No weigh day today! Spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday skiing with three buddies in Colorado.  Wolfe Creek.  No diet, no running, no juicing, just fun!  Some of the best times of my life have been spent with these gents. 

You ever had those days where nothing seemed to go right? At the end if the day you just need your run to do something for you! Today was one of those days. My run helped me clear my head. I knocked nearly 4.5 minutes off my run around the lake at 21:10. Somehow my run just made things better.

Not Bad!…….11 lbs in three weeks.  I lost 6.5 lbs in the first week, 2 lbs in the second and 2.5 lbs in the 3rd.   I’m slowly coming down and I can honestly say I haven’t been that hungry.  I guess when I fill myself with nutritious food, that hungry feeling isn’t as strong.  I still battle with the whole “eating with the family” thing.  My wife Molly is a great cook and sometimes it’s just hard to pick raw foods over bread crusted salmon. :)   But this is a marathon, not a sprint.  I’m in it in for the long run.  It took me 7 years to get into this mess, if it takes 7 months to get out of it, it will be worth it.

Goals:

I’ve been thinking about goals.  Every time I get on runningangel, kategoesrunning, imlindsey, or buildabetterme, I’m always impressed at the goals and things these individuals get done in a day or a week.   I need some of that motivation and it appears there are both short term and long term goals.

Five short term goals:

• Buy a new pair of running shoes (9 year old Asics aren’t cutting it)
• Run a 5k with my daughter in February :)
• Reach a weight of 210 before the end of February
• Get up the nerver to post some before pictures - took em just haven’t posted
• Go public with my fitness effort. - I haven’t told anyone about my blog, etc.

Five Long Term:

• Reach my ideal weight of 190 by May 1, by other daughter’s B day!
• Run at least on 5k race per month starting in February
• Do something big such as 1/2 marathon for the early summer
• Resist the urge to stop when a small achievment has been made.
• Buy a bike and start training - go to the pool and swim laps.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

233!……Well I got up Friday morning and weighed myself.   233 lbs.    I dropped a 2 lbs since last Friday.  It’s not as much as I’d hoped but I’m certainly glad it’s lower than the week before.  

Nice Day Today…No Rain!  It’s cooler weather for North Carolina but I did get outside today.  I started off with my recline bike for ten minutes.  It seems to get my body and legs warmed up and ready to run.   I then ran around our lake, followed by 10 minutes of cool down on the reclined bike.  I finished it off with squats.   I’m using my free weights and lighting machine again, albeit slowly.   I have ski trip coming up in late January to Wolf Creek Colorado and squats always seem to help with skiing.

Saturday was a Free Day for me.  Ate light during the day but took the family out to Cracker Barrel, kids choice, and had some old fashioned chicken and dumplings.  It was good.  I hope the run today burnt most of it.

I Gotta Get A Watch…..Most of the blogs of runners I’ve started to read have a cool watch.   More like a computer for your wrist.   I guess if I had a GPS watch I wouldn’t need to get in my car and map out the route with the odometer!  I’d also be able to keep track of minutes/mile, heart rate, etc.  I’m looking for advice and suggestions.

Rain…Rain…Go Away….Come Back Another Day:  It’s been pouring down rain for the last few days so each night I’v gotten home this week I’ve been unable to run outside.  I’m stuck in my gym in my garage most of the week.  It’s amazing how time flies on a reclined bike when I watch a movie on Netflix on my Ipod Touch.   Feels weird to be watching WWII in HD while working out but 40 minutes just flies by.

I feel different! Today was the first day since I started eating better and working out that I actually felt better.  Not as sluggish at work.  Not as tired as I usually am when I get home.  Hmm…..maybe this stuff is working?   Ha! 

I am starting to enjoy reading other blogs.   There is alot of good advice and people who are struggling just like me with the same health, eating and fitness issues.   It seems most of the serious types have their goals posted somewhere on their blog.  I’m going to think about doing just that.

As for my eating……

Juice Day for Thursday.  My raw ingredients above.  :)

However, I did break down and had some Ahi Tuna that I pan seared and ate tonight.  It was soo good. 

 Weigh day whattdayasay!  Well Friday was weigh day an I officially weighed in at 235.   Lost 6.5 pounds.   I was relieved because I hadn’t checked it since my initial weigh in.  My mind on Thursday nigh kept playing tricks on my thinking I was somehow going to weigh in higher.  What a relief.   Where do I want want to end up?  Well ideally I’m suppose to be around 180.  That’s 55 lbs from here!.    However, I’ve given up on target weight.  I just want each week for the number to go down, to feel better and to increase my cardio so that I feel better.

As for the exercises!  Well, I did 30 minutes on the recline bike on Friday.  That was all that I could muster after a long day.   Saturday was much better.  I was able to dig out the rest of my exercise equipment, get it all organized and cleaned up.   I am now officially back in business.    Saturday I used my new running App called Couch to 10k.   I can listen to my Ipod and a voice comes on to tell you when to run and when to walk for a 25 minute work out.  worked well. I plan to use it sfully starting Monday.   After that I did 15 minutes on the recline bike and lifted weights on my Nautilus machine.   It Sunday I did 30 minutes and lifted some more. 

Monday is a juice day.  I juiced tonight so I’m looking forward to giving tomorrow the Green Incredible Hulk Juice.  I’ll juice on Mon/Wed/Fri.    The good news it that I weighed myself tonight and I only weigh 235! after eating normal this weekend.

There were moments this last week where I wanted to give up but I just kept reminding myself that it took me a long time to get here so it’s going to take awhile to get back out…but I’ll be a better person in th end.

Draggin’ Butt…..I went back to work yesterday.   5am came way to fast.   I was dragging all day yesterday and today.  Coffee usually kicks me into gear but it just didn’t work both mornings.  I got use to sleeping in over the Holidays. Both days I didn’t get home until 6pm. Between dinner and helping out with the kids I was tapped out on Tuesday night.    It was about 9pm and I was standing in the hallway in what I call the Exercise Abyss.  It’s that battle in my mind between me wanting to go to bed or go exercise and get it over with.   I would like to say that I got right on it, but no….I settle for something in between….log on to the computer first.   I ended up watching a bunch on motivational videos on YouTube about people far less fortunate than myself that have overcome major obstacles to lose weight, run marathons or even a triathlon.  

Inspired but Cold…..When I finally decided to exercise it was 22 degrees outside.  22 degrees is pretty cold for North Carolina.   The idea of a fat guy like me, running in 22 degree weather with windy conditions on a hilly route in the dark….just wasn’t gonna happen.

So what did I do?…..I went with plan B.  I had some old exercise equipment that I’ve held onto for 7 years.   My wife pleaded with me to give it away, sell it or put it out by the street.  I kept saying “Honey, I’ll use that again and I’ll be glad I didn’t throw it away”  but the problem was it was usually followed by “now pass me another piece of pizza please”.  My first obstacle was to gain access to it.   Here is what it looked like when I approached it.  

Yep….if you look close enough you can see a reclined bike and a weight lift machine in that mess.  About 15 minutes and 4 D size batteries for the bike electronics and I was back in business…..albeit 7 years later :)  I did 32 minutes last night and 31 minutes tonight.   Not bad.   It’s suppose to be warmer starting tomorrow and I’m looking forward to start using my Couch to 10K App I downloaded and mentioned in a previous post.

What to do next?…..I’m thinking about signing up for some races in February through the end of the year.  Start with 5k’s and work my way up. I think that will give me a thing to look forward to each month and keep me motivated.   Weigh in day is Friday!

Food…..Today was suppose to be a juice day but I woke up late for work and didn’t have time to juice.   I am juicing tomorrow.  My Incredible Hulk Juice is ready to go in the refrigerator.

More tomorrow…..

Joe

Walking the Dog! 2012 exercise started out with a 45 minute walk with a faithful companion - Finn.   Our 21 lbs. black Puli dog.   I wanted it to start out as a run but Finn’s curiosity and his need to stop at every mailbox and stick along the road turned it into a fast walk.  The good news is that I chose a route with a lot of hills in order to get my heart rate up.

 I’m simply amazed at everying my Apple Itouch can do.  Today I downloaded an App recommended by my beautiful wife, Molly.   She was talking with the mother of one of my daughters friends and found out that her husband had lost 35 pounds and is preparing to run a 5k.   He did it using a “Couch to 5k” App.  He literally couldn’t run to the end of the hallway and nine weeks later he’s ready to go.  After looking it up and reading all the reviews I downloaded the Couch to 10k instead.  It’s a 3x per week for 14 weeks program.  You start out walking and there are audio prompts when to run.   My plan is to start this on Tuesday.   Good news is that he’s scheduled for a 1/2 Marathon

As for my diet, today was a juice day: Apples, Pear, Kale, Lemon, Ginger, Celery, and Cucumber blended together in yummy concoction I call my Hulk juice, after The Incredible Hulk, simply because it’s green and full of energy.  I did eat some eggs and salsa this morning because I hadn’t juiced yet.  Tomorrow is an ”eat wise” day.   More tomorrow evening on how that goes!  I did go shopping for more Incredible Hulk juice,  oatmeal, and some lean cuisine meals.  I need some stand bye stuff for work….I work in NC where the main meal served everyday in the cafeteria is FRIED CHICKEN!

Weigh Day?  Not sure what day that should be.  I’m thinking every Friday in the morning before I go to work.  I’ll post of picture of my scale, that will still be pink, but I do have a due bill to a store that I might by a more manly scale.

More tomorrow…….