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Reaching 179 lbs by Greek food is definitely not the way to gain weight.  But that’s what happened after Saturday night’s dinner party.  We had some neighbors over to thank them for their generosity in letting us borrow stuff while we had lots of family staying in our home for our son’s recent wedding.  It was no holds barred on the Greek food:  pastitsio, Greek chicken, spanakopita, and Greek salad.  Maria even made carrot cake.  That morning I weighed in at 177, so the next day’s 179.6 was not a pleasant sight for me on the scale.

To offset the planned Greek food, I went on a 5-mile run Saturday morning down to the gym and back.  It was an easy run, but strangely, I felt a little lethargic.  In any case, the 700 calories I burned were not enough to offset my overeating later than night.

To compensate for the unwanted weight gain, I burned over 1700 calories in the gym Sunday:  spin class, abs workout, and a short upper body workout at LA|FITNESS, and then my leg workout at 24Hour Fitness later in the evening.  I sure did sweat a lot on Sunday, but I think the two protein shakes I drank gave me some constipation this morning.  Even so, I was able to drop down to 178.8 lbs.  Surely, if I had had a BM (as my trainer likes to say… stands for “bowel movement”), I would have been at my previous 177 lbs on the scale this morning.

Last night I used my new 24Hour Fitness membership for the first time.  LA|FITNESS closes at 8:00 PM on weekends.  I have to say that the 24Hour in Escondido looks good on the outside, but compared to the new LA|FITNESS, it was definitely an eyesore inside with old equipment.  But there could far worse things.  I am fortunate to be a member at both clubs.

My Lower Body workout routine was good.  I think my least favorite part is the squats, especially the split stance squats where you put one leg in front of the other.  I do them on the Smith machine, and it’s just not comfortable for me right now.  I feel a little hesitant, like I might drop the bar and hurt my back.  The split stance is more difficult that the regular front squats because on the front ones, I can support the weight with both of my legs directly under the weight.  In any case, I sure did sweat a lot … to the tune of about 400 calories.

I continued my new running program this morning before work.  Again, I did about 3 miles.  I felt strong in the legs, probably from the strength training from last night.  But strangely, my pace was a little slower than last week’s.  It’s hard to say why.  The whole run felt good.  I was motivated.  Maybe I got lulled into a slow pace by how easy the run felt.  I will be sure to push myself harder when I feel that strong in my legs.