My weight did go up this past week as expected, but only by .6lbs or .27kg.  Considering that I had weighed myself on Monday and I was 8 pounds heavier I was OK with the .6 gain.  Even though that does continue my trend of gaining weight for the past several weigh-in’s it’s also pretty good for being on vacation.  So all-in-all I consider it a win.  I’m pretty sure that my next weigh-in will be a loss as I’m now focused, energized, and back on track.

In the gym I’m now in the second cycle of my workout routine and the new weight is pretty tough!  I felt myself really starting to struggle on the squats and the bent-over-rows, while the rest of the exercises seemed to be OK.  I can’t seem to get over how amazing it is to me to have a routine that focuses on a schedule with planned goals and increases.  It’s also making me consider my cardio routine of walking (which isn’t bad) and how I might shake things up in the summer by trying things such as sprinting and bicycling when the weather starts to straighten up.

Also because my gym membership expires at the end of May I’ve been looking around at different gym options.  I was actually happily surprised at the number of options that are available in my town.  It was neat to see the different options that were out there.  The YMCA has a decent setup, but they aren’t open 24/7 so I wouldn’t be able to go in the morning like I have been.  Another gym down the road is 24/7, but they didn’t have much of a free weight selection.  They did offer me a week pass to try it out, which I may take them up on.  I’m also considering visiting there in the future to take some “Boot Camp” classes now and again.  The final gym is more of a cross-fit gym and they seem to center around training individuals, which would be great.  However, they aren’t 24/7 either so that leaves them out too.

Most likely I am going to stay with my current gym, which isn’t a bad thing.  It’s familiar and I know what equipment it has.  After I visited with the manager of the gym I was also able to get a discounted rate for being “loyal” and with the conditions that I prepay for a certain amount of time.  I’m not sure if I will sign up for a 1-year or a 2-year contract, but either way I’m pretty good with staying at my current location.

Let me start off by saying that any restaurant that makes an effort to have healthy menu options beyond salads earns my respect; especially if they’re not a chain restaurant. It takes a lot of effort and consideration to put together a healthy menu and make things specifically for those of us who may not want to order something that might not be healthy, or who don’t feel like spending five minutes asking the server to make the order “healthier” (dressing on the side, no cheese, no butter, etc). Heck, these days if the restaurant even has a salad bar I’m usually happy.

However, I still feel that here in the United States we’re still not where we should be when it comes to healthy restaurant food. That being said, while effort is appreciated there are several issues I have with the healthy menu options that I see at most restaurants.

1. 
   
2. Flavor
   
3. Variety
   
4. Portion
   

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