May 24, 2013
by mrmarkls Leave a comment

Daily Fitbit stats

My fitbit #Fitstats for 5/23/2013: 6,971 steps and 3.9 miles traveled. http://www.fitbit.com/user/22GGTK

May 23, 2013
by mrmarkls 3 Comments

Talking to the younger me

I wish I could have a talk with me. The me I was when I was 40 or 45. The me that had stopped cycling and was gaining weight like I was paid by the pound.

I really wish the current me could speak to the former me.

I can’t imagine what the 40-year-old Me would say if I told him all I have learned about us. Would he be shocked or doubtful when I told him that we are bringing vegetarian chili to a cookout? What would his reaction be when I told him we don’t eat red meat or pizza or Peanut Butter and Jelly.

Would he be able to understand the truth behind my warnings about getting fat, being sedentary… I wonder if the 40-year-old Me would take it to heart if I told him how much harder it is if you keep waiting to turn it all around.

I would tell him how much of a struggle it has been to take off the weight. I would tell him about the fits and starts and stops and stumbles. I would warn him about the high blood pressure and the aching joints, the erratic heartbeat and the sciatica attacks. I wonder if he would understand.

I would beg him to start now, get on the bike, take of f the weight, do it before you turn another year older and another 15 pounds fatter.

I would tell him that the only regret that I have about my Journey is that I waited so long to start it.

Talking to the young man built just like I was who thinks he can’t do it

Yes you can. I did. I am not special. I am just a very normal man who decided it was time to make a change. I am a very normal person who has the same fear and frustrations and confusion about it all as you. I did it. You can do it. I can help. I can encourage you, support you, advise you on how to avoid the temptation, overcome them when you can’t avoid them and to get back on track when you stumble.

You can do it if you decide to do it. Make good decisions one decision at a time. One day at a time. One meal at a time. You CAN do it. Just decide to do it….

To the People who said I couldn’t and to the people who say I won’t

I proved you wrong and I will keep proving you wrong but that is not what I want to say.

I really want to ask why you are so negative. Why do you think the way you do and more to the point, why do you think I will benefit from you voicing your negativity? You lost 20 and put it right back on? Sorry oto hear that, I hope you can take it off again and keep it off. I know it is hard to do. Best of luck. Don’t bring your rain to my parade.

To the people who have always supported me

Thank you. A Thousand times thank you

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Yes, that really is a thousand thanks.

My friends, my family, the readers on this blog, the people I meet who have encouraging words… Through difficult times you supported me, took me on hikes, listened to me talk about the weight loss, read what I wrote, made veggie burgers or fish for me at the red meat conventions you call a cookout, agreed to eat at vegetarian restaurants, made low-calorie desserts, wrote encouraging comments on my blog, applauded my pictures on Facebook… In other word you cared. I cannot thank you enough, though I will try time and again..

Peace

May 23, 2013
by mrmarkls 2 Comments

Daily Fitbit stats

My fitbit #Fitstats for 5/22/2013: 4,972 steps and 2.7 miles traveled. http://www.fitbit.com/user/22GGTK

May 22, 2013
by mrmarkls 3 Comments

Today and All that it is

Lunch Today

Holding Steady

For lunch today I stepped out to the local A&P store and went to the salad bar. A couple of cups of spinach, cucumber, tomato, salad dressing, some pineapple and berries and I was good to go. Later I calculated it all out and lunch was a grand total of 250 calories.

This is easy for me. It wasn’t always but it is now. I passed a Chinese buffet, three pizza parlors, one bagel joint, a Memphis BBQ place, and a McDonald’s’ on my way to the A&P and the salad bar.

I would have given up on the A&P and gone to anyone of the temptations listed above. Not now. I think about it. I think about how much I love a good Chinese buffet. I love BBQ. I even like McDonald’s.

I just don’t eat that way. I don’t eat red meat so the McDonald’s is pretty much out. I rarely have pizza (two slices in the last year plus) and today is not a day for bagels….

Salad Bar.

Lovely woman cashier teased me about the light lunch. “Thin as you are you should eat more than a salad”. When I told her I had lost 100+ pounds and that is why I eat this lightly She was amazed, congratulated me and told me I look wonderful. I heard her telling the cashier next to her “that guy lost 100 pounds!” as I walked towards the door.

I will be walking a little lighter today from the good feeling that gave me.

Just after I finished my lunch my boss poked his head in my office and asked if I wanted to order Chinese. Old Days: Despite having the salad I say YES and order General Tso’s Chicken. Today? No thanks, just ate. Had I not had a salad? I would have ordered soup.

You can do it. It just takes making the right decisions one decision at a time.

Lessons I am learning:

When I started this Journey I was petrified at the thought of allowing any sort of indulgence. I still avoid them. The reason is simple: allow it today, becomes OK tomorrow, becomes 310 pounds….

My Recent Indulgence. Birthday Cake for Missus. The Younger and I baked it together

Now that I am below my goal weight I have learned that I can have one bad day and get back on it the next day. I still watch it like a hawk and I expect I always will but I have learned to not panic if I allow that one day out of 30 where the calorie count goes high or the piece of birthday cake is a little too large… I have developed the discipline to allow that on the very rare occasion and still get back to the plan, keep on track. That I have maintained my weight below the goal weight since last August 8, 2012 is evidence that I am able to get back to plan very quickly after a day on the wild side.

I will not get smug about this. I am still ever watchful. I must be. I just won’t panic now if I have that one day above plan. I have learned to not let it become two days.

I have had to learn to listen to my body. I never did. I certainly didn’t listen when I was getting it beyond heavy to obese. I pushed past the warning signals, the cry for mercy. I simply refused to hear. As I started my Journey I maintained the same habit. I would not listen when my body begged me to rest. I pushed because I knew my body was a liar. I was asking it to wok and it was telling me it couldn’t. This was why I tried to cycle even though I had injured my knee. I wanted to believe I could push my body past the pain and keep up the activity level and the calorie burn.

I pushed when I had head colds, the flu, aches and pains. I am certain I made problems worse (I certainly did with my knee) by doing this but I was driven to get fit.

Now I am working on listening. I have been dealing with the remnants of a head cold and I dearly wanted to get on the bike last night. I had to listen to the body. It told me no. The body said it wasn’t ready. My body was right. I mowed the lawn and then I had to rest on the porch for a bit. If I had tried to cycle I would have been calling Missus asking her to come fetch me.

I am learning to trust what my body tells me. Not all the way there yet, I still suspect the body of lying now and again, but I am getting there.

Confusing People

Pizza day in the office at work tomorrow. I didn’t know anything about this until I got a text a little while ago from a woman in the office telling me not to bring lunch because they are ordering in pizza.

I texted back a thanks but mentioned I don’t eat pizza and will have my normal lunch.

The reply text? “Really? NO PIZZA???”

It confuses people.

Yes I did say above that I can allow the occasional indulgence. That was birthday cake this weekend past. It isn’t pizza tomorrow. Discipline.

People see me as lean. They don’t know what it took to get here. It confuses them. I am lean, why not enjoy a slice or two? Because I plan to stay lean.

Decisions. As I said above, making the right decisions one decision at a time.

Peace

May 21, 2013
by mrmarkls Leave a comment

Daily Fitbit stats

My fitbit #Fitstats for 5/20/2013: 7,512 steps and 4.1 miles traveled. http://www.fitbit.com/user/22GGTK

May 20, 2013
by mrmarkls Leave a comment

Daily Fitbit stats

My fitbit #Fitstats for 5/19/2013: 3,410 steps and 1.9 miles traveled. http://www.fitbit.com/user/22GGTK

May 19, 2013
by mrmarkls Leave a comment

Sunday Night and I am getting Better

Recovery

I spent the last several days deeply under the weather with a very unpleasant head cold (are any of them pleasant?).

I missed two days of work and really have not been fully functional this weekend though Missus and I did celebrate her birthday on Saturday with dinner at a very nice Japanese restaurant with good friends. A very good time had by all.

I am feeling almost human. Work calls tomorrow and life will pick up speed again….

I needn’t tell you that I didn’t ride at all or walk much or do much of anything since Wednesday and I am feeling like a tree sloth right now, fat and slow.

The weight held steady, actually dropped slightly, so I am ok there. I flexed my eating (yeah, sure, a lack of appetite due to the cold had nothing to do with it) and avoided the bedridden weight gain.

Today it was a cold and dreary and wet day so there was no riding to be done even had there been no head cold to contend with. Somehow the fact that the weather would have kept me from riding in any case made me feel better about not being in any shape to ride…

Strange

By mid-week I suspect I will be in fine shape.

The coming week and weekend

The weather this week will be a challenge. It is expected to be warm but with a possibility of thunderstorms… Then of course there is the holiday weekend.

Travel to and from a big cookout out-of-state will make riding a challenge.

I will find a way….

How much one changes in a year…

310 pounds, Summer 2011. I am not him anymore. I am starting to understand who I am now

At the cookout last year I was in the 235 pound range, 70 or so pounds down from my starting weight and people were STUNNED at my weight loss. I am 30 pounds lighter now and I have maintained the goal weight since last August.

I am simply not who I was a year ago. Not even close to the person I was two years ago.

I get less visits from the Black Dog, less episodes of depression. I am less anxious about my weight and less nervous about allowing the occasional indulgence.

Some things have not changed or have changed only in the depth of my commitment. I am still not eating red meats and I have started to phase out other meats, poultry and fish, as well. My commitment to fitness is deeper now. It was strong a year ago. It is a passion now.

I am always planning my next walk, my next hike, my next ride.

I am as passionate about my health as I was a year ago. I still talk about it incessantly. I am still writing this blog and still thinking out my days as they will relate to food and exercise.

What has changed? I am now much more accustomed to living the way I live now. It is now less forced. I am planning and thinking from habit now not from conscious effort. I run a tab in my head of everything I eat. I know the calories by heart now. I still record them in the LOSEIT.COM app, still record even one jelly bean. No though I do it from habit. It is natural for me to do this. I don’t have to remind myself, force myself, over think it.

A year ago I was constantly reminding myself to records it, plan it, think it, do it.

Now I just do it.

In situations like the upcoming cookout I will remind myself to not snack and nibble and I will remind myself to walk around a great deal to get in the steps. I will probably go up and down the flight and a half of steps on the deck 30 times or more in the course of the day. I will remind myself to make sure that happens.

It is in the day-to-day that I am beginning to grow comfortable, beginning to feel that this lifestyle has become my life. I am learning to be the person I have become. Sounds like the cart in front of the horse but, for me, it works just that way.

Peace