Long Absence Explained

It has been awhile since I have updated the blog but I am going to get back at it starting today. The reason I have been absente is because on February 8th my company did some reorganization and eliminated my postion. I was laid off immediately and I have been in a bit of a funk for awhile. Then last week my wife and I went on a previously planned and paid for vacation which was really nice. It let me relaxe and get out of the funk I had been in and we had a lot of fun to. We ate, drank and walked a lot on vacation and I came back feeling great. It is a new week and almost a new month now so I am going to get a new positive and healthy outlook going. Because of the layoff I will now keep you guys updated on my search for a new job as well as my weight loss stories.

A good thing that came out of all of this is that I was naturally a little stressed and it caused me to shed a few pounds from all the worrying. I know that isn't a good way to lose weight but if I can keep it off I will take it.

Big Weekend Coming Up

I am very excited about this weekend. Tonight (Friday Night) we are going to a Chocolate Lovers Fantasy at a local ballroom. They have all kinds of different chocolate foods and sculptures from local chefs. I have wanted to go the last couple of years that they have had it but we have been busy so i was very excited when we were free for it this weekend. Then on Saturday my wife and I are going to get dresses up again and head just down the road to Omaha for a nice meal at Anthony's Steakhouse and then downtown to the Orpheum Theater to see the musical Mary Poppins. So this will not the healthiest weekend eating wise, but it is going to be a lot of fun.

Snack Size Should Be The Right Size

We stopped at McDonald's last night for supper and we got two snack size McFlurries with our meal. My wife made the comment on the way that she loved this size cause it was little but i probably didn't like the size. I came back with "You know what this may not be the size that I want but it is the size I should have". Talk about a light going on, I am a big guy and always eat big sizes but if I want this weight lose thing to take hold of me I need to start eating the snack size instead of the large size (Or Extra Large or Ginormous sizes). It is going to be a culture change for me but if I can stop getting large blizzards and large sizing my meals when we go out to fast food it is going to help me a lot in the long run. So from this point forward my new motto is Snack size is the Right Size.

Loseing Weight Is Hard

So I have been working out four times a week for a month now. I have also been trying to eat better which has been successful some of the time. Another thing I did is cut out pop. I have not had a taste of pop since January 2nd. And after all of that I still can't get the scale to tell me how much I weigh. I thought that I was just a little over 330lbs but maybe I was wrong and I was a lot farther past 330lbs then I thought I was. I also know, from having watched other people close to me struggle with weight loss, that it is a lot harder to lose a pound than it is to gain a pound. I know that if I keep plugging away I will eventually breakthrough that 330lbs barrier. I also know that I am making myself healthier every day I eat right and exercise. I am starting to feel healthier in my everyday life and that is a reward in its self.

Incentive To Lose Weight

I was reading an article in Sports Illustrated about defensive linemen and their weight. It talked a little about how they have to be big to play their position but not too big. It is a constant battle for them to keep their weight down so they can play more effectively. It talked about how most teams have an ideal weight for their big men up front that is usually a little under what the big guys prefer to be at. What I found most interesting is that some teams are starting to put incentives in to the defensive linemen’s contracts for keeping their weight down. A defensive lineman for the Steelers has a clause in his contract that if he weighs a certain amount at the beginning of training camp, the beginning of the season and in mid-December he gets a one million dollar bonus. Now that is an incentive to lose weight and keep it off! Unfortunately the rest of us don’t get one million dollars for losing weight but we do have other incentives. For me it is small things like being more comfortable on a plane when I fly, being able to ride rides at an amusement park without the fear of not fitting in them and living a longer healthier life with my wonderful wife, but a million dollars sure would be a nice incentive as well.

The Ideal BMI?

Since I don't know my exact weight do to being too fat for the scale I used a guesstimated number of 335 to try and figure my BMI the other day. I naturally came up on the high end of obese. That didn't really surprise me that much; my 3XL and 4XL shirts gave me that idea some time ago. So I started plugging in other weights with my height to see how much weight I would need to lose to get down to "Healthy". It said that I would need to be at 189lbs to be at the very max of healthy. 189lbs! I would look emaciated at 189lbs. I haven’t weighed that much since I was a freshman in high school! My current goal is to get down to 300lbs which would still make me obese but a healthier obese, LOL. My overall goal, and this is a long term goal, would be to get to 250lbs. That would still make me obese by the calculator. If I somehow got to 225lbs, which was my football playing weight when I was a junior in high school, I would be just inside the overweight category. So I guess what I am getting at is that I, and anyone out there reading this, need to get to a place where I feel comfortable and not the unrealistic goals the National Health boards have set for me.

Breakfast, The Most Important Meal of The Day

I know that breakfast is very important if you are trying to lose weight. It kick starts your metabolism so you are burring fat earlier then if you waited to eat until lunch. I did a great job last week eating breakfast every day and I found it gave me more energy during the day as well. That is why I am so mad at the wind and snow today. I went bed with the comforting knowledge that the snow was done falling but I didn’t know the stupid wind was going to come up and blow the snow around as much as it did. I woke up this morning to get ready for work and was greeted by a two and a half foot drift in the middle of the driveway thanks to the wind. So instead of eating breakfast this morning I spent the time snow blowing the drive way (for the third time in twenty five hours). Then to top it all off as I was rushing out the door trying to get to work on time I left me cup of coffee sitting on the counter. I guess on the bright side I remembered my work out clothes so I can go hit the elliptical over lunch today.

First Weekend Test

This is the first weekend since I decided to try and live a healthier life. It is a test for me because I am a bored eater. I have always been a person that if I have nothing else to do or some spare time to kill I like to eat. It is kind of like a hobby, a terrible hobby, but I have enjoyed it a lot over the years. I can't count the number times I parked on the couch on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon and ate all afternoon while I watched TV. Lucky for me I was out of the house with friends all day on Saturday but Sunday I have been home all day. All I have eaten so far is a bag of microwave popcorn and some peppermint sticks. I have done a good job of keeping my self busy with things most of the day so I didn't get to bored. I think I am going to call today a success and go start getting food for supper ready.

First Doughnut Friday Test

I am on the doughnut Friday list at work so every Friday someone on the list brings in doughnuts for everyone else on the list. This will be my first test of how much I want to lose weight. I usually eat two doughnuts every morning break and sometimes one in the afternoon. Today (and in the future) I am aiming to have only one doughnut in the morning and none in the afternoon. Here is crossing my fingers to see how I do.

Feel the Pain

I have never used an elliptical before so I don't know exactly what Parts of the body it works the hardest. I can tell you after using one for two days that the front of my thighs are where i can feel the elliptical the most. It isn't crippling or anything like that but there is some discomfort when I go to stand up and sit down or when I am going up and down the stairs. But all in all this is a good thing and hopefully after another week I won’t feel that anymore.