Monday, March 29, 2010

Triple Play

Weekly Stats
Current: 212.6
Weekly Loss: 3.2
To Go: 37.6
Total 112.4

Another great week! I was able to pass the three milestones I referred to last week. First, I got another 10 lbs star! I passed from the BMI obese category to overweight! And lastly I am 75% to my weight-loss goal! Yippee!!!!!!

I am really happy with my workout this week as well. This mornings run I went just a bit further and was able to job the 5.3 miles without walking (except for warm-up and cool-down) and I jogged about .2 miles an hour quicker. I also enjoyed my Saturday hike putting in another 14.17 miles. Here are the details if you are interested.

Thanks for all the support! Sarah and Rachel posted another great run this weekend and are both on track for the half marathon in about a month. Great job to both of you! Bill continues to put in his killer miles! He is amazing! Great job to the rest of you and your work-out efforts. Hang in there and I will too!

Monday, March 22, 2010

Makeup Day

Weekly Stats
Current: 215.8
Weekly Loss: 4.6
To Go: 40.8
Total 109.2

This week was a payback week for last week's no loss report. I was afraid that I might be hitting a plateau (and who knows when that might happen). But much to my surprise when I got on the scales this morning, I saw a number which made me do a little fist pump! I am getting close to several milestones. At 215, I get another 10 lbs star. At 214, I drop from the obese classification to over-weight on the BMI charts (BMI is a bit controversial) and at 213, I will be at 75% of my weight loss goal of 175! These are all good and should happen in the next few weeks.

I also had a great workout week. I really enjoyed using my Garmin to chart my progress this week. I did my usual 5+ mile outings last Monday and Wednesday. On Saturday, I was planning on doing 12 miles, but by the time I got home, I had walked 14.2 miles! I was a bit tired, but I wasn't dead tired so that was great! My friend from work, Scott, joined in for 7.25 miles and he was surprised by his progress as well. We did Dry Canyon up to the snow at the Curly Springs trail and then headed back down and hiked from the Bonneville Shoreline trail from Dry Canyon over to Battle Creek. This is where we put in more miles than we expected, but it was a fun trail and we got in a great workout as well. After we got back to Dry Canyon, he headed home and I hiked over to Orem and back home.

Great job Sarah, Mike and Rachel for putting in the miles this last week. I told Sarah that I would complete at least 13.1 miles before they did their half-marathon on May 1st. I ended up accomplishing that a little earlier than I thought! Kudos to the rest of you who are keeping at it. Hang in there and I will too!

Monday, March 15, 2010

Even Steven

Weekly Stats Current: 220.4
Weekly Loss: 0
To Go: 45.4
Total 104.6

It's been since mid November since I haven't reported a loss. I guess I was due for a week like this. I am not as discouraged as I was a couple of weeks ago because I had some great success in the workout area. I was also down 2.2 lbs mid-week, but things came back up for some reason. I think I will see a good loss next week.

Why am I so happy about the workouts? I had several great ones. Thanks to Rachel's comment on the blog last week, I looked into getting a gps tracker. It didn't take long to find that people love the Garmin ForeRunner 305. It isn't the latest model, but it still gets great reviews. After using it for a few workouts I can see why. It has been great to see how far I have gone and to also keep track of my heart rate, speed, elevation and lots of other stuff.

Saturday, Scott, from work, and I went up Dry Canyon as far as we could. I took off from my house and found out that it is three miles from the front door to the mouth of the canyon. Scott met me there and we headed up the canyon. We didn't run into much snow until we hit the Curly Springs trail. Since the visible snow level on Baldy is above the trail, I thought that the trail might be good, but much to our surprise the trail still had at least a couple of feet of snow. We hiked along the trail on top of the snow. Much to our surprise, we didn't break through the snow much due to being considerably lighter. We were going to go all the way across to the Battle Creek lookout, but it was quite slow going so we decided to try again after a couple of weeks warmer weather. We headed back down and it was actually pretty fun walking down the snow trail letting our heels sink in just a bit in the snow. We got down quite quickly. We were both amazed at how much easier it was to hike. I probably could have made it to the Curly Springs trail without stopping, but we stopped a few times just for fun on the way up. I am probably 80 lbs lighter than I was when we last went up.

I told Scott goodbye at the parking lot and then I headed south on the Bonneville Shoreline trail over to the water tower road. I wanted to get in a few more miles, so I headed up the road. Once on top where it flattens out, the road got really muddy. I had a choice to go back down the road, but then I saw Timpanogos Park down below and several bike trails leading down so I headed down there and navigated down to the park and then headed down the Provo River Trail and back home. By the time I was done, I had put in eleven miles. Even though it started raining, I was plenty warm and just happy that I could put in the miles that I wanted to.

This morning, I took my usual Riverwoods loop and I was able to jog most of the way. Looking at my heart rate from last Friday's workout, I could see that I was maxing myself out, so today, I concentrated on slowing it down a little and it helped me to jog longer. As I drop more weight and I get used to the extra jogging time, the speed will come naturally. I went 5.4 miles and was quite happy with the outcome.

A shout out to Rachel, who last week reached her marriage weight after 2 1/2 years of working towards it. WOW!!!!! Great job!!!!!! Bill continues to impress me with his mileage week after week! Keep up the great work everyone! Hang in there and I will too!

Monday, March 8, 2010

Doubling back.

Weekly Stats
Current: 220.4
Weekly Loss: 3.6
To Go: 45.4
Total 104.6

I had a good week this week. I was happy with all of my workouts and I had another good loss this week. I am worried about next weeks weigh in, but I will continue to work hard.

It has turned out well to mix in some jogging with my weekday walks. It has stepped up the intensity in a good way and is helping me get in better shape. Also the weight training has been good as well. The DVD's helped me build up to be able to do both the long walks and also the weights. I usually have enough time after I lift to get on the elliptical as well.

Saturday's walk ended up being between 10 1/2 and 11 miles. I got a little extra mileage in because I dropped my pedometer without realizing it. I was in a bit of a panic because I like to track my progress and the pedometer has been one way of doing it. I debated whether I should double back or try looking for it after I got home and trace my steps. Something told me to go back. I try not to ignore those feelings so I went back. After a quick prayer and scanning both the road and sidewalks, I found it in the middle of a side street that fed into a busy street. I was glad I listened because there was a good chance it would have been in pieces if I had waited to find it later. The Lord helps us in even the small things if we will do our part.

Hope you all have a great week! Special shout outs to Martha who continues to make good progress on her weight loss. Sarah, Mike and Rachel have been training and doing well in spite of the cold weather. Kudos to all of you who are continuing to work out and eat right as well. Hang in there and I will too!

Monday, March 1, 2010

100 reasons to be happy!

Weekly Stats
Current: 224.0
Weekly Loss: 4.6
To Go: 49.0
Total 101.0

As much as last week was discouraging, this week was great!!!!!! I have been looking forward to this milestone for quite a while now! 101 lbs baby! I have lots to celebrate this week. Losing 4.6 for the week is great. I also made my monthly goal by losing 10.8 lbs. Plus I got another 10 lbs star!!! Excellent!!! And the exciting thing is, I am looking forward to losing this last 50 lbs! I am not dreading the exercise, the diet and all the other hard work that goes into losing weight. I really want to do this! I actually want to live this way from here on out! Eating healthy and keeping in shape!

Saturday was a great workout day for me in a couple of ways. I ended up hiking somewhere between 9.5 and 10 miles! I felt great as well. I had an interesting experience as I was heading back down the canyon. I had two runners pass by me quite slowly. One of them was quite heavy, but he was keeping a steady pace. I decided to catch up to them and give him some encouragement as I knew what a struggle he must be having. I told him that I had lost close to a 100 lbs and how much better I felt. I encouraged him to keep up the good work and not give up. He told me that he had lost 50 lbs in a month and was training for a marathon in June!!! I ended up being encouraged by him probably more than he was by me! I didn't ask his name, but I was really impressed that he had the determination to train. Another benefit I got from catching up and talking to him was I had to go at a slow jog to do it. I had already gone about 8 miles by this time and it didn't hurt to do it and I was able to keep up a conversation. It helped me with a change of pace this morning. I decided to see how I would do at a nice slow jog. I ended up jogging about two blocks and then walking for one the whole way. I did that for the whole 5 miles and I felt pretty decent when I got home! I think I have found a way to push myself a little bit harder during the time I have to workout and help me reach my goals!

Congrats to all of you who are working hard! Hang in there and I will too!