Forty Pounds (A Success Story)

note: this particular post will be far less self-deprecating than you or I may be normally accustomed to.  this will have the additional effect of this entry being far less humorous and perhaps even overly self-indulgent.  fair warning.  sorry.  

I started this interwebular log in February... frustrated and embarrassed by how out-of-shape I had become.  The hope was to use this as a public forum for embarrassment, motivation, humor (and no small amount of surreptitious self-promotion), and accountability.  I had weighed myself at our not-oft used health club, and it was somewhere in the mid 240's.  That's a lot.  My first "official" weigh-in (on my scale, for continuity) was 239.6 lbs on February 22nd.

The goal was to "get healthy".  Eat healthier, work out regularly, begin running, etc.  I didn't have a hard and fast weight number I was shooting for, but I thought that somewhere in the 200's (ie below 210) would be a good target... and was honestly really hoping to crack that 200 number and get back in "the 1's", but I didn't know if that was realistic.

Well... I'm 23 weeks into this thing, and I did it.  Today's "Fat Friday" weigh-in was...

198.8 lbs

I've been checking this scale for six months... finally got that first digit down to a "1"

199!  I feel pretty good about that.  Officially, more than 40 pounds lost.  Unofficially, probably closer to 45 pounds.  I mean, if you walk into a weight room and pick up a 45 lbs plate... and think that's how much weight used to be a part of me... and now just doesn't exist.  It's almost a bit strange.

I've greatly reduced my gravitational pull over the last 6 months.  And I accomplished it with better eating and hard work... losing a healthy and gradual amount of weight... about 1% of my body weight per week (that's what's advised as "healthy" anyway).  45 pounds over 23 weeks.  Yahoo.

This doesn't mean I'm done.  I still have some weight to lose.  Getting into the 180's is not out of the question.  But, my focus will shift slightly.  I can move from "Phase 1" to "Phase 2"... which will focus on keeping the weight off during the busy beginnings of a new school year, and then maybe a bit more redistribution (socialism!) of the weight I'm currently carrying.

Regarding the redistribution, I've obviously reduced mass from my gut, face, neck, etc... you know, places you *want* to lose weight.  But since most of my efforts have been cycling and running, I've also lost relatively substantial mass from my upper body, and arms specifically.  I didn't have much muscle mass there to begin with, but at this point I'm getting closer to becoming a real-life example of one of those stick people that you draw with an oval and twig arms.

I don't have too many goals at this point in regards to strength... but it would be nice, for instance, to be able to do more than 4 consecutive granny push-ups.  We'll see.

Anyway, despite this being a space where I normally embarrass myself (see previous sentence), I am actually feeling relatively proud and accomplished today.  I hit a goal that I hadn't even fully made because I wasn't even sure if it was realistic.  It's been a pretty drastic change in lifestyle and I'm hoping it becomes a pretty drastic change in appearance & overall health as well.

Hopefully I can keep the trend continuing in that direction.  I'm excited to see where this ends up...

In Your Face, August!

I'm competitive.  Sometimes irrationally and obnoxiously competitive.

Last week, during a game of Risk with Kelly and our two Chinese exchange students, I convinced one of the students (who doesn't excel at English, and trusts me implicitly) to attack my wife's armies in Indonesia (he had gathered armies in... of course... China), so that I could thrive in temporal peace in South America, and expand northward.  In two turns, Kelly had lost her Australian stronghold, our two exchange students were consistently thinning each other out in Africa and Europe and I had the Americas irrevocably fortified.  It might have been the easiest Risk win I've ever had.

See what I mean?  obnoxious.

But to give you a glimpse of the "irrational" side... today I felt competitive with the month of August.  Yup.  I'm a shade away from attempting to duel with the time-space continuum.  Anyway, I began July with a 10k on the first of the month (that might not be my last Bone Thugs 'n Harmony reference of this post... I just watched that video in its entirety... really took me back to 7th grade basketball camp.  We abused that disc (tape?) at 7th grade basketball camp).

Anyway, I felt like a 10k to start the month set the tone in a good way for a productive month for me.  So, I decided to do the same with August.  How this got competitive is really a mystery.  But at some point I began to feel like August was an entity I was somehow trying to beat, and vice-versa.  First, I rode my bike to REI... a good 20 miler... don't worry, August, that's just a warm up.  Then... time for the main event.

When I started my run the heat index was still pushing 100 degrees.  That's all ya got, August?  July was over 110 and I just dominated that month... burning-fat-wise.  Oh, what's that August?  You're throwing an "Air Quality Alert" at me?  Pffff... bring it.  I literally eat carcinogens for breakfast.  (probably?)

I hit "dismiss" ... because this is Amuricka.  Do you think Rocky would have needed "more info" about an air quality alert?  Worrying about our air quality means the communists have already won...

Anyway, other than perhaps having some sort of serious interpersonal disorder, the gory details of the run itself aren't that interesting.  I ran about a 9-minute pace for 10k... and felt pretty good afterward... as if I could have run further or faster (note: not both).

Here is the run... with nerdy details (clicking on it will take you to garmin's website):



One item of note, and perhaps a point for August... and certainly a slice of humble pie for me are my mile splits:

yikes!

As I said to my fried Jeff later, "Hm.  It didn't FEEL like I was consistently slowing down." I actually felt like I had hit a Forrest Gump-esque sweet spot, and could keep that rhythm going for a while.  And yet, the data say* otherwise.  This dampened the good feeling and sense of accomplishment after the run to a certain degree.  But, as my lovely absentee wife would be quick to remind you... I probably need a dose of that here and there.

Also, I'm not very good at pacing.  But in my defense, I do have a pseudo-uphill finish (but not for the final 5 miles of this 6 mile run).

Also also, speaking of humble pie... yes, I do, in fact, realize that 9 minutes per mile is not a "fast" pace.  Thank you.

Anyway... Distance: 20 mile bike, 10k run

Had some chicken today, only a small (actually) serving of Cheetos... really need to get rid of those things.  Held off on sweets... but didn't add too many greens.  Hmmm... food?  I'll go with a... Food: B-

Scaletime: 204.8 lbs.

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* yes, this is a footnote on a blog post.  and a grammatical one, to boot.  "data" is the plural of "datum" (the singular).  stop using the singular verb tense with the word "data".  if language breaks down we have anarchy!  ... also, since I'm being picky, the data don't "say" anything... they suggest or show or reveal.  so, really... that sentence is wrong anyway.  Also, maybe don't take grammar tips from someone who just wrote a blog containing no less than 137 ellipses...