Confessions of a guy at Weight Watchers

Drumroll Please....

2011-08-22T13:26:00.000-05:00

Well as it turns out I was right to be scared. It has been a whirlwind several weeks, but I am emerging slowly from the other side.

When I last left you I had a colonoscopy, and the doc removed some polyps. Well it turns out that one of them was cancerous. Which of course I did not take exactly well. However.... The GOOD NEWS is that I have already had surgery and they removed about a foot a colon and all of the cancer with it. It ended up being Stage 1. That means NO chemo, NO radiation, and surgery is the only thing I have to endure. Of course I will be visiting an oncologist and the GI doc for followups and still remain nervous.

More than anything though I am optimistic. I am getting back to losing weight and am going to try hard this time to keep it off. I am going to be on a mission to let people know about colon cancer and making sure that people pay attention to their crap, and schedule the colonoscopy when the time comes. Talk to your family members and find out if they have had polyps. I could go on but the real news today is that I am CANCER FREE. oh and I have dropped a little over 40 lbs since Sept last year. :-)

Scared Straight

2011-07-11T11:59:00.000-05:00

You would think so. I know I have been MIA for some time again. What can I say? I have no excuse. All I can do is start again. Obviously something precipitated this post so I should just get to it.

I went in to the doc after having some blood in my stool, okay, it had been there off and on from some time. Now I know it is gross to think or talk about but I am damn glad I finally said something. Doc sent me off to get a colonoscopy and the GI doc found and removed several polyps. Now this in itself is not great, but it is not good. What is really not good? The doc called them large and one was enormous. So what the hell does all that mean doc?

Doc says that the polyps were benign but they have sent them off to Mayo for more tests. What? Sent them where? Mayo? As in Mayo Clinic? As in.....

Thanks Doc! So I go back in Wednesday to see what is really up.

So obviously I went out and researched everything I could on polyps and causes and what not. So every site said a primary cause was genetics. There were also a whole myriad of different other reasons why someone may develop polyps. But you know what else was listed on every site? Thats right folks. Being overweight and a sedentary lifestyle.

So here we go again. I will update numbers on the right as soon as I have them. I have started the process again. Eating better and trying to get some exercise. You would think all the warnings would scare a guy straight. I just hope a near miss on cancer does.

Back to the gym

2010-07-16T11:55:00.000-05:00

Made it back to the gym this morning. I feel better already. Just feel like I have more energy, more ready to face the day.

So I did manage to wake up and get to the gym by 5:30. I hit the elliptical right off and just like a race I was out of the gates quickly. This of course was followed by me feeling like I was going to die about 2 minutes in. I slowed down and grabbed the side rails and hung on until I finally caught my breath a bit. I then got in a rhythm and manged to knock out a total of 30 minutes. I was tired. I had to use the side rails several times but I made it. I started to do some lifting after, but was just to tired. After a shower I felt refreshed and ready for the day.

I had forgotten that getting up and working out in the morning is a good thing. It just makes you feel better. My mood of late has been for crap. I know that getting some kind of workout in helps. Just gotta keep it up!

And this afternoon I will again be a member

2010-07-15T09:19:00.002-05:00

As I mentioned before I am rejoining the gym. I am working on trying to do something about eating right. I know so many who have been down the path of weight loss only to regain what they thought was gone forever.

So I know what happened. I know that I stopped exercising and stopped eating right. I stopped weight watchers, I just stopped.

So what do I do differently this time? I think the biggest thing is to make sure I go to the gym and exercise. Burning calories is key and honestly being stronger and in better "shape" is going to be a good thing. Regardless of weight you have to have a healthy cardio vascular system. The easiest way to make sure you are healthy in that regard is to work that system out regularly. Even at my lowest weigh of just under 300 pounds I could run a 5k without stopping and without what I would call extreme effort. I personally know people who appeared to be in good health who could not accomplish that.

So the gym, check. Now to the eating side of things. I counted to points on weight watchers and it taught me soo much, but I just cannot go back to counting points. I will leave the title alone as it did get me several readers who I abandoned for a long while. I am going to try to eat clean. Try to avoid processed foods. Try to stay low on calories and fat, and high on fiber and protein. (So basically stay low on points in WW words)

I do want to take a hot second to tell anyone reading who is on WW to not give it up if it is working for you. Learn as much as you can. It is a quality program. People lose a lot of weight using their system. At this point I just do not think it is right for me.

Thank you to everyone still out there. I love all of you and hope you are well!

Like a bad penny...

2010-07-13T15:28:00.000-05:00

So a new start? Just got off the phone with Snap Fitness. The gym I used to go to all that time ago when I lost all that weight. I will be dropping by on Thursday to pick up my access key and get a shot workout in. Then it is back at it. Get out of bed in the morning and get to the gym.

I will keep you updated on the progress.

Basically what it comes down to is that I have to get back to eating better and getting the exercise my body needs. I am not sleeping well, my knees hurt again, I am tired all the time, and just feel like crap by the end of the day.

So if you will indulge me this one last time...

Water Water more Water

2010-05-20T15:07:00.000-05:00

Just so you all know I did go for that walk. Unfortunately I did not follow that up with a walk the following day.

So we begin yet again. Or at at least continue to climb the same mountain that I was climbing before. It seemed easy before. It seemed like nothing could slow me down and I would make it to a goal weight and be happy and live there forever.

The that bitch reality came by and slapped me in the face. This is not an easy process, and I need to stay constantly vigilant. Basically I need a new plan of attack, or at least a tweaked plan of attack.

So over the past few days I have been weening myself from the diet coke and moving back to water. Water water water. I forgot what it feels like to have a full bladder all day. It is an old and oddly comforting feeling. I will begin to track my food intake and make some better decisions.

I would like to ask a question of you folks out there who still happen to read.

When you run across that Friday night out, do you indulge a bit but not too much? Do you indulge and then just work harder the next day?

The reason I ask is because I went all out last time and hardly ever had that indulgence. I was Hard Core. I was alot like Tony P. Who I wish I was more like. I understand his stance when in comes to indulgence. I am just wondering what everyones stance is.

Thanks guys.

Matt

As the crickets sound.

2010-04-26T13:26:00.000-05:00

Just like many bloggers. There are often false starts and false restarts. So when you last heard from me I said something like... No really I am here to stay. And time passes and no Matt. You drop in only to find the sound of crickets and cobwebs everywhere. I will not try to tease you with promises of daily posts or anything like that, but I will tell you what has been going on with my life in general.

First and foremost on March 13th I got married. That's right ladies. I am off the market. Don't cry now... It will be okay. Seriously though I hope all of you either find or have found what I have. Being married to your best friend is really the best way to go.

On the weight loss front. Well. I dropped a few pounds for the wedding which I immediately put right back on. I really do not know what I am at right now. I can tell you that I know I need to get out and exercise more. I need more cardio exercise. My lungs are shot.

So I will wake up in the working and go for a walk. Then the next day... try to do the same. One day at a time for now.

I did not wander away, I promise

2010-03-02T13:13:00.000-06:00

I am not gone, I promise. I have just been insanely busy, crazy stressed and just have not had time to sit down for a few minutes and chat about what has been going on.

I can tell you that my eating habits went south this past week and really I am hoping to have maintained or only gained a couple of pounds. This week that would really be a huge victory. The next week and a half are likely to be a repeat of the same. The fact of the matter is I am in this for the long haul at this point and there are going to be weeks when things do not go as well. I am okay with that.

I will get back with you guys soon.

I lost.

2010-02-25T12:21:00.000-06:00

Lost in a good way. Looks like the shock to the system was a good thing. Back on track and following points. Well that and the fact that I removed my shoes for my weigh-in, in addition to wearing slightly lighter clothes.

I was able to recognize a scale loss of 11.6 lbs. I am pretty damn excited. I am feeling a bit better just over a week in. Heartburn is gone. I have a bit more energy. I even am noticing a bit of a difference in my asthma.

So a good week for sure and I have kept on truckin. Now I just need to get to the gym and really give my body the kick in the ass that it needs.

Sorry for the short post. I will try to get you guys something good tomorrow. Till then.

Oh my early morning

2010-02-23T07:28:00.000-06:00

So I worked till about 8:30 or so last night and then because of the software installation we did I felt the need to be back in the office at 6:15 to make sure the early morning crowd was supported properly. Let me just tell you that 5:00 am is very early for me. I had a hard time getting out of bed.

So here I am this morning, peach yogurt and diet coke firmly in hand waiting for the caffeine to kick in.

This brings up a question for the viewing audience. When do you prefer to work out? I was a early morning guy before. I am not sure I will be this time around. I am curious to hear when you work out and why you choose that time.

Have a great day y'all

A question from the viewing audience and The weekend that was

2010-02-22T15:24:00.000-06:00

Jacinda asked: I am interested in how many times/amount of time per day you worked out, I'm trying to get a feel for what should be "required" for weight loss.

Well when I was working out and not training for the 5k I ran I was going about 3-4 times a week. I would do about 45 - 60 minutes on the elliptical and then do a quick run through the weight machines trying to concentrate for on my weak upper body for 2 days a week and then lower for 1. The logic there was that my legs were getting a good workout carrying my fat butt around.

I will say this. Start slow and work your way up. I remember how good I felt when I was eating right and exercising. I had energy to spare. That said I cannot just jump right back in. When I get back on the exercise train I will have to start all over again. That means 5 minutes on an elliptical and working up from there.

So the weekend was full of challenges. We went out Friday night to celebrate my Dads birthday. To a Mexican restaurant. So I get this dish with grilled chicken, onions and peppers over rice. I did my best to lay off the rice and did a decent job. It was a stir fry kinda Saturday with stir fry for lunch and dinner. Sunday rolls around and breakfast out with my friends and half my points gone. But it was a late breakfast so it ended up working out as best it could. A tame dinner and some late night carrots.

It is getting easier again. I am still very hungry by the time I eat. My body is reacting much like it did the last time I did this, and only now am I recalling that when my body gets dramatically less calories it needs to be fed more frequently.

I am pretty excited about my weigh in tomorrow and while I am excited to see a loss I am more excited that I feel a bit better. I feel more clear if that makes sense. I have less of the afternoon yawns. I have not chewed up a pepcid since day1 (part 2) that in itself is a big deal.

More pre-weigh in coverage tomorrow.

Lets back up a bit

2010-02-19T16:21:00.000-06:00

So as I embark on the journey all over again I thought it important to ask a few questions.

How was I successful last time around
How did I fail last time around
What can I do differently this time

All meaningful questions that I am not sure I have the answers to. However I am going to do my best.

How was I successful last time around?

Well this may be the easiest of all the questions. What made me successful in weight loss was that I ate clean for the most part and managed to exercise regularly. Those are to huge pieces. I also kept a journal of my progress through the blog and kept track of what I ate through the WW website. And finally I managed to get more sleep. The eating right thing came somewhat easy. I almost always ate breakfast, had fruit and vegetables for snacks, and then had a salad with grilled chicken for lunch. I would end up with some lean meat a veggie and a small amount of some starch for dinner. Maybe some frozen fruit as a snack. Exercise came much less easy. That is the one routine that is so easy to break. Going to the gym 3 - 4 times a week or running 3 times a week is fine when you are in the routine or you are training for something but you break it for a week and you might not want to head back.

How did I fail last time around?

This is the hardest, or at least much more difficult. In this case many answers could be correct. What might true for me may not be for you. I think though that it started with a let down in my consistent exercise. Or maybe I was exercising enough and my eating habits had failed. Or maybe it was both. I think probably one thing that happened was that I continued to work out and started to change my diet. I was maintaining and doing okay, but I was not losing weight. Then I stopped working out. You can guess what happened. My weight went right back up. My eating habits got worse and worse. It all has a domino affect. For instance. I was getting enough sleep because I was going to be earlier so I could wake up and go work out. Then I stopped working out so I started staying up late. It is all excuses I know but maybe If I can identify the things that lead to failure before maybe I can succeed this time.

What can I do differently?

Also tough. And this might be something I have to figure out as I go. I know whatever my decision it needs to be permanent. I cannot have this be a year long thing, or a until I get below 300 thing. It has to be something I do forever. If that just means I make sure to walk every week and eat right, than that is great. I think a big thing might be to attempt to not over indulge in some of the things I love.

I am open to all suggestions. I think where I might start is to read my blog again.

Wow and maybe a food find

2010-02-18T12:09:00.000-06:00

First off I was stoked that my Tigers rolled on Texas last night. So much fun to watch. Equally as fun though was watching Shaun White on the halfpipe. Holy crap that dude is just nails. He is just so much better than everyone else in his sport. His airs are bigger, his tricks are better, his landings are cleaner, and then you listen to this kid speak. He is just the right blend of humble and cocky. He wants to win no doubt but he loves the other people in his sport and does not disparage them. He just seems like a good kid how is better than anyone else at what he does and he absolutely loves it.

So this does not tie into weight loss really, I realize that. I can however claim a small victory. I ate frozen fruit last night while watching all those sports. Normally that is a beer and chips kinda night.

So today is starting off well. Egg on toast for breakfast and salad with grilled chicken with Hendricksons salad dressing for lunch. If you have not tried Hendricksons and you live near St Louis or in Kansas City you should check it out. All natural and relatively low cal. Oh and really yummy. You can check them out here. http://www.hendricksons.com/

And we have digits

2010-02-17T16:10:00.000-06:00

Oh how those digits can deflate and demoralize us, but it was about as I expected. 391.6. I do however have a confession to make. I wore a sweater, and did not remove my shoes. I know, I know, it is kinda cheating when I wear lighter clothes next week, but I am going with the I need a confidence boost thing.

So more about last night. The meeting was... well... a WW meeting. Lots of people looking nervous, a few people who looked like they really do not need to be there. And then the talk about eating out and having a plan and that sorta stuff. It was all so familiar.

One thing I wish more leaders would do is be more of a hard ass. Tell it like it is. More like this. Back in the day when I did all this before there was a woman at the meeting droning on about the points in grapes. The leader turned and looked at her and said "Eat all the grapes you want, you didn't get here (weight watchers) on grapes" Oh that cracks me up. It is so true.

So I did have a super healthy dinner last night. An omelet with red peppers and onions and spinach and a bit of 2% cheese. Then had some frozen fruit for dessert.

I guess I forgot how much you can stuff your face when you make good choices.

Today however I was presented with my first challenge. Italian was delivered in for lunch. All that carby deliciousness. I had a small piece of lasagna, a salad with some italian dressing, and a piece of garlic toast. I had small portions, and I am hungry. Virtually no protein and very little fiber. That my friends is a recipe for disaster. Luckily the day is drawing to a close and I will go home and make some dinner soon.

Thanks for commenting y'all. I appreciate the encouraging words.

Next step. Get back to the gym. Oh and stop drinking diet coke. It is indeed the devil.

From 400 to 292 and back again. Almost.

2010-02-16T11:57:00.000-06:00

Well since Feb of 2009. I guess I have been absent. I shut this blog down. I was embarrassed. I blogged so confidently back then. Friends and family read this page and I felt like a fraud.

Here it is one year later, nearly to the day, and I am back. I am hoping to stay this time. I am heading back to WW tonight. I am thinking I am at about 385. I have gained back nearly all I lost. I had to go back and buy more clothes. It is a sad state of affairs. I can tell you I am more aware of my health this time around. I feel tired all the time, my knees kill me, my asthma is back and worse than before. Headaches, yep got em. Could be the caffeine, could be the crappy diet. My mood is not great. I have nearly reverted all the way back to the less confident guy who tried to make people laugh to gain acceptance. I make fun of my own weight.

I digress.

So I had a yogurt this morning for breakfast and am going to have a sandwich for lunch, no mayo, no cheese. Similar to what I used to do. As I recall I do need to eat more in the morning in order to feel better throughout the day

For now I am back and I am going to try. Stay tuned I will post my official weigh-in by this time tomorrow. Hopefully along with a new post.

For those of you who may stumble across this. Thanks for taking to time. I missed you.

We have more people joining in!

2009-02-12T11:05:00.002-06:00

This is awesome guys. I just love that so many of you are hopping on board.

We have X new people who have committed to being losers!

My main man SUPER DAVE! is in for 25.
MaryFran is making A New Start and is in for 20
and our most recent is
Kdog! Who is in for 30 on he Journey for Health

It's not to late. In fact, wait till the 4th of May if you want and lose a pound in a day and I will give a dime to Harvesters.

I am so proud of all of you!

GREAT JOB!

UPDATE:

I missed Paul from several posts ago and he was kind enough to shot me a comment and let me know. Soooo

Paul say Hey Weight a Sec! I am in for 15!

Breaking news and a pound for found update

2009-02-10T08:41:00.001-06:00

Lets start with the pound for pound update.

First off you guys rock! Second, I need to get off my butt.

Here is the list of participants thus far
Stages of Change will be changing by 80 pounds!
Rosie is a Diet Soda Diva and is in for 20!
Star plans to lose 20!
Octavialuna has pledged 20!
Jen the Cooking Bookworm is in for 30
Andrew is Getting Fit and has pledged 15lbs (dude from where do you plan to lose 15?)
Mary is living a Merry Life and looking to lose 20
John is Rejecting Reality but is totally in for 20
MaggieApril is Tasting not Wasting her way to 9 lbs
KC is taking Small Steps to 15 lbs
Renee says it is Finally Time for a 30 lb loss!
Its TJ's Weigh or the Highway on the way to 15lbs
Fars is in for 10% of her 150 and Counting (that's 15 lbs for those of you who happen upon this prior to your morning caffeine)
Mickey will be Losing the Chubbadoo to the tune of 24 lbs

So as I break out my abacus that is 333 and then add my 30, that is a grand total of 363 pound that we are pledging thus far.

For those of you just joining us check out the original pound for pound post for more details. It is not to late to sign up!

NOW FOR THE BREAKING NEWS!!!!!

I have wanted to tell you guys all about my stress and the reason for it, but I couldn't. You see a few of the people I work with read this blog and I needed to keep this very quiet up until now. I am leaving my current employer and heading of to work at a new company! That's right all that hubbub over a new job. Currently I am a sys admin, but now I am getting back into the Credit Union industry and will be back to Managing an IT Department. Actually Manager of Technology and Online Services is the official title. So there you have it. All of my stress had been due to the fact that I knew the position was coming available and interviewing and waiting and just that whole process. I am very excited to start with my new company and will be able to again focus my energy on my health.

Have I talked about being singularly focused? If not, we will discuss that in the next day or two.

Pound for Pound Challenge.

2009-02-05T11:50:00.001-06:00

OK this is the official announcement.

Please join me in the Biggest Loser Pound for Pound challenge. Click the link above and sign up for the challenge. Then come back here and sign up for my challenge.

What is my challenge you ask. So glad you did.

Let me know how much weight in pounds you intend to lose by May 5th in the comments. Then once May 5 rolls around let me know how you did. I will donate 10cents for every pound lost by you guys to Harvesters!

So sign up both places and give some people who do not have the means a little help.

As I mentioned before I am trying to lose 30 pounds by may 5th with a starting weight of 306. Unfortunately I have already gone in the wrong direction. So I will just have to work harder.

Other who have already signed up

Stages of Change is in for 80 pounds!
Rosie at Diet Soda Diva is in for 20!
An Anonymous person plans to lose 20! (shoot me an email and I will keep you Anonymous) :-)
Octavialuna has pledged 20!

That is a total of 140 so far.

Come on folks! Make me pay!

Breaking News... Soon

2009-02-04T11:12:00.001-06:00

Maybe I am setting myself up for failure but I just feel like I need to turn my focus to exercise right now. So to that end I am making a commitment to get in some form of exercise or another everyday until I am able to break an upcoming news story.

I started off today with 45 minutes on the elliptical at the gym. I am feeling good and confident that I will be able to complete my goal.

Tomorrow I am going to recap the Pound for Pound Challenge and list out those of you who have made a commitment and ask for more.

Tell tomorrow!

Oh and I will see you at the gym!

It is my path and I will travel it

2009-02-02T10:58:00.002-06:00

I guess this is some of what it is all about. Each person has their own path to follow and each person makes their own path. Right now my path is uphill and the ground under my feet is unstable. I am gaining. I am making poor choices in the evenings and on weekends. I know what is going on and I am working to correct it.

Elimination of some of the stress will happen within the next several weeks. Refocusing my energy towards eating right will begin sooner than that. And getting back to the gym will begin tomorrow. Tomorrow morning in fact. Which brings me to what happened to me this weekend.

All bright eyed and bushy tailed I went out Saturday for a run. HA HA. I have not run since Turkey Day. 500 yards in my breathing was labored and I was struggling. I slowed to a walk to regain composure and started to run again. 300 more yards or so and I realized what was happening. I was having an asthma attack. I slowed to a walk and controlled my breathing for the remainder of my time out. 1.58 miles total. I was hoping run, but the walk was good and I am sore.

So the lesson is, you lose so much of what you gained when you do not maintain. I did not mean for it to rhyme but... Maybe MizFit can use it sometime.

So tune in tomorrow to see if I made it to the gym first thing in the morning.

Review - Weight Watchers Whitman's Pecan Crowns

2009-01-30T09:49:00.001-06:00

I was asked to review some new Weight Watchers candy by some of the people with Weight Watchers group. I was given a choice of peanut butter cups and pecan crowns. Well for me the choice was simple. PECAN CROWNS! I was thinking about Turtles and how much I love those and figured that these might be similar. Not so much but not bad.

The pecan crowns are slightly larger than a quarter and are individually packaged. I will tell you that they are not quite as good as Turtles, but they are still pretty darn tasty. The milk chocolate on the outside is real and creamy. There are plenty of pecans underneath and the caramel is perfect in firmness in my opinion, not to hard but not to gooey either. So on to taste.

The chocolate and pecans were perfect and I had no complaints at all. The caramel was not as sweet as I was expecting. It had a bit of a coffee finish to it. More like the caramel you find in Rienens. So that would be my only complaint and really it is not so much a complaint as much as I was not expecting it.

Overall taste a appearance I give the product an A. However I will tell you that these at 1 WW point per piece. That's right a serving is one piece. That leads us to age old problem when a serving size is not reasonable. I think 3 pieces would be a more reasonable serving size, but that is my opinion.

So based on taste I say give these bad boys a go, but I urge you to exercise caution as with any thing like this it could be a trigger for you and before you know it your 1 point treat has turned into a 20 point debacle.

Trying to learn lessons

2009-01-29T15:52:00.001-06:00

I gained last week and likely gained this week. I am finding out that the more stress I have the more I eat, which in turn increases my stress regarding my weight. Ahh the vicious cycle of weight loss.

So here we are again. Stressing and eating and eating and stressing.

I hope to be able to make it all clear to you guys here in the next several weeks.

Look for a review of some weight watchers candy in the next day or so. I will also try to give you guys the attention that you deserve. Thanks for hangin in there with me.

Weigh in tomorrow - Not gonna be good

2009-01-19T14:33:00.001-06:00

OK the birthday week is over and it is a darn good thing. I think I have probably put on a pound or 2 but I am not to upset about it. I had a good time and I am moving on.

I think that is the way we have to look at things. Moving forward, always forward.

My exercise for the week was really pretty good. I hit the gym twice and managed to ride almost 50 miles on my stationary bike over the course of 4 rides. One ride I knocked out 20 miles. It was hard, but I am calling this the beginning of training for the Duathlon.

Tonight I will hit the gym and then tomorrow morning I will get in a 22-15 mile ride in depending on how much time I have. I am looking forward to this week and making good choices.

So here's to making better choices this week and getting in some serious exercise. It is time to kick butt and take names. Lets get after it!

Pound for Pound Challenge to help feed the hungry

2009-01-16T10:08:00.002-06:00

OK you losers I think this is a pretty darn good cause.

I got an email from the people over at General Mills yesterday and was moved to go ahead and endorse this cause. The Biggest Loser and General Mills have teamed up for a pound for pound challenge.

This is how it works. You pledge to lose a certain amount of weight and General Mills will donate 10 cents for every pound you lose to a local food bank. Apparently 10 cent for a food bank will be about a pound of food with the buying power they have.

I have pledged to lose 30 lbs from a starting weight of 306. I have until May 5th to do this. So I am asking you to join me in pledging some weight loss for a couple of months. Feed some people who are hungry and feel great!

Right now people have pledged over 1.5 million pounds of loss. I hope that people can lose the weight and follow through by logging back in at recording their final loss. Even half of that 1.5 million would be awesome. 750,000 pounds of food will help. Any amount will help.

In these times when we may be making fewer donations because of our personal financial situation I think it is great the General Mills is stepping up. So lets make them pay everyone! Lose a pound or 2 or lose 10 or 20 or more. It is time to give back.

To that end I am going to up the ante. I am creating my own pound for pound challenge. I will donate 10 cents for every pound you lose between now and May 5th to Harvesters. Just do the same thing you do with the General Mill promotion. Let me know in the comments that you want to join in, how much you think you can lose, and then I will remind all of you to give me your totals as May 5th draws near. You have till Feb 15th to get your rear in gear and sign up. I will write up a separate post to refer to later with all the details.

So now. Sign up for General Mills Challenge and then sign up for mine. Make us pay.

Binge

2009-01-15T10:33:00.001-06:00

Well is turns out the dude above from this movie and I have something in common. We both love orange tic tacs.

Yesterday for my birthday a friend at work gave me 4 packs of Orange Tic Tacs. I ate em all! I have a problem with them. I cannot stop. So I binged on tic tacs. The world is not coming to an end. But beware. when you eat 4 packs. That is 5.5 points for you WW types.

So beware the orange tic tac and check out that movie I mentioned above. I laughed me butt off.

So who love the orange tic tac? and if you can stop a just a couple, please let me know how you do it. I am starting to shake and am getting a little be sweaty. I think I need a fix.

Kick Ass!

2009-01-14T10:24:00.001-06:00

No other really no other words. A few short comings and indulgences but for the most part I stayed on track and did a pretty decent job. I drank probably 200 ounces of water everyday and got to the gym a bit and look what happened.

That would be a 5.8 pound loss this last week.

KICK ASS!

As for the challenge. Will and I are working out detail right now. We have another challenge we are looking to set up. We might also look to invite other bloggers to the challenge as well. There will be an investment in this challenge but it should be fun. Stay tuned for more information.

Have a great day everyone! I know I am!

Challenge

2009-01-13T09:05:00.001-06:00

Well today is weigh in day and there is an added bonus. my blogging buddy Will over at 4XLT and I have a friendly wager to see who could lose the most weight last week. The loser had to go and purchase and wear something from the opposing team on gameday.

You see MY Missouri tigers will be traveling to Stillwater OK to take on Will's OK St Cowboys on Wednesday the 21st. Granted neither of us will be at the game but it would do me proud to know that a Cowboy would be wear Tiger garb on gameday.

I am not sure how I did just yet as the weekend was a bit rough, but I am pretty sure I will register a small loss. So folks I let you know tomorrow the outcome of this little wager. Hopefully I will not have to buy a hat or shirt, but being a man of honor, if I have to I will.

Getting back on track is so hard.

2009-01-12T08:54:00.001-06:00

Once you have fallen completely off the wagon it appears that you cannot flip a switch and get back into the swing of things. This past two weeks has been full of highs and lows when it comes to living that healthy life that I want. I eat great for a few days and end up blowing off the weekend. I make it to the gym one day and then skip the next several. I am not really beating myself up over this. I am actually pretty pleased that I was able to make a start and get things going. I canceled on gym membership for another and workouts begin at the new gym that is closer to home and less expensive.

So I blog this not to beat myself up, but more to record what is happening. I think this way I can look back at this past month and realize that there are time when you are making the effort but breaking bad habits is difficult. So I will continue to work on breaking those habits and move forward.

I hope you all had a great weekend. I know I did!

Product Review - LJS Freshside Grille - Shrimp Scampi

2009-01-08T08:55:00.002-06:00

A few weeks back in while in my hiatus I received an email from a very nice woman with a marketing group for Long John Silvers. She asked me if I would like to try out their Freshside Grille menu. Of course not one to turn down something free I accepted. I also told her I would write up a review on my blog about it. So here goes. First ever Confessions of the Guy at WW product review.

Lets Start with the down and dirty details

Shrimp Scampi (8 Pieces)...........110 cal 5 fat 0 fiber
Corn Cobbette (w butter oil).......150 cal 10 fat 3 fiber
Vegetable Medley.........................50 cal 2 fat 3 fiber
Rice...............................................270 cal 4.5 fat 4 fiber
Breadstick ....................................170 cal 3.5fat 1 fiber
TOTALS..............................750 cal 25fat 11 fiber

That's 16 points when calculated as a meal folks. I will leave it to you to decide on how healthy this really is. you have the numbers from the Long John Silvers website in front of you.

Now onto taste and all other things good about food. I would say that for those 750 calories that you are getting a fair amount of food as a whole, but most of it is carb and calorie laden rice. There were only 8 shrimp. They were medium size shrimp at best. If you were to go to the store these would be the ones your buying that have 30 or so shrimp per pound. The vegetables were overcooked, but that will likely very from the time of day and the restaurant. I did not eat the corn or the breadstick, but they looked and smelled just fine. Speaking of smell. There was a definite fish odor. Ideally you would not have a strong fish odor. That said the shrimp tasted pretty good. They did not seem overly salted or buttered. As I mentioned the veggies were overcooked and mushy. The vegetables consisted of green beans, carrots, and yellow squash. The rice was a brown rice that was fine. It did not blow me away nor was I disappointed.

I will say that given that I was reviewing this dish I was considerably more critical than I would normally be of fast food. Normally fast food for me is all about being fast and cheap. Most times it does not taste or look great so take that for what it is worth.

Final review. I would not order this item again. I felt like there were to few shrimp and to much rice used as filler.

Stay tuned for another LJS Freshside grill review next week because after that one I will be send out $10 in LJS gift certificates to one lucky reader.

Facing facts

2009-01-07T08:23:00.001-06:00

Here we are. Just after the first of the year and it has been a difficult several months. I experienced a weight loss plateau at exactly the wrong time. Nearing the end of the year I just lost all motivation. I lost all will power. And now I am finding that once you have lost it, it is very hard to get back.

So where am I at? I gained 11 lbs in the course of 1 month and now I am trying to get back on track. I need to rid the house of most all unhealthy items again. The will power to say no to those foods is mostly gone. I need to wake up in the morning and just go to the gym. However that motivation that I once had is mostly gone.

Most importantly I need to continue on this journey. I need the swift kick in the ass to tell me to get up off it and start moving again. On Thanksgiving day I ran a 5k for crying out loud!

So looking back 2008 was a great year, lots of amazing things happened. However I want to put the weight loss portion of 2008 behind me. I was proud of what I did but that is in the past now and I have more work to do. No more will I be complacent and say how I lost all this weight in a year. I am focusing on 2009 now.

So lets set some goals shall we.

5 visits to the gym per week (30 minutes of cardio minimum)
Today is the last diet coke of January. No more till February, then only in extreme moderation
Follow the WW points. It worked before.
Drink lots and lots of water.

Now for the good stuff

By April 1st weigh in at 275
1 5k prior to April 1st
Duathlon April 11th - Long course 3 mile run and 15 mile bike
July 4th weigh in at 250
Steadily increase distance and get read for the Half marathon in October.
Return to the Turkey Trot a new man, Again.

OK I promise not to be so long, in fact I am going to get back to regularly scheduled blogging. I am sure I have lost a lot of you but those of you who stuck around are going to be treated to an awesome 2009!

Peace
MK

Matt, where have you been?

2008-12-17T14:01:00.001-06:00

Well I have been busy y'all.

Let me just tell you that my first Holiday season on plan has been a disaster. I am gaining a bit here and there and have already committed to getting going at the first of the year. You don't have to tell me that I should not wait. I know, but honestly my mind is so cluttered right now that it is difficult to have the focus that is requires to lose weight. So why have I lost focus? Well the Holidays for one, and some personal issues that I prefer not to get into.

The thing is that I have found that when you con concentrate on your weight loss goals and you are seldom distracted it is a much easier path to follow. Obviously the path becomes rocky and difficult to stay on when your distracted. I wonder if any of you have found this to be true.

I am trying at this point to be upbeat about my progress but it is difficult. My stall is now well over 3 months and I am making excuses. Hopefully I can get the steadfast resolve back in 2009.

So what else has been going on with me. Well I can tell you one of the "distractions" has made me very happy. I am an engaged man now. I hear the collective sigh of all the ladies out there. This one got away from you. You will be happy to know that Carrie and I are extremely happy together and I am engaged to my best friend. So buck up ladies. This I can tell you. There are others like me out there. :-)

Happy Wednesday to all and to all a good night!

Binging on carrots

2008-12-05T14:26:00.001-06:00

Well yesterday was pretty clean points wise. I did have taco bell for dinner in a rush but I was able to do it without going over in points. No I probably did not cover the good health guidelines, but I was happy.

Today has been good thus far. Fruit and a chicken blt salad from mcd's. I will say I am a bit hungry right now but I am putting off my banana till a bit later. I need to drink a bit more water today to as I am noticing a headache coming on and that would also help with the hunger.

Overall I am feeling pretty good about the week so far. I am going to try to not overdo things this weekend, but I am making no promises. We have events planned all weekend. Football games, birthday dinners, and just weekend stuff.

I am hoping to get in some serious exercise over the weekend though. Lets hope that happens!

Claw marks on the wagon

2008-12-04T08:41:00.003-06:00

First I want to thank you guys for your supportive comments yesterday. My readers, lurkers or not are so supportive. I really feel like am friends with you all.

The claw marks I spoke of are from me trying to get back on the wagon. I will say that I wrote everything down yesterday. I also did great till I got home. Most of the bad stuff has been removed from the house. BUT... I ordered a taco pizza for dinner last night. Genius! Oh and before that I had a whole bunch of the french's dried onion things you put on top of green bean casserole. Also some marshmallows. Basically anything in sight. I was not even that hungry. Thank goodness Carrie stopped me at three slices. I was ready to dig in for more. Tonight the pizza goes in the trash.

So 62 points later I was done! Hole crap 62 points? yep 62! It is what it is. At least I wrote it all down.

So today is a new day. Starting off with water rather than Diet Coke. I am sure some of you understand what a undertaking that is all by itself. I am enjoying some mixed fruit for breakfast. I have to tell you that I really enjoy the frozen fruit for a snack or breakfast. Let face it. I did not get to 400lbs on fruit it would take an act of god to over do it on fruit. Plus it is wildly nutritious. See:

I pick this up at Sam's club in a big bag for about 8.50 for a 6 lb bag and it lasts just about a week. Like I said it is a really good evening snack. ( I know I know, this is coming from the guy who indulged on chips and dip 2 nights ago)

So there you have it. I am going to at least post a recap of my previous day so you guys can give me the swift kick in the butt that I need.

I almost forgot to share this. That would be my boy on the gong!

Well I guess I deserved that

2008-12-03T08:30:00.001-06:00

300.8! Look to your right and you will see that I gave gained 8 lbs since late October. I did however weigh in last night. I knew I would gain. I knew I would be about 300. I was hoping to be under it but so be it. But this is the thing. I went to my sons 4th grade holiday performance which I will have to show you guys just cause he played the GONG! Anyway back on topic, we came home and after a good clean day of eating I ended up sitting down to some chips and deans french onion dip. Are you kidding me. What was I thinking? Why is it even in the house?

I am in a funk guys. I was at 301.6 on Aug 26 of this year. In just over 3 months I have managed to lose basically nothing. My motivation is for crap.

I can tell you that football season has not helped me. We are talking College not pros just so you guys know. But every weekend has been food and beer and tailgating. Just so you all know. Tailgating is not a key ingredient to success in weight loss. I have had fun no doubt but I had less fun knowing that I was hurting myself in the weight loss department.

Now there has been an ugly by product of those weekends. All the great habits I formed from January to August are gone. I rarely log on to the WW boards. I have not logged on to track anything in weeks. I have not been recording my weight. It is just painful.

I am going to try to refocus today. Only today and I will worry about tomorrow when it arrives. Today I will not go off plan. Today I will track everything I eat. Today I will exercise 30 minutes. Finally, today I will remove all the crap food from the house.

Trotting Turkey

2008-12-01T13:40:00.001-06:00

Well I made up for not running in the Gobbler Grind by running the Turkey Trot. It was a slow race, mainly because the track was too small for everyone. 2000 people on a 10 foot wide road. The race started and it took me at about 90 seconds to get to the start line. Still walking for another 40 yards or so until we finally started jogging only to slow to a walk again at the first turn. Then we were back on pace. Or so I thought. The first mile was a slow one but I tried to compensate by going a bit faster and that was a mistake. I had to walk for about 50 yards or so toward the end of mile one. The rest of the race was pretty relaxed and normal and I finished at about 35:20 adjusting for the time it took to get to the start. Overall not bad, but not what I would have liked.

Now after that I went on a food induced rampage. Oh turkey gravy poured from the heavens as we enjoyed not one, but 2 thanksgiving meals with all the fixins (as we call it here in the midwest). My stomach is just now feeling somewhat normal after the crazy foodness I consumed. I will make sure I make it to my WW meeting tomorrow so I can stay accountable. We will be back on track. get off the couple of lbs I know I gained and get back into a groove.

Gee I sure am comfortable.

2008-11-26T10:57:00.001-06:00

OK so I am wondering if this happens to a lot of people. You lose some weight, you make some behavior changes, you still have some more weight to lose, but you get comfortable. You stop losing and start to revert back to behaviors that got you to the heavier you.

Has that happened to you?

I am pretty certain that is what is happening to me. I hit 300 lbs, lost 100 lbs and got comfy. I am still not real happy with what I see in the mirror, but I am not as repulsed as I once was. I am more physically fit than many many people. So I am comfortable.

Then comes the self destructive behaviors. I might drink to much on occasion or I might indulge in things that were completely off limits before. Chips and Ben and Jerry's indulgences. I am telling myself that once the new year rolls around then I will be back on track. I just don't want to gain a bunch over the holidays. I don't want to gain anything over the holidays.

I try to look back and see what I have done, but honestly in this particular case I try to look forward most of the time. I feel like focusing on gains and losses can lead to that aforementioned self destructive behavior.

So I am asking you guys today. Did you comfortable along the way? What did you do to break the cycle?

In other news, I am running a 5k to replace the once I missed. The Parkville Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day. Weather is gonna be a bit chilly, but I am looking forward to the race.

Beyond that, Enjoy your Thanksgiving. I plan on having some great food and great company. This year in particular I am thankful for my family, my friends, my new found blogging friends, and for the my health and the health of my family and friend and all of you guys!

Gobbler Grind?

2008-11-25T08:25:00.001-06:00

Oh yes I would love to tell you I went out and ran the 5k, but that would be a flat out lie.

Word of advice to runners over the age of 30. Don't go out for a few (and by a few I mean a few pitchers) margaritas the day before race day. Seems like common sense now. Oh well. I might try to run a race on Thanksgiving morning. I am also fighting with a sinus infection that I did not want to make worse, but really it was the booze.

Tomorrow I am going to dive into the thought that we reach a significant milestone and then subconsciously start self destructive behaviors. Not sure where that once is gonna take us but it should be interesting, and probably long. Better bring your reading glasses tomorrow.

Till then.

Willie Nelson and I are old pals!

2008-11-20T10:46:00.001-06:00

I was back "On the road again" last night. I made ol' Willie proud! I ran a 5k training run last night. I came out really strong and finished a bit weak. Honestly exactly what I expected. I am not disappointed at all, in fact my time was not horrible for me. I cruised in with a 36:26 so I am happy with that.

Now I am going to kissing the dreadmill goodbye forever. If it means not winter running then so be it. I will get on the elliptical. I HATE the dreadmill. I am now pretty excited about the race this Sunday. I don't really have any time goals so my goal will be to have a great time.

Up 2.8 and a Duathlon?

2008-11-19T11:03:00.001-06:00

So up 2.8 lbs. and not all that surprised. I will qualify the weigh in a bit as I made the switch from gym shorts to jeans for the winter. I was also in a long sleeve T rather than short. Not that it made up the entire 2.8 but it might have made up a bit.

Tonight I plan on getting in my run. Well plan is not the word as much as I must. if I have to go to a lighted park to do it I will. I have to run a bit in the elements and get my endurance up a bit.

The question I eluded to is this.

Would you tackle a Duathlon (run / bike) in April if you ran your first 5k in October?

They have 2 courses a one where you run 3 miles and bike 7 and another where you run 5 miles and bike 15.

The first question as I stated above -
Would you do it?
and then
Which one would you do?

This is the link for all of you jumping in to join me.

Shakespeare's Pizza MaxTrax Duathlon April 11 2009

And just so you know Shakespeare's has some of the best Pizza on the Planet.

Tried the dreadmill again.

2008-11-18T10:15:00.001-06:00

I HATE IT I HATE IT I HATE IT! Yes that is the little kid in me screaming and yelling that I just hate something. Well I know better now and will not do that again. It was just silly to try it. The first time I did it I did not like it. The second, same result. Then I went outside and actually enjoyed running. NO MORE TREADMILL FOR ME.

That said I logged a measly mile and struggled through every bit of it. Then I hopped on the elliptical for 45 minutes and did a full circuit on the weights. I was in the gym for almost 2 hours. The girlfriend must have thought I had been abducted by workout aliens.

I will go to weight watchers tonight. I will weigh in wear jeans and probably gain a couple of pounds. I confident I am still under 300, but I just need to put it all together again. Oh well. If I stay at 300 for the rest of the year I will look back at 2008 as the year I lost 100 lbs. but honestly I am hoping for a bit more. We shall see.

Gobbler Grind on Saturday

2008-11-17T12:22:00.001-06:00

Holy crap! I looked at the calendar and I am running a 5k this Saturday. I have run all of 6 miles since my last 5k. This should be interesting. I am not sure what to wear, I am praying for some decent weather and hoping for a good run. Nothing like going into your second race cold huh.

This week I will refocus on running. I am still going to try to break my personal record set my last time out. I will run a minimum of 2 miles tonight and try to get in the entire 3.11. I will continue to life and work out full bore until Friday when I will do 2 miles and then 1 mile on Saturday.

Holy Crap! Sunday is race day. But I should get a tech shirt out of this one!

Do you know what day it is?

2008-11-14T09:36:00.005-06:00

Well I would not have know either if it were not for George. You see early in my weight watchers journey I was searching for other blogs to read and I came across the B.A.D blog. Authored by one of the most amazing people who love to meet someday.

I found George because he at one time did weight watchers, but his blog is about everything in his life. His faith, his struggle with weight, his family, and diabetes. George and his family are amazing. Read up and you will see.

You should check out his blog and give him a shout out to say hello. Click below to get B.A.D.

I encourage you to learn more about the disease and do what you can. If all you can do is pray for a cure then please do. For now I am praying.

Why to work out in the morning

2008-11-14T09:35:00.001-06:00

So I worked out this morning. I did not get that run in last night. I have a tone of excuses but basically it all boils down to running out of time. I had all kinds of things come up. I had to work late, I had to pick up the little one and get some dinner going and, and, and, and.

So I rolled out this morning at O' Dark thirty and hit they gym. 45 minutes on the elliptical and some weights. I feel good and I had nothing going on at 4:30am.

It is funny how nothing comes up at 4:30 in the morning. You don't have to work late, or pick up kids, or worry about traffic. It is just you and the sunrise. pretty peaceful really. I walked out this morning and paused for a moment before heading to the gym. I listened. I could only hear a couple of cars. It was nearly silent.

One of my favorite times to be outside is in the evening during a snow shower. It is just silent. I just love that. Sorry I kinda got of on a tangent there. But in our world of constant stimulus I crave silence more as I get older.

Change in plans

2008-11-13T08:18:00.001-06:00

For today anyway. I did not sleep all that well last night and in the back of my head I knew that today's weather was going to be good enough for running outside. Sooo I am going to get my run on tonight and bust out a 5k training run.

I am planning on this being a pretty relaxed pace, which for me is just above a brisk walk, but I am thinking a 12:30 per mile pace would be good. We will see how I feel this afternoon. It is funny with running. You can plan an easy run and find that you are ready to really get after it and end up running at a much faster pace. Or on the other side, and it seems like this happens more often than the former, you could plan on a faster run and end up with dead legs and struggle through your entire run.

But struggle we will right? Of course. I was telling someone yesterday how interesting it is now that I am in some semblance of physical fitness that you might hit a point in your cardio work out where you want to stop but after a few minutes you get through it and you are on cruise control. That is a good feeling to know that even though your mind is telling you that your done, and your muscles are beginning to tell you they are tired that you can keep going.

Point of all that. We all just need to keep going. Of course when I say "we" I really meant "I". I need to keep going with the exercise. It is to important to the process to just forget about it.

Yea Baby!

2008-11-12T08:19:00.001-06:00

I made it to the gym. I didn't even get lost on the way there. The alarm went off at 4:30 and there was some bargaining going on. Sleepy Matt on my left shoulder said, "Hey, you don have to be to work until 8, go back to sleep. Then a more motivated Matt reminded me what I wrote in this very blog last night. I will make it to the gym I said. I made it to the gym and got in a great workout.

I walked in finding the elliptical machines still sitting where I had left them. I hopped on and decided that I should be ambitious and try to knock out 45 minutes at a low "level". I managed to do the whole thing and according to the calorie counter I burned over 1000 calories. I may or may not be accurate, but I can tell you my heart rate was between 140 and 160 most of the way. Only one or two spikes in the middle and it was lower at the beginning and end.

Then I managed to hit the weights. While I did not do a full circuit on the upper body I did manage to get in 3 sets each of presses, curls, triceps extensions, and chest fly's. The thing that really bugs me is the amount of strength I lost. That alone is motivation to hit the gym.

So tomorrow. The alarm will blare its hideous tune and I will rise and go to the gym.

Changing the subject for a hot second

What the heck is up with The Biggest Loser these day. Entertaining yes, but there are some very nasty people on the show this season. I for one watch the show to be entertained, but even more so to be inspired. To hear the hateful words coming out of the mouths of some contestants is just ridiculous.

I will work out in the morning

2008-11-11T21:29:00.002-06:00

I will work out tomorrow morning. I will get my ass out of bed and go to the gym. I will, I will, I will.

I ate it because it was there.

2008-11-10T15:59:00.001-06:00

And the roller coaster headed down a to a new low last night. You want to see what waited for me there?

We decided after working in the ward for 5ish hours that cooking was out. So order a pizza. So far we are good.

Mistake One: Order a medium (papa johns only does thin crust in large pizzas.

Mistake two: Order that badboy you see right above rather than my normal Garden fresh

Mistake three: Oh God how I do not want to admit this but I am so maybe next time I will realize that I was full a long time before I stopped.
Back to Mistake three: I ate the whole thing.

BY MYSELF.

What that hell was I thinking. I know I know it is only one meal and one day, pick myself up and move on.

The question is more about motivation. Why did I eat the whole thing? Eating an entire pizza in one sitting qualifies as a binge. I was hungry when I started and ended up miserable when I was done. I wish I could answer the question. Right now the best I got was I ate it because it was there.

TV Workout and a quick thank you

2008-11-07T08:31:00.001-06:00

Ohhh the the benefits of a morning workout. How quickly we forget.

So this morning I was just laying in bed after time had passed where I could get out for a run or go to the gym with enough time and I though. Morgan said something about Fitness on Demand on Time Warner. I searched it out this morning and guess what... IT WAS THERE.

I queued up this men's fitness cardio workout that focuses on the core. Let me tell you this 22 minute work out was great. Well at least for sweating and huffing and puffing. I am guessing I might be a bit sore from it but I am feeling good and full of energy this morning. I am not sure the TV workout is for me but I can tell you that it is better for me than laying in bed.

On the food front... Well I suck. I have come a long way and that is great and all but I need to focus. The holidays are coming up. Comfort food is coming out in droves with the cold weather. At least I am holding steady. I am still below 300 so I am happy for the that.

Finally. Thank you for the comments yesterday. I think you guys are right and maybe we need to dream a little more and share that with our little ones. All this thought of losing sight of our dreams has made me think about my own dreams and happiness. It has also made me think about my child and all the children out there. So I pass this along to you parents and future parents.

Let your children dream and dream BIG. Encourage it. As simple as it sounds, do it. We get caught up in our daily lives of work and the news we are fed with every day. Shelter you kids more from the negativity of the world. It makes me think of the song "Accentuate the Positive", check out the lyrics. This was what we need to do more of in our lives.

Accentuate the Positive-

Gather 'round me, everybody
Gather 'round me while I'm preachin'
Feel a sermon comin' on me
The topic will be sin and that's what I'm ag'in'
If you wanna hear my story
The settle back and just sit tight
While I start reviewin'
The attitude of doin' right

You've got to accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mister In-Between

You've got to spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
Have faith or pandemonium's
Liable to walk upon the scene

To illustrate my last remark
Jonah in the whale, Noah in the ark
What did they do just when everything looked so dark?

(Man, they said "We'd better accentuate the positive")
("Eliminate the negative")
("And latch on to the affirmative")
Don't mess with Mister In-Between (No!)
Don't mess with Mister In-Between

(Ya got to spread joy up to the maximum)
(Bring gloom down to the minimum)
(Have faith or pandemonium's)
(Liable to walk upon the scene)

You got to ac (yes, yes) -cent-tchu-ate the positive
Eliminate (yes, yes) the negative
And latch (yes, yes) on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mister In-Between
No, don't mess with Mister In-Between

I will focus more on the weight loss and exercise now. Lets face it. I proved it to myself for the millionth time. Start your day off with some exercise and you just feel better. Plain and simple.

How do you explain dreaming big to a 9 year old.

2008-11-06T09:10:00.002-06:00

Wow. Last night was a tough one. I am sure many of you have children and may have been through this but I really struggled with how to explain "dreaming big" to my 9 3/4 year old. He would be upset if I referred to him as 9.

Last night at dinner we were talking about Charlie's post about what we want to be when we grow up. We talked about dreaming of growing up to be something and I asked my son what he wanted to be when he grew up. Now I knew I would not get an answer because he never seems to know. I am fine with that. What I got this time however was altogether different. My son said, "I don't want to dream about what I want to be because I do not want to be disappointed.

I was floored. I was sad. I wondered if this is only my child or were there many children who feel this way. I tried to explain dreaming big is a good thing and remembering those dreams is important. Honestly I was devastated. I felt as if my 9 year old son was actually 39 and uttering those words after a long day at work.

Is innocence lost the appropriate term. I am not sure. I am not sure you can get back to where he should be. The whole world is available to him and he should feel exactly that way. I hope that I have not gone wrong in some way.

Sorry for the lack of weight loss talk lately, but I would really love to get your guys take on this. Any psychologist out there?

Art.

2008-11-05T10:19:00.002-06:00

Well I am going to take a break from weight loss blogging today and talk about art. Charlie over at Back to the Fridge asked what we wanted to be when we grow up. I came up with a few things really and at nearly 35 years old I figure that it might be time to grow up a bit. That said I am also in no big hurry.

So one of the things I mentioned was Photography. In particular fine art photography. You see way back in high school my tow best friends were photogs for school publications. At the time it seemed logical to take the photography class to hang out with them. Well it turned out that I was struck by the photography bug. My friend both went on to other careers but are excellent photographers. Jay is one of the best sports photogs I have seen, even to this day he can take amazing shots. Like this.

Then there is my buddy Jason who is actually back in school and getting is Masters of Fine Art in Digital Photography. Who can come up with stuff like this.

So I guess I should also share some of my stuff to:

Here are a few of my favorites.

Tulips at Bellagio

Stargazer in Black (Photo I did for my girlfriend last Christmas)UPDATE: Here is the original

I took this picture of a puddle in my driveway and then edited the color and saturation.

This is a photo from a camping trip. I took this photo from under the leaves on a slightly overcast day. you would think this is a black and white photo, but it is shot in color.

And my favorite is what I call "Inverted day at Shedd" I took all these images and then inverted the colors on them. I matted them on a piece of Plexiglas I painted black and then hand sanded swirls into. This is the finished product.

Election Day and skipping weigh in.

2008-11-04T11:39:00.001-06:00

Well I think I pretty much held steady this week, I am not going to weight in tonight and will just forgo it for the week. I have to get out and exercise rights that others before me fought for. Voting is important to me. More important that hitting my meeting.

I am also planning on some good exercise by raking leaves for a couple of hours.

Sorry guys I just don't have a ton to say lately.

Ohh, I would say that if you have never had a honeycrisp apple. You should try one.

Happy Election day everyone. Go out and exercise your rights.

Holy Guacamole!

2008-10-31T10:42:00.001-05:00

Happy Halloween everyone. I hope all of you enjoy a safe and fun Holiday. Here at work people are dressed up. I am sporting my brand spankin' new Michael Scott's Dunder Mifflin Scranton Meredith Palmer Memorial Celebrity Rabies Awareness Pro-Am Fun Run For The Cure T-Shirt. The thought of being Three Hole punch Jim passed my mind but, I needed to wear this bad boy. Thanks to my awesome girlfriend for picking it up for me.

The other thing going on today is goodie day. Lets just say it is 10:30 am and I am already 10 pts down for the day. It is not looking good. I will do my best to hold my own, maybe try to get a quick run in this afternoon and be as good as I can tonight. However I was tasked with making the guac for a Mexican Halloween Celebration. Not to brag but my guac kicks but and has addictive qualities. Now I know that Avocados have the "good" fat, but lets face it. Calories are Calories. Oh and did I mentions the chips and tacos and cheese and not to mention all the sweets about the office. Ugh...

Tearing myself away from the bowl of guac now and trying to strategically plan my path through the office to avoid all the goodies. Happy Halloween y'all.

Gobbler Grind 5k

2008-10-30T15:42:00.001-05:00

On November 23rd I will embark on my second 5k. I should get a tech shirt for this one which is a big bonus. The only goal I have for this one is to not freeze my butt off and to attempt to beat my previous time.

Care to join me?

Reduced fat?

2008-10-30T11:57:00.001-05:00

So I was at the the grocery store picking up some necessities and was going to pick up some Oreo's. I picked up the reduced fat as an good weight watcher should. Then I noticed that the full fat variety was on sale. Well this Weight Watcher also happens to be broke so I took a look at the labels. Are you kidding me! Only 10 calories difference? Granted the 2.5 grams of fat is pretty substantial but to me I felt like those 10 calories should have been more like 70. True the calories are reduced, but I feel like if your going to offer a product that you are claiming to be healthier than your original version, it should be considerably healthier.

Just my 2 cents.

Huh. Isn't that strange

2008-10-29T12:22:00.001-05:00

I am thanking the weight loss gods today. Somehow I managed a Biggest Loser like 8 pound lose this last week. Even after all the beer and pizza and just poor choices from the weekend I lost and lost big. It may still catch up with me and I am prepared for that. However I am back to tracking and should be able to get back to the gym again soon. I did however manage a run last night.

I RAN to the Weight Watchers meeting. How nuts is that. It was a 3.25 mile run that kicked my but. I was slow and was reminded very quickly why I like to keep to the side roads. I had to stop 4 different times for traffic. I just hate that. There were other things that were more of a factor. For instance, not running since the race. The other was the hills. Oh my goodness. I had no idea it would be that brutal. I made it though even with a little kick at the end.

So you might be wondering what I did the rest of the week to lose 8 pounds. I wish I could tell you exactly. I cut out most of the diet coke and all of the frozen box lunches and I tracked everything during the week. More than anything I think my body was ready to be done with the weight. I looked at a line graph of my weight loss and found that on 2 previous occasions after a stall I have losses come up in successive weeks. And the first was generally pretty significant.

So I cannot explain it. I just go with the flow and try to keep the train rolling.

Why do I do that to myself?

2008-10-27T11:01:00.001-05:00

I am beginning to think that I have a problem and this is not a good one to have. After having a very positive week on plan I "celebrated" over the weekend. I had a card game Friday night and then the Mizzou game on Saturday. The problem is not so much with food although I did not make great decisions I did not really over indulge or binge on any food. I lost control of what I was drinking and 2 days later I am paying for it.

Let me detail this weekend. Friday was poker night at Matt's house. Good friends telling stories and losing money. It was a great time. I had a beer in my hand ALL NIGHT. I was drunk. Not felling down but definitely well past tipsy.

Then Saturday I went to my sons basketball game and then we were off to Columbia for tailgating and the Mizzou game. It was Homecoming weekend and we always stay Saturday night for Homecoming weekend. We tailgated before the game and I always have a drink in my hand, at halftime, more beer, after the game, um you guessed it, MORE BEER. Back at the Hotel, MORE BEER, of and a few margaritas.

Noticing a pattern here. I am not sure it was binge drinking, but I defiantly did not know when to say when. My entire body still hurts. My mind is a bit foggy still and my stomach is still churning away. I believe it is going to be necessary for me to forgo alcohol in situations like the. Situations where I can drink in such excess that I am just hurting my body. I seem fine having a couple drinks with dinner, but when I am in a social setting where everyone else is drinking I guess I feel the need to partake in excess.

Obviously this has only a bit to do with weight loss. Alcohol does not help your weight loss efforts. I feel though that this is more about control. There are times when I feel out of control when I am eating as well. There are times when I think we all need to loosen up a bit. This was not one of those times.

Not quite sure why I am post this other than to be fair with my readers. I feel like sometimes I omit my struggles from my blog and I think you guys need to know the everyone I have ever spoken to about weight loss talks about struggles. So I am posting this one. I also think that by putting this out there and admitting this problem to you guys then maybe I will think better of it next time I am in that situation.

A much much better week and a look at the last month or so

2008-10-24T08:46:00.001-05:00

Well I will quickly tell you that this last week has been so much better. I have been staying within my points, I have given up diet coke (again), and have been eating pretty clean. I did have Papa Johns Garden Fresh pizza for dinner last night because it was easy and I had the parent teacher meeting and all. But other than that I have been pretty much on track. I think I will have a decent loss coming up on Tuesday as long as I do not blow it this weekend. I will be making every effort to not over indulge on the beer and tailgate goodness. We will see how that goes.

Looking back over the last month or so I can tell you a couple of things that happened to me that caused me to stall out. Or at least things that I think contributed to me stalling out. The first is frozen box syndrome. Be it Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice or Weight Watchers, they all have these froze meals. They are pretty small in size for a guy of 300 lbs on a 6'2" frame. I have been eating those primarily for lunch over the past couple of months. I think that lead to more binges and definitely lead to an increase in sodium intake. Combine that with the fact that I had began to drink more and more diet coke and it was a recipe for disaster.

Factor two is more psychological. I was training for the 5k. I was really putting a lot of energy into that training and put my dietary concerns on the back burner. I stopped tracking my food intake and was not all that concerned. I needed fuel to run right? Well maybe if I were an elite athlete maybe, but for a guy who was just heading out to try to finish. I needed to focus on both. I to restate. I lost sight of the real goal which is to loss weight and get healthy. The 5k was awesome and I will continue to run and run in races, but I will remember that I need to keep my priorities straight.

In the coming months I will be running at least one if not 2 races before the end of the year. Both will be 5k's. I will get back to the gym and start my weight training again. I will also get reacquainted with the elliptical. Most importantly I will be tracking my food again.

On a side note-
I write this blog primarily for myself and try to make it as readable as possible for those of you who happen across it. So given that I do have a pretty loyal readership I will throw it out to you guys. Is there something you want me to discuss, a question I can answer? My readers are always great and I appreciate all of you, even you lurkers out there. :-)

If I don't see you prior to Monday, have a great weekend!

Eggs are good!

2008-10-23T12:17:00.001-05:00

Its funny how we can get off track and forget what worked so long ago. This morning I made eggs. 2 eggs fried (in pam) served atop a plain piece of toast. A total of 5 points for you weight watchers out there, but for those of you non weight watchers. Those 2 eggs only have 160 calories and are loaded with 13 grams of protein. Bingo! What a difference getting in more calories and protein to begin my day made. I should take my own advice more often. Now if I could just get back to the gym. Does anyone have a map?

Race Pics!

2008-10-22T15:16:00.001-05:00

Below is pre-race at my house. To the left is my brother Zack, down front is our Dad (Ken) holding Chuck Norris, To the right is my buddy Jay and of course in the back is the bearded wonder. That would be me.

The rest of the pics are near the finish. I had never saw my peeps taking pics. I was focused on finishing strong

New weigh in day up 3.2 lbs

2008-10-22T08:30:00.001-05:00

Well I am not going to lie that just kinda sucks. That said I am not to worries about it. I am back to tracking and I am trying to cut out the diet coke again. I feel like I will probably rolling down the track again by next week and have the 300 number fading away in my rear view mirror.

I have changed back to Tuesday meetings. I guess I feel more at home on Tuesdays. The Thursday meeting is big and the leader is full or energy, but to me it is just not the right fit. Last night I was able to identify why I like Tuesdays better.

At last nights meeting I was able to share my experience with people and get some conversation going. With all the people and the dynamic of Thursday meetings that was more difficult. So my move to Tuesday may be selfish, but I think it will make a difference.

In other news.

I am looking for another race before the end of the year. I might be a bit hooked on the racing thing. I am looking at couple of different runs nearby I just need to look at dates and see what might work out. I plan on doing 5k races through the end of the year and another one in the spring and then move up to a couple of 10k races and get ready for the half marathon for this time next year.

Who would have ever thought? Matt Keeling is a runner.

What a great race! Race Report 5k - 33:54

2008-10-19T12:56:00.005-05:00

So for those of you just joining me I am going to recap a bit. About 3 months ago I had this idea that I could run a 5k. I trained for a a couple of months and signed up the the 5k race of the Kansas City Marathon. I will tell you that I was nervous the week leading up to the race but I ended up running and doing pretty well. So on with the race report

The night before the race I did not sleep all that well, but I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to roll. My dad, brother and best friend Jay were at the house by 6 am and we were out the door by 6:15 and to the race by 6:30 or so. Upon arrival we were met by about 7500 people all preparing to run either the full or half marathons and the 5K. I must say that it is a completely impressive to watch about 6000 people running down the street as they took off down the street. 6000 half and full marathoners took off before the 5k runners. About 15 minutes later the 5K race began.

Once the race began I concentrated on not starting to fast and probably could have gone just a couple of seconds faster for the first mile. The second mile is mostly uphill and I felt like I ran that pretty well. Then what goes up must come down and mile 3 was pretty much all downhill so I was able to cook through that pretty quickly. I was somewhere near the middle of all of the 5k people and near the lower 3rd of all the men running it. Over all I am very proud as I was able to set a personal record and ran the race in 33:54. I think maybe I left 5 or 10 seconds out there but over 33 minutes I feel ok about that.

I crossed the finish line with my best friend Jay. My brother was about 3 minutes behind us and my dad was about 3 minutes behind him. I first want to thank Jay for running with me and holding back a bit so he and I could finish together. I will work hard so when we run our next race he will not have to hold up. I then would like to thank my dad and brother. I am so proud of both of you. My brother went out and ran the race basically with no training. My dad at age 65 ran the race in 39:11. He did his best to train a little and signed up at the last minute along with my bother. I am so proud of my brother, dad and Jay I am not sure I can express it.

At the finish line I was met by my girlfriend, her mother, my mother and Jays wife (who is also one of my very best friends). I was so happy to cross the finish line. Now I feel like it is time to start over again. As mentioned before I intend on getting back to my original plan and write stuff down and my plan also involves getting back to the gym. I am going get back to the elliptical and weights. I am going to cut back on the running for right now. I intend on increasing distance but only running once or twice a week while hitting the gym 3 or 4 times a week. This time next year the goal is to run the half marathon. And maybe even a full marathon in 2010. We will see as alot can happen between now and then, but for now that is the plan.

Overall I loved running the race and will run another soon. I now consider myself a runner. Thank you to all of you out there who have supported me both virtually and in person. I think you all know who you are. Not to get all sappy but I love you all and you all have a special place in my heart.

Just really quick

2008-10-18T13:34:00.002-05:00

I was successful in my race. I ran the whole thing and likely set a new personal record. I am waiting for the results to post and they should be up by 3pm. I will give you the full rundown on the race later on today once I have the results. Thanks to everyone for all your support!

It's Go Time!

2008-10-17T10:54:00.001-05:00

In more ways than one. I have less than 24 hours until I will be running in my first organized 5k race. If I look back at where I was when I decided to do this here. I mentioned that I would have to train my butt off on Aug 20th just to run the whole thing. Then on Sept 27 I was bragging about running a sub 35 minute 5k. I might just break a personal record tomorrow. I might not. I will definitely accomplish my goal though. I will run the whole darn thing. So with 20 some odd hours to go it is GO TIME!

In what other way is it GO TIME? I am glad you asked. As you can see by the weight loss tracker to your right I have been stuck right around 300 for a while now. I have been very lax in my efforts to write all of my food intake down and my exercise has consisted exclusively of running. Beginning Monday I am going to begin anew. I am going to rededicate myself to tracking and getting to the gym. I will not give up running, but it is going to be a weekend endeavor. I am going to get back on the elliptical and hit the weights. The most important thing is going to be to track. Not exceed my daily points and get this train rolling. I feel very lucky that I am still on the tracks, I just need to move.

If any of you out there are struggling I invite you to join me in rededicating your efforts. I think we all know what needs to be done, we just have to get our heads right.

ITS GO TIME!

Nervous?

2008-10-15T09:22:00.001-05:00

What if I am not at the right place at the right time? What if I start of to fast and end up having to walk? What if I sleep through the whole darn race? And then there is the what if I look like a fool?

But on the flipside, What if I do really well and break my own personal record? I am just nor sure how I am supposed to feel leading up to my first official 5k. I am excited and nervous and all of those things combined. I feel like I am ready. I have tremendous support from everyone around me. So I guess that leaves it to me to get through the nerves and do it.

Tag! Well ok I will play.

2008-10-14T09:20:00.002-05:00

Alright I got tagged by SuperDave to tell 6 random facts or interesting things about myself. I am going to play along, but I am not sure how interesting this will be. However random I can do. In turn I think I will tag, Will, Craig, and Tony

1. I am a big fan of fly fishing. My buddy Jason and I stopped in Missoula MT for an impromptu fly fishing excursion and it is absolutely one of my favorite memories. Fly fishing is peaceful and exhilarating all the same time. The small trout that you catch on a fly rod on 2lb test line is pretty rewarding.

2. I am an IT guy by trade, but never really want to do anything with computers when I go home. I just prefer not to think about it. I would much prefer to do something with my hands. One day when I am rewarded with retirement I hope to take up woodworking and build furniture or something.

3. I can play poker for hours on end (if I am winning and have the cash to stay in the game). Hopefully I can get a game together soon. I miss playing cards. Once upon a time I was pretty good.

4. This is probably true of everyone who has written a blog, but I never thought it would really get read. In the great big world that is the Internet we found each other and the blogging community is a very cool and supportive bunch.

5. I lived in Gurnee IL during 2005-2006. I took a job as IT Manager at Community Trust Credit Union. I ended leaving that job to return to KC to be closer to my son. I am happy with my decision to return to KC but I regret leaving that job all the time. The was by far the best job I have had. It was a great opportunity with great people. Thank you to Madeline for the shot, I am just sorry I was not there longer.

6. Back when I was a kid I would run wind sprints with the likes of formal Kansas City Royals, Frank White, Amos Otis, George Brett, Hal McRae, and others. Back when I was a kid the guys would come outside the stadium to the natural grass to run before the games because at the time they had Astroturf on the field. I would guess they did not want to get injured, but I would also guess that it was much cooler on the grass. My dad always wanted to make sure we got there when the gates opened so we could see batting practice and maybe snag a ball or an autograph. That gave me the chance to run with my heroes of the day. Little did I know my hero was the one taking me to the game in the first place. Thanks Dad.

Wow.

2008-10-13T10:08:00.001-05:00

What a weekend. First lets just get it out there. My Tigers lost. They got beat and they looked bad the whole game. Another night game on tap for the now #11 ranked Tigers and this one will match us against the #1 Texas Longhorns. Umm that could mean 2 weeks of PFLDS (Post Football Loss Depression Syndrome).

Lets talk for a moment about PFLDS. I am not sure what to do about this. I am so invested in this team, both financially and emotionally. I woke up yesterday and was just numb to it. I was in a bad mood for a lot of the day yesterday and today I don't want to be around people much at all. PFLDS is an epidemic which has no cure other than for your football team to sack up and get a victory. Thank goodness I separated myself from the chiefs a few years ago or else I would in a world of hurt.

But all is not lost. Friday evening I went out for a 2 mile run, that ended up being a walk run because of an asthma attack and I did not have my inhaler. But then I turned around the next morning and ran the course for the upcoming 5k this weekend. The course good and I am sure I will run it a bit faster with a crowd. The second mile is almost all uphill but it is not too steep so it was not bad, but going back down the same hill a couple of blocks over was awesome. I finished in 35:15 and did not put in a kick in the end. I figure I will get it under 35 without much of a problem.

Then this was the best exercise of all. I went here. I went to the corn maze with my son and my dad and we had a great time. We made our way through the longest maze and then through the one of the others. I would guess a total off about 4 miles of walking and running a back tracking and just plain fun. If not for going to the Corn maze with my dad and son... PFLDS would have taken over my weekend.

Sometimes it just makes no sense.

2008-10-10T08:32:00.001-05:00

So I was heading in the the WW meeting last night expecting a small gain, hoping for a small loss and what did I get...

2.4 pound loss

Holy crap! Immediately I was thinking back over my week and wondering what I had done. I literally had not run a step and had not worked out at all the entire week. I ate decent, but nothing like I ate those first several months on plan. So what happened?

Honestly I think that there is very little explanation. I did what I could to make good choices but that was about it. I think my body was just ready to give up those couple of extra pounds. We get so tied to the scale and what it says and no matter what anyone says we still go back to it and look at it as our judge and jury. I would love to tell you that I am no longer going to be that way, but I will tell you that I think I have come to the conclusion that continuing to move forward is the right thing. Do your best and move on. Don't concern yourself with a small gain, just move on. Track trends and learn from them but do not obsess over them.

I hope you all have a great weekend. I know I will! We have a great slate of college football this weekend! I will be at the Mizzou vs OK St game tailgating and screaming till I have no voice and I cannot wait. My buddy Will over at 4XLT is on the side of the Cowboys of OK St but I cannot hold that against him. He is doing great in his weight loss efforts too. Check out his blog, you will be happy you did.

Almost Famous

2008-10-08T13:09:00.001-05:00

Nah, not me, but I did get mentioned in as a Top 100 weight loss blog here. Funny thing is that a number of the blogs I read are on there. I am not sure what authority this blog has, but I will certainly take kudos when they come my way.

On to weight loss or lack there of. Oh motivation where have you gone. I feel like a big bowl of blubber lately. I am running a couple of days a week and my diet has been suspect. My plan is to complete my training for the 5k, run it as beast I can and then get back in the gym. I think my knee will appreciate the rest as they have been buggin me lately.

I am also think I will be pretty content to maintain my losses for a while. I will be trying to lose, don't get me wrong, but I feel like I need a bit of a break. I need to let my body and mind adjust before making another big push. Or at least that's my story. I will still blog and update you on what is going on. I will still head to WW meetings. I will focus on my exercise and trying to stay healthy.

Of course my plans may change tomorrow, Stay tuned.

What a weekend!

2008-10-06T09:09:00.005-05:00

Not really on a diet front, but did you happen to see the Missouri Tigers take the Cornhuskers out to the woodshed. Most lopsided loss at Lincoln since 1955. Folks I am just gonna tell you now. If the defense happens to be even halfway for real this Missouri team will be playing in January.

So what the heck does football have to do with weight loss? Well basically that food log I promised got thrown out the window on Saturday and Sunday. I did not make great choices, particularly with the booze.

Saturday was great until dinner. I ended up with pretzels for breakfast, boiled shrimp for lunch but then came dinner. I had what I call Cajun Rangoon with Ala mer dipping sauce (look for more info on that below), Etouffee with rice and some cajun butter and bread. Now I did fine with the etouffee. I had maybe a cup and a half, so that was fine. And the rangoon was pretty light and I did my best to limit the sauce. But the beer. Lets just say I probably blew over 20 pts in beer. I was drinking Bass and then a couple of local brews that are stronger than your average beer. 9.0% and 10.5 abv respectively.

Sunday morning was breakfast out with our best friends Jay and Kelly! I had and omelet and some hash browns and a biscuit. That was more brunch so we ended up with chicken and shrimp with a twice baked potato for dinner. BUT.... in the middle of that was half a pint of Ben and Jerrys. Yikes! This sweet tooth thing is just brutal. Maybe it is an ice cream tooth. I also had some evening chips and salsa, but it was baked scoops so I feel a bit better about that.

So that was the weekend. Looking back I do not feel quite as bad about it, but it was definitely not that great weekend I thought it would be on the diet and exercise front. Oh yeah.. I have not run since Wednesday.

So back to it this week.

Now on to the Cajun Rangoon Recipe -
I would love to take credit, but Roni over at Ronis Weigh and her cooking site Green Lite Bites Gave me this idea. Here is the link to the recipe that got me started. Wonton Pizza Bites.

Basically I followed the same idea I just stuffed the wrappers with dirty rice and Cajun shrimp or dirty rice and Cajun turkey. Use some water to get em sealed up and put them in a mini muffin pan. Note: I think you could probably get away with a cookie sheet if you sealed them up well. Bake them at 375 for 15 minutes or so and bing bang popcorn! Appetizer! Oh but the Ala mer sauce....

Basically I put a TBS of butter in a pan and sautéed green onion, garlic, and fresh parsley until just br0wn, added about a 1/4 cup water and cooked it down to get all the goodness from the pan. Then add 1 pint heavy cream and Cajun seasoning to taste (for me that would be alot) and begin to stir, add parmesan cheese to thicken. I always end up using some cornstarch to get it thicker and in this case a I got it to a glue like consistency. And there you have it.

I have now typed another novel.... sorry guys. See you tomorrow.

Friday food

2008-10-03T19:50:00.002-05:00

Not the greatest, but points are good.

Morning
2 item egg	4
1 large banana(s)	2
Subtotal	6
Midday
1 large banana(s)	2
1 6-inch Subway Club® Sandwich (with less than 6g of fat)	6
Subtotal	8
Evening
1/2 serving pringles (28)	4
4 oz cooked chicken fillet	3.5
1 cup cooked carrots	1
1 small apple(s)	1
2 Tbsp feta cheese	1.5
olive oil - Quick-added food	2
1 1/2 large potato(es), baked	4.5
3 items Reduced-Fat Chips Ahoy	3
Subtotal	20.5
Anytime
No entries for this meal time.
Subtotal	0
*Food POINTS* values total used**	34.5

The Chocolate shake incident of October 2nd 08

2008-10-03T10:34:00.001-05:00

A good day, and a weigh in that was even. I gained nuttin and I lost nuttin. A delicious taco dinner and I was well within my points. I had points to spare. I was golden!

Then it happened. We went to Target to get some jeans for the kido and what is right across the street???? McDonalds. I was in the drive through and had ordered a chocolate shake before I knew what had happened. To make matters worse I ordered a large, 32 oz chocolate shake. The one of 1160 calories and 27 grams of fat and a scant 2 grams of fiber. Oh is was so good. And I felt like crap after both mentally and physically.

So now that it is over I am back to the plan. I am making a commitment to write everything down from today for 1 week, then I will try to start over. I pay for the damn website I might as well use it right. I will also list my daily food journal on the blog for increased accountability.

On that note. I will see you all later tonight! Have a great day.

GO TIGERS!

On the importance of exercise - A month in review

2008-10-01T14:14:00.001-05:00

So over the course of September I lost a grand total of 3.4 pounds. That is about what weight watchers wants you to lose. So why did I lose them. I certainly was not because of my stellar eating habits. While they were not bad, they were not great either. I do not anticipate them improving until after the first of the year. As I have mentioned football season is upon us and there is serious tailgating to be done. So how did I lose the weight this month???

I will tell you. I ran 40.3 miles in September. I burned an estimated 9652 calories. So what does that tell me. It tells me that I burned enough calories running to create a calorie deficit to allow me to lose some weight. Somewhat plain and simple. If I lost 3 pounds I would have had to create a deficit of 10500 calories. I did the mostly with exercise. More to the point if I had not got in the exercise my loss would have been pathetic. Now I should probably factor in tomorrows weigh in and if I gain I will. But I think is is important to remember from time to time we overcomplicate this whole battle.

The battle breaks down this way. You have a Basal Metabolic Rate. This the number of calories you burn at rest over the course of a day. Mine is 2631, you can find yours here. So basically that is my jumping off point. If I want to sit on my butt all day I can only take in those 2631 cals and maintain my weight. So if I want to lose I have to create a calorie deficit. So I do it by running. You could do it by walking or biking or dancing or whatever makes you happy. The point is that you have to create that calorie deficit. Doing on diet alone is very difficult. So get moving y'all.

I did want to comment quickly on running. I would have never thought I would feel ready for a 5k race. at this point I feel like I probably could have trained for a 10k but let not put the cart before the horse. I am completely ready to roll on this 5k. I ran 40 miles in September. I will easily eclipse that in October and hope to maintain through the winter. I still look at that number of 40 miles and shake my head. I thought I was destined to be the guy who could never run a mile at one time. Now I am trying to get faster while running 3 miles at a time and from time to time more.

Wow, that was difficult

2008-09-30T09:43:00.001-05:00

I put in 4.33 miles last night. Initially I thought it was 4.1, but I went back and mapped it out and 4.33 was the number. I feel a bit better about my time now. 56.16 over that distance is not great but considering I had to walk a bit I am ok with that.

So why was it so tough? Well a couple of things happened. First was that I ended up running on grass. Not the nice park grass, but the junky grass beside the road. This was a first for me and it kicked my butt. Second was a bit of a asthma attack during the run. I think that will be the last time I go out without the inhaler. And last would be the hills. The first 2 miles were just brutal for me. There was once hill that I had to walk. I had made it up a hill that was almost a half mile long overall and then there was this killer hill that was all of 150 yards, but it was just really steep. The kind of hill that you fear in snowy conditions in a car.

Once I got through that hill I finished pretty strong and ran the rest of the way. I guess I still have some work to do on hills.

Do you guys have issues running on grass like that? I know Dave is a trail runner. Maybe he can shed some light on that. I am also fighting a possible ligament strain in my foot. I will have to monitor that one. I would also love to hear if anyone else has fought the foot strain and what they did. Right now I am thinking I might get some new inserts for the shoes as new shoes are not in the budget.

Have a great day everyone. Go Tigers!

Kick Arse!

2008-09-27T08:45:00.002-05:00

Well I woke up this morning and decided to get out for a run. I did my normal 3.11 mile (5k) loop and had a great run. Lets stop for just a hot second. I just said a normal 3.11. Just a little over 8 months ago I tipped the scales at 400 pounds. Now I am saying that I RAN MY NORMAL 3.11 MILE LOOP. The all by itself is a complete success. But that is not all that happened today. I ran a sub 35 minute 5k. For me this is one heck of an accomplishment. That is my best ever training run ever.

I did have music on this run for the first time. I would be curious to know if other runners run faster with music.

Regardless. Saturday is a good day!

Another loss!

2008-09-26T09:44:00.001-05:00

Down 0.8 more. Nearly a whole pound. I will tell you that I will take whatever I get during the football season. We tailgated as I already mentioned earlier in the week and that of course involved a few beverages. With all of that and the the exercise I got in I still managed to lose just a bit.

Next up... Get comfortably below 300. The next 2 weeks should allow for some progress as I have no tailgates to attend. I should have time to get ready to the run coming up in 3 short weeks. Hopefully I can get to the gym a few times for some upper body work. I feel like I am getting a touch weaker in that area so I need to get back to the gym. So we will see what happens. Regardless I am below 300. I never intend on visiting the other side of that number again.

Training and a good running week so far

2008-09-25T14:10:00.001-05:00

OK so Craig asked me what I had done to prepare for my upcoming 5k. Well I would like to tell you that I used the Couch to 5K training program but I did not. I used something more like this (click here). And even that I did not stick to. Basically I increased my distance as I felt comfortable. When I first started I was able to run a single mile. Over the course of about 5 weeks I increased up to the 3.11. I did incorporate a 5 mile run one day but that was probably a mistake. I am going to continue to run the 3.11 for the most part and try to get a long run in on the weekend. Right now my pace is decent. I am hoping for a sub 36 minute race.

I have also adopted schedule of sorts for my runs. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are the 3.11 mile days. Thursday and Saturdays are off, so that will leave the longer run for Friday. Of course that would be best case. As I mentioned before. The goal is 12 miles a week. Anything over that is gravy.

I am a BL addict.

2008-09-24T09:05:00.001-05:00

OK I need to do this.

"Hi my name is Matt and I am a Biggest Loser-aholic"

I generally do not care for reality TV. I got sucked into Survivor the first year, but I broke free from its grasp. Biggest Loser however has endured. I look forward to it as much as I look forward to the Office every week. I cheer teams and people and I just think it is decent television.

I guess more than anything I feel like it is real people doing something that ultimately is inspiring. They are taking the steps to become more healthy. But are they really? I know they are doctor supervised, but where are they now. Are they able to keep the weight off?

Oh well regardless I am hooked I will watch and see how they do try to pick up a little tid bit of information from time to time.

On a somewhat related note, I wonder if Weight Watchers sees an increase in membership shortly after Biggest Loser starts?

OK, on to more important stuff, I ran 3.11 miles last night. Slow and steady. My left calf is either cramping for 2 days or strained. It is feeling better this morning so I will be out again tonight, but man it slowed me down. I suppose the running back to back 5k's could slow a guy down to.

Have a great day everyone!

Personal Record

2008-09-23T08:32:00.001-05:00

Last night I had every intention of going on a long run. Seriously like 5.75 miles long. However I did not get going until about 7pm and it light was going to be an issue. So I decided to bust out a 5K and see if I could turn in a really solid time. I feel like I was successful. I ran the 3.11 miles in 36:13. That is by far the best 5k I have run. I bested my previous record my over a minute. I would not say it was an easy run, but I felt good about it.

Tonight, I will still run the 3.11, but I will not be trying to set any records. Just want to get the run in.

Also I have not been getting in the runs I would like to the past couple of weeks, Part due to illness part due to laziness. From here on out the goal is 12 miles per week. If I can log 12 a week I know I am getting in some good runs.

How was your weekend?

2008-09-22T10:05:00.001-05:00

So another weekend goes by and I have some catching up to do. A weekend full of delicious goodies at the tailgate and some other poor choices leave me in a position where I need to bust my but and get in a good run tonight and several more this week. Need to burn those calories right back off.

Who can complain though. I had a great weekend. See pic below.

How was your weekend?

299, lets hope we are here to stay

2008-09-19T06:02:00.002-05:00

And finally it is official. I probably got myself in to trouble talking about it so much over the past several weeks and months. Now though it is official and I am below 300 for the first time since I can remember I think it is pretty important to get comfortably below 300 so I never go back.

I look back at where I was and try to recall what all has changed. Some things are hard to put a finger on, but I think day in day out I have more energy. I know my body feels better, my knees hurt less, my sleep patterns are better, and just overall I feel more healthy. I will say that mentally I am stronger overall, but even at 101 lbs down I am definately learning new things. At some point complacency sets in and it is hard to overcome. I am doing my best to make the right choice most of the time, but doing that all the time is just not realistic. Maybe that is the way it should be. Maybe that is a sign of "living a lifestyle".

I have now lost over 100 pounds. I am going to reflect a bit and get back at it. If you are struggling I reccomend refelting and looking at how far you have come. I might post a reflection post later. Till then. Thank you to everyone for all of your support. I have a ways to go yet but I am not sure I could have done it without all of you guys!

Breaking up your routine

2008-09-18T09:24:00.001-05:00

So lets discuss for a moment breaks in your routine. Tuesday I logged a 3.11 mile run, then yesterday I ran 2 miles. I will tell you I planned to run 3 but I simply could not. My legs were a bit sore and stiff going into the run yesterday and I was hoping after some stretching and running the legs would come around, but they did not. I had to quit after 2 miles. I am happy I got out but it really made me think about breaks in routine.

This break the I experienced was due to illness and bad weather. Sure I could have run inside, but I didn't. So after 7 full days off I ran on Tuesday. The next day my legs were sending me a message. Something like "Hey man it has been a while". Then today after my run last night. The legs are saying, "take a day off bro". So after a week of inactivity my body had already started to slip.

I have noticed the same thing in weigh training. I have not been to the gym for weight training in a couple of weeks. I will not be able to do what I was doing before. I am comfortable with that.

This morning I got to thinking about our diet and how when we get out of the routine how quickly our body becomes accustomed to the dealing with food higher in fat and calories. And mentally how easy it becomes to justify the margaritas and chimichanga. I guess this is just something I had not thought about much before this whole thing started.

I am not sure what to do about it other than to keep moving forward and try to avoid those "breaks" as much as possible.

On somewhat of a side note, I am switching my weigh in day to Thursdays. I skipped a week and tonight I head back. I have no clue what to expect tonight, but I am going to go with it and move forward.

Spinning my wheels

2008-09-16T08:30:00.001-05:00

Well I did not run last night. I got all ready to go and then decided to go to the gym instead and then my motivation just went away. I have been eating like crap lately. Not tracking a darn thing. I am probably not eating as bad as I once did but I will say it feels like the wheels are coming off.

So why all this now. Why after just yesterday I wrote about not giving up those things I love so much. Well I guess it is because out feeling change from day to day. I guess it is because I I am 4 and a half weeks away from a 5k that I signed up for and I am sitting here not doing a whole lot about it. I know I can finish. But I would like a strong run.

I need to not only get back to the exercise routine, but also need to be better about the choices I am making. So what do you guys do when you motivation is down and you know that you need to get back on track?

Weekend Update

2008-09-15T10:29:00.002-05:00

I guess it is time to confess. I did not run a bit after Monday of last week. I did not eat the best and I did not weigh-in last week. I was sick for part of the week and the weather just plain sucked.

But what about the good stuff. Well as far as weight loss is concerned, um not much, but I had such a good weekend. Lets begin with a Friday which was filled with running around to get everything ready for game day Saturday. Let me just explain that when my friends and I tailgate we go all out a couple of times a year. This week was my turn and it was "Omelet Day" which involves me chopping up a bunch of stuff and a lot of preparation. It was a 10 or 11 item omelet bar and everyone had a great breakfast. We had biscuits and gravy, although I restrained myself on that one. We also hade hash browns.

You might be thinking that the day was a complete loss for weight loss, but there was one highlight were that was concerned. I would guess that I threw the football around and ran around with my son for every bit is 2 and a half hours. Then there was the walk to and from the stadium. So all was not completely lost.

I will do little to try to explain the beat down that Mizzou laid on Nevada. If you are a fan of football and in particular football where the ball is all over the field. I strongly encourage you to check out Mizzou this season. The defense will continue to improve, but this offense is just crazy good. A little stat from ESPN. Chase Daniel has more touchdowns (seven) than incompletions (six) the past two weeks. So to say that I enjoyed the game would be an understatement.

That evening I had an anniversary dinner with my girlfriend. I will not go into detail, but it was probably one of the most amazing dinners I have ever had. More because of the company than anything else. We had great conversation for every bit of 2 hours at the table. You know you have a keeper when you can sit down and chat for that long after being together for any length of time.

So how do you complete a good weekend like that. Well my girlfriend, my son and I went to visit her sister and husband last night for dinner. The kids played we all talked and just had a really nice relaxing evening. I really love her family, they are some of the best people who I have ever had the opportunity to get to know.

For those of you thinking that you were reading a weight loss blog, I suppose I should apologize. I just started typing and the above is what came out. I can tell you I have 3 miles planned for tonight and will be back to eating right this week. I am going to try to refocus my energy to continuing my losing ways. However I currently have no weight loss goals other than to make it through the college football season at the same weight. If I can do that I will actually feel pretty good. I cannot allow myself to be unhappy and deprive myself. I have had too much fun for too long at these tailgates and parties. Basically I think you have to set your priorities realistically. It was realistic for me to put weight loss first for all that time. Right now it is not. Maybe I am wrong for moving it to down on my priority list, but I feel like happiness should always be first. Don't worry I am not going to fall off the wagon or anything. I am just going to do the best I can and not worry as much about the scale. So tonight, I run.

Go Tigers!

URI and a skipped weigh-in

2008-09-11T13:19:00.001-05:00

So after my run on Monday I started to feel kinda crappy. I went to bed early and then hit made it to work the next day only to head home about noon and then to the doctor the following day. Upper Respiratory Infection. Antibiotics that look like they should be fed to horses and I am back.

I decided not to weigh in on Tuesday and will be switching back to Thursdays for my weigh in and meeting. I am making this change for a couple of reasons. I need a change and I think maybe having a few days on "scheduled" time will help me refocus after rough weekends. I am also not to enamored with the new leader. She means well and I hope she continues and becomes a bit more comfortable as a leader but for now I need to feel more engaged in the process and there is a bit of a disconnect.

I will try to resume my running this evening with a quick 2 mile jog. Maybe the dog and I can chat about what is bothering him. Or maybe I will put a dog bone in my pocket and toss it to him. :-)

I will certainly provide an update for you guys this weekend after Mizzou smokes Nevada. Not that this is a sports blog, but I am calling it right here. 45 - 17. I will be there with my son this weekend. Tailgate omelets are on the menu! something I can do pretty healthy really!

8.04672 kilometers

2008-09-09T08:16:00.002-05:00

That would be 5 miles. Umm yes 5. I ran 5 miles last night. I did this in just over an hour and that was with a pesky dog who quite honestly scared the daylights out of me.

So how did it go? Well I have heard other runners mention a groove or a zone that you get into. I thought I knew what they were talking about as I would get into a grove at about 1.5 miles. I really felt that groove at about 2.8. I was strong. My last 2 miles ended up nearly identical in time to my first two. 11 and 13 minutes. Basically due to hills on mile 2. Mile 3 was right at 12 minutes. I was tired. My legs were a bit dead last night but I am not sore today.

So what about this dog. Well this chocolate brown Shar Pei mix comes out from a yard barking a growling and I had to scream because I was startled and then back down a bit. The whole ordeal took 15 seconds, maybe 30. I am not sure. I can tell you this that I was shocked that midway through the 5th mile I had some reflexes. I jumped and got into a wierd kinda stance preparing for the worst. The owner came out and apologized and off I went. This dog normally barks at me and come midway out in his yard but this was way different. I am kinda glad I dont have a heart rate monitor cause it would have been going nuts. I was pretty frightened. How do you guys handle dogs in a situation like that?

So that is it. 5 miles. I weigh in tonight with no expectation. If I can I will try to get a run in after, but I am not sure it is in the cards tonight. If not, the pavement will be waiting.

Something Borrowed.

2008-09-05T10:37:00.001-05:00

Well I am borrowing an idea from Andrew over at Andrew is Getting Fit. Check out my route from my run last night.

For those of you playing along at home let me describe the route as there is some doubling back. Starting at the green arrow head east on 51st Terr and follow it around on to Brooklyn. Head west on Vivion to highland and then follow the line. Once you reach Garfield you head south on Garfield to Vivion and head back east to Olive and then head north. Circle around back to Vivion and head west to Brooklyn and then head north and follow Brooklyn all the way around to Garfield and head south. Finish at the red arrow. 3.11 miles. 37:31 minutes.

Wahoo!

What's on the menu?

2008-09-04T08:25:00.002-05:00

Kathy over at Cathy Calculates asked if I had switched to light beer and if we had switched up our tailgate menu since joining WW.

An excellent question. The answer I have is yes and no. I still drink the beer I want to drink. For instance, Saturday I was enjoying Bass. But as far as food goes things are still pretty much the same, but we have more veggie trays and things like that then we do bags of chips. I try to limit my intake of the brats and burgers.

This weekend the menu looks like pulled pork sandwiches from smoked pork loin, so while not exactly a chicken boob sammy, it is better than a brat. Salad, veggie tray, and some Texas potatoes (not sure what that is, but I am sure it will be good).

So you see if eaten in moderation all will be fine. Anymore the tailgate is a good time to throw the football around, have some laughs and enjoy time with friends. I love football season.

Lots of beer = weight gain

2008-09-03T11:34:00.002-05:00

Well that pic you saw in my last post, that was before I had a number of beers. I shall keep the number private, but lets just say that I did not drive home. So end result, I gained a pound. Sure glad I did not weigh in on Saturday now. So what do I do now. I stay on plan and get my exercise in is what.

Have a great day!

No weigh in and a progress photo

2008-09-01T10:13:00.006-05:00

So I promised a weigh in Saturday to find out if I made my stated goal of less than 300 by the first Mizzou football game. While I am actually pretty confident that I made it I decided to not weigh in. The reason is quite simple really. While if I did not make my goal I would have been fine and I would have not been upset about it for a long time I would have been upset about it that day. That day was going to be a big party and had I by chance made it, the day would have been ruined for me. So I will weigh in this week, probably on Wednesday as I have plans on Tuesday. So i guess the lesson is that while goals may drive us we need to nake sure that those goals do not ruin our days.

So without any further ado:

at about 300

at about 350

ah yes this would be 400ish

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Now that is much better

2008-08-29T08:12:00.001-05:00

So after getting good sound advice from other runners and from people whose advice I trust very much I took all of yesterday off. No weights, no bike, no exercise period and boy it paid off.

This morning I rose at 5 am and hit the bricks. I changed my route slightly to eliminate a short but extremely steep hill and that helped. I ran 2.25 miles in 27:26. That would be a personal best pace for me of 12:11. So I think this new 2+ miles route is a bit better. there are still hills, but just not that one that I dread. Lets put it this way. from one house to the next on the block that this hill is on I would say there is a 10 incline. So maybe 10 ft incline over 70 ft or so. I am sure I could figure the grade, but what I know is that it is killer for me. But I learned something else today.

During the last 2 tenths I started to lift my knees a bit more. This created more speed and longer strides at about the same cadence (not sure if that is a running term, but I am using it anyway). So I get away from the straight leg shuffle and look more like I am running. The other thing this does is keep my breathing under control because when I run things move (my excess girth) and if they to quickly breathing becomes extremely labored in a big hurry. So I will try to lift my knees a bit more on tomorrows run of 2 miles. then Monday will be an off day with some lifting.

Tomorrow I will do my run and weigh in to see if I made my 299.8 goal. I will post tomorrow afternoon to let you know. And maybe I will take a picture or two. I think I can safely say that the progress is not going to vary to much over a few tenths of a pound if I don't make it.

Question for the runners. You run and that conditions your legs for sure but if you lift do you ever do any strength training for your legs? I have been just working on upper body strength training and not doing anything with my legs. What do you guys do?

That was the most difficult run I have had

2008-08-28T10:12:00.001-05:00

So I went out for a two mile run last night. Had to stop and walk after one hill and could not make it all the way up another. Probably walked 200 yards in all. I just ran out of gas. My legs felt tired from the get go. So tonight I will rest them a bit. I will head to the gym and I will ride the bike but at a more leisurely pace. I will also hit the weights and do the sit ups.

Do any of you runners out there struggle with dead legs? I thought early in the day that they felt strong, but once I started my run they just started talking back and telling me I was nuts.

Almost, but still I am pretty darn happy

2008-08-27T09:08:00.001-05:00

OK OK, I might be just a shade disappointed, but I am going to weigh in on Saturday to see if I "officially" my personal goal. I lost a fantastic 4.8 lbs this week. leaving me 1.8 lbs to get below 300. For those of you just joining us, the goal was to be below 300 by the time of the first Mizzou football game that was originally noted in this post here.

Now I know that goal was / is aggressive and I know all the things about not reaching your goal, but I am seriously not upset about this one. I might make it by Saturday, I might make it by September 30th, who knows.

I do know this, I will weigh on Saturday, take the results and have a great day regardless. After that the goal is to run that 5k in October. My energy will be very focused on that and I am sure weight loss will come along with that.]

Thanks for all the well wishes yesterday. I really do appreciate it.

Nervous for the first time in a long time.

2008-08-26T06:54:00.001-05:00

Well weigh in day has arrived and I am a shade nervous. Maybe not nervous but anxious. Hard to tell the difference. See I got up and for the first time I ran in the morning. Like 5:20 in the morning.

How beautiful it was this morning. The moon and stars were still shining. It was even a bit cool as I stepped outside. Today's run called for 2.25 miles and I was able to complete it without much problem. I am noticing some trends though. Hills kick my butt is one. My breathing has to be controlled and I am hesitant about steep downhill runs because of knee injury. The breathing thing is interesting I have a hard time with it with all of my bulk shaking around as I run. I think that it is just hard for my lungs to perform normally as they are being tossed about un-naturally. Just a thought anyway. My run today was 2.25 for 28.35. That is a pace of 12:42 a mile, this is my fastest pace yet and longest distance. I very happy with my progress and will continue to keep you updated.

Now, why am I anxious? Well I have really busted my tail this week and I want to see what the scale says. I still think I will be short of the 6.6 lb loss I need to get below 300. Regardless I am pretty excited and honestly if I don't get there, I might just weight in Saturday morning to see if I can get there before the first Mizzou game. That would be pretty exciting for me. I cannot tell you the last time I weighed 2-something. It is almost a dream.

Focus

2008-08-25T12:14:00.002-05:00

I find it interesting the way you can feel the tide shifting. After a couple of months of being less than enthusiastic about my weight loss efforts I am feeling more focused these days. While this is not the pinpoint focus we all feel in the early days of a program I would call this the appropriate level of focus.

This leads me to believe that this is exactly the reason so many have trouble after a few months. This had that pinpoint focus and then they just lose it. They the feel like they have failed and go back to the bad habits that got them to a place where they did not want to be in the first place. I know I felt that way after a couple of weeks of gains. Luckily I have all you guys to spur me along and this blog to look back on to figure out where I lost track.

I have also learned over the past couple of months that I have to live my life. I will not let a diet stand in the way of the occasional frozen custard. I just know that I need to make good decisions most of the time and everything will work out. I think that is really what I am figuring out. Make a good choice more often than not and you will see good results. Of course you have to exercise to.

And this weekend I flat out knocked it out of the park. Whether the scale shows it or not I was just on the ball this weekend. Friday night I went to the gym with Carrie and road the bike like I said I would. Check this thing out (Expresso Upright Bike) It makes the ride so much more fun. I was on that guy for 25 minutes and then did my standard lifting. Then Saturday and Sunday I ran 2 miles each day.

I am already feeling more energy and feeling stronger from the runs. I will follow the plan that I have that will put me at 3 miles in a few weeks, but I can tell you right now that if the race was this weekend I could finish it. I would be slow and probably lucky to finish in under 45 minutes, but right now I really do not care. I will be working towards the 5k distance and then working on time. I can however tell you that I ran the 2 miles in 25:10 on Saturday and 24:45 on Sunday. I am very pleased with my success so far and it is very tempting to get out there and run today, but as the schedule is calling for a run of 2.25 miles tomorrow I will go ahead a just hit the bike for a bit this evening and then get the run in tomorrow morning.

I have to tell you that I am excited about the race and was actually dreaming about it last night. I really only dream of passing the finish line and being congratulated by my friends and family. I am not sure what the moment will bring, whether it will be emotional or not, but I can tell you that it will the the culmination of a lot of hard work and will only prove that I can so much more than I ever thought possible.

You know what skinny people have in common?

2008-08-22T08:35:00.002-05:00

OK OK, let me qualify that a bit. Do you know what skinny people over the age of 30 have in common? I would say the the majority of them exercise. I have posted about this before, but I think more people exercise than I realized in the past. I also believe that when we see skinny people, in particular those who appear fit, I think we need to realize that they work at it. I know what your saying. "There are just naturally skinny people". You know what you right and I have no answer for that. Superior Metabolism?

Now about this photo

I might just be turning into a runner. I am really enjoying this. Which after my first introduction to it on the treadmill, which I hated, I would have not thought possible. But get this guys, I ran 2 miles last night. Not walked part of it and ran part of it. I ran them. Now granted, I was running 13:30ish miles, but I did run them. I feel a bit sore today, but nothing bad. Running outside is just more fun. I did get heckled by some kids which brought back not so fond memories and reminded me just how cruel kids can be, but I did not say a word and pressed on.

So tonight I head to the gym for some strength and bike time and tomorrow morning I will hit the pavement again. I think 1.5 miles will be on the agenda but we shall see where the road leads us.

By the way of you have not Gmaps-pedometer you should check it out.

Tired, but no where near dead.

2008-08-21T09:40:00.001-05:00

So I did indeed run last night. I ran an entire mile. For the first time I ran outside. It was absolutely great. I have no idea how fast I ran it, but I am not to concerned about time right now. I do know that I probably could have kept going and I will be trying that tonight. I know I should be following the whole C25K thing, but I am just not the regimented. I am sure it would be better for me, but I just need to do this my way.

So what is my way. Basically tonight (if the rain hold off) I will set the goal for two miles. I will not run for time, but I will just try to complete to miles running. Then I will see where I am at the next day. I may not even run. I might just head to the gym. If it rains tonight I will be heading there tonight so you see I just need to do this my way.

All in all I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I will be ready for the 5K come Oct 18th. My goal will still be to run the entire thing. But as my training progresses I may make a secondary goal. We will have to wait and see on that one. Speaking of Oct 18th. Check out the countdown to the right. That should get my butt off the couch and on the streets huh.

Also a note on fitness and kids. My son even tagged along for the run last night and I could not have been more proud. He would walk and then sprint to catch up. I hope that he will join me for more runs in the future. So to those of you out there with kids, you might ask the if they want to join you the next time you go for a run or a walk. I hope they take you up on the offer.

To set goals or not to set goals, that is the question.

2008-08-20T07:56:00.003-05:00

Well an update is due. I lost 1.8 lbs this week! While this was not what I was really hoping for I am still moving in the right direction. That push to get to 299.8 by the first Mizzou game is still on, it might just have to come down to a weigh in prior to the game.

This brings up an interesting topic. Goals. I set them and try to meet them. Others think goals are dangerous because of the possibility of failure. What do you think? I can tell you I think that failure is part of life and many times it is our failures that we learn from and make us stronger. So I may or may not make it to that elusive 299.8 by game day on the 30th, but if I don't I will not be dwelling on it. I will be focusing on my next goal. To run the 5K I have signed up for on October 18th. I am going to have to train my butt off to be able to run the whole thing, but I am determined to do it. Wow, I just realized that I have been letting my goal of getting under 300 hinder my progress on the 5K goal. Well no more. Tonight, I run.

So what say you blogoshpere - Goals or no goals?

Dead legs and Grilled Salmon

2008-08-18T09:46:00.001-05:00

I decided to test myself on Saturday and I paid for it a bit. But it felt pretty good.

Allow me to elaborate. I went to the gym and hopped on the treadmill. I decided that I was going to run as along as I felt comfortable. I made it .8 of a mile. I know it is not anywhere near the 5K I am getting ready for, but it was not bad. I did that in just about 10 minutes. Then I walked for another 3 minutes and tried to run again and only mustered 90 seconds. I know I pushed myself to far during the first run and my legs were just dead. But it still felt good to know I could run that distance. Now to add on to it. I will be back at it tonight and attempting to get a full mile in. My legs still feel a bit dead but I will try to power through.

In other healthy living news: I grilled some salmon last night and I have to tell you that my first experiment grilling fish was good. I glazed the salmon with lime juice, honey, ground red pepper, salt, garlic powder and coconut shavings. The result was very good. I grilled the filet skin side down first and when I went to turn it the skin stuck. I thought I was done for. Thankfully while the skin stuck to the grill the meat turned perfectly. At that point I was certain that the fish would stick and I would be calling the pizza man for dinner, but it didn't. Beautiful grill marks and and delicious finished product.

Check back tomorrow night to see how I did at the weigh in. I will need to really buckle down and do some really good work to get to the 299.8 mark by next Tuesday but I it is doable.

Its Habitual

2008-08-14T10:39:00.001-05:00

So I was sitting here this morning after I did not get to the gym, again, and I was thinking about the last few weeks. I am not calling this a plateau just yet but I am ready to tell you that since I got to 320 I am finding things much more difficult. I would like to tell you that it is the time of the year, or that I am just that busy, or a host of other excuses. But the fact of the matter is that I am reverting back to old habits. Habits of eating out of boredom, and making poor choices. being habitually sedentary. The good thing is that I am noticing it. So that is a positive. It is also good that I have continued to lose during the past month or 6 weeks. I am not unhappy about my progress at all, I have just noticed a change in my habits. That all needs to stop.

I am committing to getting in 5 workouts prior to weigh in on Tuesday and I am committing to 6 workouts the next week. I will stop eating out of boredom and if I do I will make the right choices. I will begin to track religiously again and right this ship. Those are the good habits I need to keep up with.

I know I know. You're saying, "Matt, you have come so far, you continue to lose, your doing great." But this is the thing. I have to replace the bad habits with good ones. I know what I am capable of and it is certainly more than what I have been doing. It means sacrifice and hard work. But lets face it. That sacrifice and hard work means years on my life, and a much more reward quality of life now and in the years to come. I wanna be that old dude who you see and you think "man, that guy is really in shape and looks so good for his age." I know you know the one I am talking about.

So here we go. Breaking the bad habits and replacing them with good ones. Part II

A loss is a loss.

2008-08-13T08:50:00.001-05:00

So I am down .8 this week and I am happy about it. Particularly with the weekend that I mentioned. It is funny though with a loss of less than a pound. I am happy, but not real excited.

That said I am going to try to bust my butt and get a big loss this week and next to get to that 299.8 mark in 2 weeks. I am not sure I will get there, but it is possible. And really the goal was to be to that weight by the first Mizzou game which is not until the 30th. So I might even fudge it a bit and weigh in on that Saturday to see if I got to my goal.

Only time will tell. Oh and just so you all know, once I get to that magical number (100 lb loss) I will post some new pics.