Monday Morning Update #2 - Revised Edition

It's been a long week. I know I need to do more updates during the week but it got to be a busy few days. Watched some kids for a little while on Wednesday night, had some friends over on Thursday night and just had things to do over the weekend. It was kind of a weird eating week because I did pretty well....considering. Went out twice with people and then Thursday night had some deep dish pizza. Soooooooo, the rest of the time I actually did very well.

This week though I lost 4.0 pounds to bring the grand total over time to 81.0 pounds lost. I'm getting back on that horse and feeling a lot better. I need to keep this rolling and keep up with the small victories. I always want things so fast but just need to remain patient.

Also.....GO COWBOYS!

Monday Morning Update #1 - Revised Edition

Okay, so things haven't been going the best here lately on the weight loss front (as if you all couldn't tell!) I backslid quite a ways from losing over 120 pounds. Last Monday, I was back to having lost 70.2 pounds. That's a gain of around 50 pounds in a couple of months without really "trying". I knew what I was doing though and could not seem to help myself. I won't make excuses though because there aren't any that could explain something like what just happened. It's soooooo easy to put it back on and sooooo hard to take it off.

Anyways, we'll get to some good news. I ate pretty well this week and here at the end of it, have done some exercise. I need to start walking at lunch again and take care of some business. But this last week I did lose 6.8 pounds so my overall total is back to 77 pounds lost. I just need to turn the page on the last few months and know that that doesn't have to be my life, it can be anything I want it to be. I want to feel good, I really do.

10 Years

It's been 10 years since September 11, 2001 today. It doesn't seem like that long ago. The overriding things I remember from that day are some fear of what was happening and a sense of astonishment at the sacrifice of all those first responders. I don't know that I could say I would've showed that amount of bravery. It was amazing to me that people could be that selfless and make that type of sacrifice. I guess I'm just not that brave. Anyways, it just seems like yesterday that it all happened and we gathered around radios and tried to get whatever we could on the internet at work. Many sites were not up as they were inundated with people trying to get news. The memorials that I watched this morning were very nice and the memorial sites at Ground Zero, the Pentagon and Shanksville are impressive. I hope to visit them someday.

Football also started today which is very exciting for me as it's my favorite sport. Right now, I'm watching my Cowboys play the Jets. It's only in the 2nd quarter but the Cowboys are up 7-0, I hope this continues and Dallas can get a win right off.

I've been working this week on doing better. It's been a good week. Today I did some weight work and rode the exercise bike. Not a whole lot right now but more than I've done in awhile. My eating has been very good this week and very good over the weekend which is something I've been struggling with. I need to believe in myself more because I know I can make it through the weekends and still do a good job.

I should have a weigh-in update tomorrow. I need to figure out how I'm going to mark everything and record since it's been quite awhile since my last update. I'm determined to get going again because I need to. I feel sooooo much better and things in my life are good when I'm losing weight and eating better. It's time to reclaim my confidence and getting rolling again. It's just time.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Well, today is my mom's birthday! Happy Birthday Mom! I called her this morning and gave her her normal serenade of "Happy Birthday" the way that only I can. She so LOVES it!!! :) I'll be coming home to see her next week and spend the night like most years. I love my mom though and want to wish her the happiest of birthdays!!!

Sunday Morning

For some reason, I always wake up early on Sunday. As much as I would love to sleep in until 9:00 or something, I seem to be up by 6:00. I blame the damn job..haha! I have to get up early through the week and now I'm getting older so by next year I'll be up at 5:50 and 5:40 the year after that, etc. Dang.

Yesterday wasn't the best eating day for me. Ate a little too much but am trying to keep myself in check. Did well all week even passing up cookies, cake and muffins on different days. Just doing the best I can and not beating myself up too bad for having a rough day.

I went and saw 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' yesterday. It was pretty good and enjoyable. Successfully will reboot that franchise if that's what they're trying to do. The summer of movies is just about over. As stated before, I've seen a bunch of them this summer. I have rediscovered my love of actually going to the movies.

Some Summer Things

Well, it's damn hot here. As with everywhere else this summer it's been terribly hot the last few weeks. We had two weeks of shorts being acceptable at work but this week, when the first two days have been hotter than anything, we've had normal business casual dress. I guess things could be worse but I'd have loved shorts the last two days.

So over this summer I've done a couple of things...not weight loss related but just some fun things. Over a span of span of two weeks in early July I read all 7 Harry Potter books and saw all 8 movies. Yep, two weeks!!! I didn't do a whole lot besides read but I really got into those books and just wanted to keep reading.

I've seen a whole bunch of movies at the theater this summer. I've seen: Kung Fu Panda 2, Hangover 2, Thor, X-Men:First Class, Green Lantern, Super 8, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 and Captain America:The First Avenger. I've enjoyed them all in one or another although I think I loved Potter the most and thought Green Lantern was okay for what it was but was rather disappointed and unimpressed.

I'm feeling better about things right now and for the first time in awhile, went through a grocery store tonight and only bought the things I "should", not the bad things I may have wanted. Although, I have to say I didn't really want them tonight. It felt kind of good. Hopefully things are turning around. I'll be back tomorrow night with some more news...hopefully all of it good.

Guess Who's Back

Okay, I've been gone for a long time. A loooooooong time. I've probably put back on about 40 pounds from my lowest point. Damn. It just has not been a good time lately. I haven't felt a great deal of stress which helped bring about my downfall but getting back on the horse after falling off and being trampled by a whole herd of horses is much harder than you would think. I've done okay today and am just trying to go one day at a time.

I have come to realization that I don't handle weight loss success well. Each time I do things right for about 10-11 months or more and/or get to 100+ pounds lost, I fall apart. Just utterly fall apart. I've gained back this weight and my pants are tight and all the things in the size bigger have been donated so I have two ways to go....either buy new things or start losing weight again. I NEED to start losing weight again!

I will start again with updates next week but the weeks that are gone are gone. They are the "Forgotten Posts". I'm sorry that they didn't happen and that things haven't been better and going in a good direction. I've let myself and you all down and I'm sorry. I'll try not to let it happen again and disappear again. Even if things are bad, I need to post my thoughts as bad as they may be and just go with it all.

Father's Day...Belated, I Know

I made a grievous error yesterday. This blog lacked a post about Father's Day and my dad. I saw him yesterday for a party at my brother's house and got back late last night. I went to bed pretty quickly b/c I was tired but that is really no excuse. So first off, I apologize to my dad for that and being a bad kid.

Anyways, I love my Dad. He means the world to me and I want him to know that. I wouldn't be the man I am today..even though I have my faults(although there are few)...without him. His love, respect, trust and guidance have gotten me through some tough times and without him I'm not sure where I would be. I hope that I make him half as proud of me as I am proud of him. He worked his ass off for his family and although we were sometimes not as appreciative of it then as we should have been, I guess that's one of the follies of youth. He never let us down and was always there with a few words of guidance, a stern hand of discipline if we needed it and an ear for us to bend if something was troubling us. We didn't always see eye-to-eye but that hasn't stopped us from forging a wonderful relationship and one that I cherish. He's not just my dad, he's a great friend as well. If I'm even part of the man that my father is, that'll be enough.

I'm sorry this was a day late but I love you Dad and Happy Father's Day!!!!

Monday Morning Weigh-In #48

Well, got a little bit of good news this morning. I lost 1 pound last week to put my overall total at 105.8 pounds lost. It was a little bit of something. I'm trying to get back to some of my good habits with a few slides here and there so far. I have a month to go before I reach a year gone in all of this and although I'm not exactly where I wanted to be after almost a year I'm still proud of the progress I've made. I haven't totally gone off the reservation when things have been bad, I just need to pick myself back up and get some good results. They're coming, I swear!

Monday Morning Weigh-In #47

Things didn't go great again this week. I basically stayed flat this week, gaining 0.2 pounds putting my total at 104.8 total lost. I'll try to post some more this week but we'll see. Things haven't been the best here lately but they're slowly getting better and calming down some with work. I'm still trying to get stuff done though and get a few other things wrapped up. It's been a looooooong 6 weeks or so.

Monday Morning Weigh-In #46

Well, the backslide has unfortunately continued. I've really been scuffling along here lately as much as I've tried to do better. It just has not translated into success and I know I'm really not doing all the right things. I gained 5.4 pounds back this weekend to put my overall total at 105.0 pounds lost. I'm not going to go under the 100 pound mark. I just really need a nice week at work and to just get into some type of rhythm. I need to quit stopping for fast food when I work later or getting pizza. I've been doing that every once in awhile here lately and I know that's a bad path for me.

Anyways, I'm not making excuses for myself...I've just done poorly and haven't been working at it. I need to make the sacrifices for myself and my general health and well-being. My mood has been sour and kinda pissed off which is definitely something that is affected by eating poorly and not exercising. I just need some good stuff and need to make sure that I focus more on me and the things that I can change and not on those things are superficial stresses and worries. I know it's easier said than done. I'm fighting myself right now and I have to get myself together so that I'm fighting the right fight....the fight against my weight and my "issues" with eating. I'm not surrendering and I'm not giving up. I've still got my fists up and want to fight.

Back To Work

Ya know what? It stinks that a 4-day weekend passes by so quickly. It seems like it wasn't that long ago that it was Thursday evening and I didn't have to worry about work for 4 days....4 days! Ha! Oh well. It was a nice weekend and I had a good time. Yesterday I rode the exercise bike for right at 11 miles in 45 minutes and then later went for a 2.65 mile walk. The weather was very hot though. I broke down and turned on the AC last night. I just finally started feeling uncomfortable from the heat and thought, "Why not?" I slept well last night which I needed. I've been having trouble falling asleep at night and I still had that problem but once I fell asleep, I slept like a log.

Well, it's getting nearer and nearer the time to go to work so I better finish getting ready. Where oh where did the 4-day weekend go????? ARGH!!!!! HAHA!

Memorial Day Weekend

Well, this Memorial Day Weekend has been pretty decent. I took Friday off of work and went to see a couple of movies. I took my buddy Ryan to see Kung Fu Panda 2 in 3D in the afternoon. That was a lot of fun. He's a good kid and pretty funny. After that, we threw the football around some. It was nice to throw it around and Ryan catches and throws pretty well. It was a fun to spend some time with him.

After that, I went and saw The Hangover Part II. It was pretty funny but not as good as the first one. I wasn't expecting it to be as good as the first though but I enjoyed it alot. Poor Stu (Ed Helms)!!

The rest of my weekend has been pretty boring. I've read a whole bunch. I finished the book "Open", the autobiography of Andre Agassi. It was a good read and fun since I remember watching a bunch of the matches that he talked about. I also remember all the "Image is Everything" commercials and marketing ideas.

Then I read "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot. It's the story of a line of cells taken from a black woman in the 50s. Her cells have lead to many advancements in medical fields. The woman's family had no idea for the longest time that the cells and tissues taken from her were used in this way. It was a pretty good book.

I've also started watching the TV Show "Justified". I'm only a couple of episodes into the first season but it has been good so far. Raylan Givens is an interesting character.

Monday Morning Weigh-In #45

Things have not been going the best. I gained back 7.6 pounds this week to bring my overall total to 110.4 pounds. Not a great week or a great month for me. I've been struggling through a bunch of things and eating/exercising has not been good. Things haven't been going smoothly but I'm trying to keep my head up. I've hit a pretty big bump in the road but I'm doing the best I can. I know this weight is just some temporary crap from eating all the wrong stuff but I'm trying to turn things around and will be going in a good direction soon.

Just an Update

The reason I hadn't posted an update for Monday morning was for problems with blogspot who hosts my blog. I could not seem to use 'Publish Post' button after I had upgraded to Internet Explorer 9. Sooooo, I downloaded Google Chrome and I can use that to publish posts.

I'm taking off Friday for a 4-day weekend and to just get away from work for a little bit. My boss and her boss are off all next week which will be difficult because of all the things we've been having go on lately but hopefully I'll be able to get a bunch of work done. Fingers crossed. I'm also looking forward to going to see 'The Hangover Part II' this weekend. I really loved the first one and if this one is half as good as the first, it'll be a fun time. I also hope to play some Portal 2 on the PS3 this weekend to make my friend Sam happy who keeps asking me if I've played it. He loves it!

Anyways, I thought I'd let everyone know I haven't fallen off a cliff or anything and actually had a reason for not posting. Thanks for reading guys and we'll talk to ya later!

Monday Morning Weigh-In #44

I've been having some troubles. Work and stress and just an overall crappy mood has been bringing me down. My eating hasn't been horrible but it hasn't really been as good as it can be and my exercise is down. I've been really struggling and I'm right now, to tell the truth, I'm just trying to maintain things. May just has not been a good month for me. This morning I was up 0.8 pounds to bring my 44-week total to 118 lost. I got below my 119 goal and then have just been all around with it. The next time I get there, I will stay there. I'm struggling but I am still really trying. For now though, just keeping my head above water is enough. The train is a little bit off the rails right now but it's going to be better. Tomorrow will be a little bit better than today.

Blood Results...Finally!

My father reminded me yesterday that I had said I would post my results from bloodwork that was done on my trip to the doctor a couple of weeks ago. Well, I'm finally going to put those on here. Honestly, for a fat guy, I'm in pretty decent health. I'm no Olympic athlete or Ironman triathloner or anything but the numbers are good. Well, here go:

Now:
Cholesterol: 139
HDL (good cholesterol): 32
LDL (bad cholesterol): 101
Triglycerides: 61
Blood Glucose: 86

What the Doctors Like to See:
Cholesterol: Under 200 Woo-hoo!
HDL (good cholesterol): 39 and up Still some work to do
LDL (bad cholesterol): 100 or below Almost there!
Triglycerides: Under 150 Dang!
Blood Glucose: Between 70-109 Well within that "Good" range!

The Doctor's office also gave me what my results were almost 4 years ago when I was about 60 pounds lighter than I am now:

Then:
Cholesterol: 116
HDL (good cholesterol): 32
LDL (bad cholesterol): 74
Triglycerides: 42
Blood Glucose: Didn't get this one from last time...it was good though

So, as you can see, I still have some room for improvement and with each pound lost, many of the numbers above can get better. I do still have that pesky high blood pressure which I take medication for but 4 years ago, they took me off of that for a short time...had an 'adverse' reaction to it but hopefully I'll once again be able to get off of that if all goes well.

Overall I was very pleased with what they told me and excited about getting the numbers down even further. I'd really like to get that LDL back to well below 100 again. Go away bad cholesterol! Far, far away!

Monday Morning Weigh-In #43

I had a nice bounce back week from the "horror" of the prior week. I lost 11 of the 13.5 pounds I had gained back. Sooooo, overall I'm at 118.8 pounds lost. It's a pretty good total but things are a tough go right now for some reason. I just don't seem to have the energy going that I did even just a few weeks ago. I'm really struggling with that and just not getting past it quickly. I'm working through it the best way that I can right now. Work has been rough, weight loss has been sketchy...nothing is going very smoothly right now and I'm just feeling it. This too shall pass but things have punched me a few times but with all of you in my corner I'm sure I'll come out of it. Sorry for the boxing analogy but the Rocky movies have been on and I've watched parts of a few...still love those except for Rocky V, which doesn't actually exist.

Much Better Week

It's been a much better week so far. I've still been extremely busy with work but it's just a different kind of busy or stress from the last few weeks. I've been putting in some extra hours here at home to try and get something done early.

My car was making a horrible sound over the past week and it wound up being metal on metal with the brakes on my rear driver-side tire. Kinda crazy. I'm glad to have it fixed though so I don't have to listen to that noise and I'm assured that my car will stop.

I've been exercising and eating well again this week. I'm embarrassed by last week but not killing myself for it. I need to keep a level head and just keep trying to get better. Last week was BAD, but that doesn't mean that this week has to be as well. I'm walking and riding the exercise bike again and soon should be taking out the real bike. Need to get out there on the trails and log some miles on the real bike out in the real sun.

It's been very warm here the last few days...humid as well. I have my fans on but am against turning on the air conditioner right now. I needed to switch my sheets over from the flannel ones too, just too damn hot.

I need to put on my blood test results from two weeks ago. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow night. The results were really good which pleased me alot. Of course, then I spiraled crazily for a week or ten days so I guess there was that. I'm still a work-in-progress and trying to figure stuff out. I feel better now though. Onward and upward!!

Monday Morning Weigh-In #42

Embarrassed. It's the only word I can use to sum up how I feel right now. Embarrassed and ashamed....I guess that's a 2nd word. I totally went off the reservation last week for the WHOLE week. I let stress at work get to me and some disappointment and some depression as well. I didn't really work out all that much or that hard and when that's combined with eating and eating and eating, it's come to the result of this week which is just astounding. I gained 13.5 pounds this week to roll back all my hard work to 107.8 pounds lost.

I need to start digging myself out of this hole starting today. I'm eating my normal breakfast and need to rededicate myself again. I know I sound like a broken record sometimes on this but I wish I was perfect and didn't let things bother me but this week was just rough. I know some of this weight is just water weight and my body holding on to calories I had not been giving it so I'm hoping over the next 2 weeks or so if I buckle down, I can regain my footing and get back on the right track.

Happy Mother's Day!

I'd just like to say Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful mother. I went home yesterday and took her some flowers, some books and took her out to dinner. Mom, you're wonderful and I love you!!!!

Monday Morning Weigh-In #41

It's going to be a short post today. For the first time in awhile, I gained a little weight. The weekend wasn't great but still was not bad and the week was pretty good. Got in my exercise, ate just fine...just one of those weeks. I had had some really good weight loss numbers over the past month and a half or so. I gained 1.5 pounds to bring my total back to 121.3 total pounds lost. A little disheartening but I'm not upset or mad. I don't want this to happen again but I'm not discouraged. Just got to have a better week and try even harder and try to be even better.

Early Thursday Morning

Well everyone, we've finally gotten to the day of the NFL Draft. Huzzah! But first I have to get through my day at work. It's been a stressful week. Just lots of things to do and lots of agent complaints...some of them operator error while others are genuine concerns that Kerri and I have tried to solve as best we can. One of the fixes should have gone in last night which is good news. We have a conference call today about some things in MN that I'm not really looking forward to. It'll go fine but I'm always nervous for that stuff.

I had a doctor's appt earlier this week and then I fasted that night and went in on Tuesday to have some blood drawn for a cholesterol test and things like that. I didn't notice until later last night that the doctor's office called and left me a voicemail that they had my results. Soooooo, I'll be calling them today to get my numbers and let you know how it came out. Last time I had my cholesterol checked it was pretty good, hopefully it'll be the same way this time.

Monday Morning Weigh-In #40

It was a pretty nice week again. I had some nice workouts, exercise bike rides, and walks with a little jogging mixed in. My next goal is 125 lost...I know, it's only 6 pounds from my last goal but every 25 pounds is a little victory. I moved a little closer to that goal with my weigh-in this morning. I lost 2.4 pounds this week to bring my total to 122.8 pounds. A real great weigh-in after some bigger sized loss weeks. I'm just trying to keep steady and keep it going.

Happy Easter and Some Sunday Morning Measurements

First off, Happy Easter to everyone!

Anyways, I was supposed to do some measurements last week but totally forgot. I've been trying to do them every 6 weeks buuuuuut, this will have to be 7 weeks. Soooo, here we go:

Waist: Lost 1 1/2 inches; 17 inches total
Neck: Lost 1/4 inch; 2 1/2 inches total
Chest: Lost 1 1/2 inches; 11 3/4 inches total
Hips: Lost 1 1/2 inches; 14 1/2 inches total
Left Thigh: Lost 1 inch; 6 1/2 inches total
Right Thigh: Lost 1/2 inch; 5 inches total
Left Calf: Lost 1/2 inch; Lost 1 1/2 inches total
Right Calf: Stayed the same; Lost 2 inches total

Those are some pretty good results overall. I've been able to get into some smaller pants and smaller shirts which has been very cool. Just keep on shrinking!

I had to do a bunch of stuff for work this weekend which was kind of a drag but I got some good things done and am ready to hand a project off tomorrow which will be a good feeling. I did make time these last 2 days for some exercise though.

Today, I actually ran! I took the Vibrams out on the Wabash Trail and did a total of 2.08 miles in about 32 minutes which isn't too bad. BUT, of that 2.08 miles, I ran 0.51 of it!! Yep, actually ran! I'm as surprised as y'all!!! Now, my running wasn't a "Continuous" run, it actually came in 3 stretches....0.25, 0.10 and 0.15....but it felt great to accomplish that. Just a little more progress every day is what I need. I've ridden the exercise bike a few times this weekend as well and go into this new week feeling really good and positive.

I think my weight loss for the week might be a little low but after the past few weeks and big losses, that's almost to be expected. I'm trying to keep kicking things up a notch...small notches, but a notch nonetheless...to keep my body adjusting and losing weight. It's been working well so far and will hopefully continue.

A Couple of Days Later

Just laying here right now but done some stuff tonight around the apartment. Need to get this stuff done since I have some work to do tomorrow and Sunday. I have to get a couple of things done for Monday so got to do some work at home. Just gonna be a long weekend but with it raining like it is, should be fine.

So after walking in the Vibrams on Monday, it took until Thursday until my calves felt normal again. Just tight and felt weird. It wasn't really a 'hurt' feeling, just strange. I need to do some more walking in them to get used to them and start to feel normal wearing them.

It's been a long week and going to be a short weekend. I need to get in some exercising this weekend as well. I went through some items in my closet and set a few items up for donation since they are too big now. It feels really good to be moving into smaller clothes and getting things that really fit me correctly. It's a pretty sweet feeling to put on a pair of smaller pants or a smaller shirt. Good times, good times.

Walking in the Vibrams

Tonight, I went out for my first walk in the Vibram Five Fingers shoes. Oh whoops, I don't think I ever mentioned that I had bought a pair on here. Last Wednesday I believe, I picked up a pair of Vibrams..."toe" shoes. These are shoes that have pockets for each of your individual toes and somewhat fit like gloves over your feet. For one thing, they are very comfortable. I had been pretty busy over the last few days of last week and this weekend....it was also pretty cold this weekend. Today I decided I'd walk around the apartments, about a 1.12 mile walk, in them. It is a much different experience than walking in normal shoes but was pretty cool. They work your calves and Achilles quite a bit. My Achilles were a little sore but I felt good after the walk. It should be fun once the weather warms up and I'm able to wear these more for longer walks and things. Needless to say, I'm really enjoying the Vibrams.

Monday Morning Weigh-In #39

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!! If you can't tell by those first two words, my goal for this past week was completed....WOO-HOO!!!! I lost a total of 6 pounds last week to bring my overall total to 120.4 pounds. That means I'm past the 119 pound mark I've been striving to pass. It's such a great feeling and I'm so happy with this. I keep telling myself that now it's just on to the next goal but this is pretty sweet. I'm finally down into another weight bracket that most people wouldn't be too happy to be in but I'm overjoyed at the moment. It's another set of 100 pounds to lose but I love the fact that it's the start of another 100. There is still a long way to go but today is a little day of celebration for me....no extra food for the celebration of course, but a day of feeling proud and excited for the things in front of me but especially for those things behind me.

Been Busy

This week has been pretty busy. Stressful at work, poker on Friday and Trivia last night. Poker didn't go that well.....finished as 'Bubble Boy' in the first game and kinda crappy in the second game. I could never seem to get any run of cards so finishing as well as I did wasn't too bad.

Trivia was fun. It was put on that Chatham Glenwood H.S. to benefit their mock trial team which won Nationals and is going for a bigger competition in Phoenix, AZ. The leader of it was Zane Carmean, my friend Caryn's son. He did a great job and it was a lot of fun. My team wound up winning and for once, we donated our winnings back to the cause. We don't normally do that but it felt right this time since it was for some high school kids and I know what a great kid Zane is. I hope they go and kick some butt! Good luck to them all!

I have some errands to run today and a few things to do. Need to work out a little bit to get to my weight loss goal for the week....I'm sooooooooo close right now. Anyways, I'm enjoying my new Vibram Five Fingers shoes and having a nice weekend.

Detemined to Eclipse a Goal

I'm determined this week to lose more than the 4.6 pounds it'll take to get me to my next goal of 119 total lost. It's very important to me to keep on the straight and narrow this week and not eat too much. I'm not eating any less than normal but I need to kick some butt to get there. Now, I'm not going to be crushed if I don't get there but I'm going to do what I can to be there. I just want to overcome this hurdle so I can move on to the next one.

I haven't totally determined which one my next goal will be. It might be 144 pounds or, an extra 25 pounds. I think that's what it is going to be and I'm going to start tackling things at some 25-pound increments. I'm keeping pace with my New Year's Resolution to lose 100 pounds in 2011 and that's a strong positive feeling for me. I just need to keep it up and keep on chugging along. I'm fighting hard and feeling good.

Monday Morning Weigh-In #38

I figured that after last week I would wind up a little bit above my last weigh-in. NOPE! Okay, okay, my weight loss wasn't all that impressive but it was 0.4 pounds to bring my total lost to 114.4. It's not alot but it's something! I still ate pretty well last week even though I couldn't work out. I'm totally happy though with being down even a little bit. Every little bit helps and every little bit counts towards the total. It's time to start a new week and I'm hoping to make it a good one.

Last Few Days

First of all, my back has gotten back to normal which is very good. It took a few days but by Friday all was pretty good with it and I've been riding the exercise bike again. I think I'll about flatline for the week on the weigh-in tomorrow or be up a little bit but that's okay. I just wasn't able to work out enough last week and my body just seemed to go into a recuperation mode with the back problems.

Second, the weather has been fabulous! We're supposed to get some severe storms tonight but we'll see how that goes. On Saturday night I made 2 lean pork loin chops out on my little charcoal grill. They were really good. Paired them up with some steamed asparagus and some cottage cheese with cut up strawberries. It was a really good dinner.

Third, I have to give a speech on Tuesday at Toastmasters. I know what I'm giving it on but I don't know if it'll really be any good. It's kinda goofy but we'll see. I read a whole book this weekend which hasn't happened in awhile. The book was "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis. It was all about the subprime mortgage crisis and was very interesting. I highly recommend it if you want to read about it and not be too confused. It is somewhat confusing at times but well worth the time.

Overall, the last few days have been pretty good. Fans going, windows open...just some nice weather. Also, the Masters was pretty awesome. I suck at golf..the few times I've tried to play...but I enjoy watching a few tournaments on tv and that's one of them. Lots of players in it until the end and just a bunch of fun to watch.

Well, I hope the last few have been good for you all and that the next week goes even better. I'm hopeful for a good week and making this into a really great April.

Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!

Starting on Monday, my back betrayed me. I began to feel a twinge in the late morning and by Monday night I was in some pain. I stayed home from work on Tuesday and kept using a heating pad while trying to loosen the whole thing up. I went to work today and it's feeling alright now...still not great, but alright....but I haven't been able to work out. I haven't been able to even walk or ride my exercise bike the last couple of days. I'm going to get back to it tomorrow though, I think I'll be good to go by then.

Anyways, on Monday I had my friend Alison take a pic of me to post on here. Now, these pics aren't exactly with the same type of clothes or vantage point or anything but I thought I'd put up a photo from April 4 this year and I believe a couple from April 3 last year.

Here is the older one:


Here is the newer one:


Soooooooooo......can you see any difference??? Let me know.....

Monday Morning Weigh-In #37

This week was truly good to me. I worked out hard, ate well and took really good care of myself. The scale was also very, very good to me. I lost another 8.2 pounds this week to bring my overall total to 114.0 pounds. I'm really humming along right now and just trying to do the best I can each and every day. It's not always easy but I'm working hard at it and I feel really good. It's been a good couple of weeks after a bad couple of weeks and for that I really am grateful.

Blog Post #200

Woo-hoo, this is blog post #200!!! I don't post everyday anymore but getting to two hundred posts is pretty important for me. It means that I've kept all of this up. I've had my slow periods and my "not-so-great" periods but on the whole, these 200 blog posts have been an extremely important tool for me. It's kept me accountable to all of you but also to myself. I've been complacent at times, I haven't had a bunch to say at times but it's always on my mind, as is staying active so I actually have something to report.

Today was just beautiful outside. It got up over 80 even with a little bit of wind. I did 2 laps around the apartments in the area which was a total of 2.35 miles and tonight did some time on the exercise bike. I got to 9.31 miles in 3o minutes on it which is a pretty good pace to keep up. I've had a really good weekend and think my weigh-in tomorrow should be pretty good. I love the warm weather and the possibilities it holds for me.

Soooooo Nice....Uh-Oh!

The weather is extremely nice out there today. We're already near 70 this morning but we're supposed to be in the path of some bad storms tonight. Well, that doesn't matter right now! I'm actually sitting here wearing some cargo shorts and contemplating going outside and doing something, anything, before the weather starts up. I went to the store to finish off some grocery shopping and ran into my friend Stephanie. It was nice to talk to her for a few minutes.

I made a pizza yesterday. Now, it wasn't a frozen pizza or ordering a pizza or anything like that. I bought some personal-sized thin pizza crusts and some lower cal fixins. I used this crust with a little pizza sauce, some thin fresh mozzarella slices, one circle of Canadian bacon cut up, some cut up mushrooms and one slice of diced up provolone cheese. Bake for about 10 minutes and holy crap was it yummy! This might be able to be a nice stand in for me ordering a pizza every once in awhile and be a much smaller, healthier option for me. It's actually pretty exciting to me that it came out so well and I enjoyed it so much.

This is blog post #199 so that means the next one will be #200 which is kinda cool. I figure I'll wind up doing another post tonight so that a "weigh-in" post is that #200. I actually planned on doing this post last night but it just slipped my mind. Things are going really well though and it's a very good time for me.

How Is It Only Wednesday?

This week has been going by pretty slowly. I'm not saying I'm having a bad week but jeez, just been a long week already. This week has actually been good. I've been working out doing things daily and keeping good track of it all. The stairs at work have seen me every day this week so far....5 flights doesn't seem like a whole lot but it's quite a haul up them at my size. BUT, I get up them. I need to do them every day and it will become easier.

I've been walking every day at either lunch or after work at Gold's. The exercise bike has also seen my butt alot here lately. I've been getting up out of bed in the morning and climbing on there for 30 minutes while watching 'Mike & Mike In The Morning'. I've also been riding the bike at night after dinner some nights and I feel pretty good after it. I'm feeling really re-charged right now and things are moving very smoothly.

I'm taking things day by day right now and working extra hard to not get ahead of myself and look ahead and be disappointed by the "Now" when it's not matching up to my "Dream Future" or whatever you'd want to call it. Something like that seems like it really should be extremely easy to do but for me is difficult. I want what I want and I want it now. I keep reminding myself that Rome wasn't built in a day, the Taj Mahal took awhile, I didn't put all this weight on in one day, it isn't going to all come off in one day. The more I'm able to buy into that and realize that it is the whole truth, the smoother things will continue to progress.

Monday Morning Weigh-In #36

Well, I'm back on track baby! I dragged my weary butt out of bed this morning and stepped on the scale feeling pretty good. I stepped off of it feeling pretty great. I lost 6.8 pounds this week to bring me to a total weight loss of 105.8. A good combo of diet/nutrition, walking and riding my exercise bike has added up to this. Feels good to pass the 100-pound mark again. I'm going to work my butt off to keep it there too instead of falling back like last time. I'm here to stay above that mark this time and feeling really wonderful.

My Day With Lauren

Today I got to spend time with one of the cutest 4+ year olds I know. Yep, that's right, Lauren came over today. I had a Fantasy Baseball Draft this morning and then her mom dropped her off. She was going to busy spraying primer on drywall all day so they needed someone to watch Lauren. She and I had a good time. During the day, we watched Toy Story 2 and 3, went to a park to play, she played with Barbies, we ate some grapes and then went to McDs for her to play in the PlayLand. It was a very good day and we both had fun.

I'll have to see what tomorrow morning's weigh-in holds. I've done really well this week and have felt extremely good. I think it'll really show tomorrow but I'm going to be continuing all the goodness into next week.

Rooting For Some Bulldogs

Well, Duke lost on Thursday night and I'm finally over it. Actually I was over it on Friday since Arizona so thoroughly kicked their butts. Anyways, I am now throwing my support behind Butler. I basically hate all the other teams left and hated Florida too who Butler beat today. I would have been rooting for the Bulldogs last year if it had not been Duke they were playing.

Rode the bike tonight and totally picked up the pace. I did 13.07 miles in 45 minutes which is around a 3:27/mile. That's not too bad for me. I've had a really good week so I'm hoping that my weigh-in on Monday goes well. I'm back on a good track but not taking anything for granted. Just feeling really good and wore some smaller size jeans today which was nice. I am pretty tired tonight so I'm hoping I sleep well.

Sweet Sixteen Tonight

It's been a nice week so far. I've been walking downtown and at Golds, I've been riding my exercise bike and feeling good. Tonight, Duke plays Arizona in the Sweet Sixteen. I've very excited for it and ready to watch. It also means it's been almost a year since Jason and I went to the Final Four in Indy. No matter what, I'm going to take a new picture next weekend of just me and post that one that compared to a pic last year at the FF. I screwed up and didn't really take any pics of myself when I started this so these and Disney photos which are from March last year as well are the closest photos I have to last July. Judging from the Disney/FF photos though, I'm not sure I'd want to see any photos from when I started since I was probably about 20 pounds heavier at that point.

Anyways, I had a nice breakfast this morning. I had 2 hardboiled eggs(yolks removed), a banana and some oatmeal. I've been making the oatmeal from the Quaker Oats cardboard tube, not the instant package kind for awhile. Most mornings I have it, I just add some raisins and some sugar-free syrup. This morning I added probably half a tablespoon of peanut butter, some sliced almonds and just a little bit of agave syrup. It was extremely tasty. I bought a couple small packages of some different types of nuts to add to the oatmeal to make it a little tastier and just add some different flavors into it. I highly recommend it if you're looking for something to stick to your ribs on a cold morning.

Warmer Weather

For about the last 5 or 6 days, we've had much warmer temperatures here. Usually around the 60s to 70s all day long and tomorrow they'll be leaving us for some 40 degree days again. It kinda sucks. I've been enjoying having the windows open most of the evening and not having to use a coat. I know Spring is technically here but it would be nice if it would stick around. I like walking around downtown at lunch and having the sunroof open on the car. Well, I guess it gives us all something to look forward to in a few weeks when the temps will really turn around and we can be in Spring for good. I'm really looking forward to that.

A Few Moments....A Few Truths

The past couple of weeks have been difficult for me. I thought I could really handle eating a little bit more for a few days to put on a couple of pounds for the beginning of this "Biggest Winners" contest at Horace Mann. Boy, I was wrong! I had been behaving myself soooooo well for such a long time that cracking the door a little bit turned out to be an extremely dangerous thing.

For one week, I ate a little bit more than normal but still kept things pretty much under control. I felt bad from eating that extra food but I could live with it. That's a lie....it made me feel horrible. I would come home and lay down and do really nothing. My stomach was always kinda messed up, I couldn't sleep very well although I was always tired. BUT...I JUST KEPT DOING IT!!

Then I found out the weigh-in for this contest was at the end of last week, not the beginning and I came on here and basically said, "I'm not doing anything bad anymore, things are A-OK!" Too bad my fingers typed that but my brain didn't react that way. That night I stopped at Little Caesar's and got a pizza and some Italian Cheese Bread...and ate all of it that night. Tuesday night I got some McDonald's, Wednesday night I got Taco Bell. Thursday night I just picked up some miscellaneous stuff from the grocery store. Also, on Tuesday for lunch we had pizza provided by Horace Mann. This also doesn't do justice to all the miscellaneous extra things I was eating at home at night.

Soooooooo, in one week, I had pizza multiple times, fast food multiple times and some other assorted junk. I did find out a couple of things about my reactions to all of this junk food....
1) McDonald's is NOWHERE near as good as I remember...the fries just were bad to me;
2) Pizza can still a problem; and
3) Taco Bell was still delicious but my gastrointestinal processes suffer greatly.

One part of my brain kept telling me that doing all of this was wrong and I KNEW it was wrong to be eating it. The problem was that for those two weeks, I just didn't care. It made me feel horrible and depressed and like a loser and just alone. I didn't come on here because I didn't have much to say and I was ashamed of what I was doing.

There I was on Friday morning weighing in for this contest and when I saw that I had gained back about another 6 pounds from all of this junk...I just wanted to cry. Yep, I wanted to cry because here I was, not treating myself well, not loving myself enough to do the right thing, not being strong enough to say 'NO' to myself no matter how bad I felt. It's the lowest point I've been at since before I started this journey.

Whenever I've lost weight before, this was about the time that I would quit. I would quit on the plan, quit on all the goodness, quit on myself. I don't know why that switch flips and it's something I need to deal with and will probably be dealing with the rest of my life but that switch started to go....was about halfway to off and more 60%-40% in the wrong direction.

But standing there on the scale and getting off and eating breakfast on Friday morning, I realized I couldn't quit. I couldn't let go this time. I've come too far, done too much and just wanted it too much to just let it slip away. Not this time. There are bumps in any road worth taking and this was a big one for me. But that's all it was/is, whatever.....an f'in bump. I like how I'm looking, I like how I feel, I like being happier and having a smile on my face. I like not feeling like a failure, I like not crawling into a shell and hiding myself from the world. I like holding my head up high and being proud of the person I am and what I've done. I love myself and respect myself enough to carry on and keep an eye on the future while still keeping an eye on my past and watching out for pitfalls that have befallen me in the past.

I've quit on myself before....I'm not going to do it again. History does not have to repeat itself. I'm stronger and more reselient than I have been before and this will help me into the future. This is MY life and I'm finally really ready for it to be better. These are MY moments, these are MY truths.

Monday Morning Weigh-In #35

Okay, so I haven't had a lot of posts over the last two weeks. The best way to put it is that your author lost his ever-lovin' mind!!! I'll talk more about it tonight but even though I "decided" not to eat more in preparation for this 'Biggest Winners' contest at work...that's EXACTLY what I did. Over the past two weeks, with last week being worse than the week before, I indulged in many things. It's taught me a few things though and I'm thankful for that and in some ways happy this kinda happened. There will be some more posts from now on, I think I have some stuff to talk about.

Anyways, just by eating better over the weekend and keeping active with running errands and things, I wound up down 1 pound for the week to put my total weight loss back at 99.0 pounds. I know I've backslid a little bit but, ya know, that's going to happen from time to time to anyone. I wasn't happy about some stuff that I did but I think I'm better off for it and all I can do now is go onward and upward.

Monday Morning Weigh-In #34

Okay, I gained a couple more pounds but that's all about to stop. I gained 3 pounds to put me back at 98 lost total. I'm ready for this competition and am ready to do the best I can. I don't know if it was the best idea in the world to do this this way but it was the path I chose. I will be overcoming it and I'm going to do great things through this competition. It's 2 1/2 months long and I swear in those 10 weeks, I'm losing at least 35 pounds. Mark it down!

Putting on a Few...Let's Not Overreact

Last week I put on a few pounds and this week I'm going to wind up a few pounds up as well. Last week was just kinda bad while this week it's a little bit of ploy for a contest. I've joined a 'Biggest Winners' team at work...yes, they use Winners instead of Losers for the contest. We weigh in on the 15th and I'll be kicking some butt after that again. I spent a couple of days this week with some back trouble from helping my brother move on Sunday. My lower back just tightened up and I wasn't moving around very well which kept me down. I'm not blaming anything or anyone but myself and I feel like I know what I'm doing at this point.

Soooo, on Monday, lets not overreact to whatever numbers come up. I'm actually hoping to put on a little bit just for the sake of the contest and then lose it all right away again. I'm gonna be kicking some butt again here soon. I'm putting together a workout plan for myself and Gold's is gonna be seeing alot of me. It's also starting to warm up a little and I want to get the bike out and see how it goes there. I'm still excited for things and looking forward to some good months ahead.

Also, good memories...it was a year ago today that Jeremy, Kim and I took off for DisneyWorld. What a wonderful time and a wonderful trip. I wish I could do it now at this weight but we had a lot of fun and I thank them for letting me go along. I don't really think I'm going to have a "travel" vacation this year but that's alright. Maybe do something next year and be even more fit for it.

Monday Morning Weigh-In #33

Well, back to reality and a little bit of extra weight. Had a rough eating week and didn't work out like I wanted to. It seemed like I was up the whole week after Monday so some of that weight loss was a bit of an illusion. I gained 4.6 pounds back this week to put my total weight loss still at 101.0 pounds. I've still lost over a hundred although I am a little disappointed by what happened. It's all easily correctable and I know I'll be back on the right track with this week.

I did take today off from work but tomorrow it's back to work and gym. I need a new picture for the profile on here but I was in a pic last week from when a group of us went to Red Lobster. It was Goutham's last week and we took him out. He's the 3rd in from the right in the back row. Good luck in San Francisco Goutham! I hope everyone is okay with me posting it on here.

So, am I looking any better?

Busy Weekend

I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I have not posted much this week. Well, I haven't actually posted at all. It was just a very weird week with weather, an All Employee meeting at work, a going-away lunch and a nice lunch with my boss and our Texas Regional Vice President. And that was just during the week!

This weekend, I did quite a few things for me. On Friday night we had our monthly poker game. I didn't do well in the first game but got 2nd in the second game and came home with an extra $20. On Saturday night, I went to dinner with Kari, Jeremy, Kim, Gayle and Teresa at Olive Garden and then we went to a trivia night at Southeast High School and guess what we did?? We won of course! That's how me and my team roll!!!

Then came Sunday. I normally don't do much and/or travel alot on Sundays. Well, today I went to Peoria and helped my brother and his fiancee move into a new house. It really wasn't that bad...or at least not as bad as the last time I helped him move and suffered through the Storage Locker From Hell. We had lots of help from Amie's brothers and her folks and it went very quick. Their new house is very nice as well and will hopefully serve them very well.

Now......I'm tired and sore!!!! I really want to sleep well tonight. I'm taking the day off of work tomorrow so that will be good. I'm not optimistic about the weigh-in tomorrow as I wound up eating out quite a few times this week and didn't work out very hard. We'll just have to see how it goes.

Monday Morning Weigh-In #32

Here we are again at a Monday and a weigh-in. They seem to be coming fast and furious now. This past week was a really good week eating and going back to the gym. For the past couple of weeks I've been languishing and actually gaining back a couple of pounds and sticking around 95 pounds lost. It's been frustrating but spurred me on to really work hard this past week.

Well, anyways, for this week I surpassed a pretty HUGE milestone for me and I BLEW past it!!!!!!!!! I didn't just get to 100 pounds lost....I got to 105.6 pounds lost which was 10.8 pounds last week. WOO-HOO!!!!!! It was very exciting getting on the scale this morning. It's a huge milestone to get to and I'm really glad to finally be past it and moving on to my next goal of more than 119 pounds lost. So, hopefully I can get there in the next month or so and just keep moving onward and upward.

Saturday...Celebrate..

I guess it's just Saturday. Not really any thing to celebrate for me but if you all have something celebrate....get down with your bad self! Anyways, today was a nice day spent at home. I finished up a few things I needed to do around here and then rode my exercise bike for the first time in a little while. It's probably the first time in 4 weeks or so since I've gone to the gym and was a little lax with my exercising before that.

Riding the bike went really well though as I got to 13.04 miles in 45 minutes and could've kept going if I had wanted to. I was very happy with that outcome though and can tell that going to the gym has really helped me out. I didn't go to the gym on Friday like I had planned because the tendon or ligament behind each of my knees was....what's the word I'm looking for??? Hurtlikeamotherf'er! That'll work. I could walk just fine after the first few steps but getting up from being seated and then those first 4 or 5 steps was pretty awful. So instead of pushing my luck and possibly hurting myself more, thought that taking it easy was a good move.

I'm watching Duke play Virginia Tech right now. Go DUKE!!!

Whole Wheat...Whole Lotta Goodness

I had pasta for dinner tonight. I have pasta every Wednesday night....that's why I call Wednesday night "Pasta Night". I know with the carbs pasta isn't the best thing but in moderation it's not bad and I only have the one night a week. I really look forward to dinner on Wednesday because truth be told, I could probably eat pasta 3 or more nights a week. Hard to believe, I know! But it's true, I've seen me do it!

Anyways, tonight, the switch was totally made. I changed over to Whole Wheat Spaghetti. I had made a change to Whole Wheat (insert other pasta name here)s about 3 weeks ago but this was the first time for actual spaghetti. And let me tell you, it was delicious! I think I had tried it once before but not really given it a fair shot. This time though, I'm all in and I'm glad I've done it.

Last night I had a salmon fillet and it was pretty delicous too. The eating has been really great this week to go along with the increased exercising so I'm really hoping for a good weight loss number this week. I'm happier though and have been in a better mood so all the good stuff is working itself on that as well.

Sore and Tired...But Feeling Good

I went to the gym after work today and did some treadmill work and some various weight machines. I'm still unsure with some of them so I'm a little leery to use them but I need to get past that. After work there are a lot of serious lifting guys there which kinda gets to me but after a little while I'll be alright. I just need to work at my pace and do everything I can and keep gaining strength and muscle and confidence. While the other two items I need, the last one is what I really need to develop more of. I feel WAY more confident than I did last July but I just need to let go of some hangups. I'm getting there though and I'm feeling more and more proud by the day now. I'm not going to say that I'm 100% out of the rut I was in but things are definitely pointed in the right direction again. I am a little sore and a little tired but it's a damn good sore and tired feeling.

Felt Better About My Day

After the disappointment of yesterday morning's weigh-in, I knew I had to do something. Well, I went to the gym and worked out to feel better about myself. And you know what???? It worked!!! I went and did the treadmill and then did some lifting and some legwork. Nothing major but just getting some muscles engaged again and easing into things. I'm going back again tonight after work and plan on keeping this going. For this week, I'm just going to do some things and not have too much of a plan but then I'm going to formulate what I'm going to really do. I know my mind will be working on it this week as I go and that's okay because I'll just be preparing even better.

For the last couple of weeks I also haven't been making up my meal "menu" for the week. I've been doing something where I write down in advance my meals and snacks for the week. I'm not sure why but I haven't done that for a couple of weeks. I think it helps me mentally though to have an idea of how my week is going to unfold. Little things like this start to add up and my mood is better this morning than it was yesterday morning and I'm ready for my day.

Monday Morning Weigh-In #31

Alright, I'm officially in a rut. After the excitement of a couple weeks ago as I got near 100 pounds lost, the wheels have fallen off. This week I gained 2.4 pounds to put my total weight loss back to 94.8. (Sigh).

Over the last 2 weeks I haven't been working as hard. I haven't been eating as well. I haven't been as vigilant about doing the "right things". I know what these things are and I'm supremely disappointed in myself. The fight is still ongoing but I feel like I've been punching myself. I don't know why I'm doing that though. I haven't felt the best, I've been stressed with work, etc. These are all excuses I'm making for myself and I have to get passed those and rededicate myself to doing the right things and exercising again.

I'm disappointed this morning but I'm looking to turn it around and use it to fuel me in the right direction. I hate feeling like this and now I'm about 8 pounds off where I wanted to be at this point in 2011. I need to work to make that up. I just need to make that up.

Hooker Boots

Today I went to see some 1st and 2nd graders play some basketball. Saw my little buddy Ryan play. He didn't make any baskets but he played some good defense and was totally trash-talking his opponent and telling him he wasn't going to get the ball. It was pretty sweet!

Ryan is my friend Kari's little boy. Ryan has a younger sister Lauren. Unlike the other little girls that were playing in the back as the boys played their game, she was not wearing tennis shoes. She said she couldn't find them but I asked her what she was wearing....she had on black knee-high boots...she said she was wearing her "hooker boots". I'm not exactly sure who taught her this but she doesn't really know what she's saying but it is really funny.

After that, we went out to the house they are building to look through it since it actually looks like a real house now. It's looking pretty good although it's muddy as all get-out out there.

Other than that, it was a pretty boring day although the weather has still been pretty great. I'm looking forward to having Monday off for President's Day but not my weigh-in. It was a stressful week and I ate a few things I shouldn't have so I think I'm going to be up from last week. I NEED to get to 100 lost but I just keep shooting myself in the foot. I need to rededicate myself to this endeavor and tighten this crap up. I need to do my exercising and I need to do better again with my eating.

Warm Days

It's been sort of a slow week. I wasn't feeling the best at the beginning of the week so that has thrown me off and had some stress with work but nothing too bad. It's just been a long week and I'm ready for it to be over so we can get to a 3-day weekend. I haven't been having the world's best eating week either so I'm not feeling too great about the weigh-in on Monday. There are still a few days left before it but I'm getting the feeling it isn't going to be my best week. I'm struggling but not giving up at all.

Today was pretty good though. There has been some great weather the last few days with temps being in the low to mid 60s. For mid-February, that's pretty sweet. This afternoon I went for a walk with Kari and Jeremy around downtown. It was pretty windy but it was really nice out. We walked all over and I found out that my socks were not good for what I was wearing....just another thing I have to remember.

Monday Morning Weigh-In #30

Sigh....quite disappointed in myself but not surprised. I had a bad weekend eating this past weekend. It's not that I ate a lot of bad things but I just ate a little more on some things than I should have. The whole week just had a weird feeling to it for me but I can't blame anything other than my own mind. For some reason, when I really want something and I WANTED to get to 100 pounds lost this week, I somewhat sabotage myself. Please don't be worried that I'm "giving up" or antyhing like that, just had a bad week overall and need to be soooooo much better than this.

This week I gained 0.4 pounds to change my total weight lost to 97.2 pounds. Now, I have 2.8 to lose to get to 100. I'm still going to get there and I'm going to get there soon but it's just been pushed back another week. I'm disappointed but will forge on and continue to build on my successes rather than my failures.

My Team Is Smarter Than Your Team

There hasn't been alot going on this week which would explain the lack of posts. Last night though I took part in a Crime Stoppers Trivia Night with parts of my trivia team. Gayle, Teresa, Jeremy, Kim and myself took 2nd place. It was a spirited competition that a team from the Springfield Journal Register won for the second straight year. They were pretty impressive with 89 out of 100 and we finished with 84. We only had 5 members to their 10 so we kicked some butt too. My teammates really carried me though because I did not perform well until the last couple of rounds with Sports and Movie Quotes. Other than that, I didn't do very well.

I went to Gold's Gym two times this week and did some cardio work. Some light jogging and elliptical work. It was good and just sort of working my way up and going further and further. Doing what I can right now and over time I'll get stronger and better...which I guess is the whole idea of fitness. Hmmmmm....well I'll be, I may have stumbled on to something here.

What Night Is This?

I'm not sure why I keep thinking it's Wednesday. I kinda wish it was though since we'd be closer to the weekend. I went to the gym last night after work and am planning to go tomorrow as well. Just did some walking/jogging on the treadmill and a little bit of time on a "Natural Runner" machine. Trying to work my way up though and doing the best I can. I can't jog much right now but I guess you have to start somewhere. I'll get stronger, I know.

I'm really hoping to get to that 100 pounds lost this week. It would be really nice to get to that point. It's very exciting and will put me at losing 2/3 of a Dan. My friend Dan....hmmmmm, "friend"...okay, I'll go with that..haha....weighs 150 pounds so you can see where i'd have lost 2/3 of a Dan if I get to 100 pounds lost.

Monday Morning Weigh-In #29

Ever so close....on 2 things. The first was in last night's Super Bowl and winning my pool but you've heard me whine and moan about that enough. The second is closing in on 100 pounds lost. I'm getting there and although I'm still a little short, I'm getting closer and closer. I weighed in this morning with a weight loss of 3.4 pounds for the week to bring my 29-week total to 97.6 pounds. Only 2.4 pounds away from making that next huge goal.

Things are going really well though even though the last couple weeks have been frustrating because I haven't been feeling very well. I've felt pretty good this weekend although sleep did not come as easily as it has most of the week. I'm excited for this week and the possiblity of hitting 100 lost. I won't be "disappointed" if I don't hit it...but it would be REALLY nice to get that part in the rearview and being able to move on.

Super Bowl Sunday - Late

Dangit! I came THIS close! I really needed the Steelers to fail on their 2-pt conversion at the end and that last Green Bay FG to have not happened. I came close at least to winning the pool I was in. I really didn't think anyone would pick more points than I did but someone did and congratulations to them on winning. Oh well, it was fun having the shot at it. Would've been nice to win that money though. Now I just need to hope for a good weigh-in tomorrow morning to lift my spirits.

Super Bowl Sunday - Early

Well, I got the email and this is what I need to win some cash: I need the Packers to win and the combined point total of the two teams to be 49-51 points. I had picked 51 and get some tiebreakers for underneath me but someone picked 52 so they have everything above me. Let's all hope this comes through for me. Once again, GO PACKERS & 49-51 POINTS!!!

It's Been A Little While

I'm sure you've noticed that I haven't posted for a few days. I guess I should've posted on Wednesday since we did have the day off of work because of snow. We wound up with 11-12" of snow/ice. Made for quite a mess. I even shoveled a little bit to make a path to my car. It was cold and windy and snowy and messy.

Towards the end of Wednesday I started not feeling too well and wound up staying home from work on Thursday. Just felt like I'd been hit by a truck and extremely wiped out. Slept for quite a bit that day and just tried to rest. I did get a little mad that one of the guys plowing our parking lot pushed a bunch of snow back and destroyed the path to my car through the snow...dangit!

Felt better on Friday and went to work. I didn't feel great most of the day but as the day went on I did feel a little bit better. We had poker Friday night and I'm glad to say I wound up winning our 2nd game and our league pot so I came home with some extra cash. Pretty exciting since that was my first win since October 2009.

Saturday has been okay. Got my laundry done, got some groceries, went to the bank, etc. Just normal stuff. I'm feeling okay right now but I was feeling good at the beginning of the week so I'm not 100% that I'm fine from whatever crap it is that I have.

I'll have a post tomorrow about the Super Bowl and my chance to win some cash. There are tiebreakers that will come into play that I'll know more about tomorrow but I'll also say, Go Packers!

Ummmmm.....I Think It's Snowing

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have Snowmageddon 2011!!! We got some ice last night and this afternoon it really began snowing pretty hardcore. We're supposed to get anywhere from 15-21" and probably have had about 7" so far so much more is on the way. And let me tell ya, there already seems like a LOT of snow out there. Work let out early at 2:00 but I had gotten permission from my boss to leave at 1:00. The roads were crap and I'm sure only got worse. Just have to see if work is open tomorrow since we're getting more snow, ice, snow and wind. Yes, I know I mentioned snow twice. Let's just hope the electicity holds out and I don't lose that. Dang, that would be pretty freakin cold.

Monday Morning Weigh-In #28

Son of a Biscuit!!!!! Here we go again! Well, I'm up a pound to put my total at 94.2 lost. I'm really not all that angry, just kind of frustrated. I was feeling a little sick and a LOT tired all week which played a part in this since I really wasn't able to ride the bike. I'm feeling quite a bit better after the weekend so hopefully I can get back on track. Going to work hard towards a good week this week and crawl my way to 100 pounds lost.

I'd also like to send out a HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to my friend Jason. I saw his note this morning that he has surpassed his weight loss mark....and not just barely, by 1.6 pounds!!!! Congratulations man! You're a huge inspiration to me and I'm proud to call you my friend and am sooooo overjoyed at your success! It's just a wonderful thing and am so happy for you, Sarah and the girls. Congratulations and keep up the wonderful work!!!!!!

Feeling Kinda Sick

This has been a strange week. I've been very low-energy all week and I don't know why. I went to bed really early last night and got some sleep but have still felt very low-energy today. This morning I especially felt pretty bad. I really did feel like I was coming down with something but as the day has gone along I've felt better. Getting sick would not be good for me right now.

I'm not sure how my weight loss is gonna go for this week. I've been up over my Monday weight all week it seems and I'm just not feeling great about it. Monday will be interesting but I'm hoping for a good day tomorrow. I've been frustrated all week by the lack of energy and just everything that has gone along with it. I'm doing my best but I'm not sure if that'll be good enough this week.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my dad's birhtday! Happy Birthday Dad! I'm proud to be your son and I know I'm not always the best son but you're a great dad and I love ya!

Sorry I haven't posted much this week, I haven't had much to say and I've been kind of tired. I don't know why I've been tired, but I've been going to bed a little earlier this week. I guess my body is just telling me that I need some more sleep. It's just been a long week and I'm ready for it to be over.

Anyways, Happy Birthday Dad!!!!

Monday Morning Weigh-In #27

Last Monday was a holiday and started out with a shock of a 2.8 pound gain. I thought that was a little strange because of the type of week I had had. Well, after a strong week of eating, lifting some and riding the exercise bike, this Monday was a lot better....a LOT better.

With my weigh-in this morning, I lost a total of 7.2 pounds!! So, in addition to the 2.8 pounds I had "gained"....I still have my questions about that and think it was more circumstantial than actual.....I lost another 4.4 pounds on top of that. That amount bring my total weight loss to 95.2 pounds. I'm inching closer and closer to 100 pounds lost which will be a HUGE milestone and will hopefully be coming in the next 2 weeks or so. Sooooo, along with the measurements from yesterday, this week has gotten off to a great beginning!

Sunday Morning Measurements - Week #27

I've needed to be more vigilant about taking my measurements every 3 weeks to make sure I'm still making some progress. I know I am though by my weight but also by how my clothes fit. My wardrobe is evolving little by little as I'm able to wear more things. More options are available to me since I don't start to sweat the moment I begin to move. That was always a HUGE hindrance when thinking about wearing anything long-sleeved or heavy. It's a good feeling to not always have little beads of sweat on your forehead as you stand in line at the store or do just about anything.

Anyways, here we go:

Waist: Lost 2 1/2 inches; 14 1/2 inches total
Neck: Lost 1/2 inch; 2 1/4 inches total
Chest: Lost 1 1/4 inches; 10 1/4 inches total
Hips: Lost 2 inches; 13 inches total
Left Thigh: Lost 1 inch; 5 1/2 inches total
Right Thigh: Lost 1/2 inch; 4 1/2 inches total
Left Calf: Gained 1 inch; Lost 1 inch total
Right Calf: Stayed the same; Lost 2 inches total

I know I gained on my left calf but I'm very happy with how both the right and left are looking. Pedalling that bike really starts to put a little bit of definition in them so I'm not worried about that. The first numbers are my 3-week losses so the month of January has treated me well. I've worked very hard for those numbers and am extremely pleased especially with the waist, chest, hips and thighs. Losing from around my neck is always slow going as I have lots and lots of chins but I'd like to think I've maybe lost one of them by now and only have 3 or 4 left. HAHA!

I've gotten a few really great comments over the last few days, especially from some people I didn't really expect to say anything at poker. Thanks for the compliments guys if you do ever read this, it does mean alot and I'm keeping on fighting the good fight.

By the way, I really need the Steelers to win to have a shot at a playoff pool I'm in that's worth $1000 if I win. Go Steelers!!!

A New Year of Poker

Had our first poker night of the year last night. Luckily I finished 2nd in the first game which was better than I finished in ANY game last year. For the first time since 2009, I came home from poker with more money than when I left. It's about dang time!

Today though was a pretty good day. Did some laundry, got groceries...just a normal Saturday. I was pretty tired all day though which is what made my time on the bike so strange. From the moment I started I was just kicking some butt. I complained earlier in the week about not topping my personal record of 12.46 miles. Well, I made it to 12.91 miles today. Just a little shy of 13 miles which is pretty impressive for me. I was very happy with that result even though I was trying hard to get to 13 miles at the end there. Glad that I seem to be able to improve my general health. I feel that I'm making some excellent progress.

Tomorrow I have to take measurements in the morning and I really hope they turn out well. I think my weigh-in will be good on Monday as well. Hopefully this is the beginning of a real good weekend.

Work Stinks Sometimes

Today was a difficult day for me to not overeat because I was soooooo stressed at work. It wasn't from anything that someone else did, I've been working on a project and thought I had it done except updating it for use now. Well, the data has not cooperated with me and has blown alot of my assumptions out of the water. I went over and over and over all the calculations and it all seems to be working. I'll be going over them again tomorrow but for about 4 hours today I was absolutely frantic. Well, that's pretty boring for most people so I'll move on.

As I said it was hard for me to not overeat because that's what I would have done in the past but I'm proud to say I did not do that today. I did eat a chocolate chip cookie from Subway because I walked there to get a sandwich but I stayed in control. I even rode 12.34 miles on my exercise bike in 45 minutes after I got home. I would have gotten even further but my calves started to cramp at about the 2:00 minute left mark so that slowed me down. I'm happy with the distance I went but upset I couldn't get about another 1/4 mile or so out of the ride. It'll all work out though and I'll be even stronger this weekend.

It's That Time of Year Again....Seriously??!!!

Well, the order forms have started to go around. I saw the first two today. Soon, the boxes will be everywhere and smell will be around. The pull, the tug, the siren call around every turn, every corner. Yep, those dang Girl Scouts and their delicious cookies. Those little girls turn into little devils every year! HAHA!

Now, you might say, "Brad, just don't order any." Well, I wish it was that easy. I probably will order some....1 box of Caramel Dee-Lites(or Samoas) and 1 box of Lemonades. I plan to leave these cookies at work and to make them last. Those of you that I work with and see every day, I ask of you to check on this with me to make sure that I am holding firm on this plan. If I go to totally eliminate them, I will only want them more. I know it will only make me crave them more if I have none and that can lead to overeating and all sorts of bad things...I know, I've seen me do it!!! This is not a diet and about deprivation, this is about learning to live and operate like a "normal" person and be able to set boundaries and stay within them. I know I can do this and I cannot fail. I've come too far to fall back now.

Also, I think my weight gain from yesterday and last week may have been some water-weight and other things because my weight is down quite a bit today from yesterday. No matter what though, I'm not going to be discouraged and am charging towards goals and will continue to do so.

Monday Morning Weigh-In #26

Well dangit! This morning was a bit of a downer as far as weigh-ins go. I'm not sure if I've got some extra weight from fluids or just having a heavy type of morning or something but the weigh-in was not successful. I weighed in this morning at an additional 2.8 pounds to change my overall weight loss to 88 pounds.

I'm not totally sure what happened because I had a pretty good week. Maybe I've hit the first plateau and I need to mix it up a little bit with what I'm doing. It probably isn't a bad idea to do that. I'm not worried though because measurements are due next weekend and I checked one of them on Sunday and I was down a little more around the waist so that is encouraging. I didn't do the others but things are still progressing...so that's a plus. I've just got to keep working hard and it'll still keep coming off. Even though this weigh-in went in the wrong direction, I know I'm still moving in the right direction and that's the big key for me.

Salmon on Sunday

Sunday has been a pretty good day for me. Did a few things around the place, finished reading a couple of magazines, did some lifting(still not alot but have to start somewhere), rode the bike for 12.35 miles in 45 minutes, and ate some wonderful chili. My chili is almost gone but the NFL season is almost over and that's when I like to have chili. Watched the Bears and the Jets win today and I have to figure out who to pick for next week to stay in a football pool that could be worth $1000 to me if I won.

I tried something new for dinner tonight. I was going to make a salmon filet on the George Foreman Grill but wanted to do something different. Well, I had some ciabatta bread left(I really like ciabatta bread!) and thought I could make a pretty good sandwich with the salmon so I did the following:

1) Toasted the ciabatta on the panini grill
2) Combined some low fat mayonnaise with some lime juice and red cayenne pepper and basil...cayenne added a little kick
3) Cut a couple of thin slices off a little block of mozzarella
4) Spread the lime-mayo on the toasted ciabatta and put the mozzarella on it..microwaved this for about 30 seconds to melt the cheese a little
5) Put the salmon on the ciabatta with some lettuce as well
6) Most importantly...ate it and enjoyed it ALOT!

I have to say that it was a dang fine sandwich. I'll have to have it again sometime and just keep trying to think of some new things to have and ways to add even more flavor to all these wonderful things I'm eating now.

I'm hoping for a little weight loss this week but we'll just have to see. The weighing in in the mornings hasn't been the best even though I've had a good week on many fronts. Well, keep your fingers crossed for me and I'll let you know tomorrow! I'm thinking thin! HAHA!

Long, Long, Long, Long Week

Holy jeez! This one week has felt like 2 weeks. It's just been a long one all around. I haven't gotten to ride the bike much this week because I've had some things to do each night and just haven't been able to. I know I'm just kind of making excuses and it makes me mad at myself. I WILL be riding the bike tomorrow no matter what is going on.

Tonight I finished putting together the new weight bench and I'm really liking it. I can finally lean back into the bench position and not feel like everything is going to collapse beneath me or that I'm going to crack my skull on the bar because of where it's positioned. That was something that bugged me since I had bought that old one. I do have to buy an extra package of the floor guard stuff to put underneath it since it's a little longer than I thought. That's not a big problem and will be taken care of tomorrow morning. I'm looking forward to being able to do some lifting again.

I'm looking forward to watching some football tomorrow while having to do some laundry and go get some groceries. I need to get a haircut sometime but I might wait to do that until Monday or next week after work. Well, this post is a little late in the evening and I'm looking forward now to going to sleep. Sleep well and have a great Saturday!

Something New

Probably about a year or more ago I removed the leg extension from my weight bench. Now, I did this to save some space and in this regard I was successful. BUT, the unintended consequence of this action was that the bench became not very useful for me.

Now first off, this weight bench was a pretty cheap one and quite old. It was never a very strong or sturdy bench but it did the job. I foolishly believed that removing the leg extension from this bench would not harm it in any way. What it did to the bench was totally throw off the balance on it and make it difficult for a large person such as myself to use it. There were many other problems to go along with this but the fact that the last time I lifted on the bench I had major issues with getting back up and off it basically sealed its fate.

Tonight, I bought a new bench at Dick's Sporting Goods. Also, big props to my great buddy Jeremy who helped me get it home. Thanks for the help as anything I pick up at a store that is large, Jeremy is my go-to guy to help me get it home. Thanks again!

Once again, as with the old bench, it's nothing extra special but it's a strong bench and much sturdier. I tested the one at the store and it's very comfortable and the pads to lay down on are longer than the current ones and will work out very well. It's currently sitting in the box in my living room as I will put it together tomorrow night and getting the two benches swapped out. Something new and exciting to lift some weights here at home again.

Monday Morning Weigh-In #25

The calendar has moved fully over into 2011 and our first full week of 2011 is over and it was a pretty strong week. I had the one bad meal last week with going to IHOP but I am allowed one of those every once in awhile. The good thing about that day was this....it could have gone more out of control. After getting home that evening, I thought, "Hey, I had a bad meal for lunch, I could probably order a pizza. Why not? I could just make it a whole bad day." That's the type of thinking that's got me into big trouble and I was able to resist that urge which made me happy and proud of myself.

Anyways, I weighed in this morning and for my 25th weigh-in, I lost another 1.8 pounds to bring my total to 90.8 pounds. Woo-hoo! I figured I would lose about 1 pound because that or less was about what I would weigh-in most of the week. It's exciting and I keep moving closer to a next goal of 100 total pounds lost. Just 9.2 pounds away...hopefully there sometime by or in February.

Football and the Bike

I made it through my first week back to work. Hoo-ray! I was up until kind of late last night but was doing things around here and very sleepy. I wound up sleeping until what is pretty late in the morning for me at 9:45. But since I went to bed at about midnight, I still did get quite a bit of sleep. I really did need it though and I felt good all day long.

Football started late today and I really didn't do much very exciting throughout the day. I got on the bike during the Saints-Seahawks game and rode 45 minutes. The sweet part was that I went 12.46 miles in that 45 minutes, a personal best so far. But wow, the Seahawks won which is sort of good for me in a football pool I'm in. Good for me and now I need Baltimore to win tomorrow to keep me alive.

It's been a pretty boring Saturday in some regards but that's what I was looking for out of this day.

Good Eats, Bad Results

My friends Alison, Todd and Sherry took me out to lunch today. It was a birthday lunch. They had asked me to go last week but I just really wasn't in to going anywhere or putting on pants so I declined until this week. It was my choice and I chose for us to go to IHOP. I had had a craving for pancakes for some time and just went, "Heck with it, I'll have that for lunch. I'll eat a smaller breakfast and not much dinner." Well, that's exactly what happened.

I got the Ham and Cheese Omelet made just with egg whites and it came with 3 pancakes. It was soooooooooooo good! But then, my body kinda fired back at me. Evidently I'm not used to eating that amount of food anymore or something because it upset my stomach and I just didn't want to have anything else after that. The rest of the day at work kinda stunk because my stomach was doing things I didn't it to really do. I"m not saying much more because that would be TMI but I felt much better after I got home. I only ate some soup for dinner but my tummy has settled down.

Now, if they're reading this, I don't want Alison, Todd or Sherry to feel bad or think it's their fault. I ate what I ate and what I ate is what I ate and I know what I ate and let me tell ya, I ate it. It was good and tasty and I thank you all for taking me out. It was greatly appreciated and a great time with great friends.

Tired Now...

I did have to go back to work yesterday. It was an alright first day back although I was extremely tired at the end of day thus the lack of a post last night. I got home last night and rode the bike for 45 minutes and got to 10.75 miles. That wasn't too bad but I was a little slow throughout it since I was a little tired. Tonight was much better because I felt like I had more energy. I did the same "Aerobic" program as last night and did 11.75 miles in the 45 minutes. I felt much better about that than last night as well and I'm not quite as tired which is nice as well.

The last two days of work I've done something I have not done alot in the last probably 7 or 8 years of work....I wore button-down long-sleeved shirts. I haven't worn them because they would make me sweat and with my size, I couldn't find ones that really fit me right and that I felt comfortable in. Well, I finally feel comfortable in them so they're being worked into the rotation which also makes me happy. I've gotten a lot of comments the last few days that I'm looking a lot better which just gives me more motivation that people are noticing. I've even had some of my guy friends notice and make comments that they can really tell I've lost alot of weight. I'd like to say thanks to all of you if you happen to be reading this, it really does mean alot.

I'm feeling really, really good right now and it's a wonderful thing. I'm working hard and keeping my spirits up and my eyes on the prize. It's been a good start to the year....a real good start.

Monday Morning Weigh-In #24

This first weigh-in of the year was pretty awesome. Even though I have to go back to work this morning, this is a very nice way to go back. Evidently on Saturday when I weighed myself to get my final 2010 weight loss, I was feeling kinda 'chunky' or something. HAHA! Well, I weighed in this morning and for the whole week, I lost 4.8 pounds, or 3.0 pounds less than on Saturday morning. YEA! That brings my 24 week total to 89 pounds overall. What a great way to wake up and get things going. I'm feeling pretty happy right now!!!

Back To Reality

Dang, where did the last 17 1/2 days go? I have to go to work tomorrow and it seems like I just started my vacation yesterday. Oh well though, it's really been a good holiday vacation. I got done a lot of things and had a good Christmas, birthday and New Year's. I finally got my money back in my NFL Pick'Em league by winning a week which was nice. I've watched some good TV on DVD, some good movies and just really enjoyed my time off.

Anyways, I had a nice dinner tonight with a swordfish steak and a baked potato. I also took a jello cup and added a little Cool Whip to it to make a nice little dessert...it's very tasty. I rode the bike for 50 minutes today and went a total of 13.1 miles. I did a 30-min set and then a 20-min set back-to-back. I need to find my instruction manual to figure out how to increase the time on the set programs so I can just go for 45 minutes or an hour if I feel like it. Overall I felt really good about the distance I went in the time I had. I actually took yesterday off from riding the bike because I had ridden it everyday for 9 days and just thought a day off would recharge my batteries. I'll be looking to continue riding each night after I come home from work.

I'm taking some time off from the gym since this is the time of year that everyone and their dog will be at the gym at whatever time of the day. I completely understand it though since we all have New Year's Resolutions. I'm going to continue doing things here at home though for the next few weeks. I just hate being around ALOT of people and I know getting the machines I want will be more difficult and we'll just let people kind of weed themselves out of going to the gym.

I'm anxious for my weigh-in tomorrow. I know I'm down 1.8 pounds from my unofficial weigh-in yesterday so I'm hoping to maybe lose another half a pound or something to get 2011 off to a good start. I've got a long year ahead of me but I'm looking to make it an awesome year!

24-Week Measurements

It's been a long time since I took measurements on a Sunday morning. I'm really supposed to do it every 3 weeks but truth be told, I've just flat-out forgotten. It hasn't been that I haven't wanted to do them, they've just slipped my mind. I'm going to try and be better though about them because it's a good barometer of where I am, really even better than my actual weight.

Well, lets end the suspense and get to where I am compared to 24 weeks ago:

Waist: Lost 12 inches
Neck: Lost 1 3/4 inches
Chest: Lost 9 inches
Hips: Lost 11 inches
Left Thigh: Lost 4 1/2 inches
Right Thigh: Lost 4 inches
Left Calf: Lost 2 inches
Right Calf: Lost 2 inches

I'm pretty proud of those numbers while at the same time being a bit embarrassed. I still have a long way to go and I've taken a FOOT off of my waist!! That's just a little crazy but I'm still happy. Those are 12 inches that are NEVER coming back.

Final 2010 Weight Loss

It's now 2011 and it's time to wrap up the amount of weight I lost in 2010. I slept in a little bit this morning which was nice but weighed myself after that like I would normally do. Well, since July 19th to December 31st of 2010, which is 165 days, I lost a total of 86 pounds. HUZZAH!!! That's a little bit better than 0.5 pounds a day!

I'm very proud of my weight loss for this year and know it's going to continue into 2011. As you may have read from my resolutions, I want to lose at least another 100 pounds this year which would still not get me to my goal weight but we're working towards it. Every pound helps...heck, every 0.1 pounds helps. It will all add up and get me to where I want to be. I start out 2011 very hopeful and ready for a wonderful year!