More at UrbanGrounds.com on Ms. Moldonado’s attempt to sneak a stealth state income tax inTexas.

Our previous home had a two-car garage, which meant I still had my garage gym, but my wife had to park outside. Here’s my new gym:

And my pull-up bar:

Everything you need for world class fitness is in this 8×10′ space. Pull up bar, squat rack, Olympic bar and rubber bumper plates, rings, plyo box, C2 rower, assorted kettle bells and dumb bells, Dynamax med ball, and a jump rope.

Thinks I’d add if I had more room: heavy tire for flipping and beating with a sledge hammer, GHD machine, rope for rope climbs, and an ab mat.

But here are my pictures from today, 26 days in, weighing 249.3 lbs (starting weight was 261 lbs on July 4):

Yes. These are embarrassing.

I’ve got 49 more lbs to go to hit my first really big goal of 200 lbs. Lots of work ahead of me, but I’m excited to get there.

• chicken (smoked over mesquite)
• fresh red bell pepper
• avocado

Paleo: always a colorful and healthy meal

Ok…the chicken is actually seasoned with sage, garlic, celery salt, and black pepper….but that’s it.

Weight Loss:

• Starting Weight: 261.6
• Today’s Weight: 253.3

Still think my body is adapting to not having sugar and cheap carbs for their quick and easy fuel source…but I felt a little bit better this morning during my CrossFit WoD than I did on Tuesday.

I added some grilled onions to mine, and sliced up half an avocado to go with:

Paleo Burgers

I’ve dropped a quick 6 lbs, going from 261.6 to 255.6 over the course of the first three days.

Food

On Monday, July 5, I smoked about 10 chicken thighs and 10 drumsticks on my smoker, and have been eating almost nothing but smoked chicken for my protein over the last three days. Eggs for breakfast on mornings I don’t have to be in the office.

Think I need to mix in a steak or two soon, though. And later this week I’ll smoke a couple lbs of salmon, too.

Combining that with lots of steamed broccolli (with olive oil), fresh red bell peppers (my very favorite veggie) some fresh cherries and blue berries, almonds, and fresh avocados.

How Do I Feel After 3 Days?

No headaches. That’s good.

But I don’t think my body has quite adjusted yet to not having a ready supply of carbs and sugars to burn as fuel. Not quite feeling that I have great energy yet.

In fact, during yesterday’s CrossFit WoD, I completely crashed in the middle of the workout — I toughed it out and finished (dead last by an embarrassing margin), but knew something was wrong with me and my energy.

Cravings and hunger? A little of both. Really want something sweet when I start getting hungry. Which I’m able to put off with a small handful of almonds mixed with some fresh berries.

As for the hunger, I’m not a guy who eats the RXd 5-6 small meals a day. I usually just eat 2 meals per day — a big lunch and a big dinner. I know, right?

Trying to mix in a few small snacks to tide me over.

Will post some “before” pics of my starting weight in the next day or so.

There are two reasons for this:

1. Not enough training — I’ve been attending Coach Zach Theil’s 5:30 a.m. Tues/Thurs CrossFit class at CrossFit Central for the last two years. But that’s it. I don’t regularly get enough other training in to really help me get where I want to be.
2. Poor nutrition — I’ve cleaned up my diet significantly over the last two years with the knowledge I’ve gained from the Zone and Paleo diets. The problem is consistency and falling off the clean-eating bandwagon. Simply put, I’ve got to get my eating (and drinking) habits under control if I want to get where I want to be.

Which brings us to: Where do I want to be?

When I started CrossFitting two years ago, I weighed in at 274 lbs (at 5′ 7″ that’s just too much weight and fat). Over the up-and-down two years, I’ve dropped to as low as 231 lbs, which is fantastic. Except that I gained most of that back recently.

On July 4, 2010 I stepped on the scale and watched it tick up and up, finally stopping on 261.6 lbs.

Unacceptable, and I’m moving backwards.

Which means that I’ve got to get serious about living, or get serious about dying. Almost literally, as I’m too big of a man getting on in years (I’ll be 42 next month) to hope to live a long life at the rate I’m going.

So, starting on July 4, I jumped back on Melissa Urban’s Whole30 Paleo cleanse. Which means 100% clean eating for the next 30 days, and I hope, beyond.

Here’s what I wrote on the Whole30 blog:

Today starts of the rest of my life.

Amy wrote, “I just turned 41, and want to live for a very long time.”

I’m about to turn 42, and if I don’t start making some big changes soon, I’m not going to achieve that goal. And, even if I do, I’m not sure how much “quality of life” I’ll enjoy with it.

Ever since leaving the Army in 1993, I’ve been packing on the pounds with my more-and-more sedentary life-style. I’ve always convinced myself that I was the rare exception — someone who is fat AND fit, just because I was still able to complete marathon canoe races and 150 mile bike rides and was a very active disc golf tournament player, while going to CrossFit 2x week religiously for the last 2 years.

Never thought about how much easier those task might have been minus the 60-or-so pounds I need to lose.

Almost exactly 7-years ago, I quit smoking because one day I woke up and just knew it was killing me and that if I didn’t stop immediately, I wasn’t going to live to see 40 years old. I quit cold turkey that day, and my life has improved immeasurably because of it.

I’m approaching the Whole30 the same way. In much the same way as my addiction to nicotine was killing me, so is my addiction to bad (and too much of it) food, combined with not enough physical activity. So two days ago, on the 4th of July, I decided to seek my own Personal Independence from bad, processed, food.

Hopefully, in 7 years from now, I’ll look back much as I do on my former cigarette-smoking self, and realize what a life changer this was.

Though nobody else reads this blog (compared to the nearly 2000 unique visitors I get to my politics blog, Urbangrounds), I’m going to chronicle my experiences and progress here. Because that’s what I do — I write.

In addition to stepping up my commitment to eating better, I’m also re-committing myself to a more active lifestyle and more training. That means more than just my 2x week CrossFitting and the 3-4 weekly hikes with the dogs in the greenbelt. It means more CrossFitting at home in my garage gym, more rowing on my C2 erg, more time on my bicycle, and more time swimming laps.

My Goals

Next May, about 10 months from now, the Texas Tri Series of triathalons starts with The Rookie.

I’m going to compete in that triathalon, which will be my first. Something to knock off of the Life List.

Oh, and I intend on being under 210 lbs when I do.

So —- 10 months to drop at least 50 lbs, build up to running a 5K, and being able to swim at least 300m without drowning.

Wish me luck.

3 rounds for time of:

• 100′ walking lunges
• 15 dead lifts (225 lbs)
• 21 pull ups

My time: 13:09

One of the more brutal WoDs on the legs that I can remember in quite some time — the combination of walking lunges straight into heavy dead lifts was hella-masochistic. I’m still feeling it in my thighs the next day.

Struggled a bit with the dead lifts, even though I’m one of the strongest dead lifters in the gym…more a stamina issue and grip issue. But they were definitely feeling heavy.

Those minimum goals are:

• Back squat: 375 lbs
• Shoulder press: 200 lbs
• Dead lift: 425 lbs

So far, I’ve broken 1000 on my last two tries (PR is 1035 lbs).

My goals by the end of this year:

• Back squat: 425 lbs
• Shoulder press: 215 lbs
• Dead lift: 500 lbs

Back Squats

Started on back squat and hit 350 lbs on the first attempt. Felt pretty easy. Almost “too easy,” so I moved up to my PR on the second attempt and felt pretty good matching my PR of 375 lbs.

I’ve long wanted to post a 400+ lb back squat, so I got greedy and tried to increase my PR by 30 lbs by attempting 405 lbs for my final lift. Once I got the bar on my back and backed away from the rack, my stomach was clenching and I knew there was no way I was going to get through this lift without busting out a large and obnoxious fart.

There I said it.

So, instead of not being able to control the release of gas (never, ever, under any circumstance trust a fart) during the actually lift — I stood there with 405 lbs resting on my shoulders while I tried to “gently” and silently let the gas escape.

To no success. Oh well…sorry about that Jeff (my spotter). My focus was blown and I just barely missed the lift. Oh well…next time. I’m not “unhappy” with matching my PR of 375 lbs.

Although, after finishing the day’s WoD, I re-racked the bar with 400 lbs and did push it up.

Hit the 375lb back squat on second lift, which ties my PR. Instead of going for a reasonable bump for the third lift, I went for 405lbs.

And just missed it. However, after the WoD was finished, I tried again with 400 lbs and made that lift. Next time.

Shoulder Press

I know I have one of the biggest 1RM shoulder presses at CrossFit Central, but I have made very little progress on it over the last year. I hit my PR of 205 lbs the last time we did CFT 3 months ago. But the last 4-5 times I’ve done CFT I’ve always attempted (and succeeded) at lifting 200 lbs.

I’ve never attempted to try 200 (or 205) with my second lift and then try for a PR on the final lift.

With back squat and dead lift, my PR weight felt “easy” the last few times, so I felt confident going heavier. However, with the shoulder press, my 185 lb lift (usually my second attempt) always feel pretty heavy, so I’m content to hit 200-205 for my final.

Which is exactly what I did again this time.

My second lift (185) didn’t feel great, so I only went for 200 on the final lift (successful). It wasn’t too much of a struggle, pretty sure I would have pushed 205, but not sure about 210.

Next time out, I will hit at least 200 lbs on my 2nd attempt, so I can hit a PR on my third go.

Dead Lift

Only need 425 dead lift to get my 1000 lb CFT! My PR, set the last go around at CFT, is 455 lbs. And that was on my third attempt. Think I could have pulled 475 at least, which is my new goal for Thursday.

UPDATE: I started my first lift this morning with 425 lbs, which is what I needed to hit my 1000 lb min. goal. Jumped up to 455 lbs for my second lift, to tie my previous PR. I felt really strong the last time I lifted 455, but today I really struggled with it.

Not daunted, I put 4 x 45 lbs on each end of the bar and struggled mightily to pull 465 lbs. I was the last person to attempt the third lift, so I had a full audience — which was great as I needed all the support I could get trying to straighten that lift all the way out. I swear it felt like it took 30 seconds from pull to finish.

Anyway…I increased my PR on dead lift by 10 lbs, which gave me a 5 lb PR for CFT (1040 lbs).

Cashout

Thursday’s dead lift finals were followed by a quick and painful little WoD:

• 800m run
• 50 double-unders
• 30 burpees

Did my best on the run, which was better than I expected. Though I hate, hate, hate running in my Chuck-Ts. By the time I was done with the run, my calves were cramping…not good for the rump rope and burpees. But I slogged through. Every body else in class was done with the WoD when I was just starting on the burpees…so, once again, I had a full audience once again while I finished up (in 10:16).

3 rounds for time:

• 500m Row
• 10 Squat Clean to OH

M:155 F:105

I hate, hate, hate squat cleans. Mostly because I have a fear of dropping my body under a heavy bar and having my knee(s) give out on me.

But today’s technique didn’t feel too bad, and I felt I was dropping quickly and deeply into my squat to receive the second pull. However, coach Zach said that I was still pulling too early with my arms before my hips were fully opened and before my full shrug.

Gotta work on that.

The brutal part of this WoD is that the motion and muscles required to do a good squat clean (drive with the legs, then pull with the arms) is replicated in the rowing part of the WoD. So after you finish hammering out ~2:00 minutes on the erg, you go straight to heavy squat cleans.

Brutal, I tell you. Brutal.

Results

I was the only guy in class who attempted the RXd weight of 155 (Navy Jeff wasn’t in class today), and finished in 16:24, which was just OK. After the first round, I was only able to do 2 squat clean-to-overhead reps at a time before having to reset, which slowed me way down.