I made it to the gym tonight and weighed in at 189!

So I have done what I originally set out to do…weigh 190 (or less) by Jan 1. Now I just need to keep it off through all the rest of the eating that is about to happen during Christmas and New Year’s!

I’ve had a pretty good week of workouts, although this weekend with some parties and good food all over the place were not so good for me!

I’ll probably weigh in one more time this week before the big weigh-in on January 1!

Thanks for the encouragement, and keep it up! It’s helping!

I went to the gym last night for an aerobic night and also to weigh in. Well, I may have to adjust my January 1 goal, because I hit 191 last night! So, without too much stress I should be able to hit 190 next week, well before January 1!

So, I’m throwing out a new goal for myself for January 1: 186 pounds. This is 4 pounds lower than my first goal, and 5 pounds from where I was last night. I still think it’s ambitious, but I’m going to go for it!

I am also down to about a 16% body-fat…although this measurement is far from scientific. If I do my calculations correctly, my eventual goal of 175 will put me at just under 10% body fat. Awesome!

And…the Colts won on Sunday, clinching home-field and at least one playoff game to attend. Woohoo! Go Colts!

No, I didn’t lose my license. But what had gone awry was the weight listed thereon! I renewed my license back in March of 2008 and had to update my weight. You see, while it was the second time I’d renewed my license in Indiana, the first time the lady across the counter conveniently forgot to ask my weight, and left me at a svelte 160 pounds, which was a legitimate weight for me when I moved to Indiana and registered back in 2000. So, this time I knew I needed to update the weight to more accurately reflect my current…umm…shape.  “195″ I told the worker at the DMV. I think it was pretty close to accurate at the time. I may have been a few pounds over, but there’s room for rounding, right?

So I weighed in last night at the gym, and now the driver’s license is inaccurate again. Because I’m under it!

194 pounds!

Looks like I’m on my way to 190 by Jan 1 as I hoped!

Keep that encouragement coming, friends!

(quick tip, don’t forget that at least in Indiana you can renew your license well ahead of the due date…mine wasn’t set to expire until Oct 2008! One less thing to do around your birthday!)

I am still having trouble grasping the changing of the calendar!

Well, here’s a quick update: I went to the gym quite a bit over the last week, so I’ll consider that a success! I also was able to keep my sweet tooth and over-eating habits in check.

So what happened? I just weighed in tonight at 197! Woohoo! I’m now 30% of the way to my goal for January 1! So, I have 7 pounds to lose in 31 days.

I can do this!

{RECAP FOR NEW READERS. LONG-TIME READERS CAN SKIP TO THE “END RECAP” IF YOU WANT}
I have a feeling I may have attracted some new readers lately, so a brief review. In the middle of January 2009, I got fed up with the shape I was in. I’ve always enjoyed athletics, but had gotten lazy in my exercise and eating habits and got up to 217 pounds. Measuring in at 6′0″ – my BMI came in well into the overweight category, and really was just a hair under the level of obese. I would always get the, “You can’t possibly weigh that much,” but I knew the truth even if I “hid my weight well.” And so enough was enough, and I started this blog to help motivate me to get back down to a more normal weight. I started off really well, had some ups and downs in the spring, and did feel much better as I came much closer to my first mental goal of 200. When I dropped under 200….I got lazy (which I talked about in the previous post if you want to read that), and now I want to break through and hit 190 by January 1.
{END RECAP}

I was thinking today about how to make sure I stay on track with my goal of hitting 190 pounds by January 1. I realize this is an ambitious goal as I weighed in at 200 on November 23 and decided to break through…starting this right before Thanksgiving, of course! Perfect timing, right?

Here’s my idea: life happens in community, and I know I have many friends who care for me and will keep me accountable, so I want to make this a little more interactive. I’ll ask you all to encourage me in ways which may seem obvious, or be creative and find your own ways to spur me on. You may be asking, “Well, that’s great, Doug, but what’s in this for me?” I’m glad you asked.

How would you like to go with me to the first Colts home playoff game this year?

Did I pique your interest? My idea is that I’ll take someone who encourages me in my effort to lose the weight! Now, this does not have set rules as of yet, and it may not ever get a real set of rules…I reserve the right to change my mind or perhaps narrow the field in any way I see fit After all…I’ll be spending 5 hours with someone and I want to make sure this will be a good experience all the way around! And of course there’s that whole part that I can’t promise that the Colts will have a home playoff game, but it’s looking pretty good thus far. The game will probably be January 9 or 10, depending on the schedule the NFL sets.

So…

• Send me notes, comments, text messages, letters, emails, tweets, facebooks, hieroglyphics, etc
• Glare at me when I look at the dessert menu at a restaurant
• Get a pass for me to work out with you at your gym
• Let me get you a buddy pass to come work out with me
• Join Lifestyle Family Fitness and work out with me (and if need to join a gym please let me know you’re thinking about this. Lifestyle will actually give me a discount if I get people to join!!!
• come up with your own creative ways to help!

Got it? Sound good? Thanks for the encouragement I’ve already gotten, and hopefully I can return the favor. Let me know if I can encourage you in your own plan or other things, too!

Thanks!

~Doug

Well, it’s time for an update. Here’s the thing, I got lazy. I’m sure many of you have been at that place before…you set a big goal, knowing that even if you don’t hit it, well, hopefully you’ll have made good progress. What’s the saying, if you shoot for the moon and miss, at least you’re in the stars?

Well, I hit 200, which was a significant change from where I started, and then I hit that proverbial plateau. No, it wasn’t a physical plateau. It was a mental plateau. I didn’t get myself properly motivated to get to the gym because I’d accomplished one of my big goals, and I was able to maintain my weight near that limit without hitting it too hard and without changing my eating habits, and so I’ve been stuck.

Well, no more! This past Monday, I decided enough was enough, and I’m going to get past this 200 spot and get to a place that I’m not ashamed to have my shirt off this summer.

So, now my goal is to hit 190 by Jan 1. I weighed in at 200 even on Monday. I’ve been to the gym 5 times this week (including even Thanksgiving!), and I can already feel a difference in many ways.

After hitting 190 by Jan 1, I’ll evaluate my goals again, but my thoughts right now are to kick it down to a 1 pound per week goal until I hit 180.

Getting there!

that’s right, folks! I’ve accomplished a big milestone. I actually hit 199 for the first time on July 14 – but then I had a run of really not feeling great, so I haven’t been to the gym much. Fortunately, when I weighed in yesterday I hadn’t put on any weight during that time, and I’m feeling better now and very excited to have bid adieu to the two-hundred level.

May I never see a 2xx ever again!

I’m a bit behind the goals from the last post, but on the other hand I’m glad I’m feeling up to working out again!

So I made it to the gym last night…a little later than I’d planned but I made it. I knew the goal I’d thrown out of hitting 200 was a bit ambitious, but I also thought it was at least within reach. Well, I stepped on the scale at the gym and registered in at 201. That’s not 200, but it was another 2 pounds down and another good week!

So, new goals:

July 13 – 199
end of July – 195
end of August – 189
Oct 3 – 185
end of Oct – 182
Thanksgiving – under 180!

–EDIT–

Being a numbers guy, I thought I’d do a little calculation. I want to throw out a big goal for myself and see what I can do. If I want to hit 180 by my birthday…that would be the Oct 3 date…start shopping now then I need to lose about 1 and 2/3 of a pound per week up until that point. I think that’s possible!
Focus, Focus, Focus!!!!

so, I’ll strive for the 180 by my birthday. That revises my other weights and I’ll just plug in the Monday weights, somewhat adjusted to lose more weight earlier and less weight later:

July 13: 199
July 27: 195
Aug 31: 187
Sep 28: 181
Oct 3: 180!

I weighed in Tuesday night, the last day of June. My goal was 204. I was hoping for that, but skeptical due to a camping trip over the weekend that led to the bad combination of little exercise with food that is oh so good…but not quite so good for me. I’d done much better with my eating outside of the camping trip, which is probably why I hit

203!

Ok, so maybe, just maybe, despite the July 4 weekend coming up, I can put in some really good work and hit the magical 200 next week!

I’ll try to take some pictures today and update the visual progress some time this week!