Reset

As I was saying,  I found it was easy to keep not exercising once I started, er stopped, whatever.  Much like this blog grinding to a halt, so did my exercise.  What was just one week, turned into two, and finally three.  Three weeks of no real exercise, no Zombies, Run!, no run reports, no weigh ins, and no cares.  I had my blinders securely fastened to my noggin.  I let complacency slip back into my life.  My diet suffered.  I started breaking my cardinal rules: no fast food, no frozen pizzas, no ice cream.  Alas, perspective shifted, my stomach brain was happy.  Life was easier.
And then, people started asking questions,

 "When will you update your blog?"

"How's the weight loss going?"

"Who the heck is Bossk and why is he your favorite Star Wars character?"

(True story.)

And I took a good long look at myself in the mirror and asked myself a question, "Where am I going?  What happened to the running, the feeling accomplished, the pride?"  

And then I stepped on the scale in my bathroom.  Apparently, my pride did a little transmogrification (it's a word) and decided it preferred the form of fat around my belly.

(Form of, Triglycerides!  Worse episode ever.)

What did my scale tell me?  266.5 pounds.  In three weeks, I had effectively undone seven weeks worth of work.  Seven weeks, of writing, and sweating, and feeling good about myself.  I had hit the metophorical reset button.    

So, I find myself at a crossroad.  Do I let those giant clocks on either side of Mr. Freeze reach zero?  Do I give up the good fight and go back to my easy non-exercising life?  Or do I throw another token in the machine and press start?  Back to the sweating, and the discomfort, and the fight?  Do I begin the struggle once more? 

7...

6...

5...

4...

3...

2...

1...

(clink)

Start.

- Louie

Prelude to reset.

Classy title, eh?  I was really hoping to write a long post this evening about where I am with my weight loss journey, but, I have a 5 am all day teleconference and not much time until I need to lay my head down and slip into a mini comma.

As you may have noticed, I haven't been paying attention to this blog as of late.  If it were a Tamagotchi, it would look like this:

(If you get this reference, Congratulations, you are old like me!)

Unfortunately, my exercise regime went the same way.  I found it was easy to keep not exercising once I started, er stopped, whatever. 

But more on that later, tomorrow to be precise.  This is just a prelude, remember?

- Louie  

Sweet and Sour

As you may have noticed, there was no post last Friday.  I felt extremely... odd that day.  Hard to focus, a little shaky, and generally unpleasant.  Thus, I didn't have the patience to sit down and write and fret over word placement.  Fortunately, I am feeling much better today.  This should be a very short post, however.  It's getting a bit late.

We missed a weigh in and today's run report.

Week VI Weigh In (has it really been six weeks since I started this?)

8 June 2012
Weight: 261
Waist: 49.5
Approximate BMI: 36%

Woot, woot.  That is a loss of 3.5 lbs, 1/2 an inch, and 1% down from last week and 12 lbs, 2.5 inches, and 2% from six weeks ago.  Awesome, right?  Guess how I celebrated?  C'mon, give me your best guess.  Music, comic book, a night out on the town?  Nay I say, Nay.  I ate a whole pizza and a pint of ice cream.

WHAT?!  Why in the world would you do that?!  Simple answer: I have no earthly idea.  I have two big food rules in my house: 1. No frozen pizza and 2. No Ice Cream.  Once I get my hands on either of those, I simply do not have the will power to resist them.  I don't know why I bought these two forbidden items.  I saw them, grabbed them, and then consumed them.  All in one sitting.  So, I ask you loyal readers, how do you overcome these kind of temptations?  If you have any tried and true methods of success, leave them in the comments.  Please and thank you!

And, quickly and with much finality (for this post at least), Run Report!  Fun Fact: This is my 13th run report!

Monday - 11Jun12
Time: 30:35
Distance: 2.23
Pace: 13:41 min/mi

Still trucking along, this time at the 2:4 interval.  I did have some slight numbness in both feet around the 25 minute mark and I blame that on inactivity this weekend and the stupid uphill section of my runs.  I swear, if I had a nice even road, that wasn't a track (because tracks are blah), I'd be a happy fat guy.

Until next time,

- Louie

The Vacation Sensation

Hello again.  Today's blog post will, hopefully, not be too long, but, I'm going to share my recent vacation to Utah.  There will be pictures, so, hopefully you don't mind looking at vacation photos.

Before I get into my vacation, it is Run Report time!  Monday I shared that I had an awesome cardio session, where I felt at ease and fast.  Here are the details of that again:

Monday - 4Jun12
Time: 30:55
Distance: 2.19
Pace: 14:05 min/mi

I was quite proud of myself because of those numbers.  Today I went with the 1:4 (run/walk) the whole time through with a total of 6 minutes of actual running on route #2 (downhill then uphill).  Here is today's run report:

Wednesday - 6Jun12
Time: 30:01
Distance: 2.44
Pace: 12:17 min/mi

And boom goes the dynamite.  I wanted to see how much I could actually push myself today and surprised myself with how far I went!  Now, I don't know if this will be my everyday run intensity (I was definitely breathing much harder than usual, but, not hazardously though), but, I'm going to try and push myself this hard at least once a week from now on.  I'm not sore at the moment, but, we shall see how I am fairing in the morning.  Friday I go back to the 2:4 ratio which is where I left off at before my hiatus.

Now, onto the vacation!  I will try to keep this as brief as possible.

So, I went to Sandy, Utah to visit my girlfriend, Manda, spend more time with her family, meet her friends, and to see the sights.  Sandy is about 800 miles away from where I live in Benson, AZ, or a 14 hour drive.  Oh yes, I drove.  Here's a map:

That looks pretty daunting, right?  Luckily, Manda, flew down from the top of Utah all the way down to my little town at the bottom of Arizona just to make the drive with Brodie and me.  That's right, you heard me, Brodie made the drive with us and was a well behaved big boy, both up there and back again.  It was great having Manda to keep me company and it was a great way to get to know her all the better.

(You have no choice but to talk on a 14 hour car drive)

Here are some highlights of the trip, once we made it to Sandy.  First up, Salt Lake City.

 (Brodie at one of the many fountains at the City Center)

 

(At the Cheesecake Factory, my first time ever)

(Reflection Pool)

(Salt Lake City Temple)

As you can gather from the above photos, we visited the Salt Lake City: City Center, ate at the Cheesecake Factory for lunch, and admired/awed at the beautiful architecture at Temple Square.  Quick note about the Cheesecake Factory: they actually have some pretty healthy options.  I had a thin flat bread sandwich thingy and a goat cheese and beet salad (don't hate), and it was definitely under 800 calories and quite yummy.

We also went to a beautiful wedding reception for one of Manda's friends, Taraya, at the Springville Museum of Art.  It was a very cool place to hold a wedding reception and the bride admitted to me that she likes to read my blog.  Very cool.

Next up, Logan.  I only have one Logan picture, unfortunately.

(A great group of people. Also, notice how short I am compared to everyone else)

Do you see the abundance of green and the water in the background?  Logan is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to!  It is a little oasis tucked away in the mountains.  I am quite ashamed that I neglected to take more pictures of this place.  Bad me.  While we were there, we played an awesome lawn game called Koob.  It was super simple and super fun.  You can check it out here or make a set of your own.  I think I'm going to make one myself. 

One of my favorite parts of my trip was playing a board game I brought up with me.  Stay with me here, board games are awesome.  I'm not talking about Monopoly or Sorry! (although Sorry! is pretty fun).  The game I brought was Small World.

It's made by the same people who brought us Ticket to Ride (another great great board game).  You can check out Small World here.  The whole Burri clan, with the exception of Elliot (next time Elliot, next time), sat down and played a round.  It was a huge success (I won).

So, there you go.  I don't think there was a part of that trip I didn't enjoy.  Well, I didn't enjoy leaving, that kinda sucked.  

Friday brings us another weigh in and maybe some photos of me standing in front of the shower curtain.  Until next time.

- Louie

 

A Long Overdue Post

I am a bit ashamed on how I've neglected this blog as of late.  I now realize how easy it is to get distracted with life and throw things like blogging and exercise to the side.  I have to thank my wonderful sister who is one of my biggest inspirations for starting this, for reminding me that what I have been doing is important.

(Isn't that amazing? That's her on the left at 182 in Jan of 2011 and

present at 158!  She is awesome sauce to the 10th power.)

Tammy gave me some nice, friendly reminders that I hadn't posted anything in awhile and that was enough to kick my butt into gear and to write this.  Sad to say, I actually had to look back at my previous posts to figure out what I needed to discuss in this post.  With that said, I'd like to discuss my week IV and V weigh in's and give you today's long overdue run report.

I missed posting my weigh ins for both week IV and V!  How could I neglect this?!  Here is last weeks 

the weigh in from 18 May:

18 May 2012

Weight: 263

Waist: 50"

Approximate BMI: 36%

Just a reminder, that was a total weight loss of 10 pounds, 2 inches, and 2%.  So, here is week IV's results:

25 May 2012

Weight: 263

Waist: 50"

Approximate BMI: 36%

Wait... That's the same as week III.  Why is that?  That is because I did not do any cardio that week.  I was ramping up for my big vacation to Utah (that's a blog post for another time, tomorrow perhaps) and let my exercise slip.  Sure I didn't loose any weight, but, it showed me that my eating decisions were spot on and my metabolism was working like it should be.  So, here is Week V results:

01 June 2012

Weight: 264.5

Waist: 50"

Approximate BMI: 37%

Hold the phone... those numbers went up!  What gives?!  My thinking that my metabolism had stabilized itself and my eating choices were all I needed to maintain weight was all I needed was ultimately flawed.  I blew off cardio that week as well and I think the results speak for itself.  Instead of a total loss of 10 pounds, I'm back to 8.5 and my BMI is back to 1% total lost.  My waist didn't change, so, I'm not sure where that 1.5lbs went, but, they are back for sure.

(Although, me thinks I look much better than I used to.)

I am actually am kinda glad this happened.  Why, you ask.  Because, it shows me that if I want to loose this weight and keep it off, I need to stay vigilant.  It's not just a proper diet or just exercise, it's both.  If I neglect one of them, I am bound to fail.  I also discovered that when I am not exercising it's a little easier for me to make poor nutrition choices.  That is not good at all.

How am I going to lose those pounds again?  Back to the running!  After 2 weeks of not exercising like I should, I knew I wanted to ease back into the run so I wouldn't over do it and get really discouraged by pain and not being able to do what I was able to do 3 weeks ago.  I asked my wonderful weight loss support group on Facebook (you know who you are and thank you for all your support) how I should go about this "easing period".  My dear sister, suggested that I walk for 15 minutes and then do my 1:4 (run:walk) intervals for the last 15 minutes.  I thought that was a splendid idea and decided to go ahead and use run route #1 (uphill first and then downhill).  Here is today's run report:

Monday - 4Jun12

Time: 30:55

Distance: 2.19

Pace: 14:05 min/mi

For comparison here was my run report three weeks ago where I was running at a ratio of 2:4:

Friday- 18May12

Time: 33:03

Distance: 2.35

Pace: 14:05 min/mi

Notice the pace?  Exactly the same.  And today I straight up walked half of it, albeit, briskly.  Today's run was great, to say the least.  I opened it up on my run segments and felt no pain (I'm not sore now either), no foot numbness, I wasn't gasping for breath, I didn't feel like throwing up everywhere.  I felt great.  Truly great.

Another thing was that I really wanted to do this run today.  Little story: I couldn't find my digital watch this afternoon and I use that to know when to start running and walking.  In the past, that would've been enough to call the whole thing off.

"I don't have my watch today.  I might as well wait for Wednesday to do my run then,"  that was old me thinking.  New me thinking is a little bit different.

"I don't have my watch... Well, I have my phone with me for Zombies, Run! why don't I just look at the stopwatch there?  Better yet, does the Zombies, Run! app have a visible clock?  Sweet it does, let's do this!"

I am proud of myself today.  It's a welcome feeling.

- Louie

Quick Update

Sorry I've been so sporadic as of late with my posts.  I was caught up in prepping for the vacation I took over Memorial Day weekend and the vacation itself.  I haven't forgot about this!

Tomorrow I plan on writing a big post about what has happened in the past few days and it should include some nice vacation pics as well.

Thanks for sticking with me and I promise I'll be back on my usual Monday, Wednesday, Friday post schedule.  Until next time.

-Louie

Weigh In: Week III

Another missed Blog deadline.  I usually do my weekly weigh in on Friday afternoons, but, I had a camping trip planned with Brodie and was in a rush to get out of the door and to the campsite before the sun went down; more on the camping trip later.  I have a lot to cover in this post and I'm going to try and keep it as short as possible.  On today's agenda:  1. Week three weigh  in results, 2. I finally got my lab results so I'll be sharing that, 3. I'll share with you my not so lovely weekend, and 4. Friday's run report.  Now onto the weigh in results!

Here are last week's numbers:

11 May 2012

Weight: 265
Waist: 50.5"
Approximate BMI: 37%

And here are Friday's:

18 May 2012

Weight: 263
Waist: 50"
Approximate BMI: 36%

I am now down 10 pounds from where I started and it's the first of many big milestones on this journey!  I'm also down 2 inches off my waist and 2 percent off of my BMI.

Several weeks ago (the report has a date range of 16 Feb 12 - 16 May 12) I had my blood drawn to get some good "before" levels to see how they will improve over time with a healthy diet and fitness regime.  I'm not going to list everything on this 3 page list; instead, I'll focus on a few key things listing what I tested for and what the range is.

Glucose - 82 (70-110)
Triglyceride - 123 (35-160)
High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL)/Cholesterol "Good Cholesterol" - 29 (27-67)
Very Low Density Lipoprotein (VLDP) "Bad Cholesterol" - 25 (6-30)
Total Cholesterol/HDL Ratio - 5.0 (0-4.0)

Good news is everything, save my TC/HDL Ratio, is within the normal range, especially my glucose which is really good because being obese raises your chance of developing Diabetes tremendously.  I would like to see my Triglyceride and VLDP levels go down because they contribute to developing a heart disease and, in turn, see my HDL levels go up because they are indicative of good heart health.  Maybe 6 months to a year from now I'll get another blood test to see how they have improved (hopefully).

Now we move onto my horrible, no good weekend.  It started out nice enough with a father son camping trip my church had organized.  As stated before, I was in a bit of a rush to get to the site before the sun set so I didn't grab two very useful things when going camping, mine and Brodie's sleeping mats.  A disappointment, but, I figured I could rough it for one night.  Unfortunately, in my haste to get my tent set up while the sun was still up I neglected to chose a place that was flat.  A slanted surface plus slick sleeping bags meant that my sleeping bag was constantly sliding down to the bottom of the tent.  After an hour of slipping, sliding, and unsuccessful rearranging, I decided the only way I was going to get any sleep was to head to the car.  Not as comfortable as I thought it would be.  It was a very long restless night.  Brodie sleep brilliantly, however, so there was that.

Next morning I woke up very stiff and queasy.  I slipped on my shoes, stretched my legs and neck, and they began to throw up.  Nice.  I figured my stomach was upset because of the contorted state I had sleep in that night and proceeded to eat breakfast.  That was a mistake.  Shortly after eating, Nature called (and not very nicely at that) so I had to high tail it up a trail and answer the call.  This happened once more and I decided it would be a good idea to head home.  But first, I had a tent to take down.  After battling wave after wave of nausea I got the tent down and headed home, much to Brodie's dismay. Both Saturday and Sunday, anything I ate or drank immediately left my body.  What a fun weekend.

And finally, Friday's run report:

Friday - 18May12

Time: 33:03
Distance: 2.35 miles
Pace: 14:05 min/mi

As you can see, Friday's run went very well.  I choose to do route number 2, downhill and then uphill, and was very pleased with that choice.  I think I might go ahead and do this route the majority of the time (my best paces are from doing this route).  Also, I experienced no foot numbness this time.  It was quite nice to feel my left foot for once the whole time!

I don't know if there will be a run today (I'm writing this post this morning to save time this evening) because I need to do some major cleaning this afternoon at my house.  My girlfriend is flying down from Utah on Wednesday and I would like her to see a clean home instead of a messy one.  Plus, I don't have too much energy after last weekend.  Thanks again for reading, and until next time.

- Louie