Beware of Puns

I've been feeling overwhelmed as of late.  I've had a lot on my plate (while trying to have less on my dinner plate) recently.  Whenever this has happened in the past, I've coped by eating.  I'm trying very hard not to make the same mistake this time.  Then there's my inner critic; a voice in my head telling me I'm never going to make my goal.  My inner critic knows when I'm feeling most vulnerable and knows exactly when to strike.  He always leaves me with a sinking, defeated feeling.

In order to succeed I need to push myself out of my comfort zone.  This is always a challenge.  There's a reason I weighed over 300 pounds a year ago, I don't like to be challenged.  Why?  Because I'm afraid I will fail.

I'm also afraid to make sacrifices.  I need to start by making snackrifices (I'm hilarious) and really watch my intake.  I've already given my weight loss journey a large amount of my time.  I need to make sure that time wasn't wasted (waisted?)  While I don't need to give up the foods I love, I have to cut way back on the unhealthy ones.  I don't think that's completely gotten through my thick skull yet.  I'm working at it, but eating right is something that pushes me way outside my comfort zone.

I should start a list of things I should probably do without.  One of these things is second helpings.  I try to stay away from buffets because they always end in disaster.  A friend of mine recently gave me a really good tip to help with buffets and family style eating.  Only go up once.  Fill your plate and then be done.  How many times have you eaten at a buffet and thought afterward, "I'm so glad I went up for a second helping"?  Never.  I always regret stuffing my face at a buffet.  I'd be willing to bet you do first.  I should probably do without second helpings in general.  Eat until you're no longer hungry, not until you're full.

Some Problems

I was really surprised at the response I got from my last post.  If you haven't, you should go back and read all the comments.  I had some very opposing viewpoints on me rewarding myself with a phone.

I agree that I can't keep myself perpetually motivated by an endless stream of rewards.  When I earn a reward, what motivation do I have to keep going?  I've got to lose weight for real reward, my health.

There's a very good book out there called Punished by Rewards that makes the point that rewards are bad for intrinsic motivation.  The author sites a number of studies that all indicate decreases in performance when rewards are involved.


I almost decided not to follow through with this incentive, but I'm still going to move forward with it.  Agree or disagree, it's something I feel will keep me focused for a little while.  I'm going to show myself I can follow through with a goal.

Mr. Scott is helping me get started with a new exercise plan.  I'm still going to continue C25k, but on the other days I'm going to start lifting weights.  I'm excited to get started.

My last point tonight is that I'm starting to come to the realization that I'm terrible at eating healthy.  It has been by far the weakest part of my weight loss journey.  I know what to eat (sort of) but I need to be a lot more informed about how to consistently eat that way.

Does anyone know of a good book about eating right?  I know there are a ton of books out there, but there's also a lot of crap out there.  What have you read that's changed your way of thinking about nutrition?

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?

Things I Can Do Now: Part 1

A while ago, someone asked me what things I could do now that I'm a third of the way to my goal.  I've decided to start writing posts addressing these things.  They normally come up one at a time, so this will be an ongoing theme.

When Claire and I were registering for wedding gifts, I was upset because I couldn't find a towel that would wrap all the way around me.  I was determined to find one out there because I wanted to register for things that fit my body.  No such luck.  I was stuck with my bathrobe.  Everything was too small to wrap around my waist.  The other day I got out of the shower and grabbed one of Claire's towels since my robe was in the bedroom.  The towel fit comfortably around my waist!  I can now wear a towel out of the shower.  It's a small thing, but exciting nonetheless.

I'm also capable of going up a flight of stairs without huffing and puffing (too much).  I'm running without destroying my knees, which is also fantastic.

One last thing.  I found an article on ADHD and obesity.  I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 10 and this article expresses a lot of the difficulties I've faced.  Take a look.

Blog of the Week

I'm exercising again!  After a week of feeling ucky (yes, ucky), I finally felt well enough to complete week 2 of C25k.  I'm stoked to move on to week 3.

This week's blog of the week (I know, I was supposed to do this on Thursday.  I've been slacking the past couple days on posting.) had a really great line.  "Weight loss doesn’t solve everything. It’s just one step in the right direction."  This week's blog of the week is A Merry Life.  Her blog is seriously awesome.  A couple weeks ago, she did a workout pledge like I've done a couple times.  I, as well as 21 other bloggers, joined in.  180 comments later, we were each in for 90 minutes of exercise.  I split mine between C25k, a bike ride, and elliptical  I traveled nearly 10 miles between the three.  Go check out Mary's blog.  She's a great writer and all around fantastic person!

Clothes

I'm in this limbo area between being able to dress passably in the clothes I own and absolutely needing to buy new ones.  Financially, I absolutely need to wait until I look like a homeless clown before I buy new clothes.  Of course I've got a few things that actually fit.  My incredible wife and I went shopping for new jeans not too long ago, so I've got two pairs of pants that fit.  I have a few shirts from when I was smaller and a few that I bought small and are fitting for the first time ever.  I also bought my first extra large shirt in five or six years this weekend.  It's a little snug, but my weight is headed down and I want to make sure I can wear that shirt when I'm thinner.  The real problem lies in my professional wardrobe.  My dress shirts are all quickly becoming too large.  A coworker insisted today that I can still pull them off, but I'm getting close to having to replace them. 

I want to be able to wear a large t shirt and size 34 or 36 jeans.  I've got a while before I get there, but I don't want to have to replace my wardrobe several times before I get there.  For the most part, I find shopping agonizing and like my clothes the way they are.

I guess it's a good problem to have. 

Have you had any unforeseen difficulties in your weight-loss journeys?

A Short One

I spent the day in bed again.  Mugh...  (I think I just made up a new word!)  I'm going to try going back to work tomorrow.  We'll see how it goes.


I decided to go through all of the photos of me on facebook today.  I'm proud to say that I am currently lighter than I was in about half of the pictures.  Here's my favorite photo I found.

Sorry for the short and rather pointless post.  I'm gonna get some beauty rest.