Wednesday, February 29, 2012

2/29/2012 LEAP DAY!

Weight: 291.6
Change: -1.6 lbs
Total Weight Lost: -30.6 lbs
Mood: Tired, but in a good way
Short Term Goal: 11.6 lbs to go by 3/17/12 (17 Days to go)
Long Term Goal: 51.4 lbs to go

Leap day...One of the most insignificant days of the year (unless your birthday happens to be today, in which case HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEAPERS!!) **Note it said LEAPERS not LEPERS, you weirdos**

So a couple things about today...

First, I had a feeling that I don't think I have ever experienced before I started this adventure.    Some may call it self-control, I call it being stingy with my calories.  Leap day is a day in which fast food restaurants have an excuse to be completely and totally evil.  McEvilClown's had 2 of their burgers "Buy one get one for 29 cents", and I was extremely tempted.  I decided I was going to take the high road and go eat at Subway....LO AND BEHOLD...Free cookie with every purchase.  Now people who know me..know that if there is something I love more than food...its a good deal.  Food + Free Stuff...I am totally there.  I grabbed a healthy sandwich, grabbed a cookie..and headed out the door.  The entire ride back to the office the cookie was singing sweet melodies and comforting promises of deliciousness.   I have developed a habit of logging my calories before I eat anything I am not sure of.  SWEET CALORIE SPIRITS YOU BETRAYED ME!  The single cookie was 220 calories!  That was almost the entire caloric composition of my sandwich.  Needless to say, my secretary enjoyed a cookie while I enjoyed the feeling of passing on something I really didn't need.

Second notable event of the day reaffirmed my earlier decision.  Since dropping 30 pounds I have noticed my wife making more comments about how much my workout shorts are falling off.  Now normally I like to walk around with a bit of "gangsta swag", but shorts that fall off  + elliptical make for a dangerous (and sometimes entertaining / interesting) workout.  I headed out to the store to grab some groceries and decided that I would just peek into the guys clothes section.  They had the type of shorts that I love, so I decided I would go try some on.  Normally I would just grab my standby size (which could also be used to describe movies of the adult persuasion), head to the register and then worry that the cashier would try to see what size I was buying.  I grabbed two different sizes, one for the size I figured I would fit into, and one that I figured would be a goal to reach toward.  Amazingly the goal shorts fit like a glove.  This was the first time in a LONG time that I didn't have to pay extra for "Big Man" sizes.

Needless to say...I am quickly learning patience and hard work are making all of this worth it.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

2/28/2012

Weight: 293.2
Change: -2lbs
Total Weight Lost: -29lbs
Mood: Meh!
Short Term Goal: 13.2lbs to go by 3/17/12
Long Term Goal: 53lbs to go

So I decided to start a blog to catalog the progress of my weight loss. This should be a fun ride. I know this blog will probably never be seen by anyone else, and I am okay with that.

We will start with a little adventure down story lane.

I remember being a pretty active little monster when I was young. I did Karate, soccer, swimming, baseball, basketball, etc. If the YMCA offered it...my mom made sure we were there for our participation ribbons and plastic trophies. When I was about 5 my parents divorced and we spent a year or 2 with my grandmother. An amazing cook, but I always had a sneaking suspicion she was just trying to plump us up to eat us (a la Hansel and Gretel). I don't know if it was just a downward spiral from that point on, but for next 18 years I just ate to eat. When I turned 23 I had enough of my self-indulged apathy.

I worked out, I went on diets, ran with wolves late at night (kidding, but it would make excellent cardio). When all else failed, including back vertebrae and knees, I decided to to make a permanent life change and have gastric bypass surgery. This was an amazing experience and I wish I had done it earlier in my life, but it left me feeling like I had taken the easy way out. The bariatric surgeon instructed me to walk for two hours everyday, or in his words "You will die". Now I am all about extreme diagnosis as much as the next guy, but his words did not encourage me to go outside (The sun is a dangerous foe after all). Needless to say...with no effort and complete laziness I dropped about 200 lbs. To this day it still amazes me that one of the most impressive things that has ever happened in my life was the product of me doing absolutely nothing.

Let's fast forward...this is getting long and you are probably sleeping by now.

Some of the weight came back..and I am still 120 lbs above my "ideal body weight". (Note on "ideal body weight": WHO CAME UP WITH THESE NUMBERS?!? I think some scientist stuck in a lab with some anorexic mice extrapolated their weight:height ratio and applied it to people. Scientists you are on watch. Be warned.).

I met the woman of my dreams, and she has given me the child of my dreams. Epically long story short: I want to be here for a long time for both of them. My dream is to have wheel-chair races with both of them in whatever nursing home my son puts me in.

The race continues...it will be long and slow...but the finish line is the only prize.