I'm still here

Haven't worked out much except for shoveling my driveway over and over again.  And every time I go upstairs I'm surrounded by more cookies and fudge and stuff.  (Thanks, Joan!  And happy birthday!)  We have friends coming in from out of town tonight, so there's another big dinner.  I think I'm doomed to not lose much until January, but I guess now that the roads are clear there's no reason I can't get to the gym and at least try to work out. 

Have a merry Christmas everyone!

Didn't make it :(

Well, this is my 2nd "failure" post.  Apparently 8 pounds is too much to overcome in 2 days.  Who knew?  I just have to make sure I don't let myself get that far behind any more.  Thursday morning I was 257.2, which is 2.8 pounds up.  That's the most I've been up.  Maybe I can work some of it off by shoveling tomorrow!

Halfway there

A little over that, actually.  This morning I was down 4.4 pounds from yesterday.  Now I just need to lose 3.3 more by tomorrow.  My weight loss pattern follows my work pattern.  Instead of a slow, even volume of work throughout the quarter, I'm always scrambling the last biweek or two.  My New Year's resolution should be to stay caught up at work and to level out the peaks and valleys a bit in the weight loss.

Serious backsliding

I've settled into an unfortunate pattern of weighing in Thursday and then going buck wild Friday through Sunday.  Then come Monday, I'm frantically trying to work off those 4 or 5 pounds plus a little more so I can show a loss on the chart.  It must be what an unethical CEO feels like, always trying to make the quarterly numbers.  So I get on the scale this morning and I'm up almost eight pounds from last Thursday.  I'll pause a moment to let that sink in.  EIGHT.  With 48 hours to go before this week's weigh in.  Sure, there was a Christmas party or two in there, but still.  It's totally unacceptable. 

So tonight I did Peggy's workout and also played racquetball, and I'm hoping Brendan can break away tomorrow night for more r-ball.  Still, that's not likely to be enough.  I could run Thursday, but the forecast is pretty ugly.  Sure, the treadmills at the Freedom Center are probably stronger than mine so I won't have the embarrassing "belt-pinch" issue, but how boring is that?  Maybe a pick up game of hoops with the brothers...

Slide show updated

I added the last six weeks worth of pictures tonight.  Not a huge difference between them, but I am starting to notice more of a difference between the beginning and now.

This weekend wasn't so great.  I had a Christmas party Saturday night and hung out with the kids all day today eating chips and watching football.  And eating frozen pizza.  Therese is sick in bed and I obviously can't fend for myself.  The weekends have always been hardest for me, but this week doesn't look good either.  I have my office Christmas party Tuesday and no basketball until after the new year.  Ugh.

Racquetball thwarted

I was supposed to play racquetball with Brendan on Friday morning, but he called me a few minutes before broken down on the side of the road with a flat tire.  Since the wheel was stuck, he ended up having to call the tow truck.  I went over to the gym by myself and played solo basketball, streaking down the court doing amazing layups and hoping no one was watching.

Then this morning I played racquetball with Will.  HE managed to get a good workout, since the court is pretty big when you're four feet tall.  Me, not so much.  But still, I've technically been to the gym every day since I joined on Thursday!

Slow and steady wins the race?

Down another 1.6 this week.  I sure have leveled off the last few weeks, but it is a challenging time of year.  I have Andy's party Saturday and then my work "party" on Tuesday.  AND no basketball to counteract things.  I need to make sure that the days in between those two aren't too damaging.  I do think I'm going to finally join the Freedom Center so I can swim and run and such this winter.

Time for a cleanse

Roadblocks to weight loss can show up in unexpected places.  I went downtown to the Reagan building yesterday for an all day trademark conference.  (Yes, it's really as boring as it sounds.)  In the past, they've had a continental breakfast and fruit with the coffee breaks.  Yesterday, much more. 

The body count for the day:

1 ham/egg/cheese croissant
1 slice mushroom/spinach quiche
4 Cokes (not diet Cokes) (Did I mention the conference was boring?)
Lunch was curry chicken with cheesecake for dessert
3 cookies during the afternoon coffee (or Coke) break
1 large soft pretzel

Then a delicious dinner from Therese (I mean that seriously, not sarcastically; there was none left), followed by (when no one was looking) three more cookies.  If anyone out there (I mean either of you out there) ever feel prideful, just start a weight loss blog.  Talk about humility-causing!

So I think I need to make a clean carb break, as Kim suggested.  For the next few days, until the WDP Christmas party Saturady, I'm going to try to drink a lot of tea and eat just a little, mostly protein and vegetables. 

Updates

My personal trainer, Peggy, was nice enough to come over today and redo my measurements.  My body fat dropped from 29% to 26.6%.  That really doesn't seem like very much to me.  I know it's an inexact science, but if I understand it right, what it means is that I'm now carrying around 68 pounds of fat (.266 x 256) instead of 86 (.29 x 295).  But since I've lost 39 pounds, and only 18 was theoretically fat, what's all the rest?  21 pounds of muscle?  I don't think I had 21 pounds of muscle total before this started.  Oh well, I'll just go with the general trend (down) as well as the specific body part measurements.

Updates coming!

I just looked at the list of weigh ins on the side of my blog and realized that it's now been exactly 3 months, to the day, since I started this thing.  If you'd told me 3 months ago that I'd be down 39 pounds at this point I'd have been pleased.  If I look back on this on March 3rd and I've lost 39 more pounds then I'll be thrilled.  First, b/c the next 39 is always the hardest.  Second, b/c that will mean that I'll be weighing 217 which would be the lightest for me since college.  I think 225ish was the lowest I got in 2006.  It also means that when I run the Knoxville half marathon with Shiny* (which I haven't yet officially agreed to do), I'll be at prime fighting weight.

I'm going to see if I can stop by Peggy's house tonight and update my body measurements and body fat analysis.  I'm very curious to see the improvement.

* Shiny Head Pete, MobWars nickname of Erin Peterson, aka The General.

I truly can't believe it

I woke up at 260.2 this morning, so I figured weighing in less than last week was pretty much hopeless.  I figured a good, long run was the only possible way, but even then I figured it was a long shot.  During my run, I was actually composing my "I'm a failure" blog post in my head.  It was actually pretty funny, but now I don't have to use it after all!  I ran 5 again (albeit slower than Sunday, when I had Therese pacing me), and after my shower I was 256 even!  Alleluia!  I wouldn't want Shiny Head Pete, on the occasion of his visit tomorrow, to see me as a failure.  Speaking of failure, I probably should have had that drinking contest with him when I was closer to 300 since I've now lost a good part of my advantage.

I need a pick me up

OK, blogosphere, here's where you help me instead of me inspiring you.  I'm in a rut.  A rut the size that Rosie O'Donnell would make if she fell over into wet sand.  Bigger even.  Like a Redskins-sized rut.  I watched last night's blowout on the downstairs TV b/c my brother came over to watch the game with me, and I ended up the night on Pantry Inventory Duty somehow.  (Let's see, popcorn?  Check.  Cookies?  Check.  Crackers?  Check.  Soft pretzel?  Check...)

I don't, as Dave suggests as a possibility, think it's indicative of anything larger than just a love of food.  Sweet, salty, fatty food.  Why was I not born with a love of celery??

Grammy's scale was NOT accurate

So the scale yesterday at her house showed me not up at all for the long weekend, which I knew couldn't be accurate.  I figured it was 2 or 3 pounds.  But as of my scale this morning, it's actually FIVE pounds.  Yikes.  I have my work cut out for me this week just getting back down to last week's weight.  I REALLY wish I had some will power so that instead of always trying to undo damage, I was making progress. 

So...who's joining me for hoops tomorrow night?

Oops!

Some signs that perhaps you still have your eating problem:

* You wait until everyone else has gone to bed so that no one sees you eating that giant Hershey's Kiss you found on top of the fridge.  (And to make it worse, you discover upon opening it that it's from Valentine's Day!)

* You head from the adults' table into the kitchen to "get a drink" then polish off a piece of pizza from the kids' table on the way back in.

* You go prospecting in your mother-in-law's pantry and find snacks from last summer when you were here last.  Sure they're stale, but they're still snacks...

On the upside, I did run a little over five miles today (the most since the marathon relay in May) and felt pretty good after an early cramp let up.  There's no way that remotely made up for the damage done over the last few days, but it had to help.  We also spent much of Friday raking leaves, so that's something.  Grammy has a scale here that had a very attractive number on it for me after my run this afternoon, but who knows how that compares with mine at home.  I guess I'll find out tomorrow!

Giving thanks for weight loss

I weighed in at 256.6 this morning.  Therefore, tomorrow I will give thanks for weight loss by having a large turkey dinner, albeit not quite as large as I normally would (hopefully).  In any event, Grammy always has acres of leaves for us to rake, and gutters to clean out, so I should hopefully work it off.  Really nice, flat jogging trails up there also.  Have a good long weekend everyone!

Bill, new pictures will be up soon, I promise.  I've been taking them; they're just still in the camera.

Slight schedule change

I haven't done this before, but I'm planning on weighing in tomorrow morning instead of Thursday this week.  We're leaving Thursday morning to drive up to NJ and I won't be able to post.  That's my official reason.  The real reason is that I played ball tonight and tomorrow should be a nice, low weight.  Oh, and I'm playing cards tomorrow night.  So...Wednesday it is.  Call me a cheater if you want. but it's my blog so I make the rules.  Plus it gives me an extra day to get rid of my second Thanksgiving dinner.

The new TV is working

As I mentioned, I got a high def TV for our bedroom as an early Christmas present for myself.  The idea was to have me watching sports in the evening farther away from the kitchen.  So far, so good!  I was watching Eagles-Bears last night and definitely wanted a snack, but here's where my inherent laziness works in my favor.  The snacks were an entire floor away!  So I just went to bed hungry.

Pants update:  Now wearing size 40.  That might still sound insanely large to most of my more normal size readers, but I was in 44s in September.

Weekend update:  I seem to have come through the Bonefish/casino night/Thanksgiving weekend relatively unscathed.  So with hoops on Tuesday I'm hopeful for another successful week.  Thanks, again, to everyone for all your kind words of encouragement!

Speedbumps coming

I have Bonefish tonight followed by the All Saints casino night, then the Griffin family Thanksgiving tomorrow.  Of course, real Thanksgiving is next Thursday, so this could be a rough patch.  Luckily, I've got basketball on Tuesday, and I did play frisbee this morning.  If I can get through the next four weeks or so without major backsliding, it will be a real accomplishment.  My mom makes really good Christmas cookies, and lots of them!

Eagle Eye Maenza

So I get this email from Bill Maenza yesterday.  It says:

Jim,

I am calling you to the carpet big boy!

Initial blog excerpt: My friend Kevin Caiazza keeps encouraging me to join the 300 club, and I still maintain that I've never officially been north of that particular border.

Today blog excerpt: It seems like a long way from my max of 301.

Nice try - do not try sneak one by me, ever! I will catch you and call you on it.

OK Mr Law Boy - I expect a full retraction!

Bill


Given that the email arrived at 10:46 a.m., I'm sure Bill's boss would like an explanation of why he wasn't working but was instead looking back through 62 old posts going back nearly three months to compare my words from this week versus my original words. 

But OK Bill, here's your retraction.  I was, indeed, 301 at one point.  Only for a day, or maybe just an evening after a big dinner, but I did see that number on a scale once.  And yes, I was on the scale alone.  Since I was 295 the day I started the blog then that's the number I use officially, but unofficially I sometimes measure from 301.  I appreciate you calling attention to it like that.  Figured I was getting a little too proud of myself and needed a dose of humility, did ya?

My first official 250's weigh in

Since today's Thursday, today's weight is the official one for the week, and it was 259.6.  I was thinking about it this morning, and I realized that in less than 3 months I'm basically half way done!  Another 35 pounds and I'll be at 225, which I haven't weighed since college (or shortly thereafter, like law school).  The lowest I got down to in 2006 when I had my last big weight loss was 228, and that was just for a few days.  I was in the 230's for months, but not the 220's for very long.  I really can't imagine, especially with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up, that I'll be able to continue this pace for another 3 months and be "done" before Spring, but a man can dream, can't he?

I've asked Peggy to take my measurements and do the body fat assessment again on me, so I'll be able to update the stats in the right hand column.  I'm eager to see how much things have changed.

The first weight I'm really actually kind of proud of...for real

I was 259.4 this morning.  (Of course, since this is Wednesday rather than Thursday, that's an "unofficial" number.)  Besides being down more than 6 from last week, just seeing the 250's again is very gratifying.  It seems like a long way from my max of 301.  That being said, the 40ish pounds I've lost so far aren't making as big a difference as I would have thought in they way my clothes are fitting.  Sure, they're looser.  But I want them falling off!  (I realize that no one else, including Therese, wants that.)  I want one of those giant pairs of pants where they skinny guy stands completely inside one of the legs to show how much smaller he is.

Funny food-related story

So we're in Williamsburg with Caroline and her friend Genna and the other kids at the Japanese steak house and we get to the part where the hibachi chef asks everyone how they want their steak. 

Me:  "Medium."

Therese:  "Medium."

And then we chose medium for the girls.

Genna:  "I want mine large."

Me:  "Genna, he's asking how you want your steak cooked."

Genna:  "But I want mine large!"

Therese:  "Not medium as in small-medium-large but medium as in rare-medium-well done."

Genna:  [very puzzled look] "I want a big one."

I don't think we ever got the point across.

Stupid Cowboys

If the Cowboys had won, then I wouldn't have had to console myself with bon bons.  It's Romo's fault that I'm fat!  When you get a first and goal at the one yard line and you have Marion Barber on your team, RUN THE BALL!

Now that I have that off my chest, I can proudly say that I did NOT, in fact, console myself with bon bons, or any other food item.  As the final seconds were ticking off the clock, I was holding the trash can so Will could vomit into it.  While many will take that as a symbolic gesture of what he thought of his team's performance, it was actually due to illness.  That's actually what I've been doing for one kid or another for what seems like weeks now.  But seeing that up close and personal does tend to blunt one's appetite.

Thursday Weigh In

Sorry I'm late updating this.  I weighed in Thursday morning but we then left right away for Great Wolf Lodge and I didn't get a chance to post.  My weight was 266 even; down 3 pounds from last week and .6 from two weeks ago.  It definitely seems like I'm plateauing a little earlier than I had hoped.  Then again, instead of blaming some "plateau," I should probably blame the filet mignon with fried rice I got at the Japanese steak house Thursday or the chocolate cream pie shake I got at Sonic on the way home Friday.  Maybe I'll lose some of it back since I've come down with a nasty cough/fever and now I can't sleep.

Hopeful for Thursday

Thanks for all the comments yesterday guys.  Nice to see my friend Jean weigh in (ha!) all the way from the Congo where she's doing medical missionary work.  Dave, when you're a non-fat guy, no one cares how fast you can run!  It's just assumed that you're in shape.  Peggy, I'd be happy to jump in there for you Saturday...if you were running a 5K.  I hope to be ready for a half marathon by spring, but my full marathon days are over.  I'll keep your health in my prayers b/c I know you've trained really hard the last few months and will be very disappointed if you can't go on Saturday.  There are four days left, so that's enough for a miracle cure!

I'm still hopeful that I'll be down at Thursday's weigh in to below the 266.6 that I was two weeks ago.  Brendan and I played racquetball for an hour and a half tonight and he ran me around, so that should help.  Now I need to figure out what to do in the rain tomorrow while Therese is at work.  Hello treadmill??

You guys are hard to please

Since yesterday's post about breaking the 10 minute mile mark garnered exactly zero comments/kudos (I did get an out of office reply from Dan; does that count?), I'm going to try again.  Today I ran with Therese who pushed me and I did 9:19 miles.  Pace from the last 3 days:  10:07, 9:29, 9:19.  I'm not going to try to run tomorrow b/c I feel dead tonight, but I'll figure out something. 

Finally got under 10's

I went from 10:07 miles Saturday all the way down to 9:29 Sunday (for 3 miles).  All I wanted to do was get under 10 minute miles and apparently I was moving faster than I thought.  The weather was good and I was just feeling it.  Now that I have my pace to where it's respectable, I need to start increasing distance.  My goal, since I like to set them, is to finish a half marathon in under 2 hours.  I think my current best is 2:03.  To finish under 2 hours, you pretty much need to run the whole thing at a 9 minute mile pace.  I realize that for the Bob Colemans and Peggy Harrises of the world, those are just cool down laps.  For me, a sprint.

How Jim got his groove back

Running, mostly.  I'm almost back down to where I was two weeks ago, so I'm hopeful that next Thursday's weigh in will be a good one.  I almost made 10 minute miles today, which has been my goal for weeks.  I ran 2.9 miles in 29:21, which is a 10:07 pace, so I'm almost there.  The next few days all look good for running, so I think I might cross the threshold this week.  Peggy, if the weather holds up we could do the workout outdoors again, except for the daylight issue.

I guess it had to happen

I got on the scale this morning and confirmed what I had suspected for days.  My first weigh in failure.  With Halloween, Caroline's birthday, a Ruth's Chris steak dinner in AC courtesy of [pre-blackjack-failure] James Younts, and buffet comps, the only suspense was really how much I'd be up.  Since I was still in the 260's I guess that counts for something.  I did run Tuesday morning on the boardwalk, which is a great place to run b/c it's perfectly flat and there's tons to see.  Also music blaring from all the casinos.  I would have run again Wednesday morning if Younts didn't drag me back to the blackjack table till 4 a.m. 

My goal for this week is not just to be down from the 269 I am now but to be down from the 266.6 I was last week.  Now to find a way to get rid of the leftover Halloween candy...

Off to Atlantic City

Well, Halloween and Caroline's birthday have come and gone, and I didn't get on the scale to assess the damage.  I'm hoping to run along the boardwalk the next couple days and avoid the free buffets and hope that helps.  One good thing about being such a great poker player is that I'll be at the table so long that I won't have time to eat!

It's Alive! (the streak) ( barely)

So after riding my bike to class and back, combined with yesterday's activity, I am down 1 pound for the week.  I was 266.6.  Given that I was 271 yesterday morning, that's a pretty big accomplishment.  I lost 4.4 pounds since yesterday.  I may be prouder of this week's one pound than I am of all the previous weeks' losses, given how hard it was to attain.

Now my attention turns to next week's challenge:

Saturday:  Halloween
Sunday:  Caroline's birthday party
Mon-Weds:  Staying at the Showboat Casino in Atlantic City
Thursday:  Tragic weigh in???

I guess I should take a day or so to bask in the glow of my continued success before I start worrying about next week. 

Crossing my fingers

I was still 271 this morning [Wednesday], so still up 3.4 pounds.  But I ran 3 this afternoon and then played an hour and a half of racquetball, so I'm hopeful for tomorrow.  I would really like to not have to run tomorrow morning so I have time to ride my bike to class.  I watched the World Series game 1 (congrats Phillies!) upstairs on our crappy bedroom TV so I'd be farther from the food.  I'll know if it worked in a few hours!

Chasing 4

It's Tuesday morning and I'm UP four pounds from last Thursday.  It's not looking too good for the weigh in, and I don't have any basketball to bail me out. 

The stinkin' weekends always kill me.  We went out to dinner Friday and Saturday nights, and then to my parents on Sunday night.  To try to convey what I'm up against at my parents' house, I'll list just the desserts that were available to me Sunday:

4 kinds of ice cream
home made hot fudge for the ice cream
cake and sugar cones for the ice cream
home made regular fudge
pound cake w/ strawberries
home made popcorn balls
knock off Samoas cookies (Safeway brand, and very yummy)
and probably some other stuff that I'm forgetting

I love my mother, and in her defense she did make me some turkey sausage and a salad, so I would have been fine if I'd stopped there.  But alas, no.

So I'll have to see if I can run off 4 pounds (and hopefully a little more) in the next 48 hours.  If not, I'll have to leave the post of shame.

(BTW, that phrase "chasing" a number, is that just a baseball term?  We're chasing 3 runs?  That's the only context I've ever heard it in.  Does anyone know?)

Some friends you guys are!

I thought friends were supposed to pick you up and make you feel good, but if that's the case then Dan and Anil did not get the message. I've been playing racquetball off and on for months and thought I had game. Neither of them has played in months, so I expected to run the table. Then we went out there last night and Dan took one game off me and Anil took two. Anil did soften the blow by sharing one of his free Freedom Center passes with me, which I appreciate.

Carrie, nice job on the comment leaving. Spread the word to others!

260's today!

I was 270.2 this morning when I woke up, which necessitated an early a.m. jog.  Luckily Therese came with me and pushed me the whole way so I ran fast (for me).  Now it's off to class and then a big juicy burger at lunch with Dave Costanzo.  (I don't learn, do I?)

Good basketball games

Not much to say this morning, other than I absolutely love basketball from an exercise standpoint.  Two hours of constant running does wonders the next morning on the scale.  We had 5 on 5, which is great.  Now I have to figure out what to do today since tomorrow is the weigh in.  I guess I should run since the weather is so nice.

Comments!

Hello faithful readers. Before I discuss today's workout/diet news, I'd like to address a very important issue first: Lack of comments. I, like most successful bloggers, am a narcissist. And how do we narcissistic bloggers measure our worth? Comments!! Comments let me know you care. And are physically viewing the site once in a while. I know many of you just read the emails which get automatically generated and respond to those. That's fine, I totally appreciate any feedback. But to the extent that you don't mind just clicking on the link in the email to visit the site itself and leaving a comment, it would be appreciated. Remember, if a fat guy eats a hamburger in the forest and no one is reading his blog, does he gain any weight? Yes, because no one read his blog. See? I need your help.

Remember, you can leave comments as "anonymous," or if you don't want to be anonymous, just choose "name/URL" from the list and type in your name. You don't need to put in a URL. If you have a gmail account for email, you can just choose "Google Account" and sign in with your gmail name and password.

Exercise news (finally!): I am now (as of Tuesday morning) finally back down to where I was last Thursday at the weigh in. Which gives me two days this week to actually lose weight. But since I have hoops tonight, I should be OK, I hope. Therese and I ran last night and I almost kept up with her. Granted, she was pushing a stroller with Catherine in it, but still.

Dan, per your request, I have moved the fat guy beefcake pictures (would those be "cheesecake" pictures?) farther down the right hand column so you won't have to avert your eyes. You now have to scroll down for them versus having them greet you as soon as you visit the site.

My current best weight loss tip:

Stay away from Dan Simpson!

Why?  He's a one man diet killer!  Thursday he's kind enough to get me and Therese tickets to the Caps game in the Wash Post luxury box at center ice.  Which is all well and good, except for the buffet spread out before us with dogs, sandwiches, quesadillas, as well as popcorn, nuts, chips, cookies, brownies, blah, blah, blah.  So I recover a little on Friday and Saturday and today he shows up to watch football with a nice crock pot full of sausage and cheese dip.  With Fritos.  I'm only human!  I have therefore officially deemed my good friend to be a Near Occasion of Eating.

But realistically, situations like this will come up now and then my whole life, so I need to learn how to minimize the damage.  Just haven't learned it yet...

Went to the doctor yesterday.  I do officially have bronchitis, which I basically knew.  Does make it a little harder to exercise, though.  One good thing is that my BP is down a good bit from what it was.  I'm now 122/80 instead of 139/90.

BTW, new fat guy pics should be up in the slide show now.  I still can't tell any difference from week 1 till now, at least in the photos.

The streak continues!

I was 271.8 today.  That's a big virtual middle finger to my bronchitis.  Although I haven't been exercising as much as I would like, I guess living on Ritz, Vitamin C (but not cocaine) [2:26] does tend to promote weight loss as well.  I need the weather to get a little better so I can continue with some of the outdoor stuff (bike, ultimate frisbee, etc.) since the Freedom Center daily admission is eating me alive.  Anyone out there (James?) able to get me a discounted membership?

Running again

I can't say I'm well, but I'm definitely feeling better. It was cold today so I decided to get on the treadmill. This might not seem like earth shattering news, but it's a milestone of sorts for me. Because unless you have one of those NFL-quality treadmills like they do at the gym, a guy my [old] size can't run on them. Each footfall tends to pinch the belt just a little, enough to break up my stride. But I'm now at the point where it's possible to run pretty normally, with just the occassional little pinch here and there. Thank God for small victories, eh?

Sick

Haven't posted the last couple days b/c I haven't done anything. I've been sick and it seems like it's going into my lungs, so I haven't exercised the last couple days. But I need to do something lest I risk having my first "up" week. Unfortunately, the sickness is not suppressing my appetite...

Not the softball games I was hoping for

Well, I said I just needed two good softball games to end the week on a high note, but I didn't exactly get them.  So many balls got past me I felt more like a matador than a first baseman.  Realistically, I would have been just as effective using a red cape instead of a glove.  Since I've been hitting pretty well, Dan suggested bringing a bat out there with me to stop them.  That might actually work...

But I did lose a little more weight, which is the whole point of the blog, so I guess I shouldn't complain.  I'm thinking that if I limit the damage this weekend and then work out pretty hard early next week, I could conceivably hit the 260's by next weigh in.  That will be the first milestone that I'll actually be proud of, since it does seem like that's a pretty big distance from where I started.  I just have to get past poker tonight and football tomorrow.  Those are really my biggest two danger zones each week. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1a_ikfUico

Had a good Thursday

It started off with the good weigh in, then I got a 100% on my mid term in my tax class, then I started work late but still got more than twice as many points as in a typical full day (25), they I played racquetball at night. On that note, I'd like to offer James Younts and Kevin Caiazza congratulations on trying to take down the Big Unit, but only Brendan can do that these days with any consistency. Now all I need is a couple good softball games tonight to really end the week on a high note.

I slept late this morning and I'm starting to feel a little better. I woke up in the middle of the night sweating like crazy when my fever broke, and then this morning I was down more than 2 pounds from yesterday's weigh in. Could that just be water weight from the night sweats? If so, maybe I should add fever to my "natural" weight loss remedy list, which already includes pneumonia?

Plugging away

I was down to 275.8 this morning, so I was happy to see that. Almost 20 pounds in five weeks isn't bad, and the nice thing is that it's been pretty linear, not a huge amount the first week and then smaller amounts. Even so, I think 4 pounds per week is not maintainable long term, but 2 or 3 should be. 10 pounds per month gets me back in shape for next beach season, or Great Wolf Lodge season. The kids have been bugging us to go back there.

I haven't been feeling well the last couple days. It's probably just a cold, but I remember back to the first time I lost a lot of weight, 2006. (Technically that was the second time because the first time was back in college.) Anyway, I wasn't planning on losing weight until I got pneumonia for a couple weeks, and by the time I got back on my feet I was down something like 15 pounds. So I decided not to waste it and ended up losing more than 60 pounds. Then I gained it all back. Which I WON'T do this time, as long as you guys keep me honest.

New pictures to follow tonight.

Looking forward to tomorrow

I can't believe tomorrow is already my 6th weigh in.  I also can't believe that my little experiment has worked so well so far.  A big thank you to all of you out there following me, b/c if you weren't reading then I would have an easier time quitting!  Numerous times I've been temped to pig out on some sort of delicious yet fatty food on a Tuesday or Wednesday night (and it's always at night), but have refrained in anticipation of my Thursday a.m. weigh in.  Now if only I could get those weekly pictures to start reflecting the numerical results, I'd be happy.  To me, the latest pic seems almost indistinguishable from the first one.  Hopefully a year from now when I'm 210 or 220 and ripped I'll look back on them and laugh.  Hopefully.

Matabolism revved up?

So I was expecting scale disaster this week after a weekend of unbridled intake of food, coupled with lack of activity due to two sprained ankles.  (I did one Friday at racquetball and the other later Friday at softball.  Ugh!)  How many pounds would I be up by Monday?  4?  5?  No!  Only about 2.  I still didn't work out yesterday except for mowing, but tonight after basketball I'm back down lower than I was last Thursday at the weigh in.  I can't believe it.  The only thing I can think of is that maybe my metabolism is actually running a bit faster these days.  That, or there's just a delayed reaction when you eat fatty food, and the bad news is still coming.  I prefer to believe the former.

I also can't believe how much energy I had this evening playing hoops.  The difference between tonight and two weeks ago is night and day.  We played 7 games full court (only to 7), and I was still hustling and sprinting in the final game.  I felt great, not winded at all.  What a difference 20 pounds and some activity makes.

Thought For The Day:  Temptation (food wise) can apparently show up anywhere, not just at the grocery store.  Case in point:  Today I went to Merrifield Garden Center to replace a tree that had died.  Should be safe, right?  Wrong!  The new tree was $30 less than the old one so I had some store credit I tried to use up.  Catherine picked out some flowers for mommy, but there was still some left so I looked around.   And they sell...Virginia peanuts!  Only one of my all time favorite foods.  So big, so crunchy, so flavorful.  Ever since the Colemans turned me on to them (see guys, my weight problem is partially your fault!), I've had a hard time weaning myself off.  At any rate, I didn't expect to see them at a nursery, but there they were in a nice little display, calling out to me.  So did I get the standard, delicious variety?  Nope, the even more delicious chocolate-covered variety!  Ah well, you know what they say, never go tree shopping when you're hungry.

Discussion Topic:  Fast Food.  Where do you health conscious people out when you're out?  I love the McDonalds southwest salad with the grilled chicken.  I haven't checked the website for nutrition info for the salad itself, but the dressing is really low fat/cal.  Any other healthy/convenient suggestions?

Edit:  Looked up the salad info on the McD's site.  With dressing and chicken, 420 calories, 15 fat, 6 fiber.  That's 9 points on Weight Watchers, which is a little high but so much better than a burger and fries.  And in the old days I would have had a chocolate shake also.  But this salad is fantastic.  If you haven't had one yet, you owe it to yourself.  It's amazing.

Edit #2:  Looked up "nutrition" info for my old standard order:  2 double cheeseburgers, small fries, small choc shake.  Results:  1690 calories, 70 grams of fat, plus 2710 mg of sodium!  Yikes!

Lots of meat this weekend

It turns out that 25 pounds of pork really is a lot. Mr. Hall made the most delicious (and meaty) ribs I've had in a while, and the pulled pork was amazing also. Given that I spent 7 hours over there yesterday, I expected this morning's unofficial weigh in to be devastating, as devastating as Tony Romo's performance against a completely overrated Broncos team. It wasn't as bad as that, but I still have my work cut out for me this week. Luckily I have basketball tomorrow night which is always a good workout. Anyone besides Brendan joining me?

U2 pictures

Are you guys jealous?  No?  Well, you should be.  Big shout out to Thomas Griffin for the tickets/inspiration.

 

 

U2 rocked

What a great show! We were standing only about 50 feet from the main stage and probably less than 20 feet from the outer catwalk around the main stage. I have some great pictures that I'll post of the guys jamming right in front of us. Turns out the garage we parked in was a 30 minute walk away, so my legs were pretty beat after that and standing four hours. Did that end up counteracting the two bowls of nachos, ribs, and fajitas at Chilis? I haven't checked!

Does standing for five hours count as exercise?

Therese and I have standing room tickets to U2 this evening, and from what I hear it's a long show, especially if you take in the opening band.  PLUS, all the close parking lots are sold out and it's over a mile to the cash lots, so we'll have hours of standing combined with a couple miles of walking.  Oh, don't forget shivering to keep warm.  I hear that burns calories as well...

270's!

Yay for me!  279.2 this morning.  More later.  Gotta go to tax class.

Getting Faster

I only ran 2.6 this morning (but I ran 3 yesterday evening, so lay off), but my time was 26:22, so I'm almost down to 10 minute miles.  Considering I was at 12 just a couple weeks ago, that's pretty satisfying.  Once I can do 3 miles at a little under 10's then I'll start adding more distance.

I'm getting a little excited for tomorrow's weigh in.  Will I see the 270's for the first time in a while?  I'm close today.  And will I make it upon wakeup, or will I have to run in the a.m. to get there?  So much suspense...

Bill, I implemented your suggestion to re-do the slideshow so that it shows all the side shots together and all the front shots together.  It's much better that way.  Thanks for the suggestion!

Another Day, Another 3 miles

Today (Tuesday) I ran around the school while Will was at soccer practice.  The whole time I kept thinking how much more fun it would have been to be running around playing soccer instead of running around watching others play soccer.  I really need to join that adult league like I've been meaning to do.

A couple of you have suggested running on the treadmill while watching TV (as opposed to eating, which is a more typical activity for me).  That's all well and good, if I didn't have such a totally ghetto TV in my basement.  That thing's so bad it's like setting your monitor to 640x480, all pixelated and crap.  But I've been suggesting to Therese that we get a better TV for our bedroom, which means I could move the slightly less ghetto bedroom TV to the basement, and throw out the basement one.  Realistically, that's probably too much work and I'll never do it.  But maybe...

In sports news, the Cowboys won and the Redskins lost to the Lions.  So I've got that going for me, which is nice!

I need to start exercising again

I need to get my groove back.  Sunday we were gone all day, and today I had to count the collection in the morning and then work this afternoon.  I did mow the lawn this evening, but that hardly counts as exercise.  (Although Dan said I could count it.)  Tonight is the Dallas game (Go Cowboys!) and then I'll be up late studying for a test in my tax class.  I could get up early with the kids and then jog before class.  But most likely I won't.  I do need to run at some point tomorrow or my Thursday weigh in will be a disaster.  It's too early to start backsliding and break my streak of down weeks.

Not much to say today

I was watching the kids b/c Therese was sleeping after working all night, and with two soccer games and then rain, I wasn't able to get a workout in.  That, coupled with a big dinner (bourbon chicken, mmmm) doesn't give me a lot of hope for tomorrow morning.  So instead of weighing myself I'll just accompany Therese to the triathlon and watch her work out.  Sweat osmosis!!

Thank God for James Younts

It didn't look like I was going to get a workout in today.  Then the workout fairy delivered an email to me from James Younts who said he was home and looking to play some racquetball.  So I got all sweaty after all.  I'm glad b/c playing first base at my softball game tonight definitely isn't going to cut it.  Maybe if I got more hits I could spend more time running the bases...

Pictures

I'm slowly figuring this out.  I added a slide show on the right side under the statistics and above the weigh ins.  If you click on a photo, it helpfully opens a new window with full size versions!  I must caution you all, however, that the surgeon general has issued a warning suggesting that the elderly, infirm, and children avoid prolonged exposure to it.  Fans of National Geographic specials and/or Golden Corral may look.

3rd Weigh In

282.6 this morning!  I can't post much b/c I'm off to tax class (on my bike!), but I'll write more and update the stats later today.  Just wanted to share the good news.

Still Running

I ran 3 again this morning (third day in a row!) and finished in 32:39.  That's under 11 minute miles for the first time.  It's also starting to feel a little better as well.  Instead of terrible calf pain it's just moderate calf pain.  Today was pretty hot, so I was sweating something fierce.  Why did the nice fall weather disappear now that it's officially fall??

On another note, good job everyone keeping me honest.  First it was Bill emailing me when I missed a day and now Dave just texted me to find out where I was.  Answer:  Doing my usual Wednesday circuit training "boot camp" workout with my personal trainer Peggy.

Tomorrow is weigh in number 3.  I'm crossing my fingers for good news, but considering my filet intake this past weekend, anything lower than last week will make me happy.

Wow, running DOES get easier!

I ran again this morning and felt pretty good the whole time. I was at least a minute faster than my last run, and felt better too. I chalked up yesterday's decent run to the fact that I was "carbing up" all weekend at the wedding, but today I don't have that excuse. Maybe I'm actually getting in a little better shape??

Back to the daily grind

I went for a run this morning with Therese.  We ran "together" for a while, which consists of her constantly looking back and wondering whether I'm pulling a VW bus behind me or something.  The wonders of physics that let a 290 pound man run at all seem to escape her.  Translation:  For the time being, I'm happy to be upright and putting one leg in front of the other.  Until I get a bit faster, it's not much of a workout for her.  Ahh, for those happy times in 2006 when I used to be the faster one...

Disappointed with myself

Went to a wedding this weekend in NY.  It was a great time, great food.  A lot of great food.  Specifically, a lot in my personal belly.  Then tonight at Olive Garden I had chicken carbonara.  Delicious, but I ate the whole thing.  I really need to start asking them to just bring out half of it and bring the other half already wrapped. 

Tomorrow's another day, but I'm not sure there are enough days between now and my usual Thursday morning weigh in to get below last week's weight.  Maybe it's time for some two-a-days...

Biking in the rain...

...is no fun when you wear glasses.  It's probably not much fun if you don't wear glasses, actually.  But I didn't see myself getting any other workout today, and I was planning on meeting Dave Costanzo at Foster's for lunch after tax class, so I decided to chance it.  I didn't even get out of my neighborhood before it started drizzling, and it just got worse from there.  Luckily for my classmates, I brought a dry shirt and deodorant. 

Good news about lunch:  I forwent (Is that a word?  What's the past tense of "forgo" anyone?) the burger and got the chicken sandwich.  With a side salad instead of fries.  And unsweetened ice tea.

Bad news about lunch:  The chicken sandwich had cheese and fried onions and fried mushrooms.  But it was delicious!  And I did get light mayo...

On another topic, I've had an incredible response so far from people wanting to sign up for the automatic email notices when I post.  The stupid system will only let me add 10 addresses, and I was almost immediately over that number.  I just added people in the order they responded, and I'm going to try to figure out how to add more than 10 names.  I might just manually forward the emails until then.  As always, thanks for all the support!

Weigh In, Week 2

285.4 this morning.  3 pounds is not bad, but considering how hard I've been working out I was hoping for a little more.  Nevertheless, this makes almost 10 pounds overall that I'm down (and 15 from my all time high), so I guess baby steps are better than nothing.  I'm hoping to ride my bike to tax class this morning, but it's been raining.  Hopefully it lets up later.

Thanks again everyone for the words of support and encouragement!  My friend Kevin has been inspired to start a similar blog/website chronicling his own transformation, and I'm really eager to get a look at it.

I took pictures again today, but I'm holding off on posting b/c I don't think they belong right in the middle of the post.  I'd rather have some picture viewer type link in the sidebar where I can have these, but I'm still trying to figure out how to do that.  But never fear, lovers of distended bellies, your corpulent eye candy will be back soon!

Body Fat, Take 2

So Peggy used the calipers on me again tonight to double check the measurements from last week, and the result was a little lower, 27.8% instead of 29%.  So I'm getting a little excited thinking that my weight loss so far has translated into a slightly lower body fat percentage, and then she does the body measurements, and reality returns.  Using body measurements, my body fat percentage comes in at 34%, rather than 27.8%.  In Therese's kind words, the 34% is a little more "plausible."  Thanks, honey! 

But looking around on the Internet, it seems that the caliper method is considered to be more accurate, so I'm going to keep using those numbers.  (Also because they're lower!)  Tomorrow's my second weigh in, and then it's off to NY for a wedding this weekend.  At least I won't have to worry about eating while watching football this weekend since I'll be driving home on Sunday.

And because Brendan is such a good friend (or a Sadist, I'm not sure), he wants to work out early on Friday before I leave.  In anticipation of a six foot tall wedding cake the next day, I have agreed.

Basketball tonight

Other than racquetball, I think basketball is my favorite exercise.  Much better than running just for the sake of running.  Now if I could only hit wide open 2 footers I'd really be in business.  There weren't even any tall guys there tonight...

Does Running Get Easier?

I managed to get a run in this a.m. before it got too hot.  I went 3 miles and I know at some point this is going to get easier, but I sure hope it comes soon.  I'm dying out there, but then again, its like my 225 pound self from 3 years ago is jogging with a 60 pound pack on, so I guess that is hard on the old legs.  I've got hoops tomorrow which I'm looking forward to.  Come join me!!

I'm Still Here

All right, Bill, here you go.  Yesterday I set my alarm to wake up early and play Ultimate Frisbee with the Holy Trinity group, only to get there and find just two people there.  The most we had before I had to leave was 6, but most of the time we had either 4 or 5.  I guess that was good for me b/c it required a lot more running, but my poor physical shape was that much more on display.

Last night I had my usual weekly card game and everything was going well until Sam showed up with two big trays of nachos with cheese, ground beef, cream cheese, jalapenos, etc.  It looks like card night is going to be my most challenging night, with football Sunday my second biggest challenge each week.  I'll try to behave today and get back into my groove tomorrow.  The work week seems so much easier than the weekend...

P.S.  Week Two pictures were taken but not uploaded yet.  They don't look much different, of course.

Trying to get back on track

Ran 3 miles this morning.  That was miserable, but it did start to get a little easier as the run went on.  I really didn't think I'd make it at first.  Tomorrow should be OK for exercising too.  That just leaves 7 hours of football on Sunday standing in my way...

Joan, no eating at all while watching TV?  That would probably take more discipline than I have.  Which, of course, is why I'm fat in the first place.

First Weigh In

288.4 today.  Ugh.  I was a couple pounds lower earlier in the week, but I guess that's why you should only weigh once a week.  But 7 pounds isn't that bad, as long as I keep it up.

Football starts tonight.  I'll try to keep the eating under control, but TV is always the worst...

Body Fat

So my personal trainer (Peggy) got out the ol' calipers this evening.  Results?  Not as bad as I expected.  29% body fat.  While it still is super high, it's definitely not as bad as I thought it would be.  At my current weight, that means I have about 83 pounds of fat I could potentially lose.  That would get me down near 200, which is where I want to be anyway.  I'm going to add a body fat percentage box on the right side, but that won't get updated nearly as often as the weight.  Peggy says only every 3 months.

Had a good boot camp workout tonight.  The weather was awesome and all my peeps were there (except for the Halls).  Thanks again everyone for all the encouragement!

Being hungry

Thanks Bill and Peggy for the advice.  Snacking more seems kind of counterintuitive, but I will definitely start doing that more.  This is apple picking season and I love apples, so those should be OK.  Now the Combos I had this afternoon, maybe not as much.

Bill, I like the small plate idea.  I'll just use one of the kids' plates.  They'll laugh, but I'm used to that...

Hurting Tonight

Just played two hours of hoops with Nagle, Brendan, Thomas, Anil, etc.  The good Mr. Fegan was a last minute scratch.  Amazingly enough there were no injuries tonight, and no one hurled.  So it was a success!  I'm not sure I'll be able to do much at boot camp tomorrow night, but I'll be there.  Peggy is going to be bringing her calipers, so I guess I'll have humble pie for dessert tomorrow night...

Big shout out to my beloved Therese for being so supportive.  Although I do need to talk to her about loading up on frozen pizzas.  I know they were on sale, but come on. 

I found some old weight watchers books today.  (I've joined at least 3 times, maybe 4.)  My most recent one had my starting weight at 286 and in 4 weeks I was down to 272.  Then in week 5 I gained NINE pounds, and that was the last entry.  Gain 9 pounds and then quit.  That's how I [used to] roll.  But now that everyone is watching [as if!] I can't let a little backsliding torpedo the whole endeavor. 

Realistically, is anyone still reading this besides Peggy and Joan?  Should I just send them personal emails every day? 

Wow, Talk About Tempting!

I've included a picture below of just the meat portion of what Christan & Craig served us tonight.  How is a guy supposed to stay strong when confronted with ribs, crab legs, Cheddarwurst, shrimp and filet mignon???  Dessert was cake, pie, and 3 kinds of ice cream.  At least I had Brendan kicking my butt today in racquetball AND making me run before he would even play me.  And I have hoops tomorrow, so that should help...

One Big Meal Down

Luckily my brother is a health conscious guy, so he made turkey burgers instead of beef.  Then we played a good bit of frisbee and football, so I might even have burned most of it off.  And I'm even thinking of taking Brendan up on his offer of a run tomorrow...

So Far So Good

I didn't get to play Frisbee this morning b/c Therese scheduled the kids for well child checks at 9 a.m.  So this afternoon Will and I played Frisbee golf and instead of walking from hole to hole we ran.  Not as much exercise as Ultimate, but better than nothing! 

Just got on the scale today after my shower and it said 286.  That's 9 pounds since Wednesday, but since I have big dinners tomorrow and Monday night I do need to get ahead a bit.  Who's joining me for hoops on Tuesday??

"Better" Before Pictures

These are better in the sense that they're not blurry, but not in any other, really.  They just show the fat much more clearly. 

Today went pretty well.  I was hoping to play ultimate frisbee tomorrow morning but the kids have a doctor's appointment and Therese is working, so there goes that idea.  Maybe I'll try to run in the afternoon.

In another big lifestyle change, I'm heading to bed now!  It's not even 10:30.  What do you think of that, Bob??

 

 

Day Two

Thanks for all the love and support everyone!  I'm super hungery today, but haven't given in yet.  Thanks to my govt. flexible schedule, I'm heading off in a little bit to play some racquetball with Brendan.  Peggy, we'll meet up sometime soon to give those calipers a workout so I can add body fat percentage to the list of stats.

On another note, apparently some people are having trouble with the comments.  If you don't want to be anonymous, just choose "name/URL" from the list and type in your name.  You don't need to put in a URL.  If you have a gmail account for email, you can just choose "Google Account" and sign in with your gmail name and password.

"Before" pictures

I figured out how to post pictures, but these are terrible. Stupid ghetto camera won't focus. So I'll leave these up until I get some better ones.

Thar she blows!





And to answer Therese's question, no, I'm not "puffing" my stomach out in the second picture. That's really how big it is.

Inaugural Post

Hi everyone! Welcome to my weight loss blog. This is my first post, and my first attempt at blogging. Those that know me know I've yo-yo'd with my weight for years, so I figured I'd start this blog so that you can all follow my progress, such as it is, online so you can keep me honest.

I took a before picture from the front and side, and those will be my before pictures. I really don't want to post them b/c they're so incredibly embarrassing, but it's probably the only way to keep me honest. But I don't yet know how to add pictures so for now you'll have to imagine what I look like. Think of Britney's ex K-Fed and you'll have a good idea.

I weighed myself yesterday to get a starting weight. 295. Yikes! It's hard to believe that 3 years ago I ran the Marine Corps marathon and was down to 228. What's even worse is that when I met Therese I was under 200 pounds! My friend Kevin Caiazza keeps encouraging me to join the 300 club, and I still maintain that I've never officially been north of that particular border. But there were a couple nights of hard eating when I might have crept over but been back down under it in the morning. Suffice it to say that I'm probably nearly 100 pounds overweight. Therese doesn't weigh much more than what I have to lose!!

Kevin is the one who turned me onto the John Stone Fitness website, which is where the idea for this blog was shamelessly stolen from. You can see from John's pictures over the years that he went from heavy to incredibly fit. (Kevin, you still owe me a day of yard work from our most recent weight loss bet, which I won only three years ago. Do I forfeit the prize since I blimped back up??)

It's easy to start a diet and then quit it when no one is looking. The reason Weight Watchers works for a lot of people is that you have to go there every week and weigh in and have your day of reckoning. So this will be my electronic reckoning. I'll weigh in every Friday morning and also take pictures. I hope, God willing, that some day I'll look back at these pictures and just shudder at how fat I was. My goal is to some day fit into those clothes Therese got for me back in 2006, as well as those size 36 jeans I still have from college. That, and to some day lay on my stomach at a beach without the dreaded "see-saw" affect.

So to minimize my chances of failure (or maximize my shame if I do fail), I'm going to let lots of my family and friends know about this blog. Trust me, there's not much that's more humbling than posting the pictures I have in my camera right now on the web.

I also am looking for ideas/suggestions/tips from all you fit people out there (you know who you are, Brendan & Peggy, Bob & Joan, Blaine & Carrie, Rob, etc.). I started biking today and it's definitely a bit harder with a baby seat on the back holding a book bag full of tax books. (I started classes this week at H&R Block so I can work for them next tax season, and the place we meet is only 3 miles away.) Tomorrow it's racquetball with Brendan and maybe a jog. Then ultimate frisbee on Saturday, and hoops at All Saints starts Tuesday. Do I really need to lift? Naw...

So here goes. Wish me luck!