Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Day 100 and the Longest Post Ever

Weigh-in: 246.2
weight loss to date: 50.5 lbs


So, it's just another day that happens to be the 100th day since I decided punishing treadmills and sparing 90% of the unhealthy food on Earth from my gullet. My "system of weight loss" has evolved a bit over the past few months, but here is a sample of what is working for me right now.

Typical Weekday:

-Morning Cardio. That is to say, I drive to work and run on the treadmill before eating anything. There is a debate as to weather you lose more weight by working out before eating. I don't really know the answer, but it's what's most convenient for me, so that is what I do. What I do is intervals. Usually 7-9 of them. Lately, I've been doing intervals of 1 minute maximum, 1 minute moderate. Usually that means I finish in 15 minutes, but I feel like I’m half assin' if by finishing that quickly so I normally walk or jog for another 10 minutes after that.

-I then have breakfast of black coffee and some kind of oatmeal or a yogurt. My main rules are to keep the calories pretty low, little to no saturated fat, little to no sugar, but if there is sugar it will be natural, not artificial. I still do sometimes have the fake stuff, but I'm trying to stay way from it.

- I work for a bit, and if I can I go for a short walk in the morning. We're talking 10-15 minutes. Sometimes I walk down to our other building at work which is down the street. I wear a pedometer usually 6-7 days a week and I try to get in 10,000 steps minimum, but over 13k is probably the norm for me. I don’t wear it while on the treadmill though, that’s cheating.

-Lunchtime comes and I have a salad, maybe with a bit of chicken or tuna. No-fat dressings, veggies, that sort of thing. Sometimes I'll have home made chili, or a healthy soup like split pea. I do keep a small fridge under my cube at work and a drawer full of healthy snacks. That helps a lot if I get hungry in the afternoon, or if I can't make it out for lunch. Got to be prepared so as to avoid mistakes.

-After lunch or at some point in the afternoon I normally go for another walk anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. If I can I walk after every meal, but especially if I overdid it a little bit and feel full. The benefits are that it burns calories, but it also helps with digestion and gets rid of that uncomfortable full feeling. I'm not saying you can over-eat if you walk after eating and I don't suggest it, I'm just saying it helps if that does happen.

-2 days a week during the afternoon I'll run back to the gym and do some weight training for about 20-30 minutes. I forgot to mention, I have a small gym at work that is at my disposal. I'm very lucky compared to others in that regard and I use it to my advantage.

-At dinner time I'll just try to eat sensibly. Ideally I'd like to have lunch at my biggest meal of the day, but that doesn't always happen. Anyhow, I do the best I can. I'll have baked chicken or pork, chili, salads, steamed veggies, things like that. I try not to eat too much, and I try to eat dinner as early as possible.

-If I can I'll try to go for another walk after dinner, or at least do some activity that requires being on your feet. Even walking around the mall or walking in your town to get coffee is better than sitting in front of the TV. Not that I don't sit in front of the TV, but that usually doesn't happen until after 9pm up until 11 or so when I go to bed.

Sometimes I weigh myself at night just because I can tell how good my morning weigh-in is going to be based on that. That said I almost always weigh the most at night. I think that's normal.

So that is basically my routine m-f. My general rule for weekends are to take at least one day and do some activity that I like doing that is strenuous, such as riding a bike, going for a hike, whatever. If I know I can't get that in either day and I'm either going to be in an abnormal eating situation, or sitting all the time, I'll squeeze in another cardio workout Saturday morning.

Sunday's are usually my day off and I spend it with my GF. It's the only day we're both off from work.

Here's a few rules/comments that I think are important and that I try to follow:

- No artificial anything. I shop at trader joe's or the natural food section at the food market. I was using artificial sweeteners for a while, but there is talk that they can cause cancer and just generally not be good for you. I'd rather not take any chances.

- Don't eat too late. I actually don't really know what the reason for this is, but it sounded like a good idea so I try to follow it.

- No calories from drinks. I only drink water or very low caloric drinks on occasion. Yes, there are nights when I drink alcohol, but I try to limit them and prepare for them by eating less and working out more. I stay away from beer and have mixed drinks with diet sodas. Yes, this is one of those times where I can't get away from artificial sweeteners.

- Stay active and do what you need to do to keep moving. The pedometer has been a huge tool for me to help me keep moving. On days when I forget to wear it I have noticeable less motivation to do my walks. I'm the kind of person who needs to see what they're doing. If you get one, wear it for a few days and see what your normal amount of steps are. Once you get a number, double it, triple it, make it over 10,000, whatever. The point here is to move more than you were before, so use it to show some improvement even if it is minimal at first.

- Counting calories - I don't do it. I know a lot of people do, and maybe at the beginning of your weight loss quest you mind find it helpful, but I find it annoying, and honestly a bit of a crutch. I have an idea of how many calories I eat based on what I'm consuming. I read every label. But I don't really know. My mindset however is that I must either walk, or run or jog, or lift weights, or do whatever to burn off what I consume, or as much as possible.

What I'm trying to say is this:
Let's say on some given day I eat 1200 calories. Not much right? Well I probably wouldn't be as motivated to burn as many calories because I didn't take in as many. My way, I always assume I'm eating too many and I do all that I can to burn them off. It might not work for everyone, but it does for me.

- My last thought/goal for the day is this. Your mindset should not be to lose weight. It should be to GET HEALTHY. Yes, one of the results of doing that is you will look better, but the real point is to get healthy. Your diet is part of that, but so is exercise. So is hardship. You're going to have to fight in order to be healthy and live longer and no one is going to hand it to you. I think once you realize that things actually get easier. Not that there still isn't pain, but now you have something else on your side; purpose.

I guess I have learned a few things in the past few months. There is however much more to know.

p.s. I mentioned yesterday I’d post new pics today. It didn’t happen because my digital camera is dead and almost all of my belongings are in storage (including the charger) until I move into the new house in a few weeks. I’ll hopefully be posting a few pics soon though.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall

Weigh-In: 248

Today is day 99 since my "lifestyle change" began. I suppose tomorrow being day 100 I should post some updated pics.

I did some intervals today. I changed it to doing 1 minute of moderate, 1 minute of "vigorous". It was definitely a good workout. I did 7 intervals like this. Of course it only took about 16 minutes which included a short cool down period. Do you all think this is a good way to do intervals? I kind of felt like I was cheating since it didn't take so long. I'm used to doing between 20-30 minutes of cardio in the mornings...

I've been bouncing between 246 and 249 for the past week so I'm not sure if this is another plateau or not. More likely it the result of several nights of drinking, and some less than stellar food choices I made over the weekend that I mentioned in yesterdays post.

That's really all I have to say today, except, where the heck is everyone? I'm seeing a LOT of blogs with very little activity lately. What's going on??? I think we all need to step it up a little bit.

Additionally, I'd like to call out a few people who have barely posted AT ALL and I'm wondering if they gave up:

Tamika
Kris
Mick
Lacy
Chris

If any of these people happen to read my blog, can you let us know how you're doing? Even if you've fallen of the wagon, here's your chance to get back on. After all, isn't this why there is a F.A.T. Coalition? We're here to help each other out. So I'm hoping to see some more posting from these people, or at least an update saying they've been doing well. Come on guys!

Monday, October 29, 2007

Challenges are for Fools!!!

weigh-in: 248

So I've decided over the past week or so that my newest set of challenges is going to be running/jogging related.

I'm someone who has ALWAYS hated running. For one, I've twisted my ankle badly so many times between playing baseball, and just walking on old brick sidewalks after too many drinks, that I can easily injure it again. I have to be really careful there.

I'm not really sure the other reasons I've always hated running. Maybe because its hard on your joints and it gives me a headache. Maybe it was just always so hard because I didn't do it enough. Wait, I know why, "SHIN SPINTS!". I hate those things.

So with all that said, why did I decided to use "running/jogging" for the basis of my next set of challenges? Well, for those same reasons, and because challenges, especially those that are designed to improve yourself, are not always fun. I've also found in the past that some of the things I've initially hated to do (like riding bikes up steep hills or toting around a 30 pound backpack over mountains), I eventually learned to respect and on some levels even enjoy. Not always mind you, but usually the mental payoff after accomplishing said task overrides the hardship it took to get there.

So why wait?



Today I signed up for my first 5k race. It's being held in Philadelphia this Sunday, November 5th, and it is called Free to Breath. Read about it if you wish.

I'm not really treating it as a race, but more of a "see what I can do" type of thing. Oh and I'm hoping the T-shirt I get is kinda cool :)

After signing up I realized that I've never actually run that far or that long without walking in between at some point, so I headed to the old trusty work gym and hit the treadmill. I just got back from there actually.

The good news is that I didn't die. I did in fact "run" the entire 5k(3.1 miles) straight without stopping or going less than 5mph. In fact I ran it in its entirety in 32 minutes and 29 seconds which I guess isn't so bad considering I've never done it before. If it goes anything like my "mile run" experience I should expect a decent improvement in time on my second attempt. I learn to better pace myself after doing it once.

Also, you'll notice I've logged my time under my "stats" section to the right. I'm starting to realize that keeping a log that shows improvement is much more helpful than setting goals. In other words, goals are great, but it's more important to track improvement and show that you're actually making it to your goal. Goals tend to change so often anyway based on your performance. I know I'm not really explaining this how I wanted to, and I'm running out of typing time for today, but lets just say to me anyway, the more important part here is the journey, not the goal.

On an unrelated note I want to point out that even though I've lost 50 pounds in three months, I am by no means perfect. For example, I ate chocolate, and yet another round of drinks Saturday night. I even had some chips with dip, some pie appetizer things, and a few chocolate chip cookies. I was at a Halloween party.

I think it's why my weight is still in the 248-249 range when it really should be a little lower in my opinion. I save up for these events though by working out twice as hard or for twice as long, and also not eating at much during the day when I know I'm going to be at an event where I'm going to drink or eat such things.

I can't say I eat those things a lot, in fact that might have been the second or third time I allowed it in the past few months, but it does happen.

I think the important thing is to plan for it, do what you have to do, reward yourself a little with some sweats or whatever, but then forget it ever happened, and overcompensate to try to make up for it in exercise and eating the next day. Thats what I do now and that's also what I plan to do once I get in a maintain mode. There is no reason to give up all "evil" things that you like to eat. Just learn to control them. I'm still learning that.

That's all I have for today.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Kashi "Good Friends" Cereal

Weigh-In: 247.8

So I had some of this cereal this morning, Kashi "Good Friends"

As I'm sitting there enjoying my breakfast I take a look at the box.


I felt that this cereal was really making a statement. Here we have two women of obvious different ethnic backgrounds, who are smiling over a box of cereal. If I could show you the back of the box you'd see an Asian woman, an Asian baby, and other people of varying backgrounds.

They seem to be saying, "Look at me! I'm a black woman who has this good friend who is white, and we LOVE our Good Friends cereal!"

I put the box down and knew that I was engaging in something on the very cutting edge of society. Not only do I have multi-cultured friends, but I eat lots of fiber with them.

I look around my desk while eating the cereal. I see nothing short of a black man, two Asian men, a white woman, an Indian woman, and one guy from New Jersey.

I'm thinking to myself, "YEAH! I'm multi cultural, and look at this awesome cereal! It tastes good AND promotes diversity!"

These two smiling women on the box are proud of our diversity, and they show it with a smile.

Then it hit me. "Wait a minute..."

"I have to go to the bathroom....RIGHT NOW!"

In fact, I wasn't even sure if I was going to make it to the bathroom. This all came out of nowhere.

I'm pretty sure I knocked over an Asian woman and an Indian man in my "carefully orchestrated so as not to have an accident" speed walk to the bathroom.

Luckily I made it. "Whew, that was a close one.."

Just at that moment I realized something.

Those smiling women on the box? They weren't smiling because they were happy with their own level of diversity. They probably don't even know what diversity is, let alone celebrate it.

They were smiling because they knew this cereal, which has enough fiber to cleanse the colons of an entire retirement community in a matter of minutes, was going to send you running to the bathroom like you'd not visited it after spending 4 days at Octoberfest.

Look at that box again:


They mock me still.

If you see this product on the shelf, well, you've been warned.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Nothing to see here...

So uh,,not really too much to say today. One of my goals is to keep posting as much as possible, shooting for 5 days a week. It really does help me stay focused when I know I have to report my activities good or bad to this blog.

Oh and my weigh-in today? 249! What the hizell? Maybe that water weight caught up to me, but 4 days later?

I don't really know, or care. I know I didn't do anything wrong eating or workout-wise, so whatever. I'm still below 250 a week before I wanted to be , so I'll take that. Dwelling on it is a waist of time as far as I'm concerned.

In other news, I went back to my intervals today after a bout of "I must run a mile as fast as possible". Getting a sub 8 is still a goal, but the most important thing right now is to burn calories, so I'm back to focusing on intervals instead of speed.
So I did 8 intervals this morning on the treadmill. It felt pretty good, especially with my new sneaks.

Also, I need some new ideas for healthy things to eat. I've been too busy to research and try and find new things so I've been eating the same old stuff.

Anyone have any good healthy recipes?

One last thing: Did I miss something or should there have been an October weight challenge weigh-in yesterday?

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

It's the Shoes

Weigh-in: 246 lbs
Mile Run Time: 8:14

That's right; it's the shoe's. I got some actual running sneakers last night at Sports Authority. For more info on the sneaks, see here. I got a great deal as they were on clearance because they had no box, plus I get a discount at that store because my company runs their website.

So this morning I strap them on and decide that today, the 3 month anniversary of my new "lifestyle", I shall really kick some anus and run a mile as fast as I can. The time? 8:14!

Let me tell you, I really did almost die. I mean, I'm fairly sure my heart came within a few beats of exploding all over the gym wall. But either way, I'm happy with that number for now. I have to go back to doing intervals in the mornings and maybe in another week or so I'll try the mile again.

My weigh-ins also seem to have stabilized at around 246 which I'm highly excited about. I expected it to go back up after I got properly hydrated over the weekend, but instead it's been hovering around 245-248. So given today's weigh-in, that puts me at around 50 pounds weight loss since I started. Actually, there was a 6 pound discrepancy in my scale at one point, so it might actually be closer to 44 or 45 pounds, but I like the sound of 50 better :).

I'm allowing myself today to feel good about myself, but after that it is back to work. I hope no one thinks that I'm trying to gloat about my success, I just feel really good about what I've done so far and felt the need to talk about it a little bit. I have to say I've surprised myself a little bit with this whole thing. I do however still feel like I have a lot more work to do and lots more to learn about this lifestyle and myself. Maybe I'll always feel that way on some level, I don't know. I've just been lucky so far to have the right set of circumstances to allow me to succeed in this thing. I suppose that is all I can really ask for.

Talk to you soon.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Hikin' Pics/Story

Today's weigh-in: 247.6 lbs


Well, I got my pics back from hiking. A lot of them didn’t come out because I used a shitty disposable camera, and because I didn’t use the flash. I never said I was smart.

If anyone is interested in viewing all of the pics, go here.

I was kind of surprised seeing this one. That's me on the left; I actually look thin! Part of it is an allusion because I'm wearing a back brace, but so what.

We had a great time on the trip hiking a total of 18 miles over two days. It ended up being a harder hike than we thought, and we had to climb using our hands during a few sections. The nice part was that all of my cardio work has paid off because I felt great, and all three guys mentioned several times that I "looked strong" , as I was flying up the inclines and leaving people in the dust.

That doesn't mean I'm not sore this week though. I think no matter what shape you're in hiking up mountains in like taking a baseball bat to your body.

Here's a quick breakdown of what transpired over the weekend:

Friday
- Leave work and all of us meet up at friend’s house. We all pile in my Jeep and head to the outdoor store, the state store (liquor store for you non state controlled liquor types), then we get on the road.

- It’s about a 3 hour drive, except that it starts to rain REALLY REALLY hard. I can barely see out the window while we're driving and I have to go 45 mph.

- We arrive at the camp site around midnight. Luckily the rain had just stopped. We set up a quick camp near where we're going to start the hike the next day. We're tired, but feel relived we're finally there, and so we decide to relax and drink a bit. I'm drinking diet coke and Captain Morgan's.

- Well, between my friend Dan and me, somehow the bottle of Captain Morgan's was finished. I never did go to sleep that night. Somehow I ended up kind of passed out in the driver’s seat of my car which was parked next to the tent. I had wet socks on and my head hurt. The sun was blinding and it was 6am. I decided I better get in the tent and get some sleep.

- I slept from 6am-9am.

Saturday
- woke up in a bit of a haze after 3 hours of sleep, but no headache. Thank god.

- Grabbed breakfast at a local small town, then got on the trail.

- got a bright and early start on the trail, 12:30pm.

- hiked 7 miles. Up rocky hills, over creeks, through the woods.

- got to camp next to the pond at about 5pm.

- set up camp, started insanely large fire.

- this is where 3 hours of sleep and 7 miles of hiking makes me kind of tired. I crashed in my tent.

Sunday
- awoke well rested, hikes 10 miles over mountains, creeks, woods. Filtered and boiled drinking water, ate lunch, rested. You know, did all of those hiking outdoorsy things.

- got back to the car at 4pm

- drove for an hour, got dinner at Ruby Tuesday's (Salad and coffee for me. Everyone else had burgers and beers)

- Dropped friend off in the City. Got home around 10.

It was a good weekend.

I took off yesterday and today from running to give my achy calves a break. I'll start that up again tomorrow, or maybe this afternoon depending on how I feel.

Now it's back to work...

Monday, October 22, 2007

Soreness and a new low

Today's Weigh-In: 247 lbs

We all made it home alive from backpacking. I'll give more details on that later as I'm getting the pictures together and whatnot. I'll just say the weather was great, I felt great, we hiked 18 miles, and my shoulders are sore.

As you can see from the ultra-low weigh-in I'm probably still a little bit dehydrated. That number might go up a little the next few days, but not much. I'm hoping to stay in the 240's.

I don't really have much else to say at this point until I'm ready to completely fill you all in on my trip.

Hope everyone had a great weekend...

Friday, October 19, 2007

A Walk In the Woods - and Day 88 Pic

That's what I'll be doing this weekend and I can't wait.

Myself and 3 of my friends will be going on a 20 mile backpacking trip near World's End State Park.

So, I took a rest today from the workouts since I'll be getting a workout all weekend long. I also needed the time this morning to get ready for my trip. After I got everything all packed up I weighed my pack - 27 pounds. It will actually be heavier because I wasn't fully loaded up with water, and that is the single heaviest thing I carry. I'm really excited about this trip because I haven't gone backpacking in about 5 years. I used to do it all the time but life seems to get in the way a lot. As you get older it seems like it's 10 times as hard to get people together to do stuff like this.

My weigh-in today mirrored yesterday, 251.5, so I'm hoping that the hike will put be under the 250 by Monday morning. But don't worry, I'll be eating well during the trip. I've got trail mix, chili, power bars, all that good stuff ready to go. I wonder how many calories you burn hiking up and down mountains with 27 pounds on your back, for 6 hours a day?

In other news, I snapped a pic this morning, albeit a crappy one, of my current progress. I wanted to wait until after my 3 month anniversary next week, but I figured what the hell.

I apologize in advance for the hair (I had just gotten out of the shower :) ). Also, as you can see those pants are just about to the point where they're so big they're too sloppy to wear. They are a size 40 and I'm wearing 38's now.



Even though the quality of the pic isn't great, I think you can see a small difference from the day 74 pic to the right. That was only 14 days ago, but I think it's about a 7-8 pound difference.

Well, it's time to get some work done. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Thursday, October 18, 2007

A Run for Your Money

I did it again today. I ran another mile, this time starting out at around 6-6.5 mph, and gradually getting up to 7.5. Towards the end I was ready to have a heart attack, but guess what my time was?

8:54!
Yes, that's a second short of a full minute less than yesterday.

I had a feeling that when I did it yesterday my approach was wrong; I started out too fast and lost steam. I feel that I can improve a little more right away by starting out slightly faster. I also think you're generally slower in the treadmill since you have to adjust the machine to go faster, instead of just doing it. One of these day's I'm going to buy a stopwatch and go to a track so I can get a more accurate number.

Until then I'm pleasantly surprised with my 8:54 on the treadmill and will work on getting that down.

Oh and my weigh-in? 250.5. SO close! I get that number by weighing myself on my scale at home that I've always used, then checking it against the scale at work right before I work out. They're usually within a pound of each other so I use the average of the two. My home scale already reads that I weigh 250.

I know I'll be meeting my October goal over a week early, unless something really bad happens. That's good news!

p.s. about the image in todays post: I did a google image search for "A Run For You Money" looking for something that fit the content of today's post. Nothing did so I used that instead.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Walk a mile in their shoes

"Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes."



This morning I ran a mile in my shoes. I haven't run a timed mile since high school so I thought I'd give it a try. I roughly remember my mile times being somewhere in the 9's, possibly in the high 8's. Let me say that even in high school I wasn't in the best shape I could have been. I played sports and all that good stuff, but exercise just wasn't a priority. Drinking and smoking was. That said I've always been one for endurance rather than speed.

Today's mile was 9:53. I think I could improve it right away by starting out slower and keeping a more medium pace rather than going balls out from the start and then losing steam half way through. No doubt there is progress to be made on my part, but I'm still thinking there is a bit of planning and strategy involved in getting your best time.

So now I have another goal, and that is to run a sub 8 minute mile, something I've definitely NEVER done. BTW, for some reason running that mile was harder than doing my intervals! I was surprised.

In other news, I had another new low weigh-in this morning, 251. I'll be posting that in the October Challenge soon.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

I'm starting to notice

I was looking at myself in the mirror this morning in my new size 36-38 boxer briefs and was thinking, "OK, now I'm really starting to see some progress". I think it's starting to sink in that I'm actually doing something. Sure, there are numbers, stats, pics, all of these things that show progress. There are comments made by people. But the most important gage of my progress is my mental state.

I'm starting to get excited because I'm entering into a weight range I haven't seen in YEARS. I'm starting to feel that I have the potential to be in better shape now that I have EVER been in my life. This is a good feeling and it is really what is working overtime to motivate me.

I'm starting to feel the real effects of the most important reason I decided to make this change. I feel better about myself mentally, I'm more confident of myself, and less likely to have that feeling of riding this out of control wave of life.

The comments from people are great, being able to jog without dying is great, fitting into smaller clothes is wonderful. But the biggest payoff so far has been this new mental condition I'm beginning to enter into. The fact that I once again feel like I can and will do anything I put my mind to, and do it with confidence. I think I knew it all along, but maybe one part of my brain needed to prove it to the other. Maybe my body needed to prove it to my brain. I don't know.

"Life is a complex and wonderful thing, full of many questions, few real answers, and endless unchartered territory that begs to be explored."
- Me, October 16th, 2007.

Monday, October 15, 2007

13th Move Acomplished



Weight: 253.5

I had another active weekend, not of the fun variety. My GF and I moved temporily back to my parents house, about 20 miles away from our apartment.

It's a long story, but basically we needed to break our lease due to the presence of toxic mold on the premises. It would have been nice to have stayed until November 15th when we settle on the new house, but we couldn't exactly stay in that environment.

Anyhow, as I was cleaning and moving boxes I figured out that this is the 13th time I've moved since I first left home for college 10 or 12 years ago. Moving into the house next month will make 14. That better be it for a while...

I had another low weigh-in this morning: 253.5. I'm really thinking that I'm going to be able to meet my October goal by early next week. This coming weekend I'm going on a hiking trip and will be walking about 20-25 miles with 30 pounds on my back. If I do well this week with my workouts and eating I'm really thinking one week from today I'll see the 240's for the first time in who knows when.

So here's to a successful weight loss week for all of us!

Friday, October 12, 2007

BWahahaAH! - and Sad

That's right. I'm laughing at those Fajitas, all 4 of them. Why? Because I showed them who's boss. Today weigh-in was a mirror of yesterday's ultra low 254. How did I manage to do this after eating 4 fajitas for lunch? Well, by purging of course!

No, just kidding. Instead of purging I walked a total of 3 miles after lunch, and had a light dinner. Then I did some moderately strenuous activity when I got home (more moving things into storage). Go me!

On a different note, without further adieu I'd like to share with you a poem I wrote about my good friend with whom I parted ways with last night after quite some time: my 1980 Jeep CJ-7.

My Jeep CJ

7 long years, me and my jeep,
we tore up the road and the trail and my knuckles,
flat tires, no gas, bad brakes and wet feet,
I'd fix you again, my will never buckled

from the ground up I built you, everything needs replaced
I'd hammer and weld, 'til red in the face

time after time, you'd require much cash
I'd love you as mine, while others yelled, "trash!"

now the time has come, that we must part ways
a house near the road, will instead fill my days

I'll always remember you, for all that you were
the times that we had, passed like a blur

that time, I drove you into a tree?
new fenders, new hood, less money for me?

that time, I drove you into a street sign?
too many drinks, perhaps too much wine?

that time, I rolled you, onto your side?
couldn't see that hole, perhaps I was blind?

I remember it all, like it was today
I'd do it again, not put you away

but life is here, better senses prevail
plus you sit in the road, ignored without fail

your value is burning a hole in my pocket
I just bought a house, you must go now, so.....fark it

goodbye jeep



p.s., if anyone is interested in a little more about my jeep, click here. It however, has been sold :(

Thursday, October 11, 2007

fajitas, beautiful fajitas



Ew. I went to Baja Fresh today for lunch with some friends from work. I had some steak fajitas. I think 4 of them. They included: steak, corn torillas, tomatos, green peppers, onions, black beans, and a tiny bit of guacamole. So I guess the contents of the meal weren't that bad, but the fact I had 4 of them wasnt great. In fact now that I'm back at work sitting at my desk I kinda feel like I ate a brick. I might have to head back to the gym and see if a 2-3 mile walk will help clear that up.

This is the first time really that I've eaten that much in one sitting for lunch. I hope it doesn't mess me up too much. I had another low weigh-in this morning, 254.

Anyway, I just wanted to hold myself accountable for overeating a bit today at lunch. Sometimes I feel like in my effort to remain positive all I post about is the good stuff.

So...time to go take that walk and burn off some of those calories I just consumed.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Doing the Needful

I feel like I got a lot of exercise yesterday. I did 9 intervals of running/jogging in the morning. That turned out to be about 25 minutes of cardio/2.5 miles/200 calories.
After lunch I walked another 1.5 miles. In the afternoon I did my weight training routine for 30-40 minutes. Then last night I walked another 1.7 miles for a total of 3.7 miles walked yesterday. I ate pretty well aside from a celebratory drink of diet coke and vodka I had at dinner with some friends. The celebration was because my great friend of the last 15 years just put an offer in on a house that is literally a one minute walk away from the house we're settling on next month.

So yea, I think it went pretty well. I was rewarded today with another low weigh-in of 255. That's three days in a row now of 255 which is half way to my November 1st goal of 250.

I hope for today to be similar. I've already done my morning cardio interval training and as I type this I'm having a nice bowl of GO LEAN Crunch by Kashi and a cup of black coffee with a hit of fat free soy milk.

Oh and, I'm sitting here in my new pair of size 38 jeans :)

One more thing, the title of today's blog: I work with a lot of offshore consultants from India who speak English as a second language. As is expected sometimes they have trouble conjugating verbs or putting sentences together. On more than one occasion and from different people I was asked to do things.

For example, from someone in QA
"Brian, this bug is still not fixed, please DO THE NEEDFUL."

So today and for the past three months that's what I've been doing. The Needful.

UPDATE: Actually, I just found this which says this is an old Indian/British Saying:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_the_needful

So maybe it isn't a mistake. Either way, I'll be doing the needful, as needed.

Monday, October 8, 2007

38

Bwahahahahaha!

38.

Jeans.

I wear size 38 jeans now. I know it's not a fluke because I tried several brands of jeans in size 38 and they all fit. We're not talking Old Navy jeans which say 38 but actually measure 40-42, we're talking Calvin Clien, Lucky Brand, Claiborne, DKNY, they all fit. I have not been a size 38 jean's since I guess about 6 or 7 years ago and when I was they were TIGHT.
38 is still of course a bigger size, but at least it's in the 30's and I no longer feel embarrassed holding my 40+ inch jeans while line at the store or asking a sales person to help me find my size.

Wait until I get to 36; I haven't been able to put on a pair of 36" jeans since high school.

Also, I had another low-low weigh-in this morning, 255. It's just a number, but it just shows I'm still moving in the right direction. Those 5-6 days a week of working out and 95% of the time clean eating are paying off. It's these kinds of things that just motivate me to keep doing what I'm doing, if not even harder.

BTW, just to reiterate my level of happiness, I was a size 42 old navy jeans (and they were a bit tight) on the day I started this blog, July 24th.

OK, sorry, I'm done bragging now. Back to your regularly scheduled programs...

Friday, October 5, 2007

Nothing bad to report

I really don't know what to type today, except that things are going as expected. Ive been really being careful what I'm eating. I really don't know how many calories I've been consuming daily, but if I had to guess I'd say between 1200-1500. Pretty low for someone my size but I feel great, have plenty of energy, and do not feel hungry all the time.

I've been doing intervals on the treadmill every morning. Usually 9 intervals but no less than 7.

I'm also walking at least 2.5 miles a day. Usually I take a mile and quarter walk around the business park after lunch, and sometimes another walk at night, but I'm consistently hitting 10,000 steps a day now (which equates to 2.5 miles about).

I've been doing my strength training routine 2-3 days a week, but I have to say if I'm busy, this is usually the first thing to get bumped. One of my goals is to improve in that area.

I've had record low weigh-ins for three days in a row now with today being 256.5 so I think my actions have been working.

So basically I'm just trucking along. My main motivation lately has been that I'm now entering a weight realm that I haven't seen in years! I can't wait until I get to a level of fitness I've never been in before. I'm really looking forward to it for many reasons.

Anyway, I'm off for yet another action packed weekend (moving a bunch of things into storage, fun!). Hope everyone else has a great weekend as well!

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Going Back In Fat Years


Like I've mentioned in the past I NEVER used to weigh myself. Not ever. So that said, I don't really know what I weighed when. I DO know that since roughly 1995 when I graduated high school, I've put on some weight every year. Sometimes I've lost it when I'd go on a long bike trip or something, but overall I weighed a bit more every years since say I was 18 up until Last July when I was 30. 12 year's of putting on the pounds.

I really wish I had measured my weight because now I’d have a good gauge of what weight I’ve got myself down to age-wise. Since I don’t, right now I’m using clothing. Last night I went through my closet and decided I’d try everything on and get rid of all of my clothes that were too big. In the end I had a pretty big pile. So today I’m going through what pics I can find of myself with those clothes on to try and figure out when the last time I weighed what I do now was.

-I’m definitely back to Spring 2007. This should be obvious, but it was blatant when I tired on a bunch of shirts I bought back in April or so that were size XXL. I swim in them now. In the bag for the Salvation Army they go.

“My name is Heinrich and I’m here for your Cheesteaks!”


- New Years 07? “Boy, Drunk and Fat is no way to go through life!”


- Fall 2006. That suit I bought for a wedding that I only wore one time, in this pic, is a no go. Way too big. Maybe it can be let in? Who knows, but I’m definitely gone back past fall 2006.


- Feb 2 2005. Hmm. I threw out the shirt and jeans I’m wearing in this pic because they were a bit big. Well Ok, I threw out the shirt because it’s ugly. But the pants were definitely big. I think my face looks bigger here too.


-I’m definitely back to 2004. I have a bunch of sweatshirts and shirts I used to wear then that fit fine, but over the past few years seemed to have shrunk. Now they either fit me fine, or are a little large. So I decided to keep those. Here’s one of them. I guess I had a fake goatee back then too. Hmm.


-1997. Well, it’s kinda of hard to tell from this pic how much I weighed then, but do I really want to ever look like this again? Was the gay german tourist look really ever in style? Probably not.


I tried on a pair of biking shorts I wore in 2002-ish and they seemed to kinda fit. So I think at this time I’ve roughly taken 5 years off of my fat life! I don’t have a pic handy for this one though! Good thing I guess.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Compare Time

I've been putting it off and putting it off, but the time has come to look at some numbers and some compare pics.

First, here are some stats:

Days since started weight loss program: 72
Weight Loss to Date: 37 lbs!
Current Weight: 259 lbs
Pounds to go: 40-50

Now for the compare pics. One pic is from the day I started, July 24th. The other one is from last night. Guess which one is which!



What do I see when I look at these pics? I see some progress, but mostly I think "there is still a lot of work to be done". I have not lost my drive.

Here's to a great October!

Monday, October 1, 2007

Dance the Fat Away

Ouch.

That's what I'm saying today. I don't say it so much verbally, but more-so with the way I walk for the first 20 steps after I've been sitting for a while. The reason for my soreness is a combination of things mostly derived from activities I don't partake in on a regular basis.

The first one was Jogging. I hate jogging, however on Saturday morning I felt guilty after a night of drinking at the wedding rehearsal so I decided the most appropriate action to take was to punish myself with some quality treadmill time. I was actually pleasantly surprised when I ran for a full 20 minutes without walking at all. I still hate jogging, but I guess it could have been worse.

The second abnormal thing I participated in this weekend was dancing at the wedding Saturday night. Yes, it's true what you've most likely heard; I can dance like John Travolta, Michael Jackson, and Gene Kelley combined. Women swoon and men smile in admiration when they view the awesome sight of my perfectly choreographed moves. Attractive women beckon me to autograph all sorts of things.

Unfortunately it's not often I have the opportunity to share my god given skill with the rest of the world, and so Sunday morning when I awoke I found my hamstrings/quads to be trying to tell me that they'd rather not assist me in moving today. It actually was just this small area, basically where the front pockets are on jeans that were a bit sore. Was it the "Toga Dance" or my specialty, the "Crab Walk" that had done me in? Perhaps my perfect rendition of the "Funky Chicken"? Who knows!

The point is this: You can still have a good time AND lose weight. Also, most old people do not even understand what "Doing The Robot" is and "Interpretive Dance" through the medium of Break-dancing is no longer appreciated like it once was. It's really a shame.

Anyway, the good news is I'm a pound away from the 250's. That's 11 pounds of weight loss for the month of September. I've added a new goal on the right, 250 By November 1st. Hopefully that won't be a problem, and if I meet that goal I'll be revising my "240 by Jan 1st" goal.