SlimCache

It sure has been a while. As I get closer to my goal I find my journaling is falling off. Unfortunately so is my motivation. I'm beginning to wonder if there is any correlation between the two. I've moved back out to camp, as I did last summer when I started this blog. Hopefully that will give me a little bit more time to put my thoughts down. I'll be more free from the car horns and neon distractions of downtown Old Orchard. I look forward to getting more involved again in the online community that has brought me so far.

Not the greatest news to report this week. I didn't post week 48's numbers but they were good. For the week of April 19-25 I posted a loss of 1.8 pounds. I promptly squandered that the following week. Not that all was lost. There were a few noteworthy accomplishments that did not pertain to the number on the scale. Body fat percentage is going to become a new part of my weekly report as I fine tune my weight. This week was I registered at 19.4%. That's a whopping difference from my 34.3% starting point. Huge! 15% loss of body fat HUGE! So I'm not really going to get too hung up about weight at this point. I'm going for overall health after all, not some magic number on the scale.

The other major accomplishment would be the advancement of my running. I'm becoming more comfortable with pacing, my heart rate has continued to come down, and I'm putting in longer distances. Last week I did a total of 36 miles. It's possible that this is a completely foolish course of action though, as it took me 2 or 3 days to feel recovered from my most recent run, an eleven miler on Saturday. The 405 has helped immensely as I'm now tracking my progress with the software provided by Garmin as well as Sport Tracks. I'm more passionate now than ever about running and thankfully all is going well and I'm still injury free.

So even though I have to post a gain for this week, I'm not going to feel too bad about it. The weight itself is only part of the picture. That will come in time. The most important this is that my health continues to improve.

Things seem to be gathering steam. More than likely the calorie allotment I've given myself is starting to gel with the goals I have in place. It's rather conservative, but I've been going on 300 calories six times a day. Maybe it's the 25 miles I ran this week. Anyway, I'm thinking it should be harder than this. It would seem that weight loss for me now is just a given. I don't mean that to sound overconfident. Maybe I've just hit my stride and avoid plateau points. Whatever I'm doing it seems to be going right.

It would be fair to say that I've embraced the running lifestyle. I'm planning on doing my first double digit run tomorrow. I could not be more excited. I'm not officially in any type of training cycle right now, I just want to push myself to go that much farther. Maybe it's my homage to those running the 113th annual Boston Marathon. My 10 seems pretty measly to those competing, but it's the level to which I've pushed myself up to this point. All those great runners competing tomorrow started at this same point. It makes me feel as though I could be part of something greater. I am, as well as you are, capable of great feats. I'll be watching and cheering on my friends Steve Runner, Chris Russell, and Dennis the Early Morning Runner from the running podcast community. Cheers to all those who are running this weekend, in Boston or otherwise.

Starting weight : 315 lbs. Last week : 210.6 lbs. This week : 208.4 lbs. Since previous weigh in : -2.2 lbs. Total weight loss : 106.6 lbs

In the shuffle yesterday, my weigh in blog post got lost. This was too important of a post to miss too. April 12th was the goal I set to have lost 100 pounds total. All weight loss goals that I've set so far have been met, often times early, on the date they were projected. The 50 pound goal was October 12th, 2008. Met it. January 4th's goal was 75 pounds. I came in 2.4 pounds beyond that goal at the time. I then projected April 12th, my birthday, as the next goal. Again, I've nailed it. I weighed in 4.4 pounds beyond the mark I set for myself 13 weeks ago!

So yesterday I got a three-fer deal. Three holidays in one! April 12th was my birthday, Easter, and my hundred pound goal day. Such an occasion calls for a pretty massive gift right? I've had my eye set on a Garmin Forerunner 405. It's an eye-catching toy that all of my runner friends have already jumped on the bandwagon for. Envy inspiring. Well, my wife saw fit to treat me to my dream training watch. The pride she and our kids have expressed in me has kept me going during the most difficult times of this process. I'm extremely thankful that I have this support system, and that they expressed their esteem with a kick ass gift. They also made me a crown that, with congratulatory flattering phrases all over it amongst stickers of trophies and race medals, made me cry. Thanks guys. I love you.

So that goal is in the bag. Next up is July 26th, the ultimate end goal. I will weigh 190 pounds on that day. My track record speaks for itself. I'm sure if I put my mind too it, that goal will fall just as the others have. Thanks to everyone who has kept me accountable and urged me along. I can't do it without you.

Starting weight : 315 lbs. Last week : 215 lbs. This week : 210.6 lbs. Since previous weigh in : -4.4 lbs. Total weight loss : 104.4 lbs

Today was Christmas. You know the type of Christmas you had as a kid where you were at least 98% sure that the grand, shiny gift you wanted was waiting for you? When I woke this morning my eyes snapped open, and I stole downstairs before anyone else had risen. When I stepped on the scale it was confirmed. The big, shiny gift was had. I have crossed the 100 pound mark!

It was impossible to hold in my excitement. I tried not to wake anyone else up. I went back up to my bedroom and waited with my guts bursting for my family to wake up. As soon as I saw the vaguest semblance of wakefulness enter my wife's face, I nudged her to speed the process along, and greeted her with a bright beaming smile and tears in my eyes.

Home stretch! I was unfortunately unable to get as much time out on the road this week as I would have liked, but thankfully strep throat came along to save my butt. I'm not sure it's the best way to lose weight but when your throat feels like everything you're trying to swallow is composed of gravel, it tends to slow your appetite a little. Thursday and Friday found me shivering under a blankey with no real explanation, not even much of a fever. Then the white spots came. I found them today. Not a professional diagnosis, but I think it's a pretty fair assumption. I'm sick. Thank goodness I have some antibiotic left over from an ear infection just over a month ago.

Since last week's race my legs have been pretty sore too. I opted to go low impact for most of the week spending more time on the elliptical than usual. Maybe this slight change in routine was beneficial in jogging my system. Whatever it was, I'm pretty happy with the results. I've lost another two and a half pounds. I'm now just over 1 pound away from my 100 pound goal with 3 weigh-ins still remaining.

Thanks go out to the hosts of Runners Round Table. I had a blast talking to Ben of BuckeyeOutdoors about the site changes going on. I've been pretty hush about it cuz it wasn't to be mentioned until after the podcast but now I can't help but shout it out. Go to GoWagon! It's training logs, it's social networking, it's mapping and events! I'm really excited about this project. If you're already on BuckeyeOutdoors your info is already on GoWagon, just use the same login. Thanks again to Steve, Toni, Joe, and Ben for making my first time at the Table such an enjoyable one.

Oh, the cost of hubris. I felt like my weight loss goal for April was in the bag just because, as of last week's weigh-in, I was only 3 pounds away. My celebration comes after the touchdown though, not at the 5 yard line. I already described in depth the sins I committed earlier this week so I'll skip it here. Those actions had unfortunate consequences. I'm up 2 pounds this week.

Thankfully though talking those issues out earlier this week has provided some different perspective. Thanks to Charles and Drusy for their encouraging posts. They meant a lot. My wife also deserves a big thanks for helping too. She dug up a list pros and cons I wrote out during my last slump. At that point I was depressed because I had only lost 42 pounds! That really made me take a step back and assess the situation, realizing that this is not the end of the world. I'm stronger than I give myself credit for often.

So I took a closer look at the positives that came out of this week. This morning my body fat % read at 22% even. This is amazing. I started at more than 34% body fat! I also think this may be what's leading to my stalled loss. I'm still losing the fat but gaining stronger leg muscles. This leads me to the other positive I experienced this week. I thought I needed to catch up during the second half of the week so I vowed to take my frustrations out on the road. I ended up logging just shy of 20 miles in three days. That's one long run for some I know, but it's a big deal for me. This week I logged the most miles I've done in one week since starting running, and I enjoyed every step of them.

I was absolutely elated this morning. Seriously, tears of joy. I'm about to absolutely murder the goal I set for April. I've only got three pounds and six weeks left to accomplish it. This week brought me three pounds closer.

I've been putting in a lot more miles running. That coupled with an extremely ill advised trip out into the woods coupled for a remarkable weight loss this week. I'm still kind of surprised that I can put down three pounds at a time this late in the game. Evidently I'm still doing something right.

So if I reach the 100 pound mark 5 weeks early what do I do in the meantime? Chill and eat bon bons until April 12th comes around? I'm looking into more long term goals like improving body fat % and preparing for my half marathon in the fall. I was thinking even a hike through the 100 Mile Wilderness of Maine, so called because it's the longest stretch of the Appalachian Trail without intersection with real civilization.

Where do I go from here? Time can only tell. I'll see you when I get there.

Maybe I'm onto something. I'm not into the idea of completely giving up beer and those of you who know me well know that fine crafted beer is somewhat of a passion of mine. But maybe exercising more moderation would enable me to lose more weight. I've not had any beer for a week and a half and this week's weigh-in yielded a three and a half pound loss. Coincidence?

I would also like to refer back to Some Basics, posted in June of 2008. That post was to be a marker for my starting point regarding statistics on overall health, not just weight, including blood pressure readings, fat percentages, and BMI. At the time I said that I would update you on some of those numbers as I went along. My body fat percentage then was 34.3. Yowza! This could be considered a more accurate representation of overall health as relying on the number on the scale only is somewhat misinformed. I'm glad to say I'm down about 10% body fat now, clocking in at 24.7% this morning. BMI is also a somewhat inaccurate representation as it's a ratio of weight to height but at that time I also recorded my BMI for reference. It was 40.8. It's now down to 30 even. I've gone from being scientifically classified as obese, to very overweight, to simply overweight. It feels great to break through those walls.

Sorry I missed last week's posting. An unreliable connection had me floundering to find the support I've come to rely on from the running, outdoor, health, and nutrition communities. Though not posted I managed a really great loss last week. I updated it to Twitter so those who follow me there know that I lost 3.4 pounds last week.

I' m back. And I have some really good news from this week's weigh in. I've broken the 90 pound mark. I absolutely wasn't anticipating such a solid loss for this week. It was, frankly, a big surprise.I'm in the second week of fairly strictly adhering to an 1,800 calorie per day daily intake. This plan has yielded such positive results that I plan to continue on the same track for some time.

Look out for my upcoming participation on The Runners Round Table. Nothing is set in stone yet on when I'll be popping in, but after hearing their requests for more community members to join the panel, I signed on. Please check out their next episode live on the TalkShoe network February 11th at 5:30 PM EST.



Starting weight : 315 lbs. Last week : 229.2 lbs. This week : 224.6 lbs. Since previous weigh in : -4.6 lbs. Total weight loss : 90.4 lbs

That's a little more like it. A week of breaking even got me a little demoralized earlier this week. Down but not out is a more appropriate credo now though. I realized that last week's lack of progress could be blamed on poor eating habits. I simply did not eat enough to continue losing weight. This week I came back with a new strategy to eat 1,800 calories a day. I did so by eating six times at about 300 calories each. Adhering to this gave me the appropriate fuel to lose this week rather than allowing my body to think it was starving.

FatBlogger Charles has suggested that I don't smile enough in my weigh in photos. He's right. I've got a lot to be happy about. My plan is working well and I've experienced weight loss every week except one since June. I would also like to announce my intention to participate in a half marathon in September. I've got my sights set on the Bar Harbor Bank & Trust - Mount Desert Island YMCA Half Marathon. It's a little hilly but I think I can train for that. It's just another goal to work toward, one that I hope to achieve with flying colors just like I've done with the others I've set. Number one reason to smile : I've lost another 2.4 pounds this week!

Starting weight : 315 lbs. Last week : 235 lbs. This week : 232.6 lbs. Since previous weigh in : -2.4 lbs. Total weight loss : 82.4 lbs.

Ahhhh, yes. Another great weigh in. Thankfully I've bucked the trend of ~1 pound weight losses I experienced just over a month ago. I'm back to 2 pounds a week or more. Going with 2 pounds per week, I'm actually 3 pounds ahead of my goal weight for this week. This has gotta slow down at some point. I have to prepare myself mentally for the point when losses are lesser and harder to obtain. I've always heard that those last 10 pounds are a bitch.

As I continue to lose the weight, I have to wonder what the endgame actually is. Do I have a target weight? Possibly it's a different number like BMI or fat percentage. At what point do I stop worrying about losing weight and just maintaining a core level of fitness? These are all things that I will be thinking about going ahead as the idea of living life as a trimmer, fitter, and just plain healthier person becomes a reality.

Starting weight : 315 lbs. Last week : 237.6 lbs. This week : 235 lbs. Since previous weigh in : -2.6 lbs. Total weight loss : -80 lbs.

May I please refer back to October 13th's post Goals, in which I stated :

"With the success of my previous goal, I've decided it may be in my best interest to set another. I've set my eyes on 240 pounds, or 75 pounds total. At two pounds per week that puts me at the first weigh-in of 2009, January 4th."

Well, it's the first weigh-in of '09 and I'm EXTREMELY proud to say that I did it. I succeeded in achieving the exact goal I projected two and a half months ago! That's two goals I've nailed straight. I feel unstoppable. This is the lowest number I've seen on the scale in my entire adult life. I would like to remain humble but I feel if there's anything worthy of patting myself on the back for it's this.

A TRIUMPHant week! Well, almost. Had to figure that my streak of solid losses would cease the week of holiday indulgences. I managed to lose 3.5 pounds the week of Thanksgiving, but Thanksgiving doesn't have as much candy as Christmas. I didn't gain though, and although it's a modest loss, I'm less than a pound away from my goal for next week. I'm comfortable in the spot I'm in currently. Setting realistic goals has gotten me so far. After next week's weigh-in I set my sights on April, my birthday, and the 100 pound mark.

I'd like to thank my wonderful, encouraging wife here for the great Christmas gifts. Truly an enabler (the good kind) she got me some great new Saucony Triumph 4s, a Brooks NightLife vest and pair of gloves, books on running and hiking, a headlamp, an altimeter/barometer from L.L. Bean, and a load of clothes in new slimmer sizes to encourage me on my way toward better health. I feel so lucky this year for my own wellness, but also that I have such encouraging family to help me in the process of my own betterment.

And on the mission goes. I'm 3 pounds closer to my goal, that is if this morning's weigh in can be considered accurate. I'm a little on the fence about this one. Waking up first thing this morning I stepped on the scale. Unfortunately that reading provided woefully little progress from last week. I lost just over a half a pound. That's not enough to attain my year end goal. So I decided to wait it out slightly. Perhaps I could get a little better reading after I gave myself a little time to get things, pardon me, moving.

In the meantime I went for a run. I wanted to get one in before the snow flew. We're right in the middle of two weather systems here in Maine. One just wrapped up last night, and as I write this, we're getting nailed by a storm that could potentially bring us 20 inches. I managed 3 miles in about 31 minutes. That's a little faster than usual but the wind was also blowing to the point it made it hard to catch my breath. I just wanted it over as quickly as possible.

So with the run and that, umm, other thing my next weigh in put me at a 3 pound loss for the week. I suppose a pretty good deal of it came from sweat but that's fine by me since I think I was holding some from drinking a LOT of water yesterday and dinner last night was a little salty as well. It's progress anyway.