Monday - April 6th Update

Well, after a very promising start - as of last Thursday, things went downhill over the weekend - same old story...  I went out for a few beers on Friday night, went for a decent run on Saturday, then weighed-in, and I was up 3.1lbs! Huh?  That was a shocker!  

Weighed-in again this morning, was down 0.4lbs, but still up from last Monday which blows me away...  Ah well, I have to just focus on doing the right things, the scale will take care of itself...

Daily Update - Wed, April 1st

- Tried my first Belly Off workout last night, WOW, who said you can't get some good strength training in purely with bodyweight exercises!  whoo!  Unfortunately I don't have a pull-up bar (any ideas?), but I was still able to do the rest exercises - Check out the Workouts here - Excellent stuff.  I'm looking forward to getting familiar with the various exercises and then establishing my own little workout routine(s) that I can do whenever, wherever.

- Weighed in via Wii Fit this morning, was down 0.7lbs, which was good

- Had some bean salad and edameme for dinner last night.

- Breakfast this morning, tried the PB & Berries Oatmeal recipe:

1 cup Quaker Quick Oats

1 cup Water

1 tbsp Peanut Butter

1/2 cup of Frozen Berries (I had Raspberries)

- It was pretty good, a little on the pasty side, and TOO much, I only ate about 60% of it, so I'd ease up on the oats next time... 

Attempt #2 - BELLY OFF

Ok, so I wasn't able to take off the last 15... But I'm not giving up yet! I still want to see myself shed these last few pounds, and I'm taking another crack at it.

This time, to help with some ideas and tips - I'm turning to Men's Health Magazine's BELLY OFF Program - http://www.menshealth.com/bellyoff/index.php

The site offers some great tools:

Food - Full meal plan including recipies, shopping lists, etc
Work-outs - Several options include a Body Weight regime for those who don't go to the Gym or have specialized workout equipment.

Basically I've got 6 weeks til my 1/2 Marathon, so I'll be doing a lot of running as well.

I weighed in at 179 on the Wii this morning, so I really only have about 9 or 10 pounds to lose and I'll be happy... If I can stick (mostly) to this plan, keep running, keep working out and cut out the stupid food, I'll get there!

Encouragement / Comments are Welcome... What do you think? Can I do it?

January Update

Well, I stopped posting and the desire and the fire just drizzled out. I was hoping to keep posting daily, and perhaps get a bit of commentary going on the blog, get the sense that friends and family were following along, and that would help to keep me motivated, that didn't really materialize - not that I'm looking for excuses here, just mentioning that.

I weighed in this morning on my upstairs scale at 174, so maybe a pound or two off of where I left off at the end of November.

So I made it about 1/2 way to my goal.

An interesting point about this is how does one reflect on the results of the 'project'

If the goal was to lose 15 lbs, and I only lost 7.5, then you could say I failed. However if I'd never attempted it, I'd not have lost that 7.5 lbs, so in that sense it was a success.

The way I look at it, is I plan to be in this body for a long, long, time, and ever run I take, every good choice I make with the food I eat, this is progress.

I'm going to keep working to get this last 7 lbs off, I've been running over the holidays and haven't done too badly food wise. I'm going to sign up for the Mississauga Marathon and I'll be training for that. I'll also be getting an extra run in every week, I'll be running for 30 minutes with George's soccer team on Wednesday night, so assuming I keep my food intake at a reasonable level, I should be able to shed the extra fat within another month or so, and be lean and mean, ready to take on my next goal - to finish the Mississauga 1/2 Marathon in under 2 hours.

More Progress!

Had a decent day food-wise yesterday, clocked in around 1500 calories, no exercise (aside from my walks in the morning to the train and back), but my Wii Fit weight-in this morning came up as 172.8, so down almost another pound in two days which is good.

So I've now dropped almost 10 lbs since I started, which is a decent acheivement, now let's see if I can keep on cranking, get these last 5 off!

It's funny, in the Wii fit initial weigh-in screen, my line is still practically wedged up against the 'overweight' section of the BMI scale, it'd be nice to create a bit of breathing room there! :)

Had a Good Day

I just need to take it one day at a time...

Yesterday was a good day.  Kept my intake to around 1,500 calories, logged it in SparkPeople, and did 30 minutes of Wii Fit last night, a mix of Aerobics, Balance Games, Yoga and Strength Training.

I didn't have time for a weigh-in this morning, so I'll have another good day today and we'll see if I'm down again tomorrow morning.

Progress, not Perfection

I've been using SparkPeople on and off for a couple of years now, interesting to see the graph of my weight... Interesting to see the increase from July through to the end of 2007, In hindsight, I think that would of had to do with not being as active going into the winter months and working a lot of hours, thus not getting to the gym... and then I got things back under control... from Jan-March, that was really the last time, previous to this time that I decided to knock a few pounds off, my intention then was to get down to 175 by the kick-off of the TFC season... I think I came within 3 or 4 lbs of that goal... then stayed fairly consistent until this time around...

A little behind, but still on track...

Ok, so I've still down from my last weight in.

Had a good day yesterday food wise, clocked in around 1,500 calories, had a good 90+ minutes of indoor soccer last night, lots of running as we only had 7 guys out.

Weighed-in this morning, 173.7 on Wii Fit, 173.5 on my scale upstairs, so down about another pound over the last 10 days, which given the fact that I've not got a lot of exercise, and I've continued to enjoy myself on weekends, I'm totally Ok with.

This means I've now got 6.5 lbs to go in just over 2 weeks.  This would require me to be about 1,200 calories "to the good" each day, which is not realistic, but what I'll do is at least try to kick-up the exercise, try to get some really good cardio in, eat lots of healthy food, and we'll see where we end up!

Wow! 11 Days!

Ok, so I guess I've lost a bit of inertia here!

Due to a combination of factors I haven't been at the top of my game.

Don't get me wrong, I haven't been sitting on the couch eating chips and drinking beer for 10 days straight or anything, but I certainly haven't been executing on my complete strategy in order to acheive my goal.

So I've got 3 weeks left.   It's time to sprint to the finish.

I was in bed last night at a good hour, up at 6:30am this morning, did a little bit of yoga and stretching and pushups, and I've had a good breakfast and logged it in SparkPeople.  Tonight will be soccer, no plans to go out for beers afterwards, so it should be a really good day.  I'll get on the Wii and the scale tomorrow morning, log where I'm at and I'll know exactly what I've got to do and whether reaching the 167 mark by the 13th is still acheivable or not...

If not, no tears, I'll just drive as hard as I can TO that date, and then extend the effort for another week or two to arrive at the goal.  

I plan to be around for a LONG LONG time, so while I'd certainly like to reach my goal, a week or two in the grand scheme of things is neither here nor there.

Argh... Injured

Just my luck... I'm getting back into the groove, the weather was gorgeous tonight, I head off on a run, I'd gone not even a kilometer and I rolled my ankle, badly...

I was running along the sidewalk and came along a house with a big tree that had shed a tonne of yellow leaves, they formed a total carpet covering the sidewalk and stretching up onto the lawn and down over the boulevard to the road.

There was a car parked over the sidewalk so I had to run down across the boulevard, as I went to do that, there must have been a curb or they'd dug out a trench between the sidewalk and the grass or something but I went right over on my left ankle.

If anyone had their windows open, they were treated to a deluge of expletives.

Good thing I wasn't too far from home, so I was able to limp my way back in about 10 minutes... So I've got a pretty nasty limp at the moment, we'll see how it feels tomorrow, but I think it's pretty bad, I'll be off soccer for probably at least 2 or 3 weeks and not jogging for probably something like that as well... I'm so angry...

Oh a happier note, we popped up to Jack Astor's for the TFC pub crawl and got to meet Tyrone Marshall, what a nice guy! He was really friendly and took the time to chat with the kids, classy!

Back on Track!

So I got a good night's rest, woke up just after 7:00am this morning, got on the Wii Fit, and found that I was actually down from Saturday - hanging in at 174.4 - 174.5 on my Scale upstairs - so I'm all good... My few days "off" didn't result in any tangible gains, which is excellent news!

So I basically have about 7.5 lbs to lose in 4 weeks, challenging, sure, but not impossible... I've had a good day so far, planning to get out for a run now, it's a beautiful night...

Weekend Off

Well I fell of the wagon...

While I did get out for a decent run first thing Saturday morning, from there on in til Monday night I was most certainly not in the groove...

Perhaps I needed a little break, whatever, but it was beers and greasy food on Saturday, Sunday breakfast and then again Monday night after soccer.

I haven't been back on the scale, but I can bet that I'll be back up a bit, hopefully the damage isn't too bad - I'm planning to be in bed early tonight, get a full nights' rest then be up at 6:00am tomorrow and back into Wii Fit.

Hey, I'm human... as much as I'm motivated by my fitness goals, all work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy.

We'll see how tomorrow's weigh-in goes and then decide whether I can still crank to 167 by Dec 13th, or if I figure I'll need another week or two.

Being a Vegetarian

I was just reading an article about Vegetarian food being boring, and now that I've been veggie (more or less) for almost 18 months I know my perception of it has changed a lot.  A few  years back I would have never imagined myself not eating meat...  I think that meat is such an integral part of people's diets that they tend to just eat it automatically, and have a tough time imagining meals without it, but now I rarely ever miss it - primarily when I go to restaurants with limited vegetarian options, but let me dump out the type of stuff I eat, and can you honestly tell me you couldn't happily survive on this:

Breakfasts

Omelettes

Toast or Bagel w/ Cheddar Cheese, or Peanut Butter

Yoghurt

Bananas / Apples

Orange Juice

Cereal 

Smoothies w/ Protein Powder

Tim Horton's Breakfast Sandwich (Egg & Cheese) on a Multi-Grain Bagel

Lunches

Vegetarian Curries (Indian or Thai)

Chinese Stirfry w/ Bean Curd (aka Tofu)

Subway Veggie Delight - or Veggie Patty sub

Veggie Burger (Lick's, Burger King, Harvey's)

Bean Burrito

Salad or Veggie Wrap

Soup

Vegetarian Entres (Lot of variety) from Naturally Yours

Veggie Pizza Slice

Falafel

Veggie Roti

Egg Salad Sandwich

Sandwiches w/ Veggie Meat

Veggie Street Dog

Dinners

Pasta w/ Tomato Sauce

Garlic Bread w/ Cheese

Firm Tofu (Stir-Fried with Vegetables, in a Curry or even just cold)

Salads w/ Nuts & Seeds

Cheese & Potato Pierogies

Veggie Burgers (on the BBQ)

Veggie Dogs/Sausages (on the BBQ)

Macaroni & Cheese

Indian Veggie Curries w/ Rice (Palak Paneer, Channa Masala, etc)

Sides of Rice or Potatoes

Baked Beans on Toast (for any meal!)

Bean or Lentil Salad

Samosas

Snacks

Potato Chips

Cheese & Crackers

Hummus

Tortilla Chips w/ Salsa and or Guacamole

Fresh Vegetables (Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Carrots, Celery, etc)

Dark Chocolate

Popcorn

I'm sure I'm forgetting lots of things, but the list above probably comprises at least 60-70% of my diet, lots of choices in there, lots of variety - I rarely struggle to find something that I like...

Feeling a little unmotivated

I have to say, just in the last day or so, feeling a little blah... Just couch potatoed the last few nights, didn't snack or anything, just didn't 'DO' anything... I'm up really early this morning, but feeling blah...

I think I'll put on Wii fit and just have some fun... I guess I'm hitting a typical mini-wall here, just need to get back to thinking about all of the reasons that I did want to get the weight off and keep hammering those in my head to bring the motivation back.


One comment that has stuck with me - I bought a new pair of running shoes, and after I got home I held them up and showed Jack and said, "I'm going to break 2 hours running in these shoes", referring to the next Half Marathon that I run...

That definitely made me feel good, and of course the shoes aren't going to be what makes the difference, it'll be me!

Monday Morning - 2 weeks in...

I'm feeling very good this morning.

I did my Wii Fit Test, and... Drumroll... I'm NORMAL (As opposed to Overweight). My BMI came in at 24.93, my weight 174.2

I definitely had a good weekend, got a lot of exercise and my good food choices.

I play indoor tonight, so I'm going to eat well tonight to make sure I have enough energy, I felt pretty weak last week which wasn't a nice feeling.

The good news is I'm far ahead of schedule now, so I probably can move to shooting for a simple 1-1.5 lb a week weight loss... I've now just got around 8 pounds to lose and almost 6 weeks to do it... I just really have to make sure I don't snack at night, don't go crazy on Friday and Saturday nights, and get cardio in 3 or 4 times a week and I'm laughing... Ha ha ha!

Saturday Morning - Post Halloween

Wii Fit told me I put on 0.7 of a lb yesterday... A perfect example of why you shouldn't get on the scale every day.

All in all I had a decent day yesterday. Had a 1/2 bagel with some cheese for breakfast, a very healthy lunch of salad, bean salad some potatos & sweet potatoes and a vegetable stir fry, and then a small piece of vegetarian lasagna for dinner. I had 2 beers last night and a few snacks, but barely ate any halloween candy at all.

Ah well, just means I need to have a super good day today. I want to get LOTS of exercise and make really good decisions about what I eat and lots of WATER.

Friday Morning Update

Up at 6:30 today - did my Wii Fit test, clocked in at just under 176.

I've had a mediocre week so far. Eating has been Ok, but not getting enough exercise. I did manage a 20 minute run last night, but need to get more consistency there if I'm going to crank up the metabolism.

Had a really big lunch yesterday, but then basically just had beer and popcorn for dinner last night, from a calorie perspective I was probably alright, but I'm sure it wasn't overly nutritious!

I feel pretty confident that I'll be able to avoid eating any Halloween candy tonight, I'm not feeling any cravings for sweets, so today should be just another average day, maybe I'll try to get another quick run in after work and then plan to hit the gym this weekend. Try to shave off another pound between now and Monday.

Day 9 - Update

Had a good day yesterday, clocked in just under 1800 calories, but was up at 6:00am and did about 30 minutes of Wii Fit, also played soccer for 90 minutes.

I found at soccer, and a few times over the weekend I was feeling a little weak, so I think I'm going a little too low on calorie intake, but it's that tight rope between scaling down calories enough to make good progress, but not so much that you go into 'starvation mode' where your body slows it's metabolism and hangs onto every calorie...

As I'd mentioned in the first post, I know this is an aggressive plan, but if I'm already a little ahead of the game, then perhaps I can re-adjust to closer to a 500 calorie per day as opposed to 1000 calorie per day loss (on average). The only downside being it's tough sometimes to see progress given that averages to just 1lb a week.

So... What?

I just realized that if my mission here is to lose 15 lbs, I should, perhaps be providing a little status update!

As I mentioned, I'm not going to be too concerned about the scale on a day to day basis, but on a weekly basis, at least, I should be seeing a few pounds coming off.

As of midday today (I hopped on after a shower), I'm at 176.5 - That does seem suspiciously low considering I was around 180-182 last weekend, however, I've been consistently around the 177 mark since about Wednesday, so I think it's legit.

So I'm down 5.5lbs, with 9.5 to go and about 7 weeks to get there, which should be cool... I'm going to try to get some more exercise tonight, and I'm finished eating for the day - around 1200 calories, if I'm feeling hungry at all tonight, I'll just drink water and/or have an apple...

Getting a little extra exercise

I took my son and a friend to the local skate park for an hour this afternoon. Instead of just standing and watching (and I can't skateboard), I practiced walking along some of the rails, balancing on them like walking across a tight rope... It was fun, and doing that type of balancing is really good exercise, you're constantly having to adjust muscles in your legs (and if you're me - wave your arms frantically) to stay on.