The Wife Weighs In...Week 39

“The what? The who? Tony has a wife? She blogs? I’m so horribly confused.”

Yep…that’s right…I took a little break.

When we last left my weekly weigh-ins (back in week 31), I was feeling as though my schedule was out of control. Now, eight weeks later, it isn’t much better. Work has become increasingly demanding and we’ve had a really busy summer. To be honest, I let it get the better of me, and everything fell apart. I stopped logging my food and was only going to the gym sporadically…very sporadically. I was too stressed, too busy, too overwhelmed, and too exhausted.

Luckily, I didn’t gain a lot of weight during my hiatus, which began on 6/7/08. In fact, I did a pretty good job of maintaining.

I ran into my gym buddy, Tammy, at a graduation party a couple of weeks ago. Her loving first words to me? “Where have you been? I am so mad at you.”

She proceeded to tell me that if you didn’t see me by the following Tuesday she would begin calling me at home when she got to the gym at 5:00 each morning. When I mentioned the fact that she didn’t have my phone number, she squinted her eyes kind of Dirty Harry-style and said, “Yeah, but I know people.”

It was just the kick to the head I needed. I’ve been back on track at the gym for the last two weeks and my eating has fallen back in line, too.

And, finally, while I’m not making any official announcements, I started a nine-week Couch-to-5K program this week, which would prepare me for a race sometime this fall. It’s been going well so far…I’ll keep you updated on this story as it develops.

‘Til next week,

P.S. Just two more weeks until the end of the softball season…that means back to Monday night yoga for me! Hurray!

My update:

6/06/08: 184.8
8/01/08: 186.0 (a gain of 1.2 pounds in eight weeks)

Total loss of 42.4 pounds, 2.8 pounds over low of 183.2, 4.0 pounds from next mini-goal of 182.0

The Weigh-In Week 59

217.4! That is what it said on the scale this morning. A loss of 1.4 pounds.

A perfect loss for a pre-race week. I'll need plenty of energy on Sunday so I would not have wanted to starve myself for a huge loss this week. I guess that goes for any week really.

So far I am pleased with how "Operation Eat It" is going, although I may need to program in a few opportunities for non-fruit/veggie snacks during the week.

Speaking of snacks. One of my co-workers introduced me to Veggie Chips yesterday and I may be in love...with the chips not the co-worker.

As you all know I am not a veggie guy. But Veggie Chips, that is a whole 'nother story. I even ate a green bean chip and green beans make me gag. The green bean chip wasn't my favorite but I didn't hurl so that's a good sign.

Looking at the ingredients they seem to be on par with my all natural Cheeto's or some of the Frito Lay baked chips. Not as good as real veggies, but better then a bag of full fat greasy potato chips.

I'm going to try and pick up some veggie chips for our trip to Duluth.

I am pretty nervous about my Triathlon on Sunday. I don't feel as ready as I did the week before my first race. I'm afraid that the fire to do great isn't burning as strong since I've done it once. I think some of that is a fear that I won't be able to do as well no matter how hard I try. I have to get in the right frame of mind!

I am sure the race day atmosphere will help amp me up!

Our winner this week is Nana Heather. Nicely done Heather!

Have a great weekend everybody! Wish me luck!
Tony
08/1 217.4 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
9.4 lbs. to go

Guess How Much I Weigh Contest - Week 59

I finally started tracking calories on Monday. Better late than never.

So far, "Operation: Eat It" has gone well. With the exception of yesterday, I have felt strong and satisfied all week.

I had a crazy day yesterday which threw me off my schedule a bit and I found myself having some weird cravings. I also biked, ran and swam for 20 minutes each yesterday so I worked up quite an appetite. So a little higher calorie count yesterday, but still looks like I am on track for a loss tomorrow.

Today is my last day of workouts before my two days of rest before big race number 2 on Sunday.

I am thinking I'll do weight lifting for my upper body and a short run on the treadmill. Running was by far my weakest event two weeks ago, so I am working extra hard to mentally and physical improve my run.


Step right up, step right up.
Guess how much I weigh and win a fabulous prize.

To Recap:
Every Thursday I give you my stats for the week and you guess what you think the scale will say on Friday morning. The winner is the first person who guesses my weight / weight loss for the week without going over or the person who is closest without going over. Go ahead and click on comments at the bottom of this post and leave your guess.

I will post the winner when I post my weight on Fri. morning. If we get ten or more guesses I will have a prize for the winner.

Stats for the week of May 19th.

Calories Consumed: From Monday morning through Wed. night I have consumed aprox. 7068 calories.

Calories Burned: From Monday morning through Wed. night I have burned aprox. 12085 calories.


Let the guessing begin. Good Luck!

Tony
07/31 218.8 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
10.8 lbs. to go

p.s. Don't forget you can subscribe to the e-mail edition of Guess How Much I Weigh . Simply enter your e-mail address in the space to the right.

Wii Fit Is Mean

Day one of "Operation Eat It" was a huge success. According to the scale I lost 4 pounds yesterday! Absolutley all of it was water weight. After a long run yesterday in the heat and humidity and then a softball game last night I don't think I have a pint of water left in my body.

There was another incident this weekend that really jump started the whole thinking about the right way to recommit myself to losing weight.

On Saturday Laura and I got together with some friends to play Wii. They had just gotten the Wii Fit and I have been very curious so I asked if we could try it out.

You know what, Wii fit is kind of a bully!

To get the whole breadth of the Wii Fit experience we set up a new character for me. The Fit has you stand on the balance pad and asks you a bunch of questions then it weighs you, calculates your BMI and creates an avatar for you.


Here's mine.



Check out the gut...
and the big butt...
and the lack of muscle tone.

All things I have been working so hard on.

My Avatar didn't start out looking like this. When I first stepped on the balance pad I had a nice normal sized Mii.

Then the Fit weighed me in at 221. Pride requires me to point out this was fully clothed, after a huge pasta diner with my cell phone, car keys and wallet in my pocket.

The fit was then nice enough to point out that my BMI put me in the obese category as it slowly morphed my Avatar from the svelte original into the chunky monkey you see above.

I didn't let the experience ruin my night but I must say I was sufficiently humbled.

All joking aside, I find the Wii Fit's snarky attitude kind of refreshing. There is no cuddling or hand holding here. No justifying. No, "you need to lose 30 pounds but that's ok because you are still beautiful on the inside". The Wii Fit is all business and now that I have gotten over my mild embarrassment of a group BMI outing, I am glad the Wii Fit was there to give me a not so gentle reminder to stand up straight and get things back on track.

You best watch out though Wii Fit, 'cause next time I come for a visit, I'll be ready for ya.

Tony
07/29 218.8 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
10.8 lbs. to go

New Strategy

It was a great training weekend...not such a good eating weekend.

I biked more than 20 miles on Friday with my ride back and forth to work. It helped that I got lost both ways. Don't ask how, I'm still not sure myself. I did a 3.8 mile run on Saturday and a split brick on Sunday. The split brick was based on a suggestion from one of my triathlete co-workers. I bike for 15 minutes, ran for 15 minutes, biked for another 15 minutes then ran for another 15 minutes. I was feeling pretty good until I went out for my run today. About a mile in today my legs started feeling like lead. I think it's a good thing I am taking tomorrow off.

Despite all that training I still gained weight over the weekend.

It got me thinking about how I am going to make this commitment to continued weight loss work.

Here's what I realized.

My eating habits have changed but so has my lifestyle. I am eating much better then I ever have and I am eating for the right reasons. I eat because I am hunger, not because I am bored or because I have uncontrollable cravings. Only problem is I am hungry a lot.

In the last 5 months, I have greatly increased the amount and intensity of my physical activity. I have been trying to do all this training while eating like I did when I was actively working to lose weight.

Generally this means I am hungry all the time and I break down and snack on foods that are not the best for me... and because I am so hungry it tends to take more to satiate me. I'm not talking gorging myself, it's not even so much that I have been over eating, I've just been eating the wrong things.

In short, I have tried to eat better but I have not been eating smarter.

So what am I going to do to change all this. For now, I am going to plan my food each day and work to stick to it. Beyond breakfast, lunch and dinner, I will plan snacks like fruits and vegetables into my day so I don't go home ravenous and eat way to much for dinner or feel the need for a late night snack ten minutes before I go to bed.

The goal is to plan on eating more each day, but be smarter about what I eat. Pretty elementary right. Wonder why it has taken me 5 months to figure it out.

Tony
07/28 218.8 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
10.8 lbs. to go