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.

As for exercise, I did not get as much cardiovascular exercise as I’d hoped; the weight training I did led to very fatigued and sore muscles that just would not go like I wanted them to. This coming week I hope to be able to get a little more in as my body acclimates to the stress of the consistent weight training.

None of my other stats changed, but I am happy I was able to stick to my diet enough to lose that 1.4 pounds no matter how insignificant it might look.

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.

One of his many “rules to live by” outlined in this episode is to eat breakfast always, no exceptions. Prior to this challenge I have always been a breakfast eater; it is probably a carry-over from my more healthier days. The one challenge that must always be overcome is finding the time to prepare and consume breakfast. When one works out in the morning, like I do, time is definitely a commodity.

Enter the Buff Smoothie. Prepare the ingredients in the blender carafe the night before and run the blades in the morning when you are ready. It really is that easy.

Buff Smoothie

Ingredients:

• 4 oz. Juice (grape, pomegranete, Acai, etc.) by weight;
• 4 oz. Soy milk by weight;
• 4 oz. frozen banana slices;
• 4 oz. frozen peaches;
• 4 oz. frozen blueberries;
• 4 oz. frozen strawberries.

Instructions:

• Combine all ingredients in blender carafe and refrigerate overnight.
• In the morning assemble blender and mix over low speed for one minute. Blend on high for an additional minute to whip air into mixture.

To make it a little better for my nutritional goals I add one or two scoops of protein powder — Optimum Nutrition 100% weight is my product of choice. I add this in the low speed blending step.

Eating this in the morning usually keeps me satisfied until my 10:00 a.m. snack time.

These posts are going to be embarrassing at first. Just pull the Band-Aid® off, right?

This morning I weighed myself after working out and eating breakfast right at 266.4 lbs. I’ll use this as my “starting” weight as I begin my journey to my goal weight of 178 lbs. I feel horrible. Oh what the weeks will change.

According to the Mayo Clinic online BMI calculator my current BMI is 36.1 which puts me in the obese category.

Using my Accu-Measure body fat calipers my body fat percentage is 25.4%.

I did not get a chance to take my blood pressure today. I will be seeing my doctor on February 11 and at that time will ask him for recommendations on an accurate in-home blood pressure monitor. I will use the reading from my visit as my baseline.