New Measurements

Thought I'd post some new info I just received. Just got back from Target because I only have two pair of pants the fit and they are getting a little bit large.

As it turns out, I'm now a 36x32 pants size. I was a very snug 42 last July. For comparison, last time I was a size 36 pant? High School. Possibly even early High School, I can't remember exactly.

I'm also now a 44L suit. I was a 50L in July.

Size L shirts too.

I can't tell you how nice it is to go shopping and not be embarrassed about what size I'm looking for. The selection seems much better as well.

I'm happy. Lucky for me I'm one of those guys who likes shopping though.

5 ... Make that 4 Day Marathon; Accomplished!

Weigh-In; 236 lbs
Miles Run Today: 7.85
Week Total: 26.2!!!

That's right! I'm done!

I got on the treadmill this morning planning on maybe doing 3-4 miles, which would have been half of what I had left. After yesterday's run I started to develop a slight blister on the side of my big toe on my left foot, and where that rubs on the toe next to it. So last night I went to Sports Authority to try to find these socks that I figured might help:



I couldn't find them so I tried another store. No luck.
This morning came around and my toe felt OK.

Back to my run this morning: At around 3 miles I decided I felt good, so I'd go ahead and do 5 miles, leaving me about 3 for tomorrow. When I got close to 5 miles my toe starting really acting up again, and having some experience with blisters before I had a feeling it was going to feel pretty bad after the run, so I decided to go ahead and do 7.85 miles which was what I remembered I had left in order to have run a marathon.

In the end , I did it. At one point I fell off the treadmill though! It backs up to a wall, I just closed my eyes for a second and I guess I went too far back. Somehow I ended up into the wall, kicking the chord out, and then landing next to it on my feet. So one second I'm running, and the next I'm standing next to a turned off treadmill. Luckily I had been watching the numbers on it so I just laughed for a second, then jumped back on and added the totals in my head to what I had.

That's pretty much it. I think I made the right choice finishing today because I'm now limping around the office due to my toe. I'm taking tomorrow and the weekend off from running, then next week I'm moving back to morning H.I.I.T and weight training.


I RAN A MARATHON!*





*over 4 days and on a treadmill.

Feelin' Better

Weigh-in: 236 lbs
Miles run today: 3.2 + 5.15 = 8.35
Week Total: 18.34

What is up with that weigh-in? I'm at 234 for three days, then I run/walk over 20 miles over two days and I gain two pounds? Psssh, whatever.

Anyhow, the week marathon is still going well and I feel strong again. However this morning there was someone else in the gym and I had to share the treadmill. That meant I only had time to get in 3.2 miles, so I'll either be running again today or making up the other 1.8 miles sometime between now and Friday night. I'm not worried.

A correction: I mentioned yesterday that when I walk 10,000 steps a day it equates to about 5 miles. I was off on that, it's just over 4 miles.

I have been eating a little more over the past two days. The food I'm eating is clean. The reason for the change is simply because I've been hungrier. That is understandable because when i was only running 2-2.5 miles a day I was burning around 260 calories, and now when I run 5 miles I'm burning close to 600. Makes sense to me.

EDIT: I got a free hour after lunch so I wanted to make up the miles I missed this morning. I ended up doing 5.15 in 54 minutes, putting my daily total at 8.35 (by far a new daily record for me). I've updated the numbers up top.

Scratchy Throats 'N Joggin'

Weigh-in: 234.5 lbs
Miles run today: 5.06 (5 miles run in 52:42)
Week Total: 10.09 miles

As you can see from the numbers I was a little slower today. I hate to give excuses, but I'm a bit tired and worn down today. Yesterday morning I had some slight scratchiness in my throat and it hasn't gone away, then last night after dinner this pain in my stomach came up that didn't go away until waking up this morning. Not sure if it was something I ate or what...

Not being really sure how the running was going to go this morning, I figured if I completely ran out of steam I'd do half the mileage then the other half this evening. After all, the goal is to get in just over 26 miles by Friday night, but I didn't say I could only run once a day.

In the end I ran the entire 5, but I'm hoping to feel better for tomorrows run.

I guess I could have worse problems.

Additionally, I was able to get all my walking in yesterday. That means I walked an additional 5 miles according to my pedometer not including the morning jog. So if I keep that up this week I'll have covered over 52 miles on foot this week. That seems like a lot! Here's to keeping it going.

5 Day Marathon

Weigh-In: 234 lbs

For this week I've come up with a plan. Yes, I'm a bit of a fool.

The plan is this: Run a marathon. Over 5 days.

That is, Between this morning and Friday at 11:59pm I plan to have logged 26 miles and 385 yards jogging on the treadmill.

I've just finished up with my first hack at it. I ran 5 miles in 50:30. That is over 5 minutes better than my number on Friday which was the first time I ever ran 5 miles. Today was the first time however that I really tried to do it as fast as I could, hence the 5 minute difference.

I wonder if by Friday I'll be doing it in the same time, more, or less? Hmm. Only time will tell.

BTW, all this running is getting me to my weight loss goals pretty quickly. Perhaps too quickly? I've weighed in at 234 for 3 days straight, and that is only 4 pounds away from my JANUARY 1st goal!

I'm already starting to get comments from a few people telling me that I don't need to lose any more weight, but the fact that I still have some small "love handles" and there is still a gut there tells me that I'm still on track to lose another 15=20 pounds. At that time I'll be hitting the weights and hopefully bulking up in the muscle department.

5 mile Milestone

I just wanted to make an entry in my blog today stating that I just ran 5 miles. That is, five miles, all at once. I did it in 55:57. I barely even walked any of it, I'd say about 4-5 minutes tops.

That is the first time I'm my life I have ever jogged that far so I just wanted to make a note of it so I can look back on it at some point and wonder....why?

It was nice that I burned just short of 600 calories doing it too!

I think I'll go have an ice cream sundae.


just kidding.

Post Turkey Report

Weigh-in: 236 lbs

OK, so I did not do the Turkey Trot yesterday. The main reason was because it was early and would have required me getting up really early on the only day I've had to rest in for a little but in a few weeks. Instead when I did wake up I went to my local park and ran a timed mile (new low, 8:10), and then headed over to the gym and ran another 2.5 miles on the treadmill.

So all in all, I did more than a 5k :). After that I didn't feel guilty about not going to the Turkey Trot.

All in all everything is still going well despite the constant busyness of the recent move and the fact we just had a holiday. In fact I'm right at 60 pounds lost since I started this a few months ago. Another 20 pounds and I'm going into a maintain/muscle building mode. I can't wait!

My thanksgiving dinner was really good. I definitely ate more than I do for a normal dinner, but I kind of "saved up" for it by working out and eating light earlier in the day. I think it worked out well for me.

That's all I got for you today. I hope everyone else's Turkey Day was good!

Turkey Trot/ Bella Trot

Weight-In: 237 lbs

I've decided to do another 5k. It's tomorrow (Turkey Day) morning. Info Found here. I don't really feel like I'm mentally prepared for it, but what the hell.

Yesterday, I took my dog for a walk around our new town. We ended up going about 4 miles. I got a call from a friend who was waiting for me at my house, so we jogged the last mile home. Needless to say, Bella needed a rest as soon as we walked in the door:



Also, I'm just over 20 pounds away from my goal. It's time to put it back into high gear and get there. So that's what I'll be doing.

Check out these articles:
It pays to count, pedometer study finds
Pedometers may encourage weight loss

I also saw a quick bit about it on the news last night. It made me laugh since I've been using my pedometer for a few months now. I guess it reaffirmed to me that it was a good thing and has definitely aided in my weight loss.

Still Busy...

...only now it's due to my job. I have a lot of things to catch up on due to having missed the last 3 days of work.

In fact I think I'm already late for a meeting.

- I went back to the gym today for the first time since last Tuesday. Went well. I worked out a little too hard and almost barfed though.

- I ate a piece of pizza the other day! There were a few other firsts in the bad food department over the past five days for various reasons. But I finally figured out what the trick is , after 30 or so years...moderation!

Today's weigh-In: 237 lbs

Gotta run!

Still here - New House Mayhem

Just thought I'd let everyone know I'm still around. I settled on my house last Thursday then basically have been moving, spending money, unpacking nonstop.
I don't go back to work until Tuesday.

Eating has not been the best, but I'm still right at 240. I havent been able to get to the gym since last Tuesday. My trick for the past few days has been moderation. I have been getting a lot of non gym exercise in though, moving boxes and furniture.

I need to get back to work, but I should be back to my regular schedule soon.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Progress/Doctor's Report

Day: 114
Weigh-in: 240 lbs

Lots to report today. I have my doctor's appointment and got my blood work results. I also have my camera working again and have some update/comparison pics.

The Doc says I'm doing a great job and to keep doing what I'm doing. He was impressed with the weight I've dropped in such short time. We talked about a target weight for me and he basically agreed with my goal of 215. He thinks anywhere between 210-220 or so is a good healthy number for me, although if I get to that, and then gain a bunch of muscle I would probably weigh more. So I'm going to stick with my target weight of 215 before I go into maintain mode.

Here's some current numbers for you; I'm still doing some research to see what they really mean. All I know is the Doctor said they're all good/passing.

Blood Pressure: 118/80

Triglycerides: 67
HDL (good cholesterol): 40
LDL (bad cholesterol): 86
Cholesterol total: 139
Cholesterol/HDLC ratio: 3.5

My report had a bunch of other numbers on it as well, but I don't know what they mean. I'll just take my doctor's word on those that they're good.

As for pics, here are some comparisons:





And here are just some pics from today:

In talking to the doctor I've realized that this weigh loss has helped some other areas as well:

- I no longer get up a night to pee several times. Apparently overweight people retain water and when they lay down it makes them have to pee more. I always slept through the night, then in the last year I started getting up all the time. No longer.

- Sleep Apnea . I had it. I used to snore really loudly and I'd stop breathing in the middle of sleep and it would actually wake me up. No longer.

The Great Shirt Tuck-IN

Weight-In: 240 lbs

As you might know, being a fat person, there are many tricks you do in order to hide your fat. Dark colors, baggy clothing, layering, to name a few. Over time, incorporating these things into your wardrobe becomes second nature.

The one that I've been doing for so long I can't remember when it started is "shirt un-tucking".

That is, I'd wear a t-shirt (see layering), then over that a button down shirt of some sort. The button down shirt would be un-tucked and hang down over your belt and therefore your belly.

On the surface it seems to work quite well...as long as you don't look at your profile in the mirror. No one sees your profile during the day anyway right? I'm not fat; I just like un-tucked, baggy, Johnny Cash looking clothing. Right.

So, did I mention that Liz and I are currently living in a spare bedroom at my parents’ house until we settle on the house later this week? Well I also need to mention that a good bit of my clothing is in storage with the remainder organized in perfectly neatly folded piles (prior to the explosion that apparently happened under those piles at some point), or they're contained in designer trash bags that are deliberately strewn about our room. This does indeed create a very articulate, organized living experience for us. We're quite happy with it.

Today while performing my daily routine of attempting to find two socks that match (I never did) I came across a shirt I had purchased several years ago. It never really fit. Meaning, that even while employing such "fat" techniques as the aforementioned "un-tucking" and "layering", it never really worked. Too tight. In fact my love handles often tried to fight there way out of it making it impossible to tuck it in even if that thought crossed my mind.

Today I decided I'd try it on, and even try something new. *GASP, I'd tuck it IN.

In the dark recesses of the spare bedroom this morning at 7:30, while being so quiet as to try not to wake Liz, with my pre-work-out non showered hair, one gray sock and one black sock, I made a great decision. I decided to wear that shirt, and furthermore, I would tuck it in. There would be no t-shirt underneath attempting to mask my man boobs into muscle.

The result, though in my mind still not perfect, was "not bad". In fact at the coffee machine I even found myself getting another "have you lost a lot of weight recently?" question for yet another co-worker. I thought to myself that yes, the shirt is working. Yes, it still could be something Johnny Cash might have worn to the Grand 'Ol Oprey (did he go there? I really have no idea...), but it seems to look OK. Not perfect, but passable.

I'll let you judge for yourself. Once again, please excuse the crappy cell phone pics. My new camera battery charger should be here any day now. Click on the pics for the bigger versions.






Love is a burning thing
and it makes a firery ring
bound by wild desire
I fell in to a ring of fire...

Rest is Good

Weigh-In: 239.2 lbs

As of today I've officially met my December 1st goal. As you can see my weigh-in was 239.2. I had a feeling I might be breaking the record today when I weighed myself last night and it was 240.8. The funny thing is that over the past three day's I've eaten more and worked out less than I have in any three day period in quite some time. I did manage to get in 2 treadmill workouts over that time, but my eating wasn't really as good as I could have done. Or maybe I'm just too hard on myself.

Even though I don't put much stock in it, my BMI is now 29.9. That is in the overweight category adversed to the "obese" category. YAY I'M OVERWEIGHT!

In any event, I'm going into this week feeling good about things. I think I'll be entering a "maintain mode" after another 20 pounds or so which I expect to be happening in January some time.

In other news, this is a busy week for us. We have another walk-through on the house Wednesday, settle Thursday, and start the moving on Saturday. We also get to go pick up Bella, our St Bernard we rescued, sometime this week.

Speaking of Bella, we picked her up this past Thursday and kept her for a few days because we'd be home to keep her company. We gave her a bath and in addition to cleaning up nicely she turns out to be the nicest, most laid back, loving dog I've ever met. This is amazing considering what life has dealt her so far. She had such an impact on us it was really sad dropping her back off at our friends house at the end of our time.

Bella also agrees that "Rest is Good":



Anyhow, thanks again for everyone's support!

I Ran Over a Twinkie on the Way to the Treadmill

Weigh-In: 243.8

It came out of nowhere, like a squirrel who suddenly changes his mind while crossing the road only to make an about face into the tread of a tire.

Except instead it was the tread of my running shoe.

It turns out I killed it.

Goodbye, sweet Twinkie. Goodbye.

No longer will you find your way into my middle, lodging yourself into my artery as your cousin the HoHo wraps itself around my love handles.

Where is the rest of your family? Will I see them again?

Perhaps.

However, it will be on my terms, understand? If your Twinkie brethren try to force themselves into my life as you did, they will find they've met the same fate.

I will step on them.

Be weary, be warned, Twinkie. Your overpopulation is about to be thinned. The world is no longer safe for you.

Interesting read ... or not.

Weigh-In: 244.4

I'll admit I have no idea what to blog about today. To be honest, I'm getting a little tired of talking about myself every day. I need some new , more interesting material. Like space exploration, kangaroos, rock climbing or something. Unfortunately I have nothing to say about any of those things. So here I am blabbing about how much weight I did or didn't lose in the last 24 hours.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with what I've done so far and I don't mind talking about it. In fact I was feeling a bit guilty because I thought I wasn't making progress fast enough this past week. Then I looked at my blog from last Wednesday and realized that my weigh-in was in fact 2 pounds higher than it was today. Here I thought I was stuck at 244.

Then to further feed that thought, I looked up some posts from Billy when he was roughly at the same time into his quest as I am now. I try to use him as a gage since he’s been so successful in his quest. Ironically he was talking about eating a Cheese Steak for the first time since he started, something that has been on my mind the past few days. Ahh the Cheese Steak! The Bain of our existences as Philadelphians!

I decided that I’ve been doing ok so far.

Here's to stepping back and looking at the big picture...

There I go again, blogging about myself and my weight.

How about those Red Sox? They resigned Curt Shilling for another year, 8 Million dollars he'll get. BTW, I only possess that information because Sports Center is always playing on the TV at the gym in the mornings. Even though I used to play baseball for years and love the sport, I really don't follow it anymore or have any real feelings about Curt Shilling. But there is yet another benefit of this new lifestyle: I'm more informed about sports.

So yes, I've learned that part of this "excess weight reduction process" is that it is easy to get caught up in the whole day to day details. Especially when you weigh yourself daily. That is yet another reason why these blogs come in handy. You can take a peek into not only your weigh-ins from a week prior, but your state of mind. Even when you feel that things are going slow, you can still track the progress.

In conclusion, being forced to write about yourself and your poundage on a daily basis, although sometimes without that interesting flair, can on occasion prove quite useful.

So I'll continue doing it.

Even if some days it really isn’t that interesting of a read :)

Rest and Recovery

Weigh-In:244.4

I think I'm stuck at 244. I've been at that weight give or take a pound for over a week and I've done a hell of a lot of work in that time. That's exactly why I've decided to take today off from cardio. My legs felt great Sunday after the 5k, then yesterday morning I ran another 2.5 miles in the morning (intervals) and walked another 5 miles throughout the day at various times. I think I overdid it because now my legs ache whenever I get up and I have this general tight feeling in my muscles.

So today I'm allowing myself today to recover a bit so no cardio, but I will still of course eat clean and I'm going to be doing some weight training in the gym this afternoon.

Who knows, other times when I've let up on the workouts is actually when I saw my weight go down. The thing that gets me this time though is that I've really been having a lot of snack urges throughout the day. For the first time in a while I'd really love to go chow down on a Cheese Steak or a Pizza.

MmmMMMmm , cheesy cheesy pizza.

I'll just have a few crackers and maybe a yogurt instead :(

5k Race - Been There, Done That

Weigh-in:244.3

If you read my blog last week you'd know that on a bit on a whim I signed up to run a 5K Race yesterday. http://www.freetobreath.org. This would be my first ever organized run of any sort, and my second time running that distance at all (the first time was on the treadmill last week, I got a 32:).

The goals I set for myself were as follows:
- Get below 30 minutes
- Do not walk
- Do the best I can

I'm happy to report I ran my first 5k in 28:10. The first mile I ran in 8:40, then in the 9's the second mile. The last mile I did slow a bit to catch my breath few times. It was hard and I was pushing myself. But the last couple of hundred yards I found it in my willpower to sprint through the finish line. I was happy with myself for meeting my goals.

I basically just paced myself behind two runners who were going a speed I was comfortable with. Running with them for over half the race we went, but eventually one of them slowed down and stopped so I passed them. At that point I finished the last mile or so of the race alone.

I'd say about 3-400 hundred people ran the race and I have no idea where I placed as I didn't stay around to find out. The standings will be posted on their website later this week though.

I did the run with a co-worker friend of mine (he ran it in 23:03, he's in a great shape a runs all the time) and we decided that we would continue to run 5k's every few months as it is a good way to stay in shape and gage progress.

In other healthy news I'm headed to get some blood work done this morning. I'm have a physical as well as my cholesterol and blood pressure checked. I have no idea when I had this done last so I figured why not now.

An Introduction

weigh-in: 243.3

Well, I'm behind on work again so today's post is going to have to be on the shorter side. As you can see with the weigh-in the weight is still going the right direction. I didn't work out this morning since I'm running the 5k on Sunday and I don't want to be sore for it. I will still eat right of course, and try to walk a bit more today to make up for not working out.

In other news, Liz and I have adopted a dog. Her name is Bella and she is a 6-8 year old St Bernard.

Her story is this:
She was abused and neglected all her life, and used just to produce puppies. Over the summer Bella was pregnant again and gave birth to 8 puppies. The owner for whatever reason decided he did not want to deal with it because he was going out of town that week, so he called the local pet adoption and asked them if they wanted to adopt Bella and 8 puppies, otherwise he was going to shoot them in an hour....

When Mary from the Pet Adoption place got Bella and the babies they were in bad shape. Bella was 60 pounds underweight and the babies were covered in feces. 4 of the puppies didn't make it. The rest were taken care of and eventually adopted. That left Bella. We saw her last week and got the story I just related to you. No one really wants to adopt an 8 year old dog who has maybe 4 good years left if they're lucky.

Needless to say Bella will be coming with us to our new home in a few weeks. We'll try to give her the best few years possible. I have to say I originally wanted to adopt a younger dog, but Bella deserves and needs our love more.

Anyhow, meet Bella:



click on the pic for a few more.

Sorry for the crappy cell phone quality.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Busy Signal

Weigh-in: 244.2

Been too busy to post today. Let's just say that things are going as planned!


I leave you with this quote:

"As a cure for worrying, work is far better than whiskey. I always found that, if I began to worry, the best thing I could do was focus upon doing something useful and then work very hard at it. Soon, I would forget what was troubling me. "

-Thomas Edison