Baby, it's cold outside!

Well when you ask what the world can bring you, it answers with a bout of a little sickness. Good thing was that it hit me at the same time as the cold snap hit and everyone wants to stay inside. Bad thing is all the wonderful smells in the house from the slow cooker. My beautiful wife is doing such a wonderful job at cooking healthy foods that are awesome tasting.
I had some time to run some numbers and adjust my diet. My balance now is 45% carbs, 35% protein, and 20% fat. On the fat only 7% is saturated. So for the next 2 weeks I will see how this works. Hopefully it will break my plateau.
I do have to say Thank You to a couple of wonderful friends who gave me a verbal smack down. I am not on this journey for the numbers or for anybody else but myself and my girls. Since I have started my journey I feel great, I have more energy, and my family time is benefiting! Yesterday I got caught, not that I care, skipping through the market with a girl in each hand. All of us were out of breath, not from skipping, but from laughing. It was a memory that will keep me on my path for life. So I asked what the use was, well I answered my own answer!


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What is the use?

So I stepped on the scale this morning fully expecting to see some positive results. I worked out 6 days last week with the minimum calorie count of 650 calories burned. I was under everyday on my food intake, good balance of protein, carbs, and fat. So you can imagine my surprise when I stepped on the scale and had gained a half pound, so I am sitting at 269 pounds.
That totally put a damper on my mood, what the heck. What is all of this for? So I guess I need to take another look at my food intake and lower the fat and carb intake. Maybe look at my workouts and step it up, my body isn't burning the fat as it should.
Or do I just say screw it and go back to being fat. I did notice at least two nights last week that I just about passed out in my chair from being tired. My body feels fine, my blood sugar is normal, my blood pressure is high normal. I do feel stressed, and this doesn't help, and I know that I eat when I am stressed. Dinner tonight was evidence of that, stuffed French toast! Now I feel guilty, I promises my girls that I would take them for ice cream if they got their stuff cleaned up. I don't want to break my promise, but I mentally am beating myself up. Oh well, bad days are going to happen! The important thing is to learn from it!


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Dieting for Engineers

Ok what would a diet book written by an engineer read like. I have had a lot of time to think about that during my workouts. To those who know the inner workings of my brain, I apologize, no one should have to witness that chaos...oh I meant to say that you know I thrive on numbers and statistical analysis. I have spreadsheets for everything from tracking my weight-loss and estimating my projected weight loss within the given data set. I track all of my daily food intake using an iPhone app. I track all of my regular exercise using estimates of calorie burn. I have researched multiple weight-loss plans and taken pieces of each to apply to my situation. It comes down to the fact that a cookie cutter diet plan will not work for everybody. Each individual needs to find what works for them. The average American does not want the bother of figuring it out, they want some pill, some apparatus, some diet plan that takes all of the engineering out of it. Maybe I should take my eventual success and turn it into a book and a plan, and then retire and Mountain bike from coast to coast and border to border!

Take time for the important things in life! Play with your kids, laugh with your wife, take time to build real friendships, and live life to the fullest every minute of everyday!

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What a day!

All I have to is that today was the type of day that I used to eat pretty much non stop junk food and pretty much main line mountain dew and energy drinks. Sitting around all day in meetings, getting stresses out with action items, and dealing with people. It was a good thing I got a killer workout in before work! Well today is over, I am hanging out with my smart and sexy wife, and I had a great night with my little ones! Tomorrow is a new day and one day closer to the weekend! Semper Fidelis!


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Wow, I still have those muscles!

Ok, ok, ok I figured out an important life lesson today. I know why there weren't any fat cavemen, they all couldn't run and got eaten by the beast, not because they tasted better but because they were so darn slow. I thought I would mix it up a little and do a light jog on the treadmill after I finished 32 min on the elliptical. So I'm all warmed up, got my Marine running cadence jamming on my iPhone, and start the treadmill. I get up to 5.5 mph and decide that is a good pace for a little jog. Well 2 miles later my knees are burning, I can't feel the front of my shins, and I can't see through the sweat in my eyes. Yep I am going to feel that in the morning. I think I will hold off on the jogging for a little while longer. 268 pounds is a lot of weight to be hammering on my knees with. So I felt good after the run, I think I was delirious, so I decided to do a quick 3 exercise strength circuit. 3 sets, of 3 different muscle groups, 15 reps each set, and only 10 sec in-between each set. Wow it felt good, I wonder if it is true about muscle memory. I have a feeling that I am going to be a little sore in the am! Well it is off to bed, goodnight world.

By the way I have almost lost the equivalent weight as a 5 gallon water jug, or my youngest daughter. I feel amazing!


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I Hate Mondays

Ok, I hate Monday's! It started out just fine, workout went great, but then I went to the lab. Wow it is amazing how one short staff meeting can take a great day and turn it to crap. I hate feeling rushed all day, playing catch up. My food intake was again below my daily recommended even though I felt full all day. I need to watch my body and workout energy to make sure I am getting enough food and not depriving my body of much needed nutrients! Well tomorrow is another fresh day and time to suck the marrow out of life!


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Awesome Weekend

It has been an awesome weekend! Three days off, no work, and great workouts! We have had some wonderful family time, my girls are the best! My workouts consisted of 35 min on the treadmill, 35 min on the elliptical, and 32 min on the stationary bike. The cardio is great, don't get me wrong, I can really feel it in my body and heart . I am looking forward to hitting the weights again once I hit 250! Also I am so looking forward to hitting the trails on the mountain bike this spring, and out of the gym! So thank you everyone for your help in keeping me going on my journey! Well it is time to get some sleep, goodnight moon!


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I'm Back!

Ok, well it has been a while since I have posted any progress or basically posted anything on my journey blog. This has not been because I fell off the wagon or took a break from my journey, basically it had to do with time and pride. The time issues just because there never seems to be enough hours in the day and what free time I have is for my girls. Inorder to solve this and get back to posting along my journey an iPhone app was needed. That way I can post from anywhere.

The pride issue stems from the man that I used to be and how far I let myself fall. Recently I have found a lot of my Marine brothers on Facebook, which is very good. But it has been a slap in the face when I look in the mirror and think about the shape that I used to be in. Yes, I was big in the Corps, my callsign was Chunks, but I was 110 pounds lighter and in shape. So I just have to suck it up and realize why I am doing this journey again. I am making a lifestyle change to get back into shape and reclaim my health. I have two beautiful daughters to see through life!

So look forward to more frequent updates from me. By the way to those who have been paying attention I am down to 268.5 from 306, a total of 37.5 pounds. I feel great, I can run with my girls again! Only 62.5 pounds to go to hit my goal. Also to any of my Marine buddies that want to come to Colorado in the fall for a race, the annual Warriors Dash is going to be my first, post being fat, race. Viking hats and fur pants are optional! Semper Fi!


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