Days 2-6. The first test

Well this weekend I went to Granada and Jaén. Both are famous for tapas. Jaén is famous for their olive oil. Exercise consisted of a lot of walking (except for Thursday, Day 2, where I ran for 3.5 km) and push ups. I needed to take a break one day from push ups because I was quite sore and now I can do the push ups without any soreness. I realized that if I was doing 50 pushups twice a day and that I weigh 100 kilograms then I was lifting 10,000 kgs a day in push ups (22,000 lbs!) so I think my arms needed a break.

I didn't eat a lot of bread or carbs this weekend, very little in fact, as most of the tapas were meat. I think lean cooked pork and chicken is healthy and contributes to my program. It normally comes in small amounts too. I also think the copious amounts of olive oil that I consumed might have helped. My skin feels softer and has a nice gleam to it (the joke today at school was that I was sweating olive oil).

I am eating smaller portions too, letting other people eat the last bite, the last slice, the last spoonful. I am skipping the normal tortilla de patata that I eat at school, as well as butter and other stuff like that. Hell, I even had a salad for dinner.

I'll weigh myself tomorrow or Wednesday to see if I am making a dent or just being stagnant. Let's hope not.

Day 1: March 23rd. The Battle Begins

Day one of my weight expedition.

All seems lost.

S.O.S.

Just kidding.

My weight to start the day was 100.7 kilograms or 222 pounds. Not bad. So that would make my goal 202 pounds by May 1st (or 91 kilograms).

50 push ups to start the morning. Man has it been a while. I think I felt my shoulder pop out of place. Note to self: Do more push ups.

No coffee today. That comes with milk and sugar. Had a tea instead. No toast today with butter today. I had a mollete (a typical roll from this area) with about a teaspoon of olive oil and pureed tomato.

Lunch was stir fried vegetables with a pineapple chili sauce. With no rice. :(

Dinner was tomato herb soup. With no bread. :(

I know this doesn't sound like the El Ben Finch diet. That normally sounds like ham with beef covered in gravy and BBQ sauce right? We'll see if it can continue or if I just waste away.

2.6 Mile (4.3 kilometers) run and power walk around Arcos with hills and stairs. Tiring as fuck.

Crazy day. It will be even more difficult tomorrow with the fact that I am going to Granada and will be at work and then in a car and then in a bus from 9 AM - 8 PM.

The Beginning

So while looking through some old pictures the other day, it hit me. I used to be in shape and deadddd sexy. Not that I am not now, I would just like to be at a manageable weight. You know be healthier in general.

A lot of jokes have been made at my weight in the last 3 years or so. Mostly innocent, mostly by me (some by Melody Almroth...hahaha ). But you know, for someone with as much confidence as myself (full to the brim), stuff like that slowly erodes away at self esteem and all those gooey weird "feeling" things I keep on hearing about.

I don't want to get stick thin, nor do I feel that I am too fat right now (I ain't sumo-ing? yet), I just want to get back into this shape.

Although I look fantastic in this picture (and now as well), that was taken in September of 2007. I think I was down to about 190. For some people that seems like a lot but I have always been tall and thick. I have been rolling (pun intended) in around 220-230 for some time now, and yes, a lot of that is muscle, but some of it ain't.

So my goal: to lose 20 pounds in 40 days.

Methods:

Eating smaller portions.

Eating more vegetables and fruits.

Cutting out large portions of carbs.

Running at least a mile a day or playing a sport for 30 minutes continuously (teaching P.E. doesn't count but it helps).

50 push ups in the morning and 50 at night. (no sit ups, they hurt my back)

Obstacles:

Laziness.

Lots of traveling coming up.

More laziness.

Beer.

And...

Laziness.

So on this blog I will be posting daily to see if I can do it. Keeping you all up to date on the exercise I am doing, what I am eating, and my results.

So tune in and if you want, tag along.

Conquering the world, one person at a time- El Ben Finch