So instead of creating a new blog, WHO is just going to link to this blog. It'll be easier than starting over or than copying and pasting these entries to a new blog.
So fasten your seatbelts....we're not going anywhere. :-)
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
My 2nd workout at Mercy and a BMI update....
So this morning was my second workout at Mercy.
I did the treadmill for about 20 minutes and a cross-trainer for about 7 minutes then went on to weights then stretching for the rest of the time.
My trainer, Deb, ended up measuring my BMI again since there was such a discrepancy between the one that they did at Mercy Capital (43%) and the one that she did on Monday (20% or so). Her new reading was about 26%.
So we had a potluck today at work for Halloween. My office is right next to the break room, and my co-workers kept coming in with great-smelling food. I started getting hunger pangs and wanted to have some of it, but I know trying one thing would lead to something else and something else and more of this and more of that, so I just chose not to eat any of it. I feel good about that choice. I didn't take my lunch to work, though, because I was broke until today (payday) and ran out of groceries last night, so I went to HyVee at lunch and bought a wrap and some tomato roughy salad from the deli (tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and cilantro in an Italian dressing). I ate 1/2 the wrap and the salad. Later for a snack I ate the other 1/2 of the wrap and then I must admit I ate 1 mini Snickers today.
I did the treadmill for about 20 minutes and a cross-trainer for about 7 minutes then went on to weights then stretching for the rest of the time.
My trainer, Deb, ended up measuring my BMI again since there was such a discrepancy between the one that they did at Mercy Capital (43%) and the one that she did on Monday (20% or so). Her new reading was about 26%.
So we had a potluck today at work for Halloween. My office is right next to the break room, and my co-workers kept coming in with great-smelling food. I started getting hunger pangs and wanted to have some of it, but I know trying one thing would lead to something else and something else and more of this and more of that, so I just chose not to eat any of it. I feel good about that choice. I didn't take my lunch to work, though, because I was broke until today (payday) and ran out of groceries last night, so I went to HyVee at lunch and bought a wrap and some tomato roughy salad from the deli (tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and cilantro in an Italian dressing). I ate 1/2 the wrap and the salad. Later for a snack I ate the other 1/2 of the wrap and then I must admit I ate 1 mini Snickers today.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
My first workout at Mercy....
So Monday morning I had an appointment at Mercy's fitness center (Wellness Center) with my trainer. It was one of those appointments where they weigh you, check your resting heart rate, do the skin fold test, have you ride the bike for like 20 minutes while they measure your heart-rate, test your flexibility and also test your bicep strength.
Interestingly, the skin fold test to calculate my BMI was 20 percentage points less than the one where they had me stand on a scale the other day barefoot where it read it that way. Weird. Not sure why that was.
My bicep strength was good. My resting heart rate was pretty good. flexibility was pretty poor.
After these tests, I lifted weights on several of the weight machines. I liked pretty much every one of them. We also did some stretches. Tomorrow (Wednesday) morning I'll be doing some cardio and I think maybe some weights. I'm not totally sure what my trainer will have me do.
So far so good. :) For some reason I'm really tired this week. I'm not sure why it is. I've been going to bed early and getting plenty of sleep (8-9 hours) but am just really tired and my head seems cloudy at work.
I had one of those McDonald's Asian salads last night for dinner. My nutritionist told me about it and said it's good and overall pretty healthy. I didn't feel like making dinner last night so I went there. Man was it tasty. It had edamame (young soybeans), pea pods, mandarin oranges, slivered almonds, various salad greens, and a sesame ginger dressing. Tasty!
Interestingly, the skin fold test to calculate my BMI was 20 percentage points less than the one where they had me stand on a scale the other day barefoot where it read it that way. Weird. Not sure why that was.
My bicep strength was good. My resting heart rate was pretty good. flexibility was pretty poor.
After these tests, I lifted weights on several of the weight machines. I liked pretty much every one of them. We also did some stretches. Tomorrow (Wednesday) morning I'll be doing some cardio and I think maybe some weights. I'm not totally sure what my trainer will have me do.
So far so good. :) For some reason I'm really tired this week. I'm not sure why it is. I've been going to bed early and getting plenty of sleep (8-9 hours) but am just really tired and my head seems cloudy at work.
I had one of those McDonald's Asian salads last night for dinner. My nutritionist told me about it and said it's good and overall pretty healthy. I didn't feel like making dinner last night so I went there. Man was it tasty. It had edamame (young soybeans), pea pods, mandarin oranges, slivered almonds, various salad greens, and a sesame ginger dressing. Tasty!
Friday, October 26, 2007
This weekend will be nuts! Part deux!
So this Saturday night is my birthday party at Billy Joe's Pitcher Show for some karaoke and beer (9pm if ya wanna come!). Me and my fellow theatre nerds will be partying it up the way only we can.
I'm no alcoholic, mind you, but I do enjoy a drink or 10 every now and then. Keep in mind, this is my 30th birthday so I'm going to overdo it a bit. And you know what? I'm pretty ok with that. I don't drive afterward. Billy Joe's offers a free sober ride home to every patron in the Des Moines area. I think every bar should do that. It increases their business because a patron will drink more knowing that they don't have to worry about driving. And the public is safe because you don't have some jerk out there driving drunk.
My girlfriend and I are going to dinner Saturday night at Mama Lacona's with another couple. I don't plan on overeating by any means (just overdrinking). Then we're meeting everyone out at the bar.
Hopefully Shannon's back will be ok.
Wow. I just remembered, this is the weekend that we set the clocks back! That means an extra hour of celebrating my birthday! W00t!
Maybe I'll see ya at the bar! Buy me a drink! I'm poor!
I'm no alcoholic, mind you, but I do enjoy a drink or 10 every now and then. Keep in mind, this is my 30th birthday so I'm going to overdo it a bit. And you know what? I'm pretty ok with that. I don't drive afterward. Billy Joe's offers a free sober ride home to every patron in the Des Moines area. I think every bar should do that. It increases their business because a patron will drink more knowing that they don't have to worry about driving. And the public is safe because you don't have some jerk out there driving drunk.
My girlfriend and I are going to dinner Saturday night at Mama Lacona's with another couple. I don't plan on overeating by any means (just overdrinking). Then we're meeting everyone out at the bar.
Hopefully Shannon's back will be ok.
Wow. I just remembered, this is the weekend that we set the clocks back! That means an extra hour of celebrating my birthday! W00t!
Maybe I'll see ya at the bar! Buy me a drink! I'm poor!
My weight and my BMI!!!
Ok, so what's my weight and what's my Body Mass Index?
Well, I must preface this:
She said that the BMI doesn't figure in my lean muscle mass (pretty sure that's what she said). So, she said that could throw it off just a bit depending how much there is. I do still have some muscle under this lard! I know I do! I can still knock out 25 push-ups at once just like that!
Keep in mind that my starting weight when I started on my own 30 days ago was an all-time high of 315! I have no idea what my BMI was because I'd never had it checked before.
Weight: 286
BMI: 43.5
I think that means I'm like 43.5% lard! Ouch!
On a positive note, I lost 30 (ok 29) pounds on my own in one month! Wow. I'm proud of myself.
I've lost 30 pounds in one month before (two times to be exact), but never in a healthy way. I mentioned the other times in previous posts, but I'll touch on them briefly again:
Once was from eating one meal a day and throwing that up. I was 18 or 19 or so.
The other was just a couple of years ago. I would walk an hour every day after work but would only eat every third or fourth day.
I'm excited to do it with the support of this amazing staff and this time to keep it off by changing my lifestyle!
Wanna work out w/ me sometime?? I can bring a guest for $5 each visit!
Well, I must preface this:
She said that the BMI doesn't figure in my lean muscle mass (pretty sure that's what she said). So, she said that could throw it off just a bit depending how much there is. I do still have some muscle under this lard! I know I do! I can still knock out 25 push-ups at once just like that!
Keep in mind that my starting weight when I started on my own 30 days ago was an all-time high of 315! I have no idea what my BMI was because I'd never had it checked before.
Weight: 286
BMI: 43.5
I think that means I'm like 43.5% lard! Ouch!
On a positive note, I lost 30 (ok 29) pounds on my own in one month! Wow. I'm proud of myself.
I've lost 30 pounds in one month before (two times to be exact), but never in a healthy way. I mentioned the other times in previous posts, but I'll touch on them briefly again:
Once was from eating one meal a day and throwing that up. I was 18 or 19 or so.
The other was just a couple of years ago. I would walk an hour every day after work but would only eat every third or fourth day.
I'm excited to do it with the support of this amazing staff and this time to keep it off by changing my lifestyle!
Wanna work out w/ me sometime?? I can bring a guest for $5 each visit!
I had my appointment at Mercy today!
So I went to Mercy Capital (formerly Des Moines General) for my appointment today at 8am. Marsha weighed me and did my BMI (Body Mass Index) and measured me. She said they'll re-calculate everything at about each 25 pound mark. Hopefully that means just under once a month!
I then met with the dietitian, Amy. Amy was awesome! We're planning on getting together soon to have her go thru my cupboards and fridge with me and look at my food choices (most of the food is my roommate's). She's also talking about coming over to cook a meal with me. I love to cook! She's also talking about going grocery shopping with me to see what I buy then to show me some tips and alternatives and whatnot. She was a blast. We had an immediate rapport. She's going on maternity leave in like 8 weeks and she said she's going to ask her boss if she can still come in to meet with me while on leave because she wants to see me succeed and because of our good rapport. That's awesome! That's support!
She gave me options:
I can go on the Opti-fast program (I think that's the one where they replace all of your meals with shakes and bars). Or I could do the Opti-trim program (I think that's the one where they replace like 2 of your meals with shakes and bars but you get to have one self-prepared meal). The other option was to continue to do prepare meals myself like I've been doing the last month but this time to have the support of Amy, the dietitian.
I'm totally leaning to doing it on my own. The Opti-fast program (again, I could be switching the two names around) where they replace all meals seems like a step back for me since I've lost so much on my own in 30 days by cooking for myself just with healthy food.
The Opti-trim option sounded ok because it would still allow me to have some 'real' food.
I think the option where I continue to prepare my own food is best as long as I learn about nutrition from Amy.
I then went on to meet with the doctor. He gave me a good once-over. Checked some things out, etc. I normally hate going to the doctor, but Doctor Sutcliffe was cool. He was a bit camera shy, but cool. I think he was a bit surprised at my being as healthy as I am for being overweight my whole life and eating as bad as I was.
I then went to a behavior class. See, Mercy has a great thing going here....they're helping you in all aspects: body AND mind. You have to learn why you got to the point that you're at and how to not go back to that point. There were 4 ladies in the class. I think that they were a bit put off by me initially (well me and the camera). I dunno, I just felt a vibe. I probably would have been as well. Maybe they weren't and it was all just my feeling being out of whack. Anyway, 3 of the 4 women chose to not be recorded audio or video-wise. They seemed to warm up to me a bit, I think. I imagine that it's hard to have a guy in the room let alone a brand new guy and a camera. I think that they warmed up to me, though when they saw that I was genuine and doing this to actually lose weight and not on a lark (What am I 60? Did I just say 'on a lark'??).
I then went to Mercy Hospital to meet with the personal trainer, Debbie. She took me on a tour of the facilities. She wanted to do the stress test thing where they have you ride a bike for so long, and check your bicep strength, and check your reach, but nobody had told me to bring clothes to work out in, so she didn't want me doing it in jeans. I'm going to go in on Monday morning at 7am to do that. We're then going to meet on Wednesday morning bright and early to begin my regimen followed up with Friday morning! Yowza! I might even walk Tuesday and Thursday on the bike trail or go to 24/7 Xpress by my house to walk. We'll see.
Oh yeah, Debbie let me know that the Mercy Wellness Center is open 6am-1am so there's no excuse for not working out! She's going to start meeting with me 3 days a week, then eventually 2 days a week, then eventually 1 day a week. We're going to be doing a mix of cardio and strength training. I can't wait to hit the weights again! I used to lift a lot on my own back when I was in school. I had a weight bench in the basement.
I didn't leave there until 1:30 or 2 pm! Then back to work! It was a great day! It was cool because Mercy's press guy had been Sonya Heitshusen's news director in the past! Apparently, as Sonya put it, there's life after TV. You go on to do press relations stuff like Gregg is doing. Gregg was a great guy and really made me feel welcome and let me know many times that they're there to help me and for me to take advantage of it all.
I'm excited to get it started!
So, how much do I weigh now after a month of doing it on my own?! What's my BMI?! That gets its own blog!
I then met with the dietitian, Amy. Amy was awesome! We're planning on getting together soon to have her go thru my cupboards and fridge with me and look at my food choices (most of the food is my roommate's). She's also talking about coming over to cook a meal with me. I love to cook! She's also talking about going grocery shopping with me to see what I buy then to show me some tips and alternatives and whatnot. She was a blast. We had an immediate rapport. She's going on maternity leave in like 8 weeks and she said she's going to ask her boss if she can still come in to meet with me while on leave because she wants to see me succeed and because of our good rapport. That's awesome! That's support!
She gave me options:
I can go on the Opti-fast program (I think that's the one where they replace all of your meals with shakes and bars). Or I could do the Opti-trim program (I think that's the one where they replace like 2 of your meals with shakes and bars but you get to have one self-prepared meal). The other option was to continue to do prepare meals myself like I've been doing the last month but this time to have the support of Amy, the dietitian.
I'm totally leaning to doing it on my own. The Opti-fast program (again, I could be switching the two names around) where they replace all meals seems like a step back for me since I've lost so much on my own in 30 days by cooking for myself just with healthy food.
The Opti-trim option sounded ok because it would still allow me to have some 'real' food.
I think the option where I continue to prepare my own food is best as long as I learn about nutrition from Amy.
I then went on to meet with the doctor. He gave me a good once-over. Checked some things out, etc. I normally hate going to the doctor, but Doctor Sutcliffe was cool. He was a bit camera shy, but cool. I think he was a bit surprised at my being as healthy as I am for being overweight my whole life and eating as bad as I was.
I then went to a behavior class. See, Mercy has a great thing going here....they're helping you in all aspects: body AND mind. You have to learn why you got to the point that you're at and how to not go back to that point. There were 4 ladies in the class. I think that they were a bit put off by me initially (well me and the camera). I dunno, I just felt a vibe. I probably would have been as well. Maybe they weren't and it was all just my feeling being out of whack. Anyway, 3 of the 4 women chose to not be recorded audio or video-wise. They seemed to warm up to me a bit, I think. I imagine that it's hard to have a guy in the room let alone a brand new guy and a camera. I think that they warmed up to me, though when they saw that I was genuine and doing this to actually lose weight and not on a lark (What am I 60? Did I just say 'on a lark'??).
I then went to Mercy Hospital to meet with the personal trainer, Debbie. She took me on a tour of the facilities. She wanted to do the stress test thing where they have you ride a bike for so long, and check your bicep strength, and check your reach, but nobody had told me to bring clothes to work out in, so she didn't want me doing it in jeans. I'm going to go in on Monday morning at 7am to do that. We're then going to meet on Wednesday morning bright and early to begin my regimen followed up with Friday morning! Yowza! I might even walk Tuesday and Thursday on the bike trail or go to 24/7 Xpress by my house to walk. We'll see.
Oh yeah, Debbie let me know that the Mercy Wellness Center is open 6am-1am so there's no excuse for not working out! She's going to start meeting with me 3 days a week, then eventually 2 days a week, then eventually 1 day a week. We're going to be doing a mix of cardio and strength training. I can't wait to hit the weights again! I used to lift a lot on my own back when I was in school. I had a weight bench in the basement.
I didn't leave there until 1:30 or 2 pm! Then back to work! It was a great day! It was cool because Mercy's press guy had been Sonya Heitshusen's news director in the past! Apparently, as Sonya put it, there's life after TV. You go on to do press relations stuff like Gregg is doing. Gregg was a great guy and really made me feel welcome and let me know many times that they're there to help me and for me to take advantage of it all.
I'm excited to get it started!
So, how much do I weigh now after a month of doing it on my own?! What's my BMI?! That gets its own blog!
Thursday, October 25, 2007
My physical at Mercy is tomorrow (Friday) morning...
So I'm finally going in for my physical Friday morning. Sonya Heitshusen will be there to interview me as well. Hopefully they won't show my fine 'mohair sweater' on the news anymore. They have the picture....video would just drive all of WHO's viewership away. I imagine if there were children up when they showed that picture on the 10 o'clock news a while back, those kids are still having nightmares! Yikes!
Stay tuned for a post probably Friday afternoon along with an official weigh-in weight.
Also, stay tuned for the address to my new blog when I find it out.
By the way, we're doing a 'Secret Spook' thing at work (like Secret Santa). I put on my slip to please not give me sweets. My Spook got me a sack of apples and oranges (YUM! My favorite fruits, well next to Richard Simmons!) and an AWESOME tall black and white Halloween mug from Starbucks! It's black inside so it won't show stains! It's funny because I totally meant to bring a mug to work today to drink tea out of because my throat was bothering me this morning (I need to give in and turn the furnace on because the cold in my room is causing it).
Stay tuned for a post probably Friday afternoon along with an official weigh-in weight.
Also, stay tuned for the address to my new blog when I find it out.
By the way, we're doing a 'Secret Spook' thing at work (like Secret Santa). I put on my slip to please not give me sweets. My Spook got me a sack of apples and oranges (YUM! My favorite fruits, well next to Richard Simmons!) and an AWESOME tall black and white Halloween mug from Starbucks! It's black inside so it won't show stains! It's funny because I totally meant to bring a mug to work today to drink tea out of because my throat was bothering me this morning (I need to give in and turn the furnace on because the cold in my room is causing it).
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
My new blog is coming soon to Channel 13's website....
Sonya Heitshusen from WHO called me today. I'm going to start blogging on their website soon, so I'll probably either nix this blog or maybe just copy and paste in here what I type in there. That one may be a bit more just weightloss stuff and less life stuff. We'll see....it's up to them on that one.
I'll certainly post the address of the new blog here.
So, how many people are reading this blog, anyway? Please post here and let me know.
I'll certainly post the address of the new blog here.
So, how many people are reading this blog, anyway? Please post here and let me know.
My appointment will be Friday....
I heard from Mercy Hospital's weightloss clinic today. My appointment will be Friday morning at 8:00am. I imagine it'll be a physical; I know they'll be weighing me and doing a BMI (body mass index). I've never had a BMI, so I'm interested to see what it is.
Anita Orton will be on the news tonight it sounds like. I won't be on until next week. I'm really excited to get the program underway.
I've not really had a chance to get to the grocery store this week. With my girlfriend being in the hospital and all, I've been spending a lot of time there. As soon as I get off work I head there and keep her company until 10:30 or so and go home and go to bed. I haven't been walking this week. :( Bad me. I've been eating ok, for the most part. I've been running to HyVee on my lunch break and have been bringing back either sushi or a wrap.
Shannon gets out of the hospital tonight, so after I pick her up and take her home I'll probably head to the store to stock up on healthy stuff again. Pretty much all I had left was my healthy snacks.
Anita Orton will be on the news tonight it sounds like. I won't be on until next week. I'm really excited to get the program underway.
I've not really had a chance to get to the grocery store this week. With my girlfriend being in the hospital and all, I've been spending a lot of time there. As soon as I get off work I head there and keep her company until 10:30 or so and go home and go to bed. I haven't been walking this week. :( Bad me. I've been eating ok, for the most part. I've been running to HyVee on my lunch break and have been bringing back either sushi or a wrap.
Shannon gets out of the hospital tonight, so after I pick her up and take her home I'll probably head to the store to stock up on healthy stuff again. Pretty much all I had left was my healthy snacks.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Friday's weigh-in....
So I forgot to mention that I weighed myself Friday night on the same scale at my friend's house that I had been using....
I had only lost another 5 pounds in 2 weeks. I know that's not bad and some would say good, but I was hoping for more. I had been eating well and walking every day before work for an hour. I'm afraid to see what the next weigh-in will hold since I had the film challenge and wasn't eating well and didn't walk Monday morning or this morning since I was up late at the hospital and whatnot. I'll be back on track soon...
I had only lost another 5 pounds in 2 weeks. I know that's not bad and some would say good, but I was hoping for more. I had been eating well and walking every day before work for an hour. I'm afraid to see what the next weigh-in will hold since I had the film challenge and wasn't eating well and didn't walk Monday morning or this morning since I was up late at the hospital and whatnot. I'll be back on track soon...
Sunday and Monday.... Birthday and the hospital....
So Sunday afternoon I got a text from the girl that I'm seeing (or girlfriend as some people call them lol). She said she was on her way to the ER because she was in severe pain from her back and was unable to walk. After they admitted her, I went to see her. She had back surgery a couple of years ago and until now has had no real issues with it. I visited her for a few hours Sunday night (if I remember right....lack of sleep from the film, so I don't remember the weekend that well).
I had Monday off from work due to my birthday and moreso for recovering from the filmmaking process. I woke up and ate a piece of cheese then stopped and bought Shannon flowers and went to the hospital. I was there from around 10:30am until about 3 when I had to leave to check out the finished product of our film that Andrew edited. (If I may for a moment...Andrew, as always, was the hero of the filmmaking process. He slept all of maybe 5 hours since waking up Friday morning until Monday night. A lot of that time was staring at a computer screen for hours on end while cutting the film and creating special effects.)
I was at Andrew's for an hour or so and hadn't yet eaten lunch or even really breakfast but for that 1/2 piece of cheese. I ended up eating a burrito that was leftover in his fridge from when they all got Taco John's on Saturday. I also ate 1/2 a thing of potato ole's with nacho cheese.
I went back to the hospital, but on the way I stopped off for a colby cheese stick at the gas station and a V8 and a Frappuccino (I needed caffeine but didn't want to drink pop). I ate the cheese and drank the V8 later for dinner.
At the hospital, Shannon asked her nurse if he could bring her the sherbet that the room service people forgot to bring her with her dinner and asked if I could have some ice cream since it was my birthday. Her nurses at Mercy are the best, by the way!!! He went out of his way and found me a little carton (ok, two) of chocolate ice cream. I spent most of my birthday day and night with Shannon at her bedside just hanging out trying to keep her company and to try to keep her mind off of the pain. She felt bad that I had to spend my birthday with her in the hospital feeding her (since she couldn't sit up in order to eat) and just watching TV. First off, I probably would've just been watching TV at home and relaxing like I was doing there. Second, what better way to spend the day with someone that you care no matter if it's in the hospital or wherever. It was nice to spend that time together since she's got 3 cute daughters that keep her soooo busy. We don't get to spend a lot of time together.
She was still in a lot of pain, but she was able to sleep last night finally. She's been on vicadin and morphine with no relief until they gave her some other stuff that I've since forgotten the name of.
I'll be heading to the hospital from work tonight at 6 so I can keep her company for a few hours. As much as I like my job, time can't go quick enough. I want to make sure she's doing ok.
They did an MRI yesterday and found something irregular; I think it was a tear in or around a disc. They're going to try to avoid surgery and handle it thru a shot and physical therapy to see if it heals itself.
Hopefully she'll be better for my birthday party this coming Saturday night at Billy Joe's Pitcher Show....bring on the karaoke. If she's not better by then and can't go, I may postpone the party but I'm trying not to think about that. I just hope she's better....
I had Monday off from work due to my birthday and moreso for recovering from the filmmaking process. I woke up and ate a piece of cheese then stopped and bought Shannon flowers and went to the hospital. I was there from around 10:30am until about 3 when I had to leave to check out the finished product of our film that Andrew edited. (If I may for a moment...Andrew, as always, was the hero of the filmmaking process. He slept all of maybe 5 hours since waking up Friday morning until Monday night. A lot of that time was staring at a computer screen for hours on end while cutting the film and creating special effects.)
I was at Andrew's for an hour or so and hadn't yet eaten lunch or even really breakfast but for that 1/2 piece of cheese. I ended up eating a burrito that was leftover in his fridge from when they all got Taco John's on Saturday. I also ate 1/2 a thing of potato ole's with nacho cheese.
I went back to the hospital, but on the way I stopped off for a colby cheese stick at the gas station and a V8 and a Frappuccino (I needed caffeine but didn't want to drink pop). I ate the cheese and drank the V8 later for dinner.
At the hospital, Shannon asked her nurse if he could bring her the sherbet that the room service people forgot to bring her with her dinner and asked if I could have some ice cream since it was my birthday. Her nurses at Mercy are the best, by the way!!! He went out of his way and found me a little carton (ok, two) of chocolate ice cream. I spent most of my birthday day and night with Shannon at her bedside just hanging out trying to keep her company and to try to keep her mind off of the pain. She felt bad that I had to spend my birthday with her in the hospital feeding her (since she couldn't sit up in order to eat) and just watching TV. First off, I probably would've just been watching TV at home and relaxing like I was doing there. Second, what better way to spend the day with someone that you care no matter if it's in the hospital or wherever. It was nice to spend that time together since she's got 3 cute daughters that keep her soooo busy. We don't get to spend a lot of time together.
She was still in a lot of pain, but she was able to sleep last night finally. She's been on vicadin and morphine with no relief until they gave her some other stuff that I've since forgotten the name of.
I'll be heading to the hospital from work tonight at 6 so I can keep her company for a few hours. As much as I like my job, time can't go quick enough. I want to make sure she's doing ok.
They did an MRI yesterday and found something irregular; I think it was a tear in or around a disc. They're going to try to avoid surgery and handle it thru a shot and physical therapy to see if it heals itself.
Hopefully she'll be better for my birthday party this coming Saturday night at Billy Joe's Pitcher Show....bring on the karaoke. If she's not better by then and can't go, I may postpone the party but I'm trying not to think about that. I just hope she's better....
What a crazy weekend it was.....
Well, I said it'd be a crazy weekend and it was, indeed.
We started brainstorming ideas for our film Friday night at 7pm when we received the email with the required prop, dialog, character, and our genre. Well, we had to make either a fantasy or a silent film using the character 'Karen or Kevin Klonsky' who is a folk singer and we had to use a plunger as a prop and the line of dialog 'Those are ginormous!' We were up until about 5am Saturday morning when we broke for a couple hours of sleep before we continued our brainstorming. We had some great ideas bouncing back and forth, but some of the more popular ones couldn't be done with the amount of time we had (due to too much time needed for special effects) or due to our small cast and crew. We ended up going with a ghost-themed fantasy.
Anyway, due to being so busy I didn't eat all that well. Friday night I had 3 or 4 pieces of pizza (2 pieces of hand tossed which were normal wedge-shaped pieces and 2 more that were smaller squares of thin crust). I didn't drink any pop! I did end up chugging coffee which normally I don't drink, but in order to function I had to! Saturday morning we went and bought 2 dozen doughnuts for everyone; I ate 2, I think. I shouldn't have eaten any....a bagel would've been a better choice. Saturday afternoon I ran home for a shower and to grab some costume stuff. I had 2 crackers w/ natural peanut butter. I got back to the location and everyone was going for Taco Johns which I knew I needed to stay away from. I ended up skipping lunch (not a good idea, I know) and waited for a late dinner of a bowl of chili (ate about 11pm or a little after when we finished).
Sunday I honestly don't remember what I had for lunch. A lot of the weekend was a blur. I think I might've had a wrap. Sunday night we ordered Chinese. I wish I would've only had half of it not because I was under-full, but just because I know it wasn't the best food choice and thus should've probably eaten less.
Overall, I made some not great food choices, but it could've been worse.
We started brainstorming ideas for our film Friday night at 7pm when we received the email with the required prop, dialog, character, and our genre. Well, we had to make either a fantasy or a silent film using the character 'Karen or Kevin Klonsky' who is a folk singer and we had to use a plunger as a prop and the line of dialog 'Those are ginormous!' We were up until about 5am Saturday morning when we broke for a couple hours of sleep before we continued our brainstorming. We had some great ideas bouncing back and forth, but some of the more popular ones couldn't be done with the amount of time we had (due to too much time needed for special effects) or due to our small cast and crew. We ended up going with a ghost-themed fantasy.
Anyway, due to being so busy I didn't eat all that well. Friday night I had 3 or 4 pieces of pizza (2 pieces of hand tossed which were normal wedge-shaped pieces and 2 more that were smaller squares of thin crust). I didn't drink any pop! I did end up chugging coffee which normally I don't drink, but in order to function I had to! Saturday morning we went and bought 2 dozen doughnuts for everyone; I ate 2, I think. I shouldn't have eaten any....a bagel would've been a better choice. Saturday afternoon I ran home for a shower and to grab some costume stuff. I had 2 crackers w/ natural peanut butter. I got back to the location and everyone was going for Taco Johns which I knew I needed to stay away from. I ended up skipping lunch (not a good idea, I know) and waited for a late dinner of a bowl of chili (ate about 11pm or a little after when we finished).
Sunday I honestly don't remember what I had for lunch. A lot of the weekend was a blur. I think I might've had a wrap. Sunday night we ordered Chinese. I wish I would've only had half of it not because I was under-full, but just because I know it wasn't the best food choice and thus should've probably eaten less.
Overall, I made some not great food choices, but it could've been worse.
Friday, October 19, 2007
STILL waiting on Mercy.......
So I'm STILL waiting to hear from Mercy when my appointment is going to be for my physical or whatever they need to do w/ me before I can get started. Sonya Heitshusen w/ WHO said that she, too, is waiting to hear from them. She wants to do my interview while Mercy is doing their stuff. I have Monday off to recover from the lack of sleep I'll be suffering from in order to make our film this weekend and Monday was when she was hoping to do the interview and appointment. We'll see... I'm a bit frustrated w/ Mercy as my boss (who is also a participant in the challenge) had her appointment and interview on Monday or Tuesday of this week and has already started her program.
Oh well....I'll just keeping doing it my way for the time being. I'm doing great so far! I'll be weighing myself tonight before we start on the film. Apparently we're ordering pizza, so this will be the first time on nearly a month that I've eaten something 'bad'. I can't hide from the 'bad' stuff and just eat the good forever. I'll just have to be sure to not go overboard with it and to eat sensibly this weekend. I'm going to be in need of caffeine, and I've given up pop, so I think I just might buy some tea for the weekend. I like tea ok.
I must admit I didn't walk this morning before work. I slept in so that I'd get plenty of sleep for this weekend's craziness. Otherwise, I walked Monday thru Thursday. We'll see if I walk Monday or not....
Stay tuned for the new weightloss total (last weighed myself officially a couple weeks ago and was at 15 pounds after 2 weeks. I'm hoping to have lost at least another 10. I've been good.
Stay tuned to see if Mercy sets up my appointment as well.
The next time you hear from me (probably Tuesday) I'll be 30 years old. :-( Blah.
EDIT:
Well, I just heard from Sonya Heitshusen that Mercy *should* be contacting me soon to set up my appointment for either Monday or early next week....
Oh well....I'll just keeping doing it my way for the time being. I'm doing great so far! I'll be weighing myself tonight before we start on the film. Apparently we're ordering pizza, so this will be the first time on nearly a month that I've eaten something 'bad'. I can't hide from the 'bad' stuff and just eat the good forever. I'll just have to be sure to not go overboard with it and to eat sensibly this weekend. I'm going to be in need of caffeine, and I've given up pop, so I think I just might buy some tea for the weekend. I like tea ok.
I must admit I didn't walk this morning before work. I slept in so that I'd get plenty of sleep for this weekend's craziness. Otherwise, I walked Monday thru Thursday. We'll see if I walk Monday or not....
Stay tuned for the new weightloss total (last weighed myself officially a couple weeks ago and was at 15 pounds after 2 weeks. I'm hoping to have lost at least another 10. I've been good.
Stay tuned to see if Mercy sets up my appointment as well.
The next time you hear from me (probably Tuesday) I'll be 30 years old. :-( Blah.
EDIT:
Well, I just heard from Sonya Heitshusen that Mercy *should* be contacting me soon to set up my appointment for either Monday or early next week....
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
This coming weekend will be NUTS!
Every year my friends and I compete in a few film competitions: 48 Hour Film Project, National Film Challenge (no idea why they call it 'national' when it's International), and the Star Wars Fan Film competition.
Well, the Star Wars competition is around April or so each year (if I remember correctly), the 48 Hour Film Project is in August, and it's now time for the National Film Challenge this coming weekend....
Basically what that means is at a set time on Friday evening we will be emailed a list of things that we must incorporate into our short film. These things include a line of dialogue, a prop, and a character (I think I might be leaving something out, I forget). Everybody has to use those some things. Where it differs is you're assigned a film genre. You have to write, direct, act in, and edit your film within some 60 or so hours, I think. I remember that it's a bit more than the 48 Hour Film Project. Anyway, we basically get little to no sleep during that time. There's really no preparation that you can do ahead of time other than rest up!
It also coincides with my birthday. We're going to be so busy and sleep-deprived that I hope I can still eat decent meals and snacks. We'll see. At least I'm not Andrew Zumwalt...he does the editing when we're all done and ends up getting the least sleep by far (he also directs and films)!
Andrew does an awesome job!
Check out our films at http://www.arizonainkstudios.com/.
Last year Andrew and I wrote Psalm 10:15 (which my now roommate and I acted in). We placed in the top 15 in audience choice internationally!!! Nice, huh?
Wish us luck!
Well, the Star Wars competition is around April or so each year (if I remember correctly), the 48 Hour Film Project is in August, and it's now time for the National Film Challenge this coming weekend....
Basically what that means is at a set time on Friday evening we will be emailed a list of things that we must incorporate into our short film. These things include a line of dialogue, a prop, and a character (I think I might be leaving something out, I forget). Everybody has to use those some things. Where it differs is you're assigned a film genre. You have to write, direct, act in, and edit your film within some 60 or so hours, I think. I remember that it's a bit more than the 48 Hour Film Project. Anyway, we basically get little to no sleep during that time. There's really no preparation that you can do ahead of time other than rest up!
It also coincides with my birthday. We're going to be so busy and sleep-deprived that I hope I can still eat decent meals and snacks. We'll see. At least I'm not Andrew Zumwalt...he does the editing when we're all done and ends up getting the least sleep by far (he also directs and films)!
Andrew does an awesome job!
Check out our films at http://www.arizonainkstudios.com/.
Last year Andrew and I wrote Psalm 10:15 (which my now roommate and I acted in). We placed in the top 15 in audience choice internationally!!! Nice, huh?
Wish us luck!
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Waiting to hear from Mercy....
Well, my boss, Noel, is taking part in the Move It Challenge as well. She's had her blood test, physical, and interview done so she can get things underway. She's also met with the folks at the fitness place to schedule some workouts.
I'm still waiting to hear from Mercy for my appointments. Not sure what the holdup is. I guess maybe I'm being impatient because I want to get things underway.
I'm still continuing to do it on my own. I had to go to my doctor today and they weighed me (not the same scale as I've been weighing myself on) and it looks like I've lost another 5 pounds. That means I've lost 20 pounds in 3 weeks. Not bad, eh?
Stay tuned for more soon....
I'm still waiting to hear from Mercy for my appointments. Not sure what the holdup is. I guess maybe I'm being impatient because I want to get things underway.
I'm still continuing to do it on my own. I had to go to my doctor today and they weighed me (not the same scale as I've been weighing myself on) and it looks like I've lost another 5 pounds. That means I've lost 20 pounds in 3 weeks. Not bad, eh?
Stay tuned for more soon....
Friday, October 12, 2007
What I used to eat before making the change...
Here's an idea of what I used to eat in a week's time prior to making this change:
I would eat fast food 10-14 times in a WEEK! KFC, Taco Bell, Taco John's, McDonald's, Panchero's, Culver's, Fazoli's, Wendy's, HyVee Chinese, etc etc etc. Of course each meal was accompanied by a big Coke or Pepsi as well. And rarely did I go for a salad (which fast food salads really aren't very healthy anyway).
I haven't had fast food in 3 weeks as of this Sunday. I also haven't had pop in that long! I drink a lot of water anyway. I've always drank a lot of water since I was about 9 or 10 and had my kidney removed. I swear I probably drink well over a gallon of water a day. A lot of people complain about not liking water, but I like it...nearly as much as beer. :)
I would eat fast food 10-14 times in a WEEK! KFC, Taco Bell, Taco John's, McDonald's, Panchero's, Culver's, Fazoli's, Wendy's, HyVee Chinese, etc etc etc. Of course each meal was accompanied by a big Coke or Pepsi as well. And rarely did I go for a salad (which fast food salads really aren't very healthy anyway).
I haven't had fast food in 3 weeks as of this Sunday. I also haven't had pop in that long! I drink a lot of water anyway. I've always drank a lot of water since I was about 9 or 10 and had my kidney removed. I swear I probably drink well over a gallon of water a day. A lot of people complain about not liking water, but I like it...nearly as much as beer. :)
My weightloss so far....
I mentioned in my little 'bio' that I've always lost weight in VERY unhealthy ways such as by eating once small meal a day and vomiting that small meal up or by eating every 3rd or 4th day and walking every day for an hour. Both ways allowed me to lose weight quickly (30-40 pounds in a month) but as soon as I'd start eating again it'd come back on and then some.
I don't know too many other guys with an eating disorder, but I think there are more out there than we think.
I've finally decided to do it the healthy way by making a lifestyle change. I'm not going to try any fad diets or crazy ways like I just mentioned. I'm going to simply watch what I eat, eat 3 small healthy meals a day with healthy snacks interspersed. That keeps your metabolism up, apparently. I'm also walking every morning before work for an hour. I prefer walking the bike trial in Clive rather than going to 24/7 Xpress in Urbandale and walking on the treadmill just because of the repetitive nature of the treadmill. Sure there are TV's, but walking the treadmill you feel like you're going somewhere as the scenery changes and you're outside in nature among the deer and whatever wild critters are about. By the way, on a side note, why can't some people respond to a 'Good morning'?? A lot of people do, but others just ignore you. I know some people get in a zone, but even people walking at a slow pace just ignore you. Maybe I look like an axe murderer....I probably do....but geesh!
Anyway, the change in diet has been working! I've been doing it on my own for the past nearly 3 weeks and last weighed myself 1 week ago (2 weeks into it for those keeping score at home) and had lost 15 pounds so far! I made sure to weigh myself on the same scale I used for the first time I weighed myself at the beginning of this thing. Not bad! I'll probably weigh myself a week from today to see how I'm doing. I'm not getting all caught up in weighing myself all the time. Once a week or every two weeks is good enough for me.
I don't know too many other guys with an eating disorder, but I think there are more out there than we think.
I've finally decided to do it the healthy way by making a lifestyle change. I'm not going to try any fad diets or crazy ways like I just mentioned. I'm going to simply watch what I eat, eat 3 small healthy meals a day with healthy snacks interspersed. That keeps your metabolism up, apparently. I'm also walking every morning before work for an hour. I prefer walking the bike trial in Clive rather than going to 24/7 Xpress in Urbandale and walking on the treadmill just because of the repetitive nature of the treadmill. Sure there are TV's, but walking the treadmill you feel like you're going somewhere as the scenery changes and you're outside in nature among the deer and whatever wild critters are about. By the way, on a side note, why can't some people respond to a 'Good morning'?? A lot of people do, but others just ignore you. I know some people get in a zone, but even people walking at a slow pace just ignore you. Maybe I look like an axe murderer....I probably do....but geesh!
Anyway, the change in diet has been working! I've been doing it on my own for the past nearly 3 weeks and last weighed myself 1 week ago (2 weeks into it for those keeping score at home) and had lost 15 pounds so far! I made sure to weigh myself on the same scale I used for the first time I weighed myself at the beginning of this thing. Not bad! I'll probably weigh myself a week from today to see how I'm doing. I'm not getting all caught up in weighing myself all the time. Once a week or every two weeks is good enough for me.
Welcome to my weightloss blog!
Hey Everyone!
Well, this is it. This is my weightloss blog.
Now, let's get some things out of the way:
You're probably wondering why I'm making this public, right?
Well, since winning the chance to become one of the 4 Channel 13 Move It participants, I thought people might like to follow along with my progress. Who knows, I might inspire people. Besides, if I'm publicly doing this, I'm less likely to give up!
Why the heck did you submit a pic of you SHIRTLESS (no, that was NOT a mohair sweater) to Channel 13 for the Move It Challenge?
Well, I had no idea that they were going to put it online and that people would vote for the contestants. I had taken that picture to submit to The Biggest Loser which my roommate and I had auditioned for just a couple of months ago. We got a callback interview where they interviewed us on-camera for 30 minutes or so. We received a ton of paperwork to fill out. Anyway, my boss told me about Move It and I submitted the pic I sent to 'Loser'. When I found out that they were going to put it online, I emailed Sonya Heitshusen and she said that it was too late for me to send a new pic and the pic I had sent them would be fine. I panicked for a bit but got over it and decided that it would be motivation for me to lose the weight. Especially when they put the pic on the news!!! YIKES!
Next, who the heck are you?
Here's a little background about me in regard to my weight:
My name is Dave Williams and I'm 29 years old from Urbandale. I'm 5'8" and I weigh 300 pounds. I've been the heavy one in my family my whole life. I grew up getting teased for being fat, and quickly learned to tell jokes (usually at my expense) in order to disarm the other kids so that they couldn't come up with the jokes to make fun of me. I was voted class clown my senior year of high school thanks to my weight and joke-telling. I grew up worshiping John Belushi and Chris Farley because they were overweight and made others laugh as well and everyone loved them for it.
When I graduated high school in 1996, I weighed about 230 pounds. Though I was heavy, I lifted weights a lot and was in decent shape. Due to having only one kidney, I couldn't play the one sport that I had always dreamt of playing -- football. I think that led to a bit of depression since I couldn't play my favorite sport (doctor didn't want me injuring the good kidney) so I didn't play any sport.
After college I got a job working for the Dept. of Corrections where my weight was more of an issue. I now weighed around 260 pounds and wasn't feeling good about myself. Inmates look for any reason to put you down and try to exploit any possible weakness; my weight was that weakness. In 2002 or so I decided to take an improv class at the Des Moines Playhouse to find an outlet for my stress and my humor and creativity. I soon auditioned for an improv group and was picked to join which led to joining a sketch comedy group and then play after play in the Des Moines area. Though I was doing well, my job was stressing me out and I was eating a lot of fast food. I quit my job at Fort Des Moines in the summer of 2006 to make a healthy change in my life. My weight was up to 300 pounds.
During my college period, I once decided I needed to lose weight. I felt I was too busy to work out as I was working full time hours and going to school full time as well. I ended up starving myself and whatever I did eat (usually just one can of soup a day) I would purge. I had lost 30 pounds in one month. Of course the weight came back on as quickly as it had come off.
While working at Fort Des Moines, I decided to lose weight but was just as busy as when I was in college. I decided to start walking for an hour every day but the weight wasn't coming off as quickly as I'd hoped. I started eating every 3rd and sometimes 4th day and still walked an hour each day. I dropped 40 pounds in one month.
Now having made a choice in my life between making good money working for the state but being unhappy with the stress of the job, I quit and got a job in computers, taking a big pay cut to be happy. My theatre lifestyle keeps me busy while my job makes me happy. I have a desk job now, so I'm rather inactive at work. While acting and doing sketch comedy makes me so happy, I always seem to play the stereotypical fat guy characters. Losing weight and getting healthy would finally afford me the opportunity to play something other than the fat guy roles. I'd finally be able to manage my happiness via a healthy lifestyle as well as having a job that I love.
My oldest brother is overseas in Iraq right now (we assume that's where as he's not allowed to say). I would love for him to see me healthy and fit when he gets back.
This is the opportunity that I need to go into my 30's healthily. This is my chance to prove to myself and others that I can be more than the funny fat guy; I can just be FUNNY.
Well, this is it. This is my weightloss blog.
Now, let's get some things out of the way:
You're probably wondering why I'm making this public, right?
Well, since winning the chance to become one of the 4 Channel 13 Move It participants, I thought people might like to follow along with my progress. Who knows, I might inspire people. Besides, if I'm publicly doing this, I'm less likely to give up!
Why the heck did you submit a pic of you SHIRTLESS (no, that was NOT a mohair sweater) to Channel 13 for the Move It Challenge?
Well, I had no idea that they were going to put it online and that people would vote for the contestants. I had taken that picture to submit to The Biggest Loser which my roommate and I had auditioned for just a couple of months ago. We got a callback interview where they interviewed us on-camera for 30 minutes or so. We received a ton of paperwork to fill out. Anyway, my boss told me about Move It and I submitted the pic I sent to 'Loser'. When I found out that they were going to put it online, I emailed Sonya Heitshusen and she said that it was too late for me to send a new pic and the pic I had sent them would be fine. I panicked for a bit but got over it and decided that it would be motivation for me to lose the weight. Especially when they put the pic on the news!!! YIKES!
Next, who the heck are you?
Here's a little background about me in regard to my weight:
My name is Dave Williams and I'm 29 years old from Urbandale. I'm 5'8" and I weigh 300 pounds. I've been the heavy one in my family my whole life. I grew up getting teased for being fat, and quickly learned to tell jokes (usually at my expense) in order to disarm the other kids so that they couldn't come up with the jokes to make fun of me. I was voted class clown my senior year of high school thanks to my weight and joke-telling. I grew up worshiping John Belushi and Chris Farley because they were overweight and made others laugh as well and everyone loved them for it.
When I graduated high school in 1996, I weighed about 230 pounds. Though I was heavy, I lifted weights a lot and was in decent shape. Due to having only one kidney, I couldn't play the one sport that I had always dreamt of playing -- football. I think that led to a bit of depression since I couldn't play my favorite sport (doctor didn't want me injuring the good kidney) so I didn't play any sport.
After college I got a job working for the Dept. of Corrections where my weight was more of an issue. I now weighed around 260 pounds and wasn't feeling good about myself. Inmates look for any reason to put you down and try to exploit any possible weakness; my weight was that weakness. In 2002 or so I decided to take an improv class at the Des Moines Playhouse to find an outlet for my stress and my humor and creativity. I soon auditioned for an improv group and was picked to join which led to joining a sketch comedy group and then play after play in the Des Moines area. Though I was doing well, my job was stressing me out and I was eating a lot of fast food. I quit my job at Fort Des Moines in the summer of 2006 to make a healthy change in my life. My weight was up to 300 pounds.
During my college period, I once decided I needed to lose weight. I felt I was too busy to work out as I was working full time hours and going to school full time as well. I ended up starving myself and whatever I did eat (usually just one can of soup a day) I would purge. I had lost 30 pounds in one month. Of course the weight came back on as quickly as it had come off.
While working at Fort Des Moines, I decided to lose weight but was just as busy as when I was in college. I decided to start walking for an hour every day but the weight wasn't coming off as quickly as I'd hoped. I started eating every 3rd and sometimes 4th day and still walked an hour each day. I dropped 40 pounds in one month.
Now having made a choice in my life between making good money working for the state but being unhappy with the stress of the job, I quit and got a job in computers, taking a big pay cut to be happy. My theatre lifestyle keeps me busy while my job makes me happy. I have a desk job now, so I'm rather inactive at work. While acting and doing sketch comedy makes me so happy, I always seem to play the stereotypical fat guy characters. Losing weight and getting healthy would finally afford me the opportunity to play something other than the fat guy roles. I'd finally be able to manage my happiness via a healthy lifestyle as well as having a job that I love.
My oldest brother is overseas in Iraq right now (we assume that's where as he's not allowed to say). I would love for him to see me healthy and fit when he gets back.
This is the opportunity that I need to go into my 30's healthily. This is my chance to prove to myself and others that I can be more than the funny fat guy; I can just be FUNNY.
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