Last night's weigh-in....
I lost 1.5 pounds over Christmas! Not bad! I was just hoping to break even! I'm now down 48.5 pounds total!
Apparently forgot to update last Thursday's weigh-in results....
So in reviewing my blog, I don't see that I posted my results from last Thursday's weigh-in. I had lost a pound, if I remember correctly. Not much, but oh well.
We're talking about possibly increasing my calories as I may not be eating enough. Sounds weird, huh? Eating more to lose weight. We'll see.....
Friday, December 28, 2007
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Christmas.... I weigh-in tonight....
Christmas....
I spent Christmas Eve night at my mom's with my family like I always do. We eat sandwiches, dips, chips/crackers, shrimp, sardines, etc. I had my first can of pop in a long time that night. I drank a Pepsi (not diet....I will NOT drink diet pop except for maybe a diet 7up).
I made some hummus that I brought with me. I used very little olive oil in it. I used chick peas, garlic (one whole head of garlic for 3 cans of chick peas) and one can of artichoke hearts. I used maybe a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. It was really good and very healthy!
I don't generally follow recipes...I might glance at one once to see what the ingredients are then from that point on I try some of this and a little of that and see what I come up with. I wish I was a chef....I almost went to school for culinary arts....
Anyway, I made some good choices and some so-so choices. Overall, none terrible. I just probably had more than I should have.
Christmas Day I went to my grandma's as usual. Normally I would have had big portions of everything and would've gone back for seconds of about everything, but not this year. I got one plate and had moderate amounts of the things I wanted. I did have, throughout the day, a few pieces of lefse (Norwegian flat bread that has butter and sugar on it) and a couple of kringle (Norwegian cookie in the shape of a figure 8 that you spread butter on....I used 'I can't believe it's not butter'). I didn't eat any pie. I loaded up all day long on broccoli and cauliflower.
Again, no terrible choices, but I could've done better. I did much better than other years!
I weigh-in tonight....
I'll be weighing-in tonight right after work. Hopefully I at least stayed even over Christmas. If so, I'll be back to losing next week.... Stay tuned for numbers tomorrow....
I spent Christmas Eve night at my mom's with my family like I always do. We eat sandwiches, dips, chips/crackers, shrimp, sardines, etc. I had my first can of pop in a long time that night. I drank a Pepsi (not diet....I will NOT drink diet pop except for maybe a diet 7up).
I made some hummus that I brought with me. I used very little olive oil in it. I used chick peas, garlic (one whole head of garlic for 3 cans of chick peas) and one can of artichoke hearts. I used maybe a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. It was really good and very healthy!
I don't generally follow recipes...I might glance at one once to see what the ingredients are then from that point on I try some of this and a little of that and see what I come up with. I wish I was a chef....I almost went to school for culinary arts....
Anyway, I made some good choices and some so-so choices. Overall, none terrible. I just probably had more than I should have.
Christmas Day I went to my grandma's as usual. Normally I would have had big portions of everything and would've gone back for seconds of about everything, but not this year. I got one plate and had moderate amounts of the things I wanted. I did have, throughout the day, a few pieces of lefse (Norwegian flat bread that has butter and sugar on it) and a couple of kringle (Norwegian cookie in the shape of a figure 8 that you spread butter on....I used 'I can't believe it's not butter'). I didn't eat any pie. I loaded up all day long on broccoli and cauliflower.
Again, no terrible choices, but I could've done better. I did much better than other years!
I weigh-in tonight....
I'll be weighing-in tonight right after work. Hopefully I at least stayed even over Christmas. If so, I'll be back to losing next week.... Stay tuned for numbers tomorrow....
Family comments....
So in case some family reads my blog (which I don't think a single one of them does) I won't identify who said what.
Now, I don't think that what was said was meant negatively or anything of the sort, but some of it was frustrating nonetheless. And again, most of the people in my family have nothing but positive, supportive things to say....
I was talking with a couple family members over the holidays about my journey thus far and they were asking what I eat. I mentioned that I eat pretty much the same things every day but that I may switch up veggies but that's about it. This person said that it wasn't good to do that and that I'll burn out by doing that. They took little comfort in the fact that I had discussed this with my nutritionist and we agreed it was a good idea and to switch things up if I felt burnt out (which I haven't at all). The thing that made me laugh inside was that this was coming from a thin person who has never had a weight issue.
The other comment was from someone in the same conversation. When I mentioned that I ate salmon every night, they said that salmon has mercury in it and that it was dangerous and that I shouldn't eat so much of it. The next day I went to their freezer to get some ice and what was in the freezer? The EXACT same brand of salmon that I eat every night. I wanted to ask them if I should throw it away for them so that they didn't get mercury poisoning! I kept my mouth shut, though. :-)
Now, I don't think that what was said was meant negatively or anything of the sort, but some of it was frustrating nonetheless. And again, most of the people in my family have nothing but positive, supportive things to say....
I was talking with a couple family members over the holidays about my journey thus far and they were asking what I eat. I mentioned that I eat pretty much the same things every day but that I may switch up veggies but that's about it. This person said that it wasn't good to do that and that I'll burn out by doing that. They took little comfort in the fact that I had discussed this with my nutritionist and we agreed it was a good idea and to switch things up if I felt burnt out (which I haven't at all). The thing that made me laugh inside was that this was coming from a thin person who has never had a weight issue.
The other comment was from someone in the same conversation. When I mentioned that I ate salmon every night, they said that salmon has mercury in it and that it was dangerous and that I shouldn't eat so much of it. The next day I went to their freezer to get some ice and what was in the freezer? The EXACT same brand of salmon that I eat every night. I wanted to ask them if I should throw it away for them so that they didn't get mercury poisoning! I kept my mouth shut, though. :-)
Wednesday's workout....
So Wednesday's workout was more of the same. I did 40 minutes on the cross-trainer and burned some 500+ calories. I average a 10 minute mile on it, so that means that I did about 4 miles. My exercising heart rate continues to stay much lower than when I initially started working out!
From the cross-trainer, we went to the weights and lifted for 20-30 minutes then did some ab work.
From the cross-trainer, we went to the weights and lifted for 20-30 minutes then did some ab work.
Friday, December 21, 2007
This morning's workout!...
Wow.
Once again...
Wow.
I kinda impressed myself today. I got to the gym a bit earlier than usual, so Deb and I decided to have me warm up on the cross-trainer for 15 minutes or so before class (Friday is class day). So I started working out on the cross-trainer and after a while I realized it was 7:05 and Deb wasn't around and realized that class had started. I didn't want to go in late, so I kept going on the cross-trainer.
I ended up going for 55 minutes!!! Not only that, but my speed was between 6.5 and 7mph the ENTIRE time (mostly around 7). That's AWESOME. When I started out back in October or whenever, I struggled with 4mph.
I ended up going 55 minutes and just over 6 miles. I burned 720 calories!!! That's over 1/2 the amount of calories I take in in a day! Not sure how many calories I burn when lifting weights and doing ab exercises, but add that in and I'm sure I burned a bunch of calories!
When working out on the cross-trainer I never felt that winded and after I got off of it, I recovered right away and wasn't exhausted or anything. Not bad!
Once again...
Wow.
I kinda impressed myself today. I got to the gym a bit earlier than usual, so Deb and I decided to have me warm up on the cross-trainer for 15 minutes or so before class (Friday is class day). So I started working out on the cross-trainer and after a while I realized it was 7:05 and Deb wasn't around and realized that class had started. I didn't want to go in late, so I kept going on the cross-trainer.
I ended up going for 55 minutes!!! Not only that, but my speed was between 6.5 and 7mph the ENTIRE time (mostly around 7). That's AWESOME. When I started out back in October or whenever, I struggled with 4mph.
I ended up going 55 minutes and just over 6 miles. I burned 720 calories!!! That's over 1/2 the amount of calories I take in in a day! Not sure how many calories I burn when lifting weights and doing ab exercises, but add that in and I'm sure I burned a bunch of calories!
When working out on the cross-trainer I never felt that winded and after I got off of it, I recovered right away and wasn't exhausted or anything. Not bad!
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Biggest Loser finale last night...
So I watched the Biggest Loser finale last night. This is the first season of the show that I've ever watched.
Talk about inspiring. There were people on that show that were much larger than me. While I was really big and still am big, I always had some decent level of muscle underneath it all. Some of those people looked like they had no muscle when they started and had just layers and layers of fat. Now, I'm not making fun of or judging them, just observing.
The transformations that these people went thru was absolutely amazing. Nothing short of jaw-dropping! If I had a nickel for every time I said, "WOW" last night, I'd have at least 50 cents!
One interesting thing that I found out from watching the finale is that 3 more months pass by after the final 4 people leave the campus. So that's a total of 6 months for their weightloss. The crazy thing is, I'm losing as much in a week as some of those people on the show were losing in a week and they're working out every day. I'm working out 3 days a week for only an hour or a bit more a day. I'm proud. I don't even have the possibility of $250,000 pushing me along!
Talk about inspiring. There were people on that show that were much larger than me. While I was really big and still am big, I always had some decent level of muscle underneath it all. Some of those people looked like they had no muscle when they started and had just layers and layers of fat. Now, I'm not making fun of or judging them, just observing.
The transformations that these people went thru was absolutely amazing. Nothing short of jaw-dropping! If I had a nickel for every time I said, "WOW" last night, I'd have at least 50 cents!
One interesting thing that I found out from watching the finale is that 3 more months pass by after the final 4 people leave the campus. So that's a total of 6 months for their weightloss. The crazy thing is, I'm losing as much in a week as some of those people on the show were losing in a week and they're working out every day. I'm working out 3 days a week for only an hour or a bit more a day. I'm proud. I don't even have the possibility of $250,000 pushing me along!
Workout this morning...
All of the cross-trainers were being used this morning except for this one old one, so we went to the bike and did 24 minutes. I think I did 8 miles or so on it in 24 minutes.
We then went to the cross-trainers since they were open. We did about another 20 minutes! That's 44 minutes of cardio for those keeping score at home!
We then went to the weights did what we were supposed to do Friday when I overslept. We increased the weight level on all of the machines by either one or two levels. We then set out to do 8 reps on each machine. I'd lift then slowly return to starting position by way of a four-count. Let me tell you, I could freaking feel it. Like I said, we were shooting for 8 reps on each machine since it's harder to lift slowly, but I did more than 8 on every machine. Some machines I did over 20 reps on and some I did 10 or 15 reps. Either way, there was more progress than we were shooting for! I could really feel it on each machine. Right now, I'm not feeling it as much but I imagine that I'll be feeling it later.
I'm surprised through this whole process that I'm not more sore. We lift every workout and I alsways push myself to where I can't do another rep, but I'm never really sore from it. I feel great!
We then went to the cross-trainers since they were open. We did about another 20 minutes! That's 44 minutes of cardio for those keeping score at home!
We then went to the weights did what we were supposed to do Friday when I overslept. We increased the weight level on all of the machines by either one or two levels. We then set out to do 8 reps on each machine. I'd lift then slowly return to starting position by way of a four-count. Let me tell you, I could freaking feel it. Like I said, we were shooting for 8 reps on each machine since it's harder to lift slowly, but I did more than 8 on every machine. Some machines I did over 20 reps on and some I did 10 or 15 reps. Either way, there was more progress than we were shooting for! I could really feel it on each machine. Right now, I'm not feeling it as much but I imagine that I'll be feeling it later.
I'm surprised through this whole process that I'm not more sore. We lift every workout and I alsways push myself to where I can't do another rep, but I'm never really sore from it. I feel great!
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
What's inspiring me? What's motivating me?
What's inspiring me?
So, I was thinking a while back about what was inspiring me. Now, I'm not talking what's motivating me, but what's inspiring me.
One thing (or person) that's inspiring me is my co-worker Dan. Dan lost 100 pounds in a year on his own. Isn't that great?! I never knew Dan when he was heavy, only like he is now: slim and trim. I've seen pics from when he was big, and he was a big guy.
Back before I started the program, Dan would always tell me that if he could do it I sure as hell could. I always kept it in the back of my mind, but never really thought I'd ever get motivated to do it.
What's motivating me?
Now, the other side of the coin. What's motivating me?
Well, it certainly helps to have people watching you on TV. That's a given. But you have to look beyond that. I think that you have to constantly, or at least occasionally, re-evaluate your motivation in order to keep going down this long road.
The Move It segment on the news was my initial motivation. Who wants to fail with everyone watching, especially when they keep showing that shirtless picture of you wearing your mohair sweater?? That does continue to motivate me, certainly, but I've found other motivation as well.
One thing that motivates me is how I feel and how I look and how my clothes fit (too loose, for sure!). Ok, that was more than one thing, but they're all related. It's also great having so many people tell you that they're noticing a big difference in you. I never get sick of hearing those kind comments!
I also hope that I'm motivating people through my success. I was a big couch potato before. I still like to kick back and relax while watching TV, but I'm now earning those times.
It can also be fun to change and to try new things. I'm not always so accepting of change. I've had some difficulty with change in the past, but so far this has been pretty easy. It's been fun, actually.
A friend of mine asked me if I ever get sick of this whole thing. I really don't. Are there some mornings where I wish I could sleep in til 7:45am rather than get up at 5:45am and go work out? Yeah. The big picture keeps me going, though. Or maybe that's the little picture. Heh.
Anyway, hopefully I'll start posting more blogs like this one. A little less boring and rote and a little more personal and reflective....
So, I was thinking a while back about what was inspiring me. Now, I'm not talking what's motivating me, but what's inspiring me.
One thing (or person) that's inspiring me is my co-worker Dan. Dan lost 100 pounds in a year on his own. Isn't that great?! I never knew Dan when he was heavy, only like he is now: slim and trim. I've seen pics from when he was big, and he was a big guy.
Back before I started the program, Dan would always tell me that if he could do it I sure as hell could. I always kept it in the back of my mind, but never really thought I'd ever get motivated to do it.
What's motivating me?
Now, the other side of the coin. What's motivating me?
Well, it certainly helps to have people watching you on TV. That's a given. But you have to look beyond that. I think that you have to constantly, or at least occasionally, re-evaluate your motivation in order to keep going down this long road.
The Move It segment on the news was my initial motivation. Who wants to fail with everyone watching, especially when they keep showing that shirtless picture of you wearing your mohair sweater?? That does continue to motivate me, certainly, but I've found other motivation as well.
One thing that motivates me is how I feel and how I look and how my clothes fit (too loose, for sure!). Ok, that was more than one thing, but they're all related. It's also great having so many people tell you that they're noticing a big difference in you. I never get sick of hearing those kind comments!
I also hope that I'm motivating people through my success. I was a big couch potato before. I still like to kick back and relax while watching TV, but I'm now earning those times.
It can also be fun to change and to try new things. I'm not always so accepting of change. I've had some difficulty with change in the past, but so far this has been pretty easy. It's been fun, actually.
A friend of mine asked me if I ever get sick of this whole thing. I really don't. Are there some mornings where I wish I could sleep in til 7:45am rather than get up at 5:45am and go work out? Yeah. The big picture keeps me going, though. Or maybe that's the little picture. Heh.
Anyway, hopefully I'll start posting more blogs like this one. A little less boring and rote and a little more personal and reflective....
Monday, December 17, 2007
My nutritionist is on maternity leave...
My nutritionist, Amy, had her last day of work on Friday. She's now on maternity leave.
Amy is awesome. We really clicked and hit it off well. We had fun touring Dahl's for the news. She's responsible for a big portion of my success! I'll miss her!
There's another nutritionist, Janette, who's filling in for her. I haven't met Janette yet.
Amy is awesome. We really clicked and hit it off well. We had fun touring Dahl's for the news. She's responsible for a big portion of my success! I'll miss her!
There's another nutritionist, Janette, who's filling in for her. I haven't met Janette yet.
Updated photo....
So as you know, I've lost a total of 46 pounds in 2 1/2 months or so as of last Thursday.
I figured it'd be nice to post an updated photo of me. Now, I'm not going to post my before pic here right now as I HATE seeing that icky photo. If you want to see it, go to Channel 13's website. http://www.whotv.com/ and navigate to the Move It section.
That's a bad pic of me, but it gives you an idea of how different I look now! It's all paying off!
Today's workout...
We did 30 minutes on the cross-trainer. I burned 394 calories in those 30 minutes! That's about 1/3 of my daily calories! I kept a pace of 6-6.5 mph the whole time without any trouble.
From there, we went to the weights as usual and did the whole circuit. Wednesday we'll be increasing the weight and holding each rep for 4 seconds. That'll be interesting!
From there, we went to the weights as usual and did the whole circuit. Wednesday we'll be increasing the weight and holding each rep for 4 seconds. That'll be interesting!
Friday, December 14, 2007
Last night's weigh-in... Overslept today...
Last night's weigh-in...
So I weighed-in last night. Amazing results, too!
Keep in mind, this weigh-in is two weeks worth of weightloss due to weigh-in being cancelled last week.
I had lost 7 POUNDS over those two weeks!!! That's 3.5 pounds/week. I'm not even starving myself at all! I eat all day long, six times a day, and I'm losing weight. Amazing. The people on The Biggest Loser workout like all day long every day and sometimes don't lose 3.5 pounds in a week. I workout 3 times a week and have this success!
I'm now down to 270 pounds from an initial 316 pounds when I began 2 1/2 months ago. I have another 70 pounds to get to my goal.
I have lost a total of 46 pounds in 2 1/2 months!!! How awesome?!
Overslept today...
I was supposed to workout today as I do every Friday. Well, I set my alarm clock last night for 5:45am but apparently forgot to slide the little switch over to turn the alarm on. I woke up 2 hours late when I heard my roommate leaving the bathroom. I was so pissed at myself!!! 3 months ago I wouldn't have dreamed I'd have ever been mad at myself for oversleeping thru a workout!!!
So I weighed-in last night. Amazing results, too!
Keep in mind, this weigh-in is two weeks worth of weightloss due to weigh-in being cancelled last week.
I had lost 7 POUNDS over those two weeks!!! That's 3.5 pounds/week. I'm not even starving myself at all! I eat all day long, six times a day, and I'm losing weight. Amazing. The people on The Biggest Loser workout like all day long every day and sometimes don't lose 3.5 pounds in a week. I workout 3 times a week and have this success!
I'm now down to 270 pounds from an initial 316 pounds when I began 2 1/2 months ago. I have another 70 pounds to get to my goal.
I have lost a total of 46 pounds in 2 1/2 months!!! How awesome?!
Overslept today...
I was supposed to workout today as I do every Friday. Well, I set my alarm clock last night for 5:45am but apparently forgot to slide the little switch over to turn the alarm on. I woke up 2 hours late when I heard my roommate leaving the bathroom. I was so pissed at myself!!! 3 months ago I wouldn't have dreamed I'd have ever been mad at myself for oversleeping thru a workout!!!
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Unrecognizable??
A friend whom I haven't seen for maybe a year or so since we did the play 'High School Reunion' asked me for an updated photo so she could see my progress. She emailed me back and said I looked way different and that she probably wouldn't have recognized if she ran into me on the street had I not sent her the pic.
It's really nice to hear those kinds of things. I have a long way to go, but it's nice to hear those good things.
It's really nice to hear those kinds of things. I have a long way to go, but it's nice to hear those good things.
This morning's workout... News tonight...
This morning's workout...
This morning's workout was another good one.
I did the cross-trainer for 40 minutes! That's like 7 over my longest time so far. It really helps to have someone working out alongside you (Deb, my trainer). I kept up a pace of 6mph (give or take a tenth or two) the whole time except for the last 3-5 minutes when we gradually slowed it down for a cool-down.
We then did the weights for the last 20 minutes.
News tonight...
I'll be on the news tonight at 10pm. It's the footage from last week of me working out.
This morning's workout was another good one.
I did the cross-trainer for 40 minutes! That's like 7 over my longest time so far. It really helps to have someone working out alongside you (Deb, my trainer). I kept up a pace of 6mph (give or take a tenth or two) the whole time except for the last 3-5 minutes when we gradually slowed it down for a cool-down.
We then did the weights for the last 20 minutes.
News tonight...
I'll be on the news tonight at 10pm. It's the footage from last week of me working out.
Monday, December 10, 2007
This morning's workout...
I did 33 minutes on the cross-trainer. My heart rate has gotten better when working out. I noticed today that despite going between 5.5-6.5 mph that my heart rate didn't go over 150. That's an improvement from the past. In the past, there were times it would be over 152 and we'd have to slow my speed down to lower it.
From the cross-trainer, we went to the weights. I did about 25 reps on almost every weight machine. One of the leg machines seemed extremely easy today -- I did 40 reps and could've easily done more. We double-checked the weight setting and it was correct.
From the weights, we went on to ab exercises using the exercise balls and then some stretching.
I had 2 pieces of pizza last night instead of my salmon. They were probably medium pieces. I had a script reading of a musical and they had ordered pizza. I also tried some tortilla chips made with flax seed and sesame seed; not bad. They were supposedly healthy, but I didn't look at the package to see the numbers.
From the cross-trainer, we went to the weights. I did about 25 reps on almost every weight machine. One of the leg machines seemed extremely easy today -- I did 40 reps and could've easily done more. We double-checked the weight setting and it was correct.
From the weights, we went on to ab exercises using the exercise balls and then some stretching.
I had 2 pieces of pizza last night instead of my salmon. They were probably medium pieces. I had a script reading of a musical and they had ordered pizza. I also tried some tortilla chips made with flax seed and sesame seed; not bad. They were supposedly healthy, but I didn't look at the package to see the numbers.
Friday, December 7, 2007
Today's workout... Had to adjust the meal plan last night...
Today's workout...
Today's workout was a class as all Friday's are.
We did aerobic exercises with the exercise ball. You might not think that you can get much of a workout with an exercise ball, but believe me, you can! We did that for 30 minutes then switched up and did another 15 minutes on the cross-trainer. From there we did the weight machines for another 20 minutes or so.
Had to adjust the meal plan last night...
I had to go straight from work to Grandview College to videotape a play for Theater...for a Change. I had no time to run home to cook my nightly piece of salmon and broccoli, so I had to make a healthy choice. I ran over to McDonald's and grabbed an Asian grilled chicken salad. My dietician recommended it some time ago and I've had them a few times and they are really good! It's got mixed greens, snow pea pods, edamame, mandarin oranges, and slivered almonds with a sesame vinaigrette. Yum. I also got a bottle of water.
In the past I'd have gotten a burger, large fry, and half-gallon of pop (kidding, but those pops are huge). I don't really miss the crappy fast food and pop.
I truly feel that this lifestyle change is for good. It's easy to stick to for me.
Today's workout was a class as all Friday's are.
We did aerobic exercises with the exercise ball. You might not think that you can get much of a workout with an exercise ball, but believe me, you can! We did that for 30 minutes then switched up and did another 15 minutes on the cross-trainer. From there we did the weight machines for another 20 minutes or so.
Had to adjust the meal plan last night...
I had to go straight from work to Grandview College to videotape a play for Theater...for a Change. I had no time to run home to cook my nightly piece of salmon and broccoli, so I had to make a healthy choice. I ran over to McDonald's and grabbed an Asian grilled chicken salad. My dietician recommended it some time ago and I've had them a few times and they are really good! It's got mixed greens, snow pea pods, edamame, mandarin oranges, and slivered almonds with a sesame vinaigrette. Yum. I also got a bottle of water.
In the past I'd have gotten a burger, large fry, and half-gallon of pop (kidding, but those pops are huge). I don't really miss the crappy fast food and pop.
I truly feel that this lifestyle change is for good. It's easy to stick to for me.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
No weigh-in tonight...
I was supposed to weigh-in tonight, but they cancelled weigh-ins due to the weather. I'll be weighing-in next Thursday night.
Last night's newscast....
If you tuned in to the news last night and were expecting to see me during the Move It segment, I wasn't on. Yesterday was a big news day with the Omaha mall shootings and the Senator Matt McCoy trial. They just did a very brief mention of how we're all doing. Sonya did make mention that I slipped on the ice leaving work and injured my elbow. My segment will air next Wednesday night at 10.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Workout today will be on WHO tonight at 10pm.
So Trent from channel 13 was there at Mercy Wellness today to shoot me working out.
I did the cross-trainer for 30 minutes. We used a different cross-trainer today with an adjustable incline. I hate trying new cross-trainers because they're ALL different; you get used to one and you like it. Unlike treadmills, cross-trainers vary a lot! Anyway, after the cross-trainer we went to weights. And, of course, Trent had us do the interview after I had been working out for 30 minutes and was all sweaty! In his defense, I got there 15 minutes early today and we had already started working out, so it's really my fault! Oh well!
So during the interview we were joking around about my 'guns' (aka Number One and Number Two). I hope they don't put that on the air because we were totally joking; people might take it out of context and think I was bragging about my muscles. They have gotten bigger, but there's nothing to brag about!
I did the cross-trainer for 30 minutes. We used a different cross-trainer today with an adjustable incline. I hate trying new cross-trainers because they're ALL different; you get used to one and you like it. Unlike treadmills, cross-trainers vary a lot! Anyway, after the cross-trainer we went to weights. And, of course, Trent had us do the interview after I had been working out for 30 minutes and was all sweaty! In his defense, I got there 15 minutes early today and we had already started working out, so it's really my fault! Oh well!
So during the interview we were joking around about my 'guns' (aka Number One and Number Two). I hope they don't put that on the air because we were totally joking; people might take it out of context and think I was bragging about my muscles. They have gotten bigger, but there's nothing to brag about!
Monday, December 3, 2007
Today's workout.... Went to dinner twice this last weekend
Today's workout
Today's workout was pretty good. I did 30 minutes on the cross-trainer (about 450 calories burned!). I then went and did weights for 30 minutes or so. From there we did the exercise ball (stretches and ab exercises).
Went to dinner twice this last weekend
So I went to dinner with my girlfriend and one of her daughters and 2 of our friends on Friday night. I knew we'd be going to Carlos O'Kelly's, so I looked the menu up ahead of time. They have a lite section of their menu so I looked that up to decide what to eat. They listed all the usual food info that food labels have, so it makes it nice when trying to follow a 'diet'.
I got the Pico Enchiladas. They had an option of 1 or 2. I got the 2 enchiladas, but probably would've been satisfied with just one. It took a really long time to get our food and I ate more chips than I maybe should've.
Sunday I went to lunch with my mom. We went to TGIFriday's. I also ordered off of their lite menu and the food was pretty good. It was Garlic Chicken Primavera. It was pretty good.
I got water to drink at both places.
Today's workout was pretty good. I did 30 minutes on the cross-trainer (about 450 calories burned!). I then went and did weights for 30 minutes or so. From there we did the exercise ball (stretches and ab exercises).
Went to dinner twice this last weekend
So I went to dinner with my girlfriend and one of her daughters and 2 of our friends on Friday night. I knew we'd be going to Carlos O'Kelly's, so I looked the menu up ahead of time. They have a lite section of their menu so I looked that up to decide what to eat. They listed all the usual food info that food labels have, so it makes it nice when trying to follow a 'diet'.
I got the Pico Enchiladas. They had an option of 1 or 2. I got the 2 enchiladas, but probably would've been satisfied with just one. It took a really long time to get our food and I ate more chips than I maybe should've.
Sunday I went to lunch with my mom. We went to TGIFriday's. I also ordered off of their lite menu and the food was pretty good. It was Garlic Chicken Primavera. It was pretty good.
I got water to drink at both places.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Today's workout -- WHEW!
Man. Today's workout kicked my blankety-blank!
Fridays I do step-aerobics then weights. We did 30 minutes of step-aerobics. I put a riser under my step to make it that much more difficult. You'd be surprised at the difference that makes.
I was BEAT after the step-aerobics, but we went straight to the weights after that and did 30 more minutes. WOW. I'm telling you, this was probably the best workout I've had yet. I felt like I exercised every nook and cranny!
Channel 13 will be shooting me either Monday or Wednesday working out. The focus will probably be on the weightlifting this time and how important weight training is for weight loss. Not only does it firm you up, but the more muscle mass you have, the more your metabolism increases. I love weight lifting. I always have. I wish I'd have never let my lifting lapse in my early 20's and on.
Fridays I do step-aerobics then weights. We did 30 minutes of step-aerobics. I put a riser under my step to make it that much more difficult. You'd be surprised at the difference that makes.
I was BEAT after the step-aerobics, but we went straight to the weights after that and did 30 more minutes. WOW. I'm telling you, this was probably the best workout I've had yet. I felt like I exercised every nook and cranny!
Channel 13 will be shooting me either Monday or Wednesday working out. The focus will probably be on the weightlifting this time and how important weight training is for weight loss. Not only does it firm you up, but the more muscle mass you have, the more your metabolism increases. I love weight lifting. I always have. I wish I'd have never let my lifting lapse in my early 20's and on.
Weigh-in results from last night... New measurements
Weigh-in Results from last night
So I weighed-in last night for the first time in 3 weeks or so. If you look back thru the blogs, I think the last weigh-in was 11/9. My results aren't too bad considering people usually gain during Thanksgiving
The results:
Loss of 5 pounds
Considering you should lose 1-2 pounds a week, I'm right on target. That brings me down to 277 from a starting weight of 316.
I'm still way heavier than I should be, but I'm coming right along.
I've lost a total of 39 pounds in the last 2 months or so. Not bad. I'm pretty proud of what I've accomplished.
My new measurements
So my trainer, Deb, took my measurements this morning after my workout. She compared my measurements from when I started my Mercy program to now. I really, really wish I had measured myself before I started on my own. I think the results there would be pretty amazing. These are good, though. Deb was very pleased with the results.
Oct 31 Nov 30
Chest 51.5 down to 51
Waist 52.5 down to 51.75
Hips 50 down to 48.5
Thigh 26 down to 24
Tricep 17 up to 17.75
(it's not posting the way it should, but you get the idea)
My muscles are getting bigger and everything else smaller. I'm quite happy. Maybe I'll post a before pic and a current pic soon. We'll see.... I dunno if everyone can stomach the before pic. I can't.
So I weighed-in last night for the first time in 3 weeks or so. If you look back thru the blogs, I think the last weigh-in was 11/9. My results aren't too bad considering people usually gain during Thanksgiving
The results:
Loss of 5 pounds
Considering you should lose 1-2 pounds a week, I'm right on target. That brings me down to 277 from a starting weight of 316.
I'm still way heavier than I should be, but I'm coming right along.
I've lost a total of 39 pounds in the last 2 months or so. Not bad. I'm pretty proud of what I've accomplished.
My new measurements
So my trainer, Deb, took my measurements this morning after my workout. She compared my measurements from when I started my Mercy program to now. I really, really wish I had measured myself before I started on my own. I think the results there would be pretty amazing. These are good, though. Deb was very pleased with the results.
Oct 31 Nov 30
Chest 51.5 down to 51
Waist 52.5 down to 51.75
Hips 50 down to 48.5
Thigh 26 down to 24
Tricep 17 up to 17.75
(it's not posting the way it should, but you get the idea)
My muscles are getting bigger and everything else smaller. I'm quite happy. Maybe I'll post a before pic and a current pic soon. We'll see.... I dunno if everyone can stomach the before pic. I can't.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Monday's workout, Wednesdays' workout, Weighing tonight
Monday's workout
I'm trying to remember what I did for Monday's workout....
Probably the usual. I had gotten off of work at 8am after working overnight. Needless to say, I was tired. My trainer trained with me for a bit until she had to go teach her class.
I did some cross-trainer, treadmill, and weights, I think.
Wednesday's workout
We started with 20 minutes or so on the bike since the cross-trainers were all being used. We then went to the cross-trainer for 20 minutes. I've improved my cross-trainer time as well to under 10 minutes/mile. After that, we went to the weights and also the exercise ball for ab exercises.
I keep improving with the weights. Pretty much every time I work out, I end up lifting more weight AND doing more reps. I'm quite proud of that. I used to lift weights a lot as a kid, so it's nice to work back to that point.
After all of that, I did a 5 minute cool-down on the treadmill.
I must say I felt sick after my workout. I exert all of my energy when lifting. Each machine, I push myself to the limit to where I can't do one more rep. You build up acid in your body when you do that. It ended up making me feel rather nauseous, but it's worth it. I'm really seeing and feeling changes in myself. Others are as well.
Weighing tonight
I'll be weighing in tonight. I don't think I've weighed-in in some 2 or 3 weeks. I forget when the last was....go back thru the blog if you want to know when :-)
I'm sure I've lost some, but not a lot. I'm putting on a good amount of muscle mass, so that counts against weightloss. Plus I wasn't following my food plan to a T due to Thanksgiving and working overnights. We will see.... stay tuned for official results tomorrow! I might have my trainer measure me again tomorrow to see how many inches I've lost!
I'm trying to remember what I did for Monday's workout....
Probably the usual. I had gotten off of work at 8am after working overnight. Needless to say, I was tired. My trainer trained with me for a bit until she had to go teach her class.
I did some cross-trainer, treadmill, and weights, I think.
Wednesday's workout
We started with 20 minutes or so on the bike since the cross-trainers were all being used. We then went to the cross-trainer for 20 minutes. I've improved my cross-trainer time as well to under 10 minutes/mile. After that, we went to the weights and also the exercise ball for ab exercises.
I keep improving with the weights. Pretty much every time I work out, I end up lifting more weight AND doing more reps. I'm quite proud of that. I used to lift weights a lot as a kid, so it's nice to work back to that point.
After all of that, I did a 5 minute cool-down on the treadmill.
I must say I felt sick after my workout. I exert all of my energy when lifting. Each machine, I push myself to the limit to where I can't do one more rep. You build up acid in your body when you do that. It ended up making me feel rather nauseous, but it's worth it. I'm really seeing and feeling changes in myself. Others are as well.
Weighing tonight
I'll be weighing in tonight. I don't think I've weighed-in in some 2 or 3 weeks. I forget when the last was....go back thru the blog if you want to know when :-)
I'm sure I've lost some, but not a lot. I'm putting on a good amount of muscle mass, so that counts against weightloss. Plus I wasn't following my food plan to a T due to Thanksgiving and working overnights. We will see.... stay tuned for official results tomorrow! I might have my trainer measure me again tomorrow to see how many inches I've lost!
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Watched a video of me from just before I started losing weight....
So my roommate and I had gone to an open casting call for The Biggest Loser back in August. We got a callback interview with a casting person the next day. They requested that we make a video submission and send it to them. We made the video and sent it in.
Well, I watched that video last night for the first time in months. Man, I noticed a big difference. I still have a long way to go to reach my goal, but I'm a long way from where I had been back in August!
Well, I watched that video last night for the first time in months. Man, I noticed a big difference. I still have a long way to go to reach my goal, but I'm a long way from where I had been back in August!
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Quick blog entry about Thanksgiving.
I'm working overnight tonight and tomorrow. I'm having a hard time staying awake. I was trying to do it w/out caffeine, but it didn't work! I drank a can of Coke from the vending machine. I made a good choice, though -- a can is 12 ounces as opposed to a bottle which is 20 ounces.
So this Thanksgiving I ate very reasonably. I had a serving of sweet potatoes, a serving of green bean casserole, a serving of mashed potatoes and gravy, probably two servings of turkey, and 2 deviled eggs (well, you know, 2 halves). I had water to drink. I had a piece of pumpkin pie made with Splenda (I couldn't tell the difference between that and regular pumpkin pie). I did end up having a piece of pumpkin pie at my girlfriend's grandma's house, too. It was my first time meeting her family and I didn't want to seem rude or whatever.
In years past, I'd have eaten a lot of many more dishes. I did pretty well, I think.
I must admit, I didn't go to the gym on Friday. I slept in. :(
So this Thanksgiving I ate very reasonably. I had a serving of sweet potatoes, a serving of green bean casserole, a serving of mashed potatoes and gravy, probably two servings of turkey, and 2 deviled eggs (well, you know, 2 halves). I had water to drink. I had a piece of pumpkin pie made with Splenda (I couldn't tell the difference between that and regular pumpkin pie). I did end up having a piece of pumpkin pie at my girlfriend's grandma's house, too. It was my first time meeting her family and I didn't want to seem rude or whatever.
In years past, I'd have eaten a lot of many more dishes. I did pretty well, I think.
I must admit, I didn't go to the gym on Friday. I slept in. :(
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving. Won't blog again 'til Saturday night.
Happy Thanksgiving!
I'm off work from tomorrow (Wednesday) until I come back Saturday night at 11pm. I'm working Saturday and Sunday overnight this week. We're down a couple people on overnights and I was able to take Wednesday off in exchange for one of the days I'm working.
Working overnights is going to create some challenges as it pertains to my food. I'm going to have to try to adjust when I eat. It shouldn't be too tough. I'll just try to eat at the usual intervals; the time on the clock will be different but that should be about it hopefully.
It'll be interesting working out Monday morning after having been up all night then going to the gym at the end of my day; not sure I'll like it. Luckily it's just 2 days....
I'm off work from tomorrow (Wednesday) until I come back Saturday night at 11pm. I'm working Saturday and Sunday overnight this week. We're down a couple people on overnights and I was able to take Wednesday off in exchange for one of the days I'm working.
Working overnights is going to create some challenges as it pertains to my food. I'm going to have to try to adjust when I eat. It shouldn't be too tough. I'll just try to eat at the usual intervals; the time on the clock will be different but that should be about it hopefully.
It'll be interesting working out Monday morning after having been up all night then going to the gym at the end of my day; not sure I'll like it. Luckily it's just 2 days....
Monday, November 19, 2007
On the news this Wednesday... Busy last weekend shooting commercials...
On the news this Wednesday
So I'll be on Channel 13 news this Wednesday night at 10pm. It'll be the footage of me shopping with my nutritionist that we shot last Tuesday.
Sonya emailed me and said she watched the footage today and said I was NOTICEABLY thinner (capital letters and all! LOL)! It's nice to hear that other people are seeing it as well. I'm around my co-workers all the time and they don't really notice my weightloss probably since they're around me so much.
I can see it in my face a lot. My face looks much thinner than it was some 35 or so pounds ago.
Busy last weekend shooting commercials
So this last weekend was kinda busy.
Friday night I went to the bar for a friend's birthday party. I need to learn to drink mixed drinks and to drink them w/ diet pop. I'm a beer guy and ended up drinking beer at the party.
Saturday I met a friend for lunch before we drove to Red Rock to shoot footage for a commercial parody that will air as part of a play called 'The Dead Guy'. 'The Dead Guy' is a dark comedy about reality TV. I've read the whole script and find it funny. It's performed as though you're watching a TV show, and there are TV monitors on the stage and they play commercials on them at some points. The play runs in December at Grand View College's Viking Theatre. It's performed by friends of mine with Theater...for a Change.
Anyway, back to what I was saying.... I met up with a friend for some Chinese before we drove to Lake Red Rock. I ate pretty responsibly. I didn't drink any pop. As much as I like pop and caffeine, cutting them both out almost entirely has been easy. I think I've had pop maybe 3 times since I started this program (I'm including the month before when I started losing on my own).
Sunday we shot some more footage in the East Village downtown. We met up for a light lunch before we met up with all of the actors for the other commercial. The director and I (I was the camera jockey) went to Village Bean coffee shop. We were going to go to The Continental, but it was closed. I got a mocha and a sausage and egg pita. It was delicious and not terribly unhealthy, AND only $1.98 for the pita!
Let me just say that the East Village has some really cool shops. It's nice to see such a variety! We shot in Smash (custom t-shirt store), ZZZ Records, Kitchen Collage, and (something) Giggles. I don't remember the exact name of the last store, but it had stuff for new and expecting parents. It was a really cool shop with cool stuff! I hate to see downtown so damn dead on weekends with all of these cool shops.
So I'll be on Channel 13 news this Wednesday night at 10pm. It'll be the footage of me shopping with my nutritionist that we shot last Tuesday.
Sonya emailed me and said she watched the footage today and said I was NOTICEABLY thinner (capital letters and all! LOL)! It's nice to hear that other people are seeing it as well. I'm around my co-workers all the time and they don't really notice my weightloss probably since they're around me so much.
I can see it in my face a lot. My face looks much thinner than it was some 35 or so pounds ago.
Busy last weekend shooting commercials
So this last weekend was kinda busy.
Friday night I went to the bar for a friend's birthday party. I need to learn to drink mixed drinks and to drink them w/ diet pop. I'm a beer guy and ended up drinking beer at the party.
Saturday I met a friend for lunch before we drove to Red Rock to shoot footage for a commercial parody that will air as part of a play called 'The Dead Guy'. 'The Dead Guy' is a dark comedy about reality TV. I've read the whole script and find it funny. It's performed as though you're watching a TV show, and there are TV monitors on the stage and they play commercials on them at some points. The play runs in December at Grand View College's Viking Theatre. It's performed by friends of mine with Theater...for a Change.
Anyway, back to what I was saying.... I met up with a friend for some Chinese before we drove to Lake Red Rock. I ate pretty responsibly. I didn't drink any pop. As much as I like pop and caffeine, cutting them both out almost entirely has been easy. I think I've had pop maybe 3 times since I started this program (I'm including the month before when I started losing on my own).
Sunday we shot some more footage in the East Village downtown. We met up for a light lunch before we met up with all of the actors for the other commercial. The director and I (I was the camera jockey) went to Village Bean coffee shop. We were going to go to The Continental, but it was closed. I got a mocha and a sausage and egg pita. It was delicious and not terribly unhealthy, AND only $1.98 for the pita!
Let me just say that the East Village has some really cool shops. It's nice to see such a variety! We shot in Smash (custom t-shirt store), ZZZ Records, Kitchen Collage, and (something) Giggles. I don't remember the exact name of the last store, but it had stuff for new and expecting parents. It was a really cool shop with cool stuff! I hate to see downtown so damn dead on weekends with all of these cool shops.
Friday's workout and Today's workout....
Friday's workout....
So I got busy Friday and didn't blog.
My workout Friday was good. I did the step aerobics class for like 30 minutes or whatever, then I think I did some time on the cross-trainer and maybe even the treadmill. I don't remember for sure. But then I lifted weights as usual. This time we increased the weights and the reps by a pretty fair amount. I'm pretty sure we increased the weight on every machine and I did more reps on nearly every machine. I was pretty proud of that.
Today's workout....
Today I knocked out 30 minutes on the cross-trainer on 'Fat Burner' mode. I burned some nearly 400 calories on that. That's the longest I've done on the cross-trainer so far! From there, I went and did 10 or so minutes on the treadmill. From the treadmill I went right to the weights and increased my weights and reps on most of the machines. Some of em we'll increase next time again! I'm making big progress all around!
So I got busy Friday and didn't blog.
My workout Friday was good. I did the step aerobics class for like 30 minutes or whatever, then I think I did some time on the cross-trainer and maybe even the treadmill. I don't remember for sure. But then I lifted weights as usual. This time we increased the weights and the reps by a pretty fair amount. I'm pretty sure we increased the weight on every machine and I did more reps on nearly every machine. I was pretty proud of that.
Today's workout....
Today I knocked out 30 minutes on the cross-trainer on 'Fat Burner' mode. I burned some nearly 400 calories on that. That's the longest I've done on the cross-trainer so far! From there, I went and did 10 or so minutes on the treadmill. From the treadmill I went right to the weights and increased my weights and reps on most of the machines. Some of em we'll increase next time again! I'm making big progress all around!
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Today's workout. A new wrap...
Today's workout
I did, I think 22 minutes or so on the cross-trainer this morning (I know I did 2 miles). I did it in aerobic mode, so it had me go forward, backward, would have me vary my speed at different times, use arms more at other times, etc. It's a great workout! As per usual, I switched up and did the treadmill for a mile or so.
I then went to the weight machines and lifted and did some ab machines as well. I increased my reps on most of the machines pretty significantly (by either 5 or 10 reps!). I'll probably be increasing the amount of weight I'm lifting on those machines Friday.
A new wrap...
So when I toured Dahls yesterday with my nutritionist, she told me about these different wraps. They're called 'Flat Out'. I had seen them in the store and had heard others talking about them. They're only 90 calories and like 9 grams of fiber. They're tasty, too! I bought the Italian herb flavor. I had been eating Mission brand multigrain wraps. Those were 210 calories each and like 7 grams of fiber. I was worried these wouldn't taste as good, but they're delicious!
I did, I think 22 minutes or so on the cross-trainer this morning (I know I did 2 miles). I did it in aerobic mode, so it had me go forward, backward, would have me vary my speed at different times, use arms more at other times, etc. It's a great workout! As per usual, I switched up and did the treadmill for a mile or so.
I then went to the weight machines and lifted and did some ab machines as well. I increased my reps on most of the machines pretty significantly (by either 5 or 10 reps!). I'll probably be increasing the amount of weight I'm lifting on those machines Friday.
A new wrap...
So when I toured Dahls yesterday with my nutritionist, she told me about these different wraps. They're called 'Flat Out'. I had seen them in the store and had heard others talking about them. They're only 90 calories and like 9 grams of fiber. They're tasty, too! I bought the Italian herb flavor. I had been eating Mission brand multigrain wraps. Those were 210 calories each and like 7 grams of fiber. I was worried these wouldn't taste as good, but they're delicious!
I'm on WHO news tonight at 10:00pm.
Watch me tonight at 10:00pm on WHO news. Not sure what tonight's segment will be about other than I'll be featured.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Dahl's tour w/ my nutritionist
So my nutritionist, Amy, and I went to Dahl's today and met Trent, the WHO camera guy. Trent and Amy are both cool, so we had fun.
We did a tour of the store so Amy could show me better choices and that type of thing. We did a lot of comparing of food labels and whatnot. I think Amy is addicted to fiber, by the way! :-)
It was fun....Trent and I would joke around about stuff when he wasn't filming. For instance, Amy was showing us how much fiber was in some types of cereal (some had TONS) and I was joking around about how they're changing the name to 'Super Colon Blow'. Then we walked by the diapers and I said that thank God they're nearby because you'll need them after eating that cereal!
I learned a lot and had fun! I came in to work about 30 minutes late, so I have to stay 30 minutes late. Bummer!
We did a tour of the store so Amy could show me better choices and that type of thing. We did a lot of comparing of food labels and whatnot. I think Amy is addicted to fiber, by the way! :-)
It was fun....Trent and I would joke around about stuff when he wasn't filming. For instance, Amy was showing us how much fiber was in some types of cereal (some had TONS) and I was joking around about how they're changing the name to 'Super Colon Blow'. Then we walked by the diapers and I said that thank God they're nearby because you'll need them after eating that cereal!
I learned a lot and had fun! I came in to work about 30 minutes late, so I have to stay 30 minutes late. Bummer!
Monday, November 12, 2007
Workout this morning. Dahl's shopping w/ nutritionist tomorrow morning.
Workout this morning
My trainer, Deb, was sick this morning. She called and left instructions for my workout with Gene, the manager of the Wellness Center.
I did 20 minutes (2 miles) on the cross-trainer then did 1 mile (20 minutes) on the treadmill.
I then lifted weights for about 15-20 minutes on the various weight machines.
Dahl's Tuesday morning
So I'm meeting my nutritionist and at least a camera person from WHO at Dahl's in Johnston at 8am Tuesday morning. Amy, my nutritionist, is going to show me healthy alternatives and whatnot. Should be fun! My boss is letting me adjust my schedule a bit to do this. She's great.
Not sure when this segment will air on WHO, whether it'll be this Wednesday or next Wednesday or just when.
My trainer, Deb, was sick this morning. She called and left instructions for my workout with Gene, the manager of the Wellness Center.
I did 20 minutes (2 miles) on the cross-trainer then did 1 mile (20 minutes) on the treadmill.
I then lifted weights for about 15-20 minutes on the various weight machines.
Dahl's Tuesday morning
So I'm meeting my nutritionist and at least a camera person from WHO at Dahl's in Johnston at 8am Tuesday morning. Amy, my nutritionist, is going to show me healthy alternatives and whatnot. Should be fun! My boss is letting me adjust my schedule a bit to do this. She's great.
Not sure when this segment will air on WHO, whether it'll be this Wednesday or next Wednesday or just when.
Friday, November 9, 2007
My daily menu plan (edited to show amount of calories)
Here's an idea of my general menu for a day. The snacks vary from day to day sometimes and some of the meal accompaniments vary, but this is an idea of what I eat. I'll try to find out the general caloric intake to give you an idea of how many calories I eat a day.
EDIT: I'm eating about 1300 calories a day.
7:30 AM Breakfast (more like 6:00am if I'm going to the gym)
whole grain crackers (3-4 each) 1 starch
1-2 TB natural peanut butter 1 meat
8 ounces milk (Dannon light & fit smoothies) 1 milk
10:30 AM Snack
apple, holiday grapes (10) or banana 1 fruit
8-12 ounces milk 1-1 ½ milks
12:30 PM Lunch
whole grain wrap 1 starch
2 ounces turkey or other very lean deli meat 2 meats
raw vegetables 1 vegetable
apple, holiday grapes (10) or banana 1 fruit
3:30 PM Snack
Fiber One bar 2 starch
6:30 PM Supper
6 ounces salmon 6 meats
½ cup cottage cheese 2 meats
load up on cooked vegetables! 2 vegetables
8:30 PM Snack
almonds (18 each) 3 fats
EDIT: I'm eating about 1300 calories a day.
7:30 AM Breakfast (more like 6:00am if I'm going to the gym)
whole grain crackers (3-4 each) 1 starch
1-2 TB natural peanut butter 1 meat
8 ounces milk (Dannon light & fit smoothies) 1 milk
10:30 AM Snack
apple, holiday grapes (10) or banana 1 fruit
8-12 ounces milk 1-1 ½ milks
12:30 PM Lunch
whole grain wrap 1 starch
2 ounces turkey or other very lean deli meat 2 meats
raw vegetables 1 vegetable
apple, holiday grapes (10) or banana 1 fruit
3:30 PM Snack
Fiber One bar 2 starch
6:30 PM Supper
6 ounces salmon 6 meats
½ cup cottage cheese 2 meats
load up on cooked vegetables! 2 vegetables
8:30 PM Snack
almonds (18 each) 3 fats
Weigh-in last night and workout today
Weigh-in
So I weighed-in last night. I lost 4 pounds in the last 2 weeks. Not as much as I had hoped for, honestly, but they do say 2 pounds a week is healthy. I'm lifting more weights, so I know I'm gaining muscle as well, so that can prevent me from losing as much weight as I was originally as muscle weighs more than fat. My clothes are already fitting much more loosely, so I'm sure I'm losing inches.
I also had made some choices in the last 2 weeks that probably negatively impacted my weightloss. I drank a lot of beer at my birthday party. I got a gyro and fries at the new fast food place in Clive called Iowa Castle; wasn't worth it either because neither the fries nor the gyro were that good. I didn't get any pop when I went there, though. :) I also had popcorn and pop at the movies twice in that time. It's funny, because normally I don't eat popcorn at the movies.
I'll make some better choices this week and will continue to lose...maybe even more than 4 lbs.
Workout today
So my trainer teaches a class on Fridays. She gave me the option today to work out on my own or to go to her class. I picked her class. It was step aerobics. I guess she lets the class pick what kind of workout they want to do.
I had never done aerobics before. It was a great workout. My coordination was a bit off from time to time, but not too bad!
The people in the class were really cool. There was a guy in there (Paul, I think) who was maybe in his 50's. He was excited to have another guy in the class; apparently the last guy stopped going for one reason or another. There was a retiree in her 50's. There was another lady with a knee brace on that was maybe in her later 60's or in her 70's; she was behind me and in the other corner, so I didn't pay close attention to her age. There was another lady in her later 40's or maybe 50's. Right next to me was a girl 22 or 23 or so. We were all joking around during the class and having a good time.
We ended up doing some stuff with a bar as well. I think my bar was 18 pounds. 18 pounds isn't much, but when you've just done step aerobics and whatnot and you're doing a bunch of different things with the bar, it ends up feeling like more after a while!
We then did some ab and stretching stuff on our steps.
The class lasted 20 minutes or so.
After class, my trainer and I did the cross-trainer for 15 minutes I think it was. We went a mile or so anyway.
Straight from that, we went and did some stretching and ab work using those big exercise balls. I could really feel those ab exercises working, so it was nice. I think we did that for 10 minutes or so.
From there, we went to the treadmill for only about 6 minutes. I'd have gone longer, but I had to shower and get to work.
It was a really great workout. My trainer was like, 'You're really easy. You'll do any workout without complaining' or something along those lines.
So I weighed-in last night. I lost 4 pounds in the last 2 weeks. Not as much as I had hoped for, honestly, but they do say 2 pounds a week is healthy. I'm lifting more weights, so I know I'm gaining muscle as well, so that can prevent me from losing as much weight as I was originally as muscle weighs more than fat. My clothes are already fitting much more loosely, so I'm sure I'm losing inches.
I also had made some choices in the last 2 weeks that probably negatively impacted my weightloss. I drank a lot of beer at my birthday party. I got a gyro and fries at the new fast food place in Clive called Iowa Castle; wasn't worth it either because neither the fries nor the gyro were that good. I didn't get any pop when I went there, though. :) I also had popcorn and pop at the movies twice in that time. It's funny, because normally I don't eat popcorn at the movies.
I'll make some better choices this week and will continue to lose...maybe even more than 4 lbs.
Workout today
So my trainer teaches a class on Fridays. She gave me the option today to work out on my own or to go to her class. I picked her class. It was step aerobics. I guess she lets the class pick what kind of workout they want to do.
I had never done aerobics before. It was a great workout. My coordination was a bit off from time to time, but not too bad!
The people in the class were really cool. There was a guy in there (Paul, I think) who was maybe in his 50's. He was excited to have another guy in the class; apparently the last guy stopped going for one reason or another. There was a retiree in her 50's. There was another lady with a knee brace on that was maybe in her later 60's or in her 70's; she was behind me and in the other corner, so I didn't pay close attention to her age. There was another lady in her later 40's or maybe 50's. Right next to me was a girl 22 or 23 or so. We were all joking around during the class and having a good time.
We ended up doing some stuff with a bar as well. I think my bar was 18 pounds. 18 pounds isn't much, but when you've just done step aerobics and whatnot and you're doing a bunch of different things with the bar, it ends up feeling like more after a while!
We then did some ab and stretching stuff on our steps.
The class lasted 20 minutes or so.
After class, my trainer and I did the cross-trainer for 15 minutes I think it was. We went a mile or so anyway.
Straight from that, we went and did some stretching and ab work using those big exercise balls. I could really feel those ab exercises working, so it was nice. I think we did that for 10 minutes or so.
From there, we went to the treadmill for only about 6 minutes. I'd have gone longer, but I had to shower and get to work.
It was a really great workout. My trainer was like, 'You're really easy. You'll do any workout without complaining' or something along those lines.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Appointments this afternoon at Mercy and weigh-in
So I have two appointments at Mercy this afternoon.
I'll be meeting with my nutritionist from 4:30-5:30 then Stress Management class from 5:30-6:30.
I imagine they'll also be weighing me tonight. Tomorrow is two weeks since my program started. Last weigh-in was 286lbs (30 pounds lost on my own). I have a feeling I've lost more weight. I've been working out and eating well, and my clothes are much more loose. I've been lifting weights more as well, and muscle weighs more than fat, so it may not be quite as fast as I was losing before, but we'll see....
Stay tuned for a post tonight or tomorrow with my new weight!
I'll be meeting with my nutritionist from 4:30-5:30 then Stress Management class from 5:30-6:30.
I imagine they'll also be weighing me tonight. Tomorrow is two weeks since my program started. Last weigh-in was 286lbs (30 pounds lost on my own). I have a feeling I've lost more weight. I've been working out and eating well, and my clothes are much more loose. I've been lifting weights more as well, and muscle weighs more than fat, so it may not be quite as fast as I was losing before, but we'll see....
Stay tuned for a post tonight or tomorrow with my new weight!
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
5th Mercy Workout
We started a little differently today. Normally we start with the treadmill and do that longer than the cross-trainer, but today we did the cross-trainer first for, I think, 20 minutes. We then switched it up and went to the treadmill for 15. After that was weights, abs, and stretching.
I missed my morning snack. I got to work then had to come to my desk and grab my laptop then walk to another building for a meeting. Normally I'm 15-30 minutes early for work, but was only 10 early today (I tend to feel like if I'm on time I'm late -- for everything). I forgot to grab an apple from my desk to take with me because I was in a hurry. I sat thru the meeting hungry. I got back to my desk and waited for about an hour before I took lunch. I was feeling a bit light-headed. I feel better now, though. I am really tired, though, but that's just because I was up til midnight on the phone and got up at 6am. I should be back on track for the rest of the day.
I missed my morning snack. I got to work then had to come to my desk and grab my laptop then walk to another building for a meeting. Normally I'm 15-30 minutes early for work, but was only 10 early today (I tend to feel like if I'm on time I'm late -- for everything). I forgot to grab an apple from my desk to take with me because I was in a hurry. I sat thru the meeting hungry. I got back to my desk and waited for about an hour before I took lunch. I was feeling a bit light-headed. I feel better now, though. I am really tired, though, but that's just because I was up til midnight on the phone and got up at 6am. I should be back on track for the rest of the day.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Workout this morning at 24/7 Xpress
So I decided to throw in an extra workout this week. I wanted to do 5 mornings this week, but I have to come in to work early on Thursday so that I can make my stress management class at Mercy Capital on Thursday evening and my appointment with my nutritionist as well. I'd have to get up WAY too early to go workout.
So my workout this morning was at 24/7 Xpress right by my house. It'll be nice this winter if the weather gets bad, I can still go there and work out since it's a couple blocks away. No excuses!
I did the treadmill today for 20 minutes on an inclice level of 3 and a speed of 3.3 or so. Then I switched up and did the cross-trainer for 10 minutes then went back to the treadmill for another 20 minutes all with no break between. I must say I HATE the motion of their cross-trainer compared to Mercy's; my arches hurt so bad when I was done.
I was sweating so much this morning! Went right out into that cold air for the quick drive home and thought my sweat was going to freeze!
My muscles from yesterday's workout are feeling stronger. Such a great feeling; I want to get back to where I was strength-wise when I was in high school.
So my workout this morning was at 24/7 Xpress right by my house. It'll be nice this winter if the weather gets bad, I can still go there and work out since it's a couple blocks away. No excuses!
I did the treadmill today for 20 minutes on an inclice level of 3 and a speed of 3.3 or so. Then I switched up and did the cross-trainer for 10 minutes then went back to the treadmill for another 20 minutes all with no break between. I must say I HATE the motion of their cross-trainer compared to Mercy's; my arches hurt so bad when I was done.
I was sweating so much this morning! Went right out into that cold air for the quick drive home and thought my sweat was going to freeze!
My muscles from yesterday's workout are feeling stronger. Such a great feeling; I want to get back to where I was strength-wise when I was in high school.
Monday, November 5, 2007
4th Workout. Made some new food last night....
Workout....
Well, I worked out today at Mercy for the fourth time.
Today I did about 20 minutes on the treadmill at around 3.4mph with an incline level of 4. I then went to the cross-trainer right after that and did, I think, 15 or so minutes on a varied workout (it would have you change your speed, have you use your arms more than your legs at some points, have you go in reverse, etc etc).
Right from that, I went to the weights for the remainder of my hour. We (my trainer Deb and I) did some new machines we hadn't yet used as well as the ones I had been using. We did some ab machines and some more leg machines.
From there, we did some ab exercises on one of those exercise balls. I was worried I'd pop the sucker! Anyway, we also did some push-ups using it.
From there we did some stretches to end the morning.
Man, this was my best workout yet! I was definitely feeling it when I was done! It felt great!
New food....
So I made hummus last night. I've had it before and liked it, but it can be a bit expensive at the grocery store, so I decided to try making my own. The stuff in the store comes in a little tub; can't be more than about 3 ounces but costs over $3.00.
I got a food processor for my birthday from my mom, so I enlisted its help. It was really simple to make...
First off, I never follow recipes, I just use them as guidelines then improvise.
I had no idea how many chick peas (garbanzo beans) to buy, so I bought two 16 ounce bags of dried beans. I boiled them for two minutes and soaked them for an hour. I didn't realize how big they'd get! I should've done 1 bag at a time! I also bought two heads of garlic and a lemon. I already had the olive oil at home as well as the kosher salt. So the lemon, 2 heads of garlic, and the 2 pounds of beans came to just over $3.00! MUCH more economical to make your own!
I roasted the 2 heads of garlic then threw them in the food processor along with some of the chick peas. I processed that together, added some kosher salt and some lemon juice and as it came together I drizzled in olive oil. I didn't want to add a ton of oil, so I spooned in the water that I boiled the beans in to thin it out. That helped a lot. I made it in batches and used most of the beans. I ended up with a huge bowl of hummus! Oops! Next time I'll know to buy 1 bag!
It turned out pretty tasty!
Well, I worked out today at Mercy for the fourth time.
Today I did about 20 minutes on the treadmill at around 3.4mph with an incline level of 4. I then went to the cross-trainer right after that and did, I think, 15 or so minutes on a varied workout (it would have you change your speed, have you use your arms more than your legs at some points, have you go in reverse, etc etc).
Right from that, I went to the weights for the remainder of my hour. We (my trainer Deb and I) did some new machines we hadn't yet used as well as the ones I had been using. We did some ab machines and some more leg machines.
From there, we did some ab exercises on one of those exercise balls. I was worried I'd pop the sucker! Anyway, we also did some push-ups using it.
From there we did some stretches to end the morning.
Man, this was my best workout yet! I was definitely feeling it when I was done! It felt great!
New food....
So I made hummus last night. I've had it before and liked it, but it can be a bit expensive at the grocery store, so I decided to try making my own. The stuff in the store comes in a little tub; can't be more than about 3 ounces but costs over $3.00.
I got a food processor for my birthday from my mom, so I enlisted its help. It was really simple to make...
First off, I never follow recipes, I just use them as guidelines then improvise.
I had no idea how many chick peas (garbanzo beans) to buy, so I bought two 16 ounce bags of dried beans. I boiled them for two minutes and soaked them for an hour. I didn't realize how big they'd get! I should've done 1 bag at a time! I also bought two heads of garlic and a lemon. I already had the olive oil at home as well as the kosher salt. So the lemon, 2 heads of garlic, and the 2 pounds of beans came to just over $3.00! MUCH more economical to make your own!
I roasted the 2 heads of garlic then threw them in the food processor along with some of the chick peas. I processed that together, added some kosher salt and some lemon juice and as it came together I drizzled in olive oil. I didn't want to add a ton of oil, so I spooned in the water that I boiled the beans in to thin it out. That helped a lot. I made it in batches and used most of the beans. I ended up with a huge bowl of hummus! Oops! Next time I'll know to buy 1 bag!
It turned out pretty tasty!
Friday, November 2, 2007
My 3rd Mercy workout. Meeting w/ nutritionist next week.
So I went to Mercy today for my 3rd workout.
I did about 25 minutes on the treadmill at about 3.5mph with an incline setting of 4 for most of the time. I then switched up without a break and did the cross-trainer for 7 minutes at between 5-6mph. Both the treadmill and the cross-trainer are improvements over Wednesday's speeds and incline. The cross-trainer is an awesome workout; it's low-impact and you really feel it. It's easier to go faster on it than it is on the treadmill, yet it seems like a much better workout. I hope to increase my stamina on it (I haven't gone long enough on it yet to run out of steam, mind you).
After the cardio, I lifted weights for 20 minutes or so going from leg press to bicep curl to a rowing thing (not the technical term haha), to lat pull, to shoulder press, to chest press (I think I might've forgotten a machine or two in there). I improved on a few of the machines over Wednesday's workout with weight and reps.
I just realized I forgot to stretch today at the end of my workout.
My trainer, Deb, leads a workout class on Friday mornings at 7am for 30 minutes, I think. I need to find out what the class is and probably attend. I can do that for 30 mins then maybe hit the weight machines.
I feel great today, a little sore, but not bad at all - I just feel like I got in a good workout. I'm thinking of going to 24/7 Xpress on Tuesdays and Thursdays and walking for an hour before work so I get in 5 days a week. I'd also really like to get in some more weight training.
I got to work then we had to move to a different office down the hall, so I ended up getting sweaty for the second time in the morning. I had to unhook and move my computer and my belongings then hook it all back up, so I had to get down under the desks. I hate that....right after I shower I have to get sweaty again. Oh well, I kinda like the new desk; I think I have like 30% more desk space. :) I'll miss you, cave!
So next Thursday night (11/8) I'm going to Mercy Capital to the weightloss clinic to meet with my nutritionist, Amy Clark. We're going to do some meal planning. The following week we're going to try to make it to Dahl's in Johnston on a weekday morning before work with the camera crew to do some grocery shopping.
Also on 11/8, I'm going to a stress-management class at Mercy Capital w/ Peggy. :)
Stay tuned, kids.
By the way, every Wednesday night on the 1oPM news they'll be featuring one of the four of us. It kinda depends who has a particularly good or maybe bad week for who they choose to feature.
Anybody see me this last Wednesday on the news? I kept my shirt on this time! I promise to do so every time until I get down to my goal weight. Heck, I don't even like to look at myself w/out a shirt let alone others have to see me!
I did about 25 minutes on the treadmill at about 3.5mph with an incline setting of 4 for most of the time. I then switched up without a break and did the cross-trainer for 7 minutes at between 5-6mph. Both the treadmill and the cross-trainer are improvements over Wednesday's speeds and incline. The cross-trainer is an awesome workout; it's low-impact and you really feel it. It's easier to go faster on it than it is on the treadmill, yet it seems like a much better workout. I hope to increase my stamina on it (I haven't gone long enough on it yet to run out of steam, mind you).
After the cardio, I lifted weights for 20 minutes or so going from leg press to bicep curl to a rowing thing (not the technical term haha), to lat pull, to shoulder press, to chest press (I think I might've forgotten a machine or two in there). I improved on a few of the machines over Wednesday's workout with weight and reps.
I just realized I forgot to stretch today at the end of my workout.
My trainer, Deb, leads a workout class on Friday mornings at 7am for 30 minutes, I think. I need to find out what the class is and probably attend. I can do that for 30 mins then maybe hit the weight machines.
I feel great today, a little sore, but not bad at all - I just feel like I got in a good workout. I'm thinking of going to 24/7 Xpress on Tuesdays and Thursdays and walking for an hour before work so I get in 5 days a week. I'd also really like to get in some more weight training.
I got to work then we had to move to a different office down the hall, so I ended up getting sweaty for the second time in the morning. I had to unhook and move my computer and my belongings then hook it all back up, so I had to get down under the desks. I hate that....right after I shower I have to get sweaty again. Oh well, I kinda like the new desk; I think I have like 30% more desk space. :) I'll miss you, cave!
So next Thursday night (11/8) I'm going to Mercy Capital to the weightloss clinic to meet with my nutritionist, Amy Clark. We're going to do some meal planning. The following week we're going to try to make it to Dahl's in Johnston on a weekday morning before work with the camera crew to do some grocery shopping.
Also on 11/8, I'm going to a stress-management class at Mercy Capital w/ Peggy. :)
Stay tuned, kids.
By the way, every Wednesday night on the 1oPM news they'll be featuring one of the four of us. It kinda depends who has a particularly good or maybe bad week for who they choose to feature.
Anybody see me this last Wednesday on the news? I kept my shirt on this time! I promise to do so every time until I get down to my goal weight. Heck, I don't even like to look at myself w/out a shirt let alone others have to see me!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Update to the new blog......
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. :-)
So fasten your seatbelts....we're not going anywhere. :-)
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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