Almost a 5k!

I didn't get a bike ride in today because my hip was bothering me a little.  Luckily, Claire convinced me to go out for a run once it cooled off a little (high of close to 90 today).  We ran for 20 minutes and turned around.  When I plugged our route in to google maps, I discovered we'd run 2.6 miles.  Half a mile short of a 5k! 

My running was nowhere near epic as this stock photo suggests.

This has me thinking I should enter a 5k race sooner rather than later.  I'm going to start shopping.  There are a couple races in two weeks I'm interested in.  One is called the Blubber Run on September 11th.  Another 5k is part of Greek Fest in Uptown Minneapolis on the same weekend.  I'm leaning more towards Blubber Run right now because it looks more casual and I'll get different scenery than I do normally.  Any suggestions on a 5k in Minneapolis or the surrounding area to run?  Anyone want to run a 5k with me?

Don't forget, tomorrow is my weigh-in.  Last Monday, I weighed 245.4 pounds.  Make sure to guess how much I weigh this week and tune in tomorrow night!

Name Badge NSV

I got my new name badge at work yesterday.

It's hard to tell from the picture but the gentleman in the green shirt is nearly 50 pounds lighter than the gentleman in the orange shirt.  And that handsome devil in the navy blue shirt?  6 pounds lighter than the man in the green shirt.  I've come a long way since that first blog entry 9 months ago.  I'm over half way to my goal and I'm blazing ahead now.

There are some awesome things on the horizon.  30 days of Biking begins September 1st (more details to come) and I'm working with a sponsor to set up a giveaway.  I'll also have a review of an Android app coming up as well.

Stay tuned!  Big things are happening.

Oh, I almost forgot.  I may not post tomorrow, so now's your chance to guess Monday's weigh in result.  Will I continue blazing through at 3 pounds a week or have I slowed down?  Heck, maybe I'll rock some Biggest Loser weight loss and lose like 10 pounds this week (probably not).  Comment below!

Stay tuned!  Big things are happening.

Glass

So I've got a piece of glass embedded in the bottom of my foot.  Not fun.  I was cooking dinner and a can of soup fell out of the cupboard directly onto a glass on the counter.  It cracked, fell on the floor, and shattered.  I, of course, was barefoot.  I'm trying not to let it hamper my exercise.  I still managed to bike to work today with relative ease.  The glass is in my heel so pedaling is fairly unimpaired. 

I still don't want it in my foot.  I've tried a tweezers but it's really stuck in there.  Any suggestions?

Weigh-in Results

Happy Monday!  Sorry for the overall lack of post quantity last week.  I spent the weekend camping with my parents in Duluth.  The trip involved a nice, leisurely 14 mile bike ride and a little too much eating.  I wasn't capable of controlling myself the way I'd like to, but at one point, my brother said, "Do you need that?" 

Let's get down to business.

Three pounds!  Alright!  I'm keeping the train moving.  Good job, Liza, with a guess of 246.9.  I'm happy to say I came in way under the lowest guess.  This was also a huge milestone: I'm half way to my goal!  I've lost 50.4 pounds in 9 months.  I'm not quite on track for 100 pounds in a year, but I'm not going to let that stand in the way of getting what I want.

I think the biking to work is paying off.  If you haven't tried it, I'd suggest biking for exercise.  I've added 20 minutes to my commute (both ways) but added 80 minutes of cardio to my day.  

It is tricky though.  Since I started biking, I've felt bullet proof.  I feel like I can eat anything I want and be just fine.  I know that's not true and a very dangerous mentality to have, so I've got to be vigilant.  I'll be focusing on putting more fruits and vegetables into my diet.  I'm eating salads for lunch this week.

The other thing that's been happening since I started biking to work is I'm hungry all the time.  Seriously, all the time.  I'm trying to resist, but it doesn't always work out. 

I'm not always going to do this perfectly, but I'm going to do more good than harm.  100 pounds lost, here I come.

Success and Failure

Sometimes I feel like I never succeed.  I've had a lot of failures in my life and my self-esteem has suffered because of them.  I try to stay positive and hold my head high, but there are times that the voice inside my head that says "you're no good at anything" gets too loud to ignore.

Don't get me wrong, I've succeeded in a lot of ways.  I managed to marry an incredible woman (my wife, Claire), I have a job teaching music with the greatest kids in the world, I've co-written a musical, been the music director of the Music Man, graduated college, made the dean's list, gotten my Eagle Scout award way back in boy scouts, qualified for Mensa, played lead trombone in my college's top jazz band for 3 years, etc.  I've had my fair share of successes, but I still can't shake this feeling that I'm a screw-up.

I'm tremendously disorganized and that has hurt me quite a bit in my life.  I was diagnosed with ADD at the age of 10 and if you know me personally, you probably aren't surprised (if you didn't know already).  I'm very easily distracted, disorganized, and manage time terribly.  Seriously, I'm very good at procrastinating.  I'm often unprepared (shame on me, especially after all of that boy scout training).  I often feel as though I'm not good enough or not capable of accomplishing great things.

That's why I get so frustrated when things don't go the way I want them to go in my weight loss.  I want to be doing something without screwing it up for once.  When I stall or backtrack, my inner critic gets very loud.  I want to show it who's boss.  I want to make huge leaps in my weight-loss.  I want to be successful.  I want to have one thing in my life that I don't fumble.  One big thing that I can really be proud of.

After reading through what I just wrote, I realize that I probably put too much pressure on myself to succeed.  Losing the weight probably won't change how much pressure I put on myself, but hopefully it will be one more thing I can really be proud of.

Weigh-in Results

Hey everyone, it's Monday.  That means one thing, I hop on the scale and expose my fatness to the world.  That's coming up in a bit.

First, I want to tell you how my bicycle commute went today.  I sat on my bike seat and instantly pondered taking my car into work today.  Not because I was afraid of the ride ahead, but because I instantly realized that a certain part of me was very tender.  Holy crap that bike seat was not very friendly.  I love going through downtown Minneapolis.  Minneapolis in the morning is quite beautiful.  I got to work 20 minutes early.  I was hungry all day and when I got home I snacked quite a bit.  I should have just started making dinner earlier, but I got drawn in.  All-in-all, I feel pretty good about today.  This is the start of something awesome!

Now, on with the show.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've been working so hard to break the 250 barrier.  I'd consider this smashing it!  Kudos to Jo at Weight on Me at 50+ for guessing 248.2.  only off by .2 pounds.  Pretty good.

I'm back on track.  All I need to do is repeat this week's progress every week until I weigh 196 pounds.  Wow, I can't believe I'm looking at that number and actually believing it's possible.  I'm 2.4 pounds away from the halfway mark!  I'm stoked!

Bicycle!

I decided if I'm going to move the scale, I need to think of ways to get more exercise.  My workplace moved to a new location about six miles away (across Minneapolis) and it takes me 25-30 minutes to drive there.  It turns out biking takes 35-45 minutes.  I tested it out tonight and provided I'm capable of using my legs tomorrow (I haven't biked in a while) I'll be bicycling to work tomorrow and every day after (weather permitting).  That means by adding an extra 10 minutes or so to my commute (each way) I'll be adding 70-90 minutes of cardio every day.  I feel that's a wise use of my time.  Plus I'm being green and saving money on gas and car maintenance. 



Awesome!

So, I'd like you to guess what my weight will be this Monday.  If you want more to go on, check out my cheat sheet by searching #cheatsheettweet on twitter.  You can guess via comment here, on twitter (@100_Pounds), or on facebook. 

Good luck guessing.  And wish me luck tomorrow on my weigh-in.