Month 12, Milestone Month

I started this month with about 5 lbs to go to hit my 1 year 100 lb goal.  I weighed in July 2nd at 245.2 and on July 4th I had my first 5K. (check race reports for info)  Just starting that race was a victory for me.  I am not a runner and its hard for me to think I was about to do an actual race.  My guess the race really motivated me since I ended up losing 4.4 lbs that week.  I need .8 lbs now to hit the 100 lb mark which I did in week 49.  To see 239 on the scale was hard to imagine.  I was excited but then again I should have never let myself get that big.  When I joined Jones Brothers Racing I was probably around 290-300 lbs.  I have a chunk of friends that have never seen me like this.  Last time in the 230's was probably 1994 or 1995.  Now that I didn't have to worry about that goal, next item to tackle was another 5K.  Luck have it, there was one August 4th at the school where my brothers kids go.  My nephew wanted to run cross country this year, so I figured this would be a great way for him to find out if he had it in him.  This race we had a cheering section! (check race reports for info)  Another race, another PR crushed.  July 4th race was 41:26 with a goal of under 44 mins.  August 4th race was 36:58 with a goal of under 40 mins.  I finished the last 100 yards running with my oldest boy (it's hard to look at that pic without that proud papa tear forming).  I'm not going to mention that my 13 yr old nephew finished 1 min behind his uncle.  Nor do I ever remind him of that.  I will take the victories while I still can get them. :)  To me this month reminded me of the saying, "Good things happen to those who wait."  August 6th rolled around with my 1 year weigh in.  Tipped the scales at 231.8 for a total loss of 108.2 lbs.  That week I also logged into My Fitness Pal for 370 days in a row.  Year 1 done and what a wild year it was.  I went from 340 lbs to 231.8 with a diet I thought I would only stick to for a few months.  Year 2 will have to be a damn good one to top Year 1.

I want to thank my family and friends for their help this past year.  Without it and their not so kind words (they know what I mean lol) I wouldn't be where I am today.  What made this year even better, was other friends and family members joining me in this journey with their own.  I can't wait to see what Year 2 has in store.

Small Victory: Kentucky Speedway 2012

The location of this small victory was Kentucky Speedway.  No it wasn't because a Dodge ended up in victory lane but because something DIDN'T happen for the first time in a long time.  That would be, "chub rub", chaffing, or whatever you want to call it.  Those going whats chub rub let me explain.  It would happen to me when it was hot and I would be outside for extended periods of time.  Normally when I wore jeans or jean shorts but it could happen while wearing anything.  I would sweat, then add that I was in jeans and the inside of my thighs would get raw from rubbing together.  After the 2011 Cup race at KY, my thighs hurt for 2-3 days.   TMI probably, but most folks know exactly what I'm talking about.  Now its 2012 and we are in the garage area at KYS.  We walked from the parking lot, all around the front of the track (1.5 mile speedway), back to the car, then through the tunnel to the infield.  While inside you basically do numerous loops and my guess we do anywhere from 4-6 miles of walking.  It's very possible we did more when we walked out on the track for driver intro and the pre-race concert.  We left before the finish of the race since people were still stuck in traffic from last years race.  I sit down in the car and noticed my legs didn't hurt.  I'm down around 90 lbs compared to last years race and in extremely better shape also.  The first thing that popped in my head was, "wow, no chub rub!"  Sad but it was.  That was the first time I've been down there, (it was over 100 deg in the pit area with the track being 130+ at times) and not hurting at all.  I will take every victory I can get along the way.  My thighs also agree with me there.

Month 10 and 11, Reagan said it best.

"Tear down this wall!"  Ended Month 9 with a goose egg and started Month 10 with a gain of .4.  Was it me or was the wall getting bigger?  It was time to step it up a notch.  Added more jogging and started to go out twice a day if my early walk/jog wasn't that long.  I racked up 528 mins with 6789 calories burned that week and finally saw a loss of 2.2 lbs.  That put me at 260.8 and I knew this had to be the week to break the dreaded 260 wall.  408 mins with 2-a-days and 2 3-a-days lead to a 2.6 lb loss and finally put me in the 250's! FINALLY!!!  I graduated high school in the 250's in 1996.  It seemed that jogging was the key because the next month the losses continued.  Just as soon as I got in the 250's I was out of them.  I ended Month 11 at 246.4 and over 94 lbs lost.  Not only did I break thought the plateau, I signed up for my first 5K!  That was one goal I had in mind but one goal I wasn't planning on was 100 lbs lost in a year.  Once I hit 90 lbs that 100 lbs seemed to be achievable.  100 lbs lost sounded so much better then 80 lbs.  :)  I posted on MFP,  "My new goal, 1 year 100 lbs!"  I even made a nice logo for it.  I didn't have a lot of time but I was less then 6 lbs away.  I was on a solid run to this point and just needed to keep those feet moving.  Jogging 1 mile straight turned into 2 miles and towards the end of the month I was able to stretch out to 5K's.  All the stars seemed to be lining up for that first 5K.  At this point all I could do is go out and run.  Cue slow motion video of me training for my 5K. Minus the beach, everyone else, and moving as fast as these guys were.  Other then that, it was just like that.

My Intro into the Jogging World.

My name and jogging were two words that were not to be spoken out loud at the same time.  To me jogging was just some sort of medieval torture.  I knew I needed to step up my walking and jogging seemed to be the easiest option for me.  Since I am an internet geek, it wasn't to hard to find heards of sites for runners.  My biggest hurdle was to sift through all the crap out there.  I figured my first goal should be to do a 5K.  I found a few training programs for 5K's but one that I've read the most on was Couch to 5K.  It was a free app on my android phone and there was a nice group in the MFP forums.  For a couple of weeks I would add 5-10 mins of jogging (3 times a week) to my daily walks.  While I wasn't in jogging shape, all of the walking seemed to make the intro a bit easier.  About this time I joined the Runners World Beginner Forum.  Hands down the best forum I found for running advise.  They suggested even though I've been jogging for a short time, I still should start with the C25K program so my body could get used to the beating.  I have no shame in admitting I was clueless about this at first, so I took their advise and started the program that week.

Few things right off the bat they suggested: 1) take it easy, every run isn't a PR (personal record) run, 2) follow the program, 3) use the rest days, 4) don't over do it, to much to early can lead to injury, 5) use good form, foot strike and breathing is key, 6) speed will come with miles under your belt.  While some of that made sense and the speed part with miles seemed odd, they were the experienced runners.  I threw shot put and discus on the track team.  Not once did I run a race. lol  By the point I started C25K I already could jog 30 mins straight so I wasn't sure if I would gain from this.  I started with W1D1, then skipped to W2D1 and finished the next 3 weeks.  After W4D3 I decided that I was probably a tic farther then the C25K program was but I still feel it helped me concentrate on my form and breathing.  Since I wasn't going out to do 3-4 miles at time and my pace could be timed with the sun dial, I had time to make sure I wasn't looking like a total muppet.  Week in, week out, I tried to jog 3-4 times a week.  I read up on running form and saw a post talking about shorter steps can help alleviate some knee pain.  Granted I didn't have any and figured that could help make sure I didn't get any.

Every few weeks I noticed I could go a little farther, a little faster.  I wasn't going out to run farther/faster it was just happening.  My avg 15-16 min pace was now 14-15 mins and 2 miles was turning into 3 miles.  I was starting to hit 3+ miles, while I wouldn't say easily but it wasn't hard either, so I decided it was time to start thinking about that first 5K.  I like the idea of goals and knew it would keep me motivated to keep moving forward.  Once I saw the scale moving in the right direction again (plus the 20-30% more calorie burn), TBH that was all the motivation I needed.

WAIT! 20 mins...

I have read a few places and I'm fairly sure it was one of those tips from Extreme Makeover Weight Loss, that after you finish your meal if you are still hungry wait 20 mins.  The reason for this is because it takes time for your brain and stomach to text each other.  This is why at times you feel you're still hungry right after you just ate.  Also, from my understanding, it takes at least 20 mins because your stomach uses AT&T.

Inspiration at its finest.

If you are not inspired by these stories, go see a doctor.  You might be dead inside.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/13/team-maddy-triathlon-rick-van-beek-cerebral-palsy_n_1773662.html#slide=1375401

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roZrT_tciKA&feature=related

Month 8 and 9, The proverbial wall.

March started off a lot better then February ended and April I finally hit that ugly diet word, plateau.  End of March it seemed I had things going in the right direction.  First week of April I lost 3.6 lbs and felt confident I would be in the 250's in just a few weeks.  Last time I weighed 261 lbs was 1996 which is the year I graduated high school and started my first freshman year at NKU.  I didn't get a great week of exercise but still managed 184 mins and the scale showed 0.  It wasn't a gain and at this point I have lost almost 80 lbs.  Next week little more exercise and a .6 lb gain.  I had a bad feeling I have finally hit that proverbial wall.  Week 26 I entered the 260's and week 38 I'm still there.  Thing is, I knew this would happen.  This wasn't a big, "WTF" moment at all.  I am still proud of the 75+ lbs I've lost at this point and knew I just needed to change things up.  I've already been walking since day 1 and with the wife in school couldn't afford a gym membership yet.  Since I played football/basketball/track at this weight, I figured lets start to jog some.  I read upping the intensity of workouts helps break the plateau, so around week 33 I did just that.  Very little at first but each week added more.  I knew I needed to get used to this and going out full bore jogging would have just led to an injury.

One Crazy Week

In the past week I've hit a few major milestones.  I've run my 2nd 5K with a PR, I hit my 1 year mark for my diet, I logged into MFP for 370 days in a row, went to family party where I basically had to re-introduce myself (not really but amuse me) and I got to scratch 3 goals off my list with one of them being jogging 6 (6.2 total) miles straight.  That is not a typo, I jogged a 10K.  Plus, I got my Facebook and Twitter pages up and running to make it easy to follow my ramblings.   Thanks to everyone at home and online for the support this past year.  I really do appreciate it.

Mark Rucker Story, MFP Member

I just found a post in the My Fitness Pal forum of a guy who CNN did an article on.  He was wearing a KY shirt in his profile pic, so he can't be that bad of a guy (I'm from KY).  lol  I clicked it to just read and all I could say is WOW!  I basically just read what could be my story in a few years from now.  He was 6'2 and 380 lbs.  He has lost over 120 lbs (article doesn't say exactly how much nor his MFP profile) but that is not why this article stood out for me.  Since early 2011, he has done 5K's, 10K's, half-marathon, full marathon, and he competed in an Olympic distance triathlon.  On August 26, he will compete in the Louisville Ironman competition. That is insane to me to have come that far in such short time.  This could be the first person, that I can say I would like to follow in their footsteps.  Looks like I need to step it up.  Here is the CNN article.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/10/health/rucker-weight-loss-race/index.html?hpt=hp_c3

A great quote, that is also very true.

"Weight loss isn't a sprint, it's a marathon."

TMI, Bathroom Frequency

Yes, the topic that some folks don't like to talk about and others share WAY to much info on.  I would say before and during the first 4-5 months of my diet, nothing changed in how often I went #2.  #1 wasn't an issue since I drink like a baby camel.  I don't remember if it built up or one day I just finally noticed, "I didn't go today."  I was a daily person and it was rare that I would skip a day.  Next thing you know I wouldn't go for 2-3 days at a time.  A few times 4!  EEK!!!!  Instead of consulting a doctor, I asked someone way more knowledgeable, Google.  Seems its not abnormal at all to go a few days without dropping the kids off at the pool.  It wasn't like I was constipated and it didn't hurt.  I just wasn't going anywhere near as often as I used to.  Since I am not a doctor, nor play one on TV my guess is I just wasn't shoveling food in like I used to. Since I'm taking in less food and exercising, I'm running a slightly more greener body.  Less in, more used, less waste.  Now, I have absolutely no idea if that is correct.  That is just my uneducated guess.  If I'm wrong, at least it sounds good.  If I'm right, I knew that.  :)

Months 6 and 7

January and February, 2 months of poor results.  Week 22 and 23 looked promising and since our winter was very mild I managed to get a few walks in.  The scale was still going in the right direction.  Week 26 was 6 months straight with a loss.  I went back through a post on MY Fitness Pal and I said, "I've never stuck with anything this long before in my life."  Which is very true, my mind tends to wander after a few months of anything.  Week 26 rolls around and I got sick.  If I remember correctly it was the flu.  Zapped all of my energy and as you can see, the next 3 weeks I didn't even get 1 min of exercise in.  I lost 3.2 lbs on week 27 somehow but week 28 it finally happened.  I gained weight!  From being sick and not stepping a foot outside, I knew it was going to happen.  I was in the 260's so I was still pleased with my progress.  Week 29 rolled around, CRAP!  Another gain but with the weather slowly getting better I knew I would be outside walking again soon.  I only lost 5.6 lbs the first 2 months of 2012 but that still put me at a total of 71 lbs!  I'm now in the 260's which is what I graduated high school at in 1996.  I'm 9 lbs away from my 2nd goal of another 40 lbs lost.  Getting sick did set me back but I was a man on a mission.  I wanted to see 250's on the scale again.  Another small victory was that I've logged into My Fitness Pal for 205 days in a row!

Inspiration

It's one of those things you really don't think about when you talk about diets.  Sometimes you need a little inspiration to keep moving forward.  Some of us can inspire ourselves where others might need outside help.  Watching Extreme Makeover inspires me to keep going.  Reading success stores on My Fitness Pal inspires me to keep going.  Every Monday when I get on the scale and see a loss, that inspires me to keep going.  For me, its the little things that keeps that fire inside me lit.  Passing on cake or any other unhealthy snack at a party, is a little victory that inspire me to stay on course.  It's all those little victories that makes the losses not hurt as much.  You will have those bad days, weeks, or like me sometimes months.  Unless your an absolute freak, there's no way around it.  Workout for hours on end to see the scale not move or even go up.  Thing is, all those past victories let you know, while you might lose a battle or two, your still going to win the war (or however that saying goes lol).

So what inspires you?

Snacks

5 months in, I've started to realize I only snack on a few things.  I have a few go to snacks (pretzels, reduced fat Pringles, granola bars), but I needed something else.  Part of my problem was I could have a huge snack right after I ate a big meal.  I am a computer geek, so I tend to spend hours in front of the screen doing god knows what.  I do work on sim racing projects (3D stuff), but outside of that its games, reading, or YouTube.  YouTube is like that Lay's commercial, "I bet you can't watch just 1?"  Due to my slight computer geekyness (that's a word now, its on the internet, its true), I created an excel spreadsheet of snacks.  I was just searching the forums at MFP and a few other sites, then writing down serving size, calories, etc.  A few new snacks that I just didn't think about was grapes, raisins, fruit roll-ups, pudding, jell-o, and popcorn.  With being Mr Mom, sometimes I just want to be able to grab and go.  While I might not be going anywhere, the kids will be on me like hawks if I keep the frig or pantry door open for to long.  I started to toss in some apples, rice crispy treats, Kroger yogurts, and even some Weight Watchers frozen stuff.  The Weight Watchers Strawberry Smoothie Low Fat Frozen Yogurt is a super long name for a product, plus only 60 calories, 1g of fat/fiber/protein, and DELICIOUS!

I don't like those fancy fruits and nuts just don't agree with me.  So here is my question to you all, HELP ME FIND NEW SNACKS!  I defiantly need to broaden my horizon when it comes to snacks.  I have enough calories to eat each day if my meals are normal size.  I have walked the isles at the store and still draw a blank on healthy snacks.  It's either I don't want to see it or just overlook possible snack ideas.

Retweet with Chris Powell

TIP: Women should never eat <1200 calories & men <1500 calories. Exercise creates the deficit needed 4 weight loss.

I normally wouldn't post a tweet but I think this is very informative.  From post on MFP and a few other places, I really feel sometimes people don't get this.

Month 4 and 5, Temptation Island

I look at November and December as "Temptation Island", Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I'm sure every family has their favorite dishes and mine is the same.  We have parties for both sides of the family to attend.  Double the fun!  All you have to say is sticky rolls and ears perk up like a hunting dog in my house.  Definition of a sticky roll: basic dinner roll cooked with stuff on top that is known to cause orgasms.  While I don't think those are the exact ingredients, they are just that good.  In my prime, 6-8 rolls would suffer a quick and painful death in my belly.  Normal dinner roll is +/- 100 cals, then add in the butter, brown sugar, 7 herbs and spices, and my guess it pushes each roll to around 140-150 cals a piece.  I love these things!  I would eat one or two or six while waiting in line to get my food, then put a few more on my plate for good measure.  We have these at Thanksgiving and Christmas.  That's just the rolls, please don't get my started on my Great Aunt and Uncles cream candy.  The my Aunts Heavenly Hash with green jello, dear lord that is yummy!  I am gaining weight just talking about these things.  I will attempt to hunt down pics of these delicious holiday treats.

Both of these days roll around, and I can honestly say I was proud of myself.  Thanksgiving I only had I think 4 rolls.  I had 4 because there really wasn't much else I could eat other then turkey and pumpkin pie.  Pumpkin pie is healthy?  Isn't it?  ;)  I managed the same thing at Christmas time.  It was painful to see all those rolls sit there with nowhere to go but I knew I had a bigger goal in store, another 40 lbs.

Will Power: 2
Sticky Rolls: 1

Well I did eat 4 each time so they at least scored 1 point for that.  lol  Rain and cold set in which slowed my exercise a bit.  I wasn't going to put my 2/1 yr olds in stroller in that weather.  My bike in the basement seat was so uncomfortable, that I hoped just staying under on calories would do the trick till the weather changed.  December was very mild and with the wife off school for winter break I was able to get some walks in.  Overall still pleased with the past 8 weeks results, 17.2 lbs for a total of 65.4.  Closing in on the 2nd 40 lb goal.

Portion Control

Hands down my biggest hurdle when I started.  I always thought measuring cups were for making food not to eat it.  The first few time I used them to measure my food, my jaw hit the floor.  I could not believe the size of 1 cup of mashed mashed potatoes, corn, or how much 3 oz of meat really was.  Once I wrapped my head about this concept, it was more then clear how I got to 340+ lbs, I ate WAY to much.  I still might have only had 3 meals and a few snacks a day, but each meal was prob 1000+ calories.  I would not doubt when I ate french fries, I was prob in the 150-200 calories range in ketchup alone.  I wish I was kidding but its true.  My family thought I used to drink it.  Spaghetti was the biggest surprise for me.  I remember that mound of noodles and had them swimming in sauce.  Larosa's spaghetti sauce, YUM!  Needless to say we don't have that to often.

I would say I haven't completely eliminated some foods like spaghetti and pizza due to calories per serving.  Hows the saying go, "Everything in moderation."  If I eat Papa Johns pizza, its either a special occasion or a nice treat to myself for all my hard work.  It doesn't happen often so when I do eat something like that, I've found it taste so much better!  Those days I also don't go over my calories either.  Walk/bike/jog to make sure of that.  Prime example, today we ate lunch at Gold Star Chili.  It's a Cincinnati style chili place http://www.goldstarchili.com/  that we have ate at all our lives. Since we look at that place the same as Papa Johns, we haven't had it in almost a year.   I would normally get 4 cheese coneys (chili, shredded cheddar cheese, hot dog, bun, mustard) which is 310 calories a pop, plus an order of fries with ketchup.  A meal easily 1500+ calories.  Today I got a Caesar Salad and 1 cheese coney.    700 delicious calories that was well worth the wait.

I borrowed this from the website Meals Matter,

• Woman's fist or baseball -- a serving of vegetables or fruit is about the size of your fist
• A rounded handful -- about one half cup cooked or raw veggies or cut fruit, a piece of fruit, or ½ cup of cooked rice or pasta – this is a good measure for a snack serving, such as chips or pretzels
• Deck of cards -- a serving of meat, fish or poultry or the palm of your hand (don't count your fingers!) – for example, one chicken breast, ¼ pound hamburger patty or a medium pork chop
• Golf ball or large egg -- one quarter cup of dried fruit or nuts
• Tennis ball -- about one half cup of ice cream
• Computer mouse -- about the size of a small baked potato
• Compact disc -- about the size of one serving of pancake or small waffle
• Thumb tip -- about one teaspoon of peanut butter
• Six dice -- a serving of cheese
• Check book -- a serving of fish (approximately 3 oz.)

Chris Powell, Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition

Where do you start with this guy?  I've watched most seasons of Biggest Loser and to be honest I do like his show a little better.  The competition side of BL takes away from the crazy amounts of weight these people lose.  Now, Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition is 1 person vs themselves.  Watching this show, while they are given all the tools to hit their goals, just seems a little more real.  Chris Powell, a trainer that was made famous for helping a guy go from the size of an F-150 to a Smart Car.  He helped David Smith lose 401 lbs in 26 months.  That is not a typo, 401 lbs!  If you haven't watched this show before, and since your reading this blog I highly recommend it.  You can find the first 2 seasons on Hulu.com.

Quick rundown of the show.  He takes a morbidly obese person and moves in with them for 3 months.  Sets an outrageous goal for them, sometimes upwards up 150 lbs.  They hit the goal, they get some reward.  He moves out then real life begins.  That would be just a snippet of whats going on, but you get the idea.  So other then talking up this show, why did I bring him up specifically?  This guy is no Bob Harper.  Other then his negative body fat %, he is an EXTREMELY positive person.  At first your like, COME ON! This guy can't be real.  After watching a few episodes you get used to it and then crazy enough I started to like him.  He is kinda like Nascar driver Jimmies Johnson.  He is good at what he does and always comes off as a nice guy.  When you think about it, how often does anyone have a person like that in their life?  Someone that 110% believes that they can do this.

I started to watch this show at a perfect time. I watched a few episodes last season while it was on but missed most of them. I was just hitting month 11 and knew my 100 lb goal in a year was going to be close.  While he is motivating these folks to lose crazy amounts of weight, it was motivating me.   One of those if they can do it, so could I.  I was talking with someone who I worked with for over 10 years.  She has seen my entire range of emotions.  My funny side, my serious side, my sad side, and my I have smoke coming out of ears rage side.  I was a big guy.  At 340+ lbs I could fit all those sides on me.  She said I can tell you have changed.  I told her, I've lost 100 lbs. lol  She said no, it was more that you seem happier.

You know what?  She's right...  I just lost 100 lbs without stepping 1 foot in a gym or taking a single Tom Cruise voodoo pill.  My confidence is off the chart and oddly enough I owe a small percentage of that to him.  It was just refreshing to see.  When you believe in yourself, you can achieve goals you used to think were untouchable.  That's what he does in the show.  Chris says, "If you say I can't do something, I will prove to you that you can."

http://chrispowell.com/

Month 2 and 3 Review

After 4 great weeks, I kept the ball rolling for 8 more.  Week 10 it rained most of it as well as week 11 and 12.  I didn't realize Kentucky had a monsoon season.  We had a stationary bike but I thought I was doing good so figured I would just wait out the rain.  By week 13 I was wrong and the scale showed it.  I never went over on calories but obviously the exercise is what was helping me along.  Still, 26.6 lbs in 9 weeks was a great feeling!  I was out of the 300's and weighed in at 292.4 lbs.  Last time I weighed 292 was probably 1997-98.  Little slip up in month 3 but that's life. Can't control the weather but can control how much exercise I do.  It just showed me for the winter months I better come up with a plan if I want to keep moving in the right direction.  13 weeks straight with a loss, couldn't be more thrilled.  I thought I would be done after a month, now I've lost 48.2 lbs!  First 40 lbs lost goal met and 2nd 40 lb goal started.  It took me 11 weeks to lose 40 lbs, how hard could the next 40 be?  ...insert evil laugh here...

Goals

I found once I had a goal, I pushed myself a little harder to hit that goal.  My first goal was 40 lbs.  I started at 340 and just wanted to get out of the 300's.  That took 11 weeks to do.  I hit that goal but still wasn't happy with where I was at so set another 40 lbs goal.  Each goal while big, wasn't extremely hard to achieve.   Hard, yes, but not over the top.  I hear so many stories about folks wanting to lose 100 lbs or more.  Their only goal is 100, nothing else.  I also hear about how this is their ump-teenth time doing it.  Some folks can set huge goals and meet them.  I feel most folks need to set small goals at first to show themselves that they can do it.  It feels great to hit goals, trust me.  When I saw that scale hit 239.6, it was like that monkey is now off my back.  If you have dieted before and can't stick with it, I suggest starting off with a smaller goal.  25-30 lbs is a good starter.  Even if that's the only goal you hit, still 30 lbs is still a nice loss.  It's just a silly game we need to play with our mind.

Once you get that taste of success, its hard to get that flavor out of your mouth.