Getting Fit and Gaining Shitloads of Confidence

Jesus Christ, it's been two weeks! I have so much stuff to write!

Let me get the bad news out of the way...

The scale hasn't budged in weeks. I'm still at 290 pounds, and it's gotten on my last nerve. People try to reassure me that "muscle weighs more than fat", but since that was something I always told myself when I was fat, it's not making me feel any better. My body is showing that I'm losing weight, and I'm getting more physically fit. I just want the numbers to back it up!

Okay, now onto the good.

For starters, I've decided to stop drinking for a while. I've always been a heavy drinker, and the doc telling me to quit drinking after the surgery might as well have been him telling me not to breathe. But I looked at the calorie content in my booze and it turns out I was drinking about 800 calories a night. So I've been sober for five days now, which is the longest I've been sober since Iraq. My lack of calories still isn't showing up on the scale, though.

The scale aside, though, I'm looking and feeling great. My wife says I'm starting to get six-pack abs. I looked in the mirror. She's right! It's hard to see because I still have lots of fat I still need to burn off, but I can see them just starting to protrude. I've also got my average mile run time to under 10 minutes, and my body is packing on lots of muscle.

A few weeks ago I noticed that every time I did a weight-lifting session I was actually lifting less than the week before, so I looked up how much protein I should be eating. Turns out I was insanely protein deficient. I tried upping my intake to 90 grams, but it turns out I needed to be eating a minimum of 200 grams a day. Most body building websites say I should be eating about 300, and there's even one doctor that says I should be eating over 500. That last guy must be a fucking quack because who eats that much and isn't a fat bastard? So I upped my intake to 200 grams, which requires me to eat a large amount of protein shakes, lots of meat, and pretty much nothing else. Carbs are pretty much non-existent in my diet, but not completely. I haven't gone full-Atkins, just pretty close. I've also started taking my Mega Men vitamins again, along with a whole slew of nutritional supplements.

One side effect I hadn't anticipated was that women have been coming up to me and flirting with me. Where were all these women when I wasn't married? Oh well, they're just going to have to look and not touch. :)

I've also developed super confidence. I'll blame this more on the workout motivation mp3's I've been listening to than anything else, but it doesn't hurt when women are throwing themselves at you and you're in the best shape you've been in in nearly a decade. I find it weird that when you have confidence there's always going to be people that find it strange. It's like they think so little of themselves that they expect everyone else to as well, or they feel threatened by someone who thinks highly of themselves. But instead of feeling threatened they should realize that they, too, have permission to feel good about themselves, to know that they also have the ability to reach their full potential if only they want it badly enough. A year ago, I couldn't even imagine running a half-marathon. Now it's something I plan on doing in October (still dependent on whether or not my knees can handle a 10K). Even in my Army days I never thought I'd be able to do something like this.

In about two weeks I'll be doing my first 5K. I look forward to beginning training on my 10K after that. It means I go from doing cardio three days a week to five. Every cardio session burns at least 600 calories. The more the better!

That's it for now. See ya later!

For the ads...

Ever since I mentioned that I'm running, I keep getting ads for things like Fitness Singles and other stuff like that.

So I'm doing this so I can get rid of them. Make of it what you will:

Wife wife wife, I'm married, I love my wife. Married married married, get me some relevant ads, I love my wife, fuck off.

So This Happened...

It's official. I've lost so much fat off of my face that my glasses will not stay on.

I'm glad I'm losing the fat, but that is very annoying. Especially when I'm running and have to keep pushing my glasses back on my face every couple of seconds. I'm going to have to get that fixed.

But I do have some great news: My weight is down to 290. That's 77 pounds lost. And my mile time is down to 11 minutes. My short-term goal is to get my average mile time under 10 minutes. Long term would be under 8.

Speaking of running, a friend on Facebook told me about the Crim Festival of Races. It's a 10 mile race that's done in Flint every year. If I do well on my 10K I'll sign up for it.

I'm worried about my knees in my distance running. I want so badly to be able to run a half-marathon, but I don't know if my legs can handle the stress.

I'm now the lightest I've been since 2004. I'm happy the weight is off, and yet when I think that I allowed myself to weigh so much for so long I get angry about it. But it happened because after my first overseas tour in the Army I went into a deep depression and allowed my junk food addiction to get the better of me. Addiction is a motherfucker. I have to remember that when I get angry.

But I have a new lease on life now and I'm so happy about it. Nearly 80 pounds lost. My goal is to get to 240 by December 9th (one year after my surgery), so I'm well past my halfway point. While the weight is coming off far more slowly than I'd like, it is coming off. And I'm sure it will come off faster as my workout intensity increases. I'm running 2.25 miles now. When I train for my 10K next month I'll be running even more. And my strength training is going to increase as well.

See you next week!

Stupid Runner's Knee!

I developed a nasty case of runner's knee in both legs. Turns out that running three times a week and doing weight training on your legs is something you shouldn't do unless you've been running for quite some time. So I won't be able to exercise until at least Saturday, which really sucks.

I've been faithful to my workout plan up until now, and I plan on keeping it that way as soon as my legs heal up.

On the plus side, my legs look totally ripped. You could bounce a quarter off of my quadriceps. :)

I'll probably give up weight training on my legs altogether until my body gets used to running three times a week. When I start training for my 10K, I'll be doing cardio five days a week and not just three, so my legs will be worked out plenty.

My upper body isn't looking too shabby, either. I've gained back most of the muscle mass that I've lost.

As far as my weight goes, I went down to 294 as of this morning. I'm quite happy about that, although I wish the weight loss would come faster. I'm getting tired of losing five pounds at a time and then not moving for another week. I am seeing it in my belt, though. When I got my work belt just before I got off of medical leave, I could only fit the first notch. Now I'm on notch three, and on some days four. Pretty soon I will need a whole new belt altogether.

I'm also seriously considering running a half-marathon at the Detroit Free Press/Talmer Bank Marathon in October. Whether or not I sign up depends on how well I'll do at my 10K in June. If I can do 6.2 miles without messing up my knees, 13.1 miles should be easy enough. I never thought I'd see the day where I'd think a half-marathon was within my grasp. Feels good just thinking about doing one. :)

And I Ran, I Ran So Far Away...

So, week one of my 5K training is done. I've stayed committed to my plan of working out six days a week (three run days, three weight training days with one on a run day, and a walk day).

I'm feeling good about keeping my plan. Usually when I tell people how many days a week I workout, what I really mean is "That's what I plan on doing. What I'll really do depends on my mood, spare time, and whether or not I'm tired." But I've stayed on it so far.

It helps to have a goal in mind. Since I'm training for a run, I have more incentive to stay on my plan.

The gym that has been built for months now by my work finally opened, about six weeks past their goal of opening at the first of the year. So now I can work out on my breaks and before or after work. I also learned that doing five laps around my building makes 1.5 miles. Since I'm running 1.5 miles on Wednesdays for the next few weeks, I can avoid a treadmill and, weather permitting, doing a quick run around the building.

In anyone is interested, here's the training plan I'm doing for the 5K (my weight training days are on Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday, and aren't shown in the run plan):

http://www.halhigdon.com/training/50932/home.html

I'll be using his 10K plan after I run my 5K.

As for weight loss, I hit another plateau and haven't budged since I last wrote. It's getting frustrating, losing five pounds at a time and then not moving for a week or more.

I have to go drop my kid off at her grandma's, so I'll be cutting this entry short. Have a good one!

Did The Run, Now I'm Going To Do More

Hello, again!

On Saturday I did the Cupid's Undie Run. For those who need explaining, it's a charity run that was done in several cities (including Detroit) in which you run in the freezing ass cold in nothing but your underwear.

In any other context, if you ever see me running down the streets of Detroit in my underwear, please call 911. :)

I got out of work early so I could make the run, got to The Fillmore Theater at about 1:30 p.m. and stripped down to nothing but a pair of shorts, my socks, and a pair of shoes. Yes, I have a picture, and no, you can't see it. I'm not in any mood to become a meme!

I was the fattest person at the run by far. There were a few other overweight people there, but not only was I fatter than them, I was also one of only two that had the guts to strip all the way down. I almost didn't and wore the pants from my track suit, but after seeing all the other nearly naked people there, I told myself "Fuck it. Either go all the way or don't do it at all.", and stripped down to my shorts. I was self-conscious as a motherfucker, but I made sure not to show it.

When I finished the run, I found that I had only run about 4-5 minutes. The run was supposed to be a mile. Either I had developed Olympic-style speed overnight, or someone lied about how far we were going to run. Turns out it was only a half-mile.

But it also means that my run-time is down to a little over nine minutes per mile. That is awesome.

I've since decided that I want to do a 5K in a few weeks, and a 10K a couple months after that. So I've signed up for the Martian Marathon event for my 5K, exactly 8 weeks from the Cupid run. Coincidentally, I just so happened to come across a 5K training program that is 8 weeks long. When I get paid on Friday, I'm signing up for the Curwood Festival Run in Owosso.

Along with the running I've been doing (and confirming that, yes, I am getting a lot faster in my run), I'm doing weight training, too. I'm putting it in with my rest days on the 5K program, with my leg day on the day I walk. Thursday is my only real rest day.

My surgeon let me know that there would come a point during my weight loss that I will have crazy energy, as my body will be burning so many calories that I will be bouncing off the walls. I have reached that point. I have a six day a week workout plan and it doesn't seem to be enough. All I want to do is exercise. I ran 1.5 miles today and I was disappointed afterward that my workout was done. I just kept walking around after that.

I've considered doing some extra hardcore exercising, but I've had enough experiences where I've done that and burned myself out and quit entirely because my body was too sore to continue. So I have to suck it up and just walk when I get like this.

A friend from work has said that I inspired her so much that she's willing to do the 5K with me. I doubt she'll actually pull the trigger on that (I've seen plenty of people not follow through on things like this, so you'll have to forgive me for being skeptical of my friend), but if she does it will be awesome to have someone to do this with. I normally do fitness stuff on my own.

I've lost another two pounds since my last entry, bringing my weight down to 297. That's a total of 70 pounds lost. Goddamn, does that feel nice. My new work pants (that I got just last week) are already starting to drop off of my waist. I'm sure my bosses are going to be pissed that they have to keep buying me new work uniforms. But they didn't donate to my run so fuckem. :)

Leaving With Both Middle Fingers Held High

Goodbye, 300 Club.

I never liked being a member, I never asked to be a member, and I never wanted to be a member. But food addiction is a bitch and it dragged me in there, kicking and screaming.

I tried to leave the club many times, but I always ended up back in. The last time I left was in 2007. That was when I was on a starvation diet that the fine folks at the Medical Weight Loss Clinic had me on. But, of course, I gained all my weight back when I got tired of eating chicken and broccoli on a daily basis.

So now, I weigh 299 pounds, the lightest I've weighed in seven fucking years. The 300 club is behind me and I'm never going back to it. I couldn't even if I wanted to.

And as I leave the club, I do it with two middle fingers held up, telling the club to go fuck itself.

Seriously, 300 club. Eat a big bag of dicks. I'm done with you.