Week 3 Update

     I am two weeks in with my journey back to 173 pounds and I am doing pretty well so far.  I have managed to stay on track for 12 of the first 14 days.  Thursday I a day trip to Indianapolis for a work meeting where they provided lunch, and I dug in a little more than I should have.  They served chicken, roast beef, red skin mashed potatoes and steamed veggies.  I left the steam veggies off the plate and went back for seconds on the rest.

     Yesterday for Mother's Day, Mandy and I ended up at the Melt Bar & Grill, which originated in Cleveland, Ohio and has spread like wild fire around the state.  Basically they are known for making some tasty huge grilled cheese sandwiches with all kinds of cheese and various other ingredients.  I ended up getting the Parma, Italy which was a fried chicken parmesan with marinara, garlic texas toast, mozzarella and parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.  I was a bit of a good boy, I only got a half a sandwich, but it still was a calorie filled lunch.  

     Later in the evening when dinner time rolled around, I made things even worse when we made homemade tacos and nachos.  I could have been a good boy and had one or two tacos and that was it, but I ended up having two plates of nachos and two tacos.  I basically killed almost a whole bag of shredded cheese on my own.  Sad I know!

As a reminder here is my starting point

 

     Here is my weeks one and two weigh in photos.  To be honest I was a little shocked and how much change happened in these two weeks, but I am not going to complain one bit.  I just hope its body fat that is leaving and no muscle mass.

     Well today is a new day and I am back on the horse.  Long run pace is on tap for today with an estimated distance of 8 to 10 miles.  I'll let how I am feeling determine that once I get out there.

The Wagon Ran Me Over

   

     The holidays are over and all my excuses are used up so it's time to get off my ass and reverse the trend.  I had fallen off the maintain wagon a few months back, but surprising I have been maintaining my weight almost the entire time.  It started with forgetting to track every thing I ate, followed by larger portions at meals, followed by more and more "cheat days" and then the holidays.  It started with one cookie here and a chocolate treat there, till I was in all out binge at every chance I got using the excuse "its the holidays"over and over.

     To be honest I was really afraid of stepping on the scale for fear of what I would see.  When I finally got the guts to do it, I was shocked it wasn't worse than it turned out to be.  I was only three pounds away from getting back into my acceptable 10 pound range.  Now, the goal isn't to just lose those 3 pounds, its to get back to my goal weight and then some.  My goal is 170 pounds which means I am working towards a 13 pound loss.  My plan moving forwards is to decide on what my caloric intake should be, track everything I stuff my face with and stick to my workout routine.   So look for the return of Wednesday Weigh In as soon as next week!

Obsess Much

     This post is completely different than what it was a few days ago.  I had wrote this long diatribe about how I have been so pissed at myself for not loosing the 10 pounds that I am over goal.  I have lost sight of all the positives in my life and stopped thinking about how great it is that I am 183 pounds and not 317 pounds.  I have finally realized I am obsessing over the wrong things.  Yes I need to remember this is a struggle and I have to keep focus or I could ruin all I have worked for, but honestly who gives a fuck about ten pounds.  I sure as hell don't want to anymore.  

     Instead of living in "the glass is half empty" side of things I am going to write a bunch of "the glass is half full" stuff and try to concentrate about the positives of my situation.  The obvious one was the hard work and dedication I have put into changing my life and not being a victim to it anymore.  A painful injury sidelined me for months, caused me to need surgery and rehab and I was able to maintain my weight loss with my diet.  The old Dean would have just given up and slid back into his old habits.  I ate a really, really, REALLY good cookie and managed to be satisfied with it.  The old Dean would have obsessed and looked for every way to get more.  

     There are plenty others I am sure, but after I weighed in today I came to the realization that I can't let that three digit number on the scale control my life.  For example a couple of weeks ago I had been doing quite a bit of running and my weekly mileage had increased to almost pre injury numbers.  When I weighed, not only did I not lose any, I gained weight and it pissed me off to know end.  All I could think about is why nothing was happening.  Before surgery, the running did the trick and now nothing was happening and today, after not running for almost two weeks because of my back I lost 3 pounds.  (Quick side not because I haven't written much in awhile, I hurt my lower back will working on my motorcycle and it has been really painful.  Today was the first day I have felt like running in almost two weeks.)  There are so many things that can affect this number that I almost don't care anymore.  To be honest, I could lose at least 15 pounds right now if I had a surgery to remove a lot of the loose skin around my mid section.  My body might be telling me, I good with were we are, just keep doing what you are doing, so I am going to listen.

The Surprise!

     Well this weekend played host to a lot of races around the country, but one in particular I was wishing I was at, but instead I was at work.  The Indy Mini Marathon, the largest half marathon in the US with something like 35,000 registered participants and home to my Ragnar Sole Mates reunion was going on.  Around nine months or so ago Katie came up with a great idea to have a reunion for our Strangers to Sole Mates Ragnar team and thought that Indy would make a great spot for it.  Unfortunately five of the twelve were not able to make it, but for the seven of us that could planning moved forward.

     I registered, paid my $85 and booked my hotel while counting the days till I got to introduce Mandy to them and got to run one of my bucket list races.  For those that don't know, part of this race is run on the track of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and whether you are a race car fan or not, getting to do that is pretty darn cool.  Whether it was fate or karma, three months before the race the marketing staff at my work moved the dates of a very important three day event to the same weekend as the race.  Needless to say as a manager this required me to be in attendance for the event and cancel my vacation.  First I was pissed that I wasn’t going to be able to hang out with my friend then the idea of wasting money on the registration fee and missing out on the race quickly added to my frustrations.  I let my Sole Mates know that I was now the sixth member not able to attend.

     As the race drew closer I held out hope that I was going to somehow be able to go, I even waited to cancel my hotel reservation until two weeks ago.  It was around this time I thought I can’t run the race, but Indy isn’t that far for me and maybe I can figure out how to still at least see everyone for just a little bit.  From my work, Indy is about a two and a half hour trip, so looking at my schedule I thought I could shoot out of work Saturday, drive to Indy, visit with everyone and get back by eleven the next morning to work the third day.  I wanted it to be a surprise, but I also didn’t want to drive all the way there and have to figure out where they were all at, so I emailed Katie to let her know of my plans.  It was at that time she let me know that our teammate Hilary was now able to make the race and was flying in to surprise everyone as well!

     Saturday came and at first I was so bummed because I was seeing all the great pictures of all the fun they were all having on Facebook while I was working, but none the less I would be seeing them in a few short hours.  My boss was nice enough to allow me to slide out an hour early, so I texted Katie, hopped on my motorcycle and I was on my way.

     Once I arrived at the hotel, I texted Katie and she met me in the lobby to hatch our master plan.  She went back to the room like nothing happened, while I hung out in the bar with a friend of hers, her sister and sister-in-law who also came to run the race.  When the four of us went to the room the girls walked in first saying they just met this cool guy at the bar that also has run a Ragnar and thought he should come hang out with everyone.  I walked in the room and everyone freaked out!  Hugs, tears, and happy faces were all that you could see.  I was so happy to see everyone and carry on a conversation that didn’t involve typing.

     We hung out in the hotel room for maybe a half hour or so before we all headed down to the hotel bar to get some drinks and play a freaking hilarious game called Cards Against Humanity.  If you have never played or even heard of it and you are not easily offended, then you should really pick up this game.  Sometime around midnight we all started getting pretty tired and loopy and decided to call it a night.  With everyone having different flight times in the morning, we knew this would be the last chance all of us were together, so we took a group shot before heading to bed.

     I was up and showered by seven to hit up breakfast before I headed back to work, but breakfast didn't start till 7:30 so I hung out in the lobby with Nancy, a fellow Ragnarian and Bonnie.  The three of us had a very in depth conversation about our weight loss and our inspirations that got us there.  I am not gonna lie, there were some tears shed, but it just shows the passion for the hurdles we've had to overcome.  Once breakfast started, Bonnie, Nancy, Paige, Katie, Rik and myself sat down to eat and continue our pre-breakfast conversations.  You may remember Rik from this previous post (click here).  Rik is one of the Ragnar Relay - From Fat to Finish Line team co captains that inspired the documentary of the same name.  Rik, unknowingly, was a huge inspiration in my weight loss / running journey and thanks to Katie I was finally able to meet him a few months ago.  We have since become friends and have talked about running a marathon together, but our schedules just didn't mesh.  Until now!  We decided to run the Glass City Marathon, my hometown race, next spring!

     Well as they say I hate to eat and run, but I really had to hop on the bike and head back so I could make it to work on time.  So after this long winded post, I can sum it up with what I posted on Facebook:

Worked 8 long hours followed by a 187 mile ride to spend a few short hours with my Ragnar Sole Mates before getting up at 6:45am to ride 187 miles back so I could work another 6 hours. #totallyWorthIt

   

2 Years, 3 Months & 8 Days In The Making

     Today started as any normal day off for me.  I never thought April 8th 2015 would have been the day of all days for me.  In my mind I always thought this day would be an epic tale to tell, but I think because I wasn't expecting it, I am still in shock.  This morning the scale read 172.8, a number that I haven't seen since 1994 when I was in wrestling my freshman year.

4/8/15 official weigh in

173 lbs

Total loss from heaviest:  144 lbs

Current BMI:  27.1 (overweight)

     You may be wondering why this was my goal weight, and the answer to that question is because it was the last time in my life when I was truly healthy.  I started my freshman year right around 200 pounds and when I went out for wrestling, do to my weight, I was put in the heavyweight weight class.  I was getting my ass kicked all over the mat by those that were much larger and heavier than me.  I worked my butt off to drop to the next weight class of 175.  I stuck right around 173 for the rest of the wrestling season.  Once the season was over I made the decision not to go out for the team next year and the long slow upward march to 317 pounds began.

     After years of roller coaster fad diets, failed attempts at exercise and just plain old laziness, the beginning of October 2012 was when my life would forever be changed.  2 years, 3 months & 8 days later, I am at goal weight, healthy and happier then ever, hell I am eating an apple almost every day now.  

     This is just the first step in continuing a life long commitment to stay the course.  I am now entering what I have read and been told is harder than the weight loss itself, maintenance.  I have read that as low as 50% and has high 95% gaining most if not all their weight back.  Now I can't imagine that it is even that high, but even if it is, I am determined to go against and beat the trend.  Its a battle that will only end when I take my last breath, but when that time comes nothing will make me happier than at that moment to smile and give this demon the finger.

I thought I would share a few pics from over the last two years.  Just some different shots of some milestones and fun times I have had.  They are in no particular order, enjoy!

Thursday Weigh In and THE Results!

     To say I am excited by what transpired this morning would truly be an understatement.  To be totally honest I wasn't really expecting anything this morning, maybe a half pound change, but definitely not what appeared.  Yes that picture below says 173.6 which is just a number to some, but to me it means I am a half pound away from my goal.  A number that in September of 2012 felt like a pipe dream, and now that dream is close to becoming a reality.

  

3/26/15 official weigh in

173.5 lbs

Total loss from heaviest:  143.5 lbs

Current BMI:  27.1 (overweight)

     Today's long run was done quite a bit later than usual due to this lovely weather we are having.  I woke up around 7:30am to cold rainy morning.  I check the forecast and what I found was rain early, followed by snow and low 30s in temps and finally around 3:00 the rain and snow quit and the temperature climbed to a balmy 41 degrees.  I don't really like waiting so late, it makes it easier to just skip it, but I like food and 1300 calories burned will let me splurge a little bit ;)  Once I got out on the road I was feeling really good.  My training plan called for a 15 second per mile increase for this week's long run, which I thought might be a problem, however my legs had no problem with it.

     The results for my blood work came back and I thought I would share them.  Back in 2012, when this all began, my blood work results were the catalyst to take the first step in this life long journey.  Each year since then I was to be tested to see if I made any progress.  To be honest I was given the opportunity, but I never made the time until know.  

TEST                         2012          2015

Cholesterol                 156            106

Triglycerides              142             37

HDL Cholesterol        34              46

LDL Cholesterol        94               28

Glucose Fasting         100             88

  Insulin Level              18.93          2.78

Avg. Glucose             108             85

    

     I understand that the change is so dramatic being that there is a three year difference between them, but it does illustrate what one can achieve with hard work and better nutrition.

Thursday Weigh In At The Doctor's Office

     Well since Sunday I have managed to keep my head in the game this week with my food and my workouts.  I have had to make some minor adjustments but I have done everything in my plan except one yoga session.  I didn't have a big loss this week, but I am proud of myself for making the choice to get back on track.  

3/19/15 official weigh in

176 lbs

Total loss from heaviest:  141 lbs

Current BMI:  27.5 (overweight)

     Today was my long run, but before I got that taken care of I had my yearly doctor's appointment.  I new I was going to be asked to get some blood work done so fasting was on my menu last night.  I would like to say my appointment went great, but I got a little annoyed with my doctor's nurse.  She was doing the whole pre-consultation stuff, you know, blood pressure, pulse, height and finally weight.  She had me step on the scale, which read 182, as she was recording it, which she recorded as 192, she made mention of my weight from last year. She says you use to be 217 and that I was doing a good job now that I weighed in at 182. I responded and said thank you and that I use to weigh 317 a little over two years ago and the first words out of her mouth was "wow did you have gastric bypass surgery?".  Really?  Is that the world we live in now?  That is now the norm for weight loss in America.  Don't get me wrong, there is a place in this world for GB and those that do it have made that choice, but she seemed floored when I said no I did it all on my own.  WTF She acted like it was just crazy that someone could lose weight through hard work and dedication. 

     Again, if you are reading this and you have used lap band or gastric bypass for your weight loss, I understand your choice. God knows I have thought long and hard many times about heading down that path. Ultimately I decided that I was not the right person for that kind of sacrifice. It has taken me a long time to get the motivation to start what I did two years ago and I know it will take a lot to maintain this for years to come, but that is the path I have chosen.

     Lastly, I also picked up a copy of my lab work from 2012 that was the genesis for this journey.  I wanted to be able to compare today's blood work to where I was at back then.  I am hoping and assuming things will be good, but you never know these days.  I will keep you posted once I have the results.