205.2

Gained .4 pounds.  But, after spending a night with my old friend, Joel Thompson, at my favorite restaurant, Mi Ranchito's, it was worth it.  I expected worse.  Earlier, I found out some bad news about a contest I had entered (more on that tonight).  After skipping cake and ice cream at a going away celebration at work, as I usually do, I ended up finding my way back to the kitchen for a bowl of ice cream when I heard the bad news.  I guess stress is still a food trigger.  Good thing I am not stressed that often!

204.8

My love/hate relationship with chicken wings continues!  Up three pounds.  I am down to two real addictions, chicken wings and  chips and salsa.  Had the former last night.  Will have the latter tonight.  205 here we come!

201.8

I didn't deserve a .8 pound drop.  But, for all those days when I did deserve a drop and didn't get it, I will take it!

"Yeah... I Know I'm Crazy"

About a month ago, Lori and I went to a Nuggets' game.  By the time I got off from work and Lori got out of jury duty, we hit the road for Denver.  After the game, while we were driving back, I asked Lori if she wanted to go for a walk when he got home. She laughed, as if I was kidding, and said no way.  We finally got home around 11:30 that night. 

While Lori was changing clothes, I started changing in to my workout gear and different shoes.  I asked her if I should take the dog and she yelled from the bathroom, "Are you really going for a walk?!".  My reply?  "Yeah... I know I'm crazy."  But, I needed to go for a walk.  I actually wanted to go for that walk.  At 11:50 PM, I walked out the front door and Duke and I set off on a 45 minute walk around the neighborhood. 

I will admit that there have been nights where I went to the club mostly because of my exercise streak.  In fact, when I was sick last week, there were two or three nights where it took every ounce of willpower and the thought of my exercise streak to get me in to that gym.  But, that night wasn't about the streak.  That night, like most nights, was simply because I wanted to get some exercise.  I was tired.  I would have liked to have gone to bed.  But, mentally, I needed to go for that walk.  That's how I feel most nights.

So, yes, I am crazy.  I will admit that.  It's a good crazy... crazy like a fox.  That's an improvement.  Last year I was still crazy.  But, it was more crazy like a hippopotamus.  Here's to having healthy obsessions...

202.6

I have learned over the last year that there are certain meals that make me gain weight almost just by looking at them... despite any semblance of portion control.  Turkey, mashed potatoes, and gravy are one of those meals.  Up 1.2 pounds.

201.4

Down 3.2.  Nuff' said...

204.6

It is so much easier to gain weight than it is to lose it!  Up another two pounds after enjoying a turkey dinner for Easter.  Now I start trying to get under 200... AGAIN!

199.4/202.6

Saturday saw me up .2... not bad.  Sunday wasn't so good.  After saying that I wanted to be permanently under 200, my latest streak lasted only two days... a full five days less than my previous three times.  Maybe 200 is really the ideal weight for me.  Maybe I am not meant to be 193 and need to let this go.  Not sure where the 3.2 pounds even came from.  Oh well...

199.2

Still under 200 and down .6 pounds.  My goal is to finally stay under 200 for good.  Not a couple days, not a week.  But, a permanent change.  I started looking back at my recent history and found that this is the fourth time I had gone under 200.  In my mind, I thought that the other times were only for a couple of days.  But, when I looked at the numbers, each of the three previous times I broke that mythical barrier I had stayed under for exactly a week.  Not sure what pushed me back over the first time.  But, the second and third time were due to a vacation to San Diego and a week in Denver at our annual meeting for work.

Last night, after a few co-workers and I had finished playing nine holes of golf, I really wanted to go to Coors with my friend Russ and have a slopper and some beers.  At the very least, I wanted to go to the golf course clubhouse and have a couple of beers.  If it had been last week, I would have gone.  But after finally getting back under 200 yesterday morning, I couldn't mentally handle going back over a day later.  So, I said no... and it was extremely difficult.  Instead, I went to the club and came home and did a few pushups and curls. 

Not sure why this particular weight means so much to me.  I know it shouldn't.  I would like to get to the low 190s so that I can go to Coors and not stress about it.  In the end, I am glad I skipped it and was rewarded with a pretty positive feeling this morning.  And, my friend even stopped by to tell me he skipped the slopper and beers as well and went home and had a grilled chicken Caesar salad because I had inspired him.  Nice.  That made my morning even better and validated that decision even more than the scale had.

199.8

With only .2 pounds to spare, it's probably a little premature to say this.  But, I am hoping that I never cross back over 200 pounds again.  I am hoping to do well over the next two weeks to give myself a little more of a cushion.  Needless to say, today needs to be a very good day.

200.0

Oh, come on man!

I Need To Write Again

I have been in a little bit of a rut ever since I broke 200.  Of course, if you told me last year that a "rut" would consist of me bouncing between 198 and 208 for three months, I would have told you to bring on the rut!  But still, I am not done.  A year ago, 200 would have been good enough.  But now, I know better.  I now know what I am capable of and I want to finish this journey in style.  I weigh just over 200 today.  I realize that the 200 today is a different composition than the 200 was in early January.  I am fitter.  I am stronger.  My body is more tone.  My loose skin is firming up.  While I have often said that I think the weight-gain excuse of "muscle weight" is abused, I will finally admit that I have lifted enough weights over the last two months to know that I have put on at least a few pounds of muscle. 

When I reached 200 I got complacent.  I haven't tracked my calories recently.  Well, not officially.  I still always count them in my head.  I haven't been quite as rigid about restricting the things I eat.  And, most importantly, I stopped blogging as often.  I think I forgot the power of this blog.  I got busy and let this slip to the bottom of my list.  I think that has to change.  I think I need to continue to tell my story if I am going to be successful losing these last pounds and completing this life change.

I have a new goal... only to put a number to it.  I am not even sure if it will be too high or too low.  I only know that I still have some fat around my stomach.  I may never get all of my loose skin to come back to it's former tightness.  But, I believe that I can significantly reduce it with a low fat diet and continued abdominal work and weight lifting.  So, I will start writing again and will even tell some stories I meant to tell when they happened and didn't get around to.  My goal is 193 pounds.  Hopefully, tomorrow will be a good day and I will have less than 7 pounds to get there.  I am comfortable with a little slower pace than I was used to and would be fine even if it took me 10 more weeks to get there.  Here's to continued sharing...

200.6

Down .4 pounds.  I am thinking that I may never see a sub-200 number again.  The last time I saw 190-something was March 2!

201.0

Down .6 after a decent day.  Still struggling to get under 200.  The odd thing is that I used to do well during the week and struggle to maintain or lose on the weekend.  That trend has reversed and now I find myself doing well on the weekends but struggling during the week.  I think that changed when I move to Marketing and had multiple sweet and salty snack shoved in my face on a daily basis.  Show some control man...

201.6

I just can't seem to put together a string of good days.  Crap.

200.6

My Fridays have been good to me for the second week in a row.  Down 3.2 pounds after a pretty level week.  A good weekend away from being back on track.

203.8

I am in such a rut.  Hopefully, I can get on track once I start feeling better.

203.8

Not sure what is going on.  Didn't eat horribly... maybe a bit too much salt.  Pretty crappy week after a great start this past weekend.

400!

No.  Not pounds.  Days.  The one number that I don't mind going up. Tonight, despite feeling like crap with my worst cold in 15 months, I still made it to the club for my 400th straight day of exercise!  And, yes, tonight was not because I wanted to.  Tonight was one of those few nights that happened only because of the streak and my stubborness.  Here's to the next 400 straight days...

203.0

Same, same, same.  Yada, yada, yada.  Blah, blah, blah...

203.0

Running out of acronyms to describe my disappointment in myself...

203.2

Just once I would like to start the week off weighing less than I did on Sunday morning.  Up .4 pounds.  However, this is going to be a GREAT week.  I WILL be under 200 again by next Monday!

202.8

Down another 1.4 pounds and 7.8 from Friday! 

204.2

Tiger Woods and I both had great Fridays and found ourselves 6 under where we started Friday.  Well, I guess I was down 6.4 to be exact.  Nice start to my weekend and feeling better about my mid-week ugliness. 

210.6

Mi Ranchito's did me in again!  Said goodbye to my mom and my nephew Hunter last night with our quarterly trip to Mi Ranchito's.  It was great, as always.  So, I knew this was coming.  After starting Phase 3 with a bang, I have put on 10.2 pounds over the last six days.  Sad.  No more exceptions.  I am embarassed even saying those words since I have said them before.  I think the next step in this journey is to learn to have my favorites, or exceptions, and still limit the damage.  I had started getting better about that.  But, my confidence over the last couple of months has made me believe that I can go crazy on these days and then just work it off.  That may be true.  But, that will only leave me bouncing between 200 and 210 rather than achieving that next drop to the low 190s.  Lori said the only thing we left in April was Easter dinner.  But, rather than make that another "planned" exception.  I am going to enjoy the meal and still lose weight the next day.  I am also going to stop the small bit steadu increases to my soda, candy and popcorn consumption.  Well, that's the plan...

207.6

Uhhhhhhh...  excuse me... that drop was supposed to be three to four pounds, not one!

Phase 3: Starting Weight (3/15/11) - 211.4, Current Weight - 207.6, Total - (3.8)

208.6

Maybe it was Freudian.  I went to bed last night and I thought to myself that this morning might be a good morning to skip weighing in.  We went to the Nuggets game and between the food and drink last night, the snacks on the trip up, and the heavy lunch I had eaten, I knew it wasn't going to be a good number.  But, even knowing that, I suspected that I would step on that scale anyway. 

But, there I was this morning, fully dressed and heading out of my bedroom when I realized that I had forgotten to weigh!  I was getting ready, talking to Lori, and it completely slipped my mind... really!  Like I said, it may have been Freudian.  So, I debated skipping it, like I debated not exercising at 11:50 PM last night.  And, like last night, my obsessive-compulsive tendencies won out and I stepped on the scale.  Wish I hadn't...

I suppose I will see a pretty good drop tomorrow... somewhere between 3-4 pounds is my guess.  My friend Will is secretly laughing at my weight fluctuations because he knows it all too well.  If I could just string together two weeks without any event or function that involves food, I might be able to get back to where I want to be.  Yeah, I know you have heard  this before...

Phase 3 doesn't look as good this morning as it did a week ago.

Phase 3: Starting Weight (3/15/11) - 211.4, Current Weight - 208.6, Total - (2.8)

203.0

If I said that I sucked, that would be an exaggeration and way too kind on myself.

Phase 3: Starting Weight (3/15/11) - 211.4, Current Weight - 203.0, Total - (8.4)

203.2

Sunday nights are killing me.  If I could get through a weekend and not force myself to make up for it over the weekend, I might actually see the results I was predicting for Phase 3.

Phase 3: Starting Weight (3/15/11) - 211.4, Current Weight - 203.2, Total - (8.2)

201.4

Just can't get there...

Phase 3: Starting Weight (3/15/11) - 211.4, Current Weight - 201.4, Total - (10.0)

201.4/200.4

Yesterday, I woke up weighing the same as I did on Thursday.  Thursday was a pretty good day.  So, I was slightly disappointed and a little perplexed by the lack of change.  What made it even worse is that after my weigh-in yesterday, I was heading to one of my favorite Mexican places, The Brewery Bar, and the Colorado Rockies home opener.  Not a good combination for gettting back under 200.  But, I was going to enjoy The Brewery Bar and a few beers despite the consequences.  The only good news is that I was so full from lunch that I wasn't hungry the rest of the day... aside from the obligatory roasted peanuts.  But, I felt pretty stuffed even when I went to bed last night and hoped, with a good night of exercise, that I had kept the damages somewhere between 1 and 2 pounds.  Imagine my surprise this morning when I weighed and found myself a pound lighter than yesterday morning!  So, based on this, I am heading back up to Denver today for The Brewery Bar and a few beers!  Might have to even find some cheap seats for the baseball game in case that was part of the equation.  Alright, I am joking.  But, I still sit here wondering how this could have happened.  In fact, I still feel full from yesterday's lunch!  Off to the club.  Maybe I will see a sub-200 number tomorrow... though I am thinking that I might be 203 if I eat really good today... lol.

Phase 3: Starting Weight (3/15/11) - 211.4, Current Weight - 200.4, Total - (11.0)