Start of Week 13 (The Final Week!)

Weight loss is a fickle thing. As intelligent beings, we try to apply an exact science to it. 3500 calories equals one pound of fat. If you consume 3500 less calories than you need in a week, you will lose a pound. Similarly, if you burn more than 3500 calories in a week, you should lose a pound. If you consume less and burn more calories combined, you should lose more weight, right?

Let me tell you from personal experience, that weight loss is NOT an exact science. There's no way for us to know exactly how many calories we burn. There's also no real way to know how many calories we're eating, especially if we eat out, or drink fluids that we don't know what the calorie content is. Along with that, if you don't have a food scale, you're almost in the dark as far as weight of most produce and meats. So what do we do? We take our best guess and hope for the best. And let's be honest, that should be enough. The point of what I have been striving to do is to teach myself how to eat normal serving sizes, drink less booze, more water, and exercise regularly. In other words, create the foundation to weight loss. There's no magic pill, ointment, exercise, or diet that's going to get you to lose weight. It comes from eating right and working out. PERIOD.

That said, I gained weight again this week. I take ownership of the weight gain. I know that I could have done better with my food, but I stayed within my alcohol limits, and I worked out. A lot. According to a new website I've been using to track my calories and exercise (Lose It!), I burned just shy of 3,000 calories and for the week, I was over 700 calories under my weekly calorie budget. According to my math, that's a weight loss. Not a weight gain.

It is what it is, though. I gained two pounds and this morning I weigh 238 pounds. I'm not gonna make my weight loss goal for the 90 days, but I knew that weeks ago. What I can take from this, though, is that I'm able to control my drinking. I'm able to work out 6 days a week. I'm also able to eat within a calorie restriction most days, allowing myself to eat above that limit once or twice a week and still lose weight.

What I'm finding is that I probably could eat less calories than I have been eating. There are times when I get to the end of the day and realize that I've still got 6-700 calories leftover for the day, so I'll eat a bowl of cereal to bring it up. I shouldn't do that. If I decide to do another 90 day cycle, I'm going to have to do some kind of time restriction on myself, so I can't eat after 8:00 or something... but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

For now, I'll focus on the week ahead. I have an alcohol goal, water goal, workout goal, and food goal that I can still accomplish. After all, four out of five's not bad. That's a solid 80%. Not ideal, but on this grading scale, I'll take it.

This morning... 238lbs.

On another positive note, I think, if it's possible, I have fallen in love with running. My wife and I decided that we're going to run the April Fools Half Marathon in Atlantic City. I'm pretty sure I had written that a week or two ago, but I wanted to remind you all of it. Because we're planning on running it together, it makes sense that we train for it together. Yahtzee joins us on the shorter recovery runs because we're not going too fast, but for the most part, we leave her at home.

I'm finding that while I sit at home and work during the day, I am aching to be outside running. I think I feel like the dog does when my wife walks through the door. Although Yahtzee will jump and flail like a dolphin with her youthful excitement, I try to maintain my composure and just lace up my shoes. Once she's ready to go, we roll out the door and just run. We catch up on the day while we jog at an easy pace, and challenge each other during tempo runs to improve our cardiovascular insurance as well as increase our overall speed.

Don't get me wrong, I still have a passion for cycling. I love the challenge of cycling, but where we live right now is very flat and leaves much to be desired on the bike. Running is infinitely easier to get ready for also. I don't have to pump tires, lube chains, fill water bottles, carry stuff in my pockets. Also, I've accomplished a lot in cycling. Running is a whole new challenge.

I'm not giving up cycling by any means, but I think it's going to be less of a part of my summer as it has been in the past... of course that depends on if we're going to sign up for a Marathon a not...

Start of Week 12

I've had a little bit of a breakthrough last week. My wife and I have decided to run the April Fools Half Marathon in Atlantic City this year, which is now 9 weeks away. I started with some training runs last week and realized that I am becoming a powerful runner. I don't know if it's any thanks to the strength training, yoga, or plyometrics from p90x, but things are very different.

In college, when I was in the best shape of my life (until now), and the lightest weight as an adult, I was only able to push out an 8 minute mile. When I was done, I was DONE. No more running. Last week I decided to test myself to beat my 1 mile time and ended up trying to beat my best 5k time. I did my first mile in 7:45. I didn't feel like I had a lot of energy left when I finished, so I slowed it down a little, and pushed on to finish the 5k. I realize that the first 5k I ran had a little bit of undulation in the terrain, but it was reasonably flat. When I ran that 5k, I did it in 28:07. I was fried by the end. I felt sick, and didn't want to move. I really pushed myself to the end. This week I finished my 5k trial in 26:28. I averaged an 8:32 mile.

I'm hoping that I can try to run a single mile trial and push as hard as possible to see if I can get my time down to 7:30. That would be pretty awesome for me. In 9th grade, I had to run a mile for the Presidential Physical Fitness test. As I came across the line after lap 3, my gym teacher called out my time... 12 minutes and some odd seconds... then told me good job. That was the signal that I was done. It took me over 12 minutes to run 3/4 of a mile. I have no idea how much I weighed at the time, but I was definitely closing in on 300lbs. I was also incredibly sedentary.

I'm proud of where I've made it... so far. I've got a lot of things I want to accomplish in my life. At some point I want to lose enough weight to see a 1 in front of my number... 199 would be ok with me. I'd also like to run a full marathon and cycle a double century (200 miles). I realize that these are lofty goals, but I don't feel like there's anything stopping me from accomplishing those goals at some point in my life.

I also am getting recognition from strangers. My wife and I went out for drinks with a coworker of hers and her husband. While out, we met another couple-friend of theirs and started talking. I told them what I am working on for my business (If you're not aware, I'm building a Wellness Coaching company called No Limits) and the conversation turned to what I've accomplished. I was talking about my weight loss and one of the guys said something about my jeans looking way too big for me. The next day, I tried on an old pair of jeans. They fit.

Those jeans I tried on have a hole in the knee, so I can't really wear them in good sense, but I was proud of that moment and so we decided to go get me a new pair of jeans that fit.

If you've never been fat and lost weight before, you might not get this, but when you're losing weight, even though you see the numbers drop, you still look fat to yourself int he mirror. Only when your pants start falling off your ass and you get lost in your shirts do you realize that you're making progress. Sometimes it's still hard to see it in the mirror... but how can you argue with photographic evidence?

Ok, so I didn't get pictures taken this morning because my wife told me I could sleep in. Who was I to argue? 

I'll get some either tonight or tomorrow morning and post them... but here is my first picture compared to last week...

Amazing.

I woke up at 236 this morning, down three pounds since last week.

Start of Week 11

There's a pattern here. I plateau around week 10-11 every time I go through the 90 day program. I'm not sure if it's because it's harder towards the end of the program to maintain the goals, or because my body doesn't like what I'm putting it through at this point. I think it's the former.

This morning I was back into the 230's at least... 239. I dropped a pound, but here's why it happened...

I did REALLY well this week. I had multiple longer runs, ate like a champion, and then went away for the weekend. I knew I was going to be drinking in excess over the weekend because I was with friends, and so I decided to use my final free alcohol week. Luckily I decided to do that on Friday as opposed to Tuesday so I didn't drink all week long.

Friday night I had a few beverages with my wife. Saturday, I had multiple beverages with my friends. I also used Saturday as a high calorie day. I did relatively well until dinner. Bagel with cream cheese, salad, half a sandwich, and for dinner I had a grilled chicken sandwich with sweet potato fries. The sandwich itself was probably ok, but the fries were deep fried.

After dinner, I had quite a few beers and quite a few slices of pizza and cookies. I knew as I was stuffing it into my face that it was a bad idea, but I was feeling good, enjoying myself, and not giving a crap.

I'm going to take some time to evaluate my goals and adjust them to make sure I stay motivated to the end.

I've lost 13 pounds. My goal was 30. Not gonna happen at this point. I have 20 days left. I'll be lucky to see the 220's. So instead of trying to lose 30 pounds, I'm going to try to, from this point on, lose another 5 pounds, which would put me at 234. Obviously I'm not finished losing weight, but every step closer is great.

I missed my second week of workouts this week. I missed it because I didn't work out on Saturday or Sunday. I'm disappointed about it, but it could be worse. I still can meet my goal if I finish all of my workouts for the remainder of the 90 days. I'm gonna keep going for that.

I've done 55 of my 71 days of staying in my calorie limit. I'm still on track to complete the goal, so I'm going to continue with this one as well, as is. I've got 4 high calorie days left for the next 3 weeks. No problem.

If I want to complete my alcohol goal, I'm going to need to finish the next 3 weeks on target. I'm prepared to do that, but I realized the other day that Super Bowl Sunday is Day 90. <crickets>. I'm gonna give myself a pass on the alcohol goal that day. I'll reserve a high calorie day for it.

I've completed 64 of 80 days of my water goal. I'm on track to finish it no problem. I don't have much of an excuse to not finish it. It's not a hard goal, I just happen to miss it sometimes for one reason or another. Usually because we're out of the house for longer than expected and I don't bring a water bottle with me.

So I guess I'm on track for all but my weight goal. I'm done missing alcohol weeks, though, so hopefully things go well for the next 3 weeks and I can drop my 5 pounds. If I get more than that, awesome.

Here's my pictures for today. Again, 239.

Music

I enjoy music. I don't listen to music as often as I used to because my job doesn't force me to be in the car anymore. I'm fortunate that I'm able to work from home, but I only listen to music that's on TV shows and sometimes I put Pandora on the ipod when I'm cooking or cleaning, but I only have a few stations that I routinely listen to.

I used to enjoy listening to music when I ran, but I stopped doing that because it played with my pace too much. I felt better when I did it without music. On top of that, I think it's much safer to run on the roads without music because you're able to hear traffic.

I watch an episode or two of The Biggest Loser pretty much every day right now. Some for research for my company, some for entertainment, and a little bit because I draw a lot of inspiration from the show. What those people accomplish is nothing short of amazing. With that said, I don't buy into a lot of the stuff they preach. The lifestyle change is too drastic, and I think that many of those people don't readjust into normal life so easily.

As I was watching an episode this morning, that happened to be the makeover episode of Season 7 (For the fans of the show, that's the season with Tara, Philipe, Sione, Mike, Ron, and Helen) a song came on that really hit home for me. The chorus goes something like this...

Its your life
What you gonna do?
The world is watching you
Every day the choices you make
Say what you are and who
Your heart beats for
Its an open door
Its your life

The song is by Francesca Battistelli and it's called "It's Your Life." Sure, it's a little girly, but it's inspiring for me because of this blog. I started this blog to be held accountable for my goals. I don't hit them all the time, but I certainly make progress towards them every time I try. I have people watching me on a weekly basis. Family and friends comment to me about my blog posts. Sometimes it feels like I'm just writing a journal because feedback isn't always immediate, but these lyrics make me think about what I'm doing.

When I spend my down time sitting around watching TV when I could be doing an extra workout, I sometimes wish that I was, but I don't because it's hard. I want to be an inspiration for everybody. I know that I'm not in as good of shape as I can be, and eventually will be, but I'm working towards it.

I guess that this post is less about music and more about thanking you all for keeping me in check. Keep watching me and forcing me to think about the choices that I make.

Thank you.

Week 10

This week is starting off with disappointment. Yet again, my weight isn't where it's supposed to be. 240 again. I'm not sure what's going on, but I can speculate.

I have not been feeling great, physically, lately, so I'm not giving it all I've got in my workouts all the time. I have workouts that I feel like I kick butt, and others that I feel like I just get through. When I'm just getting through a workout, I know I'm not burning the calories that I need to burn. There was a day this week where I was down to 236.5. That number was definitely off because I was dehydrated from drinking the night before. Once I re-hydrated, I was back to 239. Not great, but fine. Then we had Chinese food for dinner. Sodium city. I think I'm probably retaining water right now, but on top of that, I missed my water intake yesterday, which would cause me to not flush all the crap out of my body that I normally am able to do.

I've been shortening my runs lately because of the dog. I feel obligated to take her with me, because she loves to be outside. Not to mention that I really enjoy having a tired dog laying around the house not causing trouble for the afternoon. I think I'm going to need to start bumping up my mileage, or at the very least, my intensity. There are some events coming up that I would like to participate in. There's a 5k in February, a 7 mile mud run in April, a 10 miler in there at some point, and a half marathon on April 1st. There's no way that I'll be able to run in these events if I don't start to get my mileage higher soon.

I'm finding that I'm tired of p90x. Not that I hate the workouts, because some of them are great. I hate Tony Horton. He's the guy who's on all of the video's for p90x. He never shuts up. I find myself lately doing the workouts with him on the screen, with the volume off, and my own music playing. But I have been through these workouts so many times at this point, I know exactly what he says. All I need to do is look at his stupid face. There are even times when I know the workout well enough that I shut off the video and just go by my workout sheets. I like that better, but I'm not always 100% sure that I'm doing everything properly.

When it all boils down, I know that I'm making progress in p90x. You can tell from the pictures...

With all of that, I've knocked my belt down two notches since I started this 90 day cycle in November. The second notch happened this week. So there are obvious changes, but I'm still not happy. I want this to happen faster.

But instead of focusing on the negatives, I want to focus on the positives. My resting heart rate this morning was 42. 42! That's athlete status. That's marathon runner status. Lance Armstrong, at the peak of his training, had a 32bpm resting heart rate. I have a strong heart, and I know that I can accomplish some insane things. Imagine what my heart rate would be if I actually trained for a full marathon.

My pants are falling off of me at this point. My shirts feel loose. I fit into my wedding clothes again. I'm confident. I've got more energy than I have in years.

This process is working for me. I just need to refocus and keep pushing myself.

Start of Week 9 - HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year!

There's a lot going on for me this New Year. I will be launching my new business (hopefully in the next few weeks!). I'll be reaching my goal weight. I'll be celebrating my second year of marriage to my wife. I'll be moving... again... and maybe another time...? And I'll be accomplishing a new fitness goal of some sort... either a 125 mile bike ride (maybe farther?) or a Marathon. Maybe both.

With all of that said, I'm embarrassed. I gained weight this week. Just a pound, but it's still in the wrong direction. I'm not confused about why it happened. It would be pretty obvious to anyone who spent the weekend with me. I ate like doo doo and drank entirely too much.

I have wonderful friends. Over the weekend, we had a ton of people over to stay with us for a New Years party. People brought all kinds of food and beverages, that majority of which were not the foods that I would typically eat. All of it was delicious, though. We had cookies, brownies, balaclava, cheese balls, chips, london broil, scallops wrapped in bacon, pizza bites, crab dip, rum ham, amongst other things.

Oh yes. I said rum ham. Our friend took a ham and drowned it in rum. Something he saw on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. It was... interesting. It tastes like ham... with rum all over it. He was nice enough to leave it in our refrigerator. Other friends left food too. The cheese balls, crab dip, cookies, and chips are still here. We also inherited some beer, a few bottles of liquor, and mixers.

I had trouble resisting temptations yesterday. There was still food everywhere. One of my weaknesses is fly-by eating. If there is food laying out, and I can see it, I mindlessly pick it up and pop it in my mouth. This is why living in our old apartment was so hard. I walked past the open pantry every time I went into the kitchen. I could see all the food we owned, and would just pick up a piece of candy, or a handful of chips, and eat it. Do that 10 times a day and how many calories do you think you've consumed without realizing it?

With our current situation, with all the extra food, I froze what I could, and tucked stuff deep into the pantry so when I reach in for a healthy option, I'm not distracted by the unhealthy ones. I need to get back on track this week, because I have some weight gain to make up for. I want to get back down into the 230's and breeze right through them. I have 5 weeks left, so there is no reason why I shouldn't be able to lose 10 pounds if not more. I want to be in the mid 220's by the time this 90 days is over.

Rather than prolong this post too long, I'll leave you with this: It's a new year, and there is no reason you cannot change and make yourself better. Resolutions are not usually stuck to because people don't prepare themselves for them. Think through your resolutions, set goals for them, and accomplish them this year.

My weight this morning was 240.

Here's to a great New Year!