Relaxing Family Weekend

This weekend was a great stress relief and gave me a good recharge from a long painful week. I didn’t really have time to worry about work or anything as my family was in town to see the new little one.

We started out the weekend with a great free meal of Giordanos stuffed pizza followed up with some ice cream. On Saturday I started the day working out with my sister-in-law doing a great 45 minute circuit training workout. We then took the whole clan out to the mall during a rainy Chicago day. We would’ve rather taken them to the park or played around the yard but mother nature wasn’t cooperating.

While we were at the mall I tried on some new jackets and did actually pick up a new one. I’m still not quite at the point where I can drop into any store and pick up something but I’m certainly closer. I managed to find a 2XL jacket that looked pretty good on me and was dirt cheap (50% off). The cheap part was important as I plan to donate this jacket in the fall when I’m buying a smaller one and don’t feel like tossing money into the wind.

On Saturday night we grabbed some groceries and my sister-in-law and I made the Eggplant & Tomato Cheesy Spaghetti from a few weeks back in the 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life book I gave away. I think everyone enjoyed it … either that or they choked it down since they all cleaned their plates.

I spent some time this weekend talking with my sister-in-law about how I’ve been losing the weight and what changes I’ve made. It’s easy to get confused about food and exercise now days, especially with a million different options and opinions in play. All I tried to do is share what’s been working for me and offer some suggestions, hopefully it helped some … only time will tell. I also set her up with an iPod Touch I wasn’t using and started her on LoseIt to help track her workout and nutrition information. I told her if she doesn’t use it I’ll have to repossess the device, hopefully that’s some added motivation.

Sunday we were up bright and early and got another great workout in. This time we did a different circuit training workout and really pushed it. After that we had a great breakfast and then they hit the road. About mid day everyone in our house was asleep from the weekend fun and I was sitting on the couch relaxing and writing this.

Goals Met

I’m happy to report that all of my goals for this weekend were met.

• Eat On Track — I was able to eat on track and not stray to far from my schedule. The only thing resembling straying was eating out for lunch at Stir Crazy since the portion sizes are kinda big there. I unfortunately was kinda stressed from a melting down kid and I was very hungry since I didn’t have meal #2 so I ate the whole thing. I guess the other thing that was a slight stray was we enjoyed some amazing scones that her family picked up from a bakery near Paducha Indiana. Other than that though I made great food choices and stuck to my usual plan.
• Workout according to my usual schedule — My workouts were on track and with high intensity and I even had a partner this weekend.
• De-stress — As I said earlier I didn’t have time to stress out so it was pretty relaxing. We stayed up a bit late chatting but that always happens when we’re in town, we have to play catchup from not seeing each other in a while. All in all it was great to see them though and helped relieve some of my stress.

Last Weeks Sweat Stats

Monday, Evening (45 min)

5 min warmup, 20 min of step and then 20 min of circuit training. This was my first workout in almost 10 months with my wife. It was nice to have someone to workout with again and I can’t wait until she’s 100% and able to workout more.

Tuesday, Morning (35 min)

35 min lower body weight training.

Wednesday, Morning (20 min)

2 min warmup and then 20 min of circuit training.

Thursday, Day Off

Nothing today, it was an off day.

Friday, Morning (30 min)

2 min warmup and then 28 min of circuit training.

Saturday, Morning (45 min)

5 min warmup and then 40 min of circuit training. I worked out this morning with Christina using the The Biggest Loser Last Chance Workout DVD. This one is getting easier and easier for me to do. I still sweat like crazy but I’m finally able to do all of the exercises on the advanced level. The only time I have trouble is when pushups are pushed to the middle or end of a workout after my muscles are already nuked.

Sunday, Morning (45 min)

5 min warmup followed by 40 min of circuit training. We changed it up and used the No More Trouble Zones DVD. We sweated a ton but we both made it through the workout alive.

• Circuits Are My Friend
• It Was A Very Exhausting Weekend
• Weekly Workout Roundup
• Weekly Workout Report
• Weekly Retrospective and Challenges