I am glad to be home. I drove home last night and I'll be home again until Wednesday. Next week, I start the eight day trips again, which are actually a lot easier on me than the three day trips that I have made the last couple of weeks. They are easier in the sense that I'm not driving so much. In addition, I'll be able to exercise more than I have been. They are harder, of course, in the sense that I am away from my family for longer periods of time.

Continue reading WGOM Fitness: September 8, 2012, Moving Again →

One of the things that I have been conscious of for the last several years is the amount of sleep that I get (or do not get). I really want to get at least seven hours of sleep a night, but there are a number of nights when that just doesn't happen. When I make my trips up to ND, I go to bed about 8:30, so at 3:30 AM, I have seven hours in. One of my biggest problems, though is that I sometimes go through periods when I wake up in the middle of the night and then can't get back to sleep. That hasn't happened for the last week or so, but Tuesday night/Wednesday morning was a 5 1/2 hour sleep event and yesterday afternoon about 5:30 I fell asleep at my desk.

Last night, I went to bed about 10:45 and got up at 6 AM. I slept very soundly, so I should be good today. But, yes, sleep is important and it's something that I have to work on.

Day 45
Weight: 262.0
Total Loss: 22.5
Loss in last ten days: 3.2

Yesterday was a long, long day. I got up at 4:30, I was at work by 5:30 and left the office at about 8. I got home and I was tired. But, I stayed on the diet and I am down 0.5 pounds this morning. I figure that Mom and Dad's scale is about 2.5 to 3.0 pounds heavy, so I weighed in at 262.0, but I think on the home scale I'll be under 260.

Day 44
Weight: 262.0
Total Loss: 22.5
% of body weight lost: 7.91%

Satchel Paige once posed a ponderous question I'd like all of us to consider: "How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?" That is to say, if you throw chronological time out the window, how old would your body be? How old are you in biological time?

Continue reading WGOM Fitness: Sept. 5, 2012 – Mind Over Matter →

I stayed on the diet yesterday, but I did not go to the gym and I focused on maintaining a good hydration level. That's not to say that I get any physical exercise. There were a couple of spots in my yard that I had pulled flowers out of earlier this summer and I had targeted Labor Day weekend as the time when they would get planted. I probably had about 80 to 100 sq. feet of area to plant, but first I had to prepare the soil. It was as hard as a rock, so working the soil was tough work and I was sweating mightily. I drank a lot of water yesterday and that was a real good thing, because I was sweating it out, too. I wonder if I should be concerned about minerals lost in all that sweat.

I needed that day off, even if this is a travel night meaning that I won't get to the gym tonight, either. Twayn, you are on for tomorrow, as I will be prepping for a morning meeting. So, anyway, I gained 0.3 pounds, which isn't bad at all, given my refocus on hydration.

Day 42
Weight: 260.9
Total Loss: 23.6
Weight Loss per Day: 0.58 pounds

I feel like I might have overdone it a little yesterday. We went to the Fair and I ate a sausage with pepper and onions (and a lot of grease, gross). We walked for a couple of hours. We came home and I took a nap and then went to the gym. I rode the exercise bike for 50 minutes and then got in the whirlpool. I think I got a little dehydrated (although I always drink 16 oz. of water at the gym). I came home and had another 12 oz. glass of water, so that's almost a quart of water. But the heat at the Fair, combined with a big workout, maybe too much. I'm pretty stiff and sore this morning.

Today, I am going to be doing some yard work, but I need to focus on the diet, as in making sure that I eat everything when I'm supposed to eat it. I think a day of consolidation (i.e., no weight loss) would not be a bad thing at this point.

Day 41
Weight: 260.6
Total Loss: 23.9
Pounds to Shed Obese Tag: 17.6

Yesterday was September 1 and I weighed in at 264.2, up 0.2 pounds from the day before. That didn't seem quite right, as I had stuck to the diet and had a pretty solid workout. This morning, after another good day on the diet and a workout at the gym and plenty of yard work, I came in at 261.8. I expect that about half that was lost in each of the two days and a little bit of an anomalous reading isn't anything to think about. On August 1, I weighed 281.0, so I lost 16.8 pounds in the month of August. Four more months of that and I'll be at 200 pounds by January 1, 2013. For the week, I have lost 5.5 pounds, which is about as much as I dare lose, I think. I am seeing clothes start to not fit, which is great, but according to BMI charts, at above about 243 pounds I am considered obsese. Two things: One, I didn't think it was possible that I would ever be obese and two, it's not exactly a great feeling to have lost over 22 pounds and still be considered well into the obese category.

The point of writing this column, of course, is to try to inspire any of you that are out there feeling unhappy about your weight to become inspired to start working on it. I'm not some impossibly fit guru, I'm a guy that needs to lose 18 pounds to become overweight instead of obese. If I can do it, you can do it. Make no mistake, it is work. It is hard work. Losing weight requires a lot of discipline and sacrifice. I would sure like to have a have a beer every now and again (I've had about 5 beers since the diet started, three in one night at a party we went to). I intend on the diet to limit beer intake to no more than one or two a month. Once I get down to my goal, I want to have a maintenance plan that allows for a couple brews a week, so that I can enjoy my life. Obviously, I won't be eating 1800 calories a day forever, I think that 2300-2500 is about where I'll be. There's plenty of room in there for an occasional glass of the good stuff. But, during the weight reduction period of my plan, there is sacrifice. More than that, though, it requires determination. You have to be so determined that nothing will get in your way. I am determined to lose 85 pounds. This goal is more important to me than the things that would sidetrack me from that goal. I'm not saying that everyone can have the goal that I have, but what I am saying that if you have a goal, say, 20 pounds, and you make that goal the most important thing, you may be surprised how saying no to certain things become easier when damn it, I want to be able to say that I've lost that shitty 20 pounds that has been bringing me down.

I have thought about how I got to this point in the first place and why I didn't do something when I was, say, 230 or 240 pounds. What I have found is that thinking about this gets me down. So, I have stopped thinking about it. It is what it is. I weigh 261.8 pounds. It doesn't matter how I got here. What matters is that today, I'm doing something to make that a smaller number. Today, I am going to stay on my diet. I am going to get my exercise. I am going to think about the scale reading something less than 261.8 pounds tomorrow. If is does, then great. If it doesn't, well whatever it says tomorrow morning, that's my new point of reference. I really try to think of this as a series of one day tasks. Today is the only day that matters for me. Make today matter.

Day 40
Weight 261.8 pounds
Total Lost: 22.7 pounds

Home, home again. It's good to be here when I can.

Well, that was a brutal three day trip. I logged over 1,000 miles, ate out almost every meal, and had to skip lunch yesterday because of a work emergency. I got home starving and ate about 50 almonds. Ugh, I should have just made myself a little meal.

I broke even in the weight department over the trip. That's a pretty reasonable accomplishment, given the conditions that I was faced with. Longer trips to ND are less taxing on me and I can manage what and where I eat better. Tonight, I'll be back at the gym, eating regular meals and moving forward.

Day 38
Weight: 264.0
Total Lost: 20.5

Hey, now that I look at my spreadsheet, I actually lost 1.2 pounds on that trip and have passed through the 20 pound barrier. w00t!

Normally, when I come to ND it is for eight days straight. This trip, and the next, are for three days, meaning that I will be going home tonight. While there is certainly some advantage to the three day trip (more time at home with family), in actuality, the three day trip is very hard on me. The working a full day and driving 250 miles is a long day and it takes me a little while to recover from that. With the three day trip, I have no time to recover. Add in a trip to Bismarck in between the two travel days and, well, I'm really worn out. I've stayed pretty true to the diet these last couple of days, but the title of this column isn't WGOM Dieting, its WGOM Fitness. I look forward to a couple of days at home, going to the gym and not driving 275 miles a day. Also, hate to say it, but an eight day trip wouldn't be the worst thing in the world right now.

I weighed on my parents' scale at it said 267.0 this morning. But, I know that it weighs a little heavy, so I don't really put much stock in it (I "lost" 3.5 pounds) the last time I weighed at home the day after I weighed in SBGville. The better news is that I have hitched the belt in two notches from where I was.

Day: 37
Weight: 267.0
Pounds lost: 17.5

The hardest part of my current fitness plan is enduring days like yesterday. I got up at 3:30AM, drove 275 miles, worked a full day, drove another 200 miles and ended up in a hotel room in Bismarck. I wasn't really all that tired (although I slept pretty soundly last night), but I had no opportunity to exercise and eating was a foraging event. Well, actually, it wasn't that bad, I had breakfast in my kitchen and a lunch according to my diet. But, what about dinner? I was traveling with another person and we stopped on the way at Applebee's (did not see @dadboner there). It turns out that they have a few 550 calorie offerings on the menu. I had a lime chicken offering. It wasn't great, but it wasn't awful for me, either.

In the past, I have brought workout clothes to hotels to take advantage of workout rooms. Due to the schedule here, though, I didn't bother. I knew I would be taxed to the nth degree as it is. Besides, I'll be home Thursday night, so I can get back on the workout routine then.

No weigh in, but I'm pretty happy that I was able to stay on track yesterday.