Sunday Morning ~ Weigh In March 6, 2011
Posted by Scott in Food, Goals, Motivation, Weekly Weigh In.add a comment
This has been some week. I spent the week tracking what I eat with good success for the most part, and fair success as far a meeting my calorie goals. It really hasn’t been that bad, but I missed the mark on a couple of days. I can really notice what a difference there has been in the amount of food that I am eating. I was aware of times when I would normally just grab something and munch on in the past, almost out of habit it seems. There were a few times when I still did grab something because I was truly hungry. The challenge of being hungry is something that I really have struggled with in the past because it always leads to frustration for me, and I get discouraged and next thing I know all that I have been working for is forgotten. I don’t want that to happen this time, and since I am seeing signs, I want to find a way to counteract it. Find a way isn’t really what I mean. I know a way that will work for me and jump-start things for me. I have followed the principles of the South Beach Diet in the past and had good success with the first few weeks. But it is a mental hurdle for me, as is almost of all of this weight reduction health improvement thing. I did the South Beach Diet a few years ago and had great results for 4 weeks. It was very difficult at first, eliminating all those bad carbs and it sometimes seemed like I would never get done preparing my next meal. It was a lot of work. But I did it, and I did it for 4 weeks. I think I could have kept going, but I hit a major bump in the road. My son and I attended an 8 day summer camp with his scout troop. Food choices were very limited. All we could eat was what was supplied by the camp, and cooked by us. Traveling to and from the camp was about a 14 hour drive, and over two days, that resulted in a lot of fast food. When I returned to civilization, I was in severe need of some good old home cooking. And That is what I had. It never stopped, and within about 4 months, I had gained the 20 or so pounds I had lost when I followed South Beach.
I don’t have any planned bumps in the road, but still the commitment needed to do this is a big one, and I feel like I am inching myself towards it, getting closer by the day. I want to see some good results. I want to improve my health. There are many things I want to do, that I can’t do at this current weight and fitness level. I am getting there, and I will make strides to do it each and every day.
Results for the week (actually two) are as follows. I am down 1.3 pounds from my last weigh in to 262.7. Inch by inch I will make this happen.
Somewhere, Sometime February 26, 2011
Posted by Scott in Goals, Motivation, Tools.2 comments
I ended my last post with a few lines from the band Rage Against The Machine – It has to start somewhere, It has to start sometime.
This morning I decided that the somewhere was going to be HERE and the sometime was going to be NOW. So it is official. I am back on it. As of today, I am restarting my efforts to improve my health. Will it be easy? Not always. Will it be worth it? Absolutely! Am I ready? Uh, I think so. Am I doing it anyway? Yes I am.
This plan of mine had to start somewhere, and it had to start sometime. I started with the somewhere. I went to myfitnesspal.com and signed up, and even loaded the app for my phone to make it even easier for me. As for the sometime, I did all of this before breakfast. I wanted to get off to a good start today, and I didn’t want to put it off, just in case putting it off was as easy today as it has been for so many days over the past month or so. It had to start somewhere, It had to start sometime!
It has been a good day so far. Eating well, tracking my food on myfitnesspal.com and even drinking lots of water. Has it been a big change? Well, yes it has been. But a big change is what I am looking to do. I want to get rid of this extra 30, 40, 50, 60 pounds or so that I have been carrying around for too long. I am going to try to go about this the same way that I intended to when I started this blog about a year ago. I am going to break my goal into 5 pound increments and repeat 10(maybe even 13) times. I am 65 pounds away from one-derland, and I would love to go back there.
It has to start somewhere, It has to start sometime, What better place than here? What better time than NOW?
The Thinking Continues February 23, 2011
Posted by Scott in Challenges, Goals, Motivation.1 comment so far
I continue to think about getting back into the weight loss routine, but I guess you could say I am only dipping my toes in the water. I probably won’t feel like I am actually progressing until I am completely at it again. Completely, as in keeping a close watch on all of my food intake, regular exercise, lots of water everyday, routine visits to the scale to mark my progress and maybe even some regular postings on this here blog of mine.
Now, it is not a total loss. I have tried to cut back on some of the food that I was eating. I have been drinking more water than I was even a month ago. I occassionally get a little bit of exercise into my day. I have started taking my vitamins again. These are good things. Yes, but……I want more, and I am not currently doing more. I need to build up the reslove to get off of the side of the pool and get rid of the doubts that keep creeping into my head and just jump in.
I need to stop listening to those quivering little toes on the edge there telling my brain that this is going to be so hard. That I am going to be miserable while I work at improving my life. That I don’t have the time to do it.
To borrow a line from Rage Against The Machine
It has to start somewhere, It has to start sometime
What better place than here, what better time than now?
Starting Over February 18, 2011
Posted by Scott in Goals, Motivation, Updates.1 comment so far
One of my favorite sayings is “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step”. That is what I was starting last spring when I began this blog and started trying to lose weight, a journey of a thousand miles. Things started pretty well and I lost 13 pounds in 9 weeks and looking back I was feeling pretty good about the whole deal. And then.
And then, and not to sound cliche, I fell off of the wagon, and in just a short period of time, I lost focus, quit posting, quit weighing myself and as far as my journey goes, I JUST QUIT!
Now I find myself one year older and no closer to my goal, and possibly even farther away from it. I don’t really know because I haven’t weighed myself in about a month, and I don’t think I have just lost a few pounds over these last four weeks.
I want to get started again. I do. Sort of.
I am having a hard time finding the motivation to get started. I know I need to. I know how to. I know that all of the sweets that I eat are not helping me at all. I just need to do it! This post is my declaration. I will get back up, and take the first step. Then steps. Building my journey as I go.
Status Report – Week # 9 May 9, 2010
Posted by Scott in Weekly Weigh In.2 comments
Just a short sweet update for this Mother’s Day. I have had a pretty good week overall. Things continue to be very busy for me, and the week was not without a few challenges. The biggest challenge for me was my left hamstring. I am not sure what has happened to it, I can’t pin it down to a specific event, but it has been extremely tight for about 5 days now. I have tried stretching it on numerous occasions, but still the tightness continues. I haven’t done any of my c25k program this week because of this. I actually enjoyed week one of the program, and was looking forward to making progress in week two. Once I get the hamstring figured out, I will get back to the training that the program lays out.
I did pretty well with my eating choices this week. It was not without a few setbacks, but overall things went well. The results on the scale this morning show that I made some progress this week also. I weighed in at 251 this morning, which is down another 3 pounds from last Sunday. I had a feeling that things were going pretty well, but without the exercise, I wasn’t really sure what I would see this morning. Needless to say, I was quite happy to see the number 251. Surprised even, but I will definitely take it.
I want to wish everyone a Happy Mother’s Day today. I will be thinking of my Mom today, and trying to make it a great day for the Mother of my kids.
Here’s How I Did This Weekend May 3, 2010
Posted by Scott in Challenges, Exercise, Food, Goals, Motivation.3 comments
This morning marked the conclusion of the weekend’s WWC – Braveheart Edition. I had three goals that I wanted to achieve to keep on track through the weekend. I didn’t quite succeed in these three goals, but didn’t fail in a major way either. The net result was that this weekend was better than many that I have had, so I am not too disappointed.
Goal number one was to complete week one of c25k on Friday. Although I technically did miss that one by about 36 hours, I did get it completed during the weekend. Sunday morning, in the rain, I went out and finished day 3 of week 1. I will take this as a win.
Goal number two was my old standby of 80 ounces of water. This didn’t quite get done. On Saturday I was a volunteer at my daughters High School Track Invitational. I was working in the long jump and shot put areas, and didn’t drink that much water for the 6 hours I was there. Breaks were at a minimum, and I didn’t want to need to go to the bathroom when I really couldn’t leave my station. Friday and Sunday were both OK, but I fell about 36 ounces short on Saturday.
The third goal that I set, really proved to be my biggest challenge. The goal was to get through the weekend without eating any sweets. I was tempted more than a couple of times. The trip to Dairy Queen to pick up Blizzards for my wife and kids was tempting. I decided before leaving the house that I was not getting anything from DQ, and that is just what I did. I resisted having any s’mores that my youngest made on Sunday, but did have a some chocolate at that time. We also had some cookies appear in the house this weekend. I first saw the cookies as I helped unload the groceries, and resisted them at that time. But last night, shortly before going to bed, I ended up eating three cookies.
All in all, I didn’t really hit any of my goals as stated, but I did finish week one of c25k, and had just some minor setbacks in the other areas. Overall, I will take it. Can I do better? Yep, I sure can.
I hope everyone else had good results with their goals.
Status Report – Week # 8 May 2, 2010
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Another week, another weigh in. But this has not just been another week for me. I have gotten back on track, at least partially. I went through some tough weeks during early April, but this week got me back into the swing of things somewhat. There is some hesitation in saying that I am back, because I have many things to improve upon, but I am moving in the right direction again.
Here are a couple of things that I can improve on as I move forward. Eating healthy foods. There, I said it. I haven’t been doing a great job with all of my eating. The last few weeks, I have slipped into some old habits that I need to eliminate in order to move forward. Habits like eating processed foods and not fresh foods. Salads have almost completely fallen off of my eating radar. Sweets and other treats have joined processed foods in returning to my diet also. A Hershey bar here, some potato chips there, a pound of weight still around my midsection……….you get the picture.
This past week has been better for me as far as exercise goes. I finally started(again) and completed week one of c25k. When I had started this program a couple of times earlier in the month, I couldn’t make the commitment to get through the whole week. It didn’t seem right to have an entire rest week between sessions, so I would restart on day 1. This week, I made it a point to find the time and just get outside and do it. All that said, it still took me 7 days to complete week one. I had intended to finish the first week on Friday evening, but I didn’t get it finished until Sunday morning. I am glad that I have gotten through it, and am looking forward to week number 2. I am using the podcasts of Robert Ullrey to help me pace myself, and I think they work great. For me it is good to have somebody on the opposite shoulder of my self-conscious to provide that little extra motivation when I get to doubting myself.
Here are this weeks numbers. The scale reports that I am at 254, which is a push. Nothing lost, nothing gained. While I really would like to figure out how to post a few weeks in a row with losses, I know that the scale just gives me a number. I need to look past the number and focus on the good decisions I am starting to make again to improve my health. I do believe that if I continue to eat healthy and exercise regularly, the pounds will come off.
What Would William Wallace Do? April 30, 2010
Posted by Scott in Challenges, Goals.7 comments
What would William Wallace do? He would step up to the challenge and commit to become a Weekend Warrior! That is what I am doing too. It is that time again. Time for the third edition of the Weekend Warriors Challenge . This time the theme for the challenge is Braveheart. William Wallace, err……Brandon, over at So Long, Fat Ass! is the man behind the challenge and he does a great job of keeping everyone up to date with who is taking part in the challenge and links to their posts about it.
Here is how The Weekend Warriors Challenge works.
I have had a really stressful month this April, and I really want to get off to a good start in May. The past 4 days have been better, but up to that point, April was not my greatest shining moment. With that in mind, I am looking forward to make May great, and this challenge will be step number one.
The number 3 has been popping up a lot lately for me. Earlier in the week when I was feeling down, Craig from My Life, Take Eight suggested that he and I strive to get three miles in this week. I found some motivation and decided to take it a step further. This was the week that I was going to commit to doing the C25K running program. I am hoping that the third time is the charm for this. I started this program twice before earlier in the month, but never made it past day 1. This week was different. I have completed days 1 and 2 of the program, and I am feeling ok so far. Maybe the third time will be the charm for me and I can make progress as I try to become a runner. I want to be a runner, but not yet. The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.
Here are my goals for the Weekend Warrior Challenge.
1. Finish week one of C25K on Friday evening.
2. Drink at least 80 ounces of water each of the three days. This is an ongoing struggle for me on the weekends for some reason.
3. Stay away from the sweets this weekend. No cookies, no cakes, not even a candy bar. I have indulged my sweet tooth more than a few times during the last month, and I want to go without to start the month.
Those are my three goals for the Challenge. Now if I can just squeeze in some time to watch Braveheart…………..
All About The 3’s April 28, 2010
Posted by Scott in Challenges, Motivation.4 comments
Today is Wednesday. It is the third day of the week.
After posting my Status Report – Week 7, I received comments from Craig, Carla and Joey (who just finished a Half Marathon). If your keeping count, that was 3 comments for that post and they really helped me break through and get going again in a good direction.
Craig had commented that he too had been struggling after having a 3 day weekend, and suggested to get us both back on track we each commit to do 3 miles this week. I agreed that I could do it and I am off to a good start because of it.
I had set 3 goals for myself for the week in the Status Report – Week 7 posting, and so far things are going well.
This coming weekend will be the third Weekend Warriors Challenge: Braveheart Edition. Like last month, I will be participating again. Guess how many goals I have in mind for the challenge……………that’s right 3 goals for me.
As a preview, one of my 3 goals for the challenge will be to complete a certain something that happens 3 times a week. This is something that I know many others out there have done, and now it is my time to do it. What’s more, this is the third time I have tried to get this goal under my belt. So far I have 2 of the 3 steps done, now just one more. More details of this will follow on my official Weekend Warriors Challenge posting later this week.
Status Report – Week #7 April 25, 2010
Posted by Scott in Motivation, Weekly Weigh In.8 comments
Another weigh in, another week gone by and I really feel like I am losing my way. Things have continued to be hectic at work, and in my life in general. I feel that the good habits that I had been developing over the past few weeks, have been slipping, and I am starting to feel the effects of my inaction. This has been a busy day for me, and I have spent a lot of time thinking about what to write for this update. I came up with this: emotions, results and direction.
Emotions – After a couple of weeks of feeling like I have had day after day of failures, I am feeling pretty down. I have had 3 very crazy weeks at work, and my personal life has had its share of challenges as well. When I started this journey, one of the things that helped motivate me tremendously was reading other peoples blogs about their weight loss journeys. I have struggled to find time to even stop by a few blogs and get updates on the fine folks in the blogosphere. So the net result is many hours of work, few hours of sleep, little blog reading motivation and just a general feeling of defeat. All of this has resulted in me falling into some old patterns. The worst of which was emotional eating. Whenever I get down on myself I turn to food. Cookies, brownies, candy or anything else that my family has brought into the house that is bad for me. I need to change. I need to get back on track. How? That is the question.
Results – Now this is where it gets crazy and hard to explain. This week, somehow, I don’t know how, I managed to lose two pounds and get down to 254 when I got onto the scale this morning. I have no idea how this happened. I ate pizza twice this week, lots of pizza one day. I ate fast food three times this week because I have been too tired to fix even the simplest of meals at home, and I just didn’t care at the moment. Although the regret soon hit me, just not enough to stop me the next time I hit the drive through. Exercise this week resulted in a zero. Zero work outs, zero walks. Just a zero! I need to change that.
Direction – I need some. Small steps must be the goal for the week. Anything I do that is positive will be 100% more than what I did this past week. I will walk this week. I will prepare my meals ahead of time and not hit the drive through this week. I will set my goal to read at least three blogs per day this week so that I can get motivated to get back on track.
Minus Five Times Ten 