Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Home Away From Home

I am on vacation this week. I didn't pack my scales with me since I wasn't sure if it was on the TSA approved list for carry on. I will post my current stats next week.

We will head back tomorrow. We have had a great trip. I thought that I would have to fend for myself on the meals here at my daughters, but Rachel and Sarah came up with a great menu for the entire time! Vegetables, whole grains, fruit, healthy fats and proteins! It has been wonderful!!!! I don't know how I could have tailor made a better solution myself. Everyone has really enjoyed the healthy meals as well. I will have a whole new set of recipes in my arsenal when I get through. Thanks Sarah and Rachel! i can't thank you both enough!

I have exercised every day that I normally would, plus we have been active most days sight seeing and hiking. It has been a lot of fun. I have had fun running around with my grandsons as well!! There is no way I could have done even half of this a year ago. The biggest challenge has been dealing with the humidity! Yesterday when I finished up my run, I was stretching when my son-in-law came up and asked if I had got caught in the rain. Nope just 110% humidity!

Just some encouragement to us all. Even when you are away from home on vacation, work or whatever the reason, if you will think things out before you go, you can have a great time and still keep up your fitness goals. You will feel better while you are gone and have no regrets when you get back! Hang in there and I will too!

Monday, June 21, 2010

Celebrate successes

Weekly Stats
Current: 198.4
Weekly Loss: 0.2
To Go: 23.4
Total 126.6

I'm a little disappointed in the loss this week. Last Wednesday, when I weighed in, I was at 195 so I thought this week would be a decent. Wednesday for some reason is my lowest weigh-in day so it isn't unusual to go back up just a bit. Just not this much! Having expressed my minor disappointment, brings me to me topic of the week: Celebrate successes!

I have a few things to celebrate this week. I took the scouts in our troop out on an overnighter. We had fun, worked on advancements and had a great campfire! The scouts surprised me when I only had to ask them once at 6am to get up to go on a hike. They got the camp broke down, we had breakfast and then headed to Stewart Falls. None of them had been there before. I really enjoyed the hike. I couldn't believe how much easier it was for me and it was fun to see the boys see the falls for the first time. It was indeed a celebration for me! I was able to come home after dropping the scouts off and spent the rest of the day working in the yard. That would have been impossible a year ago. Hiking to Stewart Falls would have taken it all out of me, but I had plenty left in the tank after this hike! Another success to celebrate. This morning was another celebration as I ran my fasted Monday run of the year and felt great most of the way. I have been training to get a bit faster and it paid off! Yet another celebration! Yesterday, one of my daughters in her Father's Day card said how proud she was of me that I had lost all of that weight. She is one that I want to inspire. She is working on eating better all the time! A huge success to celebrate! I rewarded myself last week by signing up for the Freedom Festival 10K. In the past this would have been a punishment, but I am really looking forward to running in my first race in many years and my longest race ever! Hope to see some of you either running one of the races or along the parade route.

Shout outs to all those who ran Ragnar/Wasatch Back this weekend. What an impressive run. Bill and Andy's team three-peated their division this year and came in 7th overall. Matt N., Todd and Ellie A, Leslie and Roger K also ran. Great job to you all! Maybe one day for me too! Thanks for all the support you all give me! Keep up the great work everyone. Hang in there and I will too!

Monday, June 14, 2010

Get Real

Weekly Stats
Current: 198.6
Weekly Loss: -0.4
To Go: 23.6
Total 126.4

Had a small gain this week. I think I know what the problem is and more importantly how to fix it. I have been struggling with keeping track of my calorie intake. I found a program called Calorie Counter for my phone and it syncs up online. Just from breakfast this morning, I found out that I was eating too much of a good thing! By just measuring what I ate and tracking the calories, I figured I saved myself about 200 calories. I was way off in estimating this particular breakfast! That adds up quick even if you do exercise a lot. I will let you know (or you will see in next weeks weight loss) how it goes. Other than that, I had a great week. My back, though still a bit tender, is doing a lot better. I am careful in how I run and make sure I stretch the particular muscles that are giving me grief and that helps a lot. I had a great trail run on Friday and a great hike on Saturday. I took my trekking poles with me on Friday to give my back a break. I thought I wouldn't like having them, but it made the run fun! It was like a combination of skiing and running. My back felt good after as well. My hike on Saturday, was a 10 miler and I enjoyed it as well. I missed out getting wet in the rain as my timing was perfect in between storms.

One point of motivation is being realistic. Today's weigh-in has a couple of reality checks in it. Even though we may want to lose 10 lbs a month or run a half-marathon or what ever motivates you, there are going to be stretches when it is hard to stay on course. You might get sick and not able to work out as much as you would like. Perhaps you hit a plateau and are not on track to lose that 2 lbs you had hoped for this week. These things are going to happen. The biggest obstacle to overcome is discouragement. Hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst! Don't fall back into to bad habits because you are discouraged, fight through the obstacle and find a way up, over, around or through! Forward is the direction that you want to be headed. Choose feeling better, being more healthy. Take a deep breath and look back over the ground you've covered up to this point. I have learned that from my hiking. I will be tired from a long, steep climb, but if I take half a second and look back, I will be amazed at how far I have come! Catch your breath and move on. You can do it!

Keep up the great work everyone. Phil keeps pushing his exercise and eating right and is seeing great success in losing weight. Bill H and Todd A ran some great mileage this last week. Todd also had a great race! Hope the rest of you are having great success as well! Hang in there and I will too!

Monday, June 7, 2010

Sugar Roller Coaster

Weekly Stats
Current: 198.2
Weekly Loss: 1.2
To Go: 23.2
Total 126.8

I was happy to see a weight loss again this morning. I worked really hard this week, but the scale was all over the place. I am dealing with a slight injury as well. Usually when I have back problems, it is my lower back, but this time it's my upper back right around the shoulder blade areas. If I don't concentrate on my posture when I run, it gets really sore by the time I am done, especially on a longer run. My daughter who is a massage therapist said that the muscles up there are quite tight. She showed me a few stretches I can do and an exercise that will help. She also gets a much awaited chance to work her old man over tonight! I'll try to remember to let you now how that goes.

I thought I would briefly talk about a principle that I believe is crucial in weight loss. I have mentioned this several times before but it bares repeating. Last October I was on a very restricted calorie diet. Maybe not the best way to approach weight loss, but it was better than gastric bypass in my opinion. Why? I was eating small portions of healthy food. No refined sugars at all. The first week was a killer as I felt those sugar cravings appear as "almost" headaches. The brain was used to getting the instant hit of sugar and it wanted more. For me it was like coming off a drug addiction! This may sound extreme, but I really believe that there is some addictive quality to sugar. I am no expert in the field, but from the amateur research that I have done, I have read how after you eat sugar, it hits the blood stream. The body needs to compensate for it by releasing insulin. In a relatively short period of time, your blood sugar level goes down and before long, you need another hit to get your blood sugar level up. The brain itself, as an organ, runs off this and when the blood sugar gets low, it lets you know it. The fix is simple, but the first week or so is hard. Limit simple sugars as much as you can! It will make all the difference in the world once you get past the initial craving. Does this mean no sweets at all? No way! Just get them as nature provides them. Fruits are great! The contain fiber and nutrition that you need. It takes the body a bit to break them down and so the release into your blood stream is at a more manageable rate. White bread and pasta has had a lot of fiber refined out of them as well and so they can have a similar effect on blood sugar as well. That is one reason that whole grains are so much better for you. That extra fiber and bran also contains important nutrients as well as slowing the digestive process. Get off sugar for two weeks and you will notice a big difference! It will cut your craving down a lot! Your chances for weight loss have increased dramatically as well!

Keep up the great work everyone. Bill H still amazes me with his running abilities! Todd A keeps making great progress coming off an injury. Phil gets the Mr. Persistence award for hanging in there. Nan gets a nod for her great support of Phil! Lisa H. 5K!!!! Great job. Jean W. - Wow a 5K for you too! Thanks to the rest of you for your constant support, encouragement and inspiration! Hang in there and I will too!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Back to the Future

Weekly Stats
Current: 199.4
Weekly Loss: 3.6
To Go: 24.4
Total 125.6

I gave a sneak preview last week on FB about my being below 200 lbs. I have reached the point where my weight bounces around a lot so I would have been happy just to have stayed at that point. That's what happened! I did see 198 on one weigh in, but I often bottom out mid-week so I wasn't sure how things would come in. After last week's mini-gain this was good news!

Sorry about not posting yesterday. We were gone for the holiday weekend and for some reason forgot to take my scale with me for the Monday morning weigh-in. :) Things went well. I planned in advance and took both the right food and my exercise gear so I was good to go. I was able to get a good hike in on Saturday and a run in yesterday! Both went well and I had fun.

Last week, I posted several things that have helped me lose weight and get fit in the process. I would like to focus in on one of the most important ones: Forget the past and forgiving yourself. Thinking about this, I think I would modify this to Remember the past and forgive yourself. The past is filled with both regrets and accomplishments. The past can help motivate us in both areas. I was not happy where my past actions had gotten me to the point where I was in such dire straits. I was 325 lbs (I actually had been 330 at one point!), I was ducking out on things I normally like to do, because it was too hard for me physically. I was unable to do several things that used to be easy. I felt physically terrible a lot of the times and would use food to help me feel better (short term fix, long term consequences).

On the other hand, I had had many fun and rewarding experiences in the past when I was in good shape (and not so good shape!). I have hiked many great areas in this beautiful state of ours and have many lasting memories hiking with friends and family. It has been a great sense of motivation to be able to have more of these experiences and it has already happened. Scott and Gordon have contributed to those growing good memories! And now the scouts and Corey are adding to them as well. I want this to continue for a good long time. I am also adding to my pile of good memories of finding that I am able to do far more than I ever thought I could in the last year. I actually am enjoying trail running along with the regular road runs. I didn't know the journey could be so great!

One more use of remembering the past is what I still need to do. I am going to create a little poster that says "Choose this, not that!" (You've probably seen the book), and put a before and after picture of me and put it up in several strategic places, (like the fridge), to remind me of how I used to feel and how I now feel. I could have done this with two pictures in the past using both good and bad to help motivate me as well, but now I am getting close, I really do want to stay here!

This brings me to forgiving yourself. What has happened has happened. No sense beating yourself up. Find a way to let it out. If you can talk to someone, tell them. If you like to write, pour your heart out in a letter to yourself. Let out those negative feelings quit talking negative to yourself. You wouldn't talk the way to someone who needs your help the way you talk to yourself. Help yourself and tell yourself you can do it. Acknowledge the help you need beyond yourself. I found prayer worked miracles for me. The weight wasn't magically taken off, I had to work hard, but I found ways to accomplish what I wanted to do and needed support in hard times though prayer. Talking to Barbara about what I was going through helped a lot too.

Thanks for all the great motivating support on Facebook and DailyMile. Both have been really helpful to me. Shout outs to Todd A who continues to improve after an injury slowed him down. Bill H. didn't let a sore knee slow him down. Phil continues to crank in the workouts and dropping pounds! Way to go Phil! Gordon has kept the weight off in spite of a difficult change in his work schedule. Keep it up bro! Andy J. - thanks for all the great advice! Hang in there and I will too!