Friday April 8th, 2011

So another couple of weeks have passed. Sorry about that. I've been in non-stop meetings for what feels like forever. Which caused me to miss a lot of days at the gym the past two weeks. Which in turn had me worried about stepping on the scale this morning.

But all the worry was for not.

I weighed in at 262.8 this morning. A loss of 1.4 pounds. Not spectacular, but not a gain either. Which I am extremely happy about. Getting ever closer to 15 pounds down. Just 2.8 to go.

You for sure won't hear from me next week.

So see you in two.

Tony

Weigh In

264.2. That's what it said on the scale this morning. A loss of 2.4 pounds.

And that makes 11 pounds lost so far.

11 pounds in a month and a half? I'll take that. Things were a little back and forth at the beginning but 11 pounds is a good, start.

Now I just have to keep it up.

I start week 5 of the couch to 5K program today and I'm really hopping my legs hold up. On the plus side, I might be able to run outside today.

On a related note:
Check out this amazing thing my friend Scott is doing at the Mall of America. For the next 30-days he will be living in a glass house while he tries to live life as healthy as possible. Talk about living your weight loss journey in the public eye. I wish him tons of luck!

http://www.do-groove.com/thehumandoing/

See you next week.
Tony

Mega Weigh-In

So I've missed a few weigh ins. Ok more than a few. But just because I didn't post the results here, it doesn't mean that I've been avoiding the scale...or the gym.

I now present the first ever "Guess How Much I Weigh" Mega Weigh-In. One month of weigh ins in one scale crushing post.

Friday February 18th: 268.2

Friday February 25th: 267.6

Friday March 4th: 268.2

Friday March 11th: 266.8


As you can see it's been an up and down month, but the last two weeks things have been really coming together. This weekend I even weighed less on Monday then I did on Friday. That almost never happens.

The big news is I am back to running. I'm starting slow and trying out a couch to 5K program this time around. So far it's going well. I'm just finishing up week 3.

What I have noticed is running seems to be the miracle cure for weight loss, at least for me. I'm sure there are a lot of other factors, but as soon as I got serious about running again, the pounds have been sliding off...and staying off. And this week is shaping up to be a good one too. I have a feeling I'll be able to breeze past the 10-pounds lost milestone this Friday.

Tune in in two days to see if I make it.

Tony

Weigh-In

267.2. A loss of .6 pounds. That was my weigh-in last Friday. Not bad considering I had a big steak dinner on Thursday night.

Onward and downward.

Tony

Weigh-In

267.8. That's what it said on the scale this morning. A loss of 4 pounds.

It's been well over a year since I've written. I didn't abandon my weight loss efforts, but things definitely got away from me. I have no big answers and no excuses. I just let my focus wain and fell back into some bad habits.

The good news is I didn't readopt all my old habits. I've still been getting to the gym, and ... well I guess that's the one big positive.

But now I'm back. I've been working hard for the last 3 weeks and I've managed to drop nearly 10 pounds. And that is just the beginning.

My life is a lot busier than it was 2-years ago, so my posting will be less frequent, but my weigh ins will continue... and so will my weight loss.

See you next Friday.

Weigh-In

234.6! That's what it said on the scale. A 1 pound gain from my weigh-in two weeks ago. Not bad considering I have had almost no time to workout in the last two weeks.

I'm preforming in a play right now and it's sucking up nearly all my free time. The show runs for two more weekends and then I can get back to concentrating on me.

Sadly I had to breakdown and do a little clothes shopping last week. I was down to only one pair of shorts and two pair of dress pants.

I took a chance with the thrift shop down the block and had great success. I may buy all my clothes there from now on. Cheap stuff and an endless variety. Oh and I'm recycling too.

Have a great weekend.

Tony

Weigh-In

I was dreading stepping on the scale this morning.

I've been sick all week and combined with a busy work schedule I managed to only get to the gym once.

Ready for a miracle.

I managed to lose weight again this week.

242.6!!!! A .4 pound loss.

I'm going to seriously kick this cold this weekend and hit the running trail hard next week.

Have a great long weekend.
Tony

Weigh In

243. That is what it said on the scale this morning.

Here is the small measure of comfort I take form this mornings weigh-in. On Monday, I weighed 245. So a 2 pound loss for the week. I'm moving in the right direction.

I made it to the gym everyday this week. I ran twice. Wednesday 2-mile run felt really good. I'm going to continue to take the running slow and increase my mileage by a small amount each week until I work back up to 3-miles. Then I'll start working on adding speed.

Now I have to keep it up next week.

Tony

What Happened to All My Clothes?

At the moment, the worst part of this weight gain has been my reduced wardrobe. Last summer I bought all new clothes when I was 20 pounds lighter than I am now. As you can imagine none of those clothes fit very well right now. A few weeks ago I actually took all the too tight clothes and set them aside.

What's left is a sorry sight. I have a few new shirts that I bought in the past month, mostly baggy golf shirts, and a few pieces of 3 to 4 year old clothes that are pretty ratty but still fit.

As for pants I have 2 pair of shorts and 2 pair of dress pants, that's it. If I can't lose 10 pounds before fall, I am in trouble.

What really sucks is I am going to end up skipping an entire summer with all the clothes I bought last year, because by the time I can get back into them, it will be too cold to wear them.

Don't be surprised if you see my wandering around in a tank top this winter, just so I can feel like I've got some use out of them.

Yesterday was a good day. I went for a nice slow two mile run (22 minutes) and then spent 25 minutes on the exercise bike. My legs are a little sore but not bad enough to keep my from a longer tempo run tomorrow.

Tony

Another Month Goes By

Nearly a month and a half this time.

I've been waiting until I had some good news or something profound to say to start writing again. I'm starting to think not writing maybe the reason I have no good news.

The fact is I am still in a pretty bad spot. I'm not gaining, but I'm not losing. I'm stuck right around 240.... and honestly I haven't been working very hard at jump starting things.

I've been working hard at making a lot of excuses, but not losing weight.

The good news is I am still making it to the gym an average of 4 days a week. And I went for my first run today in over a month.

My running has been sidetracked by shin splints which hit me hard during my last two Triathlons of the season.

So once again I feel like I am starting over in so many ways.

Just writing this post feels like a major step.

So here's the deal. At a minimum I promise to post a weigh-in every Friday...for now. We'll see how that goes for a while before I start making more promises.

Thanks for sticking around...for those of you who are still around.

And thanks to Jeff for the motivation.

See you Friday...if not before.

Tony

And Now For My Next Trick.....

So did you like my disepering act?

Sorry I haven't been around. I can't believe it's been a whole month.

Is anybody still stopping by or have you giving up on me yet?

I'm doing well and I have not abandoned this project yet. I just needed a little time off while I focused my creative energies elsewhere. I am taking some small steps back into the world of theater and that is taking up a lot of my life at the moment.

I have also got a little off track with the weight loss. I've gained back about 20 pounds over the last 6-months. That means I'm still nearly 50 pounds down from where I started, but a 20 pound gain is pretty disturbing.

I think I have figured out what I need to do to turn things around. I'll talk more about it soon.

I'm going to try my hardest to keep up with regular updates. So hopefully I'll see you soon.

Tony

The Weigh-In Week 96

235! That's what it said on the scale this morning. A loss of 3.4 pounds.

Rock On!!!

Now this is what I'm talking about.

It feels good to finally see some real progress after a few months of stagnation. And I'm going to keep on going too! I really want to be as close to 220 as I can for my next race at the end of July.


Have a great weekend everybody.

Tony
6/12: 235 lbs.
New Goal: 220
15 pounds to go

Guess How Much I Weigh Conest - Week 96

I was a little worried about this week. I haven't had much opportunity to work out this week. I took a rest day on Monday, I lifted on Tuesday and I took a short bike ride to get the kids from school yesterday and that's it. Nothing to intense. I'm hopping to get a run in to day as well.

So I was pleasantly surprised when I stepped on the scale this morning. This could be another great week for me. I'll leave it at that and let you guess until tomorrow.

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.

Let the guessing begin. Good Luck!

Tony
6/11 238.4 lbs
NEW GOAL: 220
18.4 to go

Buffalo Triathalon Wrap Up

This past Sunday I finished my 3rd Triathlon, the first of 3 triathlons I'm doing this summer.



Saturday night I went to sleep thinking Sunday was going to be miserable. The weather was predicated to be in the very low 50's and rainy. Not great weather for jumping out of a cold lake and hopping on a bike wet.

Turns out it was only slightly miserable. It was mid 50's and just kind of drizzly. In the long run the weather was kind of fun...except the stupid wind...but I'll get to that in a minute.

The crummy weather kind of inspired even more commeradery then usual in the racers. I can't tell you the number of times someone out on the course would shout encouragement at me. Just random people who knew exactly what I was going through. And there were still a ton of spectators there to cheer everyone on.


The Results:

overall place: 645 out of 878
division place: 79 out of 90
gender place: 438 out of 541
time: 1:38:47
swim: 8:04
transition 1: 4:41
bike: 52:17
transition 2: 2:48
run: 31:00




I am just a little disappointed in my results. I really wanted to come in under an hour and a half. My bike and my transitions are what killed me. The bike had a lot of up hill sections that just happened to be into the wind. The combo kind of sapped a lot of my energy.



I'm really happy with my swim though. I shaved nearly a minute off my time from my first race last year. Unfortunately I spent so much energy on the swim that I was really dragging coming out of the water.







So I'm considering this my warm up race for the season, and I'm putting all my efforts into beating last years time for my next race at the end of July.


This was a great race for swag too! We got a t-shirt, a visor, a metal water bottle, a plastic bike water bottle, a full meal, and a medal when we crossed the finish line.

Finished Another One

The Buffalo Triathlon on Sunday went great, despite the cold and the rain.

I'll get to a full race wrap up tomorrow or Wed. when I have more time and can post some pictures.

Tony

The Weigh-In Week 95

238.4 That's what it said on the scale this morning. A loss of 1.8 pounds.

A good start to getting back on track.

It's supposed to be mid 50's and rainy for Sunday's Tri. Whoppie!

Full Triathlon wrap up on Monday.

Have a great weekend everybody.

Tony
6/05 238.4 lbs
NEW GOAL: 220
19.4 to go

Guess How Much I Weigh - Week 95

So here is the number I was to embarrassed to admit to last week, 240.

We will not be seen that number again.

Been a great week this week, although my scale had dead batteries all week so the weigh in will be a surprise tomorrow. I'm expecting good things.

I've been training hard this week for the Tri on Sunday. I've managed to shave at least a two minutes off my bike / runs every time I have gone out this week. Which means yesterday's bike/run was over 4 minutes faster then my bike run last Thursday. That's git me feeling good.

A big congrats to my lovely wife and our friend Sarah for running in the first ever Minneapolis Marathon 5K last Sunday!

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.

Let the guessing begin. Good Luck!


Tony

6/04 240 lbs
NEW GOAL: 220
20 to go

Still Working At It

Hey it's me. Remember me? So I've been gone for a few weeks. It may feel like I have abounded this space and my attempts to continue my weight loss journey but I haven't.

I'm still slugging away. I'm hitting the gym or the trail 5 days a week. I'm still training for my 3 triathlons this summer. The first of which is coming way to soon on June 7th.

I just haven't had a lot of time to keep up here. We've had some drastic changes this past month with the girls heading off to pre-school and I am exhausted. Add to that the weight gain of been seeing over the last few months and I am not in much of a writing mood.

But things are getting back on track. And I have to say it is kind of amazing to me that despite all the craziness I never once thought about abandoning my workouts. Two years ago those would have been the first thing to go when things got busy.

I am going to take one more week off from the weigh-in contest. I want one more week to get my weight back to something I'm not completly embarrassed by before I start things up again.

I promise I'll keep in touch.

Tony

Another Week Off

I'm taking another week off from posting this week. A confluence of events is going to make free time extremely rare this week. The girls started pre-school today, the same week as my wife is in the middle of her once a year do-or-die fund raiser, silent auction, cabaret extravaganza at the theater she manages.

And if that wasn't enough I'm Emceeing this years Cabaret event, so I'll be in rehearsals all week.

Despite all that I'm feeling good. I had a great run today. Probably the best run I've had in more than a month. I'm determined to keep up the good living this week.

Until next week,

Tony

The Weigh-In Week 94

236. That's what it said on the scale this morning. A loss of 1 pound.

Moving in the right direction again.

Tony