Day 297 Weigh Day Numbers and The Longest Four Minutes

Day 297

Weigh Day Numbers and The Longest Four Minutes

I always go back and read what I posted the night before. Often times I wish I would have said a particular thing a better way—or offered a better example. Today I read last night's post and I really got in to it good. I was on a first class ramble! And then I realized a large portion of that post could have been summed up in one simple sentence: If it's simply a means to lose weight, and not something you plan to do for the rest of your life, then it's temporary, and so is any success you experience while doing it. OK, maybe not a simple sentence, but you understand what I'm saying right? I plan on eating normal food in normal portions—an honest healthy combination of fats, proteins, and carbs-complex and simple carbs too. I plan on maintaining an active lifestyle, I plan on living. It's hard to argue with that approach, but people will and have. I'm not going to mention their name (not a blogger I recognized), but in my e-mail in-box today I found a very rare response. I was told that just because my approach works for me it doesn't mean it will work for everybody the same. The author of this e-mail went so far as to call me “self-righteous.” I wondered if they had the wrong person! You talkin' to me? Hold on, let me put on those cool sunglasses. You talkin' to me? Are you seriously talking to a man that weighed over 500 pounds for nearly two decades, been deathly obese his entire life, tried and failed at every other approach to losing weight, and now has broken it down into the most simple terms of “eat less-exercise more-and hold tight and defend your journey with everything you got?” Really? Self righteous? Wow. I prefer “correct.” I've finally discovered the best most natural correct way to lose weight. And if that somehow threatens your perception of how to lose weight, you just haven't reached this point yet. I'm not talking about the point of success where I proudly stand, I'm talking about the point where you give up all the nonsense, where you drop the excuses and rationalizations, where you get completely honest with yourself about your behaviors and you stop trying to find the next best thing in the world of weight loss plans and products, it's a place where you discover that the best solution doesn't cost anything at all and it doesn't require eating “just this” and “not that.” Geez. I promised myself I wouldn't let that crazy e-mail bother me. I didn't reply personally at all and I don't plan on it. But—if the author of that “self-righteous” nonsense is reading this post, here's my advice: Go back and educate yourself by reading my blog from day one. Then come back and tell me what you think. I'll guarantee your attitude will be different. I've only had three e-mails of this type before and only a couple of nasty comments in all of the last 297 days---so, I guess that's pretty good. I'm betting that this person read a passionate comment I left on someones blog, clicked my name, found the e-mail on my profile---and started typing. It was refreshing to find an actual name at the bottom instead of an anonymous type thing. I'm much better now. I just laughed for no good reason, I'm sorry. I guess I laughed because I planned this paragraph to be just a few short sentences, and the next thing you know...oh well.

Today was weigh day! First of all let me say that I'm extremely happy with my results today. BUT—I honestly thought I would find a bigger loss based on fitting into those 44's...going down a couple of notches in the belt I now have to wear on the 46's, and I'm feeling and seeing differences that somehow keep getting better. I seriously thought I'd find an eight pound two week loss, I really did. I didn't, and that's completely cool. But I did find a 6 pound loss again!!! Last time I weighed 322, today I weighed in at 316! Three hundred and sixteen pounds! I just had to write it out. That wonderful 3 pound per week average is fantastic and something I can be extremely proud about. It seems to be the groove I've created over the past several weigh days. Five, six, six, seven, six...or something like that. I had a ten back there somewhere. Anyway...Here's the wonderful total: 189 pounds in 297 days. I'm thrilled about that! And I updated my BMI number today and finally I'm below 40. My BMI is now 39.5, it was a 63.1! I don't really understand all that fancy science stuff, but it's cool to see that lower number! And I'm getting very close to crossing the 200 pound milestone and then crossing down into the 200's. That sounds incredible.

I never realized how long four minutes could feel until tonight. Our workout at the YMCA pushed my limits. I jogged at 5.7 mph for a solid four minutes without stopping or slowing down. The first minute and a half was fairly easy, the last two and a half was pure will. I refused to quit. I focused on my music, I looked straight ahead with my head held high and my arms pumping along side, and I did it. Four minutes of jogging. I almost stopped at three minutes—but I decided I could do four, I knew I could. It wasn't easy. I'm use to just walking 4.0 mph, and doing enough of it to get a great workout. This was on another level. After being in radio for over twenty years, I can tell you exactly how long three and a half minutes feels like (the average length of a hit record)...but four minutes, oh my...I had no idea. I'll be at five minutes in not long. I know I will.

Tonight I made something unusual. You see, our fridge is out of commission until Friday, the new compressor is on order. So we have to eat out or go to the store and buy just enough for one meal and prepare it immediately. I decided to make a personal homemade pizza using a tortilla for the crust, low-fat-part skim mozzarella, a jar of pizza sauce, and black forest ham slices. It was absolutely wonderful! And it was a super low 230 calories! Wow---a very tasty low cal treat...talk about a good calorie value.

I'm looking forward to where this road is leading and it is really exciting. I see the glow of lights on the horizon. It's the city of living! Thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts everyday. I sincerely appreciate your support. Good night and...

Good Choices,
Sean