Day 31 - Renewing the Vision

I read or heard somewhere that, on average, a person needs to have their vision and purpose refreshed or they will lose focus on the goal and start to drift.  I can say that for me this statement seems to be true.  In the past I have usually started to lose the drive I have for counting calories sometime during the 2nd month.  By the 3rd month I have completely abandon the counting and the selective eating and my weight loss changes direction and begins to be come weight gain.  

With this in my in mind I am sitting down to write this post with the idea that I need to refresh in my mind the vision that I have for myself.  I am blogging daily about my weight loss journey as a way to be accountable to others.   It is my way of telling the world when I am successful and when I am not so successful.  I am losing weight because: 1) I know that I can do it. 2)  I am not a healthy weight and there is no reason why I can not be.  3) It is good for me to exercise and helps me to be a whole well rounded person and steward the body I have been given.  4) It makes me feel better about myself.

I have come a a good distance so far but I still have a long way to go. I am happy with the pace I am changing because I know that it is sustaining.  I need to keep on eating better, exercising regularly and reporting my progress so that I can live a longer and healthier life.

Thanks for reading and encouraging me on my journey because every reader and every comment helps fan the flames a little bit.

TODAY'S STATS

Calories: 2343

Weight: 253 lbs

Mood: Tired.  I have been really sleepy all day.

Total Weight Lost:  12 lbs since 1/1/09

Day 30 - Precision

Today is Fast Food Friday and for my free day I went to the Ram with some former co-workers of mine. One of the hardest parts of counting calories for me is figuring out how many calories are in the meals that I eat at restaurants and other peoples houses. As an accountant I have this strong desire for my daily records to be as accurate as possible. This is pretty easy when I am eating prepackaged food and even food made at home because the nutrition information is provided and portions can be measured while preparing the food.

However, at restaurants and away from home I do not have the ability to measure my food. Also at a restaurant I do not know how the food is prepared and therefore how much oil and butter were used, was it lean ground beef or 30% fat, etc. At times like these I have to make an educated guess. For some reason guessing really hangs me up. I can do it as an accountant when it comes to month end number and preparing budgets but when it comes to food I have a hard time being "close enough" I have been on previous calorie counting journeys and have been completely derailed because I did not "know for sure" how many calories I had eaten at a particular meal or restaurant.

Fortunately there are tools and websites out there to help. Fast food is by far the easiest category of restaurants since so many of the fast food restaurants publish their nutrition info online and one burrito or cheese burger is just like the next at any given fast food joint. Sit down restaurants though present a greater challenge. Some have nutrition info posted some do not. When that is the case I use a web site called NutritionData.com to build the recipe using the major ingredient. This has helped me overcome my tendency to freeze up when having to guess at calories. I am not able to eat out and know that I can rebuild my meal and get pretty close on my count, which for now is going to have to be good enough.

TODAY'S STATS

Calories: 2591
Weight: 254 lbs
Mood: Feeling a bit under the weather
Total Weight Lost: 11 lbs since 1/1/09

Day 29 - Week 4 Results

Here are the results of my 4th week on the plan:

Current weight: 254.5lbs
Weight Lost This Week: .5 lbs
Total Weight Lost: 10.5 lbs
Body Fat %: 29.2% (down .7% this week and 1.2% since 1/1/09)
Avg Calories Eaten Per Day: 2,815
Total Calories Burned: 21,455
Total Calories Eaten: 19,705
Calculated Daily Caloric Need: 3,065
# of Days I Worked Out: 4

This week was a bit of a struggle.  On average I ate more than I planned to each day and I did not lose as much weight as I would have liked.  I am hoping that this is just a temporary stop on the path to a lighter me.  In the mean time I just keep soldering on.

TODAY'S STATS

Calories: 2,363
Weight: 254.5 lbs
Mood: Slightly discouraged that I my weight loss was only .5 lbs this week.
Total Weight Lost: 10.5 lbs since 1/1/09

Day 28 - Biggest Loser Week 4

Last night's biggest loser was another good episode. One of the more inspiring moments was when Dan ran the full time on the treadmill. I am bummed he had to go home as I personally would have preferred him to stay over the brown team. I think the brown team would have done better at home that the orange team but I am glad that Dan kept doing well at home, even though his partner was not that into it. Dan really looked good for the amount of weight he started with and I believe he will keep going to down that path. So far I am glad that there is nobody that I am rooting to be kicked off the show, I like all the contestants and enjoy watching them on their journey.

TODAY'S STATS

Calories:
Weight: 254 lbs
Mood: A little tired
Total Weight Lost: 11 lbs since 1/1/09

Day 27 - Another day at the office.

Not much to talk about today. Just went to work out and to the office. The day was spent working on a major project so I did not even realize I needed to eat lunch until 1:3o. Overall I can't really say it was that the day was all that exciting.

TODAY'S STATS

Calories: 3039
Weight: 254.5 lbs
Mood: Ho Hum
Total Weight Lost: 10.5 lbs

Day 26 - When Grueling is Good

Today was a cardio day at the Gym and my cardio of choice is the Elliptical machine. On this machine I get the most bang for my buck. It, by far, burns the most calories and is easier on my knees than the treadmill. However, today's workout seem extra arduous.

I use the Cardio setting on the machine to make sure that I get a good workout. I use a heart rate monitor to make sure I am working out in the cardio zone (though the machine does have a monitor on the handles). By using the monitor I am able to set the machine so that it keeps my heart rate at 163 beats per minute. I set the clock for a 45 minute workout which is immediately followed by a 5 minute cool down. I am able to tell how hard I am working by the number of rows that are lit up on the display panel as well as how many calories I am burning. For the first time today I made it over 1000 calories in my 50 minutes of working out, it was also the first time the resistance meter got to 5 bars and I definitely felt.

Though the workout seemed extra hard I take it as encouragement that my endurance and strength is increasing. I have to work that much hard to get and keep my heart at a 163 beats per minute. The distance and amount of time I could go at that pace is greater today than it was a couple of weeks ago and also the recovery time after the work out has shortened. Though I am no where close to running a marathon I feel good that I am making progress towards building up my strength.

TODAY'S STATS

Calories: 2450

Weight: 256.6 lbs

Mood: Wishing I had not eaten so much yesterday.

Total Weight Lost: 8.5 lbs since 1/1/09

Day 25 - Overeating

Today I ate a bit more than I should have.  Mostly because I just wanted good food and was too lazy to eat good portions.  Even when I ate my dinner of potato salad and meatballs I was not that hungry but since I went to all work to make it I wanted to eat a good share, which I did.  So, bottom line is that I ate more than I should have but I want to make sure that I do not loose the vision.  This morning I was the lowest weight I have been so far which is encouraging but I also need to stay focused and make sure I keep my eating in line.

TODAY'S STATS

Calories: 3535

Weight: 253.5 lbs

Mood:  In need of a bit of reinvigoration

Total Weight Lost:  11.5 lbs since 1/1/08