Mud Run Training has begun!

Posted on July 24, 2012 by maninmyshadow

The big question for me now is how do I train for a Mud Run?  After all, I do not have a 3.2 mile obstacle course in my back yard.  So Sheri decided to do a web search and found several helpful websites.  One offered 3 free training routines to use, which I downloaded.  I forwarded it to my trainer and told him I would be booking a 2nd session every week for us to work on training for the Mud run.  As it turns out, Sheri was sick tonight so I worked out with my trainer alone and we decided to start the mud run training.  MAN I AM SORE!!!  So here is what we did tonight:

1. Single Leg Squats with Knee Up* (20 on each leg)

  • (Start) Balance on your right leg with your left leg off the floor. Be sure to squeeze your abs and glutes (engage the core) to keep your balance.
  • (Move 1) Bend your right knee and lower your glutes towards the ground. Try to keep your left leg parallel to your right without touching the floor.
  • (Move 2) As you straighten your right knee, drive your left knee up towards your chest. Hold for one second. Return to start. Repeat for 30-60 seconds.

2. Single Leg Bridges* (20 on each leg)

  • (Start) Lie with your back on the mat, knees bent, hands by your side. Squeeze your abs and glutes. Lift your right foot and straighten out your leg so that your right knee is parallel to your left.
  • (Move) Lift your butt and back off the ground and hold for one second. Return to mat and repeat for 30-60 seconds.

3. Supermans with pull-backs* (25)

  • (Start) Lie face down with your arms extended overhead. Squeeze glutes and pinch your shoulder blades together. Squeeze abdominal muscles and lift your arm, chest, and legs off the floor.
  • (Move) Bend your elbows and pull back towards your shoulder blades. Hold for one second. Return to start position. Repeat for a total of 30-60 seconds.

4. Push-Ups* (20)

5. Squats* (30)

6. Reverse Lunges* (25 on each leg)

  • (Start) Stand tall with your core engaged and arms by your side.
  • (Move) Take a big step backwards with your right leg to complete a lunge, dipping your right knee towards the ground. Return to start by pushing off your left heel. Repeat with left leg. Alternate and continue for a total of 30-60 seconds.

7. Plank Runners with Push Ups* (5 with the push ups, 5 more with out the push ups.  I couldn’t do any more)

  • (Start) Assume a straight-arm plank (the “up” part of a push-up).
  • (Move) Alternate tucking your knees in towards your chest four times (right left- right-left), then follow with a push-up. Repeat for a total of 30-60 seconds.

8. Supermans with Skydiver Sweep* (25)

  • (Start) Lie face down with your arms extended overhead. Squeeze glutes and pinch your shoulder blades together. Squeeze abdominal muscles and lift your arm, chest, and legs off the floor.
  • (Move) Keep your arms straight and sweep your back until your hands touch. You may need to bend your elbows slightly. Return to start position. Repeat for a total of 30-60 seconds.

9. Alternating Single Leg Deadlifts with Reach* (25 on each leg)

  • (Start) Stand tall with your core engaged (squeezing your abs and glutes) and balance on your right leg. Place hands at your waist.
  • (Move) Keeping your right leg straight, bend at the hip and extend your left hand towards your right foot. Hold for one second and return to start. Continue for a total of 30-60 seconds.

10. Side Plank Ups* (10 on each side)

  • (Start) Lie on your left side with your legs straight. Bend your elbow and lift your body so that your elbow and forearm are directly below your left shoulder.
  • (Move) Lower your hips towards the ground. Return to start and continue for a total of 30-60 seconds.

11. V Sit Ups* (5 and then I collapsed)

  • (Start) Sit down on a mat with your knees bent, arms by your side. Lift your knees off the mat so that only your butt is touching the ground.
  • (Move) Straighten out your legs and lower your legs and back towards the mat. Drop down as far as you can without losing your balance. Hold for one second. Return to start position.

I decided to GO BIG!  So let the pain begin!

 

Filed under: Diet, goals, Health, Inspiration, Journal, Journey, Losing Weight, Mens Weight Loss, Other, Overweight, Personal, Uncategorized, Weight Loss | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Change

Posted on July 23, 2012 by maninmyshadow

“Sometimes it is the smallest decisions that can change your life forever”  Keri Russell

I lost 100 pounds.  I am amazed!  I am probably more amazed than most of you.  I know me.  I know my history.  If my past actions have proven anything, I give up a lot!  So the fact I am still losing weight and blogging about it 17 months after I started is crazy.  Before now, I think 6 months might have been my longest weigh loss spurt.  I am also amazed at the thoughts of “what is yet to come” that go through my head.  I actually find myself looking forward to working out or planning what my next run is going to be.  Most of all I am amazed this whole process has been nothing but a series of small decisions that have snowballed into 100 pounds lost and a much healthier me!

I did not jump feet first into this process.  I took it slow.  I started by making small cut backs in my eating.  I would do things like put less food on my plate the first time for dinner and then, if I did go back for seconds, I would put the same (or less) food on my plate.  So what I only put 2 pieces of pizza on my plate and not 4, I can always go back for more if I want.  So what I am only having pasta 2 times this week and not 3, I still get to have pasta.  I kept doing this until I stopped going back for seconds.  Sheri and I also put our cooking minds together and slowly started limiting or cutting bad food choices out of our weekly menu and added some healthier options back in.  For exercise, I started with a walk around our apartment community or around the parking lot at work.  Then I progressed to about 10-20 minutes in the gym.

All of these changes were easy for me to make because they were not major changes.  And as I got used to eating less, it was easier to keep cutting things out.  I estimate I was eating anywhere from 4000 – 7000 calories a day at my peak of not caring what I put in my mouth.  Now I eat somewhere between 1700 – 2200 calories a day.  When I started, I had trouble grocery shopping because I would be in pain half way through.  Now, I am working out 8-9 times a week which includes at least 2 hours of cardio machines, 3 hours of strength training and 8+ miles of running.

I have had the chance to give advice to people who are starting to try to get healthy or who are in the process of getting healthy.  I hammer the point home about making small changes.  Massive, life altering changes are great but in my case, they never stuck.  In the past I would go from eating anything I want to completely restricting all those yummy comfort foods I loved.  For a while it was easy for me to avoid those foods but eventually I gave in and dove head first back into my old ways.  By making the little changes I have weaned myself off of the stuff I was addicted to.

There is a problem with my process.  While small changes are good, I have become accustomed to the baby steps I have been taken and have shied away from some bigger challenges.  I was reminded of this when I read Putting it out there… over on Tara’s blog, A Life Changing Journey.   Two things struck me in this post.  The first was her challenge to her readers:

Push those boundaries. Get off that elliptical you’ve been on for months on end while secretly looking at the boxing class happening at the same time. Stop thinking you’ll never be able to complete a 5k race and register. Get out of that comfort zone and prove to yourself that you can instead of thinking you can’t. Someone needs to see you go big so that they too can allow that glimmer of hope that maybe in fact that if you can…So can they.

The second was her comment “GO BIG.  (never settle for going home)”.  The light bulb went off over my head and it clicked.  I have been playing is safe.  I have only taken challenges or set goals that were the next baby step in my progress.  I did not push my boundaries to GO BIG!  So, it is time for me to change how I set my goals.  It is time to set goals to push me farther, to challenge me!

My first new goal is to run a “Mud Run”.  I have been looking at these for a year thinking “someday”.  Well, someday now has a name.  It is September 15, 2012.  I have signed up to run the Boselli Mud Run.  For those that are not familiar with what a Mud Run is, it is a 5k (or longer) run broken up by obstacles in the mud.  Sounds fun, right?  No seriously, outside of the insane physical exertion, it sounds like a blast!  I have heard of these and have thought I wanted to do one and now, I am doing it.

I have also decided on at least two more 5k’s this year.  My goal is to be running a 5k in 30 minutes or less by January .

So, what else am I going to do to “GO BIG”?  Well, here is a list of things I am committing to doing and the estimated time line for me to do it in.

  1. Do the Fight for Air Climb (42 flights or 838 Steps) – February 2, 2013
  2. Run the Gate River Run (15k) – March 9, 2013
  3. The Never Quit (5k) under 30 min – May 18, 2013
  4. Katie Ride for life (36 Mile Bike Ride) – 2013 (date not announced yet)
  5. The Never Quit Trident (5k run, 500 Meter Swim, 1.5k surfboard paddler) – 2013 (date not announced yet)
  6. A Sprint triathlon (750 meter swim, 20km Bike and 5k run) – Event TBD – 2013
  7. Katie Ride for life (62 Mile Bike Ride) – 2014 (date not announced yet)
  8. An Olympic Triathlon (1.5 km swim, 40 km Bike and 10k run ) – Event TBD – 2014
  9. A Half Marathon (13.1 miles) – Event TBD – 2014
  10. The Baltimore Marathon (26.2 miles)- October 2015

It is time to GO BIG!

As part of the Boselli Mud Run, I need to raise at least $71 in donations. (If I raise $175, I get my entry fee back). Please consider supporting me by donating to the Boselli foundation to help provide at-risk children in grades K-8th with an after school learning environment.

To donate you can use this link, or mail a check (The Boselli Foundation, PO Box 16385, Jacksonville, FL32245)

Filed under: Diet, goals, Health, Inspiration, Journal, Journey, Losing Weight, Mens Weight Loss, Other, Overweight, Personal, Uncategorized, Weight Loss | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

I DID IT!!!!

Posted on July 18, 2012 by maninmyshadow

I woke up this morning, stepped on to the scale and I almost screamed!  (which would have been bad since Sheri was still sleeping).  I did it!  I hit my goal of losing 100 pounds.  What an awesome feeling!  Just then, good old MC (The mediocre cheerleader) started talking.  “Hey, you hit your goal!  Lets celebrate.  Lets go blog about your victory.  After all, you said you wanted to blog more, right?  So lets skip your run this morning and blog…blah…blah…blah..”  I was so pumped from hitting my goal I did not pay one bit of attention to MC.  I got dressed and headed out to run.  My thoughts were dominated by the huge accomplishment I had made, and it really fueled my run.  I hit the 5k mark in 36:20!  Are you kidding me?  June 9, I ran a 5k in 39:40.  A week ago, I ran a 5k in 38:23.  Today…36:20!!!!  I felt so amazing, when I got out of the shower I decided to try on one of the 2xl shirts I bought in Cozumel.  I knew when I got it, it did not fit, but I was going to use it as a goal.  I fit into one of the other shirts I got the same week about 2 months ago, but this one was cut smaller.  Low and behold, it fit!  3 victories before breakfast?!?

My day started great and I was on cloud 9!!!  I find myself thinking a lot about what things I will be able to do in 6 months based on what I have been able to achieve so far.  I can’t wait to see what is to come.

Now for the progress on my goals and my weight.

For my goals:

  •  1000 crunches - 600 done
  • 1000 penguins - 600 done
  • 1000 push ups (Knees on ground) - 560 done
  • 1000 squats - 625 done
  • 600 BOSU ball squats - 510 done
  • 60 minutes of planks - 28.8 minutes
  • 12 Couch to 5k runs - 5 runs
  • Run 48 kilometers - 27.14 km
  • 75 miles biked - 51.12 miles
  • 10 pounds lost - 2.2 pounds
  • Write 6 more blog posts this month – including this one, 4 blog posts

So to sum up Week 74:

Weight:

  • Current weight – 7/4/11 – 284.6 pounds
  • Last weeks weight – 6/27/11 – 286.8 pounds
  • Starting weight – 2/13/11 – 384.8 pounds

Weight loss for this week - 2.2 pounds

Total Weight loss - 100.2 pounds

Filed under: Diet, goals, Health, Inspiration, Journal, Journey, Losing Weight, Mens Weight Loss, Other, Overweight, Personal, Uncategorized, Weight Loss | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Week 73 Weight update

Posted on July 11, 2012 by maninmyshadow

” If all goes well, I will hit my 100 pound weight loss goal next week!!!!”  That is how I ended last week’s post.  My goals this week were simple, work on my monthly goals and lose 2 lbs.  So how did I do?

For my goals:

  • 1000 crunches - 360 done
  • 1000 penguins - 360 done
  • 1000 push ups (Knees on ground) - 350 done
  • 1000 squats - 360 done
  • 600 BOSU ball squats - 270 done
  • 60 minutes of planks - 13.3 minutes
  • 12 Couch to 5k runs - 3 runs
  • Run 48 kilometers - 15.24 km
  • 75 miles biked - 29.6 miles
  • 10 pounds lost - 0 pounds
  • Write 6 more blog posts this month – including this one, 3 blog posts

As for the weight, I did not hit my goal.  I weigh the same this week as I did last week.  This is a prime example of why I have the mentality of focusing on what I can control.  1) what I put in my mouth and 2) what I do to burn off what I put in my mouth.  This week, I did fairly good on my food choices and I did a very well with my exercises.  My calorie goals are based on me losing 2 lbs a week, so if I eat all my calories each day and don’t exercise, I should in theory lose 2 lbs a week.  This week I had 3545 calories extra left over as a result of my workouts and a 3500 calorie deficit should result in a 1 pound loss.  On paper, it looked like a good week.  I should have lost 3 pounds.  What happened?  No clue.  I did what I could do to lose the weight but I can not control what my body decides to do.

I am not concerned or deterred as a result of not losing weight this week.  I know I did what I needed to and I will keep doing it regardless what the scale says.

So to sum up Week 73:

Weight:

  • Current weight -7/4/11 – 286.8 pounds
  • Last weeks weight -6/27/11 – 286.8 pounds
  • Starting weight -2/13/11 – 384.8 pounds

Weight loss for this week - 0 pounds

Total Weight loss - 98 pounds

Filed under: Diet, goals, Health, Inspiration, Journal, Journey, Losing Weight, Mens Weight Loss, Other, Overweight, Personal, Uncategorized, Weight Loss | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

The Voices in my Head

Posted on July 9, 2012 by maninmyshadow

I was doing my run the other morning, which allows for 45 minutes of uninterrupted thought.  It was just me and my thoughts to the rhythmic pounding of my feet on the pavement.  About 35 minutes in, I realized I had been listening to three distinct voices.   They were having one heck of a conversation too!  I am sure there are more than three different voices in my head but I think that only 3 of them were up at6:30in the morning.  I will tell you about the different voices before I tell you what the conversation was about:

The lazy victim (LV) – Well, the name should give you an idea what this voice is about in my head.  This is the voice who wants to quit everything.  He wants to sit in the house, play computer games, eat all that yummy junk food and watch TV.  He wants to give into all of the temptations.  He reminds me over and over that I have failed before and I am going to fail again.  Oh, but he gives me comfort.  He tells me that this is not my fault.  He has a dozen or more reasons for putting the blame of my failures on other people or things.  If you listen to him, it is my parents fault for allowing me to become this way.  It is my friends fault for always wanting to eat at places that have no good health options.  It is my co-workers fault for bringing in those “hot, fresh, now” Krispy Kreme doughnuts or those bagels.  It is my wife’s fault for skipping the gym or making fried rice for dinner (which I asked her to make).  Oh, wait, one of my favorites, it is genetic!  It is in my makeup to be fat!  This voice has had his way in my mind for the majority of my 44 years.

The mediocre cheerleader (MC) – This voice wants better for me than the lazy victim.  He is not willing to live completely recklessly, giving into all temptation and gaining all of the weight back.  He has encouraged me to work out and to make right decisions.  But much like some cheerleaders get once their team in up 21-0 in the first quarter, He is happy with our progress and thinks we can take it easy.  He wants to know why we have to get up at5:45 to go running and why did we just up our distance and time of running.  He wants to skip the gym more to go smoke a cigar with friends and go out to dinner.  He wants to know why we can’t eat the bagels that someone paid their hard earned money for.  After all, we have lost 98 pounds!  Our life is so much better now.  We have more energy, less pain and are a lot healthier.  He is happy where we are at and wants to slow down some.

The Winning Dreamer Drill Sergeant (WDDS)- Here is another voice that you should be able to figure out by the name.  This is the voice that does not want to settle for second best.  He is always pushing me to do better.   He is the one that gets me out of bed in the mornings to go running.  He is the one that pushes me to get those extra few reps in the gym, a few more seconds or minutes running, a few better choices on my daily food.  He accepts NO EXCUSSES.  He doesn’t quit.  He will remind me that there is NO ONE to blame but myself.  He is the ROCK that makes it easy to say no to the fresh chips and salsa the Chili’s server put in front of me at a company outing.  He is the one that thought of the idea to run a 5k and to get my scuba certification.  He is also currently lobbying for me to do a 15k, Triathlon, half marathon, marathon, rock climbing, and sky diving.  He is the one that made up the goals list for this month to push me.

The conversation:

5:30am – Alarm goes off

  • LV-“ARE YOU KIDDINGME!  Go back to sleep!”
  • MC – “no, wake up but take it slow, you know your back has been hurting”
  • WWDS – “GET UP NOW!!!”

Winner – LV, I fell back asleep

5:40 am– 2nd Alarm goes off

  • LV-“Seriously, you need to quit this morning stuff!”
  • MC – “you should get up, but maybe you should skip running, you would not want to hurt your back more and be out for good.”
  • WWDS – “GET UP NOW!!!”

Winner – WWDS – I got up

5:50 am– Realize that I forgot to map out my new run for today

  • LV-“Seriously, I am not sure why you even try.  Once again, you failed to prepare and now are stuck.  It is too late to look it up now, you are going to be late for work if you do”
  • MC – “No Worries dude, skip your run this morning and do your research instead and then we will do the run tomorrow”
  • WWDS – “Make it quick, log into Map my run while you are getting dressed and hammer out the route and let’s hit it.  You were supposed to be out of the house already”

Winner – WWDS – logged into Map My Run while getting dressed

5:53 am – Map My Run was not cooperating and it was taking longer than I had

  • LV- “since you got me up this early, the least you can do is check your 2 email accounts, 2 Facebook accounts and catch up on your 2 games”
  • MC – “This is taking too long, why don’t you catch up on your blog reading and all of your ‘friends’ on My Fitness Pal and then do a few core exercises so that the morning is not a complete waste.”
  • WWDS – “You almost have it.  Try once more and if you cannot get it to work, then just go run a path you already know.  You are wasting time now!”

Winner – WWDS – I got the website to cooperate and I got my new path.

6 am – 5 min walk complete, time to start running

  • LV-“UGH”
  • MC – “Take it easy, you are going to aggravate your back again”
  • WWDS – “No Pain, No Gain!”

Winner – MC/WWDS – I ran my normal pace (not pushing myself) and, while I could feel twinges in my back I kept going.

6:02:30 am– 2 ½ minutes into my run

  • LV-“Gasp, cough, wheeze, gasp…can’t breathe!  STOP OR DIE!!!!”
  • MC – “any second your back is going to seize if you don’t slow down”
  • WWDS – “Pain is just weakness leaving your body”

Winner – LV/MC – I ran for about 15 more seconds and stopped because I was wheezing and something felt like it was stuck in the back of my thought. 

This continued for the rest of my run. LVkept begging me to stop running and telling me that I will never get better.  MC kept trying to get me to settle for the achievement I have made of running a sub 40 minute 5k and to not push myself.  WWDS kept pushing me to keep running longer and faster.

As you can see, there was no clear winner in this conversation.  To be honest,LVhad little chance of winning that day but it was a tough battle between MC and WWDS.  I think that MC ultimately won because, while I ran a faster pace than I did at the never quit race and finished 5.44 km, I set mini goals along my run and quit before I hit any of them.

It is true when they say weight loss is mostly a mental battle.  On any given day, any one of these voices wins.  The easiest voice for me to ignore isLV.  I KNOW I am not a loser.  I KNOW that it is no one’s fault but mine that I got fat.  I KNOW that living the lazy lifestyle will not help me at all.  It is easy to recognize the lies fromLV, which makes them easy to ignore.  On the flip side, the voice that I NEED to stop listening to is MC.  This voice puts enough encouragement and support in what he says to make start listening to him.   There is some truth speckled in there that makes it hard sometimes to differentiate good advice from a lie.  A great example is the whole part from the conversation about my back hurting.  There is a fine line between pushing myself to my physical limits and pushing myself to injury.  Learning when it is sound advice to not push any further to avoid injury and when to ignore the desire to rest on my laurels is the thing I need to focus on.

And so, the mental battle continues.  I am sure I will have some tough battles but I am determined to make WWDS my predominant voice.

Filed under: Diet, goals, Health, Inspiration, Journal, Journey, Losing Weight, Mens Weight Loss, Other, Overweight, Personal, Uncategorized, Weight Loss | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

The best shape of your life!

Posted on July 4, 2012 by maninmyshadow

Back in my Comments, comments, comments post, I mentioned the trainers at my gym had been introducing me to some of their new clients who were trying to get into shape.  They took it one step further a few weeks ago when they asked me to speak at their seminar entitled “The best  shape of your life”.  In addition to the education they had planned for the session, they were looking for a couple of real life examples of people who worked with the trainers and had weight loss success.  When they asked me if I would be interested in talking about my weight loss success, I jumped at the chance to speak like I used to jump at pizza!  Now don’t get me wrong, I knew this would be a seminar designed to sell Custom Built Personal Training’s services but it had nothing to do with my desire to speak, I will gladly be a spokesman for Custom Built. While they are a business which, on one level has to be concerned about sales and revenue, I believe they are more concerned with helping people get healthy in a safe and efficient manner.  My real  motivation was because I wanted the chance to help encourage more people and show them weight loss is possible with dedication and hard work.

The seminar was this past Saturday.  If you have been reading my blog for any amount of time, you pretty much know what I had to share at the seminar. (if not, you can start at my first post And So the Journey Begins and catch up.)  I would, however, like to share a few morsels of knowledge they shared in the seminar:

1)      Invest in yourself!  – This is a simple concept really.  What is our life worth?  I don’t know about you, but mine is priceless!  So why is it a big deal to pay for things like a gym membership, trainer sessions, healthy food, etc?  We are worth it, RIGHT?  Maybe that’s the real issue.  Maybe we don’t really believe enough in ourselves to believe we are worth it.  Well, as for me and my wife, we are worth it, we are investing in our health and wellness so we live longer happier lives.

2)      Lean muscle over Fat – Here is a concept which most of us have known all of our lives.  5 lbs of fat is larger in size than 5 lbs of muscle.  The added benefit is muscle continues to burn calories after you work out and fat does not.

  

3)      All cardio is not good -  If all you do is cardio and do nothing to build lean muscle you could be doing more harm than good.  While it is true if you do hours of cardio you will lose weight, not all of the weight you are losing will be fat.  Because you are doing nothing to maintain or build your muscles, part of what you could be losing is the muscle which we just mentioned burns extra calories.

There were two very cool things that came out of this seminar for me.  First, I got to encourage others in their weight loss efforts.  The second was, after hearing my story and my successes, Gary Brown, the managing partner of Custom Built gave me 20 trainer sessions to help me meet my goals.  20 SESSIONS?!?!?!?  Are you kidding me!  To put this into perspective, the sessions are $45 each, so we are talking $900 worth of sessions.  I plan to put them to good use :)

This week, I was reading thru some blogs and I ran across Mandy Kay Makes It.  Mandy was listing her goals for July and I got to thinking I should start making monthly goals to try to start challenging myself.  All of the goals I listed are cumulative totals for the month.  Here is my list for July, which starts tomorrow and will go thru the end of the month.

  • 1000 crunches
  • 1000 penguins
  • 1000 push ups (Knees on ground)
  • 1000 squats
  • 600 BOSU ball squats
  • 60 minutes of planks
  • 12 Couch to 5k runs
  • Run 48 kilometers
  • 75 miles biked
  • 10 pounds lost
  • Write 6 more blog posts this month

 

Now for my Week 72 update.

Weight:

  • Current weight – 7/4/11 –      286.8 pounds
  • Last weeks weight – 6/27/11 –      290.2 pounds
  • Starting weight – 2/13/11 –      384.8 pounds

Weight loss for this week - 3.2 pounds

Total Weight loss - 98 pounds

If all goes well, I will hit my 100 pound weight loss goal next week!!!!

Filed under: Diet, goals, Health, Inspiration, Journal, Journey, Losing Weight, Mens Weight Loss, Other, Overweight, Personal, Uncategorized, Weight Loss | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments »

Rewards

Posted on June 28, 2012 by maninmyshadow

My friend Carl posted a comment on my weight recap to ask me what I am going to do to celebrate my milestone when I hit the 100 pound loss.  I think it is very important to have rewards for goals you set.  But you have to make sure the reward is appropriate.  One of the things I try to avoid is using food as reward since it could be counterproductive to what I am trying to achieve.  I try to make my rewards things which support my efforts and not hinder them.  Some of the things I use are new clothes, new fitness related items (DVD’s, equipment, running shoes, etc), massage, etc.  Don’t get me wrong, I will still use going out to a special restaurant as a reward but it is more about the special-ness of the restaurant and spending time with my wife and my friends than about splurging on the food.  Remember I have an “I can eat anything in moderation” mentality so when I want a food, I find the appropriate time to have it and not necessarily hold it off for a “special occasion”

So, back to the question at hand.  What am I going to do to celebrate my 100 pound loss milestone?  Well, I have decided to get my PADI scuba certification.  If you read my Things to come post, you will remember I set a goal for this year to get my PADI certification.  Part of my reasoning for wanting to get my PADI certification is because of the physical achievement it would be.  The other reason is because I have ALWAYS wanted to go scuba diving.  I think this would be an excellent reward for hitting 100 lbs.

Filed under: Diet, goals, Health, Inspiration, Journal, Journey, Losing Weight, Mens Weight Loss, Other, Overweight, Personal, Uncategorized, Weight Loss | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

Weight recap

Posted on June 27, 2012 by maninmyshadow

On Sunday I realized I forgot to post my weight for last week.   I decided to wait till today and give you both weeks.  As you can see, I am getting closer to my 100lb weight loss goal!!!

Weight recap:

  • Week 71 Weight – 6/27/12 – 290.0 pounds
  • Week 70 Weight – 6/20/12 – 293.6 pounds
  • Week 69 Weight – 6/13/12- 296.0 pounds
  • Starting weight -2/13/11 – 384.8 pounds

Week 70 Weight loss – 2.4 pounds

Week 72 Weight loss – 3.6 pounds

Total Weight loss – 94.8 pounds

Filed under: Diet, goals, Health, Inspiration, Journal, Journey, Losing Weight, Mens Weight Loss, Other, Overweight, Personal, Uncategorized, Weight Loss | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

A picture is worth a thousand words!

Posted on June 14, 2012 by maninmyshadow

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then here are a few thousand words for you.

 

The right picture was taken 4/11/11 and the left one was taken 6/10/12

The right picture was taken 4/24/11 and the left one was taken 6/10/12

The top picture was taken 4/24/11 and the bottom one was taken 6/10/12 (Size 50 pants)

The top picture was taken 4/24/11 and the bottom one was taken 6/10/12 (Size 50 pants)

These are my original size 56 pants with a box of Puffs in there

This is my original belt

My 5xl shirt on me now

My 4xl shirt on me now

My 2xl shirt laying on top of my 5xl shirt

The left picture was taken 9/6/08 and the right was taken about 2 months ago

 

The left one was taken on 5/27/07 and the right one was taken on 6/9/12

Filed under: Diet, goals, Health, Inspiration, Journal, Journey, Losing Weight, Mens Weight Loss, Other, Overweight, Personal, Uncategorized, Weight Loss | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

Race Results

Posted on June 13, 2012 by maninmyshadow

June 9th has come and gone.  I am now 44 years old and can now be called a runner!  The Never Quit race was a lot of fun and very empowering!  As you know, my goal for this race was to finish somewhere between 40 and 45 minutes.  Throughout my training I have had to fight off the negative thoughts telling me I won’t be able to get near the 40 min mark.  As you saw from my post on Thursday, I was hoping to beat the 40 min mark, so the negative thoughts were gone.  Gone, that is, until Saturday morning at about 7am.  We got to the beach at around 6:50, found a parking space and worked our way to the beach.  Just as I am getting my iphone and headphones situated it started to rain.  Then it REALLY started to rain.  THEN, IT STARTED TO POUR!!!  As we headed for cover, all of those negative thoughts rushed in.  The Conversation in my head went something like this:

This is the NEVER QUIT race.  They are not about to cancel the race for a little rain!  I cannot risk running with my i-phone since it is not water proof.  If I have to run in this rain, I am going to have to do it with no music!  How am I going to run this in 45 min with no music and torrential rain?  GREAT!  Happy Freaking Birthday to me.   :(   You are once again going to fail and disappoint others…

It was at this point I looked at my wife.  She was standing partially under cover, windblown, and soaked.  She was so wet she was actually ringing her shirt out to get rid of some of the moisture.  And she looked at me and told me she loved me.  Suddenly, all of the voices shut up.  It wasn’t just those three simple words that fill my heart with joy every time she says them.  It was the fact she had given up sleep to get up at 5:30am to come out and stand on a beach for an hour or two while I ran just to support me.  Then, as if losing sleep was not enough, she is now soaking wet.  And does she complain?  No.  Does she point out what she “gave up” to be there? NO.  All she does is say “I love you” with her words and actions.  How in the world could I fail her when she has never failed me? This is when the negativity went away and I knew no matter what, I was going to hit my goal!

Well, the rain stopped and we headed out to the beach again.  I had about 10 min before the race so I headed off to find my friends and line up for the race.   The instructions were to line up in the pace you anticipate running .  My friend Leann and I lined up near the back of the line so we did not get trampled by the faster people.  There were so many people running this race it took us over two minutes to actually get to the start line.  When I began running, I was surprised how many people I passed in the first half kilometer.  I got to the point where I had to walk to catch my breath and some of those people I had just run past now ran past me.  Once I caught my breath, I ran past all those people again.  And so it went; I ran past them, they ran past me, I ran past them again, they ran past me again.  It was good to know I was keeping pace with all of these people.  When I got to the halfway point and turned around to head back, I saw how many people were behind me.  Seeing all these people made it click in my mind I was not “pulling up the rear”.   As I approached the four kilometer mark, I made a decision to alter my pace a little bit.  I was determined I was going to RUN across the finish line.  I did not want to get all the way there and have to walk across the line.  So I altered my pace so I would have the energy to run the last portion of my race.  If I have any regrets from the race, it would be this decision.  Because I altered my pace, I did not finish as fast as I could have.  When  I made it across the finish line and once I got past all the people handing out water, I stopped my “Map My Run” app to see what my unofficial time was.  It had me running 5.29km in 40:12 with an average pace of 7:35/km.  Even though I had to wait a while to get my “official” time, if my app was any indication of my time, I hit my goal.  If you had told me 2 years ago I would have finished a 5k in 40:12 I would have laughed you out of the room.  Now I am considering what my next 5k will be and what time I want to finish it in.  It took a few hours for me to get my “official” time for the race.  I finished the Never Quit race in….(drum roll please)…. 39 minutes and 40 seconds!!!  WHAT!!!!  WHOOOO!!!!  HUZAH!!!

Now, onto my weight update.  There was no real surprise to me when I stepped on the scale.  Despite my run on Saturday morning, I really have not been on my usual track this week.  I took Thursday and Friday off from working out to give my body some rest before the race and then did not work out again until Monday night.  I missed last night as well do to another obligation.  In Addition it was my Birthday weekend so we went out on Thursday for Lunch and dinner, Friday night for dinner, Sunday to a friend’s house for a cook out and Monday out to lunch.  (Yes I know how to celebrate my birthday!  :) In addition 2 friends made cakes for me.  While I normally pass on cake, I felt it would be rude for them to spend all the time they did making and decorating the cakes to not eat any, so I had a small piece of each cake.  Keep in mind my mentality on this journey is one meal or one day does not make or break my eating habits.  I still need to live and celebrate.  Honestly, compared to previous birthdays, I did very well.  Normally I would have opted for much fattier foods, larger portions, desserts and after dinner drinks.  My 2,500 calorie day would have been more like 5,000 calories! 

At last,  the celebration is over and it is time to get back to work. 

Weight recap:

  • Week 69 Weight – 6/13/12 – 296.0 pounds
  • Week 68 Weight -6/6/12 – 294.2 pounds
  • Starting weight -2/13/11 – 384.8 pounds

Week 61 Weight gain – 1.8 pounds

Total Weight loss – 88.8 pounds

 

Filed under: Diet, goals, Health, Inspiration, Journal, Journey, Lap Band, Losing Weight, Mens Weight Loss, Other, Overweight, Personal, Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

« Previous Page — Next Page »
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 61 other followers