Fourth Tuesday weigh-in

231.5 lb
31% body fat

Loss of 1 lb from last week. Net loss for four weeks is 5.0 lb My goal is to lose an additional 9.5 lb to weigh 222 lb by Jan 6th, 2009. Bad news is I don't have much time left and would have to hit a loss of over 2 lb per week from now until Jan 6 to hit the goal I set. Good news is:

• I am trending downward during a time when I would otherwise be getting much bigger.
• I am exercising consistently.
• I have more energy, have less stress, and am happier.
• My clothes (especially pants) are not as tight.
• I have successfully overcome the challenges of holiday food temptations and some vacation travel challenges. I didn't allow a hard two weeks to throw me off course completely.
  

Blogging the progress (or lack thereof) every week has turned out to be a great strategy to keep me honest with myself and more focused during the week. Regardless of my hitting the Jan 6th goal, if I continue doing this, not only will I eventually reach 222 lb, but I will establish good habits that I can pass on to my kids and habits that will preserve my quality of life for decades.
I think it would be neat to look back 2 or three years from now and say, "Here is where I fundamentally and permanently changed my life." Or even someday say, "I can't believe I used to weight 236.5lb, that is huge!"

Seattle Trip

If you can't tell by my photo, I had a blast in Seattle with Heidi and Rebecca. We are totally doing that again.

Friday, we got in to the Hotel by taxi and met Heidi for her birthday dinner at Anthony's across the street from the hotel. Great food, swordfish and salmon as well as an awesome three tier appetizer.

Saturday, we ate breakfast at the FishClub in the hotel and then walked to and through the Seattle Olympic sculpture park (where the above was shot by Rebecca near the sculpture called Wake, by Richard Serra) Then we met Heidi for lunch at Arayas Vegetarian Place for a Thai vegetarian buffet. It was epic. After that we hit a Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture and movie (James Bond: Quantum of Solace). Movie was a great idea since we needed to rest our tired dogs.

Sunday it was breakfast at Cherry Street Coffee House, Trader Joes, Pike Place Market, Ivars, Heidi's crib to pick up Brett and finally Nijo for the best Sushi ever.

Monday we had little time to do much but pack, checkout, and head to the gate but we did squeeze in some more Ivar's chowder (both the Salmon and White are really good.)

Each day we worked out at the hotel gym in the morning, I added 20 more minutes to my workouts (40 min total) to try to compensate for eating more than normal but as of tonight I am back up at 236.0 lb. That is not an official weigh-in so we will see what tomorrow holds, I might just do water tomorrow to try and come back down some. I think I will also check my bodyfat percentage to see if it has budged any.

highlights:

• Heidi is so skinny. That bitch!
• Actually having conversations with Brett lasting more than hi/bye.
• Met Asha, Heidi's cat.
• Learned more about Rebecca's interests (such as her interest in Alaskan cruises)
  

facepalms:

• Sitting adjacent to passengers getting drunk. iPods are lifesavers in this situation, plug in, turn on, tune out!
• Walking up and down a five flight parking garage trying to get out of it.
• Forgetting my vitamins and pain killers from home.

notes to self:

• Avoid downtown Seattle when Seahawks are playing, as parking is non-existent and cut throat.
• Should have done Mon-Friday rather than over the weekend, more time to prepare to return to work.
• Once you find some parking, keep it and walk wherever possible.

Third Tuesday weigh-in

232.5 lb

Gain of 0.5 lb from last week. Net loss for three weeks 4.0 lb. My goal is to lose 10.5 lb by Jan 6th, 2009

I was hoping for a loss but the scale says what it says. I did not miss any workouts and even added three workouts to try to offset the Thanksgiving feast and other parties (so I did a total of nine 20 min+ workouts in 7 days.) But I can't go back and uneat what I ate last week nor can I go back and drink more water. I can focus on what I do this week so I can report an improvement next Tuesday. I have no doubt that the portion size of what I eat is the major roadblock to my losing weight. I do believe losing weight requires both diet and exercise, I just know that my 6 workouts per week are plenty of exercise and food is where I mess up.

A big hazard for me is getting frustrated with the bumps in the road. I could go off a cliff and just forget the whole thing if I let one small disappointment snowball. I can get the attitude that, "I tried really hard and failed so what is the point in getting up and trying again." Instead I will learn from mistakes I made this week and avoid them going forward. One thing I need to do for sure is stay out of the kitchen when leftovers are sitting around. Another is to drink more water throughout the day and before bed. For all I know I could just be retaining extra water from my neglegence.

New Draper Utah Temple Open House

2009 will feature a very unique opportunity to visit two new LDS temples in Utah. If you are interested in going on a tour of the new Draper LDS temple you can schedule for a free tour now at http://www.lds.org/reservations

These open house tours will fill up fast in this state. I already signed up for a reservation of 10 people on Saturday, January 17th at 10:20 AM, so let me know if you want to take the tour with me in January as I have 7 extra reservations for that date/time.

Second Tuesday weight-in

232.0 lb

Loss of 1.0 lb from last week. Net loss for two weeks 4.5 lb. I plan to lose at least 10 more pounds by Jan 6th, 2009.

I didn't expect to lose 3.5 lb again, but I admit I was hoping for at least 1.5 lb. The next week will be the most challenging for food temptations yet as their are back to back parties from Wednesday through Sunday. But my goal remains at 2 lb per week and this coming week is no different in that respect.

What strikes me is that, in looking back, I see that I fell into a trap of waiting to start, waiting for everything else to fall into place so I could just start. I was fooling myself the whole time and ended up at 236.5 lb before I finally dropped the excuses and made the decision to do it. I just don't think I will ever be in a situation where exercise and eating healthy will be more or less easy (or convenient) than it already is. My bad habits are hard to break no matter when I try to break them, and good habits are hard for me to make no matter when I try to make them. Sure some periods of my life have had additional challenges that make exercise more difficult, but it has never been 100% effortless to plan and do it. I could have waited until I was back at 300 lb to start, I guess it is a good thing I threw out my size 42 pants. It was my tight clothes that gave me a desire to change more than anything else; I have some perfectly good 34 waist jeans and I wanted to fit in them again.

Exercise Strategy

I missed the workout on Saturday because I stayed up late Friday playing games. Rebecca had fresh professional quality waffles when I woke up as well, reducing my desire to hit the gym to zero. I thought at the time I would go later, but it didn't happen.

My exercise strategy has a lot to do with sleep, i.e. what time I go to bed. I workout in the mornings on an empty stomach (well lots of water but no food). My goal is 20 minutes of cardio, six days a week. I then eat the largest meal of the day within an hour after working out. Not to say I go overboard at breakfast (700 calories), but the rest of the day, my meals are fewer calories. Exercising six days a week is important for me because more than one or two consecutive rest days can derail my routine. Once I start working out I have more energy and time. However, the chance to sleep in and avoid exercise becomes more of a temptation. So with that here are some typical events or items that can derail (and have derailed) fitness goals

• travel
• illness
• vacations or holidays
  

These items can cause me to miss workouts or indulge in food. The best way for me to handle the above is to have a plan. If I have a plan for how I can continue exercise while traveling, then I am more likely to stick to it. If I have a plan for how to prevent illness, then I can likely avoid it. So I need to plan better what I will eat and how I will exercise in different situations so that I can be as flexible and do as much of what I enjoy as possible while still keeping on track with my goals.

That being said, I firmly believe the following:
"The key to getting what you want most is found in giving up some of what you desire less."

So the reason I don't already have what I want is because I have something else. What I already have is preventing me from obtaining what I want even more and I won't let it go.

So I can't have it all, I can't stay up until 1:00am every night and expect to wake up at 5:00am to exercise. I can't exercise on reduced sleep and then eat chips, candy and other junk and expect my body to repair itself. I might be technically "able" to make these choices, but it is not an ideal scenario and will not help me reach my goals.

I can't binge on food at parties and avoid the effects of that. I know what the ideal scenario is for losing weight and it is largely in my power to control: my portions, how late I remain awake at night, and if I get up to exercise.

Coolest thing for bloggers today

Go here

and put in your blog url.

It will analyze your blog and determine your blog's Meyers Briggs personality type.

Pretty neat I think.

When I take the test I am INTL, but the site gave this blog ESTP! I guess blogging lets me get out of my shell. Or my blog is nothing like my personality...