Hell Week is Over!

"Thai Shred" week one is done! According to my gym rat friend, the first week is always the hardest so finishing all of my planned workouts and eating healthfully should hopefully get easier from here. Not too much going on in my life today. I skipped work to play golf. My score is slowly improving and I think the workouts are helping. Going out tonight to celebrate my friend JC's 30th birthday at the Ritz...should be a fun night.

Day 6
Cardio - walk 18 holes (4 miles)

Meals (Cheat Day)
Breakfast - power bar and sugar free red bull
Morning snack (on-course) - Snickers
Lunch - Hot Dog
Afternoon snack/Dinner - Don't know yet.

Painful days, sleepless nights

So it's now day 5 of operation "Thai Shred" and my body is KILLING me. It seems that my muscles don't like that I just took a couple months off of lifting. Right now it is just a matter of getting through the first week which is almost over (thank God!). I'm also drinking a ton of water (nothing really new), but for some reason I can't make it through the night without waking up to use the bathroom. It's not a huge deal, just frustrating that I have to stumble through the dark to find the bathroom while trying not to fall over...

Nothing else new to report.

Day 4
Run 2.5 miles
Breakfast: Omelet with cheese, tomato, onion, mushroom, green peppers, and bacon with Turkey sausage and lowfat milk
Morning snack: 4 hard-boiled eggs
Lunch: tuna wrap and tomato salad
Dinner: baked ziti

Day 5
Legs and Abs
Breakfast: Omelet with cheese, tomato, onion, mushroom, green peppers, and bacon with Turkey sausage and lowfat milk
Morning snack: 3 hard-boiled eggs
Lunch: Tuna wrap with peas/carrots and broccoli
Afternoon snack: power bar
Dinner: Baked Ziti

New goals/expensive week

So this is going to be a quick maintenance post since I'm trying to stay with this whole blogging thing, but I'm insanely tired...

I've spent about $2500 in the last few days, but it was spent with the goal of bettering myself. I signed up for two Masters classes (more info to come on that in the next post) and had to buy a new laptop because it seems that my screen no longer wants to work:(

I started a new workout and diet plan this week aptly titled "Thai Shred" (by my workout buddy JC) and am in a ridiculous amount of pain. Basically the goal is to be "shredded," or as close to shredded as I can be, before my next beach vacation (not necessarily Thailand). Anyway, I plan on posting my workout progress as well as my boring diet details just so I can keep track of everything. I'm trying to do this the right way and healthily lose about 2 pounds per week while adding muscle. Daily details below...

Day 1
Chest/Back workout
Breakfast - Small omelet with cheese, tomato, and onion with a side of turkey sausage
Morning Snack - 4 hard boiled eggs
Lunch - chicken breast with broccoli
Afternoon/Post Workout Snack - Beef Jerky
Dinner - 2 Turkey Dogs, no bun and pringles (I cheated :p)


Day 2
Swim 1000m
Breakfast - Small omelet with cheese, tomato, and onion with a side of turkey sausage
Morning Snack - 4 hard boiled eggs
Lunch - chicken breast with broccoli
Afternoon/Post Workout Snack - Beef Jerky
Dinner - chicken breast with brown rice

Day 3 (Today)
Biceps, Triceps, and Shoulders
Breakfast - Small omelet with cheese, tomato, and onion with a side of turkey sausage
Morning Snack - 3 hard boiled eggs
Lunch - Steak wrap with cheese and summer squash
Afternoon/Post Workout Snack - Beef Jerky
Dinner - Salsa chicken breast with brown rice

Early Xmas Shopping

I finally got some much needed sleep last night. I took a nap before dinner, after dinner during a movie, and climbed into bed around 9:30 and didn't wake up until about 8:30 this morning. I don't know how long it has been since I've had that much sleep in a single night.

I got the majority of my Christmas shopping done today. I figured I might as well buy everything while I was home instead of last minute ordering everything on Amazon or paying shipping charges to send it from the Middle East.

I'm off to St. Louis tomorrow morning. Hopefully my mom found out if her insurance covers me or not so I'm not in a rush to get a rental tonight or tomorrow morning.

Finally posting again

I'm pretty terrible at updating blogs and it's been about 18 months since my last post...I'm sitting in my hotel room in New York waiting for my ride to the airport to head to Kansas for two weeks of family time and figured it would be a good time to start writing again.

A quick update. I've been in Doha for a little of 2 years now. I never thought I would still be living in the Middle East when I took the job in 2008, but with the crappy US job market and my lack of an idea of what I want to do with my life, I'm still wasting away in the heat.

I came to New York because I thought I had finally found a job to bring me back to the US, but apparently the interview didn't go as well as I had hoped it would. I don't know if I was too relaxed in the interview because I thought it was a sure thing, or I just wasn't prepared for it. In all fairness, I had just spent about thirty hours traveling from Qatar so I could be here for the interview, so maybe a little jet-lag played a role too. Either way it doesn't really matter, the guy didn't think I displayed the confidence necessary for the job, which is definitely not what I was expecting to hear. I'm pretty confident in myself and as my dad said afterward, "It takes a ton of confidence to fly halfway across the world into a city you know nothing about and sit down for someone to basically judge you."

Maybe I just don't have the NY mentality (I'm not an asshole...), or maybe it just wasn't for me...who knows. On the bright side, I wasn't banking everything on this possible job, and I do still have a job in Qatar, so at least I'm not going to be out on the street. I took some constructive criticism from the interview and will hopefully be ready next time something pops up.

I'm still on a weird body clock and can't seem to sleep past about 4:30am, hopefully that will change over the next couple of days because I'm expected in St. Louis on Friday night to see my newly engaged sister. At least I'll have the family visit on this trip and it wasn't just a few days in New York before returning to the Middle East no better off than when I left. Looking forward to some golf and Thanksgiving next week!