9/27/13 WEIGH IN - TIME TO RE-GROUP

So as I mentioned earlier this week, this week has been a little BLAH for me.  Just haven't felt the greatest.  I made a couple of not so great eating decisions, coupled with moving my Saturday morning long run to Sunday afternoon, which in turn made it very easy to stay in bed Monday morning instead of going to boot camp.  On top of this I have not felt the greatest the past couple of days dealing with allergies, which in turn made it easy yet again to stay in bed this morning and not go to Friday boot camp.  This turned out a week that was not as successful as I would have hoped.

One thing also to remember is that with all of the working out and training for the my Full Marathon, I have to fuel my body differently than just working my butt off to loose weight.  At this point in my training when I am going to be running 15, 18 & 20 miles on the weekends, I must properly fuel myself.  In return this mean that I am not necessarily going to be dropping large amounts of weight each week.  Don't get me wrong, I still have plenty of fat to loose, however, I am replacing that with muscle.  One good thing is that even though I am not seeing the pounds drop off, I am feeling better and my pants are getting looser.

With this all being said, my weight this morning was.....

So 1 pound lost.  Like I said above, I would have liked it to be more, but I also did not play out my week in a manner to drop more than this.  This is what I have to realize.  If I only put in the effort 50% of the time, I will not get the results that I want.  As I said earlier this week, the keys to my success are to PLAN, PREPARE & RE-GROUP(IF NEEDED).  So what am I going to do differently this next week?  RE-GROUP.

Saturday: 15 Mile Long Run, Reward Day not Sabotage Day (I need to make up for this week)
Sunday: Rest, Meal Plan, Grocery Shop, Prepare quick grab & eat meals
Monday: Boot Camp
Tuesday: 3-4 Mile Short Run (I cannot seem to get this one is the past couple of weeks)
Wednesday: Boot Camp
Thursday: ACTIVELY coach Daughters volleyball practice, 3-4 Mile Short Run
Friday: Boot Camp
Saturday: 18 Mile Long Run


9/27/13 STATS
Last Weeks Weight: 230.0 lbs
Current Weight: 229.0 lbs
Past 7 Days lbs Lost: 1 lbs
Journey195 lbs Lost: 11 lbs
Journey195 % Lost: 4.58%
Overall lbs Lost: 56 lbs
Overall % Lost: 19.65%

KEYS TO SUCCESS - PLAN, PREPARE & RE-GROUP (IF NEEDED)

So last week ended up being a good week for me.  I laid out a semi-structured PLAN of my meals and PREPARED several items ahead of time.  This made it very easy to just grab and go with my non-traditional meal schedule.  This week, not so much.  This past weekend was a bit hectic and I was not able to grocery shop with my wife, which I like to do, as long as the kids are left at home.  I took it for granted and today I failed.  Today I had to run an errand at lunch and did not prepare myself correct meals that allowed me to grab and go.  Thus in my haste to get back to the office I stopped and grabbed fried chicken and a biscuit.  MAJOR FAIL.  I know.

I still struggle with these items from time to time however there is a silver lining.  With eating so many veggies and natural foods over the past couple of weeks, my taste buds have changed.  I have noticed this over the past couple of weekends when I had my reward days.  I have noticed that I have become very sensitive to salt.  It literally feels like it is burning my mouth.  Those foods that I used to enjoy, now are pretty much unbearable to eat.  Don't get me wrong, I still am drawn to eat them, but afterwards they leave me feeling disgusted.  If I continue to to take the time to plan ahead, I will succeed and will also learn to not crave those items that once tasted good.

Some of my favorite meals that I have prepared are:

• Protein Pancakes (Oatmeal, Cottage Cheese, Eggs, Baking Powder, Cinnamon) topped with fresh berries and a small drizzle of honey.
• Egg White and Veggie Scrambles
• Veggie Omelets (whole egg)
• Sauteed Squash, Zucchini & Onions
• Chicken Tortilla Soup (No Tortillas)

In addition to the above, one other item that I had prepared for but was not able to follow through with was my Saturday long run.  This past Saturday morning I was to run 12 miles as part of my marathon training plan.  After looking at the 90% - 100% chance of rain each hour through noon on Saturday, I elected to take this chance to sleep in, which I rarely do anymore.  Of course in typical Houston manner,  IT HAD FINISHED RAINING HOURS BEFORE I SHOULD HAVE RAN.  I am not going to lie, I enjoyed sleeping in, but now when was I going to run.  If I run on Saturday evening, I cannot spend time with my family.  I cannot run Sunday morning as I have commitments at church that require me to leave the house at 6:30 in the morning.  I guess I will run Sunday afternoon.  Which I did.  I was able to track out a 12 mile route, put my head phones in and returned approx. 2 hours and 20 minutes later.  Not too bad of a run with the sun beating down on you.  All of this to then point out that I was unable to make it out of bed Monday morning to get to Boot Camp.  Sorry Jen L.  

So today is Tuesday.  I did not end my Sunday - Saturday week as I would have like to, which ran into the start of my new week.  Time to RE-GROUP.  Tonight I am going to plan out my meals for the rest of the week.  Make sure that I get to the Gym the rest of the week and hope that I did not hinder this weeks weigh-in.  One thing that I want to keep in mind but not allow to become a crutch is that we will all fall off track from time to time, but the key is to jump right back on and not allow this speed bump to turn into a 10 pound gain as it did over the summer.

9/20/13 WEIGH IN - BACK TO SQUARE ONE

So to most people "BACK TO SQUARE ONE" may be a negative statement.  For me however it is not.  Every time in the past that I restart my Journey, I always tell my wife that the pounds that I have to RE-loose do not count in my mind.  Don't get me wrong, they are still pounds lost.  However in my mind, I just do not feel like I have made any progress until I get back to my lowest weight.  Well this morning the scale read:

Now I am back to square one.  So what does this mean?  This means it is time for me to really get my butt in gear.  I want to blow this number out of the water as it has been nearly a year since I was consistently here.  Sure I may have had a good week and weighed myself in after a long training run when I had just sweated out five pounds of sweat, but I was never consistently below this number.  That is about to change.  Plus my wife keeps giving me a hard time about the two pairs of jeans I bought last year at this time in the expectation that I would be going down a size and never did.

9/20/13 STATS
Last Weeks Weight: 232.8 lbs
Current Weight: 230.0 lbs
Past 7 Days lbs Lost: 2.8 lbs
Journey195 lbs Lost: 10 lbs
Journey195 % Lost: 4.17%
Overall lbs Lost: 55 lbs
Overall % Lost: 19.30%

MARATHON TRAINING - NOT JUST FOR THE EVENT - FOR MY LIFE

So if you do not know yet, I am training for a FULL Marathon.  Yes, 26.2 Miles.  I have mentioned previously that last year I was drug into running a 1/2 Marathon with my wife and a group of friends.  Come to find out, I like to run. So my training begins.  

MARATHON TRAINING PLAN:  Run.  Run some more. Run even more. Just keep running.  

That is pretty much the jest of my training plan.  Seriously though I have been following (with some variance) a training plan provided to me by a running club I have joined, Cypress Running Club.  During my training over the past several weeks, I have had a lot of time to think while running.  One thing that I keep telling myself is that yes I am running 14 miles, 12 miles, 15 miles, 18 miles all to prepare for my RACE DAY, but I do not want it to stop here.  When I finally jumped off and started this blog, I jumped into a very large uncomfortable/vulnerable area for myself, but I finally realized that what I have been doing recently has not given me the results that I am looking for.

While running 14 miles this past weekend, I began to think of Newton's Laws of Motion.

• An object at rest stays at rest.
• This is where I was for several years and where many of you might be.  You may not realize it but you are.  Going from being active in school sports to sitting at a desk all day was definitely "staying at rest".  
• An object in motion stays in motion.
• This is where I believe I am now.  I have made up my mind to not quit in the middle.  I want to be an object in motion that stays in motion.
• Unless acted upon by an outside source. (Good or Bad)
• My outside source that kicked me out of "rest" as I mentioned in my first post was my eye opening picture. (See it here) This picture pretty much threw me off center and made me move.  Sometimes outside sources are good.  My family, friends and trainers are good outside sources.  They will help me and even give me a nudge when I need it.  
• On the flip side, there are other outside sources that do not help you.  These can be all sorts of things as in my list of items from my first post.  

My goal is to line my "course" with enough good sources that when I do hit a speed bump or even hit a wall head on, that I also have a good source that will be there to give me the nudge that I need.  For me this looks like the following:

• My Wife
• She is good about nagging me out of bed, most times, when I do not want to.  Mainly because if I don't get out of bed I have a problem with snoozing the alarm and keep her up for the next two hours instead of just turning the alarm off.
• Friends/Family
• I have some friends/family that have gone through and hit goals they have set for themselves.  They are there for any advice and encouragement that I may need.
• I also have some friends/family that may need or want to start their journey.  Hopefully they will follow me and start their own journey.  Which brings me to my next source:
• Journey195.Blogspot.com
• This blog was mainly created as a way to add a form of accountability for myself.  This is where if I fall off the wagon, those of you who are following me can know that you may need to step in and give me a little nudge.  
• YMCA Trainers
• I try to consistently attend Boot Camps on M-W-F and have informed those trainers of my goals.  This allows me to be transparent with them and also allows them to call me out or ask me for an update of how things are going.

My main goal for all of this is not just for the "Race" as I discussed with one of my trainers.  I want this to be a large jump start on the rest of my life.  Who knows what will happen once I hit 195.  Will I stop there? Will I still have more weight to loose?  Will I just need to concentrate on building muscle?  Will I enjoy the marathon and want to run another?  Will I want to try my hand at other events?  One thing that I know for sure is:

My journey will never stop and I will always have to make a conscious decision to not go back to my old ways 

9/13/13 WEIGH IN

So this is my first weigh in since starting this blog last week.  Since then  I have been pretty consistent with the goals I have set for myself.  There have been however some slip-ups but overall I would consider it a successful week. One thing that I will expand on more later is a way of eating change that I have decided to give a try.  This I do not consider a "diet" as I will not be taking any magic pill or take any extra supplements, it is just a way to change up the way you eat.

Several months ago I was talking to a friend of mine and was discussing the wall that I had hit.  He asked if I had tried Carb-Cycling, which I had not nor did I know anything about.  At the time I didn't give it much thought, though it had seemed to work for him.  Fast forward several months, I had began watching a TV series called Extreme Make Over: Weight Loss Edition and this Carb-Cycling idea was brought up which jogged my memory of my previous discussion.  The short of the long is that you alternate High & Low Carb days through your week to rev up your internal furnace to burn more fat. (More on this later).  I have done this now since last Saturday and have also only missed one cardio day in the past week.

So I mentioned that I would post my weight each Friday as it reads prior to working out that day.  This morning you would have thought that I was on one of those TV shows about to weigh in on live national television, I seriously had butterflies in my stomach.  My thoughts were that this is my first weigh in and this will have to go on my blog and what if I didn't do enough.  Well I took a deep breath, then exhaled because I am sure air weighs something, and stepped onto the scale:

SUCCESS!!!!!!  I did not fail, What a relief.

9/13/13 STATS
Last Weeks Weight: 235.6 lbs
Current Weight: 232.8 lbs
Past 7 Days lbs Lost: 2.8 lbs
Journey195 lbs Lost: 7.2 lbs
Journey195 % Lost: 3.00%
Overall lbs Lost: 52.2 lbs
Overall % Lost: 18.32%

Click HERE to see where Journey1Ninety5 began.

PLAN OF ATTACK

Every good leader looks and develops a plan prior to attacking when possible.  Although there are situations that it is best to just attack with the resources that you have.  As I mentioned in my first post there was a point that I was so deep in that I had no choice but to BEGIN.  I did not sit down and spend hours, days, weeks or months planning out how I should CORRECTLY attack my health, I just attacked it.  It wasn't going to hurt me to begin using the elliptical machine or quit eating a 2,214 calorie lunch.  Even if I did not do it all right, anything was going to be better than what I was already doing.  I also mentioned that my current plan of action was not to jump into any major diet changes as in becoming a vegetarian or starting any supplement programs.  My main concern is to move towards a healthier lifestyle that is balanced all around yet pushing myself harder than I have ever before.  So here is my initial plan (I know that it will change, and possibly tomorrow, but here it is)

• Exercise
• Mon-Wed-Fri 
• 5:00 am Bootcamp
• Tue-Thur
• Cardio
• Food
• Cut Back on Fast Food
• Take my lunch to work each day
• Try to eat a salad & lots of vegetables at each meal as my MAIN COURSE
• Cut out fried food
• Treat myself weekly (NOT SABOTAGE MYSELF)

Click HERE to see where Journey1Ninety5 began.

THE FIGHT AGAINST DISCOMFORT

So I have continued to do a lot of thinking over the past couple of weeks.  I have looked back over my sports years and have come to a realization.  I have come to realize that in regards to physical sport activities throughout my life I have always lacked a drive to push myself beyond what is comfortable and easy.  That is not the case in other areas.  I am a very passionate and dedicated worker.  I always try to make sure I solve any problem that is put in front of me and long to take on a challenge, IN FRONT OF MY COMPUTER. I have been thinking a lot about when I was on swim team and how I would train. I can remember that when I was tired and my coach would go to his office for something, I would hang out on an end of the pool that he could not see me in and then begin swimming the minute I could see him on his way back.  I was never the BEST at any sport that I participated in but I was pretty good at them without having to try very hard.  So what does this mean now?  This means that to get to where I have set my goal:

• I will have to push myself harder than I have ever before.
• I will have to be uncomfortable.
• I will be sore.  
• I will hurt.
• I will have to make myself get up at 4:00 AM nearly every day of the week to workout.
• I may puke.
• I will have to be constant with my workout and not "HIDE" like I used to.
• I will have to change my eating. (I refuse to use the word "diet")
• I will have to be vulnerable.
• I will have to lean on family & friends for support.
• I will have to juggle my health and my family.
• I will have to spend time with my wife.
• I will have to spend time with my kids.
• I will have to spend time with my friends.
• I will have to find time to blog.
• I will have to find time to HAVE FUN!!!

Like I said above, this is not going to be comfortable.  As "comfort" is what got me to where I never want to be again.  From here on, I will be posting my weekly weight as it reads on Friday mornings before I work out.  No LAST CHANCE WORKOUTS here.  To start off today, 9/6/13, I weigh in at 235.6 lbs.  This puts me at loosing approx. 1.83% of my original body weight in the past 2 months since I first began my MENTAL & Physical journey of this blog.

9/6/13 STATS
July Weight: 240 lbs
Current Weight: 235.6 lbs
lbs Lost since July: 4.4 lbs
Journey195 lbs Lost: 4.4 lbs
Journey195 % Lost: 1.83%
Overall lbs Lost: 49.4 lbs
Overall % Lost: 17.33%

Click HERE to see where Journey1Ninety5 began.

ALREADY IN PROGRESS - JOURNEY - BEGINS AGAIN

My name is Rusty, I decided to start this blog to help hold myself accountable in regards to my health.  This is way out of my comfort zone so bear with me and we will see where this goes.  This first post will most likely have a lot more transcript than any future posts as I am not a person of many words.  I have learned a lot about myself over the past several years and I will lay some of those things out.  To me it seems like rambling, to others this may sound like normal conversation, but I want to set my background story which may be similar to others.

8th Grade

Growing up I was a very skinny kid.  I never had any weight issues. Was able to eat and drink anything I wanted without thinking.(More about that later)  My mother and father both were overweight but only after entering their 20's.  Looking back now I know that the only reason I was as skinny as I was is because I loved to play sports and be outside.  I was never one to care about sitting in front of the TV and play video games.  My idea of fun was to pickup sticks in the pasture.(I was in my early teens and this was how I convinced my Granddad to let me drive his truck)

Looking back I can see that I began putting on weight my senior year of high school.  This was because I went from playing sports to taking up Business Co-Op and sitting at a desk all day.  Even though I loved being out side picking up sticks, playing and mowing yards, I always wanted to have an office position.

Eye Opening Picture

This picture is what opened my eyes.  I believe that this was taken in 2007 on a fishing trip with my company.  I still keep this in my wallet so I can see where I NEVER want to be again.  At this point I was at my heaviest weight of 285 lbs and wearing a tight 42" pants.

At that point and time I just got my butt in gear and BEGAN.  I began going to the gym and using weight machines and spending time on the eliptical.  I started eating less.  Not necessarily better, but less.  I was able to drop 30 lbs over a period of time which put me at 250 lbs.  Over the next couple of years I fluctuated up and down and was able to get down another 10 lbs which put me at 240 lbs.  Last year myself and several friends were challenged to run a 1/2 marathon.  Because my wife decided to, I was then drug into it.  I hated long distance running.  It was never an event that I even thought about wanting to do in school.  Come to find out, I like it.  Though I have not continued to run on a regular basis, I really enjoy the fact that I CAN go out and cover 10-13 miles and I WILL NOT DIE.  During the course of training for the 1/2 as well as doing BOOTCAMP workouts at the local YMCA, I was able to get down to 230 lbs.  This 230 lbs was a wall.  Most likely a self brought on wall but still I have not been able to break it.

I know I am jumping, but stick with me as I talk this out.

Over the past couple of weeks I have done a lot of thinking about WHY?  I have come to realize that I may be classified as an emotional eater.
Over the past couple of months there have been several events that have added to my stress level.
Over the past couple of months I have began eating like CRAP again.  Though not as bad as what you will see below, but not good. Couple this with not making it to the gym as I was, I have now put on 10 lbs which now puts me back at 240 lbs.  ENOUGH'S ENOUGH!!!!!!

I look back over my journey and I see the following:

1998-2007
- Senior year of high school I find out that my mother is Bi-Polar.  Her medicine that has kept her stable for so many years, has quit working and now she has to be put into a hospital to get things straightened out.
- Senior year of high school I ask my sweetheart to marry me.  (YES we were crazy in love and still are 13.5 years later)
- Graduated High School and had to get things together since I was about to be a married man.
- Got married
- Had a couple different jobs
- Dad diagnosed with Kidney Cancer
- Wife had miscarriage
- Mother in & out of Deep Depressions & Manics which meant alot of time in the hospital
- Dad dies of cancer 8 months after he was told he had only 1 month to live. (HOME Hospice - Enough said)
- Baby #1
- Pregnant with Baby #2
- Get laid off from Job
- Baby #2
***285 lbs***

Above you can see that there was a lot of stress over the years.  A lot was even left off as to spare you my chaos.  Now I need to point out that I am HAPPILY Married and love my wife and life very much.  The above bullet points are just a listing of what I can account my eating habits to. During the above period I know for a fact that I was not eating good.  I cannot tell you what all I was eating though I can remember the following trip to Jack in the Box that I made prior to receiving the above picture and being awakened.(and I know this was a frequent trip)

Jack in the Box
6 Tacos @ 193 calories/ea = 1,158 calories
Big TX Cheeseburger = 557 calories
Large Coke = 499 calories
Calorie Total = 2,214 calories for LUNCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To this day this still make me sick.  And the fact that I still ate breakfast, dinner, snacks and late night snacks is appalling.  Couple the above with the fact that the distance from the Jack in the Box to my office is less than 5 miles with an estimated driving time of 10 minutes, I would FINISH ALL FOOD BEFORE GETTING TO THE OFFICE.

Like I said earlier, I never got on a DIET or Training Schedule, I just BEGAN.  I just began looking for and finding that kid that loved to be active and found that he is still there.

As I began this post, I am doing this as a way to be held accountable.  To my friends that are reading this, please do just that and ask me how I am keeping up.  As of right now I have no plans on doing any dramatic diet changes as in becoming a vegetarian, or starting a supplement program.  I am determined, as I have always been, to just eat HEALTHY & BETTER.  So here we go.  LETS DO THIS!!!

Today is day 1.  This morning I weighed in at 240 lbs.

The above post was written a couple of weeks ago and I got a little hesitant in completing and posting as this puts me in a vulnerable place but I know that loosing this weight isn't going to be comfortable physically or mentally so here we go.

AS OF 9/5/13 These are my stats:
Shoulders: 54-1/2"
Chest: 48"
Waist (Navel): 43-3/4"
Calf: 16-1/4"
Thigh: 20-1/2"
Arm: 14-1/2"
Weight: 236.2 lbs
Lean Mass: 167.94 lbs
Fat Mass: 68.26 lbs
Scale Body Fat %: 32.9%
Caliper Body Fat %: 24.9%
Average Body Fat %: 28.92%


Heaviest Weight: 285 lbs
Current Weight: 236.2 lbs
Overall lbs Lost: 48.8 lbs
Overall % Lost: 17.12%

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