More stuff

Broke the 90lb mark in weight loss as of this morning, I'm down 90.4lbs from December 30th, 2010 and down 40.4lbs from when I started up at the gym on July 11.  I was pretty happy to see the scale register with a new middle number in the weight, I can tell you that much.  I had plateaued more or less for most of October and was getting a little frustrated, but my workouts have been smoking for the last week and a half (even with the new equipment) and I've felt absolutely fantastic when leaving the gym.  There are a lot of benefits to being invested in a solid workout/diet regiment (obviously!), one of them being the effect it has on you mentally.  Fortunately with the good workouts I was able to avoid getting too down about the plateau.

Even with minimal weight loss I knew things were still progressing, as I've mentioned before my lifts were getting stronger in that I have been able to consistently increase both poundage and reps in moderation, and my clothes were getting looser.  With that in mind I knew that seeing minimal weight loss on the scale wasn't indicative of being successful, as it was clear I was building up heavier,denser muscle mass and not losing as much in weight with the lighter body fat.  Don't get me wrong, I'm no Arnold, but the changes are becoming more evident and less subtle now which is encouraging.

I think one thing that helped is I'm back on the L-carnitine after having been off it for most of October.  Its a bit pricey so right now I really can't afford to take it regularly; I'll buy about 2 weeks worth and then lay off it for a bit.  I'm not sure if this stuff is actually helping my body burn stored fat for energy this well or if its just helping me get rid of the extra water I've been storing up, but either way I'll take it.  I'm still doubtful that I can make my original weight goal by the December 31st, but with 8 weeks to go I think I can pull off another 10-12lbs in weight loss and that will still be a good thing.

I'm still trying to work out details about Thanksgiving with my son, but right now I don't think its going to happen.  The biggest problem is the 150 miles distance between us.  If he were local or at least closer then this wouldn't be an issue; visitation itself would be a breeze.  But it is what it is, and I don't want to risk him missing practice his senior year so unless his coach isn't scheduling practice the day after Thanksgiving (and I'm pretty sure they'll have practice) the earliest I can hope for visitation will be late February.  Considering he hasn't been up here since the last weekend in July that kind of sucks, but what are you going to do?  I'll drive out to see as many of his matches as I can and then go from there.