It's far from being at the point where I can do T25 but it's also far from the point that I can't ride my bike so I am set!
Yesterday was a good day as a whole. I didn't snack on crappy food at all and was well within my calories to continue my 2lb loss a week. My ride last night was awesome. I did a 15 minute normal ride, then 20 minutes of HIIT and then a 5 minute cool down. I was trying to read a book while I rode but had to put it away because I was sweating on it so bad it was getting wrecked. I felt great the whole ride.
I am a little bit concerned for my eating today and the three days following. I made fajitas last night and then pre-logged my food for the day to see how it looks. I will be 172 calories over my 1470 without factoring in exercise. I have no problems working off 172 cals on the bike but where it gets interesting is I like to enjoy and orange or apple with my soup, plus either a protein shake or a protein bar either in the afternoon or the evening after I work out. So calories are going to be close to my 200 over my goal calories.
But I stepped on the scale this morning and it continues to trend downwards. As I mentioned before, weight loss is easy, track everything that goes into my mouth, keep the MFP desired deficit and work my *kitten* off at night and I will lose weight. Just need to stay on top of it!
I'm not too sure if I want to lay down any further weight goals because I have been unsuccessful lately achieving them, but what would this site be if not something to work towards.
On the morning of July 19th when I wake up at 3am to catch a flight to Moscow, I want to step on the scale and be 211.7 lbs. This will officially put me in the overweight category at 5'10.5". My true goal for this shift is a little bit more than that but I will consider the hitch to be a success if I can reach that point.0 -
Im sorry your knee is still giving you problems.
Way to go on killing your day to day goals!
200 calories over the goal MFP gives you? You would still be in a deficit so it isn't going to hamper that much. I mean it would if you did it all the time but a couple hundred over isn't a big deal every now and again.
You've got this!0 -
I'm happy to report that yesterday was another success on both the eating a exercising fronts. I attempted T25 total body circuit but I couldn't do any running high knees as well as any of the hard pivoting motions. Regardless still happy i got a few minutes worth of work in.
@WifiresGettingFit yes I would still be in a large deficit eating at 200 calories over what MFP gives me. When I had my body comp test done in Feb my BMR was 1984 calories a day and I would guess this shift on an average day I have been walking close to 5km a day in heavy steel toed work boots, coveralls and through the sand so I am definitely burning more calories then my BMR. The issue that I am facing is when I get home its summer holidays and I really do plan on indulging, often over-indulging while I am at the lake. I want to get rid of as much fat as possible while I'm here so that after summer is over I don't have so far to go when I pick this all up again.
Oh yes, I stepped on the scale this morning and even with the crazy amount of sodium that are in the fajitas I made it is still trending downwards.0 -
@50extra Sounds like a plan! You'll be at the lake before you know it!
Way to go on meeting your goals and that's awesome that the scale is trending downward!0 -
So yesterday I had some wins and some losses.
I will start with the losses. It didn't seem like I could curb my hunger at the end of the day yesterday. I wasn't snacking on bad food but still just couldn't get to the point where I didn't feel really hungry. Tried drinking coffee and drank 2 liters of water and waited, still hungry. Ate a protein bar and waited, still hungry. Ate some turkey jerky and waited, still hungry. Then I even ate my dinner earlier than normal and was still hungry but my belly was full. To top it off I went to bed at around 11:30 and at close to 1am I still was wide awake because my stomach was growling so I got up and had an apple and a hard boiled egg. So I ended up eating over 2000 calories but luckily I did workout.
That brings me to the wins from yesterday. I threw in T25 Alpha Lower Focus, the same disc that I attempted a couple days ago because my legs started to pull and was able to complete it this time. I did end up going slower than the people on the screen but I did all 25 minutes of it and was pretty happy about it. Afterwards I was feeling like the man and put in another T25 DVD and quit after 3 minutes haha, needless to say I didn't log that. Knowing I had over ate I drug myself onto the bike and was able to get in 28 minutes before I was too sweaty, tired and sore to keep going. This put me into a calorie deficit for the day, unfortunately the scale is up right now, and I mean up from my weigh in 4 days ago. I'm sure there's something going on that will sort itself out by monday and my next weigh in.
And since my knee is still super sore I did what any reasonable, computer savvy man would do. I logged onto the ole' google machine and self diagnosed. Really who needs doctors these days anyways? Dr. Jeff has diagnosed the knee problem to be a tight IT band. There are a ton of exercises on the net to help with this and I figure it can't hurt to try and see if anything makes it better.
Well that's all for now!1 -
The problem with my knee is similar to a tight IT band, but it's more like weakness on the inside of my thighs so my kneecap slides to the outside. Unfortunately, mine's been going on so long I have bits of arthritis in my knees - don't let it go that long. I try to strengthen those inside muscles (you might want to focus there as well) along with stretches for the IT band (which is trickier than it sounds). You can get specific knee braces that keep your kneecap from sliding outwards. You should also use heat or ice (whichever feels better - I personally prefer ice) before and after working out. Then, when you're done with your workout, gently massage the IT band (go along the fibers - up and down the leg) to help loosen it. You might find a rolling pin helps you get even pressure along your leg and helps not tire out your hands. Careful with the rolling pin though, sometimes it's harder than expected. Start gently and add pressure slowly. Then ice/heat and Aleve/Ibuprofen to help any swelling or pain. This is what we did in my PT for my bad knees - hopefully it helps you some.
Sounds like you had a rough day, but it also sounds like you really conquered it! One day of hunger - and we all get those from time to time - won't be enough to throw you off, especially when you show the determination you show in your exercise. Way to go! 0 -
Increasing your exercise will cause glycogen and water to be stored in your muscle fibers, so don't worry too much about a few pounds of water weight on the scale, it's just your muscles adapting to the increase in activity and preparing for more future activity!!!0
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I hate when I can't satisfy my hunger. I know how that is and it sucks.
Way to go on getting your workouts in!
I hope you find something that helps with the knee. (If not then it may be time to get it checked out.)0 -
@WifiresGettingFit I will be buying the two tennis ball massage thing as well as a large foam roller and a travel sized foam roller when I get home this trip. I figure even if it doesn't help my knee it will still be useful for rubbing out other sore muscles.
@tcunbeliever The problem with the weight gain is that is the first time since I started this that I seen the scale shoot up like that. I am chalking it up to the fact that I have eaten fajitas with TONS of salt in it for three days straight, today is the fourth and final day.
So last night I got home from work and was already in a bit of a funk. It poured rain here yesterday, I got in a argument with the wife, and the scale was being very, very uncooperative. When I say uncooperative I mean I was over four pounds up since Tuesday. I haven't seen a gain like that since I started MFP and really it stole my enthusiasm. So while I was laying on my bed I started googling stuff again and just for laughs I decided to drink as much water as I could to see what it did for my water retention. I think I got about 2.7 liters down from 8:30 - 12am. And believe it or not, I woke up almost 5 pounds lighter than I went to bed. Its crazy and I had no idea that the body can hold on to and get rid of that much water that fast. My weight is now back to where it should be and right on schedule.
I'm pretty sure that I won't be able to complete the amount of exercise I was hoping to do this month but there should be no reason that I can't come close. Also I am sure that I will fail at my calorie goal too but that isn't a bad thing. I set a really lofty goal to start with and I am still going to come as close as I can but its nice to see after 7 months I am still learning. I had no idea how much sodium affects body weight, and truthfully it blows me away.
I fully expect to be heavy when I get home tonight again, but I'll do my best to drink a ton of water and flush out my system so that Mondays weigh in is accurate.
Oh yeah, yesterday during work I decided that even though I hate them, I should start doing some pushups. I managed to get 50 in (not in a row, 5 sets of 10) and man are my shoulders sore today. Last time I slimmed down my normal morning routine every morning was 5 sets of pushups but i went 50,40,30,20,10 and I had real nice defined shoulders and was starting to get a nice chest. My wife used to melt over them but sadly I let all that slip away. So that is something that I am going to try and work on every two days until I'm not sore in the mornings and can start doing them more often.
Well I hope everyone has a great weekend, remember to do something enjoyable. I'm on day 19 in a row of 13 hours a day of work and don't get the opportunity to enjoy much on the weekends. But that's my pout for the day!1 -
ok first of all the nurse in me has to smack you on the bum for consulting Dr Google. He's a bit dodgy and if you don't watch yourself you can go from sore knee to clinically dead in 3 clicks. However I won't lecture.
Now if your problem is a tight ITB, you need to get yourself a roller and check out ITB exercises and do them after EVERY workout. Sister Kell says....lol.
As for the dramatic increase in weight i see a number of causes most of which have been mentioned. The fajitas with a tonne of salt totally can increase your water weight, you're doing exercise as @tcunbeliever says and also said exercise may be exacerbating the knee. When an area of your body is inflammed it floods the area with water as a protective measure to try and prevent further damage. Hence swelling on a sprained ankle etc.....
now after all that I will step off my soapbox. Dust off my hands and wish you and awesome weekend and much flushing out of fluids....cheers0 -
@Kell2912 haha Kell you crack me up! I think you should have lectured him! I would have enjoyed reading that. =P
@50extra I've heard lots of good things about foam rolling so I think that's a wise investment. I hope it helps!
That's a lot of water. I imagine you were peeing a lot. haha
As long as you do what you can and do your best, it's all you can do and you're doing great!
Ugh, those are long work days. The fact that you do any exercise when you're home is dedication! Sucks that you don't get to enjoy your weekend but you'll be at your happy place before you know it! (Only two weeks away!) I hope the time goes fast for you!0 -
@Kell2912 I appreciate your concern about going to the doctors! I will be landing at home on a Thursday evening and hope to be back in the city Friday morning to buy a roller. And the fluids have officially been flushed! I will explain below.
@WifiresGettingFit The long days are tough and are pretty much explainable to people. I used to work a ton when I was working in Canada, a typical week was 12 hours a day Monday to Thursday, 9 hours on Friday and then 6 on Saturday but this is like nothing else. It really is every single day, picked up at 7 dropped off at 8-830. It wears on you but the pros outweigh the cons for right now. I am so close to getting out of here, 8 more days of work!
So last night I got home and got changed into my workout clothes.... Then my interpreter asked me if I wanted to watch UFC 200 and I did. So the fights were over at 11 or so and I even had my mind made up to not do any exercise. I was only a couple hundred calories over my limit and was happy with the food I had eaten. Then I remembered today was weigh in day and I didn't want to be disappointed. So I hopped on the bike and didn't finish until after midnight. Regardless to say I'm "Procaffienating" today. (Seen that on my facebook wall a couple weeks ago and it seems to fit. It means that I am not doing much until I get my daily dose of caffeine)
The hard work over the past two weeks has surely paid off! Although I didn't tell anyone on here, when I landed in Siberia on June 27 I was actually 225 pounds. I refused to use that as my weigh in and only clocked in 221. This morning I was 214.8 pounds! That means that I have officially lost all of the weight I put on and am back down to basically my lowest weight in years. I had a weigh in on my home scale on June 14 that said I was 214.2 but then within a couple days I had gained like 11 pounds so I think it was lying to me. I feel great about it. If I don't screw up for the next week I will be leaving here very, very close to the overweight BMI from Obese. I want to take some progress photos when I get into the overweight and I am hoping that I get there before my trip is over but it's going to take another week just like the last one.
Now for the bad news...
My left knee is killing me again from the 1.5 T25 workouts. I am very certain in is the IT band because I can physically feel it up my leg and its rock hard and feels stretched when comparing it to the right side. And to make things worse, my right ankle is messed up again. It's swollen, and the top of my right foot hurts and is swollen. As i mentioned @WifiresGettingFit don't you hate it when our overweight selves fight back against this weight loss!!!!!
I'm so close to dropping a BMI category and that was one of my major goals, I want to hit it so bad.
So that's where I stand as of today!0 -
@50extra I would be so miserable with that schedule, not to mention being away from family at the same time. I hope those 8 days go fast!
Different scales will give you different results, same thing would happen if you moved your scale to a different location. That's why they always say to pick one scale and one location and then of course weigh in at the same time under the same circumstances. (I know in your situation you have to do it that way but just for future info that's probably why there is such a difference in weight.)
That's awesome that you're down to an all time low! Great job!
I'm worried that you are having these problems again with your knee and ankle. Try taking a rest day and icing and elevating them when you get home. It may be an overuse injury or it could be something else entirely. It isn't always about weight though but I understand the frustration.0 -
@WifiresGettingFit I have no choice for the scales. I bought two of the same ones from the same store at the same time and that is the closest that I can get. I am hoping that my knees and ankles isn't a sign to come. I know I abused my body for a long time but at 32 feel that I am too young to be having permanent problems. They didn't start to ache until this year really when I started working out again. I know that just resting won't fix them. I basically took three months off before this shift into Russia and then they automatically started to hurt again. Irritating to say the least but i will get over it.
So last night I did nothing in the way of watching what I ate or exercise. Looking back on my last few years I find it funny that I said I didn't watch what I ate. My overages were from an orange, an apple and some popcorn. I have been thinking about it more and more and after this shift I have to raise my calorie allotment. I can stick to the 1470 no problem for about 2 weeks and then it gets harder and harder. I ate 2000 last night and that is an amount that I could stick to long term. In my past life that would have been two pieces of toast with cheese whiz and a can or alphaghetti, or a huge bowl of sugar crisp, or half a bag of taco chips with sour cream, cheese and salsa. In the big scheme of things an extra apple and an orange isn't going to hurt.
With just over a week left I will not be hitting my goal of "overweight" before I leave I don't think. I will put it out there now, my goal for summer holidays is to stay within 5 pounds of my summer starting weight. That will be a huge success considering I have gained 18 pounds in 14 days there before. Eat eat eat, drink drink drink, every single day. 5 pounds in over three weeks would be a blessing.
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@50extra Yeah I know. That's why I said (I know in your situation you have to do it that way but just for future info that's probably why there is such a difference in weight.)
I would say that if you've rested them for 3 months and it didn't help, something is going on whether it be exercise related or something else. Pain isn't something to ignore or get over. I don't want to be the annoying person that keeps mentioning getting it checked out but I'm going to be the annoying person that tells you to get it checked out. You could be causing permanent damage and damage has no age requirement so yes, at 32 you could still have or be causing permanent damage.
I think since you've posted this, you've already raised your calories. I hope it helps!0 -
@WifiresGettingFit I am going to ostrich my aches and pains for a little while and see if they go away. I know its stupid but I'm not going into a doctor yet. If they don't go away I will go seek help. Until then, this message is the last that I will talk about it.
So yes, I upped my calories finally. 1470 isn't sustainable any more. I can stick to it for a couple weeks but then it is unbearable. Possibly in the future I will keep low cals for the start of my shift but will raise it half way through like I did last night.
On my body composition test I got done in February it stated that my BMR was 1984, and then last night I did two different BMR calculations and came out with 2072 and 1931. My new calorie goal is 1910 and that is supposed to give me a 1lb a week loss. Now remember I have my MFP set to sedentary and that isn't necessarily true all of the time. If this calorie count doesn't keep me losing I will raise it back to 1.5 a week.
Yesterday I was able to eat under my goal not including exercise (unfortunately today isn't going to look so pretty) and I did hop on the bike for 40 minutes. All in all a good day.
I live with my interpreter and he is a big man. We had a meeting today and I woke up late so I jumped out of bed and was making breakfast in my boxers knowing that we had a 4 hour drive ahead of us. He walked into the kitchen and his exact words were "You are so skinny now, how much have you lost 20% of your body weight?" It felt pretty good knowing that he thought I lost much more than I have and any compliment coming from a Russian is kinda cool. I know that I am no where near skinny as I am still "obese", I still have man boobs and I still have a TON of belly and back fat but it was a win to start the day.
That's it for today!1 -
@50extra Yeah I'm over talking about it too and it is stupid because it is very apparent that they aren't going away. Glad you will at least give the notion that you will seek help if they don't improve. I won't bring it up again.
I think that calorie amount will keep you losing (I don't see why it wouldn't), it seems like a reasonable number to me. Of course your results will be the tell all but it sounds like a good starting point.
Glad to hear you had a good day yesterday!
That sounds like a good start to the day, I hope the day continues that way! Keep us posted!
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I'll keep this short and sweet. Ate too much food, ate the wrong food, didn't exercise yesterday. Today's a new day.0
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Last night I killed it. I did eat more than I would have liked too but after an extremely grueling session of HIIT on the bike I couldn't sleep because my stomach was grumbling I was so hungry. Wolfed down some almonds and a peach and was able to get to sleep.
I downloaded an interval training app for my HIIT and it definitely helped me stay focused. I was able to do a nice warm up then 10 sets of 1 minute at 100% effort and 2 minutes of slow paced riding. Felt fantastic afterwards and definitely got my sweat on. Going to try and do HIIT on alternating days for the next couple as my body wouldn't be able to take it every night.
Need to go grocery shopping soon and make some food but it's pointless because I am moving apartments tomorrow I think and then I go home 2 days later. Until then I am going to survive on Eggs and fruit because thats what I got.
I'm hoping to post something positive like this again tomorrow!1 -
So I'm back and happy to report that yesterday was another successful day in my long road to healthy living. My new calorie goal has been much more enjoyable to eat on and a result of it is much more energy. Half of it is probably mental, just knowing that I can eat much more makes me less hungry. I have posted about this mental effect before when I would pre-log my meals, I always felt hungrier because my brain thought that I wasn't allowed to eat even though I still had my meals to eat, they had just been logged. I hope that run on sentence makes sense.
So I got home last night and for the first time, immediately jumped on the bike. I usually wait until 10 or 11 before I start my ride. But I CRUSHED a 40 minute ride, 30 of which was 1 on, 2 off HIIT at 100% for the on part and around 30% effort for the off part. I truly believe HIIT is the way to go for fat loss, it's too bad that my body can't take it every day. I even got a message at 35 minutes that I set a new personal calorie burn. It's calculated off of my heart rate monitor and the more I ride the longer I am able to get my heart rate up. I think I hit 172 or 173 bpm last night.
This morning before work I moved apartments. I was able to get all of my stuff moved over but I have to set up tonight. The only downfall of the new place is I don't have a balcony in my bedroom to ride anymore. This means that I will have to do it right inside my bedroom. I already know its going to be stupid hot in there and my room is always going to smell like a gym, but these are the sacrifices that need to be made
Something that sucks from today is when I was lifting my bike into the back of a truck I pinched something in my back. Its pretty tight but won't stop me from getting my last cardio session done tonight. Tomorrow night will be a day off from training and most likely an overage on eating. We are going to a BBQ and there's no way that I will want to ride after gorging on pork! I fly on Tuesday morning so there won't be a workout then either.
My final weigh in for this trip is tomorrow. I am hoping to show around a 2 pound loss since last week but I don't really know. I haven't been weighing each morning.
I'm looking forward to posting about everything in the morning!0 -
Well my Monday morning weigh in went fantastic. I actually knew it was going to be good and even decided last night to watch movies and eat buttery popcorn instead of riding my bike.
I stepped on the scale this morning to see 211.2lbs. At 5'10.5" this drops me to 29.9 BMI and right into the top end of overweight! It was a goal that I was hoping to hit at the start of June but after my three months off it took me just over a month and a half longer than that. My best guess is the last time I was 211 was mid/late 2010 so it feels pretty damn fine.
I promised myself that I would take some progress/comparison photos when I was down to the overweight category but since my new apartment doesn't have any big mirrors I will just wait until I get home and have my wife take them. I'm excited to see the difference between the two because just looking at myself it is really hard to see. I don't think I feel that much different but after 30 pounds I have to look a bit. I think my last photos were at 219 or something.
So as I already mentioned I am done working out for this shift in Siberia. It is my last night, I leave for the airport at 4am tomorrow, and we are going to go out for some dinner tonight. A couple of the guys want to have some beers so we might not go to the BBQ vendor because they don't serve it. Either way I am going to treat myself to something tasty but will not be indulging in beer. I promised myself that my next beer will be at the lake and I meant it.
Its kind of early to say this right now, but my ultimate goal for summer holidays will be to stay the same weight as I am right now. I will be fine with putting on 5 pounds in the 3-3.5 weeks I will be down there though. Anywhere in that range and I will consider it a success.
I'm in a pretty fine mood right now because of this weigh in. I sure hope that I don't go stagnant on working out and eating like I did last time I was home!!!0 -
Glad the extra calories are helping, you seem to be on the right track now and sticking to your plan for the most part, that's awesome! Way to go on meeting your goal! Safe travels!0
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I'm happy for your loss. Sorry to hear about your injuries. I am also coming back from a bad couple of months. I am going to settle down now and get back to work.0
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@50extra It's been a while since I've seen anything from you, how did your vacation go? How have you been doing?0
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Hey Kayla, I'm back in Siberia now, landed here at about 3:40am today. By the time I got to the apartment it was 4:30, I unpacked and crawled into bed around 5. At 5:20 I decided there was no use going to sleep for an hour and 10 minutes so I got up and rode the bike for 35 minutes or so and burned off 400 calories. I am super proud of this because that is after being awake for something like 32 hours minus the 2 hours of sleep I got flying from Frankfurt to Moscow.
Summer holidays was fantastic but it flew by. My time down at the lake was fantastic and three weeks felt like no more than a couple of days. My little girl absolutely loved it and seemed like she developed a ton while we were down there. I wish I could spend all summer camping but this stupid thing called working keeps getting in the way.
So, other than yard work I didn't really get any exercise for the last month. I'm good with that even though I have a few (okay, maybe a few more than a few) extra pounds to show for it. As far as I am concerned every single bit of weight I put on was well worth it. I will start my weekly weigh ins on Monday and will continue to do them while I am here. I'm looking forward to getting back into posting on a Monthly progress tracker. (Kayla, I will give you my opinion on starting an ongoing one after i finish up with this message)
Hmmm what else... Oh yeah I got my weight room closer to being done, all I need now is a new TV, drywall, more lights, a couple plugins and two walls full of mirrors and it will be good to go. I will post a picture of it from my phone after this message. One thing that excites me is my wife and I have friends that moved in down the block and she is all over starting to lift. Hopefully they can start stronglifts 5x5 while I'm here!
Looking forward for this shift
I am in Siberia until September 21st and I plan on making the most of the time while I am here. As I normally do I am going to set a ridiculous goal and try to meet it. I hope to be flirting with 200 pounds by the end of this shift. I am not too sure how much weight I would have to lose to get there because it will take a couple days to drop the extra water I get from flying so much. I'm not saying that I will be 200 but I am going to work at getting as close to it as I can.
How am I going to get there?
I decided that since my knee isn't hurting and both of my feet feel okay, its time to start Insanity. If anyone reading this doesn't know what that it, do a quick search on the internet and its supposed to be stupid hard. I don't believe I will be able to start it tonight because I will be too tired by the end of the day but if not I will start it tomorrow and continue with it for as long as my body holds up. My fall back plan if I get hurt again is to hit the bike.
I will make some nutrition and exercise goals in a day or two so that's it for now. Looking forward to getting back at this for another month!0 -
Here is the start of my home gym0
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