The Wife Weighs In...Week 6

Today's update is going to be a quick one. It's very busy this time of year when you work in Anoka, Minnesota...the Halloween Capitol of the World. (It's also Garrison Keillor's hometown)

This afternoon, all the area schools close down for the "Big Parade of Little People." All the schools kids march down Main Street in their costumes with marching bands and the whole nine yards. In fact, there are three Halloween parades here every year. Busy, busy, busy.

I had a good loss this week. Hurray! I attribute much of this week's success to tracking my points and actually eating them. I had been short-changing myself by not eating my entire daily allotment. It always happens when I'm not tracking. In an effort to "be good," I eat much less than I should. It's amazing how much better everything runs when I'm fueling my machine!

I've been tracking my progress in my own little chart. It's so gratifying to watch those numbers go down.

I guess I've sort of started a streak of my own...six straight weeks of loss!

Exercise, however, continues to be my challenge. We'll see...this just might be my week. Thanks, again, for letting me butt in and thanks for all the kind words of support, everyone!

Have a spooktacular weekend!

Laura

10/19/2007: 197.8 pounds

10/26/2007: 195.4 pounds (a loss of 2.4 pounds)

Total loss: 33 pounds
Next mini-goal: 185 pounds by December 21

8 weeks and 10.4 pounds to go!

The Weigh-In Week 20

225.6. That's what it said on the scale this morning. A gain of .2 lbs. Streak number 2 is broken!

If my life were a movie, my tragic breakdown and confession on Monday would have been followed by a three day montage of extreme workouts, raw eggs and motivational pep talks from an old Chinese guy.

Sadly my name is not Daniel or Rudy or Rocky and this is not 1985.

My heart rending confession was followed by two days of hard workouts and well planed meals and one day of a big lunch, a beer, some cheese and crackers and a sandwich from the deli down the street. I blame the beer and the cheese for that .2 lbs. gain!

So lets focus on something positive.

This morning as I was pulling on my size 36 jeans and cinching up my brand new belt to the last notch, just before I slipped on my Large t-shirt, I noticed two things:

1. What were once massive man boobs along the lines of double D's have now become actual pecs. I think I can now stop referring to my chest as "my boobies."

2. I am starting to see some muscle definition on my arms. Not much, but the muscle is beginning to overtake the flab. In fact there is almost no more waddle hanging off the bottom of my arms. So those of you who had taken to calling me Turkey Arms, can kindly stop your taunts.

I don't know about you but I am looking forward to a nice big loss next week.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Tony
10/26: 225.6 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
5.6 lbs. to go

p.s. No winner this week. When I gain, we all lose. Sorry.

Guess How Much I Weigh Conest - Week 20

Minus my indiscretion on Monday night this has been a pretty average week. The only thing I missed was my strength training, but I am hopping that all the yard work we did this weekend will offset the two missed training sessions.

The real challenge is figuring out how much those 1800 "slip up" calories are going to cost me this week.


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 October 21st.
Walked / Ran: 15.5 miles

Calories Consumed: From Thursday morning through Wed. night I have consumed aprox. 15589 calories.

Calories Burned: From Thursday morning through Wed. night I have burned aprox. 27216 calories.

37% of my calories have come from fat.
14% of those calories came from Saturated Fats.

45% of my calories came from carbs.

16% of my calories came from protein.

Let the guessing begin. Good Luck!

Tony
10/25: 225.4 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
5.4 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.

Relapse

Drug addicts shouldn't hang out in Opium Dens.

Alcoholics shouldn't hang out in bars.

Food addicts shouldn't hang out in gas stations...or leave the house after 10pm....or pretend to be actors.

I had a brief taste of my pre-fatherhood lifestyle last night and it triggered some not so long buried bad habits.

My college roommate was in town filming a movie so I went to hangout on the set as a background actor. Much less glorious then it sounds. This is a no budget production.

I left the house at 10:15pm. Mistake number 1.

On the way I stopped at a Holiday gas station to get a big bottle of water. Mistake number 2.

As I walked passed the frozen treats cooler I couldn't resist my old friend Mr. Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich. For some reason picking up an Ice Cream sandwich made me decide I also needed some Ho Ho's.

When I got to the set, a movie theater in South Minneapolis, I was handed a large bucket of popcorn and told to stand around talking in the background for 2 hours. Mistake number 3.

Naturally, I started eating the popcorn. If I hadn't accidentally dropped the bucket on the floor I am sure I would have finished the whole thing.

I left the "set" around 1:30am with a craving for Wendy's French Fries, one of my late night staples back when I was doing a lot of theater. Mistake number 4.

Here is the really pathetic thing. I drove around for a half hour, twice going out of my way to find a Wendy's drive through that was open.

When I couldn't find an open drive through I got frustrated and returned to the same Holiday gas station, where I purchased a Peanut Butter Crispy Bar and, just for good measure, a package of Hostess Zingers. Mistake number 5!

Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwich 500 Calories / 24 Grams of Fat
Hostess Ho Ho's 400 Calories / 15 Grams of Fat
Half A Bucket of Movie Theater Popcorn 225 Calories / 11 Grams of Fat
Peanut Butter Crispy Bar 290 Calories / 12 Grams of Fat
Hostess Zingers 440 Calories / 11 Grams of Fat

For a grand total of :
1855 Calories
73 Grams of Fat

Bad! Bad! Bad! I know...but here is the amazing thing. I don't feel guilty and I don't feel depressed.

I feel like crap with all that junk sitting in my stomach, but instead of wallowing in self-pity that could send me into a spiral of junk food binging, here is what I thought when I woke up this morning...

"Wow that was stupid! Well it's out of my system now. I really want to go for a run!"

This is nothing short of a miracle to me. A bender like this would usually send me off the deep end for the next month, but my first instinct is to exercise instead of eat more! This is a big break through.

I am not trying to put a positive spin on last nights pig out. It was a horrible thing to do to my body and a sure sign that my food addiction is alive and well. But.... and this is a big butt, I still feel like I am in control. This slip is not getting the best of me and that has me feeling pretty good this morning. Minus the bloated belly and extreme stomachache.

Tony
10/22: 225.4 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
5.4 lbs. to go

Achy Breaky Me

I thought all this working out was supposed to make me invincible to pain. After this weekend I am not convinced it is working.

I hurt!

Every muscle on, in and around my body aches.

The culprit? Yard work.

We finally had a nice day on Saturday. Sunny and rain free. It was a miracle and we took full advantage with an all out onslaught on the yard. Sunday was not nearly as nice but that didn't stop me for tackling the leftovers on the to do list.

Come Sunday night I was a goner...Or maybe that should read groaner. I am really surprised at how much I hurt. I expected the back ache, but the pain in my legs and and my arms came as a shock. I know I am using different muscles and all that but still I figured in the last 4 months that I had gotten in good enough shape to be able to do two days of yard work without passing out on the couch afterward. Guess this is just another sign of how far I have to go.

For all my complaining it was a pretty wonderful weekend. We let the girls run wild in the yard while we worked which turned Saturday into a wonderful family day.

I discovered another benefit of losing weight, you can where your wife's clothes. No not like that you perverts.

I have gotten rid of all my grubby work clothes so my wife handed me her work pants to try on since they are way to big for her after all the weight she has lost. And they fit. In fact, the are almost to big. My wardrobe has just doubled in size.

Ok, just kidding about the whole wardrobe thing...or am I.




I was contemplating skipping my run today due to aches and pain. But looking outside at another beautiful sunny day, I am thinking I might have to pop an Aleve and suck it up.
We don't have many of these days left.

Tony
10/22: 225.4 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
5.4 lbs. to go

Rake Image:© 1999-2007 Dries Buytaert

The Wife Weighs In...

I had a good weigh-in this week after taking a week off. I've lost 1.6 pounds since my last weigh-in, putting me at a total loss of 30.6! Hurray!

This was a week where I started out with the feeling that I was headed off track. But thanks to a little perseverance and a lot of extra support from my darling husband (who packed my lunches, among other things), I feel like I've gotten everything back under control.

I now weigh about as much as I when I moved to Minneapolis almost eight years ago, six months before our wedding. That's amazing to me.

Here are two other things I'm proud of this week:

1. In the last 19 weeks, I have only missed two WW meetings, and both of those were due to the lack of WW meetings in Duluth on the weekends. This is a very big deal to me. In the past, felt as though my week hadn't gone as well as I would have liked, I would just skip my meeting, which would lead to me going even farther off track, which would lead me to skipping another meeting, and so on, and so on, etc., etc. In fact, in the past, missing one meeting for any reason would be enough for me to begin playing hooky on a regular basis.

2. I actually got exercise in twice this week after the girls went to bed, which is a major accomplishment. Right now, I'm working to find the time to exercise at home regularly enough to justify paying for a gym membership.

Here's the deal...there was a time in my life when I went to the gym 6 times a week and I loved it. As I've lost weight, my body is remembering that feeling of working the weight machines and it's craving that feeling of power that you get from a good workout. Of course, at that time, I was without children, single, and working in retail without any other commitments. As you can imagine, I had a just a little more spare time than I do now. Finding the time to work exercise into my schedule has been very challenging.

Tony has been very successful working out at home, but that has never worked for me...too many distractions. Plus, I never really feel like I can go "all out" at home like I can in a gym setting...if that makes any sense.

So...here I am. If I am going to make a financial commitment as big as a gym membership, I want to be sure that I can make the time commitment, too. That means hitting the gym and being back home in time for Tony and I to get ourselves ready and out the door for work (while taking care of the two little people who live with us), or going to the gym after the girls go to bed. Neither of these times are exactly ideal, but they are my only options.

Who knows if I can make it work, but I'm going to give it the old college try this month. Wish me luck.

Have a super weekend, everyone!
Laura

10/05/2007: 199.4 pounds
10/19/2007: 197.8 pounds (a loss of 1.6 pounds)
Total loss: 30.6 pounds

Mini-goal: 30 pounds lost by 10/15/2007; ACHIEVED!
(a week late, but who's counting, right?)

Next mini-goal: 185 pounds by December 21
9 weeks and 12.8 pounds to go!
(can you believe there are only 9 weeks until Christmas?)

The Weigh-In Week 19

225.4! That's what it said on the scale this morning. A loss of 1.8 lbs. and week 4 of the new "streak".

Looks like exercise won out over excess... at least for this week. Don't worry, I am not planing on testing the exercise vs. excess threshold on a regular basis.


So close to Moderately Overweight.

Our winner this week is my Dad with a dead on guess of 1.8. Although she did not win, Erin also deserves a little recognition. As a first time guesser she missed the mark by just 1/10th of a pound. The guessing was tight this week all around so all you non-winners should be proud of ourselves.

For his faith and fatherly support my father wins a home cooked meal, to be cooked by me at some point in the next three weeks. Really the prize is getting to come over and spend some time with his adorable granddaughters, I'm just throwing the meal in for free. And yes mom, you can come too.

It's yard work weekend at the Johnson house this weekend. Lets hope we can have at least one dry day!

Have a great weekend everybody.

Tony
10/19: 225.4 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
5.4 lbs. to go

Guess How Much I Weigh Contest - Week 19

It's been a crazy week... again. While I was in Duluth last weekend I had two of the highest calorie days I have had since I started tracking calories. The rest of the week has been some of the lowest calorie days I have had in a long time. I've been working out more as well. I even ran twice in Duluth and did some strength training. Good dedictaion right?

Hopefully the highs and lows will even each other out.

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 October 14th.
Walked / Ran: 15.7 miles

Calories Consumed: From Thursday morning through Wed. night I have consumed aprox. 17080 calories.

Calories Burned: From Thursday morning through Wed. night I have burned aprox. 27454 calories.

37% of my calories have come from fat.
11% of those calories came from Saturated Fats.

44% of my calories came from carbs.

18% of my calories came from protein.

Let the guessing begin. Good Luck!

Tony
10/18: 227.2 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
7.2 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.

It's Not Me, It's My Hormones

All that talk about stretch marks yesterday reminded me of an article I read on Slate.com a few months ago. The article was called Stretch Marks for Dads.

Sorry if this is a repeat post. I feel like I have written about this before, but even so it is an interesting topic.

Apparently there have been some studies recently that prove being a father can change your brain along with your hormone activity.

From the Slate.com article:

"...evidence is accumulating that pregnancy and parenthood leave their marks on men's bodies. Women are not the only ones who are built for parenting, and recognizing that is good for fathers and the rest of us, too."

"A father's testosterone level also drops by about a third, on average, in the first three weeks after his child is born. These hormonal shifts... mirror those experienced by mothers and may similarly prepare men for parenthood. Men who have relatively little testosterone have been shown, for instance, to hold baby dolls longer than men who are flooded with the sex hormone."

One way to look at this study is to say that sympathy pregnancy weight is no longer a myth. Which would let me off the hook for all the weight I gained while my lovely wife was pregnant.

"See these stretch marks? I earned these stretch marks! I was eating for three after all!"

The truth is my weight gain was an issue long before my wife got pregnant. I can believe that becoming a dad added to my health problems but it is in no way the cause of them.

Also From the Article:

"After childbirth, the neurons in this region showed greater connectivity, suggesting that having young children could boost the part of the brain responsible for planning and memory, skills parents need when having kids gives them more to keep track of. The neurons also had more receptors for vasopressin, a hormone that has been shown to prompt animal fathers to bond with offspring."

The bigger thing I take a way from this article is an acknowledgment that the father is as biologically and emotionally tied to parenthood as the mother. This is not a message that gets much traction in our society.

For example:
While we were in the midst of Baby Shower craziness we received a cute gift bag that featured the alphabet and what each of the letters stood for. You know B is for Baby, M is for Mommy, P is for Pacifier. You would think D would stand for Daddy but no...D stood for diaper. Diaper!!! According to that bag Daddy is, at best, only the second most important D word in a babies life. This is the message we are giving our little ones? I don't think so!

In it's own twisted way I think the movie Knocked Up did a really good job of conveying the "Fathers Matter" message as well. Fathers are not just innocent bystanders we are important.

So thank you Judd Apatow and Swedish Research Scientist... Thank you for legitimizing my role as a father and for giving me an excuse to talk about my stretch marks with confidence!

The Slate article is a little dry but still worth the read for all you new fathers out there who are confused about the strange and unfamiliar changes your body is going through.

Stretch Marks for Dads [Slate]

Tony
10/17: 227.2 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
7.2 lbs. to go

p.s. Recipe Wednesday will return shortly

Those Unsightly Stretch Marks

Here's a riddle for you:

Q: What gets wetter as it drys?
A: A Towel

Here's another one:

Q: What gets bigger as it shrinks?
A: The stretch marks on my tummy

Ok, that second one doesn't make sense... but you get the idea.

While everything else on me is getting smaller there is this one little thing that is starting to be not so little. Stretch marks are one of the few negative side effects of this whole extreme weight loss journey.

I am fortunate that the stretch marks on my stomach and sides are not very prominent...yet. Hopefully they never will be, but they are staring to make their presence known. Looking in the mirror the other day I started wondering what I could do to get rid of these "flesh streaks"... short of cosmetic surgery.

So I turned to an expert, our old friend, world renowned plastic surgeon and wound care specialist, Dr. D.

Actually I turned to his daughter, Little D and begged her to ask her dad because I was too embarrassed to do it myself.

Her is Dr. D's expert advice.

Sadly there is no easy, quick fix for magically making stretch marks disappear, but we all knew that. By now I think we are all far enough along to know that magic cures don't really exist, right?

The only effective topical treatment for reducing the prominence of stretch marks is to use Pure Vitamin E Cream. It can help reduce the deep ridges.

Cocoa Butter is a myth. It doesn't help, nor do any other creams or lotions.

Here is the part we are all dreading! The hard work.

The best way to reduce the appearance of stretch marks is to tone your tummy by doing abdominal and lower abdominal work outs, where stretch marks are most
common. Once the skin become tight the appearance of stretch marks is less notable.

The good news is this "workout treatment" is right in line with my goals for a flatter, toner tummy, so it's pretty much what I am already doing. I'm sure the fact that I have been working out for the last few months has already helped a lot with my stretch marks. Guess I just need to keep at it. Thankfully, I've got 7 months before swimsuit season rolls around again.

This post has been brought to you by Estrogen. "Estrogen! Making me write girly things, since 25 minutes ago."

Tony
10/16: 227.2 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
7.2 lbs. to go

No Unofficial Weigh-Ins

I've caught a little flack for not posting my weigh-in this week. We went to Duluth for the weekend, leaving on Thursday night. Believe it or not, there is not one WW meeting within 15 miles of my parents' house between Thursday evening and Monday evening.

I have a difficult time reconciling an unofficial weigh-in with what happens on the scale at a meeting. So, I made a decision....no unofficial weigh-ins. I hope that doesn't seem like a cop-out...it isn't meant to be. Look for an official Laura weigh-in on Friday...still shooting for that 30 pound loss.

Thanks, Em, for keeping me honest!

Laura

Ironman Anthony

A few months ago I mentioned that my friend Anthony had qualified for the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii. The race was this weekend and it looks like Anthony did an amazing job. He finished the race in 877th place out 1700 competitors with a time of 11:15. That's 3 hours behind the race winner. I can't even imagine what it feels like to be moving for 11 hours straight. In total Anthony traveled more than 140 miles!

Congratulations Anthony I hope you are recovering on a tropical beach with a very cold Mai Tai. If anyone every deserved a relaxing vacation it's you!

I had my own race going this week. I joined a runners challenge over at the website Runner Plus. I am getting a lot more serious about this whole running thing.

The challenge was for runners who run between 10 and 20 miles a week. I logged 18.7 miles last week and missed winning the challenge by 3/10 of a mile. Just from that little bit of running my legs are really sore today. And it wasn't even all running, about half of it was fast walking.

I say again, I can't imagine what Anthony's legs must be feeling like this morning.

Sadly all that running was not enough to stave off the effects of all the food I ate this weekend. Which means a lot more running this week to try and get rid of the 2 pounds I gained while playing up north.

If any of you runners are looking for a place to log your miles, I am really digging this Runner Plus website. It's easy to use and very colorful. If you join be sure to stop by and become my friend. Right now I only have two... and 1 of them is the guy how started the site, so he doesn't really count.


Tony
10/15: 227.2 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
7.2 lbs. to go

The Weigh-In Week 18

227.2! That's what it said on the scale this morning. A loss of 1.4. And week three of the new "Streak"!

I had a dyslexic moment this morning thus the messed up t-shirt. Now we are off to breakfast to celebrate. I know I shouldn't celebrate a weight loss with food but the circus isn't in town and I can't afford a '67 Mustang just yet... so Perkins will have to do.

Our big winner this week is Evan!!! Evan has consistently been the most concise guesser,rarely more than a number and his name. So we will keep his congratulations concise as well. Evan will win something nice from Duluth. I don't know what it is yet, but I'll know it when I see it.

Have a great weekend everybody.

Tony
10/12: 227.2 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
7.2 lbs. to go

Guess How Much I Weigh Conest - Week 18

I am heading to Duluth tonight and I am swamped at work, so lets make this quick.

I will bring the scale to Duluth and post the weigh-in tomorrow morning.

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 October 7th.
Walked / Ran: 12 miles

Calories Consumed: From Thursday morning through Wed. night I have consumed aprox. 14609 calories.

Calories Burned: From Thursday morning through Wed. night I have burned aprox. 27216 calories.

30% of my calories have come from fat.
11% of those calories came from Saturated Fats.

48% of my calories came from carbs.

21% of my calories came from protein.

Let the guessing begin. Good Luck!



Tony
10/11: 228.6 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
8.6 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.

"Diet Foods" I'm Digging - Recipe Wensday

On Sunday, after buying my new "Butt Hugger Jeans", my lovely wife and I took the girls to the '50's Grill for lunch. The '50's Grill is everything the name implies. Waitresses in poodle skirts and bobby socks, a juke box at the front door, huge burgers and amazing malts.

I was feeling good after having dropped another pant size and was planing on treating myself to a big juicy burger and a heaping plate of '5o's fries. Then I noticed a Bison Burger on the menu. I have no clue what compelled me to order it.

Maybe it was a subconscious sense of guilt for having already ordered a big 'ol butterscotch malt or maybe it was my tummy rebelling against all that fat and grease. Whatever the reason I ordered the Bison Burger with Barbecue Sauce and loved it!

I think Bison meat may just replace Turkey Burgers on my list of healthier substitutes.

It got me thinking about some of the other "Diet Foods" that I have been enjoying lately. So I decided to replace Recipe Wensday with a run down of some of my favorite healthier alternatives.

I know that not all these foods would be considered healthy... but trust me the foods I would be eating instead are way worse than anything on this list. Best of all, most of the things on this list taste as good or better than the things they are replacing.

1. Klondike Slim a Bear 100 Calorie Bar
Like many of the things on this list, my lovely wife deserves all the credit for discovering these yummy little treats!



2. Weight Watchers GIANT Chocolate Cookies & Cream Bar:
These babies taste just as good as any Ice Cream bar you'll find. And they are filling and oh so satisfying. These and the Slim a Bear have easily replaced the giant cereal bowl full of ice cream that I would eat nearly every night before bed.


3. Weight Watchers Snack Cakes
I was amazed at how moist and full of flavor these little snack cakes are. They are small, but they are a great way to curb a chocolate craving.




4. Flat Out Bread:
This has become a staple at our house. Flat Out Pizzas, Flat Out Buffalo Chicken Wraps, Flat Out Quesadillas. You name it, it can be made from Flat Out!









5. Natural Cheeto's:
These aren't really a low calorie alternative, but they are lighter than the full fat potato chips and they have a great flavor that I have come to love.











6.Edy's Loaded Frozen Dairy Dessert:
I have not tried this yet and I have no clue how it can be considered a low calorie substitute but I can't wait to find out. According to Hungry Girl it deserves to be on this list.








7. Goldfish Crackers:
These are my go to snack. When I have a craving that fruit or gum just won't kill,I grab a handful of cheesy goodness and put my tummy at ease. 52 Fish to a serving means I feel like I am getting a substantial snack.


What are your favorite "diet foods". Leave a comment and let me know. I'm always looking for new things to substitute.

Tony
10/10: 228.6 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
8.6 lbs. to go

My 5k Plan or How I Learned To Run 5,000 Miles

Wait a minute. 5K doesn't stand for 5,000 miles. Well then I can do this thing no problem.

Yup I'm joining the ranks of the 5k hopefuls.

Seems like everybody is jumping on the Couch to 5k bandwagon lately, including me. It's easy to see why. For those of us on a healthy lifestyle journey, being able to run 3.1 miles is a symbol that we are doing more than just losing weight. For me it will be proof that I have truly changed my life around.

I decided a while ago that one of my goals was going to be to run a 5k with my dad someday. I didn't make it public because I wasn't sure how realistic of a goal it was. Once I finally brought the idea up to my Dad it turns out he had been thinking the same thing. He asked me to run the Maple Lake St. Patrick's Day race with him. Maple Lake is a small little town in Western Minnesota where my parents have their retirement home. It's a enclave of Irish pride!

As I have said before, my dad is kind of an exercise nut. For some reason it is not a gene that I inherited from him. Although, looking at it now, I am starting to realize just how much of our bonding moments growing up centered around some kind of physical activity. My Dad and I have always enjoyed doing things together like snow skiing, water skiing, softball. Things I am glad we can share again and the kind of things I hope to share with my daughters.


I have decide to finally announce my 5k plans because something major happened yesterday.

I ran a mile... for the first time in my life!

Even in high school when they made us run a mile I had to walk at least a quarter of the way.

This is a major break through for me. And gives me hope that I may actually be able to do this. I ran the mile yesterday in just under 9 minutes. And I managed to finish my 3 mile outing in 32 minutes. Almost 5 minutes off my previous best time. Now my goal is to continue building up my stamina until I can run the whole 3 miles.

Until yesterday, I had very little faith that I would be able to work up to a three mile run by March. Now I know it will be a challenge, but one that I have at least even odds of being able to accomplish.


I have been thinking lately about why I decided to try this. I am doing it because I want to share the bonding experience with my Dad. I am doing it because I want him to be proud of me. I know he already is proud of me, but I want to prove to him that I can do this. And I am doing it for myself. To prove to me that I can do this. Here's hoping I am right.

Tony
10/9: 228.6 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
8.6 lbs. to go

The Continuing Saga Of My Pants

My lovely wife and I finally made it back to Steve and Barry's to return the "Saggy Bottom" pants. After finding the one pair of jeans in the entire store that fit my body type, i.e. Jeans for people with no butt, it was determined that part of my problem came from wearing jeans that are too big.

My wife convinced me to try on a pair of 36 jeans. I was skeptical, but she was right. The 36's fit great. I should know better than to doubt my wife when it comes to clothing. She also convinced me that the pants I normally wear are too short. Turns out when you have no butt your pants tend to fall down around your hips a lot, which lead me years ago to start buying shorter pants. Now that I have pants that actually fit, I have moved from a 30 length to a 32.

It was a weekend full of change! The exciting thing is I have now officially dropped 5 pant sizes, from a 44 to a 36! That had me feeling pretty good....good enough that I allowed myself a butterscotch malt at the 50's Grill after our shopping outing. But we'll talk about that tomorrow.

Tony
10/8: 228.6 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
8.6 lbs. to go

p.s. In searching for a picture of a pile of pants, I discovered a new slang term!

ACCORDING TO THE BBC:
Pile Of Pants:
noun, slang, official term of rejection.
Relatively new non-swearing slang term, meaning a load of rubbish or, indeed, knickers. Pants in this sense (NB not trousers as in the US; in the UK pants means underwear) only became slang in the 1990s (according to slang lexicographer Jonathon Green). Became official term of rejection even more recently. Popular with students and DJs.

Use it and pretend you are super hip!

What a week...

This was a rough week for me. After a couple weeks during which I felt like I had boundless energy, I just never felt like I could get on track. I couldn't be bothered to track what I was eating or plan my meals. There wasn't one day in which I remembered to bring a lunch. In addition, I just couldn't find the motivation to move my body. Ugh.

On a positive note...please cue the "Hallelujah Chorus"...I lost enough at my weigh-in to put me under 200 pounds for the first time in about 7 years! Hurray!

As a negative, I think the 0.8 pound difference was all in my outfit...that's right, no jeans today. I will take it as a loss (I know..."marathon, not a sprint"), but it doesn't have the same feeling of victory it would have had otherwise.

You know, I had an epiphany yesterday. I tend to lose focus every time I have a ridiculously small amount of weight to lose in order to reach a milestone. I've begun to believe that my subconscious mind and my body are in cahoots, and my subconscious is the ring leader.

SUBCONSCIOUS: Psst...Body...you there?

BODY: Hey, hey! What's the skinny?

SUBCONSCIOUS: Not so loud! She might hear us!

BODY: Sorry. What's up?

SUBCONSCIOUS: I've been thinking...it's only two-tenths of a pound...we could totally slack off this week and it probably wouldn't even make a difference.

BODY: Oh, thank God. I've been keeping my mouth shut, just waiting for someone else to say something. Who does she think she is, anyway?

SUBCONSCIOUS: I know! Plus, that hip-hop dance video made you look like an idiot.

BODY: Real nice...thanks.

SUBCONSCIOUS: Just calling 'em like I see 'em, B...just calling 'em like I see 'em.

They are mounting an insurrection and I need to gently remind them who is really in charge. I have another milestone within reach this week, so I am going to have to really work to combat those slacker urges. Wish me luck as I go back into battle!


Have a fantastic weekend!
Laura


09/28/2007: 200.2 pounds
10/05/2007: 199.4 pounds (a loss of 0.8 this week)
Total loss: 29.0 pounds
Mini-goal #1: 199.9 by 10/15/2007; ACHIEVED!
Mini-goal #2: 30 pounds lost by 10/15/2007; 1.0 pounds to go

Weigh-In Week 17

228.6! That's what it said on the scale this morning. A loss of 2.8 pounds! And week two of the new "Streak".

This one was probably the most unexpected loss so far. I did not get a lot of running in this week and I ate out or had a catered lunch nearly every other day. Guess this lends even more credence to the idea that my body has adjusted to my new diet .

Here are the things I am excited about:

I only have 8.6 pounds left to get to my first goal!

I am only .8 pounds away from losing 6o pounds!

I passed another "ten" milestone this week.

Being under 230 pounds for the first time since being a sophomore in college!

So yeah, I am excited!

Here is something else that I am excited about. The winner of the Guess How Much I Weigh Contest this week is My Lovely Wife. Way to go sweetie. You have always been my biggest supporter... or my shrinking supporter...or my own special biggest losser...well you know what I mean.

Sadly we didn't get 10 votes this week, but I think My Lovely Wife can expect a special prize tonight any way. "Wink, Wink. Nudge, Nudge"

That's what she said!

Wait a minute, I don't think I used that right.


Here's proof that I do indeed wear things other than white t-shirts and jeans. This is one of my new Steve and Barry's outfits. Pretty stylin' huh?

Have a great weekend everybody.

Tony
10/5: 228.6 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
8.6 lbs. to go

Guess How Much I Weigh Conest - Week 17

Another busy week. Rain and a packed schedule kept me from working out as much as I would have liked this week. I did get a work out in every day, but instead of doubling up cardio and strength, like I normally would have, I alternated between cardio and strength every other day. Which means about half the miles this week on my walk/runs.

Once again I have no clue what to expect tomorrow, but it sure would be nice to get down under 230 and have less than 10 lbs. to my first goal weight.

I know I missed recipe Wednesday yesterday. Sorry. I'm just an in demand guy this week.

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.

Since I didn't start tracking calories until Monday I only have three days of info for you. From Monday to Wednesday I ate 6696 Calories and burned 11184 Calories.

Sorry for the lack of stats. I have started tracking again. I am determined to keep it up so next week there should be a lot more info.

Good Luck!


Tony
10/4: 231.4 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
11.4 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.