Real Life Update 12, Still Going (6 lbs. lost)

243 lbs.
126 lbs. lost since 12/7/07

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Checking in with my May update and it's a pretty encouraging one.  6 more pounds lost since the last time I checked in and skydiving weight in striking distance (235).  With about a month left til my birthday I'm thinking I may just crack that 240 barrier before I'm 34. Not much else going on, except the same ol' same ol', though I did run outside for the first time this year yesterday.   Let's just say I'll stick to the treadmill, the outdoors and I just aren't friends.  Catch ya' next with a birthday weigh in!

Real Life Update 11, Half Marathon? (0 lbs. lost)...

249 lbs.
120 lbs. lost since 12/7/07

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I think it's safe to say that my updates here will be much more sporadic.  I'll try to post around the first Saturday of every month, if for no other reason than to keep some online accountability.  I seem to have hit quite a wall the past month or so, but it may just be the stress (and eating) of our annual fundraiser cancelling out my increased running.  Of course the hard running could also have a stalling effect on my body as well.  One thing I've learned is that anytime you do something new, your body has a tendency to hit the brakes hard.   It's as if it needs to figure out what is going on before it can go back to normal.

I haven't really mentioned the running yet, but I've decided to train for a half marathon or maybe 25K.   I'm not sure I'll even run in a race, but I'm going to at least run a half marathon (13 miles) by my birthday.  I managed a 10 mile run yesterday without too much ill effect so I figure I'm on my way!

Thanks for keeping me accountable as I make this journey more than a one year adventure.

Real Life Update 10, Whole New Schedule (4 lbs. lost)

249 lbs.
120 lbs. lost since 12/7/07

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Wow.  It's been 3 weeks since checking in here.  Two Fridays I was on vacation and then last week I was getting used to going back to a morning schedule, which impacted my work out and weigh in schedule as well.  Because I drink soooo much water during the day, I typically weigh in about 3 or 4 pounds heavier during the day than in the morning.  So it became difficult to gauge where I really was.  I think I may have actually lost a pound or two over vacation (what, with all the Disney walking and such) and then maintained last week as I got used to my new schedule.  This week though, it appears as if my body is back in losing mode, as I likely dropped 3 pounds or so this week alone.  Whatever the case, I stand about 4 pounds lighter than I did 3 weeks ago, and heading into March closer to 200 than 300.  I've got almost exactly 3 months until my birthday, and if I can stay consistent I think I will land somewhere around 235.  Since I will be 34 this May, let's just predict 234 by 34.   Also, in case you are wondering, I will be doing the official weigh ins on Saturday mornings now for consistency sake.

Thanks for all your support and I'll check back next week with another update.

Real Life Update 9, Hmmmmm (0 lb. lost)

253 lbs.
116 lbs. lost since 12/7/07

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Nothing to see here, move along.  Seriously, not much to say this week.  Not sure if it's some added stress from the week of vacation prep, or just my body taking a week off, whatever the case, expect to see a gain next Friday as I plan on enjoying food and fellowship and a much needed rest.  Maybe I can catch the other side of the 250 by March.  We shall see.

Real Life Update 8, Slow But Steady (1 lb. lost)

253 lbs.
116 lbs. lost since 12/7/07

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I can feel it.  My body is starting to level off.  It may just be that for this amount of exercise and way of eating 240-250 may be where I land.  Again, it doesn't bother me wherever that might end up, I can just tell in my daily/weekly progress that my body is settling down.  Having said this, who knows, I could drop another fiver next week.  The body does what the body does, I'm just going to continue to live life this way and see what heppens.  Once I do level off (lets say within a pound either way for a 4 week stretch) I will probably be a little more sporadic with these updates.  I'll hop on whenever I feel there is something to talk about related to health/weight but will only do the official weight check maybe monthly.  I still want to do it periodically just to have that sense of accountability to you.  And if the program grows to include others (which I still hope it will) this will become the home for those efforts as well.   But as long as I'm losing one or two pounds a week, I'll keep checking in weekly to let you know how it is going!

Real Life Update 7, My Wife Says I'm Ripped (1 lb. lost)

254 lbs.
115 lbs. lost since 12/7/07

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There are very few people who get the privilege of seeing me shirtless (even after 115 pounds just know that phrase was dripping with sarcasm.), and my wife is one of those select few.  Last night, getting ready for bed, in a moment of Sawyeresque shirt shedding, my wife utters this sentence, "Wow, you're ripped!".  After my throat was too sore to laugh anymore, I realized what she meant to say was, "You remember how you used to resemble a gigantic collection of tube socks full of pudding?  Well, I don't see as much pudding, and when the light hits your arm just right I see what might be a muscle or two."  Even knowing the amazing benefit of the doubt my wife's assessment of my physical stature entails, it's still nice to know that this whole process is paying off.  If for no other reason than I am some sort of Adonis in my wife's eyes.

Back next week with more delusions of those who love me and hopefully another pound or two scampering away from my now chiseled exterior. 

Real Life Update 6, Losing Again (2 lbs. lost)

255 lbs.
114 lbs. lost since 12/7/07

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Here we go again!  It certainly feels great to be back on the downward slide as the holidays fade into the background.  I think a one or two pound loss should be pretty typical for me from here until I level off, wherever that might be.  I only have one more hump to get over before a long stretch of "normalcy" and that would be a week of vacation coming up in the next month or so.  I figure as long as a come out of that week around 250 or so I should be able to hit my skydiving weight by my birthday (hint, hint).  I recently rechecked my "bucket list" (of course it wasn't called that when I wrote it in college, but now Jack Nicholson insists that I refer to it as such) as I was thinking about jumping out of a plane since I knew I had written that on there.  What I didn't remember is that when I wrote that list (about 12 years ago) I had also put on there to weigh below 240 again.  I can knock off two "bucket list" items with about 20 more pounds!!  Still pretty sure that attending a Lion's playoff game will be the most difficult to achieve, cause I'm too cheap to pay the scalper prices especially when they include transportation to an alternate reality where the Detroit Lions make the playoffs.