Week 21 End - Another Successful Week

After a lack-luster week last week of 2 lbs. I was pleasantly surprised when I stepped on the scale. I had a 4 lb. loss. It always seems just when I think I have finally plateaued I am surprised by success. While 2 lbs. is certainly successful and actually my target loss for a week, the past successes have made it difficult to expect less.

It would seem that my reduced exercise and continued diligence in logging and controlling my food intake has been beneficial. I may have actually not been eating what I should for the amount of calories I was burning. That is not to say that I am in any way minimizing the need for exercise, but I have tried to adapt my exercise to more normal activities instead of time consuming dedicated blocks of exercise. I have tried to become more active in my day to day life in order to get my exercise in. Of course I am not burning the big numbers I was doing initially, but, it is sustainable and seems to be working.

I recently started working overtime at work again.  That entails double shifts (16 hrs.). I had not been trying to get much in the way of overtime early in the year, because I was concerned that it would "mess with my program". I have been pleased to find that I can in fact do the overtime shifts and still maintain an ongoing weight loss. I have to adapt to an extra meal and the down side of sleep deprivation and fatigue, which many will say will bring a screeching halt to your metabolism, but, I have been fortunate enough to be able to adjust so far. We will see what the long term effects may be. For right now I will continue as long as I am seeing the results I need.

This coming Saturday is my "Color Run" in Hershey, PA. This is a 5k run/walk (I'll be walking) to promote "Health, Happiness and Individuality". It's billed as the "Happiest 5k on the planet". This is a real milestone for me. 6 months ago I would never have thought that I would be able to do this. Now, 67.4 lbs. later, I know I can and am looking forward to enjoying the day with my wife, daughter and friends. I'm sure there will be many pictures to post.

On another note, it became clear to me this past weekend, that I would not be retiring as soon as I had hoped. The good news is, with the newfound health and energy that my new lifestyle is providing, I believe that a few more years will not be a problem. It is important that I am able to go on my terms and be able to do all the things that we had planned to do in retirement. If that means sticking it out for a few more year, I am OK with that. Not that it wasn't a kick in the gut initially. But, I am good with it now and will make the most of the few years of work that I have coming.

As always, thanks to all who have shown so much support. I really couldn't do this without it.

Week 20 End - Seeking a Sustainable Lifestyle

63.4 lbs. lost to date

This week was a little disappointing. Though I lost 2 lbs. which is my set goal per week, I was hoping for more and didn't see it. I wonder if I am approaching the dreaded "plateau". We will see what the coming week brings.

I have made changes to my program in the interest of creating an ongoing sustainable lifestyle. While we can all lose weight with diet and exercise, I am trying to adopt a new lifestyle that will not only allow me to reach my goal weight, but also maintain it into the future. I find that I cannot maintain a strict regimen of dedicated exercise with my current obligations of work and family. While I enjoy the exercise, finding time that I can dedicate to it's pursuit is difficult. I have been doing it at the expense of other things over the past few months. I think that it was honestly needed to jump start my program, but I now believe that it is necessary to find a more permanent solution to continuing toward my goals. I am hoping that I can go back to working some overtime at work and some other activities that I have put on the back burner and still continue to progress.

I am making efforts to be more active in my everyday life. I try to spend more time out of a chair and standing/walking. I try to choose activities that will add to my daily "activeness" and of course I continue to log my food and count calories. After last weeks disappointing loss of only .4 lbs. I was indeed pleased to see an increase, but was hoping for a bit more. However, it has shown me that I am not "chained" to dedicated exercise periods and can continue to move forward while coming back to some of the things I have neglected over the past several months.

Only the future will prove or disprove my theory here, but, I am making the attempt because I know that for me, the only way to lose this weight and maintain it, it to be able to continue a healthy controlled lifestyle long into the future. I have lost weight many times and once it was a whole lot of weight. The problem was that as soon as "the diet" ended, I fell back into back habits and unhealthy choices. I very much look forward to being "thin" again and this time staying that way. I never want to go back to where I was. The benefits I have seen at a 60 lb.+ loss is just more motivation to get to the place I need to be. I can't begin to express what it feels like to have energy where there was none and be relatively free of pain. It's absolutely amazing.  I can't go back.

Thank to all who have shown support, and thank you for your ongoing encouragement. There are so many times when it seems this road is overwhelming. But, with the support of friends and family, I know I can do this. There's only more great things to come in the future.

Week 19 End - A Different Kind of Success

Week 19 saw a very small loss, and in the interest of full disclosure, I will  admit that I put off my weigh in for 24 hours because I woke up on Saturday morning with some fluid retention (swollen hands and feet). I only dropped .4 lbs. This occurs from time to time and is often a result of sodium intake. I have been trying to watch, but I have a real weakness for pickles and on Friday I had a generous helping of sauerkraut which is of course a LOT of sodium. I drink a lot of water every day, usually in excess of 1 gallon, so there are times when my tissues hold a lot of extra water weight.

While the weight loss was minimal, I received the results from my bloodwork, and I have to say, I was absolutely thrilled with the progress there! My A1c is now down to 6.1 from a high last year of 8.5, my blood pressure was "outstanding" according to my doctor, and my combined cholesterol was down to 209 from 253 in January. Those are the kind of numbers I wanted to see. While still not ideal, it is amazing results for a 4 month period of time.  The scale is a big thing since my goals are centered around continued weight loss, but the whole purpose of this journey is to reclaim my health and this is a great move forward regardless of what the scale says.

The week was a bit different in the fact that I only got out to walk a couple of times. I was worried that it might be an issue, but I think it was fine. I definitely had to be much more diligent about my meals and calorie intake, but it's good to know that I can continue to move forward even when circumstances interrupt my routine. I do not blame the small weight loss so much on the reduced exercise. I believe it to be more the natural ups and downs of this process. After my last "bad week" I posted a huge loss the following one. So it's not time to panic.

I have devised a plan for when I do hit a plateau. If my loss in very small or non-existent next week, I may try it out. My idea is to step up to a maintenance level of eating for a week or two to sort of reset my body's metabolism. When I say "maintenance level" I mean eating the full calorie intake that allows me to stay at my current weight. At this point that would be about 3500 calories a day, about 1500 more than I am doing now. I think we can sometimes get stuck and need to shock our systems into moving forward again. I think if I eat just to maintain for a week or two, then drop back to loss calories again, it should jump start things. Of course I will wait to see what the coming weigh in will bring. I don't want to stop the forward progress if it is still occurring.

I know this posting comes very late. Tomorrow is weigh in for week 20 and I'm just getting around to publishing last week's post. I will try to do better going forward in posting in a timely fashion. Thanks for the continued support and encouragement.

Week 18 End - More Success!

Well, I never got around to posting last week. For those who were waiting for my post, I apologize.  It was a successful week with a loss of 1.6 lbs.. As most of you know I have been fanatical about getting my workouts in at the gym, going 7 days a week except when it was just impossible due to illness or circumstances. Over the past 3 weeks I have changed that outlook.

We had a stint of nice weather so I decided to start walking outside around the neighborhood instead of going to the gym all the time. Over the past week and half or so the weather has again turned less than ideal. We've had a lot of rain, very cool temps and generally just kind of miserable for the end of April and beginning of May. Last week I only got my walking in about 1/2 the time and this week not at all. That might sound like a fail, but I don't see it that way. Even though my workout streak has suffered, I've been more active in many other ways. I have had the opportunity to work around the house and yard and work on vehicles and motorcycles. I continue to lose weight as evidenced by the 1.6 lb loss last week, and  3.6 lbs. this week. I continue to monitor my calorie intake and try to stay active throughout my day. It has just gone to show that I can continue my journey successfully regardless of my ability to "work out".

Next week promises better weather so I hope to hit the milage pretty hard again. But, it's good to know that when circumstances and weather conspire against you, you can still control those things over which you DO have control and push forward.

I am now less than 1 month away from the Color Run and looking forward to it. I was apprehensive about committing to 3 miles back in Feb. when I was talked into this, but feel very confident now.

I have finally reached a loss level where it is showing. It's amazing the questions you get when people all of the sudden realize you are half a person smaller than you were. While I have more than 90 lbs to go, I have lost 61 lbs. and that is the weight of an average size 7 year old. It's hard to believe that I was carrying that around all the time. No wonder I was always tired and sore. It's hard to imagine what losing the last 2/3 will feel like. I am more motivated than ever.

The Incredible Shrinking Man

I had a doctor's appointment this past Friday and he was very impressed with my weight loss and the impact it has had on my overall health. My blood pressure is outstanding and although we are waiting for the results from my bloodwork, my daily blood sugar tests have been outstanding. He is confident that if I continue on this path, with this resolve, I can reverse the diabetes and blood pressure and because of my better eating habits, I may be able to kick the cholesterol meds as well. That's encouraging because the whole point of this journey is reclaim my health. By posting time next week we should have the results of the blood work and see for sure how much improvement there has been. We discussed how I have been doing it and he wholly approves of my methods at this point. He agrees that for this to be long term it must be sustainable and that by trying to normalize my diet and exercise to something that can be continual into the future, I should not fall into the trap that so many do by hitting their goal then gaining it all back by abandoning the lifestyle changes that it took to get them there.

We recently booked our first cruise for next spring. Being a novice at the whole cruising thing, I decided to do a little research. According to many in the know, the average person gains 5-10 lbs. on a 7 day cruise. It will be a real challenge to not fall into that. I should be closing in on my ultimate goal weight by that time and certainly don't want to be side tracked by gaining a months worth of weight loss in a week. I will have to remain disciplined to not overeat even though apparently food is available everywhere 24 hours a day. We are looking forward to the new adventure, but will have to make sure that I don't defeat myself in the name of vacation. I fully intend to enjoy myself, but I have no intention of undoing a year and a half of hard work. We will see how it all shapes up. For now, on to breaking that 300 lb. mark. 14.6 lbs. to go. That's the key. Taking this mammoth task on one small goal at a time.

Until next week my friends, Thanks for the ongoing support and reports of your own victories in the battle for a more healthy life!