Still Fighting the Good Fight

For those of you (like me) who have been waiting for me to fall off the wagon- the breaking news is I haven't done it yet.  Over the last week I have lost another two pounds and am now down to 216 (that's 33 pounds vanished back into the totality of the material energy not including my body).  It is getting harder now.  I went through the 220's relatively fast but it feels like I have now entered into the vast intermediate zone.  I could get complacent now but I feel determined not to.  Besides the regular cardio-activity, the anaerobic regimen has worked like a charm.  I highly recommend it to anyone.  I started the weight-lifting on February 16, and now after a little more than a month-and-a-half I have gotten to the point of being open to going to the beach and walking around without my shirt on.  I feel I am now somewhat presentable and no longer the Blubber-man-Gargs that I once was.  Besides losing the weight, the weight-lifting has toned my body after only 15 total sessions.  To get an idea of how I've progressed, I will submit a little chart below reflecting each anaerobic exercise, the date I started it, the weight I started at and how much I am lifting now.  Each weight represents about 12 to 18 repetitions per session.  All those repetitions takes about one minute to complete:

Leg Extension-  start date: 2/16, starting weight: 80 pounds, present weight: 170 pounds

Leg Curl- start date: 2/16, starting weight: 80 pounds, present weight: 202 pounds

Pullover-  start date: 2/16, starting weight: 60 pounds, present weight: 106 pounds

Arm Cross-  start date:  2/16, starting weight: 60 pounds, present weight: 128 pounds

Chest Press- start date: 2/16, starting weight: 80 pounds, present weight: 146 pounds

Lateral Raise- start date: 2/16, starting weight: 60 pounds, present weight: 80 pounds

Overhead Press- start date: 2/16, starting weight: 100 pounds, present weight: 122 pounds

Bicep- start date: 2/16, starting weight: 80 pounds, present weight: 104 pounds

Tricep- start date: 2/16, starting weight: 60 pounds, present weight: 96 pounds

Ab Isolator- start date: 2/21, starting weight: 46 pounds, present weight 92 pounds

Torso Rotation- start date: 2/21, starting weight: 46 pounds, present weight: 124 pounds

Lumbar Strength- start date: 2/24, starting weight: 60 pounds, present weight: 158 pounds

I know this is not a huge amount of weight to lift for a grown man but you have to consider that although I excelled in sports as a teenager, I was also pretty much a nine-stone weakling with knobbily knees, as the Kink's song goes.  At the same time, I don't want to end up resembling one of those torqued-out bug-eyed freaks of nature cranked up on testosterone who look like someone stuck a knife in their back and kept twisting until they had a really bad attitude and a real scary look.  Anyway, the results have been coming for me including improved tone, posture, strength, speed, endurance, digestion, fat-burning etc, etc.  

The regular lifting along with the regular cardio and watching what I eat has been working well for me thus far and I see no reason to change anything.  I do want to add some stretching at some point, though.    A lot of  fat has fallen off my face, and mid section.  My chest has held onto the disgusting stuff the longest.  The two key words for me are patience and enthusiasm.  I have to keep it up.

Shyam's knee cap popped out during soccer practice on Thursday and then quickly popped back into place.  A similar thing happened to him when he was a sophomore in high school. I brought him to a specialist then who found no structural damage and he was out playing a game two days later.  It took about two weeks for him to get back to full strength.  Hopefully, this latest mishap, a little more than three years later, will also heal quickly and not be any kind of tear in his ligaments.

Radha and I went to the Santa Fe Art Show yesterday and I was impressed with a lot of the work.  Vrn had a painting on display which I thought was very good.  Leela also had one featured in the show as well.  I'm surrounded by artists- my brother is a great artist, my nephew Kavi is good, as is Shyam and Radha.  I pretty much suck but I would like to get into it just as therapy.  In the mean time, I have been reading a lot of poetry and will try to incorporate some new styles into my own endeavors.  

Wednesday at the downtown farmer's market, I  ran into Tulasi-priya and she suggested a writer's group as well as a poetry reading group I could go to regularly.  I am interested but think it will have to wait for the fall when my traveling is done. I hung out for about three hours with A.V. there and it was fun.  He was selling herbs and I helped him out a little and talked to some of the customers. It felt almost like I had a store again.