Former cheesesteak addict

I hired a personal trainer today at my gym in Pittsburgh. Ive signed up for 6 sessions. While I know a lot of the basic exercises for each major muscle group, I feel that a personal trainer will help me get down excellent form, as well as set an exact regiment. Also, I know that he works at my gym 7 days a week, so he will always be there to peer pressure me (and for me to ask questions to) long after our sessions are up. +EV for sure.

My diet is 2500-3000 calories/day, ~300g carbs, 60g fat, and 200g protein. I'm closely monitoring everything I eat for a week or so in order to give myself a better perspective on what I need to be eating in order to keep up with those guidelines. This may not sound too difficult, but when you re strictly eating quality calories, it isn't easy and can be quite time-consuming. I actually find the whole nutrition aspect of fitness to be extremely interesting.

I promise not to turn this blog into a clone of Raptor's blog, but here's a log of what I ate today:

8:30 AM = 1.25 cup Kashi cereal, 1.25 cup skim milk; 1 hard-boiled egg, 0.5 cup blueberries
11:00 AM (pre-WO) = 1 container yogurt, 0.25 cup unsalted peanuts
12:30 PM (post-WO) = 1 scoop whey protein, 1 cup skim milk, 0.5 cup orange juice, 1 cup berries
2:00 PM = 1 can tuna, 2 slices whole wheat bread
6:30 PM = 1 cup turkey chili; 1 scoop whey protein, 1 cup skim milk
9:30 PM = Stir fry (6 oz chicken breast, 1 cup broccoli, 0.5 cup whole-grain rice, 1 tbsp olive oil, red onion)

PuddlePirate and I are going to make a diet+exercise bet. The idea was inspired by a similar bet made between Blitzkrieg and Btimm. Turning it into a competition should help keep me strongly motivated for a long period of time. The real hurdle comes in a couple weeks when my inflated enthusiasm for this naturally begins to lessen. However, I recognize now that this needs to become a long-term life change for me. My ultimate goal is to be the 70 year old grandfather who is completely "with it" mentally and physically. Too many Americans wake up one day, realize they're 40 years old, rely on caffeine to keep them going throughout the day, have a huge beer gut, and have already crept down the path towards heart disease.

I have a revelation that many poker players will understand easily: Life is a game! It is an incredibly complex game with an infinite number of parameters, but it is simply a game. Some people play it better than others. You need to understand how the system works and then devise the best way to benefit from it. This applies to everything: general social acceptance, career accomplishments, money, successfully raising a family, physical health, etc. Thinking about it like this makes me happy every day to wake up and figure how I can better myself to make most of this game.