Back on Track

A few months ago, Travis Eggett and I set out on our “Fat to Fit” challenge to try to shed a few pounds and get in shape.  We were doing really well until we took a trip to Utah to visit some friends over Halloween weekend.  I knew it was the beginning of the end of our challenge when we ate fried tacos, a couple of large orders of fries with fry sauce and ice cream floats at Pace’s Dairy Ann all within the first couple of hours of arriving in Salt Lake City.  That meal was followed by a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts in Provo before eating  a giant burrito at a Mexican restaurant close to the BYU campus.  Anyway, I waded through the next couple of months of workouts but I just wasn’t committed to trying to lose weight.  I had lost all motivation. 

Then…

 

I received the above-pictured issue of The Economist and in an instant I had found and rekindled my motivation.  Steve Jobs announced the Gadgets of all Gadgets:  The iPad.  So, since March 25th, I’ve been back in the saddle working toward my target weight of 180 lbs.  I am down 13.5 lbs. since starting back and I should hit my target weight on July 4th if I continue at the current pace.  I’ve been combining a healthier diet with weight training and swimming at least one mile almost every day, Sundays excluded, to lose weight.  That means that on July 5th I’ll be at the Apple Store in The Woodlands, Texas purchasing my 64GB 3G iPad.  The best thing about this personal challenge is that it is 100% sanctioned and underwritten with spouse approval.

On a serious note, everything I’ve mentioned above about the iPad is done tongue in cheek and with a certain degree of levity.  The bottom line is that I hit the big four-oh in December and I am out to prove that I can get myself in shape and lose a few pounds along the way.  I knew I had to make some changes when I hit 215 lbs last fall and I there’s nothing wrong with dangling an “Apple” to keep me motivated along the way.

Update #7 – Thanksgiving Post

Happy Thanksgiving to all.  I weighed in this week at 204.2.  I knew I would be up this week because I wasn’t as consistent with my exercising and eating as I should have been.  After all, it is Thanksgiving week and this is a week for eating and being a little lazy.  Even though I slacked off this week, I did manage to run in the “GE Run Through the Woods” 5 mile race in The Woodlands on Thanksgiving morning.  My time was 49:06 which averages out to be a 9:50 mile.  I went up the night before with Emily and Rachel and we stayed the night at a local hotel.  We met up with my friend Travis and his kids and had dinner at the Mongolian Grill.  We had a lot of fun and the hot tub at the hotel was a nice touch after the race.   I’ll be back on the program starting Monday and I got a head start today by running 3.5 miles and swimming a few laps.

                

Update #6 – Bustin’ Through the 200 LB Barrier!

Well, this week I achieved a significant milestone; I broke the 200 lb barrier when I weighed in on Wednesday.  My official weight is now 199.0, down 1.4 lbs from the previous week.  I’ve been using the same scale (balance beam scale at 24Hour Fitness) in order to get consistent readings.  For convenience, we bought a balance beam scale for our office because there are others who are trying to lose some LBS.  The bad news for me is that it is running about 1 lb heavier than the one in 24Hour Fitness.  This is despite spending a lot of time calibrating it to zero using the poise weights.  Anyway, I am going to use it next week because it’s very convenient and I’ll just chalk up any weight gain to the scale calibration technicality!  Next week, I am running a 5 mile race in The Woodlands with some friends of mine and the week after that, I’ll be running a 5K when we’re in San Antonio visiting Lara’s sister.  Now that the weather is cooler running is actually becoming enjoyable and I am able to re-live my days of being White Lightning on the RSS track team!  Many of you have encouraging me along the way and I want to let you know that I appreciate the feedback.  My goal is still to be 180 lbs by my 40th birthday, but it’s looking like that might be mathematically impossible (like the Astros trying to make it to the playoffs).  If I don’t make it, my next target date will be January 11th, Lara’s and my 18th wedding anniversary.

                                                  

Update #5

I did not provide an update last week because, quite frankly, I knew that I had gained a couple of pounds after my Halloween weekend trip to Utah.  I visited Utah (SLC and Provo) with a friend of mine who grew up in the SLC area and we went to a few of his favorite eating places.  We basically ate with reckless abandon and it was awesome!  Anyway, I really got after the workouts this last week and I weighed in at 200.4 and I am happy about that.  I was able to fit into some 34” waist pants that I haven’t been able to fit into for awhile.  Granted, they were stretchy pants (when you read “stretchy pants” imagine Jack Black’s accent in Nacho Libre!) but it still felt good to be able to wear them.  I bought a fancy doctor office balance beam scale for our office so we shouldn’t have any more issues with inaccurate readings.  Check in next week for another update.

                                  

Update #4 - A Tale of Two Scales

"It was the best of scales and the worst of scales..."  You might be wondering why I am "quoting" Charles Dickens as I begin my post.  Well, it started out being a very frustrating weigh-in day at the office.  About a month ago, I bought a digital scale from Target for our office.  I've been weighing in every Wednesday on this scale and it has been pretty consistent and accurate in measuring my weight.  Today I jumped on the scale and there was no change in my weight from the previous week.  I knew that couldn't be right because I really had a good week of workouts and eating.  I did "two-a-days" from Saturday through Tuesday (except for Sunday), alternating swimming and running so there was no way I could have stayed flat.  I was pretty amp'ed up about it, so I got in my car and drove to the local 24Hour Fitness and used their balance beam scale which is pretty accurate.  So, after weighing myself at the gym, I am down 2.4 lbs to 200 lbs.  Needless to say, I was relieved and encouraged by my continued progress.  To celebrate the accomplishment, I enjoyed a gourmet burger from Red Robin.  Stay tuned for next week's update...

One more thing, some of you may be thinking that I am simply looking for the scale with the most favorable readings.  It turns out that some plumbers came to our office last Friday to fix our hot water heater and during the course of draining the hot water heater they got the scale wet and I suspect it shorted out.  That's my story and I am sticking to it. 

Update #3

Today was weigh-in day and I am happy to report that I weighed in at 202.5 lbs, down 2 lbs from the previous week.  My goal was to drop 4.5 lbs this past week; however, I received several comments indicating that losing that much weight in one week wasn't healthy.  I took that advice to heart and made sure to keep my weight loss at a safe level.  To that end, I went to Dairy Queen on Friday night after the GCM football game and had a foot-long cheese coney, large tater tots and a large vanilla Coke.  To top it off, I had an ice cream cone dipped in chocolate (that kind that gets hard when it hits the ice cream)!  Thank you Mr. Dairy Queen Ice Cream Man!  By the way, many of you have asked for me to post my "Before" picture so here it is!

I'll be posting my next update next Thursday so stay tuned...with a little luck and some hard work I should be right at or a little under 200 lbs. 

Update #2

I am a little late with this entry but things have been busy at work so I am just now getting around to posting my weekly update.  I weighed in on Wednseday and my current weight is 204.5, down .7 pounds from the previous week, and 9 pounds overall.  I was expecting a little more of a weight loss since I did some pretty intense workouts but I guess there will be weeks when, for whatever reason, the expected weight loss doesn't happen.  I am beginning to see visible signs that the weight is coming off, which is definitely a source of encouragement and motivation.  For example, my pants and shorts are fitting a little looser.  I also had to cinch my belt down one notch which is encouraging.  Overall, I am pleased with my overall progress but a little bummed about the last week's scant weight loss.  Nevertheless, my buddy, Travis, and I are looking forward to a better week this week and my personal goal is to lose 4.5 pounds.  That will put me at 200 pounds on my next weigh-in.  I can't believe I would ever be excited about hitting 200 pounds since I had never been heavier than 190 pounds but I guess that's what happens when you're pushing 40 and your body no longer responds like it's 18!