A gain, again

Well I am up 2.8 this week. The thing is I know what I am doing wrong. It is so funny how once you are familiar with the process how quickly you can identify what went wrong. So what went so wrong you might ask. I ate too much and I did not track much of anything again. I gained 2.8 lbs and I think maybe I got a wake up call.

So what am I doing about it. Well going into yesterdays weigh in I knew I had gained. I was not shocked by the gain but I was disappointed in myself. So given that I tracked every bite yesterday and will do that this week without fail. I have been extremely tired lately making exercise a more difficult proposition. That said. I will be making to the gym tomorrow, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. We will see if that happens or not, but that is the plan.

Wish me luck. I am still shooting for 300 by Aug 26 weigh in and I just made it more difficult on myself.

Idiots and some side notes.

Wow, very rarely am I moved to speak much less write of the cruelty of man but in this case something struck a nerve. I was reading Johnny's Blog over at Fat Guy in a Little Coat and he describes an instance where he was mocked by extremely fit guys while he was running. Now this just bothers me. I know this is the fear so so many overweight people. Most of us have already dealt with being made fun of for a very long time. When we are on the road to health the last thing we need is to be mocked during our efforts to become fit. Luckily I have not had to endure this and I must admit that I thought maybe people were less cruel and actually silently applauded the efforts of the overweight to get fit. I know that these to guys are in the extreme minority but I would just love to think that people are better than that.

Side Note: I went and checked out the The Dark Knight this weekend and I must admit to it being a very good movie. Maybe just a touch long, but it is my favorite Batman movie to date. I was a bit surprised with a few things, but not in a bad way. Overall I give it an A, and I would also say that Heath Ledgers performance was extremely well done. I am not sure about some of the Oscar talk, but well done none the less. The Joker was a insane and creepy as ever.

And side note #2: If you happen to live in KC or will be visiting and you play golf. You should book tee time at Swope Memorial Golf Course. It is a public course operated by the city and is in my opinion one of the top 2 or 3 courses in the city. It costs us $41 with a cart on a Saturday morning so that was a bargain compared to some of the more affluent courses around. The course is an A.W. Tillinghast design the opened on 1934. The course is short with many elevation changes and and rolling greens. It is very well maintained and everyone in my group was eager to go back. A word of caution though. Bring lots of balls as the tree lined fairways and thick rough will have you searching for wayward shots.

Out of focus but even I see something

So here in Kansas City we have a phenom. His name is Joakim Soria. His nickname is The Mexicutioner. He gets this for the way he mows down the competition we he comes on in the ninth to save a game for the Royals. Those games a few and far between otherwise I think he would be leading the league in saves. He is a great story (read here)and the local media has jumped on his bandwagon cause lets face it with the Royals little else is interesting. So one of the local radio stations was giving away (asking for donations for charity) Mexicutioner T-Shirts and I got one. I put in on and had my dad take the picture with my phone to send to a few friends. You cannot really make out the graphic on the tshirt to well, but what I noticed was that I did not look like a fatty slob.

Now before you start saying that the shirt is racial insensitive please realize the Joakim Soria has embraced the shirt and the nickname. If you want to see the graphic more clearly and learn more about the history of the nickname click here.

Lots to talk about today!

Well it was another quality week. I will just come out with it already and tell you I lost another 3.2 lbs this week. If you check out the side bare to the right you will find my current weight at 311.4 for a total loss of 88.6 pounds. I feel like I am back on track for the most part, but I must confess that I am not writing things down as much as I should. Part of me feels like it is wrong, but the other part says that this is something that I am going to have to come to grips with in the years to come. I am going to have to just know and start to listen to my body. That said, my points are still at 44 for the next several pounds so I figure once they stat tot fall off I am going to have to focus back in on writing everything down.

So if I am not tracking like I should why am I even going to Weight Watchers? It is for the accountability and the companionship I have with some of the people there. I understand the program and feel like I am looked to for advice from time to time. My meeting leader keeps me and other men involved, although this weeks topic was decidedly female oriented. That said we all had a good laugh because there were 4 men there this week!

On the exercise front I feel like this is really the difference maker for me and honestly I feel like it is probably the difference maker for most people if they are honest with themselves. I made it to the gym 3 times last week and road the bike a pretty fair amount. I actually road my bike to the meeting last night, then back to my parents to make them dinner and then home. A total of about 6.5 - 7 miles of hilly roads. I was pretty proud of myself and am feeling more and more the riding the bike as transportation in addition to exercise is going to happen, but maybe not to work until it cools down a bit.

Also on the exercise front, I went to the YMCA with my dad this morning. I do not care for their circuit training machines, maybe it is that I am used to the equipment at snap fitness. The real reason we were that was to swim. This is my dads preferred method of exercise and I have to admit is it a pretty good workout. I will say though that I was unable to keep my heart rate where I wanted it without breathing in a mouthful of water. So I resorted to the backstroke form most of our 45 minute swim. I still feel very good about the results. Once I am in better shape I think that swimming will be something I look to for a good workout.

My eating habits have improved considerably. Even though I posted about the trail and tribulations of the sweet and salty monster yesterday I can say that this past week has been much better. But I will need to make sure I start to limit the snacks as my points drop.

This has been a very good week and I look to repeat it and then repeat again and repeat again. I am going to go ahead and make my goal public. Since I hit 340 in April my goal has been to be at 299 by the opening of Mizzou Football season. Mizzou opens in St. Louis against Illinois on Aug 30th. My goal will be to weigh in the Tuesday prior to that below 300 lbs.

Thank you to all of you who have been commenting recently! You are such an inspiration!

Attack to of the Sweet and Salty Monster

Do you know this monster?  He is completely invisible and yet breaks the will of most he encounters.  The monster I am referring to is the deadly cycle of sugars and salts.

I have a real problem with this.  I would say on most occasions it starts with somethings salty, but then as soon as I have enjoyed the chips or whatever it might be I need something sweet.  Obviously this triggers the need for salt.  Then sweet, then salt, sweet, salt, sweet, salt, sweet.  Well you get the point.

So what do you do to combat the Sweet and Salty Monster?

But I am soo tired. I don't give a crap, get to the gym.

It is hard to explain the internal struggle and bargaining that goes on in my head every morning. "You road your bike last night, you don't need to work out this morning." "You were working on a shed and sweating your butt off, stay in bed" or my favorite. " I will get there tomorrow, I really need the sleep, I just feel so tired." Well of course you feel tired, your alarm just went off.

It has been like that this week, I still have made it to the gym twice and did get some pretty good rides in. So all in all I am feeling pretty good about my exercise this week. I still intend on hitting it tomorrow morning and again Sunday and Monday to try to get back in a groove, but all in all I am pleased. So I suppose what I need to analyze is what is bringing me back. Part of it is was the gains I saw a couple of weeks ago, but the part that I always forget about is the feeling you get from getting in a good workout. It just makes you feel better. I am more awake and alert. More ready to face the day. hopefully when I fall off track again and get out of the groove I can look back on this and realize the ultimately you just feel better when your are moving your body.

Holy Buckets!

"Holy Buckets" That was what our meeting leader said when I stepped on the scale.  It just cracks me up.  She really is fantastic and has a certain way of handling the meetings that I really enjoy.  So Why the "Holy Buckets" comment?  I lost 8.6 pounds this last week.  We are right back on track and headed to a place that I have not been in years.  I am 14.8 pounds away from being under 300.  I have now shed a grand total of 85.4 pounds and I am feeling pretty darn good.  I am not sure what 299 will feel like but I am pretty excited to find out.  So gone is the 5.4 pound gain over the last 2 weeks and here is a 3.2 loss over the last 3.  That is perfectly reasonable.  I am sure some of it was water, but I will say I have been watching things pretty closely and getting in all my water and then some.  I did skip the gym this morning as I was up till all hours watching that darn All Star game last night, but I will be mowing tonight so that will burn a few calories.  Then back to the gym tomorrow.  Have an amazing day everyone!

You guys are so lucky, two posts in one day!

Was referred to this today from a link over a t fatbloggers.com.

Gotta hand it to those ad people over at Nike. No More Excuses.

I found it!

Funny as it may sound, the gym was right where I left it. I pulled myself from bed this morning at 4:45 and was to the gym just after 5:00. After a solid hour of working out, 30 minutes on the elliptical and 30 minutes or so of circuit training I felt great. I will be back again tomorrow and probably the day after too. I need to make this part of my routine. It was at one time but I let that slip. I will do my best to not let that happen again. A few days would be one thing but I missed a whole month.

So as I crawl back on the horse I also did something that I had never done last night. I rode my bike for transportation. I rode to my parents house to help my dad put up a shed. I then rode home after. It is only about a mile and a half but it is hilly and I felt good about it. I think I am going to start looking for other opportunities to use my bike as transportation. With gas over $4 a gallon now I think it is time to do more things differently. The other thing I started last night was the 100 push-ups challenge. If you have not heard about it, I think it at least worth a look. Check it out to the bottom right of my blog. We will see what the results end up being. I can tell you I started out on the initial test and was able to do 6 good push ups. I will keep you posted on my progress.

Can I even find my way back to the gym?

So this morning, just like yesterday morning, my alarm buzzed at 4:30.  With intentions of getting up and going to the gym.  Well I would not be writing a post about finding my way to the gym if I had made it would I?  So again today I skipped.  I am not to upset with myself but I did do a little research.  Lets take a look shall we.  The last date I was at the gym was June 15th.  Almost 4 weeks ago.  Now lets look at what has happened to my weight during that time.

June 17 2008 - 0.8 / 319.6
June 24 2008 - 1.8 / 317.8
July 01 2008 + 2.2 / 320
July 08 2008 + 3.2 / 323.2

I had been hitting the gym for the weigh in on the 17 of June.  Then the one on the 24th nothing, but then the real fun begins on the 1st and 8th of July.  I really need to take my own advice and look at my own history and realize that the gym is the extra degree and really gets everything on track for me.  I know I said it yesterday, but I figure if I keep saying it maybe I can find my way back.  I am down about this but not too upset.  I do not feel lost but instead I know that I am on the wrong path.  My diet is better so maybe that is a sign that I am turning around and getting back to when I can get on the right path.

Thanks to all of you for your support!  Please know that I am lurking around your blogs as well, I just do not feel right trying to inspire others when I myself and in a valley in my own journey.  Let hope I have bottomed out and can start back up the long hill towards health.

This was to be expected

Well I expected it.  I gained 3.2 lbs last week for a grand total gain of 5.4 over 2 weeks.  So now you would think I would have got me butt out of bed this morning and got to the gym but no.  I am in the process of getting back on track.  My diet is much better and I am writing things down.  I know that will help.  I am committing to 5 days in the gym before next weigh in.  I had intentions of riding before my meeting last night but bad weather put a damper on that.  I have been trying to wrap my head around what has been happening the last few weeks.  Well best I can figure is that I have been very busy.  I have about 6 weeks until the start of the Mizzou season and I would love to be down a cool 100 lbs by the time of our first tailgate which is September 6th.  I think it is possible, but it will take a great deal of hard work and dedication.  However as I look back hard work and dedication is how I lost 80 lbs.  Reverting to 400 pound Matt mindset is how I put back on the 5 over the past 2 weeks.  I need to keep him from rearing his fatty head.

I also want to make mention of the importance of going to Weight Watchers Meetings.  I know they are not for everyone and I know many of you would prefer to do this in a more private way, however I was more inspired after this meeting for some reason.  Maybe it was because I had missed last week or because it was geared to re-energizing your weight loss efforts.  Our meeting leader brought this to our attention. 

At 211 degrees, water is hot. At 212 degrees, it boils.
And with boiling water, comes steam. And with steam, you can power a train.

One extra degree = Exponential results

Then she had us think about what our extra degree was.  For some it is making sure they are getting in the water for others it is the 8 GHG's.  For me it is getting in the exercise.  It just seems like everything else falls into place when I do that.  So her point was to make that small extra effort to bring your weight loss to a "boil".

So back to the meetings.  They are inspriational, they are informative and they remind us that we are all human and their are so many people in the the same boat.  If you have never checked out a meeting I would reccomend it.  It may not be for you, but you might just find that it is just that bit of inspiration and accountability that you need.

So with that said....  How to you keep your formerly fatty mind from rearing its ugly head and sending you into a tailspin?

It is difficult to refocus

I am doing better, but it is slow going right now.  I have been going non-stop for about 6 weeks or more.  I need just a couple of days of rest.  I am feeling very run down and tired.  Yesterday I got all light headed and actually fell asleep for about 2 minutes at work.  I think it was a blood glucose thing but I am not sure.  I have never had much of an issue with blood glucose unless I don't eat.  Well I had just eaten lunch so I do not think that was it.  I had intentions of going to the gym this morning but did not make it.  I think I will try to ride at least a few miles tonight.  Do something anyway and then get back to the gym in the morning.  I think this is the part of the process where people become totally derailed.  I am off plan and have constant food cravings.  I am continually tired over the past several weeks and feel slightly worn down by the process.  This is definitely the lowest point of my weight loss journey.  I would not go so far to say that I am depressed, I just really need a couple of days to let my mind and body rest.  I realize I am rambling.  Maybe instead of riding around the neighborhood I will ride to and from my meeting tonight.  Now that would be something huh.

I will update you with what promises to be a sad weigh in later tonight or tomorrow.

And we now resume our regularly scheduled blogging.

Well where should I begin. I guess I should have let you guys know I would be away for a week or so. I left for a camping trip last week and returned this Saturday. So now that we have that out of the way lets discuss first my weight gain....

I gained 2.2 lbs last week bringing me to 320. I expected as much and thought there was a shot I would loss while camping. Well I was wrong. I am figuring at best to stay at 320 and more than likely I will add another pound or three. I would like to tell you all this stuff went wrong, but really it was just a matter of focus and wanting to enjoy all the things I normally enjoy while camping. You see this is when we get up and fish from 6:30 to 8:00 or so and then head into town for breakfast. I you happen to live in a small town or have had breakfast at a small town restaurant you probably already know that they do not skimp on portions and then you have a choice of toast or biscuits and gravy. Lucky for my waistline I only chose B & G one day. So then the rest of the day is a hodge podge of what you can find. We did eat more fruit and less chips. We did drink more water and less soda. However while I thought my body would be working harder to keep cool with the heat and stuff I failed to remember the dehydration that sets in while your camping. You just cannot drink enough water. We did manage to eat some crawfish while we were down there. Thats right we caught 20 or so crawfish by hand, boiled em up and ate em. Gotta love crawfish.

So I am back on the wagon today and training for the 5k shall commence next week. For lunch today it is my normal salad. I am enjoying yogurt and granola for breakfast and think that grilled chicken will be our dinner choice.

I am glad to be back and want to thank all of you for your support!