I've continued exercising and eating moderately.
In the last 4 months i've lost another 10 lbs or so -- I'm down to about 185 despite getting stronger.
Strength
I can squat 215 lbs, deadlift 250, bench press 140, and barbell row 140. I stopped doing the overhead press because i have a bad shoulder. I lift maybe 1.8 times per week -- I shoot for two but sometimes stuff gets in the way. I've also started doing planks trying to improve my core strength. In classes when we do core stuff I do very, very badly.
Cardio
I wound up running that 5k at Thanksgiving, and with a younger member of the family involved it wasn't a very aggressive pace, so i did fine. It'd been about a month since I'd done any other cardio, so on Tuesday I did a Spin class -- it was super hard. Today I went jogging and did 2.8 miles in about 26:12. Not blazing, but I was pleased. I need to give this some more attention.
Weight
I'd still like to drop a little more weight -- i've still got some love handles. I'd been targeting 185, but now that I'm pretty much there I think i'll stay the course for 180 and see how it goes.
Diet
On good, well-disciplined days, I eat:
- Breakfast: two eggs with cheese over a giant handful of spinach (wilted with butter in a pan).
- Lunch: container of jerk or blackened chicken, container broccoli, apple, yogurt with berries.
- Dinner: chicken, grain (rice, quinoa, couscous, pasta), vegetable (usually broccoli).
The meals are satisfying, but i do find myself wanting snacks between. Being at work away from food is good for avoiding that.
I cheat a good bit -- on Wednesdays I eat lots of carbs and dessert (dinner at church) and on weekends I cheat extremely. It's a lot of chicken, which is expensive and hard on the wife to constantly cook. It's a lot of broccoli, but it's cheap and easy and i like it.
Trajectory
The diet feels fairly sustainable, I'm not that miserable. The exercise takes a lot of time, but I don't hate it and want it to work out. As work demands more time I may need to become one of those morning exercise people, but that sounds awful.
