The Incredible Shrinking Mike

I must be doing something right, as I’m about to go down yet another belt size, I’m down a shirt size, and just this weekend I had to buy some pants the next size smaller than what I have been wearing.

I credit a lot of it to my karate classes, as an hour workout three times a week can really be beneficial. I supplement that with occasional sessions with the Wavemaster for about a half hour or so at a time, and try to do occasional stretching and ab exercises. I haven’t lifted weights for a couple weeks due to conflicting schedules between myself and the co-worker I left with, but I’m thinking I should just go ahead and start using the weight machine. It may not have enough weight to challenge me for building bulk, but it’s certainly sufficient for toning out and cardio lifting.

The rest of it is eating better. I’m sure I’ve talked about this before, but I hardly touch fast food anymore and I don’t drink pop. If we do go fast food, I either don’t eat all the fries or skip them altogether (or I Eat Fresh). At home we pick healthier meals, and the wife has even managed to find recipes that make veggies more appealing (I’m horrible at eating my veggies). I try to at least eat something for breakfast, even if it is just a bowl of cereal or a pair of granola bars (I’ve come to dig Cascadian Farm organic granola bars), to keep the metabolism burning, and lunches are usually something light. If there are no leftovers, I’ll cook up a tuna sandwich on the electric griddle or heat up some Chunky soup (the occasional sodium hit is acceptable given the rest of the good stuff in the bowl and the lower calorie count).

I can tell the plan is working when I look at a completed Weight Tracker and see few gaps in exercise listings and a steadily decreasing weight. My weight may bounce up and down a pound or two over the course of a few days, but the overall trend is downward. Right now I weigh less than I have in years. Probably less, even, than when I got sprung from retail management hell.

I may fall short of my weight goal this month as I’m not quite halfway there with only a third of the month to go, but if I keep my ass moving I may just squeak by. I’m probably looking at late next month before I break the next 10-pound mark, but I did break another threshold today: I finally broke the 1.0 barrier in my weekly waist-to-hip ratio measurement by hitting a .99.

A couple more months like this and I’ll probably be able to go to the doctor without getting chewed for being tubby.