It was a great day – okay, maybe not perfect – but it certainly was fun.

Today my wife and I took our teen son and went for a day at the beach on Lake Erie with some friends.  Had a blast. Then after, we all went to Port Dover for a fish dinner.  Yummy!  I even tried to make the best food choices I could, all things considered.  Ended the meal with a very small icecream cone.

Didn’t get to the gym as the beach day took up most of the day.  No worries – it was my first and only day off from cardio this week.

They say drinking water, and lots of it, is a necessity in losing weight.

Well it’s been a challenge for me to get enough.  For me, a Coke was always what quenched my thirst.  As of 6 days ago, that addiction was broken.  In it’s place is chocolate milk and water.  I’m just not sure I’m drinking enough, but I’m trying.

Today was another good day – I ate well and put in 30 mins on the treadmill at the gym.  Yeah!

Another good day on the path to a new me…  I ate clean and lean all day and did two cardio sessions – 20 minutes each – one this morning and one this afternoon. Both times it was at the gym on the treadmill walking at a fast pace.  My back is pretty sore tonight and I might take tomorrow off from the gym.

It’s late and I’m off to bed!

I’ve noticed a nice side-effect of my transformation this past week - I don’t feel as ‘bloated’ as I used to feel all of the time.  I’m feeling almost leaner in the stomach and chest areas because of it.

Now this begs the question – what caused the bloat I always used to feel?  Here’s the culprits of bloating that I can think of:

1. Coke.  I was addicted to Coca-Cola and drank upwards of a half dozen cans daily.
2. Dairy.  I ate a fair bit of cheese up until now, and lord knows if I have some intolerance.
3. White bread.  I was always snacking on something with bread as a part of it.  Nowadays it’s a whole-wheat pita if any.
4. Salt.  I ate a fair bit of McDonalds (daily) and most of their food has a great deal of salt added.  I’m staying as far away from salt as possible now.

Today:

Food intake today was great – eating all meals so far right to plan.

As for exercise, I hit the gym for a sweaty 30 minutes of fast walking on the treadmill, up 5 minutes from what I had been doing the past few days.