Will Power

I do have to say thank god for my wife being prepared for halloween. Now all of those delicious but horrible for me treats are in lovely little bags tied up and away from tempting me.

I have worked rather hard to change myself for the better. I know having a chocolate bar or some other lovely thing wouldn't set me on a road to ruin, but looking at it made me think.

That used to be a staple. I used to snack on stuff like that all the time.. and what was the results

Thats right the photo on the left.. and that lovely expression of disdain. What I realize after morphing myself into the fella on the right (not exactly true, I am now more muscular than that as looking at the picture just made me realize). I smile more, I carry myself better, I am likely taller.

Doing this now while I am still in my 30's means I will be in my physical prime heading into my 40's and its where I intend to stay. I like how I feel now, how I carry myself, and how I look. Now I do recognize the odd bit of candy wouldn't be the end of the world. It would however require more physical activity than I get currently in order to maintain the physicality I am now used to. I like wearing medium shirts. I like a pants size I only wore once before in my life when I was in college. The change has been worth it.

I also shouldn't complain. I quite like the food I eat every day, and there is no shortage of it. I get ice cream daily (its just a better brand and ingredient composition). There is a snack after dinner, and my obligitory giant mug of milk to settle my hyperactivity down before bed. My life is good this change is permanent. Those treats are for children.

Feels Like Being on a Roller Coaster

So I must say that on this quest I feel like I'm on a roller coaster.

Yesterday I was on a high from wearing a goal outfit I bought over 7 years ago for the first time.  I started to think that I've got this thing figured out.  I can handle this.

Then this morning, the scale goes and smacks me in the face and brings me back to reality!  As you know as part of the exercise program I use it weighs you daily.  As I've said many times (and will say many more times), I do not like this.  Your weight can fluctuate on a daily basis for a number of reasons.  I know that.  Most of the time I can reason my way through it and know that by the time my weekly weigh-in comes I will be down overall.  Doesn't make it any easier at 6:30 in the morning and I have just finished my workout.

I was really feeling good about myself yesterday.  I wore the outfit.  I baked cookies and didn't even lick the chocolate off my fingers.  I put together 50 trick-or-treat bags and didn't have on stupid little tiny chocolate bar.  I deserved a medal not for the scale to say I was up today.  I think that's what stings the most about weighing daily.  I know I follow my food plan very closely.  I weigh and measure the food.  I enjoy what I eat.  I use tricks when feeling hungry to redirect my focus.  I workout daily.  I take the stairs.  I do everything I'm supposed to and sometimes the scale doesn't always reflect that.

There are many other reasons for the scale to not work in your favour.  This is from my personal experience not based on any scientific data.  Eating too late.  Stress.  Not pooping enough.  Not drinking enough water.  And normally I can see one of these factors playing into what the scale says, after I've calmed down a bit.  My initial reaction is upset, anger and frustration.  Munkee is really good at calming me down and reminding me of how far I've come and how amazing I'm doing.  Making me see the trends of when the scale goes up it goes back down quickly.  He helps me refocus on the positive and move on from the negative.

What I want to show is that even after all the work I've done I still have my moments.  I'm getting better at dealing with them and hopefully eventually the roller coaster won't be so crazy!

The will to keep on track

This muscle quest is an interesting thing. For the first while my quest was to drop weight, then it became about maintaining the dropped weight, and now it has become about gaining weight in the form of muscle.

It has been a journey of self discovery from beginning to end. I never thought I would be the sort to do daily exercise, but I have been slowly coming to the realization that this is the new me. The rest of my life it will remain a constant.

Its all about my will to keep with this new paradigm. I feel just as passionate about it as I did on day one.

Yesterday I added in more reps to some of my exercises, and I kept that up today. I am definitely starting to see big changes in the density of the muscle on my body. I like it, I am not stopping now. I have come to far and progressed into something better than I was before.  This has always been about manageable and permanent change.

If I can do this anyone can. I am the sort that likes to binge watch tv/movies. I also spend hours playing videogames, and hours coding, drawing, animating, and composing. None of those vocations lends itself to a toned physique. I realize this so every day starts with what will maintain my body.

I have to view my life otherwise as an astronaut on a space station. If I don't I will just grow from a lack of physical activity. I know that I like my life to contain the more stoic activities. This way of eating and exercise, is just a means to allow for that.

Sense of Accomplishment

So today I felt a sense of accomplishment.

The last time I lost weight when I was closing in on getting out of plus size clothes I saw an outfit in a "regular" size store window and loved it!  I decided to buy it for for when it fit.  Kind of a mini-goal reward for myself.  I never got into that outfit.  It went into the bin in the basement for the day when it may actually fit.  Well guess what?

I wore that outfit today!  And it felt good!  I actually felt good wearing it today.  I have worked hard to lose the weight and still have a bit more to go but today I focused on the accomplishment I have reached so far.

I find myself looking in the mirror a bit more and thinking "damn, I'm looking good".  That is a big step for me.  I know there is still areas that need improvement but I need to celebrate the accomplishment so far.  I need to sit back and enjoy what I have done.  I still have work to do, I know that but I also know that I have a good base to succeed and I know that I will.

Today just helped me to know I have gotten further into this quest than ever before.  I know I will reach my goal weight, whatever it ends up being.  I know that I will maintain the weight loss.  How am I so sure?  I have made the changes manageable.  I have made the workout tolerable.  I have made sure I enjoy the food I'm eating.  I have made sure that I have set myself up for success.  I have surrounded myself with true supporters.

Today just reaffirmed my success so far and lit my fire to continue my quest and can start to see the finish line.  It's going to happen!

I am my own Drill Sargent

Today is the day of the week where I kick up the reps on my sets of dips, push-ups, and pull-ups.

I succeeded, but just barely but I pushed through it. The thing about this journey, I am my own drill sargent. Most people at this point would be thrilled and ready to just maintain. I want to be a little bigger/muscular. So far that aim has been succeeding nicely.

The key thing is you have to push yourself out of your comfort zone. The will to be more and do more has to exceed your will to stay with the familiar. Its a tough thing to do sometimes, especially when you feel like you can't do those last 2 push-ups, or that last rep of any particular exercise.

The trick I like to play on myself is pretend there is a version of me standing above me berating me with insults "Do one more you wussy" stuff like that. I need to challenge myself in order for this phase of my quest to be successful. I definitely will. Following this blog posting I am headed downstairs to the steel I-Beam. I intend to see if I can get more reps out of the pull-ups. I know I can I just have to try.

That's the key to success, giving it an honest effort.

Out with the Old and in with the New

Clothes that is!

During this quest I have had to go down a few sizes.  Ok, maybe more than a few.

The one thing I have done along the way is as the clothes became too big I have put them in bags for donation.  I don't always take them right away to the donation center as I do suffer from anxiety in getting rid of them.  What if I need them again?  What if I can still get a bit more use out of them?  Trust me, if they are falling down or you can get both your legs in one leg hole or you can take pants off without undoing the zipper, it's time to get rid of them.

As someone who has, in the past, gone from bigger to smaller back to bigger, this is a challenge.  It's expensive to buy new clothes, I get that.  I was smart enough to keep some of my smaller clothes from the last time I had lost weight and this summer enjoyed wearing the clothes I was wearing when I first met Munkee.  It took 7 years for me to get back into them but I did and some I have already had to put in the donate pile.

We all have our favourite clothes we like to wear and are comfortable in but as part of the quest is dressing for your new body.  This can be a challenge.  I have been plus size for many years and had only gotten into "regular" sizes the last time I had lost weight.  When you are plus size you really have 3 stores to shop in unless you want to dress like an old lady.  There is not many options and the sizes are fairly standard.  Not much choice at all but that makes shopping a bit easier.

Now it's a different story.  I recently went shopping with my sister to buy some new fall clothes and I got overwhelmed.  Almost to the point of rocking in a corner!  There are so many options.  So many choices.  So many different sizes!  I got so overwhelmed I just ended up shopping in stores that are familiar to me (Old Navy and Reitmans) and where I know the prices are reasonable.  These aren't my forever clothes and I don't want to spend a lot on them only to donate them in a couple of months.

Part of this quest is changing my thought process.  In the past I have dressed to hide my body, now I have a body that should be shown off.  That is not familiar to me and I do need a push every once in a while to do so.  Just as I have needed a push to put things in the donate pile.  By donating the items it's forcing yourself to accept that this is a forever change not a temporary change.  This quest has been as much of a mental change as it has been an eating and exercise change.  It's the whole package.  I've got the eating and exercise down but I still struggle with the mental stuff.  I've taken baby steps in addressing the mental changes needed and one of those steps has been in getting rid of old clothes and pushing myself to try new things.

My Skinny fingers

This is a quick blog about something you may not realize about weight loss.

You carry weight in strange places on your body. Going into this journey I would have never expected that I carried so much weight in my fingers.  Over the course of the experience my wedding ring got looser, so much so that it eventually slid off my fingers quite easily.

For many this wouldn't be such a problem, because rings can be re-sized. Me being the iconoclast that I am I decided upon a plain stainless steel wedding ring.  I am not a jewelry sort of guy so it suited me. However, this does pose a problem when you go to have it re-sized. Fortunately we were able to find a local jeweler that had an alternate solution in the form of a clip that gets fit to the ring, making it tighter. Its practically invisible when I am wearing the ring so I don't mind it.

As you can see, my fingers were much thicker when I got married. All I am trying to illustrate here is that we carry weight in unexpected places. So if you have gone down in size, but don't feel as if you have shrunk in a visible place. It may just be that you lost size in an area you didn't expect.

Still Some Secrets

With this blog I have been very honest with my quest.  I have talked about challenges I have faced.  Talked about my struggles with the scale (love/hate relationship for sure).  Talked about my routine and the importance of support.  I have also shared before and current photos and shared my weekly weight loss progress.  But I still have some secrets.

One of the biggest secrets I still have is my starting weight.  I have chosen not to share this number.  There only a very few, my husband and my doctor, that know my starting weight.  There are many reasons why I have chosen not to share this number.  The biggest reason is because I am embarrassed by this number.  I still can't believe how far off track I had gotten.  How complacent I had gotten with my lazy lifestyle.  I was fine to spend most of my time sitting on the couch eating very unhealthy things.  I know I did it to myself.  There is no one to blame but myself but I still have issues with how bad it got.

I have taken control of my life again.  I have changed my thought processes.  I have armed myself to deal with temptations better.  I have come out on the other side much better and much healthier.

I choose to focus on the positives that have come from my 14 month commitment.  I am in the home stretch now.  I have done so much that in the past I would have never thought I would have been able to do.  I started slowly and continue to push myself daily to be the best me I can be.

I think my next big step will be accepting where I started and sharing this with others.  I know it will be helpful for others to see where I started.  Trust me, if I can do this, anyone can.  It's about making small manageable changes and continuing to make those changes as you go on your quest.  Learn from past experiences.  Move forward to a healthier you.

One day I will share that starting number but I'm not ready to reveal all my secrets yet!

Workout Highlights

Just got done working out this morning again, its all going well starting to see some results from the muscle building, nothing huge but definite changes in the density of my biceps, perhaps some development in the chest.

I thought Id give a little breakdown of exactly what I do day to day to give you an idea of what I put myself through

I have 3 workouts that I do in a cycle 1 every day. Each one of these is focused on a particular region of my body..

Day 1 - Arms
Day 2 - Legs
Day 3 - Core

and at the end of each workout I do a set of pushups and a set of dips.  Every other day I use the steel I-Beam in the basement to do pull ups. When I began I couldn't even properly do one pull up, now I am up to 3.

The arm routine consists of what you'd expect. Exercises like tricep extensions, pushup and side planks, etc. What I have tried to do is mix the exercises with yoga stretches so that I am working muscles and stretching. For the arms that is poses like palm tree, and stretching exercises like arm & leg extensions.

The leg routine is my nemesis. One of the reason's for starting this workout was to prevent progression of joint pain and arthritis in my knees and hips. It contains what you'd expect static front & side lunges, rowing squats, and other various things. Yoga is again intermixed with lovely displays of my clumsy nature such as the dreaded tree pose, standing knee, and chair.

The Core routine is typical. Its main core component is 90 jack knife crunches intermixed with other core exercises such as plank. The yoga component contains the triangle pose and downward dog.

sounds like a whole bunch of time commitment but each workout is around 30 minutes (+ the extra pushups/dips).

I think its important to mix up your routines so that you keep your body guessing, what I haven't really done is lift weights. Although I wear ankle and wrist weights while doing exercises, not only do I not own a bench press and things like that. I am not the type to do this sort of thing, perhaps that will change in the future. I rather doubt it will.

The important thing to consider is success comes from consistency and effort. As much as Id prefer to be sitting playing Mario Kart or something else I do have to start my day this way. The results are worth it.

Weigh-in Day and Reflection on the Week

So here we go for this week!

I have lost another pound, making my grand total weight loss 121 pounds!

I still can't believe it.  It seems unreal at times how much weight I've lost.  I still see myself sometimes as the old me but every once in a while I will catch a glimpse of myself in a mirror and think  "damn, I look good".  That is usually quickly followed up with seeing the things I still don't like about myself.  I know I still have more to loose and I'm getting there but it would be nice to be done.  I also know that I don't want to loose much faster than I am as I need to keep this a maintainable weight loss so that when I do reach my goal weight I am able to sustain that long term.

So as for challenges this week, it was a pretty predictable week.  Had a few appointments and things that made me nervous.  I needed to get a filling and have some blood work down.  Not the biggest fan of needles despite having a few tattoos.  The bigger stress came when my doctor's office called and wanted repeat blood work as my liver enzymes were high on the initial blood work.  After talking to a few people the thought was that is could have been do to working out so close to having the blood work done so I ensured I did the repeat blood work later in the day.  Not even 24 hours later the doctor's office called again and now I have an appointment to go talk about it.  I'm sure it's nothing but it's still not the best.  

The baking went over well for my big work meeting and left all of the leftovers at work for others to enjoy.  I will say I was slightly tempted to try a bit but didn't and stuck with the food I packed for the day.  I feel empowered when I can survive situations like that and it helps make me stronger the next time I face temptations.

Also this week I started taking the stairs up at work and am happy to say it hasn't been that bad.  I still get a bit winded but nothing so bad that I have coworkers asking if I'm ok!

The biggest challenge I have coming up this week is Halloween.  I love Halloween!  I have my house all decorated for Halloween and it looks spooky in here!  I have bought the items to make the treat bags for the kids coming to the door.  Yes I make treat bags.  I remember as a kid loving it when I got a bag with a  few items it and getting home and seeing what was in them!  I now do that for the kids coming to my house.  I have planned the usual Halloween dinner of Mummy Dogs (hot dogs, well veggie dogs now, wrapped in crescent rolls to look like a Mummy) with a side of coleslaw.  The challenge will be I really like the chocolate bars I got to put in the treat bags.  Those little suckers are so tempting because "they're only little".  I know I have the will power to not eat them and ensure the kids get them and not me!

After the workout

I just finished my workout for the day, and it comes with an admission. It is an admission I never ever thought I would make.

You know that stuff people say about how working out makes them feel good. Well I still disagree exercise is the least enjoyable part of my day, I have no doubt of that.

What I will admit to is 5 minutes after my workout, after my body has calmed down, I feel great. Not so much physically, although there is an element of that (combined with warmth in my muscles and a need to sit down). I am more speaking about my mental state.  I feel aware, calm, relaxed and content. Some of my best ideas and thoughts recently all seem to formulate right after the workout.

If I were to put a timeline to it, Id place it about 5 to 10 minutes after the workout is completed. Those who know me well know that I have a mildly addictive personality. I am unashamed to admit that I am slightly addicted to this nice feeling.

What is also true is that I am a bit of a stoic personality, so I am more than willing to limit my workout to once a day, and have less of this mindset.

But I will say that it does indeed feel nice to be this alert, relaxed and clear.

Couldn't have done this without my wife

This post is about acknowledgement and gratitude. It's about my wife.

Not only does she inspire me every day to improve my body and health, I honestly would have had no way of accomplishing this task without her.

Those who know me know that I tend to be rather random, and pretty disorganized. Bee counter balances that in every way. Without her I would not have known what to eat and when, I would have had no tracking system for my progress, and I'd likely have failed. The nice thing about accomplishing this goal as a couple is that we are each other's strength, and compliment the other's weaker areas.  I am great when it comes to the mind, thought process and philosophy. Bee is great when it comes to organization, a system, and tracking. Together we keep each other propped up and headed down the right path. That I think is why its working.

I think what it really boils down to is teamwork. Being part of a team will always be more successful than going it alone. Its possible to do something like this alone, but its probable that it will be a success more if its done as a team.

I have the best partner in life a man could hope for in my wife. Its inspiring to watch her attack this goal every morning. I think the fact that she does her workout first makes it easier for me to fight through the groggy morning laziness and get it done.

I couldn't do it without you babe.

I do have it Pretty Easy

So I must say that on this quest I have things pretty easy.

My husband eats the same food as me, just a little more.  We don't have kids so we don't have to worry about kids turning up their noses at the food we're eating.  I don't have to worry about anyone having chips or cookies or other tempting items around the house.  I don't have to worry about preparing two meals so everyone is happy.  I don't think I'd have been as successful if it wasn't like this for me.  I plan all the meals so I know it's food that I'm going to like and that works with my new eating habits.

When I got out to eat or eat at other peoples' houses I'm lucky.  I can plan based on the restaurant we are going to.  I can look online and figure out my best option and plan the rest of the day around it.  When I go to someone's house they are kind enough to ask what I can eat and ensure there are healthy options or I bring food that I know fits into my plan for eating.  I am still faced by temptations but because I have a plan I feel stronger to deal with the temptations.

For the last fourteen months I have been able to focus on creating a healthy lifestyle.  I haven't had to deal with significant stresses.  Yes, there have been the regular stresses of unexpected car repairs, having to have a tree taken down in the backyard and daily work stuff but I haven't had any significant, life changing stresses.  I am very thankful for that.  It had made it much easier to focus on creating my routine and being able to stick to it.

In the past it hasn't always been this easy.  In the past I have dealt with significant stresses, self sabotaging behavior and not putting myself and my health first.  I have really tried, on this quest, to set myself up for success.  i have changed a lot of ways I think about things and react to things.  In the past when I was upset, I would eat.  I really looked for any excuse the eat.  I have learned to not turn to food to deal with my emotions.  It's not to say when I get upset I don't crave a Big Mac and some fries but I redirect and have learned to talk more about my feelings with my husband.

I have learned a lot from my failed attempts which have helped me to focus so well on this quest.  I hope that I have built a strong foundation over the last fourteen months that should something come up I am better able to deal with it, without turning to food.

I feel I have it easy because I've been given the opportunity to focus the majority of my energy and time on creating a healthier lifestyle and making me the priority.  I do not apologize for that.  I embrace it and relish the opportunity to do that in the hopes that when I am faced with significant stresses I am better able to deal with it because I have taken the time to create a solid foundation for my quest.

Muscle Progression

This blog will be rather short, over a week into building muscle I am happy to report its working rather well, I can definitely see the beginning of change in my arms and chest. I am sure there is more in my back and shoulders, but try as I might I find that area a little difficult to look at. (not very bendy)

Starting with the second week I expanded my repetitions of dips pullups and pushups a bit. My plan so far is to keep adding to those exercises each week so that I am doing more reps. So far there isn't a significant impact as far as weight loss occurring so for now, the food is the same as it was with maintenance.

I am going to keep at this for the long haul till I am satisfied 100% with how I look. As with any goal you may have in life its a matter of Time + Effort, luck rarely has much to do with it.

Stick with whatever goals you have, its worth it.

And Now a Message From Kid President
When you feel less than inspired play this video, thank you to my friend Penny for sharing it with me.

New Challenge for Myself

So one of the big things I have learned on this quest is the need to change things up every once in a while and challenge yourself.  If you're not happy with what the scale is saying, change something.  Look at your food, look at your exercise and see where you need to make minor adjustments.  Part of changing things up is challenging yourself to do more.  This entire process has been a challenge for me.  If you had told me a year a half ago I would be working out every day, monitoring and tracking my food and not eating the crap (well, I didn't think it was crap then) I was eating I would have probably laughed in your face.

Throughout this process I have challenged my self to do more.  I have slowly increased my workouts, I have adjusted my food at regular intervals, I have looked for new and interesting food items to try and I have pushed myself to wear clothes that fit and aren't baggy.

So today started a new challenge for me.  Early on in the process I started taking the stairs down at work.  I work on the fourth floor in my building and going down is pretty easy.  I then tried taking the stairs up.  I sounded so out of breath when I reached my desk that I was asked if I was ok by a coworker!  I was embarrassed to be out of breath considering I was working out daily and had lost some weight by then.  So, from then on I took the stairs down and between floors but didn't try taking them up again.......

Until today!  I walked up the stairs this morning with my hands full of baked goods for our meeting today.  I took a deep breath and went for it.  I won't say I was ready to run a marathon when I got to the fourth floor but no one was rushing to me to give me medical assistance!  So now I challenge myself to no longer use the elevator at work unless necessary.  Unfortunately most of the floors in my building are key accessed and I don't have access to all the floors so in those situations I will have to still take the elevator but we are trying to get access to the floors we normally go to for meetings.  It's almost freeing to start this and know I'm not going to be dying by the time I get to my desk.

I'm always looking for ways to change things up and this is my newest thing.  Yay me!

The Best Advice I can Give

My wife wrote a piece about advice for new people taking up this path of healthier living so I thought I would add my own two cents (because I can never keep my mouth shut now can I).

If I were to give advice to anyone who wants to start this path of weight loss, getting healthier it would be first to orient your mind.

I know what people who read my posts are thinking. Here we go again Munkee is doing his usual mystical wissy woo nonsense. I agree on one level but its the most important thing you can do.

Its about self analysis, reflection and understanding your reasons. You have to have a mission statement that is by you, and for you. Something that you can call upon when you are feeling dark about your current position. I don't know really the best way to explain how to come up with this sort of thought process other than to really relate my starting point.

It started one day where I got angry at myself, really uncontrollably angry at myself while looking in the mirror. I saw the reflection of a now grown up hurt little boy looking back at me, carried physically in my face, and on my body. It may sound awful and hurtful but I spent a long time that day essentially cursing myself out, about how I allowed myself to get where I was, about what bothered me about it, everything I thought was wrong. As a guy I am subject to my nonsensical male ego. The thing about most guys is we like to tell ourselves lies. It makes us more comfortable to look in the mirror and no matter the reflection have a thought of "hey there sexy.. looking good".

That day, although unpleasant, was one of the first moments of true honesty with myself and my physical form. It was very brutal, I was angry with how it had become. At the same time it was one of those watershed moments where I realized I had the power to change it starting right then, in that moment.

It began with that honest brutal assessment. Then like the true problem solver that I tend to be I started to rebuild a new outlook, I was going to regain my youthful appearance, rebuild the strength in my body, and it was right there in that second. I realized it begins, sustains, and ends with me. No one can force me to change but me. Although people may suggest, it will always be a case of me making the difference.

So what first began as a brutal moment of anger evolved and morphed into power. A fire rose in my heart and I knew that it would never cease. It was right there that I looked in the mirror and said "I am the change, I have the means, Lets Go!" and often I find myself repeating those words when I feel tired or discouraged. Those days where I don't feel like strapping on the wrist/ankle weights and giving it my all, I simply take a deep breath and remember my personal motto.

I am the change, I have the means, Lets Go!

find your powerful reminder motto, and your own honest reasons for embarking on this path. That is the best advice I can give.

The Best Advice I Can Give

So today I want to give some advice to those out there wanting to start their own quest or struggling to stay with their existing quest.  I am no expert.  I have been down this road many times in the past, sometimes with good results and sometimes with a failed start.  I know it's not easy to do this.  I will never say it's easy.  I still struggle some days but I push through and keep moving forward.  So let me give some advice on what is working for me.

Find something that works well for you.  This is not a short quest, it's for the rest of your life.  I know when I reach my goal weight I can't go back to eating the way I was or I'll just got back to where I started and I never want to go there again.  You have to find a way of eating and exercising that works for you and you can happily maintain for the rest of your life.  I enjoy the food I'm eating and I can tolerate the exercise I do because seriously who really likes working out.  What works for me may not work for you but there are many options for both food and exercise.  Try stuff.  Find what works for you.

Track your food.  No matter what food plan you use, track your food.  It holds you accountable for what you're eating.  It helps you to know when you need to make changes.  Be honest with your tracking and use it to learn from in moving forward.  The only person who looses when not tracking honestly is yourself.

Planning and organizing is your friend.  I plan a lot.  I plan the meals for the week.  I plan the grocery list.  I find doing this ensures the right foods are in the house.  It stops the "what's for dinner" conversation after work and helps avoid the quick pick-up of dinner on the way home.  I plan when going out to eat to ensure I stay on track with my eating.  If you want to have a "treat", plan for it and work it into your eating plan.  Don't consider it cheating, by planning for it it helps you feel more in control and being in control is a good thing.

If you stumble, pick yourself back up and refocus.  There is normally a reason why you've stumbled, maybe you've tried to change too much all at once or you've restricted yourself too much in your eating plan.  Everything in life is a learning experience.  Take time to think about why you stumbled and make adjustments when necessary.  I have stumbled many times in the past.  About 7 years ago I lost just over 70 pounds.  I stumbled.  Big time.  Put is all back on plus a more for good luck.  I'm not a psychologist, I don't want to pretend to be one and I don't want to dwell too much on stuff.  Needless to say about that time I met my husband and because of old issues I put the weight back on as a defense mechanism, but that apparently didn't work so well because he's still here!  Learn from the stumble and move on, don't dwell on it.  You can't change it but you can learn from it.

I have touched on some of the other things in previous blogs, like the importance of a support system.  I will never pretend to know everything about a healthy lifestyle but I can speak from what has worked for me and where I had issues in the past.    I will try to use this blog to try and help where I can and as bit of a reflection for myself,  I'm not perfect but maybe I can help one person.  I have appreciated the help I have been given and want to pass that on if I can.

Monday morning

Starting into week 2 of my muscle gaining program and so far I am happy with how it is working out, what will be really interesting is how my weight reacts to the enhancement in exercise. So far it hasn't started to go into a "loss" situation which is good. I think a key thing I did was allow my body to settle after the weight loss before beginning.

I allowed 7 months for my system to balance out and maintained my weight at the goal weight. I think this helped, if I had started immediately trying to gain muscle it would have been difficult to figure out how much food I needed to eat per day, since I first had to stop losing weight. after a longer period of this program I might have to add food, that is likely but starting from a balanced position makes that far easier to figure out.

At the moment all seems stable and I am gaining slightly without changes to my diet. I am sure at this moment my body is still being reactive to the new routine and trying to figure stuff out, I can definitely see the results in my arms. thats really the area I want to enhance. Being a computer programmer and gamer once i hit my goal weight I looked as expected, rather skinny far from a muscle man.

I don't want the goal to get confused my aim isn't to look like a Professional Bodybuilder, just add to the toned lean muscle I have, and perhaps have more Rugged looking arms back and shoulders.  I already have reasonable abdominal definition, perhaps a slight enhancement to that wouldn't suck.

The cool thing about all of this (the weight loss and the muscle gain) If I can do it anyone can. I am generally a pretty lazy guy when it comes to exercise, I don't do sports, I am rather clumsy. If I can do this anyone can that's the real takeaway from the experience.

Where you are now doesn't determine where you end up. What you do now and continue to do with consistency determines your future. No matter who you are skinny or overweight, male or female, young or old, your destiny is always in control. So be sure and keep that in your mind, because it is the absolute truth.

Weigh-in Day and Reflection on the Week

So like I did last week I will give you an update on my weight loss, how my week went and any up coming challenges I have next week.

So as of this week I am down 120 pounds!  I got another 10 pound "ribbon" to put on my success board and a 5 pound sticker!  The board is getting full!

I am still finding it a challenge with the scale.  I can see lots of changes in my body this week but the scale didn't totally reflect that.  I was down this week, which is great, but I always want more!  I'm ready to be at maintenance but I know I'm losing at the best rate (1 to 2 pounds a week) to ensure it's a healthy weight loss and not having to make super drastic changes that I can't maintain long term.   I think I will always struggle with what the scale says but I am learning how to quickly recover from the daily ups and downs I face with the scale.

This morning I struggled to get out of bed.  I really would have loved to have stayed in bed a little longer but I knew I'd feel guilty if I didn't get the exercise done.  I also know that if I stayed in bed I would interrupt Munkee's routine.  So out of bed I got and got my exercise done.

I did survive Thanksgiving this past week and felt I dealt with being around all those temptations.  So much food but I focused on filling my plate with veggies and limiting my meat and carbohydrates.  I enjoyed spending time with my family and let that be the focus of my day instead of the food.

This coming week will be fairly normal for me.  I do have a work challenge this week.  We have some of our partners from other ministries coming for a meeting and I will be baking for this.  The challenge is two fold 1) I am baking a few items that I love! and 2) the possibility of going out for lunch.  The second one is a bit easier to deal with as I know most restaurants offer good options for me and I can plan ahead for going out for lunch and I can also choose to bring my lunch and eat what I brought instead.  The first one will be a bit more challenging but I know that a cookie or coconut macaroon is not worth the amount of work I have put into loosing 120 pounds.  I know one cookie or coconut macaroon won't make me put all the weight back on but I know, for me, what the downfalls have been for me in the past.  It's a slippery slope and I don't want to start that in any way shape or form.  I am enjoying what I'm eating and I think that helps with those temptations.

The most important thing I have learned this time around is that you have to eat food that you enjoy, you have to find a workout routine that you can accept (no one likes working out!) and you have to do what works for you.  Everyone has suggestions, ideas, plans or things that worked for their friend's brother's second cousin.  Thank them for their advice but stick to what you're doing and what is working for you.  You know yourself the best and you know what works and hasn't worked for you.

Saturday Weigh in - It is 100% working

So my arms (as well as other muscle groups I am sure) are definitely getting bigger. This week I gained 2 pounds of muscle.

I know this because I didn't adjust what I was eating at all, just added the exercise, I wanted to give it a chance to see if I was going to start losing weight before adding food needlessly. I realize that I have just begun on this new path and its bound to change in time. Once my system is more used to the new regimen it will be interesting to see how it pans out.

So what did I do differently? well once I hit my goal weight I had juggled things a little to stop losing weight and balance into maintenance, one of the changes being my daily workouts had to turn into every other day, otherwise I was losing still.  I also had to eat more food per day (Horrible horrible sacrifice). after 7 months of being at a very stable weight I decided to take on this task of adding muscle.

So my method was to return to the daily exercise and add in 2 small sets of dips & pushups after that workout. So far it seems to be working well, the daily workouts are 30 minutes, and I am not experiencing muscle soreness.

There are probably some that would say that I am going about gaining muscle all wrong, and that I should be lifting to overload... blah blah blah.. I rarely listen to anyone when it comes to how to do something and thusfar, so far so good.  My aim isn't to look like a professional bodybuilder or wrestler, rather to flesh out a little bit, so that I don't have the dorky noodle arms of a gamer/computer programmer.

We shall see how this all develops, if I have to I will eat more food. For now, so far so good.

Till Next Time

The Importance of Support in my Quest

I must say the most important thing that I have gotten during this quest is support.  Support from my co-workers.  Support from my friends.  Support from my family.  And most importantly, support from my husband.

My co-workers have been supportive in that when we do work lunches they make sure there are healthy options on the menu.  When we've done potlucks they've allowed me to eat my own lunch.  They've given me encouragement and compliments.  They've agreed to eat my baking when I have the urge to make things!

My friends have been supportive in that they allow me to share my successes and challenges with them.  They encourage me when I'm having a difficult moment.  They push me to try new things.  They go for walks with me.  They listen to me vent and help me refocus on the positive in my life.

My family has been supportive in  that they are the shoulder I lean on when I need it.  They help plan family gatherings to ensure they are lots of options both for me and others.  They go shopping with me and push me to try new clothes and allow me to leave stores shaking my heading after getting overwhelmed in the new stores.  They share my successes with me and encourage me when I need it.  They are my cheerleaders and a very important part of my support system.

The biggest support I have in this quest is my husband.  Munkee is by my side the whole time.  Every time I swear at the alarm going off, most mornings, he they saying "you'll feel better after it's done".  He supported me as we cleaned out the house of all the unhealthy food we use to have.  He spent hours in grocery stores with me trying to figure out the best options for us.  He talks me off the ledge when I'm frustrated that the scale isn't moving the way I want it to.  He encourages me to push my limits and go further with my exercises when it's time to switch things up.  He's there for me when I have cravings, when I'm having hungry moments and lets me talk threw those moments until they pass, as they always pass.  He lets me show him the new clothes I buy and encourages me to try new outfits.  I know he is there for me, for whatever I need and is in this quest as much as I am.  I love that we are doing this together.  I love that I have his support.  I love that I know if I'm struggling with something I can talk to him and work through it.  He has been a big part of why I've been so successful.

It is so important to have a support system when doing something like this.  You will stumble.  You may even fall.  Your support system is there to pick you up, dust you off and push you to keep going.  I am truly thankful for each one in my support system and they are all responsible for my success.  You can't do this alone, you need support.  I am lucky to have the support system I have.

My arms have started growing

After 5 days of ramping things up with my muscle workout I can definitely say I can see a small but noticable change.

My arm muscles specifically the biceps and triceps are definitely firmer, and slightly larger. I suppose this means at least thusfar my technique is working fine.

I will say its a strange thing because now I am looking for a slight weight gain from the muscle. Its definitely something different, and a little bit tricky, I want to gain muscle but not gain fat. This is definitely a new thing for me to balance out, so we shall see as more time passes how it goes long term.

With all luck I will keep reporting success and reach my aim of being a little more buff.

Day 4 Muscle Program

after four days of ramping up the exercise my weight has remained pretty stable, but I am starting to notice a little bit of growth in the biceps, this is nice.

so I guess you could say thusfar it is working.

Back to Routine

I love getting together with family, going out with friends for dinner or lunch or having date night out with my husband but it takes me out of my routine.  That stresses me out.  In my home I have planned the meals for every day of the week.  In my home I know the food in it is stuff I'm use to and know how much of what I can have.  I can control what I'm eating, there are no temptations.  I also know that I can't just live in my house and never go out. 

So, I go out.  I have dinner at other people's houses.  Most importantly I plan for those events to ensure I stay within my food allotment for the day.  But it still stresses me out.  I can't control what things may be at other people's houses, I can't help what I see on the menus at restaurants, I can't help what people around me are eating but what I can help is what I choose to do about the temptations.

What makes me happiest is getting back to my routine after a meal out.  I don't go that far out of routine to eat out but it's just enough to push me out of my comfort zone.  For those that know me, I am a bit OCD.  Ok, maybe a lot OCD.  I am super organized and that has helped a lot on this quest but not when I have to go out.

I still smell french fries and think "mmmmm, yum!".  Or when I'm baking, I would love to try just a little bit to make sure it's good when trying new recipes.  I am human, I still have cravings for these things but I know that if I have "just one" or "just a little bit", as I've talked about, it will turn into more.  So to ensure I am not tempted I control what I have in my house and keep the temptations away from my safe place.

Also with eating out timing can be shifted and I may not eat at my "normal" time.  All of this can lead to the scales not going in your favour.  I am happy to say I am back down plus a little bit from the gain after Thanksgiving.  It was just like Munkee said "a blip that will work itself out by the next weigh-in day".  He is smart some times.  Just don't tell him I said that!

So now, I am thankful to be back to my routine.  Until the next outing!

The importance of sleep

Ah yes, who doesn't love a good nap.

One of the things people tend to overlook when trying to get healthier is the importance of sleeping well. Bee and I are up quite early to start our day, and as such we probably appear to most to be quite lame when it comes to bedtime. It tends to be rather early on most days. It was more of a subconcious effort, but I try to monitor my sleeping and ensure its as consistant as possible.

One of the things our modern society tends to do is give us reasons to not sleep well, stay up later, lay awake worrying, that sort of thing. One of the best things you can do for your mental and physical health is try and get a handle on sleep, and ensure you are getting enough, even if that means the occasional midday nap on a day off. Sure it may be "boring" but your body will thank you for it.

Scale doesn't always reflect the work you do

So I said I would use this blog to talk about the good, the bad and the ugly of the quest I am on.  Today is the not so good side of it and I will talk about how I turned it into good.

So as I said yesterday, I had a big family dinner at my parent's house for Thanksgiving.  I had a plan for food, a bit of turkey and ham, stuffing instead of potatoes, lots of free veggies, coleslaw and some pickles.  I stuck to that.  I weighed my meat to ensure I didn't eat too much.  I served up the apple crumb-top cheesecake and ensured leftovers of the cheesecake were sent home with others.  I came home and had the snack I had planned.  Everything went as planned until..... I stepped on the scale this morning.

As I have said, the fitness program we use has you weigh daily, not my favourite thing but I do it.  It was not my friend this morning.  I was up a bit and I was disappointed.  I did everything I planned.  I didn't eat the appetizers that were set out.  I didn't lick my fingers when serving up the cheesecake.  I didn't have seconds.  I STUCK TO THE PLAN!  Why didn't the scale reward me for sticking to the plan?  Stupid scale!

This is where Munkee jumps in and becomes my voice of reason.  For those of you that know us, that may sound strange as I tend to be the more, ummmm, responsible of the two of us but Munkee has the amazing ability to calm me when I'm ready to throw in the towel.  I would never throw in the towel over a little weight gain but it is frustrating when you feel you've done everything right, especially when it was a more challenging situation.

So if I really look back at yesterday there were a few things I didn't do the best.  I didn't drink enough water by a long shot.  I also ate later than normal.  We normally are finished eating, snack and all, but 7:00 pm which gives us two or three hours of digesting time before going to sleep.  Last night is was almost 9:00 pm by the time we finished our snack which left less than an hour for our food to digest.

Also, today's weigh-in isn't a reflection on my week.  It was one day and I base my progress on one weigh-in day a week.  That is Saturday.  Today was a blip on the quest and I will continue to move forward.  I have come too far to let one day on the scale get to me.  I take these as opportunities to learn from and move forward.  I can't change what the scale said but the scale isn't the only measure of success.  I wore a new outfit yesterday and it was outside my comfort zone.  I had a wonderful time visiting with my family.  I did stick to my plan for what I was going to eat.  This quest is about learning and growing.  Onward and upward!

Day One Muscle Program

I started my muscle definition program this morning, working on the arms, I added additional pushups and dips to the already existing arm routine. At this point i am starting small and I can definitely feel warmth in my shoulders, chest and arms moreso than normal.

Hopefully I see results from this my plan is to monitor my weight closely to ensure that I am getting enough protein and don't start losing weight, while at the same time ensure that I am not gaining too much. a combination of more exercise, and close monitoring is how I plan to go forward from here.

It will be interesting to see how far it has come along in a month's time.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today we will be going to my parent's house for a family dinner to celebrate Thanksgiving.  It will be nice to get together with some of my family.  I come from a very larger family (I'm one of five kids and have 10 nieces and nephews) and we're not always able to all get together for the holidays.  It doesn't help that my one sister lives in Winnipeg!  It will be nice to visit with those that are able to make it, spend time catching up and seeing how the kids have grown!    I choose to focus on enjoying being with my family instead of focusing on the food.

My family is no different than most, when we get together there is always food.  And usually lots of it!  I have made a plan as to what I'm eating and while watching people enjoy the cheesecake I made I will remind myself that although I could have a piece I choose not to.  I have come too far to let one piece of cheesecake be my downfall.

I have tried loosing weight MANY times in the past and in the past I have allowed for "cheat days" or "rewards" or "just one piece for the occasion".  What I have found in the past is that I start to find more and more reasons to allow myself permission to have the things I know I shouldn't.  The guilt that comes after that is too much and I have many times thrown in the towel after slipping one day.  I don't know why this time has clicked so much this time but it has.  I think there are many factors.  The first being the support I have from my husband who walks beside me in this quest.  Second being that I knew if I didn't make some serious changes in my life I was headed down a very bad path health wise.  I choose to have a longer life and be around as long as possible to drive my husband crazy!

So for this Thanksgiving, I choose to focus on visiting with my family.  I will eat the food but have made a plan as to what I'm going to eat.  Stuffing but skip the potatoes.  No dessert but still have a snack at home later.  I know I can do this as I have already survived many family dinners in the last 14 months.  I will not make today about the food I'm not having but be happy with the food I am having.  Most importantly I will have a nice visit with my family.

Weigh-in Day and Reflecting on the Week

I think what I'll do on a weekly basis is give an update on my progress with my weight loss and then reflect on the week.  Look at successes I had, not just with the scale, and any challenges I faced or set backs.  I may also talk about anything coming up the next week that I may find challenging as well.  So here goes:

As of this morning I am down 119 pounds!  Yay me!  So close to 120 pounds I can see the 10 pound "ribbon" and sticker!

This week was pretty typical for me,  I did have one challenging lunch this week at a buffet restaurant.  I made a plan for eating and stuck to it.  I was very proud of myself for sticking to my plan and not being lured by all the temptations (and there were many!).  I really wanted a button on my way out that said "I survived the buffet and am not leaving feeling disgustingly full!" but they apparently don't make that!  I pushed myself and wore new clothes this week.  That is a challenge for me as I tend to like to wear baggier things and blend in but I am pushing myself to wear things the proper size and not all black!  I also successfully navigated the Halloween candy sections of two stores while trying to get an idea of what to include in the trick-or-treat bags this year without adding extras "for the house" or "for company"!

Challenges for this up coming week?  Well it's Thanksgiving here in Canada this weekend and that means family dinner with lots and lots and lots of food!  My plan is to focus on visiting with my family and going in knowing what I'm going to be eating.  The plan as of now is to have turkey, skip the potatoes in favour of stuffing, veggies, veggies and more veggies!  I will skip dessert, even though I am making it, as I would rather have some popcorn at the end of the day.  I could have the dessert if I wanted to but I choose not to in favour of other healthier items throughout the day.

On The Mend Muscle Program starting monday

Fortunately after a bunch of days with a sore shoulder and neck, I am starting to feel better enough to plan to begin my muscle building (Take 2) this Monday. For those that didn't miss my lament about the "Stupid Slippery Water Bottle", feel free to click and catch up

I should clarify, its not that I don't have any muscle tone, after the year and a bit of daily working out and maintenance of my ideal weight its difficult not to.  The goal then however was weight loss and better cardiovascular condition, so I wasn't really pushing my muscles to grow, and I was eating to lose weight vs. having a protein surplus to build muscle.

This will be an interesting time and it will be good to have the blog to reflect on my progress. I intend to do it slightly different than most and not use gym machines or free weights. My plan is to use bodyweight exercises and more targeted work on the WiiFitU to just work everything slightly harder.

I am a bit of an experimental scientist when it comes to this stuff, did a bit of reading and homework. Many sites that discussed how to get "ripped" talk about working till sore and letting your body heal, and that's not what I am about. If I am going to be completely honest I am rather lazy in my default state, and I am not into being sore. Bee would probably have a lot of negative things to say about the whiny condition I can enter when I am sore and in pain.

So my goal is to look like this

And My plan is to get there without hours in a gym lifting weights, I think it is possible and it is definitely worth the experiment. I will share all of the good/bad with you lot, hopefully more good than bad.

Weighing Yourself

As part of loosing weight you need to monitor your weight.  It helps to track your weight to know when you need to make adjustments to your food and activity levels.  It's very important to understanding your next move in your quest for a healthier you.

The fitness program we use has you weigh every day but we only use the weight from Saturday to monitor our progress.  I am not the biggest fan of weighing every day as so much can impact your weight on a day-to-day basis.  Things like stress, eating a later dinner (it happens), changing up your exercises and other wonderful body things!

I really try to focus on the weight only on Saturday mornings but I will admit to getting a little frustrated with the scale during the week.  Munkee has had to talk me off that ledge a few times!  Really the best indicator of how well things are going is the weekly difference.  Pick a day and a time that you can consistently weigh and stick to it.  Track it and make adjustments when things aren't going as expected.

Being aware of the changes to your weight is just as important when maintaining your weight as it is while loosing the weight.  We had a lot of issues with getting Munkee to stop loosing weight, to the point he got 10 pounds under where he wanted to be.  Seeing the number allowed us to make adjustments by adding more protein and finally bring his weight into balance.

I will probably never be friends with the scale but I am learning to accept it and use it as a tool to identify when changes need to be made. 

Physical vs. Psychological hunger

This will be a shorter blog, its about physical vs. psychological hunger. I previously discussed how we have trained ourselves often to use food as a comfort when we weren't actually hungry.

One of the easiest things you can do to begin is plan your food, eat 3 meals a day and a snack. when you track food in such a way you know rationally that you aren't physically hungry and those between meal moments are likely psychological. This doesn't change the fact that to you the observer the two things are hard to distinguish.

A simple way you can learn the difference is observe how real physical hunger feels, it comes on slowly over time vs. a rapid onset.  and any food tends to quell it. Psychological hunger tends to rapidly appear out of nowhere and it has more of a specific aim ie: "hungry for cookies" or "hungry for ice cream". Its a subtile difference.

Its all about training yourself to detect which is which.

The Challenge of Going Out to Eat

This post is coming on the heals of a work lunch out at The Mandarin.  For those who may not know that is a Chinese buffet restaurant.  Yes, I went to a buffet!  It's the second time I've been there since we started the quest and I wanted to shout from the rooftops "I survived the buffet!!!!" or at least have gotten a button on the way out!

Unless you live under a rock, you can't avoid going out for meals.  Whether you are going to a restaurant or to some's house, it's a challenge.  I have anxiety when I have to go out to eat.  It takes things out of my control and I know I will be faced with items I would love to eat but choose not to.  The biggest tip I can give you for going out to eat is plan, plan and plan some more.  

For a restaurant, planning is pretty easy.  First you plan what you're going to eat at the restaurant, most restaurants have menus online these days so you can easily do that.  Then once you've planned what you are going to eat at the restaurant, plan what you're going to eat for the other meals and snacks.  You still need to eat your three meals and snack if you have one, skipping meals is never a good idea.  You also need to plan on how to deal with temptations.  You can't control what other people order and you may end up sitting beside someone eating french fries.  Just remind yourself that you planned what you were eating and you will feel better for eating what you planned vs. going off your program.

For eating at someone else's house it can be a bit more tricky.  If it'a a close family or friend you can talk to them about what they may be serving or offer to bring something that you know is within your comfort zone of eating.  If you can get an idea of what is being served you plan the same as a restaurant.  If you are going to someone's home and you aren't able to plan ahead remember vegetables are your friend, choose lean meats and stay away from stuff with creamy sauces/dressings.

Another thing you may have to deal with when going out to eat is the comments from others, "is that all you're eating" or "there are other things that you can eat" or "it's only one bite".  They mean well but you need to stick to your plan and be prepared to deal with the comments.  My response today was "yes, I can eat other things but I choose not to".  At the end of the day it is your choice.  You choose what you want to eat.  You choose what means the most to you, the few bites of not so good food or the sticking to your plan for a healthier you.

Remember, you are in control of your choices and only you have to live with what you choose and you have to be happy with what you do.

The Power of The Mind's Eye

Today's blog is going to be a little different, and perhaps may cause many of you to think. Some may say "Wow Munkee is a crackpot", others may say "Wow that's cool".

Today I am going to talk about the personal power of your mind's eye. When I began this journey one night as I was drifting off to bed I decided to visualize my goal in all its detail. It may sound corny or silly but there is a tremendous power in our subconcious mind that we can call upon to assist us with our goals. Not only does this apply to weight loss, but rather anything big you are trying to accomplish.

Let's try an experiment. After reading this paragraph I want you to close your eyes, and visualize your ideal you. how you look, how you carry yourself, your ideal smile. I want you to picture yourself in the ideal way you want to be. Bring it into focus in your mind's eye truely see yourself this way. Every tiny detail is important. Spend 60 seconds or longer but bring the visualization into focus, every detail. See yourself as you would like to be, when you have that image locked in, start to repeatedly say "I can" until you believe it with your whole being. Now close your eyes..

So how did that make you feel? Hopefully empowered. That's what I did at the beginning of my journey, and what I do from time to time to refocus myself. There is power in visualizing your goals, and it goes beyond weight loss, this applies to any goal.

I had a boss once that used to always say "What the mind can conceive, and believe, it can also achieve". It was a very true statement. Interesting guy that boss, he had the most creative soul I have ever known.

Use this technique to stay empowered towards your success and you will see it start to happen

Rewards and Visual Reminders

Today I wanted to talk about one of the ways that help keep me motivated throughout this quest that Munkee and I are on.  That is rewards and visual reminders.  I know it seems pretty obvious but not everyone thinks of it.

Rewards should be given throughout and can vary depending on your budget and the goal you've reached.  One thing we've done is create success boards for ourselves.  We've put the phrase "The Road to Success" on the board and for every 5 pounds we put a sticker on it, every 10 pounds we put a "ribbon" on it (made from a foam bookmark), and every 25 pounds we get a different coloured "ribbon".  So when we get 10 or 25 pounds you still get a 5 pound sticker and at 50 or 100 pounds you still get a 5 pound sticker and a 10 pound "ribbon".  I have flowers and butterflies for my 5 pound stickers and through in special Mickey Mouse stickers for each 25 pounds lost.  For Munkee he had smiley faces and stars.  We hung them in our closet as this is a place we go daily and is a constant reminder of how far we've come.

My Success Board

Munkee's Success Board

There are other ways to reward yourself as well.  New clothes.  A trip to the spa for a manicure or pedicure.  A new book or movie.  I don't recommend using food as a reward but that's my opinion.  Three very good friends of mine actually gave me a reward after I had lost 100 pounds to celebrate the achievement.  They gave me a ticket to go see The Book of Mormon and I got a night out with a friend!  I was so touched by the gesture!

For visual reminders you can use many things.  Carry around a before picture and when you feel yourself struggling look at it and remind yourself how far you've come.  Keep some of your before clothes.  I have my outfit from the picture I posted yesterday.  Another visual reminder I have at work is a paper clip chain on my baffle.  One paper clip for each pound lost.  Most people don't know what it represents but I do and it's nice to the chain grow.

Rewards and visual reminders are important to do no matter how much weight you are trying to lose because it helps keep you focused and moving forward to the final goal......Your goal weight!  (I can't wait to get there!)

Do More Be More

I really can't top my wife's "my moment" post so I am not even going to attempt it.

I am just going to repeat a phrase I have used on here once again, its about goals.

All goals are a matter of the determination to "Do More and Be More" its a phrase that I heard a friend Jason King say once and it instantly stuck with me.

My wife and I are on a journey that is far from unique, people all over the world struggle with their body, weight management etc. What I think is unique is our approach to solving that issue, as she said in her post we changed everything about what we ate and started exercising. What she didn't state however is what we did doesn't resemble a "diet" there is no deprivation, only common sense. every day after dinner there is a snack with tv that includes of all things ice cream. I drink a big mug of milk at the end of every day, and my exercise isn't hours at a gym. Its minutes a day with WiiFitU.

At the end of the day its always going to be about being consistent, and using common sense.  Everything we eat is logged, so we don't randomly snack when bored, portions are controlled to be sensible, and every day we exercise. We don't exercise to the point of soreness, but we exercise enough to sweat.

The real aim of our method is to create a system we can live with so we don't have to have "cheat days". I am going to sound hypercritical, but if your diet includes "cheat days" you have designed it with extremes.  If you have to "cheat" it isn't a sustainable process. I think there is something to be said about moderation. "everything in moderation, especially moderation".  What we have proven to ourselves is it can be done without extreme dieting, and without extreme exercising. Even with that in mind consistency with this approach can yield extreme results (Bee is 118 pounds down in just over a year, I am 95 pounds down and maintaining for 7 months). Stick with it!

Be More and Do More

My Moment

So today I want to share my moment with you.  The moment when I knew I had to make some serious changes in my life or I would be sending myself to a very early grave....

I am a HUGE Murdoch Mysteries fan.  It's a Canadian show based on the amazing books by Maureen Jennings (who is very nice, I've met her!).  It doesn't hurt that there are a few very easy on the eyes actors on the show!  Anyways, I had an opportunity to go with a friend and immerse myself in all things Murdoch Mysteries for a weekend, including set tour, meet and great with cast and crew, a panel discussion and a wonderful dinner.  I was so excited and enjoyed the experience so much.  Loved meeting everyone and seeing how much they love their jobs and their fans.  

While reflecting on all the excitement from the weekend and looking at my pictures I started to realize I really didn't like looking at the pictures with me in it.  Something that should have been so happy for me wasn't so much.  Then I started thinking about all my aching joints, the doctor's warnings of high blood pressure and the potential need to go on medicine for it, the fact that I was waking up every day with a super dry mouth and just having no energy to do anything.  It had become habit to press the easy button and just to grab something on the way home for dinner and not the good kind of something easy.  The cupboard, fridge and freezer was like walking into a variety store with several varieties of chips, chocolate bars, ice cream treats and more always on had.  Not good.

So while looking at the pictures from my bucket list experience I realized I needed to do something about my life or I was only helping to dig my own grave.

Munkee is very much an all in kind of guy but the problem with that is making this kind of a change takes planning and organization, we needed to have the right foods in the house and get rid of the temptations.  So on August 13, 2013 we started working out.  I am not a "go to the gym" kind of person so we have chosen to use a video game system designed for exercise in our home.  Who knew a video game could help you lose weight?  We started slowly as we knew this was a life change and would need to ramp things up as time went on.  Over the course of the week we went through the cupboards, fridge and freezer to figure out what was good and bad (most of it bad) for a healthier lifestyle and got rid of everything that wasn't good.  Yes, we got rid of it!  Didn't want the temptation in the house at all.  Friday night we spent HOURS in two grocery stores looking at products, reading labels and choosing the food items that would help us the most in our quest.  We also had a "last supper" from our favorite local deli to remind us once again of why we were doing this.  On Saturday August 17, 2013 we started full force with exercise and eating going hand in hand.

Since that time I have tracked everything we have eaten,  exercised daily (well ok, I missed one day but that was because of an ice storm and subsequent power outage) and tried to maintain a healthier mindset.  

I'm not going to say it's always been easy, I'm a baker and love to bake but I know, for me, it's a slippery slope.  Give myself an excuse once to "cheat" and I'll find more.  I have been down the weight loss road MANY times before and have always put the weight back, plus a little extra for good measure.  For whatever reason, this time has truly clicked and I have been able to keep my focus on doing better for me.  You have to do what is right for you and it has to be something you can maintain for the rest of your life.  I know once I reach my goal weight I can't go back to my old habits or I'll end up back where I was.

So today, on October 7, 2014 I am no longer waking up with a super dry mouth, I went to my doctor last week and she was happy with my blood pressure and progress with my weight loss, I still get aching joints but more when I've added a bit more to my workouts and I have lost 118 pounds off my body.  Holy crap!  118 pounds!  That's just crazy!

So I have added back to my bucket list a do-over of my picture with the cast of my favorite Canadian tv show, Murdoch Mysteries so I can look at it with happier thoughts.

Stupid slippery water bottle

Well day one went well until.....

I was helping bee with dinner and dropped a slippery metal water bottle, went to pick it up and felt that lovely awful sound of hyper extending my shoulder. so today's plan of pushups, pullups and dips will have to wait. I can barely turn my head.

Strangely perhaps because I am stupid or determined I still did my arm workout today, genius plan! so until it heals I will have to be satisfied with maintenance

no muscle man (for a little bit at least)

My Routine

So I thought I would shed some light into my routine so people can see that my day isn't consumed by exercise or by food.

Every morning I get up just before 5:20 am, regardless of when I went to bed the night before.  Mind you, I am normally falling asleep by 9:30 pm!

I am done my workout by 6:20 am that currently includes 4 pound weights on my wrists and ankles and I switch between routines that focuses on arms, legs and core.  After my husband does his weigh-in I do mine, the fitness program we use has you weigh daily but I try to focus on the weekly weigh-in instead of the daily numbers.

After that, if it's a weekday, I get ready for work and head off for the day with my breakfast and lunch packed for the day.  If it's Saturday I will prep bags of veggies for lunches for the week.  On Sunday we tend to ease into the day.

On Thursday I plan the meals for the next week and figure out what I need to check in the house vs. what I need to buy at the store.  Friday is the most fun day of them all!  Grocery shopping!  It involves going to two different grocery stores to get all of the items we have found the most beneficial in our weight loss journey.  I also go to a third grocery store for the last few items but that one is less often.

During the week Munkee with prep the lunches for the next day, on weekends I do them.  I do most of the dinner cooking, really that is for the safety of the kitchen and my sanity!  Munkee is a menace in the kitchen!  

I guess what I'm really trying to show is that I don't workout like crazy, I do plan the meals out for the week and ensure we have all we need in the house to make the meals (less likely to push the easy button of take out when planned out) and it is a team effort that is important.

If you have questions, let me know.  They could help lead to blog topics!