THe Weigh-In Week 54

216.8! That is what it said on the scale this morning. A loss of .8!

Not bad considering the BBQ last night. In the end I was a lot more worried about the wine I drank last night , then the food I ate. I filled up on fruit instead of chips...it helped that there was a pretty limited supply of bad food. We were at a priests house after all.

Our winner this week would have been Teresa, had there been 10 guesses.

Have a great weekend everybody.

Tony
06/27 216.8 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
8.8 lbs. to go

Guess How Much I Weigh Contest - Week 54

If I were to post my weight today I would be posting a nice loss for the week... unfortunately I have to wait until tomorrow to post my weight, which puts everything up in the air.

I have a B.B.Q Potluck tonight and as we all know Potlucks are one of the members of the Food Axis of Evils. I will do my best to control myself, but late night eating and a big meal are not always conducive to a good weigh-in.

Plus, I am a little worried that this mornings low weigh-in was partially due to all the water weight I lost during my workout yesterday.

Holy cow was that hot. I am sad to report I didn't make my full work out. Well, I did make the full workout but I had to stop and walk for 3 minutes half way through the run...and I only did 2 miles, not 2.5... but the 2.5 is something I am working up to.

Did I mention it was really freakin' hot?

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
06/26 217.6 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
9.6 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.

Mixed Bag

This has been a mixed week so far...as far as healthy living goes. Without really thinking about it I have been eating horribly this week, but I have been so active that the exercise seems to be offsetting the eating...so far.

Today is going to be another challenge. I am doing my second brick (bike and run back-to-back) over lunch today. Checking the weather this morning I noticed it is supposed to be 87 today.

Not that I am complaining. After whining for so long about not having summer I would never complain about an 87 degree day... but it is going to make todays workout challenging.

Just have to remember to hydrate.

Tony
06/25 217.6 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
9.6 lbs. to go

P.S.
Ellie got her stitches out yesterday and her cut looks great. I think it is going to heal up real nice.

Awesome Weekend

What a great weekend. The second one in a row by my calculations.

The weather was perfect all weekend long. We played in the water, got behind the boat and had the chance to catch up with some old high school friends. Just what a real summer weekend should be.

I spent a good part of the weekend water skiing. I now I have said it before, but I love being able to water ski again. I felt this weekend that I was really getting back into the grove behind the boat. I was able to go for some nice long sets and I even tried a few one handed turns. They may not have been pretty, but they were one handed.

It's funny how your standards change when your passion is reignited. The water was kind of choppy this weekend. A few years ago I probably would have passed and waited for calmer water, but this weekend I hopped in without a seconds hesitation and had the best runs of the summer.

I also went for a swim in the lake with my Dad and my brother-in-law in training for the triathlon. The good news is I will be able to make the distance on the day of the race. The bad news is, it's going to take me a lot longer than I thought.

Everyone has told me that swimming in a lake is way different than swimming in a pool, and I was prepared for the waves and the wind and the cold. What I wasn't prepared for was the claustrophobia. When you put your face in the water you cant see a thing and that freaked me out a little bit. I swam the first 5 minutes of our 15 minutes swim with my face out of the water the whole time.

Hopefully I'll have a few more practice swims in the lake before race day.

Tony
06/23 217.6 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
9.6 lbs. to go

THe Weigh-In Week 53

217.6. That's what it said on the scale this morning. A gain of 1.2 pound.

Not bad, considering. Honestly I thought it would be much worse.

Now something much more up beat.

Ellie is doing great. She hardly even acknowledges her scar, so it must not be hurting much. I see Maggie looking at it every once and awhile, but she never says anything about it so I guess she's fine with it too.

We will get the stitches out early next week and hopefully by next Friday it will be a distant memory.

Here's the fun news from the week. OK, maybe not so much fun as grueling physical endurance news. I noticed yesterday that the triathlon was only 1 month and 1 day away, That makes today the month mark.

With only 1 month to go the tri seems suddenly real. So, yesterday I decide to try something new in my training. I did what they call in the triathlon world a "brick". I assume they call it that because that is how your legs feel when you are done.

A brick is two legs of the triathlon done back to back. Yesterday I biked 9 miles then hoped off the bike and ran for 1.8 miles. A little short of the 2.5 I will need for the race, but I am very proud of it for my first back to back attempt. Even better, when I got back and calculated my time, I managed to keep a pace of 8:30 minute miles as I was running. I almost never run that fast. I still can't believe that I did it after getting off a bike!

I think I will be making bricks a regular part of my work outs for these last few weeks leading up to the tri.

It's supposed to be sunny and 80 all weekend. Finally summer has officially arrived!!!!!

No winner this week. Everyone voted for a loss...as you should have. Your continued optimism gives me something to strive for next week.

Have a great weekend everybody.

Tony
06/20 217.6 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
9.6 lbs. to go

Guess How Much I Weigh Contest - Week 53

What started out as set up for a great week of weight loss has kind of falling into a bit of chaos.

My lovely wife and I had dinner out at one of the best steak houses in the city on Tues. to celebrate our 8-year anniversary. It was an amazing meal!!!! But, not exactly the kind of meal you eat when you are looking for a nice week of weight loss.

The meal wouldn't have been a problem...but then we had an interesting day on Wed.

When I was a little kid I was kind of accident prone.. At least that's how I look at it. My parents would more likely say that I was a little hellion who had the ability to find every dangerous thing in the world to climb on , jump off or run through. Need less to say, I spent my fair share of time in hospitals when I was a kid....by not fault of my excellent and highly qualified parents.

Turns out my daughter Ellie is doing a great job of following in her Dads footprints.

She fell and hit her head on our patio yesterday afternoon, requiring a trip to the emergency room and two layers of stitches to close up the extremely deep gash in her forehead.

To her credit little Ellie was amazing at the hospital, she didn't cry or scream while they stitched her up. In fact she spent most of the time entertaining the ER docs with her eclectic song stylings.

To her moms credit, Laura also did not scream or cry or faint or throw up.

Anyway, our sumptuous anniversary meal was followed by a day of stress eating and very little exercise.

Fortunately Ellie will be just fine. She will most likely end up with a small scar on her forehead, but considering how things could have gone we'll take a scar and count our blessings.

And that will be my excuse if I end up posting a gain this week.

It's also my excuse for not logging food this week.

I'll start again next 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.


Let the guessing begin. Good Luck!

Tony
06/19 216.4 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
8.4 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.

Biking To Work

I biked into work this morning, What a great way to start the day.

I live in the suburbs and work in the city and even now that I am "slim, trim and in shape", biking to work has always seemed like such a daunting task.

"There is now way I can bike that far, it will take me hours."

Turns out it's only 10 miles and it only took me 40 minutes. I guess there is just something mental about the feeling that the 'burbs are so far away from the city.

So now I am one of those guys who can bike to work. How cool is that?

And man did I pick the perfect morning for my first ride to work. It was gorgeous and sunny with just a slight breeze.

Now I am full of vim and vigor end ready to get things done.

Tony
06/18 216.4 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
8.4 lbs. to go

P.S. I don't really know what Vim and Vigor mean and I am too busy to look it up, but it's sounds like the kind of thing people who bike to work would say so I am sticking with it.

Best Weekend Ever!

What a great weekend.

I spent fathers day weekend being a good father. Laura and I spent the whole weekend finishing the girls play set.

Ta-Dah!



It was a royal pain in the hiney getting this thing built....but watching those girls rushing to get back up to that slide one more time, seeing the pure joy in their eyes when we told them it was finally ready, that made all the hassle worth it.

The hard work paid off in another way too.

This is the first weekend in months were I am ending the weekend weighing less then when I started the weekend. Only .2 pounds less, but still, it's a good starting point for a nice loss this week. Fingers crossed.

Hope you all had as great a weekend as we did.

Tony
06/16 216.4 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
8.4 lbs. to go

The 1 Year Anniversary Weigh-In (Week 52)

216.4! That is what it said on the scale this morning. A loss of 3.6 pounds!

I'd say that is a good way to end a great year.

Once again our big winner is my Dad! Way to go Dad. Good guessing.

A quick recap on the year.

I started this journey on June 10th 2007. On that day I weighed 280. 1 year later I have lost 63.6 pounds.

My heaviest weight ever was 288. From that I have lost 71.6 pounds.

I am only 3.6 pounds above my lowest weight of 213.

In the past year I have started running.
For the first time in my life I can run more than three miles.
I completed a 5k race in under 27 minutes.
I swam a mile.
I have taken up biking.
I have started strength training.
I have developed muscles.
The clothes in my closet have shrunk from XXL to L.
I can waterski again.
My back no longer hurts.
I have stopped snoring.
I have stopped wheezing when I walk up stairs.

And...I have made some amazing friends.

I am really proud of the things I have been able to accomplish this year. Like I have said all along, I could have never done it with out the support and encouragement of my friends and family. You guys have been the support that I needed, the courage I never had and the conscience I have been searching for.

From the bottom of my heart, Thank YOU!

This journey is far from over. I still have a lot of goals I want to accomplish before I rest.
The triathlon is coming up.
I am still trying to get to 208.
I want to take my running to the next level.
I want to work on toning my body.

So please stick around, because really, this is just the beginning.

Here is the treat I promised you yesterday. At least I think it's a treat. Click on the pic to see every weigh-in photo from this year, all in one image.


1 year down, 70 more to go!


Tony
06/12: 216.4 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
8.4 lbs. to go

Guess How Much I Weigh Contest - Week 52

This is it! The big one year anniversary edition of the Guess How Much I Weigh Contest.

This has been a good week. Despite eating a little too much in Duluth over the weekend and a few questionable choices during the week, it's looking like I should have a good loss this week. I have been working out like a mad man. I managed to get in a good ride and a good run over the weekend and I am finally starting to stretch my runs past 3.1 miles. On Monday I almost made it 4 miles in 36 minutes.

A year ago, if someone had told me I would be running almost 4 miles by now, I would have wet my pants laughing. It has been an amazing year full of some amazing accomplishments.

No matter what the scale says tomorrow, I will be celebrating a year that I am very, very proud of.

Over the weekend my Brother-in- Law and His Wife gave me a belated birthday present, work out clothes. Which is the same thing my wife gave me for my birthday. As I was putting away laundry this morning I realized that I now have more workout clothes than any other type of clothes in my closet, with the exception of t-shirts. That in itself is a pretty major accomplishment.

I can finally stop wearing the 3XL sleeveless t-shirts that have been the staple of my workout wear.

I am hoping to have a fun little year end wrap up 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.

Stats for the week of June 9th.

Calories Consumed: From Monday morning through Wed. night I have consumed aprox. 16836 calories.

Calories Burned: From Monday morning through Wed. night I have burned aprox. 22698 calories.

37% of my calories were from Fat
13% of those were from Saturated Fat
45% of my calories were from Carbs
16% of my calories were from Protein

Let the guessing begin. Good Luck!

Tony
06/12: 220 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
12 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.

Continuing The Journey

Let's continue our little trip down memory lane.

These pictures start in October of '07 and end with a picture from last weekend.








April 2007 Side By Side with June 2008.


If you ask me, it's been a darn good year.

Tony
06/11: 220 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
12 lbs. to go

Welcome To The One Year Anniversary Celebration

Let's start with a little trip down memory lane. These pictures start in April of 2007 and go through September of 2007.

Tomorrow we'll take a look at the end of '07 and the beginning of '08.

The Wife Weighs In...Week 31

Happy Friday, all!

Quick update for me (very quick). Another crazy week! I'm feeling a little more in control of my schedule, but the week disappeared before I'd even had the chance to realize it had started. No gym again this week. Yuck!

Small loss (very small)...but with no workouts and hormonal water weight, I'm not doing too badly.

I think my darling husband and I may be brainstorming revitalization strategies on our car trip to Duluth this weekend.

'Til next week!





My update:
5/30/08: 185.0
6/06/08: 184.8 (a loss of 0.2 pounds this week)

Total loss of 43.6 pounds, 1.6 pounds over low of 183.2, 2.8 pounds from next mini-goal of 182.0

THe Weigh-In Week 51

220!!!! That is what it said on the scale this morning.

Embarrassed
Disappointed
Dishaeratened
Furious

By sadly not surprised.

I made a lot of bad choices this week, compounded by a horrible day of eating yesterday. No need to dwell. I must do better this week. I for real will start tracking my calories today...and I will be tracking through the weekend for once.

No way am I going into the 1 year anniversary week like this!

Tony
06/6: 220 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
12 lbs. to go

Guess How Much I Weigh Contest - Week 51

Somewhere this week things took a turn for the worse. I got crazy busy again and stopped counting calories. I also worked like a mad man hauling dirt and rock and building and digging. I think this translated to my mind and / or stomach as free reign to eat whatever I wanted. With all that exercise I must be able to eat more calories right? Wrong!

Long story short I think I am going to have a little gain. Which I was fine with until I realized that next week is the one year anniversary of this journey. So now I am a little ticked at myself for losing track this week. In honor of next weeks anniversary, I am going to spend the next week being on my best behavior. And I am back to calorie counting starting today.

I have an early morning meeting tomorrow so results may be posted a little late.

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.

You can check out my food journal for the last few days here.

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
06/5: 215 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
7 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.

Checking In

Busy. Busy. Busy. This seems to be my mantra lately. Swamped at work and swamped at home. But we are getting closer to having the play set done. Once that is finished I hope to have a little breathing room.

Here is a quick revival of Recipe Wednesday.


Over at Hungry Girl (my newest obsession) they have posted a low calorie replacement for a Dairy Queen Mud Pie Blizzard. I can not wait to try this.

Check out the recipe here.

And here is one I can testify to. I made these Yum Yum Brownie Muffins on Monday for our softball BBQ and they were a big hit.

Catch the recipe here.


Tony
06/4: 215 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
7 lbs. to go

What Did You Do This Weekend?

I survived this:


And built this:


With a lot of help from my father-in-law and my parents.


Late Saturday afternoon, we were hit with a major hail storm. It was like a torrential down pour with no rain, just hail. It was insane. Two weeks in a row I have lived through two of the wildest hail events I have ever seen

The storm destroyed all of your garden areas, but didn't really do any other damage. Which is very lucky. It sounds like a lot of people in the area are going to need some serious repair work... and the hail caused a ton of car accidents.

The rest of the weekend was spent building a place for the girls play set. In other words it was spent digging and hauling and hammering and then digging and hauling some more. I am exhausted today. .. and I can barely lift my arms. Good exercise, right?

Despite all the hard work, it was a fun project and I think it turned out great. And we had our first gorgeous summer weekend so I didn't mind spending it outside working. Just a few more truck loads of rock and mulch and the area will be done.

Here's a few more storm pics.



Tony
05/30: 215 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
7 lbs. to go

The Wife Weighs In...Week 30

Happy Friday, GHMIW fans!

So, things are looking a little sunnier this week. Both literally and figuratively. I've been working from home like a busy little bee, trying to get ahead of my at-work to-do list. I've gotten some big projects checked off, which has made me feel a little less overwhelmed, which has helped me to keep a better eye on what I'm eating.

I've also been less likely to "stress-eat." If you aren't familiar with "stress-eating," it's when you are so overwhelmed by what you need to accomplish, and how little time have, that you drive to Chipotle for a delicious burrito...because you've got so much on your plate that you don't even know where to start, because it will help you delay getting started, and because its general yumminess will just make you happy (and not completely stressed out) for a short period of time before you go back into full anxiety attack mode. More or less.

Anyway...I feel like my eating is more balanced this week...a lot more cooking at home, a lot less eating out and eating on the run. Tony has even packed lunches for me this week.

I had a couple nice, long walks over the weekend, but I've had trouble getting to the gym this week. I've been working late at the computer, I've been up late reading scripts, and (to top it off) I've got a cold (and both of the girls, too).

Strangely enough, all these things came together to get me to the gym for the first time in weeks. I had been up late writing our season brochure and reading scripts, and went to bed about 12:30 am. One of the girls woke up at 3:15, coughing and hacking. Tony got up to get her a glass of water (bless his soul), but she was still coughing. Because I couldn't fall back to sleep, I went see if I could help. Tony and I eventually got her settled in and got back to bed about 3:30, and that was the end of my night's sleep.

I laid in bed, tossing and turning, with work issues and to-do lists keeping me awake. So, I got up at 4:00, made some lists, and wrote down some ideas that were floating through my head. At 4:30, I realized that I wasn't actually going to get any more sleep, so I put my clothes on and went to the gym. I got there at 4:55, 5 minutes before the gym opened.

"So, this is what its like to be one of those people," I thought.

I had a great session on the treadmill yesterday morning. 4.25 miles in an hour, varying between walking at 3.8 mph and running at 4.8 mph, at an elevation of no less than 2%, sometimes as much as 7%. I felt great all day! But, boy am I paying for the lack of sleep today!

I know I say this every week, but I hope to get my workouts back on schedule next week. Once that happens, I am going to be unstoppable!

'Til next Friday! Have a good weekend!

My update:
5/23/08: 186.8
5/30/08: 185.0 (a loss of 1.8 pounds this week)
Total loss of 43.4 pounds, 1.8 pounds over low of 183.2, 3 pounds from next mini-goal of 182.0

P.S. Thanks to Nato for the props and Laura N for her never-ending words of encouragement!

THe Weigh-In Week 50

215! That is what the scale said this morning! A loss of ....

Hey Deja vu! No loss. No gain. I weigh exactly the same as last Friday. It's a birthday miracle.

My lovely wife cooked up the most amazing steak dinner last night. That huge steak alone should have put me a pound up for the week. But oh man was it yummmmmmmmy!

This weeks winner is my Dad. Nice job Dad. Not too optimistic. Not too pessimistic. You managed to zero right in on the correct weight.

That makes three weeks without a gain. There may be something to this whole calorie counting thing!

Have a great weekend everybody.


Tony
05/30: 215 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
7 lbs. to go

A Happy Birthday Suprise

I was getting dressed after my run today and without even noticing I tightened my belt one more hole then normal. And now my pants fit better.

I may not have hit a new weight low by my birthday, but I did achieve a new belt milestone.

Hurray.

Guess How Much I Weigh Contest - Week 50

So, here's the deal.

I ate a lot of food this weekend. I worked out a lot this weekend. This has left me nearly even with last weeks weigh in. OK, maybe a little over, but not much. If I was at my absolute best I could probably pull out a loss for this week. On any normal Thursday that is what I would do. But this is no normal Thursday. This is my birthday.

My birthday means pie at work and a big steak and potatoes dinner tonight. I have chosen not to forsake these things for the sake of the scale.

I just wanted to prepare you that there may be a gain tomorrow....but, if I do have a gain tomorrow, it will be a temporary blip that should be gone by the end of the weekend.

I have a very active weekend planned. Full of digging and hauling and building things. And I plan to eat right .

There is no way I am going to hit a new low by tomorrow. I don't know what I was thinking. Hitting a new low during a birthday week? So I am now determined to hit a new low by the one year anniversary in 2 weeks.

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.

You can check out my food journal for the last few days here.

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
05/29: 215 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
7 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.

Back on The Water

It was a busy, busy holiday weekend full of ups and downs. The downs mostly involve the backyard play set we bought for the girls. What was supposed to be an easy afternoon of putting together a simple slide has turned into a major backyard landscaping project, complete with a new retaining wall. At least the digging will be good exercises.

The other down was my parents lake home getting pelleted by baseball size hail. Not fun. But at least the house is still standing.

The ups fortunately far outweighed the downs. Had my all time favorite birthday dinner on Saturday; Ribs, Cheesy Potatoes and corn on the cob. Saw Indiana Jones and The Crystal Skull and didn't hate it. Ran a lot. Went for a good aggressive bike ride with my dad.

Best of all I got back on the water.

Memorial weekend is always the unofficial, official start to summer for our family, and part of that tradition is getting in our first ski session of the summer, no matter how cold the water. It was tempting to break with tradition this year. The water was freezing, the air temp was below 70 and the wind was blowing strong. But we jumped in anyway. And let me tell you it felt good.

I managed to salmon ski toward the end of the summer last year, but it took a few tries to get up and I didn't really feel like I was skiing. On Sunday I popped right out of the water on the first try and by the end of my run I was starting to feel some of my old water skiing glory coming back. Not that I was every a great slalom skier, but I could hold my own.

It is such a great feeling to once again be able to do something I love so much. Something I had done all my life until my weight took it away from me. I am feeling the same way about softball. It's like rediscovering all these magical abilities I forgot I had.

It makes me very excited for this summer...assuming summer every gets here. This weeks forecast calls for another week of low 70's and rain. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

At least it looks like I should have a nice bike ride on my lunch break today.

Tony
05/28: 215 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
7 lbs. to go

p.s I got the new Neil Diamond album , Home Before Dark, for my birthday and I am loving it. Check out some of the tracks here. This ain't your Mommas Diamond.

The Wife Weighs In...Week 29

Happy Friday, GHMIW fans!

Long time no blog, huh?

Here’s the update. Every spring, the non-profit community theater I manage holds its annual fundraising event. It’s a pretty big deal in my world and it’s a lot of work. I’ll spare you all the details, but I usually put in approximately 70 to 80 hours of work that week. There are a lot of volunteers around, which means there is a lot of food around. And, working that many hours doesn’t leave a lot of time or energy for going to the gym.

I’ve spent the last two weeks trying to recover from “Cabaret Week.” That includes lots of work (and homework) trying to get caught up with all the things that were shoved aside so that I could focus all my attention on the fundraiser. I’ve had late nights finalizing our next annual budget, a full day’s worth of fundraising seminars, and a board meeting. Work has been kicking my backside and I don’t see it letting up anytime soon as we prepare for a new artistic season and a new fiscal year.

In addition, Tony has started softball again which is great for him…terrible for me. Tony has been playing in the same Monday night softball league since before I met him 13 years ago...on the same team…with the same group of family and friends. It is a summer tradition for him and I think it’s wonderful and I would never think of asking him to give it up. But, Monday was my yoga night...something I looked forward to every week. With two little girls and a busy Daddy, it’s suddenly much more difficult for me to get to class.

You don’t even want to know how behind the house cleaning has gotten. And, it’s now cabin season, which means even less time at home to get things taken care of.

Honestly, I feel like every bit of structure I have spent the last year constructing piece by piece has all been destroyed in a couple of weeks and now I am left with the task of clearing the rubble and starting all over again. Sigh.

Now that I have that off my chest, what’s my point?

I’m exhausted. Period. I am going to be looking for some renewal and rejuvenation over the next week or so. Getting things back on track. Not just my eating and not just my workouts. I will also be putting my life back together and trying to get things back in balance.

And, it is going to be really hard work.

‘Til next week (promise!)

My update:
5/02/08: 183.4
5/09/08: 185.8
5/16/08: 188.4
5/23/08: 186.8 (a loss of 1.6 pounds this week)

Total loss of 41.6 pounds, 3.6 pounds over all-time low of 183.2, 4.8 pounds from next mini-goal of 182.0

The Weigh-In Week 49

215! That is what it said on the scale this morning. A loss of 1.8!

I'm extremely happy with this weigh-in. It proves I can eat healthy and lose weight without keeping a hard core workout schedule. Not that I have plans to back off on my work outs, but weeks like this are always a challenge. This inspires me to do my best on busy weeks, instead of writing them off.

My net goal was to try and reach 208 by my birthday, which is next Thursday. I doubt I am going to make that. At this stage, I don't think it would be to healthy for me to lose 7 pounds in one week...despite what we see on Biggest Loser. So, I am revising my goal to try and make it to 208 by the 4th of July.

Our big winner this week is my fellow FatBlogger Webcudgel. Nice Job Charles. Per usual, no prize this week, only 6 votes.

Just for the fun of it, here's a face off between the old me and the new me.


Have a great holiday weekend everybody. Keep your fingers crossed, it may actually get warmer than 80 here in Minnesota. Margarita's here I come.

Tony
05/23: 215 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
7 lbs. to go

Guess How Much I Weigh Contest - Week 49

Just three more weeks to the Big Guess How Much I Weigh 1 Year Extravaganza!

This week has gone surprisingly well. I'm not sure if I'll manage a loss this week, but I know I won't have a big gain. Considering how few work outs I have had, not having a huge gain this week is a big accomplishment all in itself.

As things stand right now I am down from last weeks weigh in, so as long as yesterday's eating doesn't catch up with me and I play nice today I should pull out a loss.

Yesterday's Food Journal can be found here.

If you take a look at the journal, you may notice a Dairy Queen Snickers Blizzard buried half way through the day. This was not a slip or binge. This was part of my plan to treat myself to one really premium treat every once and awhile instead of giving in to lots of crummy, unsatisfying snacks.

The Blizzard was to celebrate the successful culmination of the project that has kept me running around like crazy for the last month and a half. And it was delicious!

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. 7099 calories.

Calories Burned: From Monday morning through Wed. night I have burned aprox. 11437 calories.


Let the guessing begin. Good Luck!

Tony
05/22: 216.8 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
8.8 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.

So Far, So Good

I thought this was going to be a difficult week. My work schedule is making it nearly impossible for me to get workouts in this week. Which is always a dangerous situation. Luckily my work schedule is also making it difficult for me to stress eat. So that's good. My calories have been under control all week. In fact my calories are at a great place for me for not working out... they are a little under normal. And the scale seems to be holding pretty steady. All in all a good place to be considering what a disaster a busy stressful week could have been. And I know that week is not over, but I am still feeling pretty confidant.

Yesterday's Food Journal can be found here.

Quick softball update. We are 2 and 0 for the season. Another nail bitter on Monday night but we pulled it out in the last inning. So far no sign of last years batting slump. I have had a hit or walked every time I've been up to the plate.After I made a couple of crazy catches in the outfield on Monday one of my teammates trotted over and said, "No way the old Tony could have caught those." He was so right.

Now for something completely different.

I am kind of obsessed with Hungry Girl now. My love wife and I tried her Thick & Creamy Banana Caramel Smoothie the other night and it was amazing. We also shared them at the cabin this weekend and they got universal approval.

With any of these diet substitution foods I have learned to expect the worse but with these I was more than plenty surprised. The smoothies were delicious and filling.

So I have been surfing around her site looking for other good desert substitutions.

And I found a link to Prevention magazines Daily Calorie Calculator. According to them I need 3114 calories a day to maintain my current weight. So to lose a pound a week I should net out at 2600 calories a day...after exercise.

Seems way high to me, but at least it's a bench mark for me to judge by during this week of limited exercise.

Tony
05/21: 216.8 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
8.8 lbs. to go

False Bravado

Ok, so I may have been a little too enthusiastic when I promised that I would write down everything I ate over the weekend even when I was out of town. I have to be honest with you, I have no clue what I ate this weekend. I know there were some hamburgers and some hot dogs and some chips and some fruit... Ok let me rephrase that, I have no clue how much I ate this weekend.

I did pretty good. I know there was no binging or eating anything crazy. I am sure that I ate a little more than I should have but no where near as much as some weekends. It was just to hard to keep track with all the different eating schedules and pot lucks and no computer for immediate journaling. I guess next weekend I'll have to bring a note book.

It was a highly active weekend though, so that should help off set a little of my bad eating.

The sun was out, the boats are in the water, I had my wet suit on...It must be summer. Hallelujah!!!

Calorie counting is back on track today. You can follow along here if you would like. It's a fun game.

Tony
05/19: 216.8 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
8.8 lbs. to go

The Weigh-In Week 48

216.8! That's what it said on the scale this morning. A loss of 3 pounds.

I am extremely happy... but this is not the be all end all of all this calorie counting. I know the real proof will come in 3 weeks. If I am still counting calories and still losing weight in 3 weeks, then I can call this return to basics a success. For now lets just call this a good start...a really good start.

Our winner this week for the second week in a roll is Andrew. Nice job Andrew, you're on a roll. And congrats once again on your amazing 5K race last weekend.

Andrew competed in his 3rd ever 5K last weekend and finished in 25:17... nearly 6 minutes better than his best time to date. An amazing feat...and one I am very jealous of.

Have a great weekend everybody.

Tony
05/16: 216.8 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
8.8 lbs. to go

P.S. Did you notice I am wearing shorts. There is a chance that summer may finally be arriving. Hurray!

It should be a nice weekend here in the Northland. Get out and enjoy it.

Guess How Much I Weigh Contest - Week 48

I achieved another milestone last night. I swam for 1 mile without stopping. I didn't have my watch with me so I don't know exactly how long it took. I do know it was between 30 and 40 minutes. Not the fastest swimmer in the world, but when you consider I couldn't even swim a quarter mile 4 weeks ago, I feel pretty good.

Yesterdays Food Journal Can be Found Here.

The Short Story:

Calories Consumed: 2284
Calories Burned: 4632



One good thing about counting calories again, no more guessing in the dark for the contest. The stats for the week are below.


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 11th.

Calories Consumed: From Friday morning through Wed. night I have consumed aprox. 16356 calories.

Calories Burned: From Friday morning through Wed. night I have burned aprox. 23676 calories.

39% of my calories have come from fat.
12% of those calories came from Saturated Fats.

44% of my calories came from carbs.

16% of my calories came from protein.

Let the guessing begin. Good Luck!

Tony
05/15: 219.8 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
11.8 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.

Wednesday Calorie Check In

Tuesdays food journal can be found here.

The Shot Story:
Calories Consumed: 2275
Calories Burned: 3840

Tony
05/13: 219.8 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
11.8 lbs. to go

1 and 0 on The Season

It was a nail bitter on the softball diamond last night but in the end we pulled it out and won by one run.

I don't think losing the weight has made me a better softball player but it sure felt like I was running the bases a lot faster this year then I did last year.

Turns out my fears of over indulging after the game last night were all for nothing. It's easy to lay off the snacks when nobody brings snacks.

Over all yesterdays calories were much better than the weekend.

Monday's Food Journal can be found here.

The Short Story:
Calories Consumed: 1834
Calories Burned: 4218

I just heard an interview with Hungry Girl, a food blogger turned entrepreneur turned diet institution. I have followed her story a little bit, but apparently she is huge now. I mean popular, not weight wise.

Anyway she has a new cookbook out today that I am tempted to buy. In the interview she made it sound like a great cook book with lots of full flavored substitutes for unhealthy dishes and restaurant food. If the recipes truly are great tasting and not just based on tiny portions, this may be a good way to get some of my calories back on track.

If anyone picks up her book this week, let me know. I am curious it if it would be compatible with my meat and potatoes, no veggies, no fish, now way, no how lifestyle.

Tony
05/13: 219.8 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
11.8 lbs. to go

Weekend Wrap Up

Not so good with the calories this weekend. I guess the real push toward healthier eating starts today.

Sadly softball also starts today. Don't get me wrong, I am excited for the softball season to start. I can't wait to see what this new lean, mean machine can do out on the diamond. I will just have to be careful about overdoing the celebration after the game tonight.

Sunday's food journal can be seen here.

The Short Story:
Calories Consumed: 3757
Calories Burned: 3491

Ouch!

Tony

Saturday's Calorie Count

It's getting worse before it gets better. Grrrrrrr. No one but me to blame.

Saturday's food journal can be seen here.

The Short Story:
Calories Consumed: 3090
Calories Burned: 3982

Friday's Calorie Count

This calorie counting is very eye opening.

Friday's Calories can be found here.

The Short Story:
Calories Consumed: 3116
Calories Burned: 3968

The Weigh-In Week 47

You guys were way too optimistic, but thanks for having faith in me.

Sadly this weeks weigh in is no where near any of your guesses.

219.8! That's what it said on the scale this morning. A gain of 4.4 pounds.

No pictures this week. Not because I'm embarrassed. We just had a crazy morning and finding the camera ended up last on the priority list. Besides we all know what what 219 looks like.

If you really miss the white t-shirt head here for your weekly fix.

Could have done better on yesterdays eating.
You can find all the details here.

Here's the short story.
Calories Eaten: 2411
Calories Burned: 3851

Follow along with today's eating here.

Andrew was the least optimistic of ya all so he would have been this weeks winner. Thanks for playing Andrew.

If you want to know what my weight loss journey would be like if I lived in New Zealand, go check out Andrews blog. He and I seem to be on a nearly identical journey.

Have a great weekend everybody.

Tony
05/09: 219.8 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
11.8 lbs. to go

P.S.
The official results are in from last weeks 5K Race.
My official time was 27:40.
I finished 129 out of 421 Runners.
My friend Teresa was right there with me in 130th place.

Guess How Much I Weigh Contest - Week 47

There will be a gain this week. I think that is inevitable. So for this week...and this week only votes for a gain will count.

Here's how it will work. If you vote for a gain and you win, I come to your house and smack you for not having faith in me. That will be your prize.

Only kidding. Here's how it really works. If you vote for a gain the rules stay the same but reversed. So closest to the correct weight without going over wins. If you vote for a loss, closest to the correct weight without going over wins. Clear as mud right.

I have officially started logging my calories. You can follow along here at my fitday.com site.

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
05/08: 215.4 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
7.4 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.

Mad As Hell And I'm Not Going To Take It Any More

At this point I am just plain pissed off at myself. I have managed to compound bad eating decision on top of bad eating decision this week and it is showing up on the scale in a big way. This was supposed to be a week about getting back on track, instead it has become a total derailment.

The sad part is, none of my bad food decisions were actually that bad... but when you start adding them all up , well you know the story.

We had pizza on Monday night. No big deal. But pizza on Monday night should have been a sign to be extra good on Tues. Nope. Tues. I had leftover Blueberry French Toast with Cream Cheese and Carmel. Which I also had on Saturday. Again not bad decisions on their own but the compound interest is killing me.

I want to say that all these extra calories snuck up on me, but that would be a lie. I was weak.

Here is the deal. There is a lot of crappy stuff going on right now. No one needs to hear me whine about being unable to get my eating under control. So instead of whining lets do something constructive.

Starting tomorrow I am going back to hard core calorie counting. It is something Laura suggested a few weeks ago and I am finally at the end of my rope enough to be ready to resort to desperate measures.

Did I mention I hate counting calories.

But I am taking the calorie counting one step further. I will post daily calorie reports and / or link to my calorie counting site. This scares me. This will be the most open I have been with you guys since this whole journey started, but I think it's what I need.

So seven days a week I will be updating what I am eating...minus the days that I am out of Internet range. i.e. Cabin days. I will continue to track my food on those days and post when I am back within reach of mother web.

I will count calories until I can maintain a consistent new low. Lets say three weeks of my weight being at or below 213. Once I can reach that goal, I will allow myself to stop counting calories again.

It's time to get serious. Grrrrrr!

Tony
05/07: 215.4 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
7.4 lbs. to go

Want To Win A Bike?

I know I would love to.

I know I just bought a new bike but my lovely wife needs one now. And I have found a way to get her one for free. Assuming I am extremely lucky.

Fellow Minnesota blogger John Is Fit is holding a contest on his site right now to give away a free Fuji Crosstown bike courtesy of Lipton Ice Tea. Head here to check out all the details and enter the contest yourself.

Want to increase your odds of winning?

Scale Junkie, Finding Fabuless and No More Fat Dad are all having their own contests. Check 'em out and tell them I sent you.

Weekend Wrap Up

A busy, busy weekend!

My second 5k on Saturday went better than I had expected but not as good as I had hoped.

I finished the race in 27:40 along with my friend Teressa who kept me company the whole way. My dad ran with us most of the way, but then I think he got bored with us slow pokes so he took off and left us in the dust for the last half mile.

27:40 is 45 seconds slower than my first 5K. I know I was supposed to be getting faster. I blame 40 degree temperatures on May 3, a bitter cold 20 mile an hour head wind and the fact that I biked 15 miles, swam a mile and started a new weight training routine the week before the race.

Really no need for excuses though. The first race I was running on pure emotion and adrenaline. This race had less of that "big accomplishment" excitement. It was still fun though.

We are doing another "informal" race in two weeks. Hopefully it will be warmer.

I also bowled this weekend, did yard work and had softball practice. All and all a good active weekend. Hopefully the start of many more active weekends as summer finally seems ready to show it's shy face around here.

Tony
05/05: 215.4 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
7.4 lbs. to go

The Wife Weighs In...Week 26

Howdy, GHMIW fans!

Another quick update from me. My big fundraiser is next weekend, and things are hectic. Too hectic. But, this is what happens every April through June. By the time July rolls around things will calm down a little.

Only hit the gym twice this week, once for yoga. I don't hope for much better numbers next week due to a number of late nights at work. I'll do what I can, but if I can't make it, that's okay.

No loss or gain this week, which is good. Stressful times are a trigger for me, so this is a success!Considering everything that is going on, if I can maintain my loss again next week I will be pleased. In my mind, this is just part of the real-life roller coaster. A girl needs to be realistic about her goals in challenging times.

Have a great weekend!
Laura
a.k.a., Elle Tee Jay


My update:
4/25/08: 183.4 pounds
5/02/08: 183.4 pounds
Total loss: 44.0 pounds
Next goal: 182.0 pounds

The Weigh-In Week 46

215.4. That is what it said on the scale this morning. A loss of .8 pounds.

Missed it by that much!

This was week two of my goal to lose at least one pound for three weeks. I am a little disappointed that I didn't make the extra .2 pounds to keep the goal, but in the spirit of the goal this was still a decent loss for the week. Especially considering I started out the week with a massive gain from bad eating over the weekend.

The intention of setting a goal of losing 1 pound a week for three weeks was to stop the cycle of loss and gain that I have been in lately. I feel like I am still on track to stick with that goal. If I can post a loss three weeks in a row, I'll be feeling pretty good.

I'd also really like to get to a new low by my birthday at the end of this month. Which means I have to continue to lose or maintain for the next four weeks.

This should be a good weekend for maintaining the healthy lifestyle. I have my 2nd 5K race tomorrow and then I am hoping to get some yard work done. Sunday, if everything works out, I might even get in some softball practice. So it should be a good active weekend.

Wish me luck for the race tomorrow, I feel like I am going to need it. I am not to confidant about living up to my time from the first 5k. I plan to let my Dad set the pace tomorrow and then I'll do my best to keep up.

Our winner this week is my sister with a guess of 1.2. It was Sarah's birthday yesterday so it seems only appropriate that she walks away with the honors this week. Although no prize. Happy Birthday Sis. Hope you had a good one.

Have a great weekend everybody.

Tony
05/02: 215.4 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
7.4 lbs. to go

P.S.
Anybody have any idea when Spring is going to arrive? Stop with the snow already!

Guess How Much I Weigh Contest - Week 46

Did I mention how much I love cross training?

Despite some questionable travel eating over the weekend, I am on track to follow through on week two of my goal to lose 1 pound a week for three weeks. It was looking a little iffy at the beginning of the wee.k

I am sure that biking 14 miles and swimming 1.2 miles yesterday was a big help in making up for the excess weekend calories.

Swimming went much better last night. I made my quarter mile swim without to much trouble. I guess I just needed last week to get back into the "swim" of things.

I think I finished my quarter mile swim in less than 9 minutes. I say "I think" because I may have lost count of my laps and missed a quarter mile by one lap. There was also some confusion over wether the pool was messured in meters or yards. I am pretty sure now that it is yards.

Anyway, that is a really long way of saying I am really happy with last nights swim.

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
05/01: 216.2 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
8.2 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.

A New Hope (Updated)

So last week I made a conscious decision to bring some more hope into my life. I've been a little frustrated and down in the dumps these last few weeks... and it has directly effected my healthy lifestyle journey.

So I said enough is enough and am working very hard to get back to my usual sunny outlook on life.

Life unfortunately has other plans. It is working very hard to keep me frustrated. Mostly by doing its best to keep me out of the gym! LIFFFFFFFE!!!! (In My best William Shatner "Khannnnn!" Voice)

I keep getting scheduled into lunch meetings this week, which is making it really tough for me to get in the training I need. Especially the week before a race. For those who have not been paying attention, Dad and I are doing another 5K together this Saturday. I am worried that my time is going to be miserably slow compared to the St. Patty's Day Race.

But I digress. So life and I are at odds right know. But I am holding my own. I found a way to hit the gym yesterday. I will find a way to get to the gym today. Tomorrow looks good for a bike and a swim. Despite the constant chaos I am holding my own...and not doing so bad with the positive outlook.

Take that life.

The one thing I have to keep reminding myself is this: My life my be a little chaotic right now, but compared to a whole heck of a lot of other people I have a near perfect life, and for that I am supremely grateful.

Tony
04/29: 216.2 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
8.2 lbs. to go

P.S. (Updated at 9:45)
So life is feeling my overwhelming positivity! Today's lunch meeting was canceled about a half hour after I posted this entry. Ha-ha. Which means I can spend quality time in the gym today instead of rushing through a shortened workout.

The Wife Weighs In...Week 25

Happy Friday, GHMIW fans!

Super quick update…I had a good loss this week. Hurray!

I didn’t eat as well as planned, but I got three workouts in besides Monday night yoga. Not bad. I’m not fully back on track yet, however. My habits are still sloppy. That’s okay…there is always next week.

Until next Friday,

(a.k.a. Elle Tee Jay)

My update:

4/18/08: 184.8 pounds

4/25/08: 183.4 pounds (a loss of 1.4 pounds)

Total loss: 44.0 pounds

Next goal: 182.0 pounds

The Weigh-In Week 45

216.2! A loss of 4 pounds.

Cross training rocks!

Guess How Much I Weigh Contest - Week 45

It appears I survived my two day workout frenzy...so far. My brother-in-law joined me for the swim last night. It was nice to have the company and the motivation. Sadly the swimming was not as easy as I thought it would be ...just like everyone has been telling me for the last month.

Turns out having been on the Junior High swim team nearly 20-years ago does not make you an expert swimmer. By the end of the hour I started getting the feel for it, but my stamina was no where near where I had hoped it would be. I managed to do a few 200 meter stretches without resting but that was it. The race requires a 400 meter swim. So the swimming will need some work.

Got to say it was weird to be back in my old Junior High again. This morning I could not have told you what the Junior High locker room looked like, or what color it was. But, as soon as I stepped in, the whole place came flooding back to me and for just a moment I was a giddy, insecure 13 year old boy again. Lucky it was just for a minute.

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
04/23: 220.2 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
12.2 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.

4 Work Outs In Two Days

I got a run in last night at 9pm and I hit the gym yesterday afternoon. Two work outs in one day!

I'm doing the same today. Taking my bike out for its maiden voyage over lunch and then diving into the pool tonight after the girls go to bed.

4 work outs in 2 days...will I survive?

Find out tomorrow.

Tony
04/22: 220.2 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
12.2 lbs. to go

Not Fat Enough For Science

On the way home yesterday I heard a commercial for scientific study that was looking for participants. Something about helping people with weight problems by changing the neurons in their brain instead of gastric surgery. Out of old habits I got interested. "There's an easy and painless weigh to lose weight and get in shape! I must learn more."

At the end of the commercial they listed the qualifications for participants,. Ideally candidates should have a BMI between 35 and 45. I took me a minute to realize, these kind of things are no longer aimed at me. It was a good feeling.

Despite my best efforts I had to skip my workout yesterday. Not a good way to start the week. To make up for it I plan to get in two workouts today. Strength training over lunch, and a run tonight after the girls go to bed.

Here's the good news. I am finally a bike owner again! Woo-Hoo. I can not wait to get my first real ride in on Wed.



Here is what my Tri training schedule is going to look like...hopefully. I know it will change as I fine tune things and learn what works and what doesn't.

Mon: Lunch-Run, Night- Softball
Tues: Lunch - Strength Training
Wed: Lunch- Bike, Night- Swim
Thurs: Lunch - Strength
Fri: Lunch - Run
Sat: Morning - Bike / Run

I am hopping to squeeze in an extra run or bike during the week with Laura and the girls and an extra swim with my brother in law.

Man, when I type it out it looks pretty daunting.

Tony
04/22: 220.2 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
12.2 lbs. to go