Have my cake and eat it to?

This morning I feel less violated from my new bike seat and am planning on a ride some time later this afternoon, I think I am in love. I have decided that I am going to change things up a bit because of my new toy, of course I want to ride it as much as possible but because of "new" soreness that the bike is so lovingly handing out I do not think that I can do both the rides and the C25K program while I am getting use to the bike so I will just make some adjustments. When the novelty of the new bike wears off and the new pain (its good pain) has come down to a dull roar I want to do a modified program utilizing the C25K program and bike riding on alternating days because I still want to run a 5k this year, but this new bike is so damn fun! The fact that I am pausing the C25K program does not mean that I am not going to complete it, in fact I plan on running this week at least once but I want to concentrate on getting use to riding the bike so that....who am I kidding, its just plain old fun! no worries for those of you following my running adventure I am in fact going to do both.

Snapped a pic with the seat adjusted and the new bottle cage installed, hopefully I can get the new bike computer replaced and installed before the end of the week, and yes yes I know that I need to mow the lawn.

A shot from the front.

I ran out yesterday and got myself a bottle cage and a bike computer so that I could stay hydrated (you knew that was coming) while tracking my distances and speeds while out on the bike but when I got the bike computer home it was missing the sensor that attaches to the spoke so I will have to return the computer for one with all of the parts. With some luck and a lot of persistence I will become a proficient bike rider and runner by the end of the year and I believe that by combining the two different routines that I will be able to keep the weight going down as the strength and endurance goes up all while having a blast, I love win win situations.

I have not exactly been the exemplary role model where intake is concerned over the weekend because of some rum cake but hey it only comes around once per year so I indulge. Saturday and Sunday I did go over my calories and honestly Saturday I did not count a single calorie, Sunday I ate within my calorie range if the Italian cookies and rum cake don't count but I am not too worried about it. Monday I ate within my calorie range until I could not resist another piece of the rum cake that was still in our fridge, my father in law stopped by last night so I asked "who wants some rum cake?" and made sure he had a nice hefty piece and gave the rest to my kids so that it was out of the house, I am sorry but the saying "nothing tastes as good as thin feels" DOES NOT apply to this rum cake. Today I am back to my old self counting and not going over my 1700 limit, alas the rum cake is gone. I do not live within the "I will never have a piece of cake again" crowd, I believe that as long as I eat good 95% of the time the other 5% is fair game for some of the tastier things in the food wheel and obviously what I am doing works so no worries.

Over all I am doing well but have not stepped on a scale since Friday so I may not be doing as well as I think because of this weekends rum cake escapade, I am honestly just enjoying not being anchored down by the fact I am 500 plus pounds any more. A taste of normality perhaps? too many years sitting on a couch watching other people do things and now its my turn to enjoy life a bit and not worry about things? indeed I believe so.

Thanks for following my trip to the half and I sincerely thank you all for the support and encouragement that you take the time to leave me via comments and emails, know that I appreciate it.

As Ever
Me

My new toy

I have been thinking about buying a bike for a while now, BUT, and there is always a but right? I was worried about ending up on the internet in a video titled "fat guy on a little bike" or something of the likes. Getting to the point I got past all that and decided that I would entertain looking around at a few bikes at a local bike shop yesterday to get a feel for what I might want if I were to get over this phobia of being too big for a bike and I talked to the fellow in the bike shop about a few different options and rode a couple around the parking lot and had my father pop off a couple of pics with my cell phone to see just how awkward I looked on these tiny skeletal contraptions that I have not ridden on since I was a youngster, I was ok with how I looked perched on top of the bike so a roadblock was out of the way. Upon entering all of the info that the bike shop fella gave me into my noggin I thanked him for all of his help (and he really did bring me up to speed on some things in the world of bike technology) and told him that I may be back in to order one of the bikes as he did not have the frame size on hand that fit me in the model that I was considering.

Onto a couple of different stores more just looking around and my father needed to pick up a few things and I walked past the bike section in a sporting goods store and a pretty beefy looking mountain bike caught my attention for a split second so I walked on over. The price tag said "Was $599.00, Now $319.00" and I thought that sounds good to me as it was around the price that I was looking for and I took it for a spin around the store and it fit better than the bike I was shown at the bike shop earlier. After riding it around a bit I decided to give wify a call and see how she felt about me pulling the trigger on this bike and she was game and said that it was ok with her and Happy birthday so off to get someone to help me out making sure the bike was working properly and it was mine, I snapped a couple of pics this morning and thought I would post them up, all of the photos are clickable for a larger view.

Here she is, the wheels are 26 inch and the frame is XLG and says that its for people that are 6'1'' to 6'4'', I am an inch taller than that but close enough.

Front angle view, I love the color on this bike for some odd reason, who wouldda thunk a tan bike could look nice?

Handlebar shot, I may need to adjust these up a little bit but we shall see.

Rear brake shot, I have never had a bike that had disc brakes on it so this is just cool.

Front disc brake shot.

Finally a shot from behind, over all I like the bike so far but as I said I haven't really ridden it yet but am looking forward to getting it out for a longer ride soon.

It is a K2 Zed 3.2, I did get a chance to take it on a quick spin immediately after unloading it from my car but it was damp out as it had just rained and my father was over so I did not go far and literally just played with the gears a bit and came back up to the house. A big part of why I picked this particular bike is that the frame looks and feels really heavy duty and for obvious reasons this is a benefit for me. I have not ridden it enough yet obviously so I cannot give a review of how I like or dislike it as of yet so I won't try to say anything past so far I like the look of the bike, its big so I do not feel crowded on it, the front forks have a suspension on it and the bike has disc brakes both of which are new to me and far beyond the 10 speed huffy I had as a kid. I am looking forward to getting some rides in and maybe getting some things like a water bottle and seat bag in case I end up going on longer ventures.

With that the end has come to another post and I have some things to do (like take a spin on the new ride before the rain starts) so this post shall end here, don't forget that H2O and today I leave you with a quote.

“Speed has never killed anyone, suddenly becoming stationary... that’s what gets you.”- Jeremy Clarkson

As Ever
Me

Weigh in, no bells, no whistles.

Weigh in day just sort of popped in on me this week with the still feeling under the weather, only running on Monday so far this week and the stomach pains I haven't been paying attention to the days, but its Friday so I must step on the scale. Getting right to the point I will say that I am up 1 pound this week and I am not really surprised and do not think that its a true gain, I have not been drinking as I should and exercise this week was limited to the one run on Monday and I swam last night for a little bit which was fun but not a whole lot of exercise this week. I did stay within my calories all week besides the night that the wrench was in my gut when I had a coke and a hard roll to try and calm my belly ache but otherwise like I said pretty good.

I am not a strong swimmer at all, which is the complete opposite of my fish of a wife and last night she explained how a back stroke SHOULD look and I basically swam the same 40 feet back and fourth until it felt semi natural to me, how it looked may be another story but she said that I was doing fine and my form, yeah we will call it form, looked good but she may have been being nice. I can feel it in my shoulders and a bit this morning but its a good soreness and only very slight, she wants to start swimming more often again since its warmed up outside and I don't see why I couldn't use that time to learn how to swim a bit better while getting some extra exercise into my days.

My running, I decided not to run W3D2 last night because my stomach was feeling a bit less than it should have and I figured splashing in the water with the kids would still be exercise without having to exert myself possibly to the point of puking. I am extremely anxious to get back on schedule with the C25K program and actually plan on running tonight as long as the bubbleguts stays away. This week has been a little off the beaten path because of me getting rid of the remnants of my daughters illness, that stomach pain and the lack of a solid exercise regimen but I can see the light through the woods ahead and when I get there its Forest Gump time once again, I really want to get through C25K because running a continuous 5k I think will be Uplifting to say the least.

With that the end comes to a Friday weigh in post, make sure to drink that H2O and remember that no one can do the work for you, so get on up and do it.

As Ever
Me

A fairy tale...or is it?

There once was a guy from Nantucket...since I don't know him let me tell you about another guy from New England, He once weighed more than 500 pounds, that's a quarter ton for you people doing the math. He would sit on his couch and wait as long as he could to do anything because getting up from the indented leather couch was a task that took lots out of him, he watched out his window as people strutted by and his thoughts were about how can people want to walk around. Often he thought about how easy life would be if someone would invent some handles that hung from the ceiling on tracks of some sort or even better that technology would allow for something to be made that flew in the room that he could grab a hold of to help him get up off the couch when the need arose (true story folks as sad as it sounds) that was easier than eating better? When the time came for him to use the bathroom it was a struggle, first he had to stand up and walk to the bathroom and when he got there he had to turn sideways to get through the door and even then his belly scraped the side of the opening, after his business was done is when the real fun started but I will save you that visual for now.

Missing out on baseball games, movies at the theater and basically anything that "normal" sized people take for granted life was not exactly peachy for this fine young man, father and husband. Then it happened, fear entered the picture and he had too much to lose and a decision was made, he was going to lose weight and this time and he meant it! His 250 pound wife came home on New Years eve with 2 pints of Ben and Jerrys ice cream so that they could have some ice cream while watching the ball drop on the television and somehow that pint felt like a slap in the face and became a goal of sorts, this guy decided that he would not eat that pint until it was on his own terms and into the freezer it went...for a whole year.

January 1st and off he went into uncharted territory and started counting calories, eating better and drinking a ton of water, would it last? He started off walking, true enough that he could only make it for 5-10 minutes before his back hurt and he was covered in sweat but hey! he had that stroller to lean on while he walked and he was getting out with his 2 year old daughter all at the same time so he kept going. Eventually he was able to make it all the way around the block, and then twice around as the weight was coming off he often thought about how great it would be to lose 100 pounds in a year. Five months later he had reached that goal of 100 pounds lost and was starting to realize that he was doing it, all by exercising more and eating less? who wouldda thunk?

The walking had turned to hiking and longer walks and the weight was coming off, what was this magic? where was the reasoning in this? no pills? no surgery? yet the weight was coming off? how could that be? He was not missing out on things much anymore and was always out and about going on hikes or walks with the family, There was no more loathing people walking outside and the handle from the ceiling idea was long gone, he was changing his life.

A year later that pint of Ben and Jerrys was about ready to eat and that once 500 plus fella was down 165 pounds and moving in the right direction for such a long time that there were new habits hanging around. He was doing push ups for the first time in a long time and over all was feeling great, his 250 pound wife was now down to 175 pounds and things were looking up, all because they were eating better and moving more? maybe there is something to this.

17 months later he weighs 200 pounds less than he did at the start, he has begun a running program and life is as grand as it has been in quite some time. I know because I lived it, I was once a 500 plus pound man which I do not say proudly but the facts are the facts and there is no argueing with them. I blew up over a 6 year period after having a back injury and just when I started wallowing in my own self pity and thought about having a surgery to fix my weight problem, reason came along and slapped me in the face because fear was smiling at the front door, I am glad that I chose not to open that door and keep on wallowing because who knows where I would be today if I had.

Odds stacked against me, 500 plus pounds, back injury, probably on a path to depression, big bag of health risks because of it all and here I am 200 pounds lighter and trying to get tuned up enough to run a 5k race.

The only thing holding you back is yourself, now you don't have to ask me how I know.

As Ever
Me

Gut wrenching

I wanted to post up a short post even though I do not feel like writing right this second, last night I had terrible stomach cramps that would make a silverback gorilla cry for his mommy, I know that I was. it came on suddenly and stayed for 2 hours or so right at bed time, laying down hurt so I sat up and ended up falling asleep that way for about 30 minutes only to be woken up by my daughter calling for mommy and thank god that she did because my back was now sore from the position that I had fallen asleep in, long story short at that point the stomach pain had gone away but now my lower back hurt and still hurts as I write this. I ran out for some veggies and a few other things at the supermarket this morning and I could feel my back getting worse as I walked around so I cut the trip short and here I am home again relaxing on the couch with my laptop where else? in my lap and I figured I would post up a quick glance at my night and morning.

The lower back pain is at my point of injury and is not muscular and mostly a pinch at this point and hopefully it goes away fast but I think I am going to hold off on W3D2 of the couch to 5k thang until tomorrow night and then I will run the 3rd day on Saturday. Now I know that some of you are probably thinking "oh dear, he is going to run and has back pain?" No I am not, with the injury that I got about 8 years ago the pain comes, it lasts as long as its going to last and it goes away and feels 100% until the next episode, if I did nothing because I had pain the day before, well, I would do nothing at all...ever! all it means is that I wait for tomorrow night to do day 2.

Otherwise everything is on track, my calories are good and I am drinking more than enough fluids so I am hydrated, I have no clue what that gut wrenching stomach ache was all about but I do hope that it never happens again! it is something that I will have to keep my eye on because I cannot think of anything that I ate yesterday that was any different than how I always eat. On played the band and everything kept going, I am excited to be on week 3 and look forward to my run tomorrow night if not slightly disapointed at the fact that I am not running tonight but it is what it is.

Keep on keepin on and all that.

As Ever
Me

Acting like a fat person, get over it fatty, and some C25K results.

When we doubt ourselves or our abilities we do nothing positive for our end game outcome, in fact when that bar is set low because of that doubt we are once again acting like a fat person. That is the thought that came out when I thought about last nights run, I am still somewhat sick from last weeks barrage of symptoms that my lovely daughter gave me and I was starting week 3 of the C25K program, I was not looking forward to it all week. I started week one and thought "how am I at 345 pounds going to run 60 seconds in a row?" then I did it, week two came and I thought "90 seconds? that's like double the time I hope I can do this" then I did it and now week three has begun and a 3 minute interval was introduced and with the not being 100% added to that its 3 minutes I was sure that I would be collapsed on the side of the road gasping for air like a freshly caught fish laying on the shore.

I felt strong as I did the 5 minute warm up walk, the first 90 second interval I felt a bit and while walking on the 90 second cool down I was thinking about the 3 minutes of hell that was surely going to hit me in the chest, there is that doubt again. Robert said "It's just 3 minutes..Go!" and for those 3 minutes I was Forest Gump, I felt nothing in the way of being too tired, I felt nothing in the way of loss of breath, and about halfway through that interval I see a fellow standing in the road ahead having a cigarette and the closer I got I could see that he was smiling and when I got close enough he said "Good for you!" to which I replied "Hows it goin" he said "I am good, but man, good for you" and clapped his hands once or twice, I just kept going and the 3 minutes ended and interval from hell (which turned out NOT to be from hell ) number 1 was fini. I walked my 3 minutes and then the 90 second interval came and went, The 2nd three minute interval was coming and off I sprinted (yes I said sprinted) I felt great at his point and ran a few seconds longer after the voice in my ear said that the 3 minutes was done, I felt good.

I went 1.94 miles in 28 minutes so I was on my pace if not slightly faster than week 2, I was very surprised to see how NOT difficult the 3 minute intervals were which is not to say that it was very easy, I just seemed to run them with no problem at all which was a surprise. The way that I looked at the start of week 3 was the way that a fat person would approach it, since I am still a fat person I guess I fell for the bait that my psyche laid in front of me. That fellow that said "good for you" when I ran by got me thinking as well, what might he have said if I was a svelte 190 pounder running by? my thought is that he would not have said anything but just stepped to the side to let me run by unobstructed, maybe a hello, BUT I guess its not every day that you see a 330 pound guy running so it is what it is and I wasn't the one standing on the edge of a dark road smoking so indeed good for me.

When we act like we will fail, we will fail and I believe that is the downfall of most fat people (there is no political correctness here friends, we are fat people whether we want to believe it or not) that try and lose weight, it was my downfall for so many years. "I can't not eat so much", yeah I know that one, "I can't walk" me either and I was 534 pounds when I started WALKING so I had a proper excuse, right?, "its too hard to lose weight" why? because it takes effort? "I can't run 3 minutes in a row!" To hell with all that, You can and you DID! You are no different than me, I am no different than that older fella that runs around my lake daily and he is no different than whoever won the Boston Marathon last time around, apply yourself 100% to what you want to achieve and my guess is that it can and will be yours. What do you have to lose besides the weight? perhaps the burden? or maybe the excuses?

The bottom line is that if you get on up off of your fat ass (I did) and do something, anything! the possibilities are endless, if not? you will just get the end.

As Ever
Me

If this had been an actual emergency...

A weekend of not really counting calories but staying withing my range none the less to my best guess, Friday I ate steak for the first time in a long time and Saturday indulged in a sundae from Dairy queen, Fathers day was spent at my fathers house and we ate BBQ chicken, cucumber salad, home made baked macaroni and cheese along with baked sweet potatoes and I did not weigh or measure a single bite that went down the hatch. I did not plan on having a weekend of non measurement but sometimes it just happens and in walks normal eating habits with a bit of indulgence tossed in for good measure, here I am, its Monday and the excel sheet reigns supreme again. I see this weekends eating as a successful look at how eating sans my Salter scale can be as I do not think that I went too far above my calorie limits on any given day, though the sundae may have been pushing my luck.

I am not insane eat nothing but what the earth grows raw diet guy and I don't think that it is realistic to say "I will never eat an ice cream again" I do not eat red meat or pork but not because either one is bad for me, but because the FDA does not regulate these products in a way that says that the person selling said meat products has to say whether the meats are from cloned animals or not so I choose not to eat it for that reason, vote with your dollars right? My normal eating habits have become lots of whole foods, chicken, fish and green tea galore and that's fine by me but it doesn't mean that I will never have some "comfort foods" again, I mean should I not have rum cake on my birthday any more? I am in my 30's and cannot remember having a birthday without a rum cake, should I never have a piece of my aunts peanut butter fudge on Christmas ever again? nah, not going to happen. My point is that a piece of plain New York style cheese cake tastes wonderful! a warm apple pie on a cool Autumn afternoon made from fresh orchard picked apples is just simply delightful and not many people could honestly argue that fact and I have no plans to never have those things again in my life.

Whats changed is the fact that instead of a slice of that pie that could serve 3 people followed by a second piece that is big enough for most people to call it a large piece, is that I will have a small slice and enjoy every bite of it and those gigantic slices will not ever be the norm again for me. I love the flavor of a simply baked or grilled sweet potato with nothing on it, I crave apples and the natural sweetness they hold, grilled fish has become my favorite meal and when I have it I feel like I had a "treat" of a meal. Another thing is that because I had a sundae, or an unmeasured portion of that macaroni and cheese that I mentioned does not mean that I failed, and it doesn't mean that I went off of plan, it just means that it was a nice day for a sundae and I forgot my scale when I left for my fathers house.

Tonight I plan on running W3D1 of the C25K program even though I still feel some of the effects of this whatever it was that I had last week, I seem to feel bleh in the am and right before bed but otherwise I feel pretty good so I think that it is time to get back out there running, yes yes I know I am a baby when it comes to being sick. I have been staying hydrated with my minimum of 1 gallon of green tea and 1/2 to 1 gallon of straight H2O and my eating has been on par besides the weekend of non measure. I am anxious to get back into the C25K program but I have to admit that I am a tad worried that starting week 3 after my little hiatus from the program may prove more difficult that it would have been if I had started it last Monday, but we shall see how it goes tonight.

That will conclude this message from the emergency fat loss channel, if this had been an actual emergency you would have been instructed where to tune in your area for news and official information. Now go grab yourself a big ol glass of H2O because you made it through another post filled with randomness and a little insight to a once quarter ton fella, keep on keepin on and all that, and wish me luck on week 3 tonight, I have a feeling that I will need it.

As Ever
Me

Weighing in on weighing in....again...

Friday has come and I have not exercised all week because of this chest congestion and sore throat that I have been dealing with, I put C25K on hold all week but I kept the intake where it needs to be and decided early on in the week that I would be happy this week if I could hold onto the loss from last week without a gain. I will get right to it and say that I am down 1.4 pounds from last Friday coming in at 333.0 pounds, I must say that I am pleased with that as a loss is a loss in my book. This week brings the objects that I weigh as much as I do and as much as I have lost back and with that have a look.

This Kawasaki Ninja 250R weighs in at 333 pounds which is of course the same as yours truly.

This little Matrix scooter comes in at 201 pounds and is what I have lost so far.

201 pounds gone and another 58 to go to hit my goal of weighing 275 pounds, My best guess would never have had me at more than 200 pounds lost at this juncture of my journey, in fact when I began I thought that 100 pounds in the first year would have been pushing it. I struggle with the fact that I am more than 200 pounds lighter than I was a short time ago where how I look enters the picture. Walking through Walmart last night I saw a fella whom I thought was my approximate size and sized him up a bit thinking about how he and I were comrades in fat floating through the store together so I asked Wify "How close to that guys size am I?" just to get confirmation on my thought. Wify looked at me as if I had a turnip growing out of my forehead and said "You are not even close to his size" so I took another glance but what I saw was me again, "Are you sure you are not just being nice?" I asked her and she then just said "Shut up Tony, stop playing dumb, you are not even close" in that way that only a loving wife could say it, From her answer I have to believe her but at the same time he was honestly how I see myself, so maybe I need to face the fact that I have lost a lot of weight.

I think a lot of people have the issue of not being able to see the weight loss even though it may be obvious to most people, I mean I know that I am not thin by any stretch of the word but I may not be considered HUGE to all people now either. I bought a shirt recently and tried it on last night and felt that it was too tight on me so I of course asked for Wify's opinion and she said "I know that you don't like when your shirts touch your belly but that one just looks like it fits" of course I had to have her take pictures from all sides so that I could determine whether I would be comfortable wearing this new shirt outside the house and of course it looked just fine on me, when will this unsure feeling go away? Honestly, I am still 333 pounds so it isn't like I am small or something so there is some weight behind how I feel but how will I feel at 275 pounds? or even 250 pounds? is Wify doomed am I doomed to taking pictures of my self in new clothing for eternity? or does this go away? hopefully the latter but right now I still feel like my old rotund self more often than not when I try on anything new or see other big people.

With all of that said, I am a different person than I was 17 months ago, I am more than 200 pounds lighter than I was 17 months ago, I am going to drive my beautiful wife nuts with my ever growing insanity and obsession with weight loss and better health, I am going to weigh less than 275 pounds sooner than later.

Try and stop me, go ahead I dare ya.

As Ever
Me

Thank you, and randomness for your morning coffee.

This week has been less than productive where weight loss and better health is concerned, going off of that statement You can probably conclude that I am still feeling blah. This whatever it is has moved from my throat to my chest and over all I am feeling better but I still don't think a run would help move things in a positive direction so I have decided to wait this out and I will run on Friday as long as I am still progressively feeling better each day. As long as everything goes my way and I do actually start getting better by Friday and I run, I will do W2D4, and then start fresh on Monday with W3D1. To say that I am getting anxious to start back up is the understatement of the year, I can hardly believe that I am the same guy that was damning people for walking and smiling at the same time just over a year and a half ago and here I am wishing that this gift from my wife and or daughter would go away so that I can go run again.

Besides the non exercising I am sticking to what I need to do with this weight loss thang, My total calories for yesterday was 1590 and I drank 1 gallon of green tea along with about 3 quarts of straight H2O. I don't feel like drinking that much but I know that its what has been working so I am making myself drink the extra H2O so that the only thing missing will be the cardio exercise. I am getting some small things around the house done because I am just sitting around and I get bored easily so I have been doing small tasks here and there to take up some time, touching up the paint in some of the newly painted rooms, hanging new switch plates, weeding the flower beds a bit and things like that so to look at this in a positive light I am getting random odd things taken care of because of it.

I have not been on the scale since Friday's weigh in and I am unsure what will be reflected back at me come this Friday when I weigh in for the blog again, will there be a loss? will there be a gain? maybe just stay the same? to be seen I guess in a couple days. I do know that my life has changed for the better since dropping most of the weight that I needed to drop and I am looking forward to hitting another 59 pounds lost so that I can hit my original goal of weighing 275 pounds, which brings me to my next point.

I originally wanted to weigh 275 pounds and that was just a number that I picked out of the air, a number that I thought I would look ok at and since then I have come to a few conclusions and have had a few thoughts. I have read and been told by a number of people that when I am at a healthy weight that I can expect to have anywhere from 20 to 30 pounds of extra skin on me and if I were to get a skin surgery I would be that much less, so at 275 I am actually 255 of muscle, bone, fat and skin plus that extra stuff. Now my father the last time he was on a scale weighed 265 pounds, he stands between 6'1'' and 6'2'' and has a large build, you would NEVER guess him at 265 pounds if you saw him but anyways, I told him that I would weigh less than he does by Christmas, which means that I need to get below that 265 pound mark by then so in reality my goal is to weigh 265 pounds for all intents and purposes. To reach that goal of weighing less than my father by Christmas I need to lose an average of 2.46 pounds per week until then, this is a very achievable number I think but I will have to stay focused to get it. To hit my original goal of weighing 275 pounds I will have to lose an average of 2.10 pounds per week until Christmas and I am going to try my hardest to get there, That whole last paragraph was sort of random but hey! I am in a random mood this morning as I type.

I also wanted to post a thank you to all of the comments and emails that I received due to the 200 pounds lost post last Friday, it really put into perspective just how many people I have effected by losing this 200 pounds of burden. 37 comments on my blogspot post, more than 250 and counting on the post over at sparkpeople so I thank you all as sincerely as I can through a post on a blog floating around cyberspace.

As Ever
Me

A recipe and I am still under the weather.

Today's report said a sore throat and congested chest and head 100% possibility and it came through, I still feel like I swallowed broken glass and have a bath towel stuck in my chest and nose, but I wanted to get a post up anyways. I stayed within my calories on Monday besides the tea in the morning with the honey and Brandy, i did not count that towards my calories but had about 100 extra at the end of the day so I am pretty close, I only drank 1 gallon of green tea plus maybe a 30oz cup of hot tea in the morning so this is effecting my keeping hydrated, but since I am pretty much just relaxing I am probably ok and I did not do anything for exercise yesterday besides walk around my yard with my daughter talking about the flowers and I ran out in the afternoon to restock my veggies supply in the house.

Chicken and veggies cooking up in the pan.

Since I am under the weather and am holding off on running until this whatever it is clears up I thought I would post a recipe, in fact I just made this about an hour ago for lunch. I started with 4oz chicken breast that I had grilled for dinner last night, I chopped it and set it aside, then into a frying pan I put some chopped up yellow onion, green bell pepper and shot of low cal cooking spray. When the onion and peppers were soft I dropped in some sweet red roasted peppers and the chopped up chicken, cooked it until the chicken was hot all the way through and then added a tiny squirt of pueblo pepper sauce that I had laying around.

Getting close, here it is before I wrapped it all up.

While that was finishing up I chopped up some tomato and lettuce and put it aside, I layed out my Lavash bread and dumped the chicken and veggies into it and added the lettuce and tomato. Then I rolled it up cut it in half and plated it with a garlic pickle wedge and the rest of the tomato chopped up as a side, of course I had green tea with it and it was pretty good if I do say so myself. Very filling and tasty and for a total of 365 calories I will make this concoction again, in fact I think this is something that Wify and my son would enjoy so I may try it out for dinner one night and se how they like it.

The finished product and a great way to spend 365 calories if ya ask me.

Just a quick post with a recipe for today, I am hoping that I will feel good enough by tomorrow to start week 3 and get this C25K thing rolling again but I am not going to push it because wify had this same thing the week before last and continued to run through some of it and did not have good results, in fact she stayed sick for more than a week and I don't plan on following in her foot steps on that one so easy does it is how it's going down. If you try the above recipe I hope you enjoy it as much as I did and remember that H2O, hydration is key to dropping the pounds in my humble opinion, Thanks for reading along.

As Ever
Me

couch to 5 cough....

This morning has started off to a not so great start and I have been drinking my Green tea hot with some Easy Jesus and honey as I could not out run this sore throat that my daughter had, it is hard to breathe and my throat is raw. I do not think that I will be running W3D1 of C25K tonight unless some miracle of miracles happens and this goes away by then so I will just push it to whatever day this week my throat feels better and more importantly I can breathe.

This weekend was a pretty nice one with my getting to meet Heather on Saturday and have a nice long walk through a local park with her and Wify and then Sunday we just ran errands all day because it was suppose to rain but that never came so it turned out to be a pretty nice weekend as a whole. My calories for Saturday were a bit high because of the popcorn that I mentioned in an earlier post but other than that my calories were in check all weekend and I was hydrated enough as well. I am a little down because of this throat and non breathing thing because I was looking forward to starting week 3 of the program but I figure that I am not going anywhere and the road will be there when I am not under the weather, so it is what it is.

I will probably make today a ST day with some light dumb bell exercises and some push ups since I do think I won;t be up to running this evening, did I mention that it sucks that I can't start week 3 today? I will keep this post short and sweet as I need to run out for some cough drops of some kind so that I don't go nuts today.

Thanks for reading along and thanks for the support.

As Ever
Me

A meeting because of my blog.

A later than normal post for your viewing pleasure, Friday night I completed W2D3 of the couch to 5k program and I went about a tenth of a mile further than I have gone yet on the plan. Something that I am noticing with this C25K program is that I am not limited by my being able to breath like I thought, but by my legs, they are wearing out before my breath is which is not to say that I am unable or even laboring to finish but my legs are the thing that I feel most. That fact is both a relief and a bother to me because it means that I am not working as hard as I thought that I would with the breathing but my legs need some conditioning. Monday I will try W3D1 and see how it goes but I really do believe that it will give me some trouble because of fatigue in my legs and the new 3 minute intervals.

My intake has been on par and Friday I came in at 1610 total calories for the day, 1 gallon of green tea and 1.5 gallons of straight H2O went down. My exercise for the day was W2D3 of the C25K program and I honestly feel really good lately.

This morning I had the chance to meet someone that has been walking the same road that I have been on and has lost over 100 pounds herself. Some of you that read this blog know that I have a spark people page and some of you may not know, well I guess now you do! Anyways, as I said I had the chance to meet Heather, or if you are on spark you might know her as PUMPKINFACE73, as it turns out she lives about 20 minutes from me and we actually have been to the same park that is local to us and we decided to go for a walk this morning. So Wify and I headed out to meet up with Heather and we ended up walking for a total of 2.8 miles through the park and chatting a bit, I think everyone had a good time and it looks like we will be meeting for a walk or a hike again, here are a couple of photos that we took at the park after our walk.

Wify, Me and Heather (PUMPKINFACE73) at the park.

Wify and me on a bridge, you can see we BOTH need some clothes that are not 2 sizes too big! such is life when you are losing weight.

Heather and me on the same bridge.

I will admit that I felt the walk a bit after I sat in the car because of the run last night but as I type all is well, in fact I came home and planted 2 rows of peppers that I had started in buckets, half Jalapenos and the other half is green bell so I couldn't have been too bad off. I also noticed that I have a small tomato beginning to grow on one of my tomato plants so hopefully I will have enough to make a totally home grown salsa in a couple months time, I have Egyptian onions, sweet basil and thyme growing as well.

The kids are sleeping and Wify rented a movie so I am about to go over my calorie limits for the day because of a big bowl of popcorn with my name on it. So far my weekend has been a nice one and I got to meet someone that is as determined as I am to get to and stay at a healthy weight, which is byproduct of this blog that was not expected, I will keep this post relatively short and will surely post more about the park later.

As Ever
Me

200 pounds lost! Photos inside!

Today is that day, the day that I was to wake up and see if I hit that 200 pound mark, a double century if you will, I am just going to get right to it and tell you that when I woke up this morning I went straight to the scale and well what do ya know, it said 334.4lbs and I know that I had a smile on my face. That is a 5 pound drop from last week and let me tell ya I earned it this week with the running and ST that I have done!

528 days ago I weighed 534 pounds and I can still remember how I felt on that day when I started down this path to better health, unsure that I would make it a week and decided to start a blog to stay accountable. Now through nothing more than sticking to it I have lost 200 pounds of extra weight, No miracle pill, no costly plan that makes someone else money so that I can try to lose weight, I did not have a surgery, I did not eat a Gypsy pie and I do not belong to a gym and yet here I am 200 pounds less. I, if I am being honest did not think that I could do this without a surgery but I had to try something because I was getting to a point where daily life was getting harder and harder and having a surgery seemed like the only way that it would happen. I figured what do I have to lose besides the weight, and the decision was made to try it on my own and here I am today 200 pounds less for my efforts, here are some "200 pounds lost pics" or your viewing pleasure, they are all clickable for a larger image.

From 534 to 334 all together.

Face from 534 to 334 pounds, I am unsure of the second photo's weight but the first is 534lbs, 3rd is 134lbs lost and the final is obviously 200lbs pounds lost.

Full length shot, 200 pounds lost.

Finally my muscle man pose, I took this one just fooling around but I liked it so here it is.

At the end of the day its just a number but man what a number it is! I don't think this club has all too many members but I am one of those people that can say "I have lost 200 pounds" and I did it based purely on determination. I have watched a couple people in my family struggle with weight for a long time and they always seem to put the weight back on within a month or 2 after losing a few pounds and I am hoping that me dropping 200 pounds in the last year and a half might get them to stick with it and see that it is possible to lose massive amounts of weight and not put it back in the following month.

I still have a long way to go before I hit my goal weight and beyond but if I were the betting kind of guy I would go with whoever thinks that I will get there because I have no plans on stopping now. Thanks for all of the support and emails that you all have left for me in the last 17 months and if you are reading this blog for the first time now you know that losing this kind of weight IS possible with some hard work, good food choices and exercise.

In the words of Forest Gump, "that's all I got to say about that".

As Ever
Me

C25k and 200 pounds lost, will tomorrows weigh in be the day I hit the mark?!

Things have been going pretty good this week, but yesterday was pretty stressful (non weight loss related) and I did not feel like running W2D2 of C25K because I got home late which meant a later than normal dinner (7:45PM I finished dinner) and I usually run around 8:30PM so I was thinking about skipping it. I did end up going out for day 2 and when the time for the first interval came around I began running and quite literally felt like I was shuffling along and thought about stopping and calling it a night. I figured I would at least go to the second interval before I let that happen so I did and when it came time to run again I was taking large strides and felt pretty good about continuing on and by the third interval had forgotten all about what was stressing me out. I was ahead of my fastest pace and I knew this by the 5th interval because I ended the 5th where I began the 6th on day 1 of week 2. I started interval number 6 and it was on a spot that dips down pretty steep and then gets steep uphill so I had to run on that uphill portion but I convinced myself that it was the last interval and I could push myself on it so I did and ended up going 2.212 total miles last night and felt good at the end of the run, though I still find myself questioning Mr.Ullrey's ability to count to 90 seconds at times during the running portions of the program.

Now that the C25K report is out of the way I am thinking about the weigh in tomorrow, will it be the day that I join that 200 pounds lost club? will I be a part of that crowd that can say "I lost 200 pounds" on pure determination (does that club even exist?) will I prove myself wrong? once upon a time I said "no one can lose 200 pounds just by eating right and exercising" that was fat Tony talking, or should I say "fatter Tony" because I am not quite the svelte specimen of a young man that I would like to be just yet, but either way will tomorrow be that day? I sure would like it to be, because its going to be hard to cancel the fireworks show that I have arranged! 527 days ago I decided to get healthy, that's slightly more than 17 months ago and I am on the edge of having lost 200 total pounds, did I mention that I am amazed by this? yes I think that I did but I wanted to say it again.

Intake for Wednesday was 1695 total calories and I drank just under 1 gallon of green tea and 1.5 gallons of straight H2O, exercise for the day was W2D2 of the couch to 5k program. Things are right where they should be lately with diet and exercise and I am happy with the direction I am heading with the running, the only question left is will tomorrow be THE day that I hit that 200 pounds lost mark? since I am not stepping onto a scale until then, both you and me will have wait until then to find out.

Don't forget to drink that big ol glass of H2o that you just earned for reading through all of my morning ramblings, and keep in mind that if I can do this weight loss thang, you can do it as well.

As Ever
Me

You mean I don't NEED a miracle pill or plan to lose weight? who wouldda thunk...

I have decided that because of me being so close to the 200 pound lost milestone that I am not getting on the scale for the rest of the week because I want Friday mornings weigh in to be a surprise to me. You will notice that I put a count down clock on the left panel and that will be when I step on the scale next, yesterday morning I stepped on and this morning I did not, with any luck I will reach that mark this week. I have to admit that I am a bit excited to be so close to that 200 pound lost mark, and at the same time I feel like its not something that many people would like to be able to say, the fact that I HAD the 200 extra pounds on me to lose is quite disheartening. On the other side of that coin is the fact that I have stayed strong enough through this whole experience to successfully drop that kind of weight and that side of it is quite the opposite of disheartening.

To think that one day I woke up and decided that I was going to lose 259 pounds that was my goal number and actually am doing it without any miracle pill, surgery or pay by the month plan amazes me to this day. I think people should do what works for them but I am also in the camp that believes that nothing more than determination and willpower are the only things needed to have success in weight loss, No Gym membership or miracle pill can do the work for us, we have to do it ourselves. I started out just eating less calories and walking however long I could, eventually buying an exercise bike off of craigslist for $40 if I remember right and now my main form of exercise is running, or building up to running anyways. I shop smart and eat well, I do not spend thousands of dollars on specialty foods or meal packets, I eat real food prepared by yours truly, in fact and I have said this before, I spend less now on groceries than I did in my 500 pound days. Relearning how to feed our bodies so that we are fueling our days instead of filling the craving void with junk processed foods, it only takes a little bit of dedication to make sure that we stay on track and after that it becomes habit and before you know it you are writing a post on a blog that was not expected to last a week about having lost almost 200 pounds.

My intake for Tuesday was a bit high at around 1800 total calories, damned evil doritos and I did not exercise at all because I was a bit sore from Monday's run, 1 gallon of green tea and more than a gallon of straight H2O went down the hatch. Tonight is W2D2 of the C25K program for me and I am looking forward to the run tonight and honestly feel pretty good about how it will go even though the forecast calls for rain.

I feel like since being cleared by the doc to run I have had a couple productive weeks where health is concerned, I started running and am back on track with the pounds coming down again. Over all I feel great and am looking forward to this Fridays weigh in because I think that I have a chance to hit that 200 pounds lost mark, I just might do a video post if I do hit it this week. With that the end has come to another exhilarating episode of as the fat guy turns starring the God of Meatballs himself! Thanks for following along and here's to Fridays weigh in!

As Ever
Me

C25K week 2 day 1 report and a dog

Last night was the start of week 2 of the C25K program for me, I was going to hold off on starting week 2 until I let my body adjust to week 1 but I really wanted to see if I could do it. New Mp3 in hand I headed out and noticed that the week 2 podcast is 31 minutes so a little more than a minute longer than week 1 so I had a feeling that I would add distance to where I have been running to by the end of the run. The first interval came and I was feeling pretty good but by the middle that interval I was starting to doubt Mr.Ullrey's skill at counting to 90 seconds as it felt very long compared to week 1. by the second interval I decided that I needed a way to judge the length of the runs so I knew how hard to push to make it so I counted my steps and from here on out I just counted how many steps I took so that I would know when the end of the interval was coming. The entire run went ok besides the fact that I had to run up that hill that I was cussing at last week in its entirety and it took a little out of me.


At the start of the last interval I had a little surprise because some people were leaving what looked like a BBQ and they had a dog with them. I was maybe 5-8 steps into the last interval when I hear the jingle jangle of dog tags to my left and then a growl, I glanced down to see a dark brown pooch running at me so I stepped further into the middle of the street hoping that he would not keep coming as his owner was right there with him but he did keep coming. I turned so that he was coming at me straight on and was moving backwards, still hoping that the owner would pull the leash and I could continue on my run but that's not what happened, all I hear the fella say is a meek little "sorry" That's great man! I am glad that you are sorry BUT your dog is still growling and coming at me! is what I was thinking and the dog was too close to me at that point for me to just keep doing nothing but backing up and he got a face full of size 14, he yelped and ran towards the owner who now says "why did you have to do that!" all I responded with was "keep it on a leash a$$hole" and on my way I went. I ran for my counted steps for the last interval even though the podcast had told me to stop because the dog encounter messed me up and I did not enjoy the rest of the run/walk because of the dog. I went 2.12 miles on this run and that is just short of my furthest distance on week 1 which is not so bad considering the run in with cujo and the fact that it was day 1 of a harder run.

My food for Monday was on par coming in at 1750 total calories consumed and I drank 1 gallon of green tea and 1.5 gallons of straight H2O. Obviously my exercise was C25K W2D1 and over all I feel pretty good this morning if not a little fatigued, almost like W1D1 without the soreness. Where Couch to 5k is concerned, I did complete W2D1 of the program but I did not feel strong while doing it, and what I mean is that W1D1 I felt like the only thing holding me back was going to be my being out of breath but last night my legs were quietly complaining to themselves by the second interval. By the time I hit that hill I was not taking long strides at all, I wouldn't say I was shuffling along or anything but it definitely was not my normal stride and because of my weight I can't help but to think about maybe repeating week 1 just for the slow but steady strength gains for my body. The plan is to run W2D2 Wednesday and see how I feel and if there is no improvement from Monday I will look at what I need to do.

Over all I am loving the C25K program and am looking forward to completing it and being able to say that I can run a 5k race to completion. I am forgetting that this is a weight loss journey lately because of this program and have to remember that I am less than 5 pounds away from having lost 200 pounds total since starting and will be trying to hit that number by Friday so I have a lot going on as far as this weight loss gig goes right now.

Don't forget that H2O, Keep on keepin on and all that.

As Ever
Me

C25k week 2 start and a Free MP3 player.

This weekend went well and over all I feel great about the coming week, tonight I will run W2D1 of the couch to 5k program and am looking forward to finding out whether I will struggle with it or go right through it. Over all I am pretty happy with how the program went within the first week and am starting to look forward with some things that I think that I will need to continue running including an MP3 player and yesterday during an impromptu visit to the mall with Wify and the animals kids I walked past a display with tiny little MP3 players hanging on it in Jcpenny with a sign that said "Fathers day sale $19.99 PLUS a $9.99 rebate" and the price tag that was on the box said $39.99 so I thought "hey I'm a father" what do I have to lose with a $9.99 MP3 player that was originally $40 right? I get up to the counter and wify has a coupon from Jcpenny for $10 off any item regardless of price and long story short I got the player for $0.00, so I am a happy camper. There was one condition set upon this purchase by the Bill and Teds excellent adventureesque cashier whom said, and I quote "The only thing is that you can't return this {insert short pause here} like ever, because you didn't pay for it" No problemo pal! and off I went with my brandy spanking new FREE mini MP3 player and one thing crossed off of my "need to get" list.

I used a quarter so that you can get an idea of scale when I took these photos the SPI is on the left and the shuffle on the right, click on the image to get a full sized picture.

Upon returning home I opened the package and followed the directions in the box and was charging it up so that I can use it tonight on my week 2 debut, 4 hours later I loaded the C25K series of podcasts onto it and tested it out, worked perfectly. Obviously I have not yet had a chance to test it out and give a good solid opinion about how it works yet but I will do a full review after I use it a few times. My son has an Ipod shuffle so I will have something to compare it to but on my initial observations I am already liking the SPI MP3 player a bit better purely because it has a display that lets you see the current track playing as well as the elapsed time of that track (which will help with C25K) and this is something that the shuffle lacks. The Ipod is slightly smaller but not so much that this SPI feels big, this thing is tiny and only weighs 20g vs the 16g of the Ipod, hopefully the new toy proves to be reliable, and honestly there is no beating the price that I paid.

My weekend went well where intake and movement were concerned, I did not go over my calorie limits all weekend and Sunday Wify and I got out for a 2 mile walk and some fishing at the lake earlier in the day. my hydration was on par with at least 1 gallon of green tea and 1 gallon of straight H2O each day along with a couple few Fuze Cranrasberry drinks randomly inserted here and there.

A pretty good week all in all besides the fact that my daughter was sick just about all weekend, She started feeling better Sunday afternoon and was inspired to do some "ekersizes" on our living room floor which brought a smile to my face. Knowing that I am effecting my kids in the way that I am (I should say we are because wify is doing the same) is an extra bonus to me getting fit and dropping this weight. With that comes the end to another page of ramblings from the one time quarter ton man, I will leave you with a quote that I heard over the weekend, this one is very special to me so pay attention to who I am quoting.

"When you watch tv then you have to get up and move your body, that's called ekersize"
~My Daughter~

As Ever
Me

C25K week 1 DONE! and I learned some things about myself.

Last night I completed Couch to 5k week one, I was sore, it was raining but I decided that anything worth doing is worth doing 100% so I did not let either of those things stop me. I got dressed and headed out in the rain for my final run of week 1 not knowing whether I would finish it, as I walked out the door I told wify "I will either start and come back in 10 minutes because of the rain and or soreness, or I will run the whole thing, see ya in 10 minutes" once the first interval came around I knew that it was going to be a good run because I was taking long strides and was well ahead of where I have been ending after the first interval. I was far enough ahead of where I have been running by the 4th interval that when I reached the hill that I dread running up I had walked about 1/4 of the way up it before the I had to start running, usually I stop running before the top so again I knew that I was ahead of my pace. I was feeling good, the rain was heavier than a drizzle but not too hard by New England standards and honestly it somehow energized me and by the last interval I was so far ahead of my pace that I started running in the spot where my last interval usually ends.


I learned a couple of things about myself last night, as long as I stay focused and remember that I am choosing to do this I can and will. The second thing that I learned is that I LOVE to run in the rain! this is so odd to me because I was that guy that if it was raining outside would stay indoors and avoid the falling water like I was the wicked witch of the west when I was bigger. Running in the rain is almost like the world is mine at those moments, no one is around and its just me and the wet road and we get to have the rain all to ourselves. The cooling affect that a light rain provides is just enough to make running a bit more comfortable in the being hot department and I am already starting to appreciate this.

My calories for Friday were at 1720 so says my excel sheet but I was up a little later than usual last night and ate two oranges around 10:30pm so I am over by that much, I have the feeling that I will have to raise my caloric intake because of the running and I say that because I have been hungry this whole past week and I can't help but think that its my body letting me know a change is needed because of the extra work that the running is taxing my body for. I drank 1 gallon of green tea, 1.5 gallons of water and a Fuze fruit punch so to say that I am hydrated is an understatement and of course W1D3 was my exercise for the day, I did go my furthest distance last night which was 2.162 miles in the 29:45 that week one takes.

I was going through some comments that were left for me and one of them stood out to me and the simplicity of the statement caught me off guard, and actually gave me a smile. Andrew said "You've got to have the right gear when you're a runner I reckon!" as a response to This Post where I mentioned buying a compression shirt and the "when you're a runner" part really stopped me for a second and I thought about it, Never in my life has someone referred to me as "a runner" and I realized that I have made substantial changes in my life that will almost certainly mean that I will have that many more years to spend how I wish, doing what I want to with my wife and children.

With that I will end this post, I have a bird house to paint with my daughter so off I go into Daddy duties, make sure to get that H2O down and if someone can refer to me a "a runner" anything is possible.

As Ever
Me

Weigh in, into the 330's he goes! 200 pounds lost is almost here..

Weighing in has almost become secondary to me because of the C25K program, I have convinced myself that it does not matter whether I lose or not this week and maybe that is what I needed to get me in a downward direction again. Last week I was 341.4 pounds which was up from my lowest weight as well as up from the week before, this morning I woke up and I weighed 339.6 pounds! I am back into the 330's and I must say that it was a pleasant surprise this morning because I was not expecting a loss with all of the soreness. Today I am 1.8 pounds lighter than I was last week, with that I am stronger physically because the soreness in my muscles means that I am building muscle and pushing myself past where I was before I started running which will set the mood for my day quite nicely.

One bag of flour away from 200 pounds lost.

My calories came in at 1725 for Thursday and I drank more than a gallon of green tea along with about a gallon of straight H2O and a Fuze fruit punch man are those things good, and exercise was absent besides all of the stretching that I did. Over all I am feeling good but still seem pretty sore, I am suppose to run W1D3 tonight but I may put it off until tomorrow night just to give myself an extra day rest for the soreness to go down a bit, I haven't decided which I will do and the decision will purely be based on how I feel tonight when the time comes.

With this weeks weigh in I am again within 5 pounds of having lost 200 total pounds and this is something that I have not really focused on for the past month because of the docs orders for me not to run/bike and it seems that as soon as I started back in on the exercise the weight came back down. Will this be the week that I join the ranks of the few that can proclaim losing 200 plus pounds by making healthy choices in food and adding some exercise to their days? I certainly hope so. This week is doubly positive for me with the start of C25K and now dropping back into the 330's bringing be within 5 pounds of that double century mark, this time the difference is that I am cleared for exercise so I'm just going to say it Nothing can stop me now!

A good week for sure, the only thing left to do is duplicate it again this week so that's the plan. Don't forget that big ol glass of H2o for reading all of the way through this post and remember that you are the one that decides what you do with your time, sit on the couch? complain how hard everything is? eat chocolate when you feel sad? or make good food choices and exercise daily, it really is up to you, make the choice.

As Ever
Me

C25K week 1 day 2 fini, and some new gear for my running.

Yesterday was time for W1D2 on the C25K program and sore quads and all out into the rain I went to get day two under my belt. Earlier in the day I was out and about and thought that I would look around for a compression shirt to run in, the last time I went out the highest size was a 2xl and I already knew that I was a 3xl so why bother trying one on? I walked in and again looked at all of the 2xl shirts and wify said "are you going to at least try one on?" so I thought about it and decided why not and off I went into the changing room with 3 different shirts. To my surprise a 2xl shirt fit me, in fact it was a bit long on me which was awesome in itself as this was something that I wanted in a compression shirt so I was happy to find a shirt, the shirt that I bought is a Rebok play dry compression shirt. I put the shirt on at home and wify took a look and we both agree that I am a lot smaller with it on, in fact my regular tee shirts that I wear look too big when I have the compression shirt under them. The amazing part about that shirt is that it shows me just how much extra skin that I have on me, if a compression shirt can make me look as small as it does I do think this is just the beginning of my skin issue woes, but that is a bridge yet to be crossed so I will not dedicate too much attention to it just yet.

The run itself last night went well for the most part, I started off and after the first interval the compression shirt rolled up and I thought to myself "this is wonderful, now I get to play with this shirt for the next 30 minutes" so as soon as the first interval was done I pulled the shirt down as I walked and prepared for the roll up again when the next interval came along, but I sort of kept an eye on it and I did not roll up this time and every interval after that it seemed ok because the dampness of my sweat gave it some grip. Along I jogged thinking about how my wife had said that after the 2nd interval when she was on day 2 that she had no more soreness in her legs and I started interval number 3 and still sore. The 4th interval is the hill, you know that steep one that I mentioned in the last C25K post? man did I feel it going up that hill, when I hit the top of the hill I looked back at it and said some profanities at the defeated hill and continued on my way. This is about when I was coming down a longish straight downward sloped section and someone in a car was not considerate enough to turn their high beams off and I was pretty much blinded, the only thing I could see was the lights! it was as if I was in space or something and everything was perfectly black except the lights and I got too close to the edge of the road and twisted my ankle a bit on the edge of a driveway, I felt no pain so off I went and the rest of the run/walk went smooth and nice.

I felt great during this entire run besides the soreness in my quads (which never went away) I found that I was not as winded as the first time out and the difference in this compared to the first run was that my sore legs were my limiting factor where the first run was limited by my being out of breath. I did remember to check my heart rate immediately after 5 of the 9 intervals and it averaged out to 168 beats per minute which as far as I can tell is slightly higher than it should be for my age but maybe I am wrong, chime in with a comment if you know what it should be. I covered more ground on day 2 compared to the first run, the first day I ran 2.049 miles in the 29:45 that the podcast lasts and last night I went 2.095 miles according to Gmaps, so ever so slightly further but further none the less, and there is always room for some inaccuracies but I am pleased either way.

Onto my intake for Wednesday, I consumed a total of 1610 calories and drank just under 1 gallon of green tea, 1 gallon of straight H2O and 2 bottles of Fuze fruit punch. My exercise for the day was the C25K program and other than the slight twisting of the ankle I feel like I am on my way with this program and feel good about it so far. I am less sore this morning than when I went to bed last night, in fact I am less sore this morning than I was before I ran last night as well which I hope means that the soreness will continue to get less and less from here on out, I do have some pain in my ankle but nothing that is even close to real pain, its more like a discomfort that is letting me know that something happened so I am going to keep an eye on how that feels and if it is even slightly sore come time for Fridays run I will skip it until Saturday giving it an extra day worth of rest.

Week 1 day 2 is fini and I look forward to completing week 1, I have not decided whether I will do week one twice or if I will move right onto week 2 when the time comes and I will decide on Monday when I actually head out for that run, it will all depend on how day 3 goes. Tomorrow I weigh in and even with the new exercise this week I am not expecting a big drop if any mostly because of the soreness and I know that I have to be retaining a bit of water because of it but it honestly does not matter if the scale shows progress this week because the running IS showing progress and as long as progress is being made in some aspect of my new healthier life I am happy with that, which is not to say that I am not looking for losses but I am pleased with myself this week to say the least.

Check out tomorrows post to see if the fat man has lost some weight and of course keep on keepin on and all that.

As Ever
Me