[Brian Swartz]

Weigh-In: 297.3(-2.4 lbs., -42.3 overall)

I think I can safely say I've achieved safe distance from 300 now, as well as having finally broken through the 40-lb. threshold. I started feeling somewhat better Wed night/Thurs AM last week, and had one of the best, most exhausting workouts I've had in some time just a couple days ago, a complete reversal from the previous week.

APRIL BY THE NUMBERS

I find it's helpful to look at medium-term results to see how I'm progressing, so I'll be doing one of these each month starting with this.

Weight: 303.8 start, 297.3 end, -6.5 lbs. net(1.6 lbs. lost/wk). This is a very healthy number as most of what I've read suggests a goal of 1-1.5 per week, though it is slower than what I was doing the first few months. Still, quite pleased with this.

Pushups: NA start, 67 end. This is the total number of reps in all of my 15 sets for the week combined. At the beginning of April I had just graduated from knee to regular pushups, and that first week I managed 40, so it's been a fabulous month for the upper body.

Plank: 45s start, 63s end(+40%). This is the best max. I managed, and the 45 at the end of March was the first one over 40 seconds I had done, now I'm hitting the minute-mark more often than not. Pleased with this as well.

Squats: 89 start, 105 end(+18%). I was stuck treading water for almost the entire month, but finally started to see a bit of progress on my last workout on Monday. The first week of April was 101 total, and I've been very close to that consistently. This is the one weak spot where I'd like to see more improvement.

My next weight goal is 292, 5.3 lbs. away, which is the point at which I'll hit 35 BMI. If May is as good as April I should hit that fairly easily by the end of the month.