I'm definitely the tortoise

Well I have been keeping on as I've posted previously. Food change in my life is getting harder, because I'm getting a bit bored with some of the food. The problem is that I'm not a veggie eater, I only like them raw, so carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and celery, raw, is getting really old, especially without some ranch...man I miss the feel of fat in my mouth. The gym schedule has been chaotic, everytime I say I'm going to start hitting it hard again, something happens. Yesterday would have been the day I pushed over the hump and got back "into it" but I hurt my back at work...thing serious, but I just didn't want to take any chances on hurting it more at the gym so my wife and I went on a long walk when I got home, so at least I did something.

Weight loss due to all this has been slower, obviously, but there has been more lost. I've lost another 3 pounds in 2 weeks, not great, but I'm focusing on the fact that I lost and didn't hold even or gain. So, I have a 1 week vacation and I plan on really pushing hard, getting back into hard working habits, it will just have to wait until Monday :( There is a 3 day conference in Fresno this weekend so the next time I can get to the gym will be Sunday afternoon, but I will try to sneak in a few leg raises, push-ups and squats - who needs weights, if I just do squats I'm pushing over 200 pounds with my legs and it will help strengthen my knees which need it desparately.

Forgive me Father...

For I have, if not sinned, at least strayed. It has been 6 weeks since my last soda, but Friday night my wife and I went out to dinner and I was soooo tired I needed caffeine, at least thought I did, and I'm not a big coffee drinker unless it has mocha and whip attached to it, and tea does nothing for me...so, yes, I had a diet Pepsi(insert circle R here). I know, I know, I already feel bad enough...but oh man was it good! It was insanely sweet, but there was that initial eye watering rush when you gulp the first drink from a carbonated beverage- ok I need to stop talking about it now.

This past week was insanely weird. Only got to work out 3 times, the food I ate was ok but not great and a couple of times it was not good at all; but I'm back on the wagon today, oatmeal for breakfast, chicken breast and veggies for lunch, nothing but water to drink again, some mid-day fruit or yogurt for snacks and as soon as I hit the Publish Post button I'm off to the gym. I haven't weighed myself since the elimination weigh in but after this past week, I'm going to put it off for at least another week. Pants do feel a bit baggier, shirts aren't as snug and other than the dreaded Pepsi (insert circle R) debacle night, I haven't felt tired...I take that back, we went to a prayer meeting Saturday night and didn't get home till almost 3a.m. and then of course there was time change, so I was tired Sunday, but that was due to lack of sleep, not being unhealthy.

For the rest of you keep it up, I'm enjoying keeping up on how you are doing thru your blogs and I see my teamates now and again at the gym and say hi. Missy and Lynn invited me to a Zumba class with them last week but I was so crunched for time it was all I could do to get an hour of workout in rather than my usual hour and a half, oh well, maybe next time.

Back in the saddle

Well, I said I was going to continue on and I have...several days later... :(
Didn't work out Sunday; Monday was all kaflooie, was supposed to have a meeting with a parent and it got canceled then we had a 4H meeting and then, and then...
Tuesday is church night for us, so no time. Finally, Wednesday, oh beautiful Wednesday; oh, and by the way I twisted my ankle Tuesday, which didn't bother me after I "walked it off", seriously, it didn't, but Tuesday night when we got back home from church and I took my shoes and socks off, it was all, you know, purply and a bit swollen, but it didn't hurt...weird. So Wednesday, I'm going to the gym and wondering if my ankle will give me any trouble, but it didn't, so it was a good hour and a half workout :)

I also had a Dr.'s appointment Wednesday morning- this was to follow up on some lab work I had done a month ago, yes, before the contest started. I had...get ready for it....high cholesterol levels *gasp*!!! But now its a month later, I've changed my diet, started working out, and all the Dr. told me to do for now(a month ago) was start taking Niacin (vitamin B3 - talk to your Dr to see if this is right for you, but it is a water soluable vitamin- my Dr. has me personally taking 1500mg/day). Anyway, its a month later and results of new blood work are in and my total cholesterol dropped 30 points, my LDL(bad cholesterol) dropped from high risk to borderline and my triglycerides dropped a whopping 100 points! I'm still high, but in just a month I went from very bad to just bad! Praise God. I know others in the contest have said that their Doctors have taken them off or reduced medications they were on also.

Just think, the money you put into gym fees may be paid for by being taken off medications, or at the very least offset the cost some...and it all starts with you stopping reading my blog and go to the gym. Yes the hard part is getting up, but once you get there, you're committed, no not that type of committed, but their are those of my co-workers who think I should be, but not for working out...well that's another blog ;)

Its Official

Well they announced this morning on KDUV the first round of eliminations and I was one of them. Does that make me a loser Loser? Double negative? Remember in math when they taught you that a negative and a negative, when multiplied together make a positive? Well that's how I'm looking at it, not the addition where 2 negatives added together make a bigger negative, because that would mean I'm going to gain weight now; and I don't want to do the subtraction rule because then I'd be at zero, right where I started...so yeah, I'm going for the multiplication rule...a positive.

Dale asked what I was doing this morning, when they announced my name as Porterville's first eliminated team member and being bummed already and in a negative frame of mind from being eliminated, I took it personally, like he was accusing me of slacking...but then my bassett hound jumped on me and licked me like he was trying to console me, but he really just wanted to play, but I was looking for consoling so I convinced myself that's what it was about...anyway, I got over the little pity party, and I know Dale wasn't intending it to sound like how I took it at first, he was trying to sound encouraging, in his own Scrabble rule deficent sort of way ;)

Prematurely Bummed Out

I'm a bit bummed out this weekend. I'm gonna ramble here as I work this out. I'm bummed out because Team Porterville Results got posted in the gym sometime between Thursday afternoon and our team workout with Rocky on Saturday morning, and just going by what I see on the board of how our team did, I'll most likely be eliminated officially on Monday morning. Don't get me wrong, the rest of my team did AWESOME and I'm so proud of them. I did well to, I did just shy of 3 pounds a week, which is great, but I don't think it will be enough compared to the numbers the others put up. So that is why I'm bummed...because I most likely will be out of the competition; yet this too shall pass because this isn't completely about a contest, its about changing my life, and it has. I'll be going to the gym here in a little while, and everyday after today and I am still sticky to a better way of eating (nothing but water to drink in over 5 weeks, well, some 1% milk in a bowl of bran ceral now and then). I will keep blogging, and letting you know how the battle is going, but for now, I'll be a little bummed...maybe I'll take it out on the eliptical at the gym...yeah, that's it, work out the stress and depression at the gym instead of watching tv or surfing on the computer, now where have I heard that before...oh yeah..thanks Rocky, I'll be seein' ya at the gym.

Drumroll Please

Well the Porterville team weighed in this morning. A couple of my teammates told me how much they lost but none of the other measurements so they will tell you on their blog...if they so choose. I did ok. In the grand scheme of things I did great, but I won't know till Monday how I did in the scheme of the team. I'll just give you a few of the bullet points; I won't tell you how much weight I lost, because, as I was reminded this morning, that's the number that is almost deceptive because it doesn't give you an idea of other health factors. I lost over 3% body fat, I lost inches off chest, waist and hips. I feel better, I don't get tired during the day at work(at least not the kind of tired where you know you could just stop and take a nap).

These are the kind of results that one needs to focus on to keep going with a LIFE change. If I was to focus on only the pounds lost, I think I would begin to wonder if all this work and effort are worth it; yet by focusing on how my WHOLE LIFE as benifited, it is definitely worth it and definitely going on with even if I get eliminated this week or in 2 weeks or whenever. This Challenge has already been what I wanted it to be, a kick in the butt to make a permanent change, to be here longer for my family.

PS
I'm looking forward to winning ;)

I've been reading the other contestants blogs and I must say I'm getting a bit, let's say, twitchy. It seems that some of the other teams have got to weigh during the last 3+ weeks, and a couple have even checked their body fat percentage. I haven't seen any numbers since the initial weigh in and its got me nervous. This is one of those situations where I am trusting in those around me because, as warned, my vision is blurred in respect to myself; yet those around me say they can see a difference - I don't. Rocky keeps asking if my clothes fit better or different and I have to honestly say I can't tell a difference, but then again your reading the blog of a man who buys 2XX or 3XX shirts so it doesn't show all the unsightly bulges (by the way, does it work? Not so much). Here, 2 days before first weigh in my pants sorta, kinda, maybe seem to be not as tight. So, the fact that some of the other contestants have an idea of how they are doing makes me nervous but on the other hand maybe its one of those situations where you are better off not knowing.

All this to say that I'm nervous about Thursday's weigh in but not about the changes I've made in my life. It is weird that in this contest, a teammate is going to be eliminated; in most game/survival shows, the team works together to keep each other in the game, to support each other against the other team, this one is a bit backwards...get to know someone, encourage them, sweat and moan and groan with them just to say goodbye to one of them, or if its me, to say goodbye to 4 of them. This is going to be where we show ourselves to the world as Christians, by how we love one another.

So Monday, after the names are announced, I will be back in the gym, eliminated or not, on the blogosphere reading how the others are doing and posting how I am doing.