Wow. I've had next to zero time to get on and blog. So here's a quick two week recap.
So I was weighing in at 284lbs on 1/24/08
- getting ready to go out to Denver to see my Aunt/Uncle/Cousin. Needless to say, we enjoyed some good food. Can you say, "Egg & I" ? A slammin' breakfast place, where we visited more than once.
Cheesecake factory? yep. not thrilled about myself. Anyway, for the damage, I came back to, on 1/31/08:
Yup. Gained a pound back! Not nice. Could've been worse, but thankfully my cousin dragged me to the YMCA to play some basketball. (Thanks Dan!)
Right, so now its midweek upon return, and I don't have much time to get to the gym and all (thats my excuse), so I don't really do particularly well that week - on 2/4/08 (This past Monday), I weighed in at:
284.5lbs. I lost 1/2 lb for the remainder of last week after the trip. Not happy, but again, I'm not going to get discouraged and jump off. I did however have the desire to recommit to a strong week of on plan.
I made my chili and rice, planned my meals, drank my water, and have been to the gym each night except last night (just got home from their actually). And as previously mentioned, I decided to weigh in on Mondays and Thursdays.
So this morning I weighed in, and here's what I got:
Yes! Down 2.5lbs from Monday to today. That felt good.
So here I stand at a slight 282lbs, and ready to keep going. That brings total weight loss to 15lbs since January 1. My goal is 13lbs per month, so I have a little ground to make up in February, and based on schedule, I'm hoping not to have to many interruptions.
And if you're wondering how Colorado was... it was AWESOME!
In talking with a buddy of mine, I was given a great suggestion. I started this program saying I would weigh in on Monday mornings, once per week. I've done this since 12/31, but I'm going to change my routine. Here's how...
I'm going to do 2 weigh ins per week. 1 on Monday morning, and 1 on Thursday morning. What do I gain?
Well, hopefully no weight, however I do gain extra motivation. Between Monday and Wed night, its a short span. If I know that I have a weigh in day only a few days away, and in order to see a loss in a short span I need to stay engaged, I feel myself anticipating weigh in and really getting excited about it.
Last night was a good example. I really didn't want to go to the gym, but letting my weigh in this morning fueling my motivation, I got up and went out to the gym, so much happier upon return.
I'm going to try to give this a shot and see what I can muster by way of motivation. God has been kind to me in keeping me motivated to succeed. A fiancee that is so dear to me in her encouragement doesn't hurt none either.
So down to business... this morning's weigh in:
284lbs. Minus 1 pound from Monday morning. I guess I would have liked to see more, but I'll take it. I went to the gym on Monday and Wed, and ate pretty much on plan except for panera on Monday.
Here's the proof shot:
Wishing you all the best. I'll be in Colorado from Saturday to Tuesday, so I likely won't have a formal post and weigh in, but on Thursday, I should be back and in the swing.
But, before I get into it, let me just say "Thank You!" to all who kept Abraham in your prayers. After a week of being hospitalized in Uganda, he finally stepped off the plane yesterday, almost fully recovered.
Praise God for His care and ear to the many prayers.
It turned out that he had a severe case of pneumonia, and we'll hope this week home provides him with the necessary recovery.
Last week, I made it to the gym 1 time. Pathetic.
Aside from one day, I really didn't have the opportunity to go, as each night brought a new obligation that really couldn't be avoided.
I did eat on plan for most of the week, aside from Wednesday, when I took Alycia out for her birthday dinner in DC, and last night at Abe's celebration dinner.
The results of a slow week?
I lost 1.5lbs coming in at an even 285lbs.
While I'm not happy with those results by any means, the one thought that gives me peace is that I lost weight in a week, that I didn't have enough excersize.
So what about this week?
My goal for this week is 4lbs again. In planning, I should be able to make it to the gym today, Wed, Thurs, Friday. I'm traveling to see my aunt in Colorado on Sat morning and returning Tuesday, so gym issues/eating may be impacted, but my goal will be to really crank it up M-F of this week to achieve my goal.
Here's where I need to improve:
Getting back to 100 oz water per day
Getting to the gym every night possible
Not planning my meals around my errands/obligations
I've got some work to do for sure. I hope this week was a great week for you, and you find ways to keep yourself engaged!
Before anything, I wanted to say "Thank You!" to Juli66021 for your prayers for Abraham as requested below. So grateful that you took the time to lift him up in prayer and share with others.
Thanks to any others that read and took the time to pray for him, and I want to give a quick update of what I know.
He's in a hospital now in Kampala, and the rest of the team, minus a friend, have left to return home as scheduled. They've given him a nebulizer to stabalize his breathing, and are still running more tests.
If you would continue to pray for Abe's recovery, his only friend with him, Drew, and his family's peace. God, our creator is fully active in this trial, and for that I reason to find much hope. I think in my own temptation to fear, I can find opportunity to grow in my faith, and I'm quite sure this has been sanctifying for others along the way.
Thanks again for your continued prayers!
Week 2 Weigh In Results:
One more thing to be thankful for... I hit my goal of 4lbs this week, right on the nose! YES!!
I pretty much ate on plan, aside from two meals, and some irregurlarity in space between meals yesterday. I went to the gym 4 of 7 days, so that will have to improve.
Last night I cooked rice, and packaged my chili for the next four days... I will need to cook before the weeks out.
This week, I'm aiming for 4lbs more. I know that may be aggressive, but I feel I can do better than I did last week if I really assert myself.
I have several high-level meetings this week at work, so I know that can often impact my eating schedule... I'll do my absolute best.
I'm still testing a change I've made to the 6 week body makeover plan, and will let you know all about it when I've deemed it to be helpful.
Lastly - did you see the Patriots game? Nice.
So next week they will play the Chargers in the championship game... winner goes to the superbowl. Should be fun!
If you're a Christian, you've likely at some point been "hungry" for others prayer. I'm in one of those place right now, and friend, if you're a Christian, I sure do covet your prayers.
My fiancee's brother Abraham is currently on a church mission trip to bring the Gospel to Uganda, Africa. He was scheduled to be coming back tomorrow, however we're unsure of his ability to do that.
He's been stricken with a relentless fever, and having some real issues breathing. The local clinic didn't have xray equipment or service, so they did all they could and sent him back to his hotel, however the situation just worsened.
Now, with limited communication, their seeking to medivac him out.
Actually, just got a call from Alycia, and apparently he's in an ambulance being sent to a hospital in Kampala about 45 minutes away to see if they can assist.
I ask for your prayers for his care, specifically that God would heal his illness, provide Abe with comfort and peace, and for wisdom to the physicians that are seeking to care for him.
You'd like Abe if you met him. He's not just a likeable guy, but he has a genuine heart to serve others. His ability to light up a room with joy when he steps in, is remarkable, and contrary to many in our time, he walks with a presence of humility. Abe is a good guy.
I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt, and have for some time now, that the Lord will use Abraham in some amazing ways to point others to the Lord.
So, dear reader, please pray for his wellness, and protection. While you're praying, if you could also lift up his family's anxiety for him, that would benefit them greatly.
Thanks for reading this, and I'll be sure to post updates. Please leave a comment so I can thank you directly if you had a chance to pray for him.
I had some extra time today, so I thought I'd take a few minutes to share my engagement story. After all, its the reason I have the goal of June 27th to lose the 80 lbs!
Her name is Alycia. She's a wonderful woman in so many ways, beautiful in and out, not to mention a dear friend to me.
Anyway, I decided that I'd ask her in New York City around Christmas time... it was a trip we had always talked about. December 15th was the weekend we chose to go, however of course she had no idea about the proposal!
We took an early morning bus from DC up to the Penn station area in Midtown Manhattan. My nerves were jumping the whole night, let alone the bus ride.
When we arrived in NYC, my initial thought was we'd check some sites out, and then head up to central park for ice skating where I would ask her on the ice.
(pop!)
Sorry, that was the bubble that surrounded my little utopian dream of how it should all go down!
Dec 15, a Saturday just before Christmas in NYC... yeah, all looks good on paper, but there are about 40 million people covering every square inch of Manhattan.
Ok, so we arrive around lunch time, so we decide to get inside a neat little diner on the quieter end of 34th st. Here's her picture... hours before being proposed to in that very diner...
I told you she was beautiful!
But I digress...
We then went to Macy's, where we just happened to run into 39.9 million of the NYC visitors in just the mens section. Nice.
I don't have a problem with Macy's, but on this day, of all days, Alycia wanted me to buy a new leather jacket! Now, why's that so bad Will, you ask?
Simple... I was carrying the ring in the left pocket of my current leather jacket, and she kept taking it from me to try on a new one that certainly wouldn't hide the box bulge as well!
The more I insisted against it, the more she wanted to free me of my coat. She would lay it down on at rack (mind you 10 or 11 million people are rubbing up against it per second), and look for new ones. I was as nervous as a long tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs!
Finally, we emerged only hours later with my original jacket, ring still in left pocket, Alycia still ignorant to the whole scare... whew!
Here's a picture of us in front of 34th st Macy's in Herald square, directly after we emerged... and if you look closely at my left pocket, you can see the bulge of the ring box I was protecting! LOL.
Funny, right? (grin)
Ok, so because the Empire State building had an hour and 1/2 wait to get to the top, we decided to head straight up to Central Park to go ice skating. My heart was beating like a rabbit as we entered Central park east entrance.
By the way, I didn't tell you it was ice cold that day, but we like it that way, so it only served to set the scene.
We made our way to the open air ice rink in central park, only to find ANOTHER *39.9 million people! (*numbers are approximate)
We found a super long line to get on to the ice... hours of waiting that we didn't have because we had to be back in mid-town for our bus ride home at 7p. It's around 4 at this point, so now my mind is scrambling.
Here's a picture about 20 minutes before I proposed to her, with the ice rink in the background. You'll see the the people ice skating, but you won't see much ice due to the volume of "traffic". If you fall, you die... that's what it looked like!
Ok, so now I'm faced with when, and how on the fly, right?
I was going to take her on a horse and carriage ride through central park, but I kind of wanted her to be honored by doing it in public.
So after nervously walking away from the ice rink, I noticed these cool rock/cliffs that are up and overlooking the ice rink where many people where lined up taking in the view.
We bought some hot chocolate (read: stalled a bit longer), and climbed up to the top. At this point, I decided to ask somebody to take our picture, and then drop to a knee.
I saw this family that was about to leave, and I went up to this guy who had a Patriots hat on, and asked him if he'd mind taking our picture with the rink/city in the background.
He was happy too... at this point I leaned into him and said... "listen, buddy, I'm about to propose to my girlfriend, and would love if you could snap some photos for me"
Alycia was standing about 10 feet away, and I told her I was showing him how to use the camera and directed her to stay with the things. So.. his eyes widened and he was like, "Right on man!"
So, something I'll always treasure, here's the photo of me when I dropped to my knee on that rock to propose to Alycia.. trying to get the ring out.... fun!
Wow!
The funny thing was that she was so shocked at first and off guard, she was like... "Will, what are you doing?"
What am I doing? I wanted to dig a hole to china! That seemed like an eternity down there!
I told her that I love her very much, that I'd be so honored if she would be my wife.
I'm so grateful she said YES!
Here's the picture a few seconds after I got up from my knee:
Needless to say, it was a long, fun ride back to DC shortly afterwards!
So now, January 1, 2008 - I set my goal to lose 80lbs in 6 months. I want to weigh no more than 219 for my wedding day of June 27th. I've got a lot of work to do, but great motivation for it.
Hope you enjoyed the story behind the goal... I'll keep you posted!
As I mentioned, I wanted to get a chance to upload some photos. Today's the first chance I've had to make that happen!
On Mondays, when I weigh in, I'm going to try to get pics of my weigh in on my scale. This pic is from this past monday, 1/7/08. I put a date stamp on it so you can follow my progress. I started at 297 on Tuesday, 1/1/08 and this was the monday weigh in result:
I've been working on my diet and research all week long.. had a really good weak with gym and food, plus a really cool experiment with this nutrition weight loss guide... no pills/shakes or anything different than the 6wbmo, except for eating times, and change up schedule... before I plug it, let me see what type of result it brings.
On a side note, the Patriots play tonight at 8pm est. Nice... hoping they move on in the playoffs. Excited for that!
This is the first time I've been really set up for succeeding with any "plan" that I can remember... I'll explain.
I purchased the Michael Thurmond's 6 Week Body Make months ago, however I've never really took the initiative to establish a successful routine with work and busy weekends. Until now.
With the help of my Fiancee, I was able to make a new "on plan" Chili and rice dish taht I really enjoy, and have been able to really prepare for the week.
In addition, I joined a new gym, that is closer to my home, and my Fiancee goes there as well, so there's a great opportunity to stay engaged with this plan.
Even though I started the gym efforts on Monday 12/31/07, I made this awesome chili on Tuesday night, so I started the full plan on Wed.
On Tuesday, I weighed in at 297lbs, and was looking to lose 80lbs by my wedding date, 6/27/08. Wow... a lot of work!
I'm not always sure where and how my motivation can leave, but I can tell you that through prayer, God's grace, and making sure I'm prepared to implement the week, I have best positioned myself for success.
I'm happy to report that my first Monday morning weigh in came in at 291lbs, a loss of 6lbs. Nice.
That's encouraging specifically because of my aggressive goal I've set for myself - by 6/27.
I'll post some photos, as well as a weekly Monday morning check in. My goals for this week are:
1. Minimum of 5 days at the gym with 45-60minutes cardio in Target heart rate
2. Eating on plan all week with a minimum of 100 oz per day of water
3. Losing 4lbs by Monday, 1/14/08
Anyhow, to Him that is able to do all things, I'm thankful.
Now, we only need my dear New England Patriots to beat Jacksonville in the AFC Divisional Playoffs on Saturday night... oh and another Mike Huckabee upset in New Hampshire would be nice too. =)
