Weekly Weigh-In

I just started week 3 of C25k.  Week 3 consists of a five minute warm-up followed by two sets of 90 seconds running - 90 seconds walking - 3 minutes running - 3 minutes walking.  I haven't run for 3 minutes straight in a long time.  At least not on asphalt. 

Let's get to the weigh-in.  It's late and I need sleep, so I'm putting the picture off until tomorrow.

I weighed in at 267 pounds this week.  It's a .2 pound loss from last week but I'm glad I lost instead of gained.  Still, pretty unimpressive.

I feel like my weight loss efforts have come to a grinding halt.  I've only exercised a couple times since my last weigh-in.  I've failed enough to recognize when I'm starting to slide.  There are a lot of reasons.  The weather has been gorgeous, I've been busy at work, I went to my alma mater, the University of Minnesota, Morris, for a weekend of sin, I've been sick, blah, blah, blah. 

I think the biggest thing for me is I have had some success.  I've lost over 30 pounds (actually 29 pounds if you take my recent spike into account).  I don't try to rest on my laurels, but I'm prone to doing so.  Not this time.  I worked hard to lose that weight and there's no way all that work is going to be in vain.

But that's just talk.

This Sunday at church we had a guest sermon by Rev. Dr. William Schulz, who, among other things, was the executive director for Amnesty International from 1994 to 2006.  He brought up a parable of a king who reached into a bird cage, took out a bird, and twisted its neck slowly until the spark of life had left the bird.  His cheeks were stained with tears the entire time.  One of the remaining birds in the cage turns to a comrade and says, "Look, there's hope.  The king is crying."  The other bird replied, "You fool.  Don't look at his eyes, but at his hands."

I know that's a very strange story to bring up right now, but the message was incredibly straightforward for me.  In the end, we're judged by our actions, not our intentions.  Schulz intended this story to be a call to action to make the lives of the less fortunate better.  We can't change the world by feeling sorry for the poor and the unfortunate, we need to make the world a better place for them with our deeds. 

So how does this relate to weight loss?  For me, this means I can talk about losing weight until I'm blue in the face, but unless I'm doing something about it, I'm still going to be fat.  I need to quit making excuses and work hard. 

I'm also going to tie a fairly sizable carrot to the end of a stick for myself.  Those of you who know me, know I'm a huge nerd with an eye for gizmos.  I've been up for a new phone on my Sprint contract for a while now and have been drooling over the HTC Evo.  It was announced a month ago and is slated for release "this summer" (hopefully June 6th or 13th, but those are both rumors).  This phone is sexy.  I've already decided that as long as I can afford it, this will be my next phone.  I want to be in line at the store the day this phone is released.

I've decided I have to lose 2 pounds every week (on average) from now until this phone comes out in order for me to get it.  That means if it comes out on June 13th, which is 8 weeks away, I will need to be 16 pounds lighter than I am right now in order to buy this phone.  If it comes out on June 6th, I'll only need to be 14 pounds lighter.  Even if it takes me a little longer to lose the weight, I'll still get the phone when I reach that number of pounds.  I want this phone bad and this is the only way I can think of to stay motivated on my weight-loss journey.

What do you do to stay motivated when you feel a slump coming on?

Monday Weigh-In*

I finally finished #amerryworkoutpledge.  I biked 6.5 miles, ran/walked (C25k week 2) 1.9 miles, and was on the elliptical for 26 minutes and 1.4 miles.  That's a total of 9.8 miles in 90 minutes!  Thanks Mary, for being so awesome!

I've got a goal that's not necessarily weight-loss related for the month of April.  Keep my apartment clean.  I think this will help in the weight-loss arena because when I'm in a more put-together environment, I behave in a more put-together way.

Moving on, this week's weigh-in has a big asterisk next to it for a couple reasons:

1.  I weighed in right after I finished exercising for 90 minutes.  I may have been quite dehydrated.
2.  I had a very small dinner tonight.  Just a chicken salad and some teddy grahams.  It sure was tasty though.  Spinach, chicken, Parmesan cheese and Caesar dressing.  Mmm... so tasty.

Still, I'm happy with the number.

I've lost 33.8 pounds since I started my journey at the end of November.  I've hit two milestones this weigh-in.  The first is I'm a third of the way to my goal.  The second takes a bit more explaining.

On April 14th, 2009, I stepped on my bathroom scale and it said I weighed 313.2 pounds, the biggest number I've ever seen while weighing myself.  Next week is the one-year anniversary of that particular low point.  I'm thrilled to report that I am now 51 pounds lighter than I was this time last year!

I've been getting really frustrated with the scale as of late.  It's been my own fault.  I'm still way too relaxed with how much I eat.  I have a plan though.

I lost 51 pounds since last April.  I'm a third of the way to my goal.  I will lose 100 pounds by November 28th, 2010 and meet my goal!

Weigh-In Results

Before I get to the results of my weigh-in, I'd like to remind you that in tomorrow's post I'll be answering any question you ask (within reason).  If you haven't left a comment, please leave one here. 

I finished the six weeks of my 100 push ups training program.  All I have left to do is 100 push ups in a row.  Eep.  Today I did 50; my personal best.  I'll rest my arms and focus on cardio for a couple days.  Hopefully, I'll be able to perform.

Now let's get to the weigh-in.

Well, it's not the loss I was hoping for, but it was more than I was expecting (and probably deserved).  I snacked this week, I stopped using the daily plate (though I've been trying to pick it up again), I didn't get nearly enough sleep.  I took two days off in a row, and I took walks instead of hitting the gym hard. Still, half a pound lost is still a loss.

I have to admit I ate a peanut-butter banana to cope with my frustration, but the scale will go down next week.  It has to.

I did pass a major milestone this week though.  I've lost 30 pounds since I started blogging!  That's my badge of honor for the week.  

Weigh-In Results

Hey everybody, it's Monday!  You know what that means.  It's time for the weekly weigh-in.  Last week I had a terrific weigh-in.  I managed to lose over four pounds bringing my total loss to 28.1 pounds!  My pants were getting ludicrously baggy on me so I got some new jeans.  Let's see how this week went.

266.2.  Not bad.  That's a loss of 1.7 pounds which means I've officially lost over 10% of my original body weight.  I need to do a little better than that on average in order to make my goal, but last week's weigh-in was really, really good.  I'm also becoming a firm believer in building muscle because I don't want to arrive at my goal weight only to discover that in order to maintain, I only get to consume 1400 calories a day.  I recently read somewhere (if it was your blog, please let me know so I can give you credit) that for every pound of muscle on your body, your BMR goes up by 50 calories a day.  That's an incentive to put on some muscle.

There was plenty of room for improvement in my intake this past week.  I ate out, I lost track of my intake during the weekend, I ate appetizers at an Indian restaurant tonight, I went over my calories a couple times, etc.  I'm going to try to keep a closer eye on my consumption this week.  I think I'll try to stay under 2200 calories a day with the exception of one cheat day (maybe).  I want to have a really good weigh-in next week.

I also dropped the ball a couple of times last week as far as blogging.  I had a rough week and couldn't think of anything to blog about.  When I stop blogging, I don't hold myself as accountable.

To clear up future writer's block, help me come up with ideas for future posts.  What would you like me to write about?

Weigh-In Results

Update: Tyler at 344 Pounds is doing a workout pledge.  Let's make him spend a ton of time at the gym tonight.  Comment, follow, or link to him so he has to spend more time on the treadmill.

I said pretty much all I needed to say in my earlier post about the Polar Bear Plunge and the Weekend Warrior Challenge so let's get right to the weigh-in.

 

 

267.9, which means a very good weigh-in at 4.3 pounds lost.  I was a little concerned that I was taking in too many calories, but now I'm not sure.  Anyway, I've lost a total of 28.1 pounds since I started in November.  I need to work extra hard at making next week's weigh-in just as productive.

On a considerably less jubilant note, one of my parents' cats, Spook, died last night.  This was one of two cats my brother and I helped pick out from the animal shelter when I was in 3rd grade.  She was more than a beloved pet, she was a link to my childhood.  Something that's becoming much more rare as I settle into my adult life.  There's a voice inside me that says "she's just a cat".  It's still not easy to deal with.  She was part of my life for the last 17 years.

The loss of Spook combined with the grief from the death of my grandma in February brings up some serious existential issues.  Issues I don't want to depress you too deeply by delving into it at this time.  It's just tough to enjoy an awesome weigh-in like tonight's.  There was a silver lining to this though.  I took out a lot of negative energy at the gym tonight.  I ran for the first time in 7 or 8 months on the treadmill at around 5 miles an hour for over 4 minutes!  I pushed myself harder in the gym tonight than I have in a long time.  I'm glad I chose exercise to deal with negative emotions rather than eating.  For that, I'm proud of myself.

Weigh-In Results

Before I get to the weigh-in, I've got a quick plug to make.  For those of you who didn't read my last post, I'll sum it up briefly.  I'm thinking about jumping into a frozen lake to raise money for the Special Olympics.  It's called the Polar Bear Plunge and it's on March 6th at Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis.  I'm too chicken to decide if I'll do it myself so I want you to vote on it.  You can vote at the top of the side bar to the right of the screen.

Alright, on to the weigh-in. 

 

As per usual, I was nervous for this weigh-in.  This is the first weigh in where I hadn't gone to the gym every night in a month.  I also started my 8 glasses of water a day challenge today.  I've heard that when you burn fat, you release toxins.  Water flushes those toxins out.  All I know for sure is drinking copious amounts of water is a habit I want to get into.

 

274.  I'll take it.  I was hoping for another 4 or 5 pound loss, but I don't think that's going to happen until I monitor all of my intake every day.  I'm still getting the hang of using the daily plate.  I think maybe March will be the month for starting that.  

So in all, I lost 2.7 pounds since last week.  I'm definitely headed in the right direction.