Inspiration

Why I Want to Lose the LBS

For the second day in a row, I am stealing from 125. I'm not sorry for it. I figure the link counts as adequate payment.

Now to my highly organized and bulleted list of the reasons I want to lose weight. Just to inform you all, every item listed is something I have thought long and hard about, not just made up to blog about. We both (my one reader and I) know that I would never stoop so low.

• I want to FEEL healthy. The difference between how I felt 9 months ago and today is about as drastic as I can imagine. I couldn't run more that a dozen meters, I felt tired and sluggish and all I ever wanted was to stuff my face with junk food. Now, though tired from lack of sleep, I can run for miles without a problem, I am stronger and feel fitter. I am more agile and get sick less. I imagine that losing the rest of the weight will be another, somewhat less drastic, change.
• I want to LOOK better. I will never be a handsome man, no matter how healthy I am. I would literally need more help than modern medicine is prepared to give, at any price. I wasn't blessed with good looks to begin with, and the mutilation of my face with a freeway didn't exactly make it better (although, the face scars automatically qualified me for a Man Card at an early age). However, I do think that I can have a good looking body. Despite my advanced years, I really want to see my six-pack again. I know it's in there somewhere.
• I want to be judged positively. This is a weird one, I know. I have seen for years, and participated in it as well (much to my shame), the judgement of people based on appearance. Just about everyone does it. It's wrong, whether they judge nicely or not. Since I know people will judge me based on my looks, I want to have a physique that will cause them to judge me as hard working, intelligent, etc. Overweight people are immediately judged by most people to be lazy and ignorant. It's wrong, and doesn't apply to any overweight person I know. But there it is.
• Don't let the kids/prudes read this one. Consider yourself warned. I want better sex. Healthy skinny people have better sex. Plain and simple. My sex life and satisfaction has improved as my wife and I have lost weight. I assume that I can get even better. And perhaps more acrobatic. *wink*
• I want to be an athlete. I want to run faster, jump higher, and lift more. I want to run in 5k's, 10k's, half-marathons, and even (*shudder*) marathons. Well, maybe just marathon. And I want to learn Kung Fu.
• I've always seen myself as a protector. Or, I guess I should say, I have always felt that it is my calling to protect others. So much so, that I almost joined the military. Obese people aren't protectors. They cannot move fast enough to respond to danger. I've seen it, so don't argue. There are obviously varying degrees of obesity, however, the better shape you are in, the more equipped you are to act in a given situation.
• I want to help other people lose weight. I don't want to be a personal trainer. But, perhaps people who knew me fat will see me skinny and ask me how I did it. And when I tell them "eating right and exercise," they won't get snarky and slink away.
• It's part of my overall health plan, which also includes spiritual, mental, and social healths. I live by a relatively strict health code, and though not expressly forbidden, I believe that living within a healthy weight range is implicit.
• To prove the nay-sayers wrong. There are two kinds of nay-sayer. The first kind says it can't be done. Such as "you will never reach your goal of ___ lbs." The second kind says it doesn't need to be done. They say such things as "you don't have any more weight to lose." Both drag you down and demotivate you. I will do it, of for no other reason (even though I just list like 7) than to flash my six pack and say "I did it, $%@$#-canoe."
• I want to set a good example for my children. This one is pretty straight forward. The best way for my kids to learn how to live a healthy life is by my teaching them. Setting the right example is a major part in that.

So, some of my reasons are pretty shallow. Some, I hope, are not-so-shallow. This is my first time ever listing my reasons for losing weight. In written form, at least. It proved to pretty cathartic.

If you read this (then I'm married to you, haha), please let me know what you think.

Oh, and I need to add pictures to my posts more often, so here you go:

And if you buy me the shirt that this is from, I'll love you forever. Seriously.

I'm In!

On another blog I read, the author is re-committing herself to weight-loss. I, also, am in dire need of some weight-loss re-commitment.


You see, back at Christmas time of last year (2010, the year from hell), I finally got fed up with myself and how I looked and felt. So, I started losing weight. I lost 45 lbs. in 5 months. Which is pretty dang good, if I do say so myself.


But things like job loss, lack of familial support, new jobs, and utter exhaustion have all conspired to derail me from my continued shrinkitude. And in the last few months I have lost no weight, and even gained back some.


So, I am re-committing to my weight-loss today. I am holding myself accountable to my blog reader. I weigh 209.7 lbs, as of this morning. I have about* 20 lbs. to lose.


I ran this morning. It hurt. I have been really lax in my running lately, and so my conditioning is starting over, in a lot of ways. I plan on doing some more exercise this evening after work. Maybe one of the P90X workouts.


I've been pretty good on food today. If it weren't for the potato chips I ate after lunch, I would have had an amazing food day.


* I say 'about 20 lbs.' because I don't really know where I want to stop. I depends on muscle gain and overall appearance.

Sub 220

Pounds, that is. As in the unit of weight measurement. This morning, I weighed in at a somewhat fluffy 218.9 lbs.

That is a total weight-loss of 30.1 since Christmas.

Yesterday, I was pretty discouraged by life, in general. I was down on myself and the way things were going with my job. And, I was felling extremely unmotivated. Even repeating my Standard in my head, and occasionally out loud, didn't seem to help much.

So, I decided that to turn myself around I would go running as soon as I got home. I almost didn't do it though. Life and family, the former being aggravating, the latter enticing, were trying to stop me.

But I went. And it was awesome. I ran about 3.2 miles, my longest run since I was a junior in high school. And I tackled a mega hill. It felt really good.

And then, to top it all off, when I got home I got the best news I had heard in a long time: My wife doesn't have cancer. The awesomeness was definitely on the rise at this point.

Following this morning's awesome weigh-in, I went to the gym and tore it up some more. Then I came to work, which is where I am writing this. So far, it's been pretty good too.

Here's to an amazing day.

Time to up the Awesomeness

I am only at about 80%  awesomeness today. While it is an increase of about 70% over this time last year, I'm down by about 15% from yesterday.

I apologize for expressing my current feelings that way. I'm in sales, and those are the type of numbers and figures I hear everyday.

Anyway, here's the deal: I wimped out of working-out this morning, which I really needed. I am suffering from some abdominal pain, like a pulled muscle, or something. I may have over done it yesterday morning, which is the only reason I can think of for the pain I've been feeling. The point is, however, that I was not strong. I had planned to swim laps, but I didn't even show up.

I think that not exercising set a bad rhythm for the day, as I haven't been doing particularly awesome at work either.

I need to turn today around, and I will. Starting now, I am at 113.7% awesomeness.