DK's Training Journal

I have become a night stalker. Since my surgery I feel like I have laid around and eaten anything. I feel like I sitting all day and can almost feel myself growing weaker. It really in a disturbing feeling. However, I finally visited the doctor and received approval to begin walking. What a great moment. The only thing is, I only walk at night. I almost always run at night. It is cooler and I have had time to wrap up work and spend some time with the kids. Once they are down, my routine is to download some podcasts to the iPod and head out the door.


The problem I have now is that I feel like a stalker wandering my streets. Unlike a month ago, it is now pitch dark when I head out the door after 9pm. And instead of wearing running attire and running through the streets, I now walk out in whatever I'm wearing and slowly meander. Before I used to see someone in their driveway late at night and they would notice me jogging and wave and think nothing of it. Now, people see this creepy guy just walking around their neighborhood at 10pm and they stop and stare and then look back a dozen times on their way into the house. There is no wave. Last night a lady was sitting on her front porch talking on the phone. I saw and heard her long before she saw or heard me. When she did see me, she kind of freaked and started grabbing her items frantically and quickly headed to the door stopping to take one last look at me to see if I was approaching her. Weird how running late is acceptable and not alarming, but a single man walking the streets after dark is troubling.

Anyways, I'm feeling a lot better. I really enjoy walking as it finally gives me something to do. The best part is I have been able to continue the weight loss despite being so laid up. What a relief to think I'm not adding.

 

September 2nd






 

Five weeks are now officially in the books. In an earlier post, I stated that I would never allow myself to climb over 250lbs. Then, a couple of years ago I flew by 250lbs. and didn’t look back as I climbed into the 260’s! I remained active during the “dead weight” years. This week I have dropped below the 250 mark and it is great to think I have hit a major milestone. My next milestone becomes 240.

A bigger goal for me becomes the week of November 11th. That is 11 weeks from tomorrow. I have earned an award in which my company is flying me to Orlando during the week of the 11th. As part of the reward I will be able to bring my wife along to participate in the ceremony where I will be recognized. It is a really big deal for my career and I’m honored by the nomination and award. What is great is I can use this as a mini-major goal from a weight loss standpoint. I’m 249lbs as of this morning. If I can lose 2lbs a week (very reasonable and I have kept up this pace over five weeks without feeling like I’m dieting) than I would be very close to 225lbs during the trip. If I can keep up my current pace of 2.5lbs a week, then breaking 220 is doable. So with that said—I’m setting a goal of being at 225 when I leave for the trip with an aspiration goal of 220! Wish me luck.

As a side note—I’m hoping this mini goal is just what I need! I have done very good on my diet until last week. I was out of town and struggled to stay on track. This week I started out eating well—but by today I broke down and ate garbage. I have found it easier and easier to skip on my calorie journal and it is time to turn this around. I have also been so busy with work that I go to be after 2am and end up skipping morning workouts.

Now that I have established my goals for the trip…my goals this week are clear:

Enter MFP daily (outside of my free meal).
Workout each morning.
Participate in the 100 push up challenge.
Run 10 miles.  

 

The final comment I wanted to make on habits relates to tempatations. Temptations have become less intimidating. On one hand, I am realistic to know that a bad meal won't sabotage my overall progress. Moreso though, I just find that the temptations aren't as appealing as they recently were. We met some friends for dinner on Friday at a BBQ restaurant that serves incredible steaks! Fortunately, I restrained and ate a grilled chicken salad. The salad was fine and I even felt as I was eating it that I was somehow missing out. Yet, within minutes of finishing when I'm full I just feel so much better knowing I made a good choice, I'm full with healthy food and my self-confidence instantly grows.

I decided early on that I was going to have one free meal each week where I ate whatever I wanted. I can't tell you what a great pshchological boost having that meal to look forward to is. It makes passing on desserts much easier. Needless to say, I enjoyed a great meal Saturday courtesy of Red Robin! By Sunday, I was re-energized and happy to decline dessert at my MIL's.

Last night I went running after everyone settled down. I only went two miles but I kept a 10min/mi pace and felt good. I was worried about how the late night run would impact my basketball game this morning--and I'm happy to say there were no ill-effects from the run. I had a lot of energy today and really enjoyed playing hard.

Finally, my favorite moment occurred this morning. For years I made myself a goal that I would never allow myself to breach the 250lbs mark. That was "off-limits". Yet a couple of years ago I crashed through that barrier and kept going. In fact I went all of the way up to 267lbs! Totally embarassing. I'm happy to state that when I hopped on the scale today I clocked in at 252.2. Overall I hit the 15lbs mark. Needless to say I'm eyeing the 250lbs mark with concerted intent. Today after I finished my workout I got on the scale and registered in at 249.2lbs. I was absolutely thrilled to see a 4 as the second number. I realize the weight doesn't count as I only register weigh-ins first thing in the morning. But still, I know I'm close. It has been probably 18 months since I weighed this low. I can't emphasize the boost this simple win has given me.  

 

I had another great morning today. Like Monday, I got up at 5 and hit the spinning class. I followed the class with weights and swimming. I typically swim 20 lengths. Monday I did 22 and today I was able to knock out 24. I have eaten well today and really I don’t feel like I have faced a lot of temptations over the past couple of days. Hopefully this is a sign of getting into a routine. On Monday I ate well and finished off my day by heading out the door that evening for a 1.5m jog. I hadn’t run in a very long time and it felt pretty good. I want to try and do this more often on MWF nights. Of course, I played basketball on Tuesday morning and could feel the effect of the previous night’s run as I tried to get into the game.

Today I was thinking about why things are off to such a better start this time around than previous “life changes”. I think one of the key components is the fact that I’m trying to holistically improve my life. Also, I have really tried to make a commitment to myself that I can do this and that I can keep the long term goal in mind. I have been trying to journal every day. I’m tracking my calories and visiting the MFP site a lot. The site is amazing in that so many people are sincerely trying to change their lives for good. It is inspiring to read about daily successes. One of the best successes I have read about was from a woman who has lost over 150lbs. Seriously, you read that correctly, 150lbs. It is amazing to think someone can have that type of self-motivation and determination to accomplish such a lofty goal. When asked about her “secret to success” she replied with the following response:

“It really was quite a journey. I was 280 pounds on February 14, 1994. It took me about 2 years to lose 120 pounds. Which, at 5'9" and 160 pounds, I was happy with my weight! I became a gym goer about 10 years ago and REALLY enjoy it....before I knew it, I was in the 130's. I learned SO MUCH about myself and my inner strengths during the last 14 years, that I really do thank God for the opportunity to have had that journey to go through (although, it didn't always feel like that, then :-) I read a note that "Tamtastic" left on someone's log yesterday, and I have said it myself, at least a million times....when you're losing weight the right way (no pills, gimicks, etc.) by a good diet and moderate exercise, something really does "click" in your brain. It was KNOWING that the weight would eventually come off, that was the true exciting thing! I think almost more exciting than reaching my set weight goal~I even remember thinking, as I approached my weight loss goal, "OMG, what will I do now"? How I wish this site was available back then!!! I relied on my own charts and calorie books to keep track of things and I did a lot of studying on what foods did in the body. I ate between 1400-1800 calories a day, drank lots-o-water, and walked in my neighborhood. I never denied myself of things that I wanted, but I kept no "junk" in the house....if I wanted something junky, I would have to go out and get it. But I will say that I developed more of an "eat to live", instead of "live to eat", mentality.....sweet things tasted good, but I knew that they would mess with my insulin levels and make me ultimately hungrier in the long run. I made sure that each meal I ate had a combo of carbs/protein/fat~carbs for immediate energy and protein/fat would provide energy when the carbs "wore" off. I changed the way I looked at plateaus. My weight would remain the same for weeks at a time, sometimes even months. Now, if I had been starving myself, this really would be depressing. But I wasn't. I loved the food I was eating! So, a plateau meant that I was successfully maintaining different weight points instead of yo-yo-ing around a number. Really, the most difficult thing that I think people have with weight loss, is the time it SHOULD require to lose. I gave myself all the time I needed and made small changes in my life, every month, and those "baby steps" have turned me into someone I would not have dreamt of becoming when I was in my 20's!”

I can really relate with some of the items she points out in her response. First, I love to read about nutrition and learn what I can about food and the impact it has on our bodies. Also, I am a freak when it comes to setting goals and recording every final number. The final thing that grabs my attention in this is that I need to have faith that if I make good choices, the weight will come off. I just have to believe it will come off.