Hiiiiiiiiiiiiidee-ho......
Okay here we are at week 24, the 6 month mark. Had a real solid lower body workout tonight and then jumped on the scale. To my utter amazement the scale showed 265! This was absolutely stupefying, I will explain why in a sec. I actually had considered not weighing in tonight because I was sure that this weigh in was gonna be skewed. Here's why......
This weekend turned out to be one of the WORST diet weekends that I have had since I started this madness. It was an awesome weekend that started with me seeing Avatar (in IMAX 3D) with a great friend Friday night. Followed Saturday by a money making snowstorm that kept busy for 17+ hrs. Finalized with a lazy recovery day on the couch watching football and chatting with another awesome friend most of the day. Here's the bad; before the movie I was short on time, so after the gym I ate some Arby's. Post movie I went to McDonald's. Then Saturday I drank 5 liters of Mt.Dew (caffeine and sugar are essential to working 17 hrs) and I ate at Sheetz three different times. Again, there really wasn't much time for food planning and eating healthy on a snow day. Sunday, I got home around 7am, showered and slept until noon. Ate some left over pizza and laid on the couch. For supper I ate a VERY disappointing cheese steak and then laid back down. To recap that was; Arby's, McD's, Sheetz 3x, 5 ltr of Mt. Dew, pizza, and a cheesecake, and very little exercise. The insane thing about the whole deal is that when I left the gym Friday (before Arby's) I weigh 267. SO SOMEHOW this weekend diet lost me two pounds!?!?!?!?!?
If you understand this please explain.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Week 23:
Sorry for the delay, I don't seem to have much spare time Monday or Tuesdays right now. Monday's weigh in said I am now weighing 266 pounds. A one pound loss for the week and 56 total loss. I am 44 pounds away from my goal weight.
Ain't got much else to say this week. It has been work, gym, sleep, repeat.......I'm not liking this 40hour per week crap!
Ain't got much else to say this week. It has been work, gym, sleep, repeat.......I'm not liking this 40hour per week crap!
Monday, December 7, 2009
Week 22: Time to get serious!
First week back on the Body-for-Life program and we jump right back into our old groove! Hopped on the scale at the Body Zone, this is one of those official doctor's office scales, and it showed 267 this evening!!! That is a 4 lb loss for the week and brings my total to 55 lbs.!
4 is a magic number from here on out, I need to average that to get to the 100 lb. goal by my birthday. I've been kind of downplaying the possibility of hitting the "220 by 2/20" goal lately because I knew I still had 50 to lose and only 12 weeks to do it in. Ultimately, the goal is to get to 220 pounds. The date has always been a secondary motivator and originally I thought it was insane. Now I don't know what to think, 4 pounds in the first week back on the BFL program is pretty good start and I know from past experience that 7-10 pound weeks do happen with this workout/diet system. Even this week, I cheated pretty hard Saturday (2 dozen wings and a big burger) but still manage a real good week. So if you see me out and about, give me some more motivation cuz it will take every once of well wishing to push me to this HAPPY ending, no "massage" jokes plz.
I can't describe the inner smile I get when I see the scale dip below those levels I haven't seen in forever. Today, getting into the 260's for the first time in 8 years felt SO GOOD. I mean 267, that number doesn't really sound "fat" anymore. There is a giddiness to the way I feel as I write you tonight. The way I feel at this moment makes me look at the goal as ABSOLUTELY doable and not unlikely, like I have been telling people. There is one of those real special numbers within sight, 251. That is the lowest memorable weight I have been since high school. It occurred around eight years ago when I did the BFL for the first time. The difference that time was that I started in the 270's. Once I crack the 250 wall I may have a perma-smile for awhile, one that my job won't be able to steal. I CAN'T WAIT!!!
A little funny stuff:
Something a little funny has begun to occur more and more often, and it kinda bugs the hell out of me. It bothers me because it goes against the type of personality I have always been. I suddenly can't walk by a mirror without looking at myself. This really does irk me cuz I'm not vain in anyway shape or form. I assume that it is natural when you start to look better that you would look at yourself more. But I mean, c'mon, I check myself out in the bathroom at work. It's just a peek but its getting down-right silly. What is even worse is that since more definition in the arms and legs has been showing up, I'm catching myself flexing a lot too, not necessarily in front of a mirror either. I've done it three time while writing the blog to this point. All I can do is laugh at myself! If you EVER see me out, wearing a tshirt that is a size to small, please punch me in the face, cuz that would mean I crossed some threshhold of dumbassedness that I don't care to ever to pass.
Take care and keep working hard, those of you brave enough to start you own change! See you next week!
4 is a magic number from here on out, I need to average that to get to the 100 lb. goal by my birthday. I've been kind of downplaying the possibility of hitting the "220 by 2/20" goal lately because I knew I still had 50 to lose and only 12 weeks to do it in. Ultimately, the goal is to get to 220 pounds. The date has always been a secondary motivator and originally I thought it was insane. Now I don't know what to think, 4 pounds in the first week back on the BFL program is pretty good start and I know from past experience that 7-10 pound weeks do happen with this workout/diet system. Even this week, I cheated pretty hard Saturday (2 dozen wings and a big burger) but still manage a real good week. So if you see me out and about, give me some more motivation cuz it will take every once of well wishing to push me to this HAPPY ending, no "massage" jokes plz.
I can't describe the inner smile I get when I see the scale dip below those levels I haven't seen in forever. Today, getting into the 260's for the first time in 8 years felt SO GOOD. I mean 267, that number doesn't really sound "fat" anymore. There is a giddiness to the way I feel as I write you tonight. The way I feel at this moment makes me look at the goal as ABSOLUTELY doable and not unlikely, like I have been telling people. There is one of those real special numbers within sight, 251. That is the lowest memorable weight I have been since high school. It occurred around eight years ago when I did the BFL for the first time. The difference that time was that I started in the 270's. Once I crack the 250 wall I may have a perma-smile for awhile, one that my job won't be able to steal. I CAN'T WAIT!!!
A little funny stuff:
Something a little funny has begun to occur more and more often, and it kinda bugs the hell out of me. It bothers me because it goes against the type of personality I have always been. I suddenly can't walk by a mirror without looking at myself. This really does irk me cuz I'm not vain in anyway shape or form. I assume that it is natural when you start to look better that you would look at yourself more. But I mean, c'mon, I check myself out in the bathroom at work. It's just a peek but its getting down-right silly. What is even worse is that since more definition in the arms and legs has been showing up, I'm catching myself flexing a lot too, not necessarily in front of a mirror either. I've done it three time while writing the blog to this point. All I can do is laugh at myself! If you EVER see me out, wearing a tshirt that is a size to small, please punch me in the face, cuz that would mean I crossed some threshhold of dumbassedness that I don't care to ever to pass.
Take care and keep working hard, those of you brave enough to start you own change! See you next week!
Monday, November 30, 2009
Week 21:
Post holiday weigh in!!!
So it wasn't all to bad, I drank twice last week and ate probably too much Thursday. The end result was that I only gained two pounds over this holiday week. Cant really complain. This was the first time, however, that I did not manage to hit one of the "minigoals" that I had set. I wanted to be under 260 by this point, but a lack luster month of November has prevented that. So time for a new mini goal. I'm not gonna make this one weight related because I am in the stretch run, and I know I need to average about 4 lbs per week to make 220 by 2/20. So there really isnt much of a point in making a weight goal now. However I am gonna make this rock solid goal, no booze until my birthday and yes that means New Years Eve too, God I hope the Victory Brewery doesnt have to shut down. Sorry to disappoint all of you ladies that were planning to get me liquored up and then take advantage of me now that I'm getting hotter ;p , so skip the booze and just give me a lapdance, Ill be able to figure out what you want. hehehe j/k.... Seriously though, I feel that I won't have a chance to reach this goal without making this sacrifice. I'm doing a lot of things to cut out the "extraneous" calories now like no cheese on sandwiches. So just drinking a beer here or there just would defeat the purpose.
Its gonna be a tough fight to the finish to say the least. Ultimately the goal is the weight of 220, the date is secondary. But it sure will be fun (fun in a twisted kinda way) to physically push myself as hard as I can to get there.
So it wasn't all to bad, I drank twice last week and ate probably too much Thursday. The end result was that I only gained two pounds over this holiday week. Cant really complain. This was the first time, however, that I did not manage to hit one of the "minigoals" that I had set. I wanted to be under 260 by this point, but a lack luster month of November has prevented that. So time for a new mini goal. I'm not gonna make this one weight related because I am in the stretch run, and I know I need to average about 4 lbs per week to make 220 by 2/20. So there really isnt much of a point in making a weight goal now. However I am gonna make this rock solid goal, no booze until my birthday and yes that means New Years Eve too, God I hope the Victory Brewery doesnt have to shut down. Sorry to disappoint all of you ladies that were planning to get me liquored up and then take advantage of me now that I'm getting hotter ;p , so skip the booze and just give me a lapdance, Ill be able to figure out what you want. hehehe j/k.... Seriously though, I feel that I won't have a chance to reach this goal without making this sacrifice. I'm doing a lot of things to cut out the "extraneous" calories now like no cheese on sandwiches. So just drinking a beer here or there just would defeat the purpose.
Its gonna be a tough fight to the finish to say the least. Ultimately the goal is the weight of 220, the date is secondary. But it sure will be fun (fun in a twisted kinda way) to physically push myself as hard as I can to get there.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Week 20: Sorry for my absence
Where have I been you ask?
First of all I will apologize for not posting these past few weeks. I really don't have a good excuse other than I had nothing to report and I have been busy. The weight has held firm at 270 and I had been hitting the gym on a fairly regular basis. These last few weeks I've been building my dad a shed/workshop at his home and have been working until dark trying to get it done so that I could go back to concentrating on my gym stuff. I won't lie, I missed a number of nites at the gym because I was tired from work and then construction. I did however stick tight to the diet and the six meals program. Well that was until this past week ;)
Week 20's report:
So I finally got a normal full week to get back on the full time horse....oh yeah Thanksgiving is coming. hmmm how we gonna dodge that bullet? We'll think of something, like a fake illness so the family doesn't get pissed at me for not showing. OK got to the gym today, I'm still lifting heavy just trying to build up some mass for that stretch run that is coming. Like I said, I hadn't been showing signs of losing weight but I'm definitely shrinking in all the right places as I can tell by my belt which has been begging for a new hole to be punched into it. I also bought a new pair of pants since I was going out on a date with a hottie and they were another size lower than the pair of jeans we bought a couple of weeks back. Size 40's, that mean the next pair will be those 38's WOOHOOO. So I stepped on the scale this afternoon and I am surprised to see 268, a two pound loss from the last report and a 54 pound total loss to this point!!!
Bad Week/But a fun Week!
This weigh in did come as a pretty big surprise because I DID NOT behave this last week at all. I have recently been offered a job at Deka, now if you don't know I have worked there before and I really didn't like it. Deciding to go back has been a painfully hard decision because working there before has to take some of the blame for my frame of mind (depressed, self-loathing issue) that lead me to giving up on myself and growing into the 300+ tub that started this adventure. I still worry that going back there will eat at my soul but I have a bunch of new things going for me right now that I hope will balance those feelings out. Anyway, since I was set to begin this go around at Deka today (Monday) I decided I was gonna go crazy in Atlantic City. Booked myself a comped room for Wednesday and Thursday nights and hauled on down there for some fun. Played a little 3 card poker right off the bat and walked away with some extra cash, not a bad start although the players on the left AND right of me hit straight flushes which pay 40:1 WHY NOT ME???. Entered a poker tourney at midnight and cashed, so I finish the first night up almost $300. Got up, entered another tourney and cashed again (3rd place) and this is where the profitable stay ended, lol. Ate some $32 mac and cheese at the buffet (ok the whole buffet was $32 but I ate a lot of mac and cheese) then met up with a friend and rocked out at The Borgata's Gypsy bar. Jesus there are hotties all over that place there, lord have mercy! Drank some $7 pints of Sierra Nevada, I should have said drank A LOT of....went to this crazy basement area that was lit up like heaven and it must have been cuz I ate at a joint down there called Fatburger and it might have been the most spectacular burger ever (nevermind the Pale Ale's influence on my taste buds) EVER! Played in another tournament after I checked out, made a huge mistake that probably cost me the cash, but you live and you learn. Then came home. Saturday I had a date, with a woman for you smart asses that feel like cracking wise, with a friend from a long time ago. I had screwed the pooch with this one when we first met and was so happy for a second chance. Went up to her place, was wowed when I met her at the door cuz I think she got hotter! Went to a martini bar called Liquid, highly recommend if in the Stroudsburg area. Had a great time, tried a bunch of food I probably never would have without her coaxing, drank a few (haha few, now thats funny) martinis including one that I'm fairly certain was lighter fluid and a peanut butter and jelly that was crazy good. Did I say I had a great time? Hahaha well to summarize my week I ate a lot of bad food (and fast food) and drank like 1000 times more than I had since I started the project and I had SOOOO much fun, AND to top it all off I lost two pounds!
Ok so after all of that I'm back at it, ran this morning and got to the gym this afternoon. It will be a stretch to get to that mini goal of 259 by next weigh in but I'm not to upset if I dont. I figured a slow down because of the muscle build up. After next Monday's weigh in I plan to go back to the Body For Life workouts for the final 12 weeks of Project Downsize Duff as well as starting another 12 week sobriety stretch to finish the project. Hopefully those higher energy workouts will chisel the last 40 or so pounds off by my birthday!!!
First of all I will apologize for not posting these past few weeks. I really don't have a good excuse other than I had nothing to report and I have been busy. The weight has held firm at 270 and I had been hitting the gym on a fairly regular basis. These last few weeks I've been building my dad a shed/workshop at his home and have been working until dark trying to get it done so that I could go back to concentrating on my gym stuff. I won't lie, I missed a number of nites at the gym because I was tired from work and then construction. I did however stick tight to the diet and the six meals program. Well that was until this past week ;)
Week 20's report:
So I finally got a normal full week to get back on the full time horse....oh yeah Thanksgiving is coming. hmmm how we gonna dodge that bullet? We'll think of something, like a fake illness so the family doesn't get pissed at me for not showing. OK got to the gym today, I'm still lifting heavy just trying to build up some mass for that stretch run that is coming. Like I said, I hadn't been showing signs of losing weight but I'm definitely shrinking in all the right places as I can tell by my belt which has been begging for a new hole to be punched into it. I also bought a new pair of pants since I was going out on a date with a hottie and they were another size lower than the pair of jeans we bought a couple of weeks back. Size 40's, that mean the next pair will be those 38's WOOHOOO. So I stepped on the scale this afternoon and I am surprised to see 268, a two pound loss from the last report and a 54 pound total loss to this point!!!
Bad Week/But a fun Week!
This weigh in did come as a pretty big surprise because I DID NOT behave this last week at all. I have recently been offered a job at Deka, now if you don't know I have worked there before and I really didn't like it. Deciding to go back has been a painfully hard decision because working there before has to take some of the blame for my frame of mind (depressed, self-loathing issue) that lead me to giving up on myself and growing into the 300+ tub that started this adventure. I still worry that going back there will eat at my soul but I have a bunch of new things going for me right now that I hope will balance those feelings out. Anyway, since I was set to begin this go around at Deka today (Monday) I decided I was gonna go crazy in Atlantic City. Booked myself a comped room for Wednesday and Thursday nights and hauled on down there for some fun. Played a little 3 card poker right off the bat and walked away with some extra cash, not a bad start although the players on the left AND right of me hit straight flushes which pay 40:1 WHY NOT ME???. Entered a poker tourney at midnight and cashed, so I finish the first night up almost $300. Got up, entered another tourney and cashed again (3rd place) and this is where the profitable stay ended, lol. Ate some $32 mac and cheese at the buffet (ok the whole buffet was $32 but I ate a lot of mac and cheese) then met up with a friend and rocked out at The Borgata's Gypsy bar. Jesus there are hotties all over that place there, lord have mercy! Drank some $7 pints of Sierra Nevada, I should have said drank A LOT of....went to this crazy basement area that was lit up like heaven and it must have been cuz I ate at a joint down there called Fatburger and it might have been the most spectacular burger ever (nevermind the Pale Ale's influence on my taste buds) EVER! Played in another tournament after I checked out, made a huge mistake that probably cost me the cash, but you live and you learn. Then came home. Saturday I had a date, with a woman for you smart asses that feel like cracking wise, with a friend from a long time ago. I had screwed the pooch with this one when we first met and was so happy for a second chance. Went up to her place, was wowed when I met her at the door cuz I think she got hotter! Went to a martini bar called Liquid, highly recommend if in the Stroudsburg area. Had a great time, tried a bunch of food I probably never would have without her coaxing, drank a few (haha few, now thats funny) martinis including one that I'm fairly certain was lighter fluid and a peanut butter and jelly that was crazy good. Did I say I had a great time? Hahaha well to summarize my week I ate a lot of bad food (and fast food) and drank like 1000 times more than I had since I started the project and I had SOOOO much fun, AND to top it all off I lost two pounds!
Ok so after all of that I'm back at it, ran this morning and got to the gym this afternoon. It will be a stretch to get to that mini goal of 259 by next weigh in but I'm not to upset if I dont. I figured a slow down because of the muscle build up. After next Monday's weigh in I plan to go back to the Body For Life workouts for the final 12 weeks of Project Downsize Duff as well as starting another 12 week sobriety stretch to finish the project. Hopefully those higher energy workouts will chisel the last 40 or so pounds off by my birthday!!!
Monday, November 2, 2009
Week 17:
First time on the scale since the halfway celebration, not good news but I was expecting it. Weigh in today was 274. That puts me up 4 pounds since that last weigh in. Like I said I kinda expected it to happen. I didn't have a bad week dieting last week but all the rain and my grandma's passing really crimped the workouts and the work week. I burn a lot of calories just doing what I do and last week was a whopping 11 hour pay week, so don't ask to borrow money from me anytime soon. I also switched up the gym routine last week and with that the cardio type lifting workouts have been replaced with just heavier lifting. Factor that in with the crappy weather and I hardly got any cardio work in last week. Been a bit lethargic lately too, don't know if its the weather, the changing of the seasons, the shorter days, or the late nights staying up to watch the Phils, but I can't seem to get my butt outta bed right now in the morning.
Well this is a new week and we'll get back on track!
Well this is a new week and we'll get back on track!
Friday, October 23, 2009
WEEK 16: HALFTIME!!!!
Wow 16 weeks have blown by so fast. I know, I know its not Monday, and where the hell was last week's update? Well, I've been busy with a home improvement project all week and I didn't get to the gym at all to even get a weigh in done. Still getting in the AM runs, except for those mornings following Phillies games. I'm updating today because I am off to DC to support my friend at her marathon, and to celebrate the midway point and my 50th pound!!! There will be some cheating for sure, my 12 week sobriety stretch ends when I get down there. Don't worry I am not jumping off the bandwagon, I'm merely getting off to stretch my legs for a weekend. When I get back we are right back on it. I'm leaving Saturday and coming home Monday, pending funeral plans for my Grandmom. So I needed to get the weigh in done before I go because I don't want to know how bad this weekend ends up being, I likely won't step onto a scale for a couple of weeks so I don't frustrated.
So without further ado, the scale read 270!!!!!!!!!! Grand total of 52 pounds in 4 months!!!!!!!! I am still on pace to make the goal of 220 by 2/20! I anticipate that during the second half that it will be harder to shed the other 50 pounds that I am gonna lose. 16 weeks to go and 50 pounds that's averaging slightly more that 3lbs per week, its gonna be hard to say the least, but my work schedule will slow up soon and I will be able to amp up the gym stuff when it does.
I've been really trying to wrap my head around how much weight 50 pounds really is lately. I jokingly made the comment that I have lost a small child worth of weight. which was a goofball way of saying I lost a lot. But when my brother's 5 yr old son, Noah, was here at the house I threw him on the house scale and he weighed 50 pounds. So I indeed have lost a small child!!! Looking at it from that perspective or any others like a bag of rock salt worth, just floors me! It is no wonder that I feel so much better already, more energy, less worn down, etc. I cant wait to see what a 220 pound guy feels like!
What I would love to do is go to the Doc and get the usual blood work done to see how all of those numbers have changed. Cuz if my cholesterol isn't down I may have to write those Cheerios folks! I've eaten Cheerios for breakfast (no sugar added just plain Cheerios) almost everyday since the start of this thing. However, since I am one of the millions of Americans that can't afford health insurance I will have to hold off on that.
What I have become so proud of at this point is my determination and commitment to see this thing through and make real changes for myself. I've learned quite a bit about who I was and who I am striving to be, and I am fighting through some tough moments that could have derailed the train.
The next couple of months I am gonna try to concentrate on some heavier lifting to improve strength, especially some of my weaker areas like my shoulders. With that, I sorta expect a slow down in the weight loss pace as muscle mass increases (hopefully). So I am setting the next mini goal to be for the weight by Thanksgiving to be in the 250's, ie at least 11 pounds in 4 weeks. I know that is off the pace but after about6-8 weeks of hard lifting I will go back a more cardio base workout routine in order to shred the last bit of weight.
Hopefully, in the next few days I can get a few good pics of me (and maybe my 50lb nephew) to post to the blog so you all can see the before and midway me's.
So without further ado, the scale read 270!!!!!!!!!! Grand total of 52 pounds in 4 months!!!!!!!! I am still on pace to make the goal of 220 by 2/20! I anticipate that during the second half that it will be harder to shed the other 50 pounds that I am gonna lose. 16 weeks to go and 50 pounds that's averaging slightly more that 3lbs per week, its gonna be hard to say the least, but my work schedule will slow up soon and I will be able to amp up the gym stuff when it does.
I've been really trying to wrap my head around how much weight 50 pounds really is lately. I jokingly made the comment that I have lost a small child worth of weight. which was a goofball way of saying I lost a lot. But when my brother's 5 yr old son, Noah, was here at the house I threw him on the house scale and he weighed 50 pounds. So I indeed have lost a small child!!! Looking at it from that perspective or any others like a bag of rock salt worth, just floors me! It is no wonder that I feel so much better already, more energy, less worn down, etc. I cant wait to see what a 220 pound guy feels like!
What I would love to do is go to the Doc and get the usual blood work done to see how all of those numbers have changed. Cuz if my cholesterol isn't down I may have to write those Cheerios folks! I've eaten Cheerios for breakfast (no sugar added just plain Cheerios) almost everyday since the start of this thing. However, since I am one of the millions of Americans that can't afford health insurance I will have to hold off on that.
What I have become so proud of at this point is my determination and commitment to see this thing through and make real changes for myself. I've learned quite a bit about who I was and who I am striving to be, and I am fighting through some tough moments that could have derailed the train.
The next couple of months I am gonna try to concentrate on some heavier lifting to improve strength, especially some of my weaker areas like my shoulders. With that, I sorta expect a slow down in the weight loss pace as muscle mass increases (hopefully). So I am setting the next mini goal to be for the weight by Thanksgiving to be in the 250's, ie at least 11 pounds in 4 weeks. I know that is off the pace but after about6-8 weeks of hard lifting I will go back a more cardio base workout routine in order to shred the last bit of weight.
Hopefully, in the next few days I can get a few good pics of me (and maybe my 50lb nephew) to post to the blog so you all can see the before and midway me's.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Week 14: Finally!
Got to the gym early today so I could watch the Phils hopefully end Rocktober (what a dumb slogan). As you know I've hit a real dead spot these last few weeks in the weight loss area even though I hadn't changed my diet at all. Although I was bummed by the lack of loss, I was not deterred and I stuck to my guns. Well it certainly paid off at weigh in tonight.
Tonight's weigh in: 275! That was a 7 lb loss for the week!! It brings the total to 47 lbs, only 3 lbs away from the half way mark of 50 lbs!!! WOOO HOOOO!!!!
It was certainly welcomed news after a what can only be described as a horribly gut-wrenching weekend for me. Lots of TylenolPM was needed to get any sleep. Maybe I'll share it with you in a later post, it will depend on whether or not it starts to ruin my daily routine. It was originally my intention to talk about it tonight but I've had second thoughts suddenly, mostly out of respect for a great friend. The last couple of days have been crappy to say the least. After getting punched in the gut(figuratively) early Saturday I had to work for about 4 hours, which as I said before my jobs sucks when I've got bad thoughts in my head. Well it held true, it was a miserable 4 hours. By the end of the day, I had pretty much figured that I was gonna go out and end my latest sobriety streak and get HAMMERED! I really didn't want to feel what I was feeling and alcohol was gonna be my cure. After a long hot shower, my friend was on her way to go out to eat and hang out. I was all dressed and ready so I threw on the fleece and decided to go sit out on the porch to wait for my ride. Somewhere in that five minute wait on the porch I asked myself how getting wasted tonight would change the situation. Sure maybe Saturday night would have become a blur and I might have forgotten my problem. As well, I probably would have fallen asleep without TylenolPM, but I was gonna have to get up Sunday and confront my problem whether I got drunk or not. When my ride showed I really was unsure how the evening would turn out when I got into her car. I am very happy to report that I abstained! Somewhere in that night I decided I was gonna end the pattern of behavior that has kept me down for so long, this time I was gonna get up off the canvas after this latest ass kicking and fight off the depression that typically has followed moments like this.
Big thanks to Jen this week, you shouldn't have had to deal with my crap Saturday, you had plenty of crap to deal with that weekend. I should have been better company, sorry.
A MAJOR corner was turned this weekend, and even though I am sad, I am proud of the change in me that came from this sadness. I know that I am no longer connecting my emotions to alcohol. Also I found out that there is a lot more fight in me now and that I am SURE that I'm getting to 220!!!!!!!
Tonight's weigh in: 275! That was a 7 lb loss for the week!! It brings the total to 47 lbs, only 3 lbs away from the half way mark of 50 lbs!!! WOOO HOOOO!!!!
It was certainly welcomed news after a what can only be described as a horribly gut-wrenching weekend for me. Lots of TylenolPM was needed to get any sleep. Maybe I'll share it with you in a later post, it will depend on whether or not it starts to ruin my daily routine. It was originally my intention to talk about it tonight but I've had second thoughts suddenly, mostly out of respect for a great friend. The last couple of days have been crappy to say the least. After getting punched in the gut(figuratively) early Saturday I had to work for about 4 hours, which as I said before my jobs sucks when I've got bad thoughts in my head. Well it held true, it was a miserable 4 hours. By the end of the day, I had pretty much figured that I was gonna go out and end my latest sobriety streak and get HAMMERED! I really didn't want to feel what I was feeling and alcohol was gonna be my cure. After a long hot shower, my friend was on her way to go out to eat and hang out. I was all dressed and ready so I threw on the fleece and decided to go sit out on the porch to wait for my ride. Somewhere in that five minute wait on the porch I asked myself how getting wasted tonight would change the situation. Sure maybe Saturday night would have become a blur and I might have forgotten my problem. As well, I probably would have fallen asleep without TylenolPM, but I was gonna have to get up Sunday and confront my problem whether I got drunk or not. When my ride showed I really was unsure how the evening would turn out when I got into her car. I am very happy to report that I abstained! Somewhere in that night I decided I was gonna end the pattern of behavior that has kept me down for so long, this time I was gonna get up off the canvas after this latest ass kicking and fight off the depression that typically has followed moments like this.
Big thanks to Jen this week, you shouldn't have had to deal with my crap Saturday, you had plenty of crap to deal with that weekend. I should have been better company, sorry.
A MAJOR corner was turned this weekend, and even though I am sad, I am proud of the change in me that came from this sadness. I know that I am no longer connecting my emotions to alcohol. Also I found out that there is a lot more fight in me now and that I am SURE that I'm getting to 220!!!!!!!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Week 13: :(
CRAP! 282 again. CRAP! No loss. Those damn potatoe pancakes at Octoberfest couldn't have been that fattening. I am not worrying to much about this plateau, but it is getting old. Hopefully, I'm suddenly adding extra muscle mass and that explains the lack of weight loss.
Anyways no point concentrating on the bad! Thanks to some overzealous shutterbug this weekend I had a few picks taken of me. And thanks to those cool LCD screen I saw myself for the first time through someone else's eyes. Seeing yourself in the mirror everyday skews your perspective, but the camera separates you from that perspective. I gotta admit I was kinda Wow'ed. I mean really Wow'ed, I could see a big time difference in those pics. Very cool!
Anyways no point concentrating on the bad! Thanks to some overzealous shutterbug this weekend I had a few picks taken of me. And thanks to those cool LCD screen I saw myself for the first time through someone else's eyes. Seeing yourself in the mirror everyday skews your perspective, but the camera separates you from that perspective. I gotta admit I was kinda Wow'ed. I mean really Wow'ed, I could see a big time difference in those pics. Very cool!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Week 12: Three months in!!
First things first: Scale read 282 today. Which is only a one pound loss for the week, :( Quite the bummer cuz I really busted it at the gym all week and my "cheat day" could hardly have been called cheating. Plus I destroyed myself on the bike at Blue Marsh! BAH! Sometimes weight loss can be so confusing. This ends the crappy month of September which I lost only 7 lbs. I certainly hope I haven't hit that slowdown already. I figured once I got to 250 or so that it would become increasingly difficult to lose pounds, but 280's is way to early for that. Lets hope that trend gets turned around in October.
So here we are, three months into this project and so far a lot of good has happened. I'm down to 282 which is 40 lbs less that ridiculous starting weight of 322. I'm averaging 13 lbs per month which will get me to my goal of 220 on time! I'm wearing pants that I can buy without having to goto a fat guy store. I've managed to drink only one night in the last 8 weeks. Most importantly, I feel so much better already. I can start to see a better me in the mirror, but I still must caution myself to remember that I'm no where near where I need to be. We still got a big spare tire to get rid of that's for sure! Lots of personal issues have been dealt with and hopefully overcome.
Let's hope the next three months go as good if not better!
So here we are, three months into this project and so far a lot of good has happened. I'm down to 282 which is 40 lbs less that ridiculous starting weight of 322. I'm averaging 13 lbs per month which will get me to my goal of 220 on time! I'm wearing pants that I can buy without having to goto a fat guy store. I've managed to drink only one night in the last 8 weeks. Most importantly, I feel so much better already. I can start to see a better me in the mirror, but I still must caution myself to remember that I'm no where near where I need to be. We still got a big spare tire to get rid of that's for sure! Lots of personal issues have been dealt with and hopefully overcome.
Let's hope the next three months go as good if not better!
Monday, September 21, 2009
Week 11:
The Low Down:
Scale time, weighed 283 this evening. A very good rebound from the previous two weeks. It was a 5 pound loss for the week and the running total is at 39. It was kinda a little bummer cuz I was down as low as 281 during the week I was hoping to crack the 270's or at least get to the 40 pound mark. I really need to stop checking the scale every night.
Tons of Good Things:
Had a few good moments this week. Some great reinforcers that what I've done up to this point has been working. Seeing the number fall is great and all, but it is just a number. What really brings it into reality are things that are physical. Things that you can see and touch. It began with me a putting a new hole to my work belt, 3 inches away from the last notch.
Then later in the week the big one came up. I've needed to get a new pair of pants for a few weeks now, been tolerating the extra bagginess because I loathe the idea of buying clothes that I only intend on wearing for a few months. Yeah, so I'm cheap. Anyway I went to the Big and Fat store to buy me a pair of jeans, I figure I could get the most mileage out of jeans. Stood there at the jeans pile and wondered where to even start with sizes. The pants I was wearing at the time were 48 or 50's (yeah 50's scary huh) and they were super loose. I grabbed a pair of 46's jumped in the changing room and came out with the biggest smile EVER! Why? Because those 46's were WAY loose! I walked back to the jean pile and grabbed some 42's. They fit!!! A little snugger than I typically like but I didnt have to suck it in to button them up. They will do for the next couple of months. I wish I could explain how happy I was, words just cant do it. I've been in a foul mood for awhile, mostly because I was letting my insecurity issues overwhelm me. But I smiled for the rest of the day and didn't think of that problem at all. As I settled up at the register I told the guy how awesome it was to be buying my last pair of fat pants. Explained to him that I was on mission to lose a ton of weight and that this was the last time I was gonna have to ever buy pants that had a 4 to start their size. He wished me luck and said I hope we never see you again. Very cool of him.
Also had a few people compliment me on the change in appearance. I am thankful for those compliments, but sometimes I caution myself to take those with a grain of salt. When people you really know know that you are on a mission to change, they will compliment for the sake of being helpful. Those compliments still help. But these compliments came from folks I don't talk to regularly so they carry a little extra weight (no pun intended) when they came my way.
Take care til next week!
Scale time, weighed 283 this evening. A very good rebound from the previous two weeks. It was a 5 pound loss for the week and the running total is at 39. It was kinda a little bummer cuz I was down as low as 281 during the week I was hoping to crack the 270's or at least get to the 40 pound mark. I really need to stop checking the scale every night.
Tons of Good Things:
Had a few good moments this week. Some great reinforcers that what I've done up to this point has been working. Seeing the number fall is great and all, but it is just a number. What really brings it into reality are things that are physical. Things that you can see and touch. It began with me a putting a new hole to my work belt, 3 inches away from the last notch.
Then later in the week the big one came up. I've needed to get a new pair of pants for a few weeks now, been tolerating the extra bagginess because I loathe the idea of buying clothes that I only intend on wearing for a few months. Yeah, so I'm cheap. Anyway I went to the Big and Fat store to buy me a pair of jeans, I figure I could get the most mileage out of jeans. Stood there at the jeans pile and wondered where to even start with sizes. The pants I was wearing at the time were 48 or 50's (yeah 50's scary huh) and they were super loose. I grabbed a pair of 46's jumped in the changing room and came out with the biggest smile EVER! Why? Because those 46's were WAY loose! I walked back to the jean pile and grabbed some 42's. They fit!!! A little snugger than I typically like but I didnt have to suck it in to button them up. They will do for the next couple of months. I wish I could explain how happy I was, words just cant do it. I've been in a foul mood for awhile, mostly because I was letting my insecurity issues overwhelm me. But I smiled for the rest of the day and didn't think of that problem at all. As I settled up at the register I told the guy how awesome it was to be buying my last pair of fat pants. Explained to him that I was on mission to lose a ton of weight and that this was the last time I was gonna have to ever buy pants that had a 4 to start their size. He wished me luck and said I hope we never see you again. Very cool of him.
Also had a few people compliment me on the change in appearance. I am thankful for those compliments, but sometimes I caution myself to take those with a grain of salt. When people you really know know that you are on a mission to change, they will compliment for the sake of being helpful. Those compliments still help. But these compliments came from folks I don't talk to regularly so they carry a little extra weight (no pun intended) when they came my way.
Take care til next week!
Monday, September 14, 2009
Looking for some advice
If you are a well informed fitnerd offer some info if you can:
In the beginning of September I switch up my hamstring exercises and since then I'm not getting my hammys to recover. They ache almost continuously and I've cramped more often as well. Nothing has change in my diet, basically the difference is that I've swapped the leg curl exercise with deadlifts. I also bike every other day, but I've done that since the beginning of Project Duff.
THX
In the beginning of September I switch up my hamstring exercises and since then I'm not getting my hammys to recover. They ache almost continuously and I've cramped more often as well. Nothing has change in my diet, basically the difference is that I've swapped the leg curl exercise with deadlifts. I also bike every other day, but I've done that since the beginning of Project Duff.
THX
Week 10: Back after it
Tonight's weigh in 288. Running total 34 pounds, 2 pounds for this week.
Well after spending the Sunday of Labor Day weekend moping around the house because I was upset with myself for breaking my sober streak the evening before, I finally got back on the horse. Went back to Blue Marsh and rode for a couple of hours Monday, things went better this time, but I avoided Psycho Hill this time. I don't know why but last week really seemed like I was just going through the motions and the weekend seemed longer than it should have. It was looking like I was on my way to score another big week. I was down to 287 Thursday and had no real plans to do any "cheat" things over the weekend that would've stop that momentum. Maybe it was the crappy weather over the second half of the week that slowed me up. Now with half of September gone and only one pound lost in that time I gotta really buckle down to get back on pace.
I want to thank a trio of friends who were especially supportive this past week, you've all been great but these guys just earned gold stars. Laura, Kevin and Kristy all were super great at listening or offering advice as I dealt with a few things that really troubled me this week. I won't lie, I have things that I REALLY need to deal with in order to get really better; personal insecurities, drinking, self confidence, just to name a few. I have always been one that kept his problems internal and dealt with them myself, and that's to say that I never really dealt with them. I never liked bothering others with my problems. Without friends that are willing to listen like that I'm sure I would be doomed to fall back to doing things the wrong way. You can really learn how close your friends are when you go seeking help from them.
Well after spending the Sunday of Labor Day weekend moping around the house because I was upset with myself for breaking my sober streak the evening before, I finally got back on the horse. Went back to Blue Marsh and rode for a couple of hours Monday, things went better this time, but I avoided Psycho Hill this time. I don't know why but last week really seemed like I was just going through the motions and the weekend seemed longer than it should have. It was looking like I was on my way to score another big week. I was down to 287 Thursday and had no real plans to do any "cheat" things over the weekend that would've stop that momentum. Maybe it was the crappy weather over the second half of the week that slowed me up. Now with half of September gone and only one pound lost in that time I gotta really buckle down to get back on pace.
I want to thank a trio of friends who were especially supportive this past week, you've all been great but these guys just earned gold stars. Laura, Kevin and Kristy all were super great at listening or offering advice as I dealt with a few things that really troubled me this week. I won't lie, I have things that I REALLY need to deal with in order to get really better; personal insecurities, drinking, self confidence, just to name a few. I have always been one that kept his problems internal and dealt with them myself, and that's to say that I never really dealt with them. I never liked bothering others with my problems. Without friends that are willing to listen like that I'm sure I would be doomed to fall back to doing things the wrong way. You can really learn how close your friends are when you go seeking help from them.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Week 9: A not so good week
My mama always said if ya can't say nothing nice don't say anything at all, so I'm gonna keep this one brief. Well I didn't get to the gym Monday to do the weigh, stupid gym with stupid holiday hours, so I had to wait until Tuesday to see what the damage of the long weekend was on the number. Well there was good news and bad news, the good news was that I lost 4 pounds between Sunday's work out and Tuesday's weigh in. The bad news was that my long weekend in AC then OCMD had me gaining 5 pounds. The number for the week was 290, which is a 1 pound gain. For those of you that are the "half full" types, this can be looked at as an accomplishment. Only gaining one pound over a 4 day weekend isnt all that bad. Since I'm more of a "half empty" guy right now, I see it as a failing. Just because it was a 4 day weekend doesn't make it ok to use it as an excuse to gain weight. Plus I let myself down by drinking over the weekend which I'm doing my best to not beat myself up about. I have my reasons for quitting and 12 weeks should not have been so difficult of a goal to reach, but I let party atmosphere of the shore win Saturday night.
So its back on the horse, umm or the wagon to refocus the effort. Next stupid holiday isnt until Thanksgiving so there are no excuses for awhile. Yeah I know Halloween's in there but I never was a big candy guy so I'll be alright with that one.
So its back on the horse, umm or the wagon to refocus the effort. Next stupid holiday isnt until Thanksgiving so there are no excuses for awhile. Yeah I know Halloween's in there but I never was a big candy guy so I'll be alright with that one.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Two months in and still rocking...
Here I am at the 8 week mark and things are still going real well with Project Downsize Duff! I was a little worried about stepping on the scale today to be truthful. The second half of last week was a mess for the program. I had to miss Thursday's gym routine (fantasy football draft), Friday I had planned to go mt. biking but Mom Nature screwed that up so I made it my cheat day, I had good french fries for the first time in six weeks. I did get to go mt. biking Saturday, but missed Sunday's workout cuz I had to work and the gym has dumb hours on Sunday.
So with low expectations I hopped on the scale tonight and was blown away to see 289! A big 5 pound week and I didn't workout 3 outta 4 days, sometimes I don't understand weight loss, but I'm not arguing with it. The to-date total is now at 33 pounds which is 1/3 of the way to the ultimate goal. I'm averaging 4 pounds a week to this point which has me ahead of the pace I need to make by my birthday. I know that it has to slow down sooner or later, but it is good to get ahead now. We now have the 290's in the past and begin the run at the 270's today!!
The Successful Mountain Bike Trip:
I busted my butt to get all my work down Thursday so that I could go upto Jim Thorpe to ride a trail suggested to me by Doc Jones, the chiropractor, after I needed adjusting from the first mt bike attempt. Of course Mom Nature provided us with the all day rain Friday, so plans got scrapped. Got up Saturday checked the weather and decided to go up at the last minute. I am so glad I did. Doc was right, it was 24 miles of flat track that followed Lehigh river through some amazingly scenic scenery. It was a super easy ride, if you can pedal for 2.5 hrs, well until the last two miles that were on blacktop back to the parking lot. After 20+ miles of constantly pedaling, two miles uphill sucked! It was an amazingly peaceful ride and I felt so much better that night. I will be repeating no doubt.
So with low expectations I hopped on the scale tonight and was blown away to see 289! A big 5 pound week and I didn't workout 3 outta 4 days, sometimes I don't understand weight loss, but I'm not arguing with it. The to-date total is now at 33 pounds which is 1/3 of the way to the ultimate goal. I'm averaging 4 pounds a week to this point which has me ahead of the pace I need to make by my birthday. I know that it has to slow down sooner or later, but it is good to get ahead now. We now have the 290's in the past and begin the run at the 270's today!!
The Successful Mountain Bike Trip:
I busted my butt to get all my work down Thursday so that I could go upto Jim Thorpe to ride a trail suggested to me by Doc Jones, the chiropractor, after I needed adjusting from the first mt bike attempt. Of course Mom Nature provided us with the all day rain Friday, so plans got scrapped. Got up Saturday checked the weather and decided to go up at the last minute. I am so glad I did. Doc was right, it was 24 miles of flat track that followed Lehigh river through some amazingly scenic scenery. It was a super easy ride, if you can pedal for 2.5 hrs, well until the last two miles that were on blacktop back to the parking lot. After 20+ miles of constantly pedaling, two miles uphill sucked! It was an amazingly peaceful ride and I felt so much better that night. I will be repeating no doubt.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
A momentous day
It's official I have no more pants that fit! I am now able to take off all my pants and shorts without undoing a zipper or button. HAHA everything I own can go on and off like sweat pants.
Now the dilemma is go buy something that fits a little tight or wait it out and keep sinching the belt tighter?
Now the dilemma is go buy something that fits a little tight or wait it out and keep sinching the belt tighter?
Monday, August 24, 2009
Week 7: Update and my crappy friday night
Another week down. 3 more pounds down. The scale showed 294 tonight. The 280's are within sight.
Sorry to those facebook friends that had to deal with my mini crisis Friday night. I committed to not drinking for 12 weeks while doing the Body For Life challenge. The decision is completely about losing weight. While I drink(drank) more than I should, I never felt I had a drinking problem. I certainly sometimes have a stop drinking problem. I've gone through a few long sober spells, and never needed a beer during those times. I went nearly 2 yrs without when I was concerned with a possible liver problem. My issue with alcohol is that I use it to cope with my demons and those night can get ugly. Friday night I was in one of those moods that had me really down on myself. I was out taking advantage of my "free night" from my diet, but hanging out at Austin's Steakhouse's bar I felt really by myself. Surrounded by tons of couples having a great night out I felt about as alone as ever. I wanted to quite that demon with a Flying Fish beer (or a few) and it was extremely testing. I managed to get through the dinner without one though. :)
Sorry to those facebook friends that had to deal with my mini crisis Friday night. I committed to not drinking for 12 weeks while doing the Body For Life challenge. The decision is completely about losing weight. While I drink(drank) more than I should, I never felt I had a drinking problem. I certainly sometimes have a stop drinking problem. I've gone through a few long sober spells, and never needed a beer during those times. I went nearly 2 yrs without when I was concerned with a possible liver problem. My issue with alcohol is that I use it to cope with my demons and those night can get ugly. Friday night I was in one of those moods that had me really down on myself. I was out taking advantage of my "free night" from my diet, but hanging out at Austin's Steakhouse's bar I felt really by myself. Surrounded by tons of couples having a great night out I felt about as alone as ever. I wanted to quite that demon with a Flying Fish beer (or a few) and it was extremely testing. I managed to get through the dinner without one though. :)
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
A quick question for my readers.
A friend asked me earlier, "How do I reward myself when I achieve these mini goals?" I interestingly had no answer except that I create a new goal. Right now I am so focus on this task that a reward isnt necessary. But it got me wondering, "what in the hell should I reward myself with?" All the things I have found pleasurable (eg, eating and drinking) are completely counter-productive to achieving these mini goals.
So I ask you, "What would be a good reward?"
So I ask you, "What would be a good reward?"
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
The Mt. Biking Incident
Ok so I went on my very first mt. biking ride Saturday. Here's what I learned from the experience; 1) Mt. Biking is hard, 2) Planning a mt. bike ride is kinda important, 3) my heart can beat about 180 bpm for about a half hour without exploding, 4) while I'm better than I was 2 months ago, I'm not in shape at all.
As I think I said before, I volunteered to ride along with a friend who is training for a marathon, my job is to be there for support, YEAH I KNOW AINT I A SWEET GUY. We decided to do the 15 miles at Blue Marsh thinking that running the trails there would be cooler and less monotonous than a road run. Sounded like a plan, how hard could it be right? Well for starters neither of us had been on any of the trails there. I picked up a trail map online but that proved to be useless. After driving back and forth looking for some hidden road that was on my map we ended up parking at the Church Rd parking spot. Then we walked around aimlessly looking for the trail opening. We had to look pretty silly, but then we saw another guy getting a bike out so she scurried over to him and he directed us to "the best route" for our intended use. IF I EVER SEE THIS GUY AGAIN I WILL KICK HIM IN THE NUTS! Unless he misunderstood "Where does the trail open?" to mean "How can I get my big friend back there killed?" he failed to help. I think he was just mad becauseI had a cute girl hanging out with me and he was alone. So we follow his directions, thank him, and head in to the trail.
Let me lay this out, I ride every other day at the gym for 40 minutes (about 15 miles) at a pretty high intensity. But I havent rode a bike since college, and the bike I had wasnt even mine. I figured keeping up with someone running 15 miles should be pretty easy. Right off the bat I was struggling getting the hang of the gears as we jumped into the trail. The trail that IMMEDIATELY went uphill (be prepared "going up" is a theme of this trip) , I think I'm downshifting but no I'm not. So I get about ten yards in and I'm already jumping off the bike to push but it levels off pretty quick and I start to get the shifting straight. All is good, her pace isn't like she's just running a mile so it's pretty easy to follow. I'm actually enjoying myself although I find it a little more treacherous than I expected, and the thought "I shouldnt be doing this without health insurance" pops into my head. Fortunately, I didn't have to dwell on that thought long because about 3 or 4 miles into our trip I find hell in Berks county. Hell is this ludicrous hill that went straight up and didnt end until we were above the clouds. Okay I exaggerate. We cross this wooden bridge and suddenly the trail goes up. And by up I mean 45 degrees up! I know it's push time so I hop off. It looks like the trail bends right about 100 yds ahead and I assume that it levels off after the bend. BOY WAS I WRONG. I'm already panting from the first 100 yd pushfest when I get to the turn and see that it continues another 100 yds or so UP then bends again. This time I was more hopeful than confident that it would level off. NOPE another bend another 100 yards up. By this time I am dropping sweat in puddles, the heart is beating so fast I can't even count fast enough to try to get a heart rate. I rest and wonder how I am still alive and how would they even get me out of here if I did die at this spot. Then I press on and finally get to top of MT. Everest. Completely exhausted by now I get back on the bike and start sliding downhill. I mean sliding! Lots of loose rock and steep decline plus a 295 pound man (oh yeah by this time I had dropped at least 4 pounds) on a bike equals sliding. I decide its a little to scary for my tired body to handle, so I hop off and push downhill. Now at this point we may be about 5 miles in and I probably pushed the bike 2 miles. I was starting to think that maybe I should have just ran with her. I had told her a while back just to keep on running and that I would catch up. Well I did catch up, but it was more because she was running back towards me, lol. We finally come out of the woods and it flattens off again. Once again I start to feel better, the heart is down to normal cardio activity level. We're chatting, I don't know if I was forming coherent sentences or not, but I'm actually beginning to enjoy myself when we pop back out onto the road. We complete the loop, HOORAY. Then I am informed that we are halfway done. I seriously thought that we had to be well beyond 10 miles at this point. I started to cry. NO I DIDN'T, I cant believe you thought I cried.
I head back to the car for more water and away we go. Now I had NO intentions of repeating that loop so I said why don't we try the road for a bit. She agrees or at least she conceded to my request and we go. Of course we run right into a hill that doesn't stop. At his point I am beginning to think that I am at the bottom of a huge pit cuz everywhere I went was going up. After a few rolling hills the road turns out to be a dead end so we turn back and enter trail on the opposite side of the road from the psycho loop. We go a bit on this trail and it splits, one way goes downhill and the other uphill (surprisingly). Bet ya can guess which way I voted. Well we go the downhill way but to my chagrin it leads to the lake so we must turn around. At this point I am pretty much spent. I know we are heading to the incline that I passed on five minutes earlier and every part of me said you gotta stop. I felt really bad cuz I didnt want to quit on her but I had nothing left to give. I was already feeling bad cuz I felt like I was an anchor on her training run. I'm no runner and have no idea how one trains for a marathon. She was saying that its alright but I thought she was saying that to make me feel better. SO I confessed that I was done, told her to run as far out and back as she had to and that I would wait right there. Once she took off I laid on the wet leaves of the trail and just rested. I was so tired I couldn't shoo away the insects that were beginning to swarm me. Honestly I have no idea how long she was gone, and I'm surprised that I didnt fall asleep, I was that tired. She returned and we made our way back to the car. When I got home I took a LONG shower. I fell asleep around 4pm woke up long enough to eat and realize that I was way to tired to be awake. The next thing I saw was 10am Sunday.
I woke up the next day not sore, surprisingly. I even went to the gym that afternoon and lifted. How ever bad that experience was I'd do it again. I've pretty much sold myself on making that loop another of my goals. Been looking at buying a mt bike now because me and Blue Marsh are gonna tangle again. I may have to push up HELL again but I'm gonna win. Maybe not next time but I will sometime.
So to summarize. You should probably talk your marathon training friends to run on flatter tracks than Blue Marsh if its your first time mt biking. Never take trail advice from a jealous single mtbiker. If you do things with people you enjoy, no matter how miserable those things get, you'll still enjoy the day. Woodland insects bite, Hard. The bigger the challenge the greater the reward.
As I think I said before, I volunteered to ride along with a friend who is training for a marathon, my job is to be there for support, YEAH I KNOW AINT I A SWEET GUY. We decided to do the 15 miles at Blue Marsh thinking that running the trails there would be cooler and less monotonous than a road run. Sounded like a plan, how hard could it be right? Well for starters neither of us had been on any of the trails there. I picked up a trail map online but that proved to be useless. After driving back and forth looking for some hidden road that was on my map we ended up parking at the Church Rd parking spot. Then we walked around aimlessly looking for the trail opening. We had to look pretty silly, but then we saw another guy getting a bike out so she scurried over to him and he directed us to "the best route" for our intended use. IF I EVER SEE THIS GUY AGAIN I WILL KICK HIM IN THE NUTS! Unless he misunderstood "Where does the trail open?" to mean "How can I get my big friend back there killed?" he failed to help. I think he was just mad becauseI had a cute girl hanging out with me and he was alone. So we follow his directions, thank him, and head in to the trail.
Let me lay this out, I ride every other day at the gym for 40 minutes (about 15 miles) at a pretty high intensity. But I havent rode a bike since college, and the bike I had wasnt even mine. I figured keeping up with someone running 15 miles should be pretty easy. Right off the bat I was struggling getting the hang of the gears as we jumped into the trail. The trail that IMMEDIATELY went uphill (be prepared "going up" is a theme of this trip) , I think I'm downshifting but no I'm not. So I get about ten yards in and I'm already jumping off the bike to push but it levels off pretty quick and I start to get the shifting straight. All is good, her pace isn't like she's just running a mile so it's pretty easy to follow. I'm actually enjoying myself although I find it a little more treacherous than I expected, and the thought "I shouldnt be doing this without health insurance" pops into my head. Fortunately, I didn't have to dwell on that thought long because about 3 or 4 miles into our trip I find hell in Berks county. Hell is this ludicrous hill that went straight up and didnt end until we were above the clouds. Okay I exaggerate. We cross this wooden bridge and suddenly the trail goes up. And by up I mean 45 degrees up! I know it's push time so I hop off. It looks like the trail bends right about 100 yds ahead and I assume that it levels off after the bend. BOY WAS I WRONG. I'm already panting from the first 100 yd pushfest when I get to the turn and see that it continues another 100 yds or so UP then bends again. This time I was more hopeful than confident that it would level off. NOPE another bend another 100 yards up. By this time I am dropping sweat in puddles, the heart is beating so fast I can't even count fast enough to try to get a heart rate. I rest and wonder how I am still alive and how would they even get me out of here if I did die at this spot. Then I press on and finally get to top of MT. Everest. Completely exhausted by now I get back on the bike and start sliding downhill. I mean sliding! Lots of loose rock and steep decline plus a 295 pound man (oh yeah by this time I had dropped at least 4 pounds) on a bike equals sliding. I decide its a little to scary for my tired body to handle, so I hop off and push downhill. Now at this point we may be about 5 miles in and I probably pushed the bike 2 miles. I was starting to think that maybe I should have just ran with her. I had told her a while back just to keep on running and that I would catch up. Well I did catch up, but it was more because she was running back towards me, lol. We finally come out of the woods and it flattens off again. Once again I start to feel better, the heart is down to normal cardio activity level. We're chatting, I don't know if I was forming coherent sentences or not, but I'm actually beginning to enjoy myself when we pop back out onto the road. We complete the loop, HOORAY. Then I am informed that we are halfway done. I seriously thought that we had to be well beyond 10 miles at this point. I started to cry. NO I DIDN'T, I cant believe you thought I cried.
I head back to the car for more water and away we go. Now I had NO intentions of repeating that loop so I said why don't we try the road for a bit. She agrees or at least she conceded to my request and we go. Of course we run right into a hill that doesn't stop. At his point I am beginning to think that I am at the bottom of a huge pit cuz everywhere I went was going up. After a few rolling hills the road turns out to be a dead end so we turn back and enter trail on the opposite side of the road from the psycho loop. We go a bit on this trail and it splits, one way goes downhill and the other uphill (surprisingly). Bet ya can guess which way I voted. Well we go the downhill way but to my chagrin it leads to the lake so we must turn around. At this point I am pretty much spent. I know we are heading to the incline that I passed on five minutes earlier and every part of me said you gotta stop. I felt really bad cuz I didnt want to quit on her but I had nothing left to give. I was already feeling bad cuz I felt like I was an anchor on her training run. I'm no runner and have no idea how one trains for a marathon. She was saying that its alright but I thought she was saying that to make me feel better. SO I confessed that I was done, told her to run as far out and back as she had to and that I would wait right there. Once she took off I laid on the wet leaves of the trail and just rested. I was so tired I couldn't shoo away the insects that were beginning to swarm me. Honestly I have no idea how long she was gone, and I'm surprised that I didnt fall asleep, I was that tired. She returned and we made our way back to the car. When I got home I took a LONG shower. I fell asleep around 4pm woke up long enough to eat and realize that I was way to tired to be awake. The next thing I saw was 10am Sunday.
I woke up the next day not sore, surprisingly. I even went to the gym that afternoon and lifted. How ever bad that experience was I'd do it again. I've pretty much sold myself on making that loop another of my goals. Been looking at buying a mt bike now because me and Blue Marsh are gonna tangle again. I may have to push up HELL again but I'm gonna win. Maybe not next time but I will sometime.
So to summarize. You should probably talk your marathon training friends to run on flatter tracks than Blue Marsh if its your first time mt biking. Never take trail advice from a jealous single mtbiker. If you do things with people you enjoy, no matter how miserable those things get, you'll still enjoy the day. Woodland insects bite, Hard. The bigger the challenge the greater the reward.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Week 6: Update
Today's weigh in 297. Two more pounds gone, forever! Total loss is now up to 25 pounds in six weeks. 77 more to go! Hard to believe I'm 1/4 of the way there.
Today I stopped in at Weaver's Bike shop and inquired about a starter bike, and the kid helping me asked "what do you weigh? like 235?" God bless him, but NOT YET.
Not gonna lie this was a rough week for me physically. On Sunday I tweaked my lower back doing squats at the gym (not at the toilet, Todd). That had me visiting the chiropractor Monday after work. I ended up missing a day of work and three gym workouts during the middle of the week because of it. Not going to the gym drove me bonkers. All I could do was lay in bed, couldnt sit my computer chair longer than ten minutes. Thank god for Super Bad! Then there was the ridiculous heat and humidity most of last week, when you all think that it must be awesome to have an outdoor job just remember days like today. Finally, I volunteered to tag along with my friend who is training for a marathon. She needed to run 15 miles so we decided to go over to Blue Marsh and do it on the trails there EARLY Saturday. Um yeah, that may have been the single most insanely difficult thing that I have ever done. I will add a second blog about it later, but lets just say I slept from 4pm Saturday til 10am Sunday waking only to eat supper. I honestly thought I might die there. I will get my revenge on her when I teach her how to snowboard this winter.
I really do enjoy hearing from you all. Especially when you tell me that you have decided to embark on a journey like mine. Whether I inspired you or whether I gave you that final nudge, doesn't matter to me. It's the Universal Law of Reciprocation or the "pay it forward" idea that makes me feel good. Someone shoved me down this path and the best way to thank her is to pass it on to someone else. Good luck to any of you looking to make a change. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions, I'm no trainer or nutritionist but I've picked up a few things along the way that are helpful.
Today I stopped in at Weaver's Bike shop and inquired about a starter bike, and the kid helping me asked "what do you weigh? like 235?" God bless him, but NOT YET.
Not gonna lie this was a rough week for me physically. On Sunday I tweaked my lower back doing squats at the gym (not at the toilet, Todd). That had me visiting the chiropractor Monday after work. I ended up missing a day of work and three gym workouts during the middle of the week because of it. Not going to the gym drove me bonkers. All I could do was lay in bed, couldnt sit my computer chair longer than ten minutes. Thank god for Super Bad! Then there was the ridiculous heat and humidity most of last week, when you all think that it must be awesome to have an outdoor job just remember days like today. Finally, I volunteered to tag along with my friend who is training for a marathon. She needed to run 15 miles so we decided to go over to Blue Marsh and do it on the trails there EARLY Saturday. Um yeah, that may have been the single most insanely difficult thing that I have ever done. I will add a second blog about it later, but lets just say I slept from 4pm Saturday til 10am Sunday waking only to eat supper. I honestly thought I might die there. I will get my revenge on her when I teach her how to snowboard this winter.
I really do enjoy hearing from you all. Especially when you tell me that you have decided to embark on a journey like mine. Whether I inspired you or whether I gave you that final nudge, doesn't matter to me. It's the Universal Law of Reciprocation or the "pay it forward" idea that makes me feel good. Someone shoved me down this path and the best way to thank her is to pass it on to someone else. Good luck to any of you looking to make a change. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions, I'm no trainer or nutritionist but I've picked up a few things along the way that are helpful.
Monday, August 10, 2009
300 lbs NEVER MORE
Yup yup you should have been able to guess it from the headline, stepped on the scale for weigh in Monday and it showed up at 299!!! This makes a 5 week total of 23 lbs with still 79 lbs to meet the ultimate goal.
Wow, yeah, I love saying "not 300 lbs anymore!" Happy, is Duff. Now it will be determination that keeps me from every seeing that ugly number again! Obviously, this is not the end to the journey but it was a mini goal to get to this point by week 6. SO we crushed that mini goal and a new mini goal must be set. Gonna give myself another 6 weeks to get to 275, that's the new goal.
I find it hard to believe that I'm starting week 6 of this craziness. I don't want to give the impression that this has been easy, even though the weight has been falling off. I am busting my ass at the gym and working very hard to stay on track with the meals and their portion sizes. I even decide to pass on alcohol for the 12 weeks that I'm doing The Body-For-Life challenge. Went to a wedding this weekend and really could have used a drink since it was the youngest cousin's and I'm the oldest so you can imagine the questions being asked. I always use to joke that I was fittest fat guy anyone knew. It seems I may have been right, I'm up to 40 minutes every other night on the stationary bike, getting around 12-15 miles in each time. I'm leaving a puddle on the floor when I'm done, poor janitor. Gonna test the legs this weekend out in the real world as I tag along with a friend who's gonna run 15 miles, NO NO NO I won't be running you silly folk. I'll be on a bike, hope this humidity breaks til then.
I switched gyms this week as a friend, thanks Laura, gave me a week's free pass to the Body Zone in Wyomissing, and that has lead to some sub par lifting days but it's more because of the lack of familiarity with their layout. It's tough to keep the pace up when your looking for the machine you need. It is definately an upgrade to The Gym in Ktown. Much cleaner and more to offer. Still undecided as to whether I will continue working out there or go back to The Gym. The fact that its closer and cheaper are The Gym's big selling points.
Wow, yeah, I love saying "not 300 lbs anymore!" Happy, is Duff. Now it will be determination that keeps me from every seeing that ugly number again! Obviously, this is not the end to the journey but it was a mini goal to get to this point by week 6. SO we crushed that mini goal and a new mini goal must be set. Gonna give myself another 6 weeks to get to 275, that's the new goal.
I find it hard to believe that I'm starting week 6 of this craziness. I don't want to give the impression that this has been easy, even though the weight has been falling off. I am busting my ass at the gym and working very hard to stay on track with the meals and their portion sizes. I even decide to pass on alcohol for the 12 weeks that I'm doing The Body-For-Life challenge. Went to a wedding this weekend and really could have used a drink since it was the youngest cousin's and I'm the oldest so you can imagine the questions being asked. I always use to joke that I was fittest fat guy anyone knew. It seems I may have been right, I'm up to 40 minutes every other night on the stationary bike, getting around 12-15 miles in each time. I'm leaving a puddle on the floor when I'm done, poor janitor. Gonna test the legs this weekend out in the real world as I tag along with a friend who's gonna run 15 miles, NO NO NO I won't be running you silly folk. I'll be on a bike, hope this humidity breaks til then.
I switched gyms this week as a friend, thanks Laura, gave me a week's free pass to the Body Zone in Wyomissing, and that has lead to some sub par lifting days but it's more because of the lack of familiarity with their layout. It's tough to keep the pace up when your looking for the machine you need. It is definately an upgrade to The Gym in Ktown. Much cleaner and more to offer. Still undecided as to whether I will continue working out there or go back to The Gym. The fact that its closer and cheaper are The Gym's big selling points.
Monday, August 3, 2009
The first month is in the books
A warning before reading this; I was a little tired when I wrote tonight. There were serious issues with spelling and coherent sentence making. I hope I was able to make enough sense that you can understand what is below.
THE UPDATE:
28 days have past since I've embarked on this quest for a better mind, body and soul. I am seeing the results of my hard work starting to peek through the globs of fat. I can see some definition showing in the bicep/tricep area, no sign of those abs yet, lol. It's pretty amazing what just a little success can breed. I definitely can tell that my posture has changed. When I'm standing in front of a mirror, my chest isnt sagging and my still big gut is sucked in, well it is a little. As the first four weeks have come to a close I stepped on the scale and was a bit disappointed to see that I lost nothing this week. A big fat 0 for the week. Still weigh 305.
Since I'm addicted to the scale right now, I know this is a bad habit but I can stop, I knew this wasn't going to be a good week. I had actually gained 4 pounds early in the week, and I had checked my past days food intake and saw that nothing had changed that would have casued this gain. I didn't even take a cheat night last week. I DID have a bad weekend this week, I extended my "cheat" to both Friday and Saturday nights. Adult beverages were consumed, too many on Saturday. While I have no scientific proof, I surmised that I gained this weight likely by increased muscle mass or last week number may have been a bit skewed by some other variable. Even though I didn't lose any weight this week I did notice this morning that I could pound a new hole in my work belt as it has loosened up by about an inch. So I'm not discouraged at all by the weigh in. For the month it is a total loss of 17 pounds which means I'm still over the 3 pounds per week pace that I will need to keep to get to 220.
A NEW PROGRAM:
Now that month one is done I decided to change the program up a little. About 7 years ago when I dropped nearly 50 pounds I did it with the help of "The Body-For-Life" program. I had been lifting for a few months and wasn't dropping any weight. So I went to GNC to see if there were any dietary supplementation that I could take that would spur on some weight loss. The employee there asked me about my diet and I told him that it wasnt the best, and he recommended that I pick up the "Body-For-Life" book before going the supplement route. So I did just that, I drove over to Barnes & Noble and bought it. When I got home I read it cover to cover and really thought that it made so much sense and it was very simple as well. I had great results in 12 weeks! I weighed 245 when I was done with the "challenge." Of course, shortly after the completion of that "challenge" is when I had a bit of a medical issue that really threw me off course and back on track to fat city. Well since the first month is over I decided to go back to the "Body-for-Life" program, and start another 12 week challenge. I bought the new "Body-for-Life" book, I suggest the you buy the original first since the second book is a lot more about some of the past champions of the program. Since I'm already eating the 6 meals a day, the only difference is the training. You go Upperbody lifting, Cardio, Lowerbody lifting, Cardio, repeat. The lifting routines are done at a very quick pace making them cardio workouts as well and you only do two exercises per body part. It is a very exhausting workout to say the least. If you are looking to change your body this is a very effective tool and I do suggest it.
THE UPDATE:
28 days have past since I've embarked on this quest for a better mind, body and soul. I am seeing the results of my hard work starting to peek through the globs of fat. I can see some definition showing in the bicep/tricep area, no sign of those abs yet, lol. It's pretty amazing what just a little success can breed. I definitely can tell that my posture has changed. When I'm standing in front of a mirror, my chest isnt sagging and my still big gut is sucked in, well it is a little. As the first four weeks have come to a close I stepped on the scale and was a bit disappointed to see that I lost nothing this week. A big fat 0 for the week. Still weigh 305.
Since I'm addicted to the scale right now, I know this is a bad habit but I can stop, I knew this wasn't going to be a good week. I had actually gained 4 pounds early in the week, and I had checked my past days food intake and saw that nothing had changed that would have casued this gain. I didn't even take a cheat night last week. I DID have a bad weekend this week, I extended my "cheat" to both Friday and Saturday nights. Adult beverages were consumed, too many on Saturday. While I have no scientific proof, I surmised that I gained this weight likely by increased muscle mass or last week number may have been a bit skewed by some other variable. Even though I didn't lose any weight this week I did notice this morning that I could pound a new hole in my work belt as it has loosened up by about an inch. So I'm not discouraged at all by the weigh in. For the month it is a total loss of 17 pounds which means I'm still over the 3 pounds per week pace that I will need to keep to get to 220.
A NEW PROGRAM:
Now that month one is done I decided to change the program up a little. About 7 years ago when I dropped nearly 50 pounds I did it with the help of "The Body-For-Life" program. I had been lifting for a few months and wasn't dropping any weight. So I went to GNC to see if there were any dietary supplementation that I could take that would spur on some weight loss. The employee there asked me about my diet and I told him that it wasnt the best, and he recommended that I pick up the "Body-For-Life" book before going the supplement route. So I did just that, I drove over to Barnes & Noble and bought it. When I got home I read it cover to cover and really thought that it made so much sense and it was very simple as well. I had great results in 12 weeks! I weighed 245 when I was done with the "challenge." Of course, shortly after the completion of that "challenge" is when I had a bit of a medical issue that really threw me off course and back on track to fat city. Well since the first month is over I decided to go back to the "Body-for-Life" program, and start another 12 week challenge. I bought the new "Body-for-Life" book, I suggest the you buy the original first since the second book is a lot more about some of the past champions of the program. Since I'm already eating the 6 meals a day, the only difference is the training. You go Upperbody lifting, Cardio, Lowerbody lifting, Cardio, repeat. The lifting routines are done at a very quick pace making them cardio workouts as well and you only do two exercises per body part. It is a very exhausting workout to say the least. If you are looking to change your body this is a very effective tool and I do suggest it.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Week 3: A bad week with a great result
Such a tough week for me on a personal level but for some reason it seemed to motivate me even more. I honestly don't know why this extra motivation kicked in. Maybe I am really tired of being fat, drunk and stupid.
Anyway, the end result for the week was awesome. Tonight the scale read 305 pounds. That is a 7 pound loss for the week and makes a total of 17 pounds in three weeks. I crushed that weekly goal I set of 5 pounds, well 2 pounds is crushing it in this case. 85 pounds to go!
The goal for next week will be to dip below the 300 pound mark which would be another 6 pounds.
I wanna say thanks to all of you who have let me know that you are following the blog and my progress. It is great to hear from you, your well wishes are very helpful! Feel free to write or comment on the blogs.
Anyway, the end result for the week was awesome. Tonight the scale read 305 pounds. That is a 7 pound loss for the week and makes a total of 17 pounds in three weeks. I crushed that weekly goal I set of 5 pounds, well 2 pounds is crushing it in this case. 85 pounds to go!
The goal for next week will be to dip below the 300 pound mark which would be another 6 pounds.
I wanna say thanks to all of you who have let me know that you are following the blog and my progress. It is great to hear from you, your well wishes are very helpful! Feel free to write or comment on the blogs.
Friday, July 24, 2009
A bad day that gets worse
Along with getting physically fit, this blog will also help to get me mentally fit. So from time to time I will vent emotion here, this is one of those times.
For those of you that do not know what I do for a living, I mow grass. All day everyday and with it comes lots and lots of time to let the mind think. Sounds alright, and for most days it is, but when a day starts bad it always seems to get worse because the mind continues down the bad path and I get deeper into darkness. Typically, its a day of self loathing for me. I start thinking about how in the hell I got to this point in my life. I'm single, fat, living at home, and driving a lawn tractor for a living. What the hell happened to me? There was a time when I was a pretty bright kid. I weighed 210, I was a good guy with virtually no vices, hell I didnt have my first drink until I was 19. Today was one of these bad days. The difference today was there was some extra crap added to my shit sandwich of a day.
My original motivation for starting this quest was a friend and a super great girl. Yeah I know what you're thinking, "he's doing all this for a girl?" Well not quite what you think. We have spent some time hanging out talking, including a long ride to OC, MD and we talked a lot about different stuff. Now I've had a mini crush on her for a long time but knew that I wasn't in her league, and this story, me crushing on anyone, has never ended well for me so I always kept it to myself. While chatting she revealed what she's looking for in a guy, I was not in that group of men to say the least. That is what got me thinking about me and where I'm at in life. It kinda pissed me off that I was getting lopped off of the "maybe" piles for girls based on my choice for making a living, and then getting lopped off because of appearance made it worse. I know I'm fat and have been that way for awhile, but I still see a good looking cat in the mirror. I thought a sense of humor and great personality are supposed to be the things that girls find most attractive....that's BULL! That only applies when they choose between the ones they find attractive. It's true for guys as well, we just dont lie about it. This being on the "no way" pile is truely the reason for my determination to change a lot about me. Of course I held out hope that maybe if I could make a few changes that I could climb onto her "maybe" pile someday.
Since I was having a crappy day I talked to her knowing that just talking with her makes me smile. Of course it works, she doesn't even say anything funny but I smile anyway and I start to feel better. We talk about her trip and things quickly turn back to crappy as she tells me that she met "her match" while hiking in Denali. Contiunes to tell me she is thinking about moving there, there being Alaska. So not only would it matter that I didnt get onto the maybe pile but now there would be a chance of a great friend and person in my life moving 10 billion miles away. So the day just got worse.
In the past I would let news like this crush me into a hole. Slip in a depressed state and amp the self loathing. It's not gonna happen this time! I went to the gym after our talk and Killed it because I was so pissed at myself. Pissed that I am even at this place right now. I am gonna use this to amp up the motivation to get this goal done. While I'm really bummed right now, I know I will change this feeling eventually. Hell she's not even the biggest squashed crush in my life. I am even more determined than ever to never miss an opportunity to be around a great girl like her because of my size EVER again!
For those of you that do not know what I do for a living, I mow grass. All day everyday and with it comes lots and lots of time to let the mind think. Sounds alright, and for most days it is, but when a day starts bad it always seems to get worse because the mind continues down the bad path and I get deeper into darkness. Typically, its a day of self loathing for me. I start thinking about how in the hell I got to this point in my life. I'm single, fat, living at home, and driving a lawn tractor for a living. What the hell happened to me? There was a time when I was a pretty bright kid. I weighed 210, I was a good guy with virtually no vices, hell I didnt have my first drink until I was 19. Today was one of these bad days. The difference today was there was some extra crap added to my shit sandwich of a day.
My original motivation for starting this quest was a friend and a super great girl. Yeah I know what you're thinking, "he's doing all this for a girl?" Well not quite what you think. We have spent some time hanging out talking, including a long ride to OC, MD and we talked a lot about different stuff. Now I've had a mini crush on her for a long time but knew that I wasn't in her league, and this story, me crushing on anyone, has never ended well for me so I always kept it to myself. While chatting she revealed what she's looking for in a guy, I was not in that group of men to say the least. That is what got me thinking about me and where I'm at in life. It kinda pissed me off that I was getting lopped off of the "maybe" piles for girls based on my choice for making a living, and then getting lopped off because of appearance made it worse. I know I'm fat and have been that way for awhile, but I still see a good looking cat in the mirror. I thought a sense of humor and great personality are supposed to be the things that girls find most attractive....that's BULL! That only applies when they choose between the ones they find attractive. It's true for guys as well, we just dont lie about it. This being on the "no way" pile is truely the reason for my determination to change a lot about me. Of course I held out hope that maybe if I could make a few changes that I could climb onto her "maybe" pile someday.
Since I was having a crappy day I talked to her knowing that just talking with her makes me smile. Of course it works, she doesn't even say anything funny but I smile anyway and I start to feel better. We talk about her trip and things quickly turn back to crappy as she tells me that she met "her match" while hiking in Denali. Contiunes to tell me she is thinking about moving there, there being Alaska. So not only would it matter that I didnt get onto the maybe pile but now there would be a chance of a great friend and person in my life moving 10 billion miles away. So the day just got worse.
In the past I would let news like this crush me into a hole. Slip in a depressed state and amp the self loathing. It's not gonna happen this time! I went to the gym after our talk and Killed it because I was so pissed at myself. Pissed that I am even at this place right now. I am gonna use this to amp up the motivation to get this goal done. While I'm really bummed right now, I know I will change this feeling eventually. Hell she's not even the biggest squashed crush in my life. I am even more determined than ever to never miss an opportunity to be around a great girl like her because of my size EVER again!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Week 2: Update
It's Monday so it's weigh in day again. Got to the gym this evening, stepped onto the scale and was pleasently surprised by the number of 312. That makes a two week total of 10 pounds, and that makes 10 of the 100 we're aiming for.
I'm not surprised that I could pull off a 4 pound week. What surprised me was that I took the weekend off to go to the shore and lost two pounds even though I had a few adult beverages and didn't care too much about what I ate. Thursday night was my last workout before leaving for Ocean City and I stepped on the scale after that workout and it read 314.
This is a pretty good sign. It likely means that the six small portioned meals a day diet has already begun to kick my metabolism into gear. I was expecting it to take a little longer. If my metabolism is starting to amp up, I can feel a little more confident about taking the occasional day off. It's always good to incorporate a "cheat day" so that you don't feel as guilty if you are craving something. Chicken Wings, a cheesesteak, whatever you miss, take the occasional day to satisfy those urges. I've seen so many people give up on diets because they have a bad day and they get the mindset "well I screwed up my diet today I might as well blow the weekend off." Next thing ya know they're back to having McDonald's for lunch every other day. What happened to me the time I dropped a lot of weight before was I started to crave those things a lot less often.
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY: I spent the week tracking my intake of calories, fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbs, and protein every meal, and compared my daily totals to the Daily Recommended Value based on a 2000 calories diet. The good result is that I am either well below or even with the DRV for calories, total fat, sat fat, cholesterol, and proteins. The bad result is that 3 of the last 7 days my carb count was above the DRV, not terribly off but still have to try better. The ugly result was that my sodium intake was way over the DRV some days nearly double. I've looked into why this is and the biggest culpret is my lunch which is typically a lunchmeat sandwich. I will have to look to see if I can find lower sodium bread and meats.
Going to the shore was a good time as usual. I was a little apprehensive about going as there is nothing healthy about me going there. Kirby's Pub in OCMD makes the best burgers and has a wing sauce that is mmmmmm...Then there are the beverages and girls at Seacrets and Fager's Island. Maybe the chickies can notice a new Duff brewing (haha not a beer joke) as he talked to a few young cuties at Seacrets. It is good to have my baby face, even the really young girls only think that I'm 28. :)
Making a goal of 5 more pounds for next week. Since there are no plans to go to the shore until the last weekend of July I have another 12 days to really work the number down. A pound a day until the gets me to 300. We'll see how things go.
I'm not surprised that I could pull off a 4 pound week. What surprised me was that I took the weekend off to go to the shore and lost two pounds even though I had a few adult beverages and didn't care too much about what I ate. Thursday night was my last workout before leaving for Ocean City and I stepped on the scale after that workout and it read 314.
This is a pretty good sign. It likely means that the six small portioned meals a day diet has already begun to kick my metabolism into gear. I was expecting it to take a little longer. If my metabolism is starting to amp up, I can feel a little more confident about taking the occasional day off. It's always good to incorporate a "cheat day" so that you don't feel as guilty if you are craving something. Chicken Wings, a cheesesteak, whatever you miss, take the occasional day to satisfy those urges. I've seen so many people give up on diets because they have a bad day and they get the mindset "well I screwed up my diet today I might as well blow the weekend off." Next thing ya know they're back to having McDonald's for lunch every other day. What happened to me the time I dropped a lot of weight before was I started to crave those things a lot less often.
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY: I spent the week tracking my intake of calories, fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbs, and protein every meal, and compared my daily totals to the Daily Recommended Value based on a 2000 calories diet. The good result is that I am either well below or even with the DRV for calories, total fat, sat fat, cholesterol, and proteins. The bad result is that 3 of the last 7 days my carb count was above the DRV, not terribly off but still have to try better. The ugly result was that my sodium intake was way over the DRV some days nearly double. I've looked into why this is and the biggest culpret is my lunch which is typically a lunchmeat sandwich. I will have to look to see if I can find lower sodium bread and meats.
Going to the shore was a good time as usual. I was a little apprehensive about going as there is nothing healthy about me going there. Kirby's Pub in OCMD makes the best burgers and has a wing sauce that is mmmmmm...Then there are the beverages and girls at Seacrets and Fager's Island. Maybe the chickies can notice a new Duff brewing (haha not a beer joke) as he talked to a few young cuties at Seacrets. It is good to have my baby face, even the really young girls only think that I'm 28. :)
Making a goal of 5 more pounds for next week. Since there are no plans to go to the shore until the last weekend of July I have another 12 days to really work the number down. A pound a day until the gets me to 300. We'll see how things go.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Week One in the Books
Completed my first full week of Project Downsize Duff and the result is very good. 6 pounds lost in week one!
I know I can't expect that kind of result every week but I do expect it for a few weeks. My "diet" plan has been to eat 6 small meals ever 3 hours or so. It works out to be pretty close to a 2000 calorie diet. The small meal idea came from when I was following The Body-For-Life program. I dropped 55 pounds back in 1999-2000 on that plan. The process is suppose to help boost up one's metabolism helping increase weight loss.
I did a bit of websurfing and WebMD tells me that my Basal Metabolic Rate is like 2700 calories. The fact that I'm at a daily deficit of 700 calories and two workouts daily, I should be able to keep a good pace up.
Even though it was the first week I was able to get to the gym everyday and got a well paced walk in before work most days. Spending 30 mins on the stationary bike and another 45min - 1hr lifting. As the week's progress I should be able to get better lifting routines done, right now its only a couple exercises per day.
I know I can't expect that kind of result every week but I do expect it for a few weeks. My "diet" plan has been to eat 6 small meals ever 3 hours or so. It works out to be pretty close to a 2000 calorie diet. The small meal idea came from when I was following The Body-For-Life program. I dropped 55 pounds back in 1999-2000 on that plan. The process is suppose to help boost up one's metabolism helping increase weight loss.
I did a bit of websurfing and WebMD tells me that my Basal Metabolic Rate is like 2700 calories. The fact that I'm at a daily deficit of 700 calories and two workouts daily, I should be able to keep a good pace up.
Even though it was the first week I was able to get to the gym everyday and got a well paced walk in before work most days. Spending 30 mins on the stationary bike and another 45min - 1hr lifting. As the week's progress I should be able to get better lifting routines done, right now its only a couple exercises per day.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
The Mission, The Goal, The Reason
Welcome to my first ever attempt at a blog. So my apologies if it isn't the prettiest thing you've ever seen.
This is Project Downsize Duff. The point of the project is to report and track the progress of my weight loss goal. Also this will serve as a little extra motivation since I will be letting everyone into my world. To quit once this is posted and out there for you to read will be embarrassing.
As most of you know or remember I am they type person who loves to enjoy myself A LOT. Moderation is not a word that could ever have described me. I love eating out, I love cooking new foods, I LOVE drinking yummy beers (how I'll miss you Victory Brewing Company), I love gambling, and I loved anything that entertained me enough to forget about life. This lifestyle has had a few bad side effects. Worst of all it has led me to become huge. Now I have always been a big guy, but I always carried it well and most could never believe I weighed what I weighed. Which was all well and good, but it created negative reinforcement.
A few weeks ago I got a little inspiration from a friend to change things up. So I joined a gym with the intentions of getting a little exercise in just to feel better. The first thing I did was to step on their scale. I was shocked at the reading of 320 pounds. Absolutely shocked! I have hovered near 300 pounds for a few years but seeing 320 was plain bad. If I didn't commit to doing something about this it would be a matter of time until I was at 350 or worse, and then probably dead.
So you know the mission of this blog and the reason for it, but now you need the goal. I wouldn't bother you with tiny goal like "I wanna lose 30 or 40 pounds." Oh no...I have set a much loftier goal. It is my intention to lose 100 pounds by my next birthday! Interestingly enough my birthday is 2/20 which will be my weight, 220 pounds, when I succeed. Hence the motto for the project is, "220 by 2/20." I have 33 weeks until my birthday, from when I started, so I will need to average 3 pounds a week. Is this a crazy unattainable goal? Maybe, but I don't think so. I know it won't be easy at all. There are a ton of obsticles that I will need to overcome. I am more than hopeful that I will have the self determination and the drive to make it to the end of the journey successful.
Feel free to check back often to see how I'm doing or to add a little inspiration or well wish. I hope to post a weekly report of my success with maybe some inspiration for you as well.
This is Project Downsize Duff. The point of the project is to report and track the progress of my weight loss goal. Also this will serve as a little extra motivation since I will be letting everyone into my world. To quit once this is posted and out there for you to read will be embarrassing.
As most of you know or remember I am they type person who loves to enjoy myself A LOT. Moderation is not a word that could ever have described me. I love eating out, I love cooking new foods, I LOVE drinking yummy beers (how I'll miss you Victory Brewing Company), I love gambling, and I loved anything that entertained me enough to forget about life. This lifestyle has had a few bad side effects. Worst of all it has led me to become huge. Now I have always been a big guy, but I always carried it well and most could never believe I weighed what I weighed. Which was all well and good, but it created negative reinforcement.
A few weeks ago I got a little inspiration from a friend to change things up. So I joined a gym with the intentions of getting a little exercise in just to feel better. The first thing I did was to step on their scale. I was shocked at the reading of 320 pounds. Absolutely shocked! I have hovered near 300 pounds for a few years but seeing 320 was plain bad. If I didn't commit to doing something about this it would be a matter of time until I was at 350 or worse, and then probably dead.
So you know the mission of this blog and the reason for it, but now you need the goal. I wouldn't bother you with tiny goal like "I wanna lose 30 or 40 pounds." Oh no...I have set a much loftier goal. It is my intention to lose 100 pounds by my next birthday! Interestingly enough my birthday is 2/20 which will be my weight, 220 pounds, when I succeed. Hence the motto for the project is, "220 by 2/20." I have 33 weeks until my birthday, from when I started, so I will need to average 3 pounds a week. Is this a crazy unattainable goal? Maybe, but I don't think so. I know it won't be easy at all. There are a ton of obsticles that I will need to overcome. I am more than hopeful that I will have the self determination and the drive to make it to the end of the journey successful.
Feel free to check back often to see how I'm doing or to add a little inspiration or well wish. I hope to post a weekly report of my success with maybe some inspiration for you as well.
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