The Funeral

So last night, Claire and I drove to Shawano, Wisconsin to say goodbye to my cousin Michael, who died last week.  I haven't seen Michael since I was a kid and when we were looking at pictures of him, I pointed out the Michael I remembered.  It was hard to see him in the casket, but I'm glad we went.

Both Claire and I noted that while Michael had health problems unrelated to his weight, he was still obese and that surely didn't make things any easier.  He was 40 when he died and I'd like to live at least twice that. 

So I don't know how I'm going to get there yet, but I know I'm going to get there.  I'm going to be active, healthy, and happy for a good, long time yet. 

We spent a long time in the car today and stopped at an Applebee's for dinner.  I got a bruscetta salad and it arrived looking like this.

Those brown things are some kind of fried mozzarella balls or cheese curds or something very anti-salad.  While I couldn't resist all of them I only had two or three.  Did I get these with this salad because I was in Wisconsin or because Applebee's always tries to sabotage dieters?

A Good Day

Thank you all for your support.  Reading your comments made me feel like I can actually achieve what I set out to do.  Sometimes I forget anyone reads my blog.  It was nice to be reminded so many people are reading and rooting for me.

I've got some new tools I'm hoping will play nice together and a new outlook. 

I've been using my FitBit activity tracker for a couple months now on and off and it really gives me some useful information.  I also just installed My Fitness Pal which allows me to adjust my intake goals based on how many steps I've taken from my fitbit (which syncs wirelessly).  I've also installed the endomondo exercise tracker which has some really cool features I'm exploring including following other peoples' routes or designing your own.  This also syncs with my fitbit.  Cool stuff.

I'm going to start slowly.  I tracked my intake today.  Hopefully I'll be able to keep doing it, but if I miss a day I'm not going to get down on myself.  I'm going to keep going to the gym.  Hopefully, the weather will warm up soon so I can get back to bicycle commuting.  That always makes me happy and gives me an excuse to exercise every day.  I'm going to eat out less and try to eat healthier choices and most importantly, stop when I feel like I've had too much.

I think my biggest hang-up is things never seem to happen as fast as I want.  This usually results in a backslide.  I had a good day today.  I'm going to try to make it a good day tomorrow, but if it's not, there's always the next day.

Last, but not least, it's Monday, so I need to get on the scale.

Last week I did weigh myself (though I didn't post it).  I came in at 262.4 pounds.  That's about a 15 pound backslide from my lowest weight.  Let's see what the scale said this week.

A loss of 1.7 pounds is not bad.  Like I said, I'm going to try to go easy on myself if I'm not losing as fast as I want.  I'm still losing and that means I'm winning. 

I Don't Know How To Do This

My Cousin, Michael, died last week.  He had been having heart problems and he just didn't wake up on Wednesday morning.  We weren't close.  In fact, I haven't seen him since I was a kid.  But he was still my cousin.

Like me, Michael struggled with his weight.  He was 40 when he died.  I know I'm not him, but I want to live a lot longer than 12 more years.

I want to change my weight and lifestyle, but I feel hopelessly stuck.  I'm so frustrated that I haven't been able to lose any weight for the last two years.  I made a change once and lost a lot of weight, but the scale has been creeping back up.  Time after time, I tell myself this is the time, but it never pans out.  I don't know how to do it again.  I don't know how to repeat the success I had when I first started this blog. 

I can feel the weight coming back.  I can see it in the mirror, I can feel it when I sit down.  I can feel the extra fat all over my body.  I feel disgusting.

I want to keep going.  I want to finish what I started.  I want to live a long, healthy life.  I just don't know how to do it.

Giveaway Winners

Thanks everyone for participating in the mitten giveaway.  I love giving stuff away.  Thanks also to Fleece with Flair, who make an amazing mitten. 

Without further ado, here are the results for the mittens giveaway:

1.  Leiah Stevermer
2.  Kiel H
3.  Kris A - Who posted on the 100 pounds Facebook wall.

Winners, please email me at andrewtralle (at) gmail (dot) com so I can pass your info on to Fleece With Flair to get you set up with some nice mittens.  Enjoy them!

Thanks everyone for entering.  I'd like to do another giveaway soon!

One Step at a Time

First off, if you haven't seen my giveaway yet, you need to head over to my last post right now.  I'm giving away three pairs of really terrific mittens.  I know some of you in my neck of the woods are wondering if there will ever be winter again, but I assure you, the weather will be cold at some time.  So head over and enter in my giveaway. 

I've been insanely busy starting my new job and haven't been posting (or eating or exercising) like I want to.  I had such success the first week of January and I wanted to continue that into the rest of the month and year.  I will get there.  I've come up with a strategy to do it.

I'm going to focus on one small thing at a time.  This week it will be going to bed on time.  Next week will be working exercise into my morning routine.  The following week will be moderating my intake.  You get the idea.  If I can use these tools to ease into healthy habits, I'll have it made!  Balancing work and life is important and I need to get a life.

So what healthy habits do you want to ease into?

Giveaway

Hi All,

It's been a really long time since I posted.  It's good to be back though.  I've been burying myself in my new job and haven't had time to do anything but work for the last month.  Hopefully things will calm down a little bit now and I can get back to making progress (like I made in the first week of January).

I'm excited to announce my latest giveaway!  I'm partnering with Fleece With Flair, a really great company based out of the Twin Cities Metro Area, to give away three pairs of mittens.  That's right, there are three prizes!  

Here's an example of the mittens.  See more at their website.

Here's a little about company from the website:

Fleece with Flair started as a simple design idea by Carrie Traxler in 2008.  As the design was developed, and ultimately created, she fervently started production in order to sell at local Craft Shows in the Southwest Suburbs of Minneapolis, MN.  People started to quickly catch on to how soft, warm and comfortable her mittens are.   

All of the mittens are made locally with only the use of cutting templates, sewing machines and hard-working seamstresses.  Carrie personally designs and cuts out each mitten to ensure the look is absolutely perfect and coordinated.  Her team of seamstresses then combine all the necessary material to create a quality product down to the last stitch.  

The past three years Carrie has sold her mittens at several different craft shows, and has developed a small following.  The mittens are even sold at the Shakopee High School, with a portion of the profit given to the school.  In 2011 Fleece with Flair decided to start to take the company to the next level by increasing production throughout the summer to have a successful sale at the Canterbury Craft show in the fall.  Becuase if the success of this show, Fleece with Flair will be making more appearances at larger craft shows in the Midwest.

My wife, Claire, and I gave these to our families for Christmas this year.  They're incredibly soft, comfortable, and 100% American made!  Claire and I each have a pair and they are the best mittens I've ever owned, hands down (cue the sad trombone sound).  The insides have a special lining that is beyond luxurious.  They've got a ton of fabric patterns too.  

So, what do you need to do to get your hands on (or in) a pair of these?   Well, you could enter my giveaway.  But you could also head over to fleecewithflair.com.  Right now, a bunch of their mittens are on sale.  All children's mittens are $9 and adult mittens are either $9 or $12.  The highest price you'll pay for adult mittens are $15, which is still a great deal!

You can enter to win the giveaway a number of ways.  Make sure for each time you enter, you leave a separate comment on this post to let me know you've entered.  Next Saturday I will use a random number generator to pick three winners.  I will announce the winners on this blog who I will get in contact with in order to get you your free mittens.

How to enter:

1.  Visit Fleece With Flair's website and leave a comment on this post telling me which pattern you would get if you won.  

2.  Tweet or post on Facebook the following message: @100_Pounds is giving away 3 amazing pairs of mittens on his blog! http://bit.ly/58jbPp #fleecewithflair

3.  Follow me on Facebook.

4.  Follow me on Twitter.

5.  Follow Fleece With Flair on Facebook.

6.  Repin something from Fleece With Flair on Pinterest.  I don't do Pinterest so I don't know how to do this exactly.  You might say I'm not very Pinteresting.  Once I figure out how to do it, I'll update these instructions.

7.  Post about the giveaway on your blog, then link to it in the comments.

Remember, you're allowed to enter more than once, but every time you do, please leave a comment on this post so I can make sure your entry counts.

Good luck!  I'll be announcing the winner next Saturday!

 

I'm Exhausted

Yesterday was the first day I didn't post since I started up my blog again.  There's a very good reason for that.  I started my new job on Monday.  

It's been pretty hectic, but after a few days I'm making some serious headway.  For those of you who don't know, I'm a music teacher.  I'd been laid off for six months working as a paraprofessional and doubting myself every day.  I didn't doubt myself today.

And now I'm exhausted.  It's not the kind of exhausted I felt when I would finish a week at my previous job.  It's not like the exhausted I feel when I haven't slept enough.  This kind of exhausted is the kind of exhausted I feel when I've worked hard at something I love and get a lot of work accomplished.  I used to feel like this a lot in college when I'd leave school at 11:00pm after spending 15 hours at school.  

Unfortunately, I didn't get to exercise today.  Yesterday was another story.  I ran with Liza again.  The weather was gorgeous at 52 degrees when we left (yes, this is Minnesota).  We put another 4.5 miles behind us.  I'm getting faster and need to walk less.  Plus my legs don't feel as much like rubber when I'm recovering over the next day or two.  My running is improving at a rate it hasn't improved since I started and I really think it's helping me achieve some serious calorie burning.

So I'm going to try hard to keep the blog up to date now that I'm working again, but blogging doesn't burn very many calories, so when push comes to shove, I'm going for a run.