seanwillson.com

this week has gotten off to a good start. i’ve hit all of my workouts and really pushed myself to new high’s. i’ve upped my weights for almost every exercise. my meals are going good as well. i’ve had a few indiscretions here and there but nothing big at all. for example i had a few graham crackers last night and today at lunch i had a few chips with my turkey, lettuce, tomato, avocado, and whole wheat sandwich.


i haven’t been using my success journal this week. this weekend i’m planning on make a consolidated meal and workout sheet to use each day. i don’t think i need to purchase another success journal, instead i’ll create something that fits my bfl program a little closer.


a few people have asked where my after photo’s were. i actually haven’t taken them yet. the photos i have in my fitness picture section were from the 1st of the year which was about four weeks into my first challenge. i’ll likely post some photos in the next few weeks which should be more representative of 12 weeks of progress.

we decided to bite the bullet and buy a digital camera today. we were originally planning on buying the nikon coolpix 5700 but decided that there were to many things we didn’t like or were worried about. there was also the concern of jumping in to deep price wise before we knew much about digital photography. anyhow, we decided to go with the trimmed down nikon coolpix 4300. it’s a 4.0 megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom. it has a bunch of the same features as the 5700 but is a lot cheaper. don’t get me wrong, this isn’t the 5700. this is however a better grab-and-go camera than the 5700 and it has enough features that we will be able to learn from it for a while into the future. look for comments and a basic review in the coming weeks after i play with it a bit.

here are a few pictures of the babies that elliot had. in these pictures they are about 10 days old.


walking up the slide (153k), under the log (162k), sleeping in a pile (125k), the three musketeers (143k)

i woke up this morning and stepped on the scale for the end of my first challenge. the results were good, though not quite as i expected. i was down another three pounds which brings my losses for this challenge up to 35 pounds. i did actually forget to measure my inches everywhere which is unfortunate considering that i had my free day today and my body reacts weird on free day. anyhow, i do know that my waist was down about 2-3” last week. yes, my pants are falling off and i’m in need of a new belt.


so how do i feel? well, needless to say i’m very happy with my weight losses as well as my changes in the gym. i’m able to lift more weight, keep better form, get my heart rate up higher, and i have increased cardiovascular fitness. i really feel great … i am however a bit bummed that i missed my goal of a 40 pound weight loss for this 12 week challenge.


i know exactly how and when i failed, and i’m making concerted efforts to not let it happen again. for example i have to not let sunday get out of wack, i’ve done it twice this challenge. i have to not let my fifth meal get to large. my fourth meal usually occurred about three hours before my train ride home. this meant that meal five was about four hours after meal four which meant i was famished by the time i got home. so this basically means i either have to move meal 4 back to around 3:30 or 4:00 pm or leave work early, yea right … hehheheh.


so in summary i’ve had some amazing changes with my body and life and my energy levels are great. i’m ready to start challenge 2 tomorrow and continue down my path toward my goals for my 30th birthday. wish me luck!

here are a few pictures of the babies that elliot had. in these pictures they are about 7 days old.


pink, brown, and white (140k), chalupa booty (128k), recycle logo? (138k)

better late than never, this weeks friday five.

1. explain why you started to journal/blog. — i started a web log of sorts back when i was in college to just mess around on the internet. after college i used it as a way to talk to family and friends as well as a place to vent. i’m often plagued with undercurrents of anger and frustration about events and ideals that i find myself needing to write down somewhere, thus my weblog is my canvas.
2. do people you interact with day to day or family members know about your journal/blog? why or why not? — yes to both, because they either want to see what i’m up to or are just curious about my life in some way.
3. do you have a theme for your journal/blog? — any of the going ons in my life that i want to write down.
4. what direction would you like to have your journal/blog go in over the next year? — open honest opinions by yours truly, information to help others with fitness, and happenings in my life.
5. pimp five of your favorite journals/blogs. — eric, martie, reactuate, dome news, evhead

sorry i didn’t get it in on friday. life doesn’t always afford me the time to post as often as i’d like. plus there is the fact that i’m absent minded.

amy and i have been looking at getting a digital camera. i thought she wanted to wait on purchasing one but it seems i was wrong. anyhow, i’ve been reading on them on different sites. the one i’ve read a lot of good things about has been the nikon coolpix 5700. there’s a pretty detailed review over here, here, here, and here. pages and pages of details with images, details, flaws and everything. there have also been some good reviews of this camera in the astronomy discussion groups and mailing lists. it doubles pretty well for astrophotography and produces some great images. i’ll keep looking around though and if you have any information on other units please let us know.