I busted my butt and this is what I get?

3.2 more pounds gone is what I get! How about that for a teaser title? I have now lost just over 60 pounds. I am not sure what weighs in a exactly 60 pounds but I guess you could say 3 20 lb bags of potatoes maybe. I can tell you this that I was over at a friends house last night and got a whole bunch of perspective. I was helping him with some concrete work and I carried an 80 pound bag of concrete mix around the house. I had it up on my shoulder and I could immediately feel the pressure in my knees. It was probably the best eye opener I have had to date on what I was doing to my body. So much so that I would recommend to someone who has lost a significant amount of weight and does not feel much different to find something the weight what you have lost then go up and down some stairs or just walk around your house. You will quickly realize all of the good things you have done for yourself.

So thats it. 60 pounds in just over 3 months. I am happier, healthier and feel much more optimistic about the future.

I must be crazy!

I just signed up for a 5K. Me. Matt Keeling. Matt Keeling of 342 lbs signed up for a 5K. I figure it is something else to work towards. I have until October 11th to be able to do it. I know I can walk it. I am not sure there would be a real problem there. But my goal is to run it. I am not going to set a time on it. But I would like to run the whole way. I am going to follow the couch to 5K training program on www.coolrunning.com. I think I might wait for a couple of weeks before I start to train, but I will definitely be hitting the treadmill more at the gym. I will keep you updated on my progress.

Backyard Gym - Free Membership with no monthly dues. JOIN NOW!

The thing is normally I hate leaves, and really not just leaves but anything that could possibly need my attention in the yard. Mowing, planting, raking, trimming and cleaning up brush have been activities that I have avoided at all costs in the past. Between allergies and weight moving around like that outside was more than just a chore. This weekend that all changed. I went out and bagged nearly 30 bags of leaves over 2 days. Planted a bunch of flowers and actually enjoyed my time outside. I am sore today, but not cant walk sore, just a dull ache sore. I was tired at the end of the day but I has such a sense of accomplishment as opposed having the feeling of shame that my lawn looked so bad. I drove up to my house after doing this cleaning and actually felt pretty good about what I saw.

So what the heck does this have to do with weight loss? I am glad you asked. The yard was my gym this weekend. While I did not sweat as much or have my heart rate at the same level, I was working out there most of the day Sunday. I have no idea how many calories I burned, but I know that given the amount of time I at least equaled my normal gym time if not exceeded it. So if your on this journey with me, get out and do some yard work. Your back yard is a gym and you don't even have to pay $45 a month for it.

No Shirts, no shoes, no.... well just a post about clothes

Clothes are hard for a guy at 400lbs. At 34 years old you still want to look 28. I have been shopping at the big and tall store since pretty much just out of college. I shopped Eddie Bauer catalog for a very long time but their style did not stay with me. I cannot explain to you how happy I was when just before last weekend I go into a size 46 jeans. Now I know to some of you out there you are thinking 46 is huge, but that is down from a very comfy 50 just back in January. Not to mention (and I may have) that these are relax fit jeans not loose fit jeans. It just feels so good to start to wear some "cool" clothes. Everything is fitting better and differently.

How different? Oddly shirts are getting longer. I figure 2 things have happened here. The first is that I have stopped stretching my shirts to make room for my gut, the second it that I must have lost some weight in my shoulders, chest and upper back. A guy on the Guys on a Diet board on WW mentioned that you lose from your head down. Not sure that is true, but it kinda makes sense.

On to other things that fir funny. My shoes that were very comfortable before are now loose. I guess less swelling or something. I don't know, this one has me stumped.

So has anyone else run into these issues.

Was I off track? No, but it sure feels good to be back on schedule.

I got back to the gym this morning. I went Monday and Wednesday nights and got in good workouts. I dragged my lazy ole bones out of bed this morning and went to the gym. I feel so much better. I am in a much better mood and I feel like I have energy to spare. I have mentioned this in past posts, but I am sure no one will mind reading it again. Working out in the morning is the best. You have this perception that you can't get up and that you will be more tired after and drag throughout the day, but really it is the exact opposite. The is an energy return. The blood is pumping your adrenaline is up and you just generally feel better. So there you have it.

Completely unrelated - FOOD FIND! New to me anyway.

Western Bagels - Very Blueberry Bagel with WW cream cheese. Thats 2 points y'all! for a bagel and cream cheese. No it is not Einstein Bros or Panera Bread Co, but it aint bad eitther!

I am following the plan pretty well I guess. Weigh in update

I will just blurt it out there. 2.2 more pounds off this body forever! I was a bit surprised though. I thought I would lose but I was figuring less than a pound. Goes to show me how much the exercise really pays off.

I have this ritual of calling my brother after every weigh in to let him know how I did. I called him up as usual and told him the news and his comment was, "That's just amazing, you must just be following the plan perfectly" Then I told him about the few beers I had over the weekend and the Coon Ass Chicken I had from Jazz Louisiana Kitchen, an not to mention the several bites of the chocolate beignet I had. So I told him that I was not following the plan to the tee but that the exercise really helps to offset those choices that are less than healthy. It also got me to thinking about my last post about striving for perfection and then about living this lifestyle forever. I will tell you right now that I am gonna eat at Jazz again and the choice I make will probably not be healthy but I know that I can still succeed doing that. I just have to turn around and workout a little more and eat a few less calories the next day or two. I guess my point is that perfection might be unattainable, but then again what I did this past week may have been closer to perfection than I realize. I enjoyed some things that are nor particularly healthy, but in moderation, I also made healthy choices the majority of the time and I did my best to get in my good health guidelines. In my mind that is living the lifestyle and if I am doing that, then maybe I am close to perfection.

Lets strive for better rather than perfection

I was out reading my normal round up of blogs and wandered over to Kathy Calculates. She had issued a challenge to people to have a perfect Monday. Stay within your points and get in your 8 good health guidelines. Now as I was not part of this challenge I can honestly say I was not perfect. She wrote today about a better Tuesday. I was struck by this because I struggle so much with trying to be perfect that I end up beating myself up for not being perfect. Even worse i have been know to blame others. This is my journey and while I need the support of the people around me, ultimately I am the one who puts the food in my body. So I guess my point for today is to make sure that I do not beat myself up so much and stop blaming others for my failure. From hence forth I am taking responsibility for my own actions. I will strive to be better everyday in one small way. That may be being more active or eating better or just having a better attitude. Today I am choosing to have a better attitude about everything. I will have a positive day. I will weigh in and be happy with the results. I will not allow outside influences to bring me down. Today will be a good day.

Progress?

Obviously not the most flattering photo at the top.



I am not sure what difference I can see.

Right now I am gonna go with I know the scale is reading a much better number than before and I know I feel better.

I will let all of you be the judge.

Living the lifestyle

This weekend as I may have mentioned I am off to Columbia to witness my first ever Black and Gold spring football game. I have mentioned it so many times on this blog you may get the impression that I am a tad bit excited. That would be because I am.

While on the trip to Columbia we will be dropping into Shakespeare's Pizza for some pizza and cold beer. Now I have to tell you this is no ordinary pizza, this is the finest pie in the whole wide world. I am not sure I have ever been disappointed by a pizza from Shakes.

Now with that said the visit got me to thinking about working that day for food debauchery into the plan. Pizza and beer is hard to get into your daily points budget. So you have the weekly points you can use, but I generally prefer to not use them. So I will figure that out somehow, but the thing is.... If you don't have pizza and beer every so often you are on a diet. I am not on a diet, I am making a change in my eating habits. So have beer and pizza, work it into your day, and get back on the wagon the next day!

New Goal

At weight watchers they talk about not setting goals that are too lofty, go pound by pound. Well I am not sure I completely agree with their theory. At least I am not sure I agree right now anyway. Maybe down the line I will stop with the goal setting, but for now I will continue to set goals. My last goal as you know was to lose 50 lbs by the spring game. Quite honestly I have worked my butt off to get it done. I lost 55 lbs as of last weigh in and I am proud of myself for accomplishing the goal I set for myself.

So my next goal needs to be attainable, but still something I should have to push for. I am anticipating the my weight loss with slow over the next couple of months I am going to set a goal of 80 lbs total weight loss by the first game of the Missouri Tigers football season. That would be the showdown between Mizzou and Illinois in St. Louis on Aug 30th. I have just under 19 weeks until the official weigh in on the Tuesday prior to the game. 25 lbs in 19 weeks. That is 1.3(ish) lbs a week. In my mind that is realistic and attainable.

Again look for progress pics next week and GO TIGERS!

Second verse same as the first

I am not sure if I am running out of things to say yet but if this record continues to skip i am gonna be a very happy camper. This week I lost 3.8 lbs. I am down to 345 pounds. 55 pounds in 3 months. To say I am pleased would be a gross understatement. I am absolutely thrilled. I do know however that I could not have gotten this far without the support of my family and friends. In particular I wan to thank my girlfriend Carrie, my parents and my very dear friends Jay and Kelly. I feel as if I thank them all the time for their support but I just feel like they should be recognized. There are others as well people who I am close to and people who I have never met, you all make a difference. So I will ask that you continue to read and support me. I know there is going to come a time when I bottom out and want to quit and I know you will never let me.

So back to the weigh in. I did reach my WW 10% tonight. Got my keychain and need to talk to the leader about a goal. I think 220 is a good goal. I may never get there but the doc things that is where I should be. But I am not rally focused on that. I just want to be healthy. So what did I do to get here this week. Pretty much the same as the past few. Worked out 5 days and pretty much was on plan. I did have a bigger weekend the weekend before last when I was in Columbia. Sushi, big dinner and then some Shakes... mmmm yummy, but over all on plan for the most part. This weekend was more on plan than the last so next weigh in should rock if I keep up my routine in the gym.

The Black and Gold game is this weekend. Look for some pics early next week. I still have a hard time seeing a difference. I will let all of you be the judge.

Nip it in the bud

I have noticed over the last week or so that my late evening cravings are getting worse. My will power is waining and the urge to eat something that late in the evening is growing. This is not because I am hungry as I am wanting something shortly after my dinner. When I am snacking I am picking up the right things and staying within my points for the day but it am just noticing it getting worse. The only thing I can think that is missing is my skinny cow ice cream sandwiches. I ran out and have not been back to the store to get more. The other difference is that I am working out in the morning and have less to do in the evening. Of course I could clean the house or do laundry, but that is no fun. So I am left with the dilemma, who do I curb my evening cravings? Thoughts or suggestions?

I am bit scared of the tailgating season.

This year for the first time I will be attending the Mizzou spring football game, the Black and Gold Game. We have had season tickets for 4 years and tailgating is almost as much of an event as the game is. So this being the spring game, I figured it will be a good time to figure out what to cook, what to snack on and what to drink. So lets just put it out there, I will likely have a couple of beers, but the beers I can control better than the food. So the question is... What is the right thing to bring? I am planing a veggie and fruit tray for grazing, but we will need meat. Preferably not of the sausage or brat variety. Brats come in at a hefty 7 points for a single brat. Who would have ever thought that 1 brat was a serving. I could have sworn it would have been 2 or 3 brats. So maybe grilled chicken, or possibly chicken boob tacos with mango salsa. If anyone in the blogosphere has any thoughts please let me know cause this is just a warm up. There will be 4 months of this coming in the fall.

Couldn't resist sharing this.

Just a different way of saying what I said in my last post in regard to exercise.

I did it!

In a blog post dated 2-8-08 I made a prediction. A goal if you will. I said I would lose 50 pounds by April 19th. You see when I started I told myself that I would try to get down 25 pounds by that date and surpassed that and set a new goal. Well I did it! I lost 5.4 pounds this week. I have now lost a total of 51.2 pounds since January 17th. That is 82 days. I am not sure whether I should jump for joy or cry or do both at the same time.

I am still a bit in awe that I did this. I was certain that this was not possible. I was certain that you would need a person trainer and a chef to make it work. Well it turns out I was wrong. What you need is a strong work ethic and a burning desire to be healthy. If you have that then you can do it. I just eat better, and I move a lot more. What do I sacrifice? 5-7 hours a week in the gym. I figure every 50 pounds I lose I will add 5-7 years to my life. That is a fair trade off. I eat less calories, but probably more food. I also eat much better.

If you are stuck or considering losing some weight I am going to ask that you start now. Don't wait for some important date. Make a small change tomorrow and then another the day after until you a living a better life. I waited until I was 34 years old with a nine year old son. My only regret in all of this is that I did not do this many many years ago. I deprived my son of the father he deserves.

B- Your new and improved dad is on the way. Soon there will be no more of "Daddy can't because of his knees or he is too tired" Soon enough I will be wearing you out! I love you buddy!

Fitness Evaluation

Umm, what shall I say. I am out of shape or woefully out of shape.

I went to the gym last night to work out and the trainer was there and we did the fitness evaluation promised in the membership package. Most of the information I got was expected. My BMI is about 46 which is interesting because with all the calipers and math she put into it, turns out that when you calculate it online, it is pretty accurate. I am below average across the board in fitness levels and above average when it comes to weight and BMI. Nothing shocking there. The trainer however was impressed that I had lost the weight I had lost and felt like nutritionally I was in pretty good shape. The recommendation that she made was that I hit the cardio harder. Instead of using the elliptical for 10 minutes before I lift and then for 10 minutes after, bust out the whole 20 minutes either before or after. So I followed her advice and did 20 minutes last night, and 20 more this morning in addition to my normal lifting.

I will make this comment about exercise to anyone reading this who is looking to lose weight. My opinion is that you have to continually step it up and change things up. I was riding the stationary bike for about 7 weeks into this and it was getting to easy and boring. I joined the gym and I feel excited again. I feel like regardless of loss I am doing good things for my body.

The Doc

I was trying to wait to use that Title but I just couldn't. I went to the doc Thursday for a physical since I am losing weight and kinda wanted to know where I stood as far as a doctor was concerned. I also wanted to talk to him about a goal weight as I have reached my 10%.

So I will get my blood work back in a few days, but here are some of the basics

On the doctors scale I was at 353.6 lbs with a pulse of 60 beats per minute and blood pressure of 118/80. Obviously I was most pleased with my weight but my pulse surprised me. I was at about 68-74 regularly prior to my workout routine.

We talked at length about my weight loss and how I have gotten where I am at. I told him that I considered the surgery and found that my insurance did not cover it so I started on my own for 2 weeks and then joined Weight Watchers. I told him as I have stated on this blog the I would prefer not to push one program over another, but that there is no gimmick to WW. He agreed whole heartedly and was very happy for me. We then began to discuss an ultimate goal, and this is why I love my doctor, he said that if I looked it up (which I have) I would find 185 or so. He said that he would love to see me at 250 or ideally at 220 and then if I still felt like I could lose more I could continue. I love that he just does not defer to the charts, he knows me and understands that 185 for me might be out of reach. 220 however is doable, difficult, but doable.

So there you go. I will not be focusing on 220, but more on the intermediate goals, my next is 50 lbs. I think it will probably continue to be in 10 lb increments for me until I am under 300 as I have a lot to lose. Speaking of being under 300, the guys on GOAD have a term called ONEderland for when you get under 200 lbs. I think once I get under 300, I am going to institute TWOunderland. I feel pretty comfortable in saying that I have not been under 300 since I graduated high school.

OK I am going to just end this post abruptly cause I am running out of things to say. Look for a blood work post early next week.

Thanks you to everyone for you support and encouragement.


SIDE NOTE: If you pray please say a quick prayer for a friends daughter Olivia and her Parents. I will not go into it, but she could use a few thoughts. If you do not pray I certainly do not want to offend at all. I completely respect everyones choice.

WW Weight Loss Chart and a progress photo?

This is what 31 pounds looks like on the WW graph. I will continue to share these from time to time. I teased you about the photo. But I have decided I will post a progess photo from the Missouri Spring Black and Gold game on April 19th. SO be looking for that on the day or two following that. I am certain that post will also contain information on how I did with my first tailgate since I started all this. Enough jibber jabber... Heres the graph.

The hits keep coming

I am not sure what to say. I am getting to that point where I am guessing we all get at one point or another where we become proud of ourselves. I am getting there. While I know that I have an amazing support system in place around me and that people who I have never met are pulling for me I am realizing that I am the one who is learning about what to and not to put into my body. I am the one waking up at 4:45 in the morning and going to the gym. I feel like I can say it now. I am proud of myself. I am turning my life around and I am giving myself a chance at meeting grandchildren. I am giving myself a shot at retiring and being able to spend time with family and friends that I love very much.

This week I lost 3.8 pounds. I am down 45.8 lbs overall. I am not sure what else to say. If you ask me how I am doing it I will tell you that I eat right and I exercise. Weight watchers is great, but they do not offer a magic pill. They offer a way to account for what you eat and support from your peers and people who have been there and done that. Join or not it is eat right and exercise.

I will check in will you again on Thursday and let you know what the doc says. I am going for my first ever full on physical. I am looking forward to it. I think I will learn a lot and I am excited to inform the doc that since the last time he saw me I am down over 45 lbs. See you all Thursday. Have a great couple of days!

Natures Candy

Fruit, and not just any fruit. Oranges. I love them. I was inspired to write this quick entry when I peeled my orange this morning in just a few few pieces. Of course I had to get ti started, but after that it was like using an apple peeler around the outside a few times and done! I love it when it works out like that. I know I know its silly. But I think if we do not appreciate the small things in life then we are less likely to appreciate the bigger things that life has in store for us.

So maybe not so short, I have changed my routine this week. I am on to fruit first thing in the morning before I go work out, I come home and have a low fat (not non fat as I cannot stomach the taste) yogurt. Then around 10 or 10:30 I have a Kashi Roll Protein Bar. I am curious to see my results this week. I can tell you that I am not all to concerned about the loss as I feel better. If anyone out there reading this wants to feel better I recommend going to the gym or just getting in regular exercise. While a leisurely stroll is nice, I think you need to break a sweat in order to really feel better. Something about it chemically in your body that makes you feel more alive.