Sunday, March 04, 2007

Catching Up

I realized I hadn't posted on my weight loss efforts for quite some time. I think a few posts back I promised to post these pictures. You can see the date of 1-13-07 on the weight photo. That was to mark the day I weighed in under 220 for the first time since 3 months into my marriage. Our scale also calculates the BMI and as you can see, that weight also brought my BMI under 30. I am officially no longer "obese", only "overweight". Not that I give that much credence to the BMI measure as I really think my body type doesn't fit into the model, but it is nice to reach that benchmark none the less.

I'm not breaking weight loss speed records but I'd like to think that slow and steady wins the race and hopefully is more sustainable. I am now weighing in at 215 with a BMI of 29.0. Even dreaming of a weight starting with a "1" is beyond comprehension so I won't even go there. In a perfect world I would be under 200 by the time we go to Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah in July but with only 4 months to go and my diminishing rate of weight loss, I probably won't get there.

The other part of the effort has been my running. My goal started with a 30 minute 5k. I met that goal in September and since that time I have been striving for a 25 minute 5k. I am currently running a 26 minute 5k but I think 25 minutes should be reachable with about 10 more lbs of weight loss. I have also branched out to some longer distances on a few occasions and have run 2 sub-50 minute 5 miles, and 1 sub-hour 10k. The other new exercise I have been doing when the temperature has allowed is some bike rides. Jamie and I got bikes for Christmas from Jamie's mom. Along with those we got a pull behind cart that carries two kids. With our hilly terrain in our neighborhood, towing two kids provides quite the workout for a whole new set of muscles. Church basketball season is over now as well and I managed to survive without injury this year. I think Jamie would have shot me if I tore another calf muscle like last year.

Thanks for the words of support that many of you have expressed. I hope each of you are reaching the goals you have set for yourself. I challenge you with today's date... March Forth.

4 comments:

Papa J said...

So Kris and I watched "Supersize Me" this weekend. (We actually watched it twice.) If you're looking for motivation on continued weight loss I highly recommend it. Looks like I better get on the wagon. You've already left me in the dust.

kodiak73 said...

I have some concerns with Mr. Spurlock's movie but I can see how it would provide inspiration to some people. First and foremost, I would argue that anyone consuming 5000 calories a day would expirience a similar weight gain. Do the math... 2000 excess calories/day X 31 days = 62000 calories. Divide this by 3500 calories/lb of fat and you end up with almost 18 lbs. Add in his diminished exercise and probably exceeding the 5000 calorie daily minimum quite frequently and you get to his 23-25 lb weight gain in a hurry. I expirienced very similar weight gain when I first got married (195 to 230 in under 6 months) and trust me, we weren't eating at McDonalds.

Ultimately I guess that type of movie doesn't motivate me, it just grosses me out. I find MUCH more motivation on the possitive side, success stories, support and encouragement from friends and family, thinking of my family, being told that I can run by a coach in High School, and setting and achieving personal goals. Historically I guess I have very rarely been "guilted" into diet and exercise, but I have been inspired.

Papa J said...

Whether or not you admit it, most people don't count calories, carbs, calories burnt. I don't feel guilted into anything. It just makes me want to be more careful.

You weigh less than I do for the first time since we were two years old. That's more motivation than the movie... just not as educational.

HopalongJohn said...

Not to put a kink in your progress, I think it's great. I was down 40 lbs. From a high of 315 in Tucson to 275 last summer. Then I got hit with all the fun of the past year. You know the two foot surgeries and the Heart thing. I don't know wheree I stand right now but I will finally be getting out of the wheelchair within the coming two weeks. We just found out this week that Gloria also has the beginning stages of Diabeties so now we are both committed to the weight lose thing in ernest. Isabella has designated herself as our weight coach and the family sugar czar.
Well, blog ya later