Trained

Phoebe is one smart little kitty. She's been waking me up every day at 6:00 on the nose, in the most annoying way possible. She knows that I scold her when she claws the carpet, and usually, she's very good about scratching her scratch pad instead of my carpet.

Recently, though, I wake up to the sound of her clawing the carpet in my room. When I yell, "Phoebe!" she runs out of the room. Then I start to drift back to sleep, and she does it again. When I lift my head up to look at her, she gives me this look that says, "I dare you to get out of bed and stop me!"

Since I don't want my carpet turning into shreds, I get out of bed and feed the cats.  If I close my door, all of the cats go nuts and try to get inside, so I can't lock her out. She has me trained very well. ;)

The boys had their third and final day of football day camp today (just a couple of hours each morning). I put on my running clothes before I took them to the football field. After I dropped them off, I decided to run an out-and-back route from my car.

I had four miles at easy run pace (8:55-9:53) on the schedule today. Out-and-back routes are easy to do on the fly, because you don't have to worry about making the run too long or too short. You just run out for half the distance you're going to cover, and then turn around and run back.

My legs felt very heavy today, and it was discouraging to see my pace. A couple of miles in, I switched my watch over to see my heart rate, and my heart rate was in the high part of Zone 3, so I knew I was working at the right intensity. It wasn't super hot or anything, so I don't know why my pace was sluggish. I guess it was just an "off" day for me, which happens sometimes.

When I got to the turn-around point, I thought that if I kept going, I could do a big loop that I estimated would be about four miles. So I nixed the out-and-back idea in favor of exploring uncharted territory (at least as far as running goes).

Around three miles in, my legs finally started warming up and feeling a little better. It turned out that I had estimated the loop route distance very well! When I reached the car, my watch showed 4.06 miles.

Yesterday, I had my food all planned out. After dinner, I had used 26 PP, and then I planned to have a glass of wine and a Dove Promise--like I do every night. I was reading my book, and couldn't put it down. I kept telling myself (and Jerry) "One more chapter!" We usually watch a show together after the kids are in bed, and that's when I drink my wine.

Well, I was so into the book that I skipped my wine completely last night! That never happens. It looks like Lisa Gardner is going to be my best friend this summer ;) I went to the library's website last night to request the first book in the series (I'd read the fourth book, because I didn't realize it was a series), and it wasn't available! It's an old book, so naturally, I assumed it wouldn't be checked out. But it's not due back until the 26th. So I just requested the second book for now. I don't think it matters much if I don't read them in order. Just as long as I am engrossed enough to stop focusing on food!

Continue Reading...

Good-bye ActiveLink

Today is Wednesday, which means the start of a fresh new week. I'm sure I sound like a broken record every Wednesday when I say that I need to get it together and stay on track all week long. I finished my Weight Watchers week in the hole again with my PointsPlus.

My weigh in went pretty much how I expected it to:

I am 4 pounds over my goal weight (my goal weight is 133, so it's not hard to do the math!). I was 133 a few days ago, so I set up the Quantum Scale at that moment to reflect my goal weight. So now, when I post photos with the Quantum Scale, it will show where I'm at, relative to my goal weight.

Yesterday, my sister sent me a text asking me if I'd like to hold each other accountable on our food tracking. She's been having a rough time with her tracking lately, too. Each night, we'll report our daily PointsPlus used/earned in hopes of keeping some accountability.

I also made the decision to cancel my ActiveLink account yesterday. I really love the ActiveLink, and it worked very well to get me to move more, but I know that my issues with tracking started right around the same time I started using it. I started eating a lot more junk food, because I was earning so many more PointsPlus from activity. Then my weight started fluctuation hugely--rather than a pound up or down, it's been 4 pounds up or down.

I'm going to go back to tracking my activity manually. I'm still going to eat my activity PointsPlus, but I don't count the daily movements, like cleaning the house or walking around the block with the kids. I'll just count intentional exercise. That's what I did the whole time I was losing weight, and it worked out really well.

I don't think we have anything going on this week that will be a struggle for me as far as staying on plan. We're going to Jerry's parents' house for a cookout on Saturday, but I'm going to bring my own food and I'm driving, so I won't drink anything.

Today, I went to get Jerry a Father's Day gift, and while I was out, I saw Banana Bread flavored English muffins. I could smell them through the bag, and they smelled so good! I had to try them. I toasted one and on half, I spread Cinnamon Raisin Swirl peanut butter and on the other half, I spread Mighty Maple peanut butter.

It was REALLY good! I can't really say which half I liked better; probably the Cinnamon Raisin Swirl. That peanut butter is so good, and I can actually keep it in the house without eating it off the spoon. This was my first time trying the Mighty Maple flavor. The English muffins were fantastic! Very soft and not overwhelmingly banana-y, which I liked. If I was having this for breakfast, I would have used more peanut butter; but since it was just a snack, I wanted to keep it at 6 PointsPlus (4 for the English muffin, and 2 for the peanut butter).

The problem with "Limited Edition" foods, like these English muffins, is that I end up really liking them and then they're gone!

Continue Reading...

Running in the rain

I had such a fun run yesterday! Remember those words, because I probably won't write them again for another three years or so ;)  It was raining all day yesterday, and normally when it's raining, I'll just run on the treadmill or wait until later.

When I'm out for a run, and it starts to rain, I really don't mind it; but to get motivated to go out and run while it's already raining is very difficult, so I don't do it often. Yesterday, though, I actually was in the mood to run in the rain.

After breakfast, I got my running clothes on and headed outside for a four-miler at an easy run pace (8:55-9:53/mi). Something about running in the rain makes it so much more fun! While most people cover their heads and run from their cars to their houses, I was out running--voluntarily--for four miles.

About a mile in, it really started pouring down. I kind of wished I had worn a visor, so I could keep my eyes open, but the rain felt really good. I was completely soaked. I wasn't really paying much attention to my pace, but when I got home, I was SHOCKED at how even my splits were...

9:00, 8:59, 9:00, 9:00... I couldn't do that again if I tried! It's rare that I have a run where I truly enjoy the actual running part, but yesterday was definitely one of those times. I'm going to make it a point to go for a run in the rain again.

Like I mentioned yesterday, Jerry and I wanted to do something fun with the boys. Because it was raining, our options were limited. They said they wanted to go to Jungle Java, this place about an hour away that is a huge jungle gym for kids along with a coffee house for the parents. It's geared toward young kids, and the last time we were there, my kids were about 5 and 4 years old. I really didn't think they would like it, but they had it in their mind that it was awesome, so I said we could go.

I told Jerry that I bet they wouldn't last 20 minutes. It costs $7 per kid to go in, and I knew I might as well have been flushing those dollars down the toilet, but I knew that if we didn't go, they'd ask about it all summer long. When we went inside, the boys took off to play, and I told Jerry, "Let's set the stopwatch and see how long they last before they want to leave. I bet it's less than 20 minutes!"

This is how long we stayed! Noah was done after about 15 minutes, and Eli was ready shortly after. They said they have no desire to go back again.

The good news was that we saw a frozen yogurt place called Menchies in the same complex as Jungle Java, so we went there to see how much fro-yo and toppings we could fit into four cups ;)  It was SO good--much better than the place Jerry and I went to after La Pita recently!

I had to buy some bridal shower prizes from IKEA for Jerry's sister, so we stopped in there. The boys saw a desk that they wanted to buy for their bedrooms. They didn't have enough money, but Jerry and I thought it was a good thing for them to buy (rather than candy and other crap), so we helped each of them to buy a desk and a chair.

On the way home, we stopped for dinner at Red Robin. I knew I had an extra 23 PointsPlus to use up, so I wasn't TOO worried about going over my PointsPlus. I ordered the Onion Onion Burger, which was really good! When I got in the car, I looked up the PointsPlus, and it was 37 PP! I went way over for the day, and therefore, the week.

But I really don't feel badly about it, because it wasn't a binge and it wasn't emotional eating. It was just a dinner out with my family, which we don't do very often.  When we got home, Jerry started putting Eli's desk together, and Noah decided he wanted to try putting his own together. He did a great job! He followed the instructions right to the letter, and did the whole thing himself.

This morning, I woke up STILL feeling congested. It's getting a little better, though. I had intervals on the schedule today: 4 x 800 in 3:34-3:45 (which basically means four half-mile intervals at a pace of 7:08-7:30/mi) with a quarter mile jog in-between. When I looked at it on paper, it didn't seem that difficult, but it was a tough run!

I did the run on the treadmill, because it's much simpler to do intervals on the treadmill to keep a consistent pace.
I started with a half-mile warm-up at 6.2 mph.
Ran at 8.4 mph for 1/2 mile.
Ran at 5.5 mph for 1/4 mile.
(Repeat three more times for four intervals total)

That worked out to be 3.5 miles in 29:51. It was harder than I anticipated, and it felt good to get that done!

Continue Reading...

Motivational Monday #19

I hope everyone's week is off to a great start! My Weight Watchers week starts on Wednesdays, and I was doing SO well all week long... and then today I went into the negative with my weekly PointsPlus. The good news is that it wasn't because I was snacking out of boredom, or binge eating, or anything like that. Jerry was off work, and  it was the kids' first day off of school for the summer, so we had a special day with them.

We ended up getting frozen yogurt (with lots of toppings) in the afternoon, and then we went to Red Robin for dinner. I got the "Onion Onion Burger", and when we left, I looked up the PointsPlus in it--that burger with the fries was 37 PP!! I was guessing around 25; 30 at the most. But I actually didn't stuff myself, and I really enjoyed it, so I don't feel bad about it.

I'm disappointed that there is no way I'll end this week without being in the negative, but I'll just try again next week (thanks to all the motivation in today's post!)

---

Amanda started her weight loss journey last summer at just over 300 pounds. She is now down 30 pounds, just from the exercise (she admits her diet could use some work). She says that she's always been very intimidated by the stairmaster at the gym. The first time she tried it, last summer, she was dripping with sweat, her heart was racing, and she only lasted five minutes. This weekend, she walked to the gym with a goal in mind to complete 30 minutes... and she did it! 

---

Danielle ran her first 5K race! She has lost 65 pounds on Weight Watchers, and really wanted to accomplish this goal of running a 5K. She says that she was smiling the whole race, holding back tears of joy. What a great accomplishment!

---

You may recognize Dean from previous Motivational Mondays, when he ran his first 5K and then again when he PR'ed the 5K. Well, Dean just ran his first 10K! He's lost some weight, too (last I heard, he was down 34 pounds; but he looks like he's lost even more now). I love seeing his continual progress! 

---

Ivalya ran her first 10K race in 1:10:01! She was very excited because while at the race, she met Bill Rodgers and Katherine Switzer (in the photo below with her). I would have been excited about that too! ;)

---

Jackie completed the Couch to 5K recently, and just ran her first 5K race! She did The Color Run with her husband (his second 5K). They have each lost 25 pounds, and up next, they'll be running a 4-Mile race in July. 

---

Jen has lost 31 pounds, and decided to step up the exercise this week. She went for a walk, and then ran across the intersections, which was the first time she's run outside since 2001 when she had to run laps in gym class. (She mentioned that she was sending me this picture while she was locked out of her house; when she got home from her walk, she realized she didn't have her keys to get back in!)

---

I didn't want to edit any of Joanne's e-mail, so here it is with all the details:

"I did a 5k on Saturday. While not my first, it was the hardest I've done due to my back. I have spinal stenosis and have been experiencing a lot of pain in my butt and down my legs. My doctor put me on a muscle relaxant a week ago so this was the first race I've done under the "influence".

I have never run an entire 5k in a timed race and still haven't but I was able to lightly jog to the turn around point. The turn around was at the bottom of a half mile hill. I stopped for water and decided I didn't have enough steam to run up the hill so I started walking. The further I walked the more stooped over I got until I was almost bent completely over at the waist.  I felt like stopping a couple times but I kept going fearing I would have serious leg and butt cramps if I stopped even for a few seconds.

I finally got to the to of the hill and was able to get myself upright again and continued to walk the course. I had a much shorter hill to walk up to the finish line.  By the time I got up the hill I was stooped over again. I used a mailbox to pull myself up but I still had 50 yards or so to go. I finished those 50 yards stooped over but walking as fast as I could. I crossed the finish line completely bent over at the waist. My time was 56:37 and I was dead last but I finished.  My best time isn't much faster and I've been last in all but one race i've done but I'm always proud of myself for getting out and doing the race.

During the race I was thinking my core muscles were gone since I haven't been able to workout but I really think it was the muscle relaxant. As I was walking back to my car, the Sheriff Deputy that escorted me in pulled up beside me as he was leaving. He congratulated me and gave me a high five.  Oh, and I now hold the course record for being the slowest runner sine this was the first The Annual Flying 5k in Ravenna, OH!

I love your posts. You are proof that we can loose weight without surgery. I'm 52 and have lost 125 pounds since May of 2011.  I still have 75 pounds to go to get to my goal weight and I know I can do it even with my back problems."

---

Kayse completed her second triathlon, and said it was, by far, the hardest she's ever pushed her body. It was very hot and hilly, but she finished in 1:40, and had the time of her life! She' currently training for her second half-marathon, but says that she is now hooked on triathlons.

---

Samantha ran her first race--a 10K! It was a charity for cancers below the waist. I had to laugh when I read her e-mail, because she explained, "This was the final hill, so I didn't look as happy. But all the other pictures have people in their underwear, so I didn't know if that was appropriate." Hahaha! Sounds like a very fun race. She finished in 1:17:27. She's also lost quite a bit of weight, going from 245 to 218!

---

Sarah (on right in picture) completed her first 5K on Saturday! She had sent me an e-mail on Friday, asking for some encouragement because she was REALLY worried about the race, and even having second thoughts about doing it. I (hoped that I) reassured her, and told her to make sure she sends me a photo when she's done with the race. She did great!! She said that she is glad it wasn't a timed race, because that took the pressure off.

---

Don't forget to check out the Facebook post for some more motivation!

Continue Reading...

Kitchen Safe

I am so ready for this cold to go away already! I was supposed to do a tempo run today, but considering I ran the 10-Mile race yesterday, and I'm still sick, I took today off. I was also feeling a little hungover from drinking wine last night. I'd had four glasses over about six hours, which isn't an ungodly amount, but I am used to having just one glass. It was great to chat with Sarah though!

Last week, the Nike + Kinect Training game arrived in the mail, and I set it up. I did the initial assessment tests, and it was awful. I can run all day long, but push-ups? I can do two. I know strength training is good for me, but I just don't enjoy it at all. I don't want defined muscles or anything, but I know that strength training is good for bone health as well, so I wish I liked doing it. I'll give the Nike game a try again after I get over this cold.

Reader Jessica posted this to my Facebook page, and I thought it was pretty brilliant! At first, I saw it and laughed, thinking it was a joke. It looked like something off of a late-night infomercial! But then I checked out the Kickstarter page for it, I started thinking about how helpful it would actually be...

It's called The Kitchen Safe; it's a safe that only opens when the timer reaches 0:00. You can set the timer for as long as you'd like, but there is no way of opening the safe before the timer goes down.

They have some great ideas for it, but I think it's an awesome idea for someone like me who can't keep a particular food item in the house, even though it's something I love. Like the cookies shown above, for example. When I bake cookies, I end up eating them all on the first day. But with the safe, I could lock them in there and let it open once a day so that I could take out my cookie, and then close the safe before I even bite into it.

It sounds kind of ridiculous, but I think it would be so helpful! I like the idea of putting video game controllers or the remote control in there, too.

I have nothing to do with the product, and I don't get anything out of it--I just thought it was really cool and wanted to share it. If the product interests you, you can back them on Kickstarter. If you're not familiar with Kickstarter, it's a way for people to earn money to produce their products/inventions. The product won't actually be available unless they earn enough money to produce it.

(Update: The item is not available on Amazon! Here is a link: Kitchen Safe. If you buy from this link, I get a small commission, so I thank you in advance for that.)

For this Kitchen Safe, they need $30,000 by July 20th. When you pledge, you are promised certain prizes (for example, you could pre-order the product for a $29 pledge). Your credit card isn't charged unless they get $30,000 worth of pledges. Right now, they've gotten a little over $14,000 in pledges. I hope they are able to raise the funds! I pledged $29.

I've been doing really well with my eating this week. I haven't gone over my weekly PointsPlus yet, and hopefully it stays that way. I haven't earned nearly as many activity PointsPlus as usual for the past couple of weeks, but I haven't had much energy since I've been sick.

Some days feel so easy to stay on track, and then others--like today--just feel nearly impossible. I wanted to just keep snacking all day long today, even though I wasn't hungry. I tried to keep busy, but since I'm not feeling very energetic, my motivation to get up and move wasn't very high.

I did start a new book today, and it really sucked me in, so I read that all afternoon. It's called Live to Tell by Lisa Gardner. I've never read one of her books before, but this one has me so interested that I'll probably read more of her books. I don't read very often, but when I do, it's usually in the summer time, so I'm glad to have found a book I like.

Tomorrow feels like the first real day of summer to me, because it's Monday, and the kids won't be in school. Jerry's off work tomorrow, so we're going to try and do something fun with the boys :)

Continue Reading...

Kona 10-Miler race report

First, I want to say thank you for the nice comments both on the pictures Stephanie took of me and my family, and also on Jerry's post from yesterday. I'm super proud of Jerry for all the work he's done to lose the weight, so I was very excited to show him off ;)  I think his head swelled from reading all the nice things you all said about him!

---

I was registered for the Kona 10K race today, and last week, I e-mailed the race director to see if it's too late to switch my registration to the 10-Mile if I should decide to. When he e-mailed me back, he said it wasn't too late, and that he switched it for me. So I guess that decision was made for me :)

But today couldn't have been better weather for a June race! Mid-60's, low humidity, overcast, and a gentle breeze. Unfortunately, my body didn't care how perfect the weather was; I woke up just as congested and snotty as I was yesterday. I also had a bad stomachache this morning. It just wasn't looking like a great race for me, so I figured I would just treat it like a training run. My long run pace is supposed to be 8:57-10:18/mi, so I figured I would start at the fast end of that and see how I felt.

I drove by myself to the race, but I knew Jessica and Renee were going to be there, so I figured I'd meet up with them. Stephanie was there also, but she was running with her son (he's 11, and did the 10K!). The Kona Run (called the Solstice Run last year) is a tropical-themed race. Last year, Jessica and I wore grass skirts, seashell bras, and leis. Today, I just wore a green sparkle skirt and a hot pink tank.

I picked up my packet, then waited in line for the bathrooms, where I saw Jessica, Renee, Courtney, and Jessica's friend Gail, who I hadn't yet met. We sat in Jessica's van for a little bit since we were early, and then headed to the starting line.

The 10K was scheduled to start at 7:15, and the 10-Mile at 7:30. Stephanie was running the 10K, so we watched for her at the 1/2 mile mark to cheer for her and her son. While I was there, someone asked me if I was Katie, and I discovered she was a reader of my blog, so I chatted with her for a minute (Hi, Crystal!). We saw Steph go by, and then someone else recognized me--she pointed and said, "Runs for Cookies!" I wish I'd gotten to meet her. Then it was time to line up at the start.

I still had no idea what pace I was actually going to be running, so I just wedged myself in where I could. When the race started, I ran next to Renee for a couple of minutes, but soon, she left me in her dust ;) I was having a really hard time breathing, because my nose was so stuffed up. Ty was there spectating (she's dealing with a knee injury, so she couldn't run), and she took a pic as I ran by.

The race is extremely hilly, and the peak of the biggest hill is at mile marker one. That hill was a monster, but my legs still felt strong, and (from what I remembered) the rest of the race wasn't too bad (I remembered wrong). I was kind of surprised that my pace was 9:08 for the first mile--I felt like I was running faster than that.

At around mile two, I started paying attention to my heart rate, and it was sky high. No wonder I was feeling so crappy. Every time I would get it into Zone 3, another hill would come up, and it would shoot up near Zone 5. I decided to just run by my heart rate rather than a particular pace, because my body was just NOT feeling well.

I knew Jessica would be running close to the pace I was running (she's gotten a lot faster since our marathon, too), so I was thinking I might slow down so she could catch up. But then I thought she may have already passed me. I really wanted someone to chat with, but everyone was wearing headphones, so I didn't try to start a conversation with anyone.

Despite the fact that I was feeling so crappy, the race actually went by pretty quickly. The last couple of miles, I managed to pick up the pace a bit, just because I knew I'd be done soon. I was relieved to finally cross the finish line. I grabbed a bagel and a banana, and then watched for Jessica for a few minutes. When I didn't see her, I figured she probably finished ahead of me.

After walking around a bit, I spotted the rest of the group. We took a picture with our finisher's medals:

Jessica had ended up finishing just a few minutes behind me. She said she could see me ahead of her almost the entire race! If I had known she was right there, I probably would have ran with her. My results:

Even though this was certainly not my best race, I still beat last year's time by a LOT. Last year, I finished in 1:49:09 (10:54/mi pace). 


I'm kind of relieved that I don't have any other races planned between now and the Chicago Marathon. There are a couple of smaller ones I may do last-minute, but a break will be nice. I really loved this race last year, but I don't think I'll do it again next year. Regardless, I'm glad I ended up doing the 10-Miler instead of the 10K, so that it could just be my long run this week. I'm going to spend my activity PointsPlus on extra wine tonight, because my friend Sarah (from Arizona) is in town. I bought two bottles ;)

Congrats to Melinda Ott, the winner of the Quantum Scale! (I've sent you an e-mail, Melinda). Hope you like the scale :)

Continue Reading...

Jerry's Weight Loss Tell-All

Jerry went through all of your comments and questions from the post I wrote about his reaching Lifetime, and answered them the best he could. It's kind of long, but he wanted to make sure he answered everything. Enjoy!

Q: Have you given up any of your favorite foods or have you just learned to eat less?

A: I eat less. Way less. Katie and I would typically, when we were heavier, go through as much beer and pizza with cheese bread as our guts could handle. Now, we limit ourselves to just a couple pieces during a weekly family pizza night and enjoy a drink later on while enjoying our shows together.

Q: Do you have trigger foods?

A. Who doesn't?! Doughnuts. I could seriously eat them until I pass out. I work with 12 other guys. One day we decided to all pitch in $5 and get some doughnuts in the morning. That's $60 for doughnuts, and we ended up with 7 dozen. I ate at least 2 1/2 dozen on my own. True story.

Q: What does it mean to you that you were able to follow in Katie's footsteps on this journey?

A: Katie has lead me through all of this. There is no way that I could've ever done any of this without her. I always say that she has done all the work for me and I truly mean that. She makes that food and I eat it. That was about it. The last 20 pounds though, I feel like I have earned through diligent tracking and INSANITY workouts.

Q: Now that you and Katie have achieved your weight loss goals, what lessons/messages do you hope to teach your children about healthy living?

A: We want our kids to be as active as possible. When I was a kid, weight was never an issue. It didn't seem like this huge epidemic among us kids. Reason? We were active. We were outside. I want to go retro-childhood with the boys and do more active things outside and just field whatever questions come our way.

(Katie here): In regards to food, we don't label foods "good" or "bad", because I really don't want the kids to think it's bad to eat certain foods. Instead, we try to be as fact-based as we can, so they learn to make their own healthy decisions. For example, I might say, "Do you guys know why your body likes these black beans? They make it easier to go poop." (They love when we talk about poop). We also don't eat out much, and we tell them that it's because our bodies feel better when we eat home-cooked food.

When they ask why I write down my food or measure my food, I tell them that I used to eat too much all the time, and my body stopped telling me that it was full, which made me very unhealthy. So I have to measure my food because my body doesn't let me know when I've had enough. Then I tell them that they are lucky, because their bodies work just fine, so they don't have to measure food, they can just stop when their bellies feel like they've had enough.

Q: As you lost weight and got closer to your goal, did your guy friends say much about it?

A: Interestingly enough, they made me feel like shit sometimes. That's as blunt as I can be about it. I would get the 'you're starving yourself' and 'you're getting too skinny' comments all the time. But I have learned that the people who typically say that have issues themselves so I ignore it.

Q: What is the biggest benefit you've seen or felt from getting healthier?

A: I just look better. Ask Katie. She can't keep her hands off me.

Q: What was your biggest challenge?

A: Willpower. I've done WW before but I have never stuck to it. I have commitment issues. So, I was determined to work my way through it.

Q: When and why did you start losing weight?

A: I started losing weight in January of 2010 because I was one of those chuckleheads that has to start a diet on New Years Day. This was probably the 6th year in a row that I started on New Years Day and typically lasted 3 days. It stuck. I didn't really "track" until March of this year.

Q: What exercise do you do?

A: Insanity DVD's. This just started recently so wish me luck.

Q: What treats do you allow yourself?

A: BEER. As much of it as my points will allow. None of that Budweiser crap though... I'm a craft guy. Something new every day.

Q: Seriously how was your weight loss journey different from your wife - is male weight loss more mental, physical?

A: I guess I'm not a "typical" guy. Most men are stuck in their ways. I was wide open to trying new things. So, as a man, I would think it's more mental, getting out of your comfort zone.

Q: When Katie started losing weight and eating healthier were you upset, resistant, or sneaking food?

A: Good question... I never had a problem eating healthy. However, when I started restricting myself from the foods that I wanted I found myself starting to binge eat and sneaking food. It was easy for me because this would normally take place late at night when everyone else was sleeping. Katie totally busted me one day and I felt like a teenage boy who just got caught jerkin' it by his mom. It was so humiliating that I joined WW the next day and finished my journey.

Q: What is your lunch like? Do you pack lunch? If so, what is typical for you to take?

A: Leftovers from dinner. If it's not leftovers I typically take a sandwich, pretzels, Fiber One Bar (for my sugar fix), and fruit.

Q: My question is do you have a binge eating problem like Katie?

A: I never thought I had an eating disorder until I met Katie. Wait, that sounds horrible. What I mean by that is I thought I was normal. I never considered my eating habits as a disorder or unhealthy. I would be considered more of an "overeater" than a "binge eater", though.

Q: I was wondering if you had any measurements or sizing you could share with us from before/after?

A: Well... I was a 2XL in my shirts and a 42 in my pants...get it? In my pants. Now, I wear a 31/32 pants and M/L shirts.

Q. Do you have a history of being overweight?

A. I never really had a weight issue until I hit middle school. When I was kid I was very active outside. Growing up as a military brat there was always something to do on post. I was very active with sports, I was always outside. When my dad got out of active duty we moved and I didn't have a whole lot of friends. I found myself hanging out alone and playing video games. I never really got any friends until high school. By that time I started packing on the pounds, probably around 200 pounds for the 4 years of high school. I never really noticed my weight until I got married. Katie was always trying all the fad diets and I got sucked right into it with her.

Q. How do I get my husband to lose weight?

A. First off, they have to want to lose weight. If they don't want to then there is no point in trying. It was really easy for me because Katie did the cooking and calculating. I did the eating. I made it a point to make room in my day for the things I wanted. Beer was the #1 thing I wanted. So I made it so. But, I think the biggest thing is, they have to want to do it. Katie had never once hassled me to lose weight. Oddly enough, I started my journey to support her. I knew that having me do it would improve her chances of being successful. Look at me now.

Q. I am a lifetime member of WW and just recently had a baby girl so I am working on my pregnancy weight. My husband also gained some weight during the pregnancy and wants to get healthy/in shape (he needs to lose about 30 pounds) but he doesn't want to do it at WW as he thinks it's for women. What encouraging words would you have for a man looking to get healthy?

A. Easy question. What worked for me is just having an open mind about retrying food I thought I didn't like. I was always told that if you try something enough times you will grow to like it. Example for me, hummus. I hated hummus. Despised it. Thought it was the grossest thing ever. What the hell are chick peas anyways?! But, I've acquired a taste for them after having it enough times. Lentils. Beans. Veggies. All on my 'never gonna eat that' list. Now, I love all of them with the exception of cauliflower.

It was easy for me because Katie would make new recipes and set them in front of me. That's what I ate. Eventually I said screw it and just joined WW. The thing with WW is that men have this preconceived notion that it's only for women because that seems to be who the commercials are geared towards. At first I didn't tell anyone I was on WW because of that. I was afraid of the backlash and losing my man card.

But when people started taking notice of my weight loss and were asking how I did it, I had no problem telling them it was through WW. I was proud of myself and finally happy that I was going in the direction I needed to go. The Jerry Train was leaving Fattsville Station and if they weren't on board with me, then they could suck it, because I was doing this for me, not them.

Q. Of course we all want to be healthy, but a lot of times I find myself motivated by superficial reasons.  Do men stress over looking good in the mirror and in clothes, or a certain size clothing like women?  Do men compare themselves to other men?  A lot of times, I just want to be "normal".  I am not going for "supermodel".

A. Yes, I currently stress. I want to put on a gun show and make everyone notice my accomplishment. This only started recently though. I have been doing Insanity and have yielded very positive results. My body is more defined and toned and I have built some muscle on top of that. I try to not compare myself to others, simply because some guys think that they are a lot skinnier than they really are... skinny jeans are made for these individuals.

Q. Do you track your calories daily and keep a food journal?  I wouldn't think men would find that "manly".

A. I do track my food with both the paper tracker and the WW etools. I never carry my tracker with me and usually log my food before I leave for work so I never have to worry about people looking over my shoulder and questioning my manliness.

Q. Do you have a favorite healthy, low calorie food/dinner?

A. Lentils. Anything lentils. Mexican lentils and rice will make any meat loving guy a lentils fan.

Q. Do you exercise regularly?  My husband works swing shift and is finding the time for exercise difficult/overwhelming.  (I run according to his schedule too, since I do not have a treadmill or babysitter.)

A. I didn't exercise until recently. I started doing Insanity and have made the commitment to do it every day that I'm supposed to. With that said, my swing shift can also wreak havok on getting this done. In the mornings when I work day shift, I wake up at 3:45 to get it done. On midnight shift, I wake up in the afternoon and do it then. I find the time. People who say they don't have the time to take care of themselves need to reevaluate what's really important to them and what's not.

Q. When people acknowledge your significant weight loss, does it make you uncomfortable?  It does me sometimes.

A. People acknowledge it in one of two ways. They either ask what I've been doing and say that its awesome or they say that I'm losing too much weight and I look sick. The latter seems to sound almost jealous of the success, so I shrug it off and go about my day. No one is going to ruin this for me. The only opinions that matter to me are mine and Katie's.

---

Jerry gives me a lot of credit for his weight loss, but I give him a lot of credit for mine! I know I couldn't have done this without his support. It really helps that we have done this together. We both look and feel a million times better!

Continue Reading...

Goal photos

I'm still battling this cold, and I woke up this morning with a crusty nose and eyes. That's always fun. I woke up at 4:00, and just couldn't go back to sleep, so I ended up going out into the living room to watch TV until it was time to get the kids up for school.

I watched Tuesday's episode of Extreme Weight Loss yesterday, and WOW--I never cried so much during a TV show in my life! (If you're not familiar with the show, trainer Chris Powell chooses an obese person to work with for a year to help them lose weight. It's not competitive at all, like The Biggest Loser--the sole focus is on one individual. It's very inspiring!) I loved that the girl ran a marathon at the end of Tuesday's episode.

Chris Powell has my dream job--wouldn't it be amazing to help someone completely transform his/her life and reach his/her weight loss goals? I first saw Chris Powell on a documentary on TLC, called "The 650-lb. Virgin", and I really liked him. He seems very genuine in his desire to help people. On that show, he helped David Smith lose 400 pounds. I really liked Smith, and I just googled him to see how he's doing today. I am so sad to see that he gained back almost all of his weight. He's on a second weight loss journey now, so I hope that he's successful.

---

Remember the photo shoot that I did with Stephanie last month? Well, she gave me a disk of the photos, so I can finally share a few! :)  She asked if she could drop the disk off, and I told her I wouldn't be home, but she could leave it inside the storm door. I wanted to pay her for the shoot, but she insisted that she did it for her own experience as much as mine, and didn't want money; so I ended up buying her a bottle of her favorite wine as a thank you.

When I left the house, I put a bow on the bottle of wine and put it just inside the storm door, so when she opened the door to put the disk inside, she'd see the wine. Well, I later got this text from her: "I opened the door and my first thought was, "Oh, it must be a popular day to drop stuff off at Katie's house... someone left her a bottle of wine!" Then she put two and two together and realized it was for her ;)  Hahaha!

Anyway, she wrote all about the photo shoot from her point of view, which you can read about on her blog, That Loud Redhead. She posted a lot more photos from the shoot there, too. But here are a few of my personal favorites:

The whole reason I really wanted to do the photos was because I wanted some "goal pictures" to remind me of why I did all the hard work to lose the weight. Seeing these makes me want to stay on track and maintain my weight, because I think I look pretty darn good in them ;)  When Stephanie suggested I bring Jerry and the boys for some pictures, I was really excited; I don't have a lot of photos of Jerry and me with the kids.

Anyway, I am thrilled with how the pictures turned out. I'm going to get a few enlarged prints to hang up in my house--I really love the one of Jerry and me above, and there are a few family pics that I like. It's going to be hard to choose!

Continue Reading...

Quantum Scale review and giveaway

A few weeks ago, my sister told me an idea she had about a bathroom scale for people who are trying to maintain their weight. Basically, you could program your goal range into the scale, and then when you stand on the scale, it would read "High", "Low", or "In range". That's it. No numbers at all! I love this idea, and I started searching online to see if it actually exists (from what I found, it does not).

In my searching, however, I found a scale called Quantum. It was as close to what Jeanie described as I could find, and I was intrigued with it. Usually, when I do reviews on my blog, it's the result of the company reaching out to me, not vice versa. But this time, I e-mailed them to ask if I might be able to review the scale (and host a giveaway, of course). They were happy to!

The Quantum scale doesn't give you a weight reading. When you first get the scale, you program it by stepping on and pushing a button. You have no idea what your weight is, because the scale doesn't tell you that. But whenever you get on the scale after that, it will give you a reading of + or - the number of pounds from your original weight.

I wanted to test out the accuracy of it, so I used both scales for a week. I got my actual weight from my trusty old scale, and then stepped on the Quantum scale to see how the reading varied from the previous day. On Day 1, my weight was 136 (the Quantum scale didn't give me a reading on Day 1). The next day, my weight was 135, and the Quantum scale read 1.0-. So if the Quantum scale is the only scale you use, you would never know your weight; you would just know how your weight is in relation to your starting weight.

You can reprogram it however often you wish, but you can't choose your starting weight. A few days ago, my weight was 134, so I programmed that on the Quantum scale (just by stepping on and pushing the button to save that weight). Now, when I step on the Quantum scale, it will tell me how far up or down my weight is from 134. If I can get my weight back to my goal of 133, I plan to program that weight into the Quantum scale, so that it always reads how close I am to my goal weight.

I think this is a great idea for maintainers, because you can just see where your weight is at relative to your goal weight instead of focusing on the actual weight itself.  I also think this is an awesome idea for people who are just starting to lose weight, and maybe they are afraid to see their weight on a scale. The Quantum scale will only tell you how many pounds up or down you are from your original weight. When compared to my trusty scale, I found the reading to be very accurate.

Unfortunately, it doesn't lie when you've had a bad week. Case in point:

My weight is up four pounds. Gah! I was way over my PointsPlus this week, so today was a fresh new start for me. I'm not going to allow my PointsPlus to go into the negative this week!

Next week, say I only lose 1 pound from where I was this morning, when I took this picture. Then it would read 3.0+, meaning I'm 3 pounds over my starting weight. It doesn't say how much you've gained or lost since the last reading; it tells you how much you've gained or lost since you last programmed it. I hope that makes sense.

Anyway, I really like the idea of using this for maintenance, so I plan to post this instead of my weight each week. Yes, it's easy to do the math and figure out, but it's nice not to get so focused on the actual weight.

There are six different colors to choose from on their website:

It sells for $39 (plus $6.99 shipping), which I think is reasonable. (It's on Amazon also, but it's much more expensive there than on the Quantum website for some reason). The biggest downside to the scale is that it's only meant for ONE person to use. If Jerry gets on it, it will read something like 30.0+, because it will use MY starting weight.

Quantum was generous enough to allow me to host a giveaway for a scale as well! If you think it sounds like something you'd like, you can enter by filling out your name and e-mail address in the form below. I'll use Random.org to choose a winner on Saturday, 6/8/13 at 8:00 a.m. EST. Good luck!

(Disclosure: I was given a Quantum Scale for free to review, but was not required to give a favorable review. My opinions, as always, are honest.)

Continue Reading...

Rewards

We've had a few gorgeous spring days in a row here! Yesterday, I met up with Jessica for coffee in the late morning, and we chatted for a while. I deliberately wore my running clothes there, so that on the way home, I could find a spot to park and get in my four-mile easy run.

By the time I left, it was about 12:15, and I was starving. Normally, I eat lunch at around 11. But I wanted to get in my run before going home, so I stopped and parked along the same route I did for my long run on Thursday. My goal pace for an easy run is 8:55-9:53/mi, so that's what I was aiming for.

Despite the fact that it was the middle of the day in June, it wasn't miserably hot. It felt pretty good, actually! I did a lollipop route that I guessed was about four miles (I was off by a half mile in the end). Once I reached four miles, I just stopped my Garmin and enjoyed a nice walk back to the car.

I've realized recently that I really like running in the late morning/early afternoon, because it curbs my appetite for the rest of the day. For some reason, I find it much easier to stay on track with my eating when I exercise later (versus exercising first thing in the morning).

Today, I worked on a project all morning, and at noon, my stomach started growling. I knew I was doing speed work today, so I definitely didn't want to do that on a full stomach. I was really dreading it, because, well, speed work is HARD.

I decided to do 400-meter repeats instead of 800's today. (If you're not a numbers nerd like me, you can just skip the down the page a little ;)). When training for a marathon, 400's are pretty useless, but since I'm not trying to improve my marathon time, I figured I would just do 400's because I like them better. The goal was to do eight repeats, completing each one in 1:43-1:49 (6:52-7:16/mi pace).

I set my Garmin to do intervals--0.25 miles active and then 0.13 miles recovery. Instead of watching Netflix (it's too hard to watch TV while doing a tough speed workout), I just cranked up the radio really loud. I set the treadmill at 8.7 mph (a 6:53 pace) for my active intervals. After the first interval, I set the treadmill at 3.0 mph in order to walk; but changed my mind after a minute and set it to 5.5 mph for a slow jog between the active intervals.

After doing 800's for months, running the 400's was so refreshing! It was still a tough workout, but it goes by so much faster. Regardless, I was glad to be done!

Looks like I ran a lot further than 3 miles, doesn't it? ;) The only problem with doing intervals on the treadmill is the time it takes to adjust from one speed to another. I changed the speed as soon as I saw that I was getting close to the next interval, and that way I wouldn't waste half of the time waiting for the speed to pick up. But I like the intervals on the treadmill better than outside, because I don't have to constantly check to see if I'm on pace.  My heart rate graph looked pretty cool:

Because the weather has been so nice this week, I'm thinking I may change my 10K race this week to the 10-Miler instead. I have a 10-mile run on the schedule this weekend anyway, so I could just call it my long run. I wasn't planning to try to PR or anything, no matter what distance I do, so it looks like I may just change it.

Last year, I wore a hula skirt, lei, and seashell bra over my running clothes for this race. I don't think I'm going to dress up again this year, though. It was kind of a pain to run in that stuff! This race is SO much fun, though; one of the funnest races I've been to.

I feel like I'm saying this every Tuesday now, but this week has been a mess for me, and I want to get and stay focused when my PointsPlus reset tomorrow. I'm finishing this week 120 PointsPlus over my maximum. I do good for a couple of days, and then have a day where I just use the "But it's summer!" excuse.

I have my annual gynecologist appointment next week, so that is helping to keep me on track right now. I think at this time last year, I was up to about 150 pounds. It would be nice to go in there and be in my goal range (under 135). I'm trying to think of a reward of some sort to give myself if I don't go over my PointsPlus next week. Not food, though.

I was thinking I might put $20 in a jar for every week I don't go over my PointsPlus and use it to travel somewhere for a race when I have enough money. I feel like I'm finally over my fear of flying enough to want to go places. Maybe if I put the money jar on the kitchen counter, along with a picture of where I want to go, it will keep me from using the "But it's summer!" excuse? :)

Continue Reading...