5 POUNDS THIS WEEK HELLO 230s

It was a great weigh in tonight. So far I am continuing to lose weight in this new phase of the weight loss process. I am eating a little more but still trying to have some meal replacements and lots of fruits veggies and water. I ran and biked a lot this week and have a lot of activity planned for this weekend also. I am really hoping to be at my goal weight of 220 by the triathlon on May 5th.

One of the real cool things about this process has been the time I get to spend with God while running. This week I have been really blessed with some great insights that I hope to post more on later, but this is all for tonight. Just wanted to update the weigh in.

Big Weekend

What I am about to tell you would have sounded impossible to me just 6 months ago.

On Saturday morning I got up and met some friends downtown at a coffee shop with the owner of the local bike shop and some people that I just met Saturday in all there were about 20 of us that went out for a bike ride. I thought we were going for about 20 miles and ended up going about 40 MILES! What a way to start the day, it was pretty awsome and something that I would have been imtimitated to even think about trying to do just a few months ago. One of the people we rode with was a friend I had not seen in a long time from high school, I shook his and hand and he said "What happened Shump? Now it looks like shrunk Shump" I really hope that does not catch on, but the thought was nice. On Sunday afternoon I had my long run in preperation for the 1/2 marathon coming up in April. I ran 7 MILES on Sunday afternoon. It was a little hot and windy, but I made it through and actually felt pretty good. I slept very very well last night.

I felt more alive and satisfied all weekend and I have to believe that it is partly because of the activity and the hanging out with some like minded people. Airestotle said that true happieness is not contentment, but flourishing. No one is more content than a baby, but who wants to be a baby their whole life. He said that true happieness happens when the spiritual, physical, and mental aspects of our lives are flourishing. I have to belive that the physical part is really big for me, I just enjoyed the weekend more, little things like flying a kite with Kim and the girls seemed more exciting, what some would consider mundane did not seem mundane and I have the mindset that is achieved through a healthy lifestlye helps bleed over into other aspects of life. Or maybe it was that funny smelling greenish smoke we rode through coming out of a house on North Main, whatever the case it was a good weekend.

Couple new pics

I am not sure who that chick is I am with LOL, we have both changed a lot. Here are a couple of new ones. One is from the cruise we took back in 2003 I think and the other is me today at around 240 pounds.




BEFORE

Today

Amazing Week

I am not sure how it happened. I ate too much last weekend. I had Wendey's on Thursday night (burger) I had Strawberry's on Friday night (pork steak) and I had Fajitas on Saturday night. In between I had some brownie batter and a piece of red velvet cake. Yesterday I weighed and lost 4.6 pounds for the week!! I have a theory, it's called GUILT. I worked my rear off Sunday through Thursday and biked around 40 miles this week swam about 1000 yards and ran 20 miles or so and took in about 600 calories a day for Sunday through yesterday. I can say that after my run yesterday this weeks style of dieting is not good for working out. I was zonked. I am going to have to quit having a "free weekend" and then try and make up for it during the week because I am not fueling my workouts well enough. So this week I did have a little of Kim's poppyseed chicken last night, but back on the straight and narrow today and the rest of the weekend,so that my guilt does not get in the way of me eating properly for my workout schedule.

By the way the weight is now 241.4 and I plan on being in the 230's at this time next week!!

Quick Post

It is rare that I post this close to the weigh in for the week, which will come in a few short hours, but I was excited and had to share with someone, so I picked you. After a week that has seen me do some serious overeating on occastion, mostly last weekend, I have been afraid that I would gain or not lose at all this week. But I have righted the ship and if my scales are correct I should lose a little. But whatever the case my be, I am posting this so I can look back and not be dissapointed with a subpar weigh in today.
Over lunch I went to the mall and bought a new pair of shorts from American Eagle, a little trendy for my tast but hey I liked the cool plaid shorts what can I say. Anyway I tried on the 38s and they WERE TOO BIG! I have just purchased my first pair of 36s. I don't know if they run big, I don't care it says 36 and I am excited about that, wait it gets better. You can't buy a new pair of shorts and not have a shirt to go with it,but I did not want to look like I came out of an American Eagle catalog so I went down to Dillards to buy a t-shirt to go with the shorts. My wife has not signed off on my color combo, so you may never see me in this outfit, but the story remains the same. This morning I was looking through my closet for a shirt and I found a 4XL that is XXXXL, I think I am going to keep it as a reminder, but just a few minutes ago I bought not a XXXL, not an XXL, NOT EVEN AN XL! I just bought a LARGE shirt to go with my 36 pants.
Sorry for dragging this little shopping experiance out, but it's a big deal to me, these are goals that are being realized and that is pretty cool. I hope to be in the 230's by my birthday and close to that big 220 by the triathlon on May 5. I will report the numbers tonight or in the morning for this week.

Down another 2+

I weighed in last night at 245.6. I am pumped up about losing over 2 pounds again this week and looking forward to seeing the 230s soon. It is exciting to see the numbers continue to come down and the training for the 1/2 marathon going well. This brings the total in the last few months to over 110 pounds lost!! If you have time to check out my friends' who are losing weight and encourage them you can see their blogs at www.debbiecook.blogspot.com and tobysweightloss@blogspot.com

Today has been super busy and a lot going on, but I have had a lot of thoughts about this journey and some great runs this week. I hope I have time to post more later.

Great Weekend

On Saturday morning I biked 20 miles with some friends and then sat around and drank coffee at a coffee shop downtown. It was a great way to start off the day. I had a wonderful ride and it was really the first time out since I have lost so much weight, the hills seemed much easier. Then on Sunday I ran 6 miles. I ran the big loop around Craighead lake twice in 1 hour and 1 minute and a few seconds. I felt really really good about that time, I felt pretty tired afterwards, but I kinda pushed myslef and I like that.
Eating has been going great and I hope to edge down another couple of pounds this week. I will let you know Friday morning.

Don't forget to get an update at debbiecook.blogspot.com on Debbie's second week of the program.

UNDER 250!!

Mark it down, I no longer have to move the big weight over to the 250 on the medical scales. I weighed in at 248.4 this week. I am really really excited about that. For those of you who have been following along at home for the last year plus you may remeber I had some goals and prizes for myself when I reached certain goals. Let's take a trip down memory land
1) When I got under 350 I bought myslef a brand new pair of running shoes (Brooks Beast) still the brand I use,if they would like to contact my agent about an endoresement deal. I will run the Nashville 1/2 in Brooks Beast
2) When I made it under 300 I bought myslef a handy dandy new Specialized road bike. The very one I hope to take a little ride on early tomorrow morning.
3) I said when I got under 250 I was going to get me one of those cool Ironman scales that calculate body fat and BMI and all that good stuff. I am currently looking into that. But I have heard they are kind of a gimmick when it come to telling you anything but weight, and my current scale does a good job of that, so if I were to reward this new milestone with something else what should it be? I could use a new sports whatch/heart rate monitor, but I am not sure.
4) When I get to goal I said I was going to get a motorcycle, I am looking at the possability of making that a 4 door Jeep, but it may have to wait a while if I get to 220 anytime real soon.

It is cool to look back at some goals that were achieved. That has really been part of the key to success for this whole deal. I have taken some small wins and they have just snow balled and picked up momentum until all of a sudden I am looking at just 23 pound to goal!

My running has gone well this week and I have 6 miles on Sunday.

Thanks for all the support.

PICTURES AT LAST

At long last I am publishing pictures. I have not really wanted to until it was all over becasue most of the time you think of pics as before and after. After would mean it was over and I am still on the journey, so let's look at this pics as a progress report. I know in the pictures where I am larger, the one in the plaid shirt and the one as Shrek at Halloween were around 2 years ago or so at around 370 - 380 pounds, the one with the sat dish is after I had started losing weight and the one with Kiley and me is from yesterday at around 250 pounds.

I am not going to comment a lot here, but let the pics speak for themselves, but I do want to make one observation. I was larger and now I am a little smaller, no that is not really my comment. What has occured to me most is that I never really thought I was that large until I have gotten this small, does that make sense? In other words I did not picture myslef near as large as I was, even when I saw pictures of myslef, until I had something else to compare to, like the picture from yesterday. I don't think you ever realize you are addicted to something while you are in the middle of that wilderness, sometimes you have to take it from friends, family, or doctors even if you don't see it, and realize you will see it and wonder why it took so long.

Great Long Run Today

I feel like I have done a good job of staying on program this weekend and I had a great 5 mile run today. It was a little on the chilly side, but still a great day to be outside. I ran the outside loop at Craighead Lake(3 miles) and the inside loop around the lake (2.4 miles) in 55 minutes and a few seconds. This is a really big deal to me and I was really pumped about it. My pace is really picking up and I am getting more and more excited about Nashville. It at all possible I would like to be under 235 by the race (April 28) I should enter the 240s this week.
I hope to post some pictures soon, but I have realized that I have just not been in many pictures over the last couple of years and with two small children around, when I have a few minutes the first thing I do is not look for pictures, but I will try to get some before and along the way pics up soon.
Please continue to keep my friend Debbie in your thoughts and prayers as she is just starting this weight loss journey and I know how difficult it is in the first few weeks of this program. I know she will do GREAT!

Down 2

The weight is still coming off, not quite as fast, but hey I am not complaining. My running and swimming is going great and I am 1.7 pounds from the 240s. I will see them this week. My next major goal after that is 235, becasue that is when the BMI chart will tell my I am no longer obese. I know you are thinking that chart is wacked, but the doctor said that will be big sucuess and he said I could even stop there if I wanted to, but 220 sounds so much better. I will post more later. Thanks for caring.