The picture is from last Friday, after a nice walk around the neighborhood to transition from the workweek to the weekend.

The next morning, my wife and I headed over to the hospital where our baby will be delivered to attend our birthing class. We sat in a room with 18 other couples and learned how to breathe and how to sit/stand/stretch to help ease some of the inevitable labor discomforts. I’m proud to say it was one of my favorite moments of the entire pregnancy so far. Not only was it fun to breathe with my wife and whisper goofy things to her in the middle of class to see if I could get her to laugh, but it also made me realize that our baby’s arrival is getting closer and closer. We’re really excited, and even though my weight loss isn’t happening as quickly as I’d hoped, I’m still sticking with it and staying focused on making small changes that will hopefully add up over time.

Today’s workout: I was back in the gym today working on my cardio. I completed 20 minutes on the elliptical on the intervals setting, followed by 22 minutes on the treadmill (12 minutes at 3.5 mph and 10 minutes at 4 mph). I finished up with three sets of two abs exercises (leg lifts and medicine ball twists).

This blister, which has steadily grown in size over the last four days, is a result of my failed attempt to put together baby furniture this weekend. Upon learning I acquired multiple blisters during the 45 minutes I wrestled with the most basic of construction tasks, my wife astutely pointed out, “I think you’re doing something wrong.”

Today’s workout: Another cardio day, consisting of 25 minutes on the elliptical on the intervals setting, followed by 22 minutes on the treadmill, alternating between walking for 2 minutes at 3.5 mph and jogging for 1 minute at (a new personal best) 4.5 mph.

This is my latest obsession. Unsweetened green tea. Great taste and zero calories (and from what I can gather, much better for me than Diet Coke!).

Today’s Workout: This morning was a quick “getting back in the swing of things at the gym” cardio day. 20 minutes on the elliptical on the intervals setting; followed by 22 minutes on the treadmill with intervals of walking 2 minutes at 3.5 mph and jogging 1 minute at 4 mph.

I’m not going to lie, the last week has been rough.

For a variety of reasons, including attending doctor’s appointments with my wife (which means hearing the baby’s heartbeat, which is always awesome!) and juggling some work deadlines, I haven’t been to the gym in a week. And while my eating hasn’t been completely terrible, it hasn’t been great, either. We ordered pizza one night. And we went out for dinner one night (I had sushi). And I indulged in some adult beverages over the weekend (which inevitably leads to late-night grazing).

So a few pounds have been gained. It stinks, but I’m not going to let it get me down. It’s a new week and a new day, and back on the horse I go!

I hope to make it to the gym this evening, tomorrow morning at the very least. And other than a lone evening of planned celebration later this month, I’m going to try to go booze-free for March.

Also, I attempted to put together a piece of baby furniture this weekend and quickly reminded myself how terrible I am at building things, so I’ll be calling in reinforcements in the next few days. Nine weeks (or less…yikes!) until the baby is here. Time to buckle down!

Things have been pretty hectic the last couple of days with work, a leaky hot water heater and some general ambiguity about our future living arrangements, but I’m trying not to feel too overwhelmed and just focus on eating right, getting to the gym and preparing for our daughter’s arrival (so much left to do!).

The gym was really busy this morning, so I was limited to just doing elliptical work for today’s cardio workout. I did 41 minutes on the elliptical on the intervals setting. It was a nice, challenging workout and a good way get the day started.

Here’s hoping the rest of the week is calmer the the first part has been!

Starting Weight (recorded 1/1/11): 326.4
Last Week’s Weight (2/5/11): 310
Current Weight (2/19/11): 309
Weekly Total: -1 lbs
Total Loss To Date: -17.4 lbs 

This week was spent undoing the damage of the previous week when I stumbled a bit, so I’m OK with a one pound loss. I’ve accepted that I’m not going to hit my goal of being out of the 300s by the end of February. It’s fine. I have to remember that I’m in this for the long haul, and even if the weight is coming off a little slower than I hoped, it’s still coming off nonetheless.

Here’s hoping for an even stronger performance in the week ahead.

I’ve known all week that today would to be an ultra-stressful day at work, so I wanted to finish off the week with a strong workout. Building on my momentum from Wednesday, I did my regular 30 minutes on the elliptical on the intervals setting.

Then it was on to the treadmill. On Wednesday, I added in 5 measly minutes of jogging to my normal 20-30 minute treadmill routine. Today, I upped the ante a bit and decided to do 31 total minutes, alternating between 2 minutes at 3.5 mph (a fast walk) and then 1 minute at 4 mph (a slow jog). So when all was said and done, the 30 minutes broke down to about 20 minutes at 3.5 mph and 11 minutes at 4 mph (I added an extra minute of jogging at the end before my cool down).

It was a great workout and, if my knees don’t ache between now and Sunday, I’m looking forward to pushing myself a little further next week.

Now, time to plug in for work and just get through this day. See you on the other side.

I’ve been going to bed earlier this week which means I’ve been getting up earlier most days. I like it. It gives me more time at the gym so I don’t feel rushed and I can focus on the task at hand.

Today’s task was 40 minutes of free weights, focusing on biceps, triceps and shoulders. A good workout overall, although my left arm is starting to frustrate me with how far behind it seems to be from my right arm (which is my dominant hand). Some of the exercises I do work both arms at once, and when the left arm gives out at 12 reps but the right arm could keep going for the full 15 reps, I feel like I’m cheating my right arm. My former (doughnut-eating) trainer said this is normal and that eventually the left arm would catch up. I hope so. Get with the program already, left arm!

After weights, I did three sets of two different abs exercises (rotating pike-ups and planks, including my first, perfect-form plank that I held for 35+ seconds). Then I finished up with 10 minutes on the elliptical on the intervals setting and 10 minutes on the treadmill at 3.5 mph.

It was a great workout and so far it’s been a great week of exercise and eating right. I’ve managed to undo nearly all of the damage I did with my “hiccup week” last week, so hopefully when I weigh-in on Saturday, I’ll see an overall loss from my last official weigh-in two weeks ago.

Today was my longest cardio session since I started recording my workouts on this blog: 66 minutes!

I started with 30 minutes on the elliptical on the intervals setting. I really focused on sprinting through the climbs today, as I’ve started to notice that I wasn’t being diligent about keeping my heart rate up throughout my workouts. That did the trick and I was breathing hard during most of the 30 minutes.

After that, I completed 36 minutes total on the treadmill. I did 31 minutes at 3.5 mph, and I threw in 5 minutes at 4 mph. The difference between 3.5 mph and 4 mph, for me, is the difference between a fast walk and a slow jog. This was the first time I really “ran” on the treadmill, so I wanted to start small to make sure I didn’t do something stupid like turn an ankle or kill my knees. Other than a little burning in my legs, the increase wasn’t that tough, so as long as my knees aren’t killing me tomorrow, I may start increasing the walking vs. running time during future treadmill sessions.

I’m excited to see how quickly I can add time at the increased speed!