Day Twenty-One

Workout: 9am
—Today was an Arms Day—

(click image to enlarge)
~Side Lateral Dumbbell Raises - (Deltoids) - 20lbs. Resistance (each arm) - 3 Sets of 15 Repetitions
~Dumbbell Kickbacks - (Triceps) - 20lbs. Resistance (each arm) - 3 Sets of 15 Repetitions
~Preacher Curls - (Biceps) - 20lbs. Resistance (each arm) - 3 Sets of 15 Repetitions
~Wrist Curls - (Extensors and Flexors) - 20lbs. Resistance (each arm) - 3 Sets of 15 Repetitions

Breakfast: 8am
1 Orange-Everyday-Defense/Banana-Energy-Charge Visalus Shake

Mid-Morning: Nothing.

Lunch: 12noon
1 Chocolate-Covered-Cherry Visalus Shake

Mid-Afternoon: 3pm
1/2 lb. Turkey Breast (w/Frank’s Red Hot “Wings” Sauce & Blue Cheese Dressing)
12oz. Water

Evening: 6pm
3 Scrambled Eggs (w/Christopher’s Famous Hella-Salsa)
1 cup Steamed Asparagus Spears (w/Butter Sauce)
12oz. Water

State of Being:
Pretty good day.

Last night, I made a pretty big decision that I’d like to share. I’d been talking with a friend of mine about Diet Cola and it’s effects on you whence trying to lose weight. Now, for the record, I don’t know which way I am actually leaning on Diet Cola, nor on aspartame. Does diet pop cause synaptic degeneration in brain-cells? Will mixing Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi create a portable, liquid form of weapons-grade yellow-cake uranium? I have no idea. There is just so much information going both ways out there, that I don’t know.

I Love Diet Cola, Diet Mountain Dew and Diet Sunkist Orange. Love ‘em!

Now, I’ve had access to diet pop off and on for the last month or so, (in other words the time in which I’ve been losing weight.) I only get the chance to do any grocery shopping toward the beginning of a given month and I load up on everything during that one trip. So, for the first couple weeks of a month, I tend to burn through my store of Diet Coke. (I only drink Caffeine Free, because I’ve gotten kidney stones before, and my doctor told me that, not just caffeine, but specifically caffeine *from pop* is one of the main culprits in the formation of stones.) Anyway, at the store I usually buy like ten 2 ltr Bottles of Caffeine Free Diet Coke and I drink about 1 to 2 ltrs per day.

I realized earlier today that I hadn’t been logging in what I drink during any of my meals, so far. I honestly don’t know why. I just tend to focus more on the food, rather than the beverage, I guess. But, as you can see in today’s food-log, above, I have started keeping track of what I’m drinking with meals, as well. In spite of this weird unconscious lapse in my previous record-keeping habits, let me just say that today is the first day in a while that my beverage with dinner wasn’t 12 to 24 or even 36oz of Diet Coke.

My friend Karen was telling me that she’d read that the artificial sweeteners they use in Diet Pop can slow or even stop weight loss in people who are trying to lose weight. Now, she’s someone who knows a TON more about food and nutrition than I do. So, after that conversation, I hopped online (and by “hopped” I mean,… dragged my end-of-the-day tired-as-hell carcass in front of my computer while struggling to stay focused,) and looked into it. As per usual, after about ten rounds of going back and forth between people screaming to the pro and other people screaming to the con, each participant with a string of official-looking letters after their names, I once again threw-up my hands and found something far more productive to do with my time, like staging a battle/chase-scene between Noggin and the little red-dot produced by my laser-pointer.

But,… as I said before, I made a pretty big decision last night, after all of that. I went into my kitchen, opened my fridge, where I still had about five 2 ltr bottles of Diet Coke left for December, and proceeded to pour them out, one-by-one into the drain of the kitchen sink.

(If this results in my kitchen sink experiencing temporary difficulty shedding unwanted pounds, developing synaptic degeneration or causes it to be haunted by verbose spirits from the ninth-ring of hell, I do apologize.)

I’d rather err on the side of caution, even if it means giving up something that I enjoy. For all I know, my weight-loss in the last couple weeks may have been slowed since I’ve had diet pop again,… and believe me I’ve been drinking lots of it.

I usually run out of Diet Coke around the 20th or so, of a given month. So,… in the twelve days between my 615-pound weigh-in and my 605-pound weigh-in, I’d only had pop for about the last two days. So, I hope (if the theory is correct) that I haven’t had too much of a negative impact on my weight loss since then.

Ah well, two weeks until my next weigh-in and, as of last night I am pop-free for the next couple years, at least. So, if I did slow or stop my weight-loss over the last couple weeks, that will certainly disappoint me, but it’s not going to be the case from here on out, and I will be keeping track of and reporting every liquid I consume as well. I promise.

Also, I did THIS! Check it out!

See you tomorrow!

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P.S.: If you get the chance at some point tonight, take a moment to reflect and direct your positive thoughts and your Love to the victims and families of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Connecticut.

I’ll be keeping them in my prayers.




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