Back From Vacation

We rolled in last night around midnight from over a week on the road. We spent 7 days in Florida and a few in Chattanooga with Kim's parents on the way.

Let me get to the numbers first. I had a great week of working out. I made all my workouts which included a couple of 2 hour bike rides and a couple of long runs of over an hour. I am very much on course for the triathlon in Chattanooga on July 15. On the eating side of things, I blew it. I ate like I hadnever eaten before and have some work to do to get back on track. But that is the beauty of the maintaince phase of this weight loss program. I know how I gained weight, and I know how to lose it.

The greatest part of vacation was that I was not worried at all about what I looked like with my shirt off. I was glad to hang out in the pool and the ocean and even got a little bit of a tan. I usually stay under the shade with my shirt on and am not much fun. The weight loss over the past year made this the best vacation ever. I will try to talk more about this when I have more time, but this was another experiance that made me ask myself what else I have been missing because of my weight?

DOWN 120 POUNDS!

I have not been arond to wiegh in officially at the hospital in a few weeks (4 to be exact) so I went last night. I have not been too concerned with weigh loss over this time perid because I have been much more involved in training. However I lost 1.8 pounds over the last 4 weeks to bring the total to 120 pounds and some change. I started the program two weeks before Thanksgiving at 355 point something and weighed in at 235 on the dot last night. I have to say this seems like a lot of weight. I hope to lose some more by next Thursday becasue I leave for vacation on next Friday. I am going to allow myslef to enjoy some foods on vacation that I have not had in a while and I hope to not gain a ton, but know I might gain a little. The important thing will be not starting vacation early as far as eating goes (I do that sometimes) and getting back on program the minute I get home or before and not allowing myslef to fall back on old habits. Since we are going to Florida I hope to eat a lot of good seafood (not fried) and we are taking our bikes so I hope to continue my training.

Speaking of training I ran 5 miles yesterday and swam this morning and have a great training plan from Joe Friel's website, www.trainingpeaks.com for the Chattanooga triathlon coming up on July 15. I will try to post a link to it and to the Chicago Marathon.

I am a TRIATHLETE

About two years ago I was in Barns and Noble in Atlanta. I was standing in line to order a quick after dinner snack, a mocha frappacino and piece of Cheesecake Factory cheesecake. I also had two magazines in my hand and was going to pay for it all there in the cafe and just read and eat there. I put my magazines down and ordered my snack and the little girl behind the counter looked at me like I was buying porn. Now I had check out people look at me funny before, but they never just came right out and said anything like this girl. She looked at my magazines and she looked at me and she asked. "do you actually do this stuff?" It was almost like she had never waited on a 380 pound guy buying triathlon magazines and cheesecake. I was taken a back and a little embarassed to tell you the truth. I had to tell her, "well no, not really, but I have swam, and I own a bike and I walk and run some, and someday I am going to do this." She said, "cool" and I took my cheesecake and mocha frappacino, along with my newest issue of Triathlete and Inside Triathlon and now too embarassed to eat and read there, I went to my car and ate there. I even shed a couple of tears in my car that night.

Yesterday I swam 500 meters, biked 13 miles, and ran 3 miles in completing my first triathon. What a difference a couple years make. The journey is far from over and I have more goals to accomplish, but TODAY I AM A TRIATHLETE.

It was AWESOME

I got an email from a director with Fox Sports South last week that told me they had read some of my story of weight loss and stuff I had given the Country Music 1/2 marathon. He asked if I could come by there room at the expo center and do some on camera interviews about it to be used in a telecast of the run on Comcast Sports and Fox Sports South in about two weeks. It was really cool, it took about 5 minutes and I just answered some questions, they asked some pretty good questions. The best one was, "how could someone else be motivated or learn from your experiance?" I had to think on that one for a while.

Then at the race expo I talked with John "the penguin" Bingham, a writer for Runner's World and author of a book that I had read a couple of years ago called "The Courage to Start" We had talked last year before the race and he said he remebered me, but I am sure he says that to everyone. Anyway we talked a little about my weight loss and running and he encouraged me to share my story with as many people as possible, because that is the obligation of someone who's life has been changed that much. I thought about what he said, and I guess I am kinda doing that with the blog.

On Yeah, I ran in Nashville too! I took 51 minutes off my time from last year going from 3:09 to 2:18!! I averaged 10:36 a mile. A whole 12 minutes better than my goal of 2:30 or under. I was very very pleased with the outcome. Greg ran the first 9 miles with me and Kim ran the last bit with me. I am so blessed to have such supportive friends and family.

This week I will be preparing for the triathlon on Saturday at Craighead Forest. I just hope I don't drown.

Feeling Great

I had my final run yesterday in preperation for the race Saturday. I ran 3 miles in 28 minutes and felt pretty good. I weighed in this morning with my lowest morning weight ever recorded during this process (I usually weigh a little less in the afternoons for weigh ins) So I will go into the race at my lightest, right around 235 or so. I have really taken the emphasis off of losing weight the last couple of weeks so that I could have enough energy for my long runs and the race. I am really happy to see that I have not gained any during this time, and have even lost a little. Next week is the triathlon and after that I am going to push hard to see the 220s by vacation on the 21st of May.

You can check out my race times at the 5K 10K and finish line on www.countrymusicmarathon.com

Thanks again for all the support and the well wishes. I look forward to shaing the experiance with you on the blog when I return.

This is the week

This week is the big 1/2 marathon in Nashville. I had a big workout weekend. I swam on Friday Morning, I biked around 40 miles on Saturday, and I had my final long run of 10 miles on Sunday afternoon. The eating has gone pretty well over the weekend other than the big big meal in Memphis Friday night, but I think I should for sure not gain weight this week.

They say you should always be planning at lest 2 goals ahead to stay motivated and this weekend will be the end of a goal I have been working out for the last 12 weeks or so, and then immediatley after that the next weekend will be the triathlon here in Jonesboro. So today I am posting the next goal. On Monday of last week I signed up Kim and me both for the 30th running of the Chicago Marathon on October 7th. This will be her second marathon and of course my first. I have hear there is a big difference in training for 26.2 and 13.1, I guess I will find out first hand. I will post a link to that training plan after in the next couple of weeks.

Big Week

This week it looks like I lost about a pound and 1/2 and in the 235 range, but I am really trying to concentrate on my long run this weekend of 10 miles and then eating well and getting all my short runs in leading up the 1/2 marathon next Saturday. I swam this morning, will bike tomorrow morning and run my 10 miles Sunday. Wish I had more time, but this week has been BUSY and I have some papers to write and get turned in by Monday.

11 Miles

Sorry I have not posted in a while. I was out of town on the weigh in day last week, although unoffically it looks like my scales are telling me I am still going down, I will have a new offical number on Thursday.

My trainging plan called for 9 miles Sunday and when I finished Kim showed up and wanted to run 2 with me, so since we don't get to run much together I decided to give in and it went well. 11 miles in all, and still one more long run (10 miles) next Sunday and the 1/2 marathon will be the next Saturday April 28. I am really looking forward to it. I ran 9 miles on sunday in 1:32, so I am just over 10 minute miles. I have told myslef if I can average 11 minute miles in the race I will be real happy.

Exactley the Same as last week

This marks my first week without a loss since before Thanksgiving. I weighed the exact same down to the tenth of a pound as I did last week. I was a little disappointed, but then I thought about how much more disappointed I would have been if I had gained and I was really happy all of a sudden. The weight loss instructor said that there is never anything wrong with maintaining especially since I am in the "maintenance" phase of the program. She also said that with the 1/2 marathon just a couple of weeks away (April 28) that I might should concentrate on eating well and getting as many calories as I can to keep my weight and energy pretty level till after the race, I would not want to go in on anything less than a full tank of energy. I can see her point, and I will not try real hard these next few weeks to lose, but I hope that just eating healthy and working out might result in a few more pounds,(the 220's) before the big race.

A BIG BIG WEEKEND

I did this weekend BIG both in a positive and a negative way. I ate a lot and I worked out a lot. I hope the working out will offset all the celebrating I did with Kiley over her 3rd birthday. Again on Saturday I went biking with my group that meets downtown at the coffee shot across from the bike store. This biking group is turning out to be kind of like a drug dealer. We started out the first week with an easy 20 and then 20 again, then last week they decided to go 40 miles. I made it and I was proud of myself. This week we start the first 20 mile loop and all of sudden we are going 4 to 5 miles an hour faster than last week and my heart is pounding. We went 40 miles again this week, but they pumped up the intensity big time. I made it and felt great all day. Then today I had 8 miles in my 1/2 marathon program and thought my legs would be dead, but to my surprise it was just the opposit. Today was the best long run of the training so far. I did the big paved loop around the lake twice (6 miles) and then the inside loop once (2.4 or something like that) so I made it over 8 miles today and felt really good. I usually really kick the diet in on Sunday through Thursday, but Kim is out of town today through Tuesday night and I never seem to eat really well when left to my own, so I will have to really rely on my working out to lose weight this week.

220 here I come!

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!