Obviously I failed at my goal of being consistent with this blog. I am now trying again.

Despite not posting on here in quite some time, I have some exciting news. On April 5 I renewed my commitment to my health at a time when I had ballooned up to an irresponsible level. I reached 274.2 pounds in weight. I am embarrassed to admit that, but being out in the open on the Internet will help me to remember and hopefully keep me focused on my goals.

This morning I weighed in at 253.6 pounds. That’s a total of 20.6 pounds lost in a little under two months.

I’ve accomplished this much with the standard diet and exercise combination. I’ve spent a lot of time on my bicycle and mixed in some running. For the diet, I have steered away from extreme diet ideas such as no carbohydrate or liquid diet and just decided to make sensible choices with what I put into my mouth.

Believe it or not McAlister’s Deli has become a staple if and when we need or want to dine outside the house. Lisa and I have done a great job focusing on enabling ourselves to cook healthy meals at home whereas we would dine at restaraunts and  make poor nutrition choices. Needless to say it works.

Now that I’ve made substantial progress I think that I am ready to continue on this journey. This attempt will be successful. Until next time.

This is day three and I’m wishing for next week already. Since my workout schedule right now involves weight training in the morning on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I’m attempting to adjust to waking up early once again. I’ve been struggling with it lately and it’s a big hurdle for me.

Monday I woke up with no problems, possibly due to all the excitement of starting this personal challenge. I made it to the gym and I tore through the workout. As it turns out I was probably a little over-zealous as I am incredibly sore now and the soreness slightly restricts everyday movements such as walking. I was supposed to run after work on Monday but Lisa and I had a meeting with the priest who is performing our marriage and it interfered with my scheduling.

I attempted to make up the run after work yesterday, but managed only to run a short distance and finished out the 45 minutes outside with walking. Sore muscles are not fans of the running. The plan is to wake up at the same time everyday, but at 5:15 a.m. on Tuesday I decided that the warm bed was more important. I’m not disappointed with that decision since my body most likely needed some more recovery time.

This morning, I forced myself through the workout at the gym. My legs are still sore from Monday and today included dead lifts and step-ups which were difficult but I managed to pull through the slight discomfort. I’m proud of myself.

I do feel better now despite the sore muscles. I feel like I have more energy during the day. That will be the one thing that gets me through this process.

In late 2008, David Marethouse of Marethouse Fitness issued a call for applications for the Marethouse Fitness Challenge. The premise of the challenge is to completely change deserving members’ of the Brazos Valley lives during a twelve-week challenge. To aid the participants David and his team of trainers provide exercise instruction and nutritional support. Certain factors, such as body composition and blood pressure, were entered into a “health algorithm” and used to determine the winner of the challenge being the contenstant with the most significant health improvement. I applied in 2009 but was rejected.

He issued the same call in late 2009 and I again entered. The competition improved this year in terms of the organization and requirements. Unfortunately I was not selected this year either but I did get called in for a personal interview.

So I am left on my own to challenge myself. On February 1, 2010 the Jeff Carouth Fitness Challenge begins.

I plan on posting a “report” for each week of workouts. I realize that this will be tedious on a blog, but I think it will be essential for me to track how my perceived effort changes over time and also to help me protect myself from over training.

I’ll also post nutrition information. I do not plan to give a breakdown of absolutely everything I eat — after all, I keep all of this information in my dailyburn.com nutrition log. I will post healthy recipes I enjoy, tips or tricks I swipe from others, books, etc., and links to any helpful content I can find.

For workouts I will be following the New Rules of Lifting program for absolute lazy bastards — the author refers to people like me as beginners, I prefer to more direct language. I am also training for a half marathon in October with my sister. She will be a great motivator in this challenge. And of course I will jump on my bike and ride, ride, ride.

Historical records will be kept in the form of weekly weigh-in, measurements, and blood pressure. Since my family has a history of hypertension I am planning to purchase an in-home blood pressure monitor, but I will not have it until after I consult with my new physician on February 11.

Thus begins the challenge.