C25k and 200 pounds lost, will tomorrows weigh in be the day I hit the mark?!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Things have been going pretty good this week, but yesterday was pretty stressful (non weight loss related) and I did not feel like running W2D2 of C25K because I got home late which meant a later than normal dinner (7:45PM I finished dinner) and I usually run around 8:30PM so I was thinking about skipping it. I did end up going out for day 2 and when the time for the first interval came around I began running and quite literally felt like I was shuffling along and thought about stopping and calling it a night. I figured I would at least go to the second interval before I let that happen so I did and when it came time to run again I was taking large strides and felt pretty good about continuing on and by the third interval had forgotten all about what was stressing me out. I was ahead of my fastest pace and I knew this by the 5th interval because I ended the 5th where I began the 6th on day 1 of week 2. I started interval number 6 and it was on a spot that dips down pretty steep and then gets steep uphill so I had to run on that uphill portion but I convinced myself that it was the last interval and I could push myself on it so I did and ended up going 2.212 total miles last night and felt good at the end of the run, though I still find myself questioning Mr.Ullrey's ability to count to 90 seconds at times during the running portions of the program.

Now that the C25K report is out of the way I am thinking about the weigh in tomorrow, will it be the day that I join that 200 pounds lost club? will I be a part of that crowd that can say "I lost 200 pounds" on pure determination (does that club even exist?) will I prove myself wrong? once upon a time I said "no one can lose 200 pounds just by eating right and exercising" that was fat Tony talking, or should I say "fatter Tony" because I am not quite the svelte specimen of a young man that I would like to be just yet, but either way will tomorrow be that day? I sure would like it to be, because its going to be hard to cancel the fireworks show that I have arranged! 527 days ago I decided to get healthy, that's slightly more than 17 months ago and I am on the edge of having lost 200 total pounds, did I mention that I am amazed by this? yes I think that I did but I wanted to say it again.

Intake for Wednesday was 1695 total calories and I drank just under 1 gallon of green tea and 1.5 gallons of straight H2O, exercise for the day was W2D2 of the couch to 5k program. Things are right where they should be lately with diet and exercise and I am happy with the direction I am heading with the running, the only question left is will tomorrow be THE day that I hit that 200 pounds lost mark? since I am not stepping onto a scale until then, both you and me will have wait until then to find out.

Don't forget to drink that big ol glass of H2o that you just earned for reading through all of my morning ramblings, and keep in mind that if I can do this weight loss thang, you can do it as well.

As Ever
Me

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You mean I don't NEED a miracle pill or plan to lose weight? who wouldda thunk...

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

zeusmeatball.blogspot.com/

I have decided that because of me being so close to the 200 pound lost milestone that I am not getting on the scale for the rest of the week because I want Friday mornings weigh in to be a surprise to me. You will notice that I put a count down clock on the left panel (this is at my blogspot page, the link is above) and that will be when I step on the scale next, yesterday morning I stepped on and this morning I did not, with any luck I will reach that mark this week. I have to admit that I am a bit excited to be so close to that 200 pound lost mark, and at the same time I feel like its not something that many people would like to be able to say, the fact that I HAD the 200 extra pounds on me to lose is quite disheartening. On the other side of that coin is the fact that I have stayed strong enough through this whole experience to successfully drop that kind of weight and that side of it is quite the opposite of disheartening.

To think that one day I woke up and decided that I was going to lose 259 pounds that was my goal number and actually am doing it without any miracle pill, surgery or pay by the month plan amazes me to this day. I think people should do what works for them but I am also in the camp that believes that nothing more than determination and willpower are the only things needed to have success in weight loss, No Gym membership or miracle pill can do the work for us, we have to do it ourselves. I started out just eating less calories and walking however long I could, eventually buying an exercise bike off of craigslist for $40 if I remember right and now my main form of exercise is running, or building up to running anyways. I shop smart and eat well, I do not spend thousands of dollars on specialty foods or meal packets, I eat real food prepared by yours truly, in fact and I have said this before, I spend less now on groceries than I did in my 500 pound days. Relearning how to feed our bodies so that we are fueling our days instead of filling the craving void with junk processed foods, it only takes a little bit of dedication to make sure that we stay on track and after that it becomes habit and before you know it you are writing a post on a blog that was not expected to last a week about having lost almost 200 pounds.

My intake for Tuesday was a bit high at around 1800 total calories, damned evil doritos and I did not exercise at all because I was a bit sore from Monday's run, 1 gallon of green tea and more than a gallon of straight H2O went down the hatch. Tonight is W2D2 of the C25K program for me and I am looking forward to the run tonight and honestly feel pretty good about how it will go even though the forecast calls for rain.

I feel like since being cleared by the doc to run I have had a couple productive weeks where health is concerned, I started running and am back on track with the pounds coming down again. Over all I feel great and am looking forward to this Fridays weigh in because I think that I have a chance to hit that 200 pounds lost mark, I just might do a video post if I do hit it this week. With that the end has come to another exhilarating episode of as the fat guy turns starring the God of Meatballs himself! Thanks for following along and here's to Fridays weigh in!

As Ever
Me

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C25K week 2 day 1 report and a dog

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Last night was the start of week 2 of the C25K program for me, I was going to hold off on starting week 2 until I let my body adjust to week 1 but I really wanted to see if I could do it. New Mp3 in hand I headed out and noticed that the week 2 podcast is 31 minutes so a little more than a minute longer than week 1 so I had a feeling that I would add distance to where I have been running to by the end of the run. The first interval came and I was feeling pretty good but by the middle that interval I was starting to doubt Mr.Ullrey's skill at counting to 90 seconds as it felt very long compared to week 1. by the second interval I decided that I needed a way to judge the length of the runs so I knew how hard to push to make it so I counted my steps and from here on out I just counted how many steps I took so that I would know when the end of the interval was coming. The entire run went ok besides the fact that I had to run up that hill that I was cussing at last week in its entirety and it took a little out of me.



At the start of the last interval I had a little surprise because some people were leaving what looked like a BBQ and they had a dog with them. I was maybe 5-8 steps into the last interval when I hear the jingle jangle of dog tags to my left and then a growl, I glanced down to see a dark brown pooch running at me so I stepped further into the middle of the street hoping that he would not keep coming as his owner was right there with him but he did keep coming. I turned so that he was coming at me straight on and was moving backwards, still hoping that the owner would pull the leash and I could continue on my run but that's not what happened, all I hear the fella say is a meek little "sorry" That's great man! I am glad that you are sorry BUT your dog is still growling and coming at me! is what I was thinking and the dog was too close to me at that point for me to just keep doing nothing but backing up and he got a face full of size 14, he yelped and ran towards the owner who now says "why did you have to do that!" all I responded with was "keep it on a leash a$$hole" and on my way I went. I ran for my counted steps for the last interval even though the podcast had told me to stop because the dog encounter messed me up and I did not enjoy the rest of the run/walk because of the dog. I went 2.12 miles on this run and that is just short of my furthest distance on week 1 which is not so bad considering the run in with cujo and the fact that it was day 1 of a harder run.

My food for Monday was on par coming in at 1750 total calories consumed and I drank 1 gallon of green tea and 1.5 gallons of straight H2O. Obviously my exercise was C25K W2D1 and over all I feel pretty good this morning if not a little fatigued, almost like W1D1 without the soreness. Where Couch to 5k is concerned, I did complete W2D1 of the program but I did not feel strong while doing it, and what I mean is that W1D1 I felt like the only thing holding me back was going to be my being out of breath but last night my legs were quietly complaining to themselves by the second interval. By the time I hit that hill I was not taking long strides at all, I wouldn't say I was shuffling along or anything but it definitely was not my normal stride and because of my weight I can't help but to think about maybe repeating week 1 just for the slow but steady strength gains for my body. The plan is to run W2D2 Wednesday and see how I feel and if there is no improvement from Monday I will look at what I need to do.

Over all I am loving the C25K program and am looking forward to completing it and being able to say that I can run a 5k race to completion. I am forgetting that this is a weight loss journey lately because of this program and have to remember that I am less than 5 pounds away from having lost 200 pounds total since starting and will be trying to hit that number by Friday so I have a lot going on as far as this weight loss gig goes right now.

Don't forget that H2O, Keep on keepin on and all that.

As Ever
Me

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C25k week 2 start and a Free MP3 player.

Monday, June 08, 2009

This weekend went well and over all I feel great about the coming week, tonight I will run W2D1 of the couch to 5k program and am looking forward to finding out whether I will struggle with it or go right through it. Over all I am pretty happy with how the program went within the first week and am starting to look forward with some things that I think that I will need to continue running including an MP3 player and yesterday during an impromptu visit to the mall with Wify and the animals er, kids I walked past a display with tiny little MP3 players hanging on it in Jcpenny with a sign that said "Fathers day sale $19.99 PLUS a $9.99 rebate" and the price tag that was on the box said $39.99 so I thought "hey I'm a father" what do I have to lose with a $9.99 MP3 player that was originally $40 right? I get up to the counter and wify has a coupon from Jcpenny for $10 off any item regardless of price and long story short I got the player for $0.00, so I am a happy camper. There was one condition set upon this purchase by the Bill and Teds excellent adventureesque cashier whom said, and I quote "The only thing is that you can't return this {insert short pause here} like ever, because you didn't pay for it" No problemo pal! and off I went with my brandy spanking new FREE mini MP3 player and one thing crossed off of my "need to get" list.


I used a quarter so that you can get an idea of scale when I took these photos the SPI is on the left and the shuffle on the right, click on the link to get a full sized picture zeusmeatball.blogspot.com/2009/06/c2
5k-week-2-start-and-free-mp3-player.html

Upon returning home I opened the package and followed the directions in the box and was charging it up so that I can use it tonight on my week 2 debut, 4 hours later I loaded the C25K series of podcasts onto it and tested it out, worked perfectly. Obviously I have not yet had a chance to test it out and give a good solid opinion about how it works yet but I will do a full review after I use it a few times. My son has an Ipod shuffle so I will have something to compare it to but on my initial observations I am already liking the SPI MP3 player a bit better purely because it has a display that lets you see the current track playing as well as the elapsed time of that track (which will help with C25K) and this is something that the shuffle lacks. The Ipod is slightly smaller but not so much that this SPI feels big, this thing is tiny and only weighs 20g vs the 16g of the Ipod, hopefully the new toy proves to be reliable, and honestly there is no beating the price that I paid.

My weekend went well where intake and movement were concerned, I did not go over my calorie limits all weekend and Sunday Wify and I got out for a 2 mile walk and some fishing at the lake earlier in the day. my hydration was on par with at least 1 gallon of green tea and 1 gallon of straight H2O each day along with a couple few Fuze Cranrasberry drinks randomly inserted here and there.

A pretty good week all in all besides the fact that my daughter was sick just about all weekend, She started feeling better Sunday afternoon and was inspired to do some "ekersizes" on our living room floor which brought a smile to my face. Knowing that I am effecting my kids in the way that I am (I should say we are because wify is doing the same) is an extra bonus to me getting fit and dropping this weight. With that comes the end to another page of ramblings from the one time quarter ton man, I will leave you with a quote that I heard over the weekend, this one is very special to me so pay attention to who I am quoting.

"When you watch tv then you have to get up and move your body, that's called ekersize"
~My Daughter~

As Ever
Me

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C25K week 1 DONE! and I learned some things about myself.

Saturday, June 06, 2009

Last night I completed Couch to 5k week one, I was sore, it was raining but I decided that anything worth doing is worth doing 100% so I did not let either of those things stop me. I got dressed and headed out in the rain for my final run of week 1 not knowing whether I would finish it, as I walked out the door I told wify "I will either start and come back in 10 minutes because of the rain and or soreness, or I will run the whole thing, see ya in 10 minutes" once the first interval came around I knew that it was going to be a good run because I was taking long strides and was well ahead of where I have been ending after the first interval. I was far enough ahead of where I have been running by the 4th interval that when I reached the hill that I dread running up I had walked about 1/4 of the way up it before the I had to start running, usually I stop running before the top so again I knew that I was ahead of my pace. I was feeling good, the rain was heavier than a drizzle but not too hard by New England standards and honestly it somehow energized me and by the last interval I was so far ahead of my pace that I started running in the spot where my last interval usually ends.



I learned a couple of things about myself last night, as long as I stay focused and remember that I am choosing to do this I can and will. The second thing that I learned is that I LOVE to run in the rain! this is so odd to me because I was that guy that if it was raining outside would stay indoors and avoid the falling water like I was the wicked witch of the west when I was bigger. Running in the rain is almost like the world is mine at those moments, no one is around and its just me and the wet road and we get to have the rain all to ourselves. The cooling affect that a light rain provides is just enough to make running a bit more comfortable in the being hot department and I am already starting to appreciate this.

My calories for Friday were at 1720 so says my excel sheet but I was up a little later than usual last night and ate two oranges around 10:30pm so I am over by that much, I have the feeling that I will have to raise my caloric intake because of the running and I say that because I have been hungry this whole past week and I can't help but think that its my body letting me know a change is needed because of the extra work that the running is taxing my body for. I drank 1 gallon of green tea, 1.5 gallons of water and a Fuze fruit punch so to say that I am hydrated is an understatement and of course W1D3 was my exercise for the day, I did go my furthest distance last night which was 2.162 miles in the 29:45 that week one takes.

I was going through some comments that were left for me and one of them stood out to me and the simplicity of the statement caught me off guard, and actually gave me a smile. Andrew said "You've got to have the right gear when you're a runner I reckon!" as a response to This Post zeusmeatball.blogspot.com/2009/06/c2
5k-week-1-day-2-fini-and-some-new.html where I mentioned buying a compression shirt and the "when you're a runner" part really stopped me for a second and I thought about it, Never in my life has someone referred to me as "a runner" and I realized that I have made substantial changes in my life that will almost certainly mean that I will have that many more years to spend how I wish, doing what I want to with my wife and children.

With that I will end this post, I have a bird house to paint with my daughter so off I go into Daddy duties, make sure to get that H2O down and if someone can refer to me a "a runner" anything is possible.

As Ever
Me

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