Friday, November 7, 2008

November Update: Coolness!

The scale doesn't lie, so thank God for Photoshop! lol jk

Two months ago on Sept 7th, I informed Cris (the director of the documentary about my "journey to the Boston Marathon") that I had lost another 12.4 pounds to bring me in at 224.8. Appearing impressed he commented "You'll be at 200 in no time" and after thinking about that statement for a few seconds, I replied "yeah, that will never happen!". It's funny, but looking back at that conversation now, I honestly did not believe that I could ever go below 200 pounds and assumed it was just wishful thinking on the part of a young film maker who realized that all of his efforts wouldn't quite work out as planned if his subject gained weight and wasn't able to finish the marathon. I'm not sure what the technical description is for a movie that fails to reach it's intended point is but the term "Flop" comes to mind.

Actually, the first time I met Cris to discus the "film", this particular scenario of me gaining weight and never running the marathon or only running five miles of the marathon and dropping out to go and grab some fried clams and a beer was brought up and I mentioned I thought it would make the movie just as interesting, with the only difference being that the genre would have to be switched from "Documentary" to "Comedy". Since this was the first time he had met me and I had met him, I'm not sure he saw the humor in my alternative vision. He left shortly after that, no doubt a little skeptical on what he had got himself into...

Baby steps. I have come to realization that it works out better to have both long and short term goals on a long range project like this. Obviously the long range goals are clearly defined (lose weight, run the marathon, raise money for Cystic Fibrosis research to help save the life of my niece Julia) but I have discovered that the short term goals such as increasing the distance I run, swim, and exercise are just as important. Monthly weight loss and running shorter races in preparation for the marathon are more good examples of short term goals. But ever since Cris made that comment about breaking the 200 pound barrier, it has kind of fallen in between the two goals because of it's significance. I suppose those are called landmarks and today I reached a significant landmark in my life by breaking the 200 pound barrier. I don't quite actually remember it, but I'm sure that when I discovered I had gone over 200 pounds when I was ~18, that was also a significant landmark as well, just one that I was not very proud of. Today, life is good.

Below are some different perspectives to illustrate just how far I have come.
  • I have not been below 200 pounds since I was ~18 years old, almost 30 years ago.
  • Mary (my wife) has never seen me below 230 pounds since we have known each other. How I convinced her to date and eventually marry me is still a mystery!
  • At the beginning of this year (January) I weighed right around 300 pounds so I have now lost ~100 pounds in a little over 10 months.
  • Since June 7th when I started this project, I have lost 81.5 pounds. To put that in perspective, when I pack my suitcase for a trip, I weigh it so that it comes in at 48 pounds (to be under the 50 pound limit). When I drag the suitcase down the stairs, I nearly kill myself because it weighs so much. I have lost ~1.6 suitcases! I really don't know how I was able to walk and run while carrying those suitcases and not collapse!

As I am almost at the exact halfway point to the Boston Marathon (04/20/09), this is a good time to see how far I have progressed in my training and how I was able to break the 200 pound barrier.

Exercise
Running.
Before: When I first started walking/running my 3 mile course in June, I was only able to "run" 10 yards before I had to stop.
After: Last weekend I ran nonstop 5.25 miles! During a typical day I run/walk at least 4 miles, most times 5 miles and sometimes 6+ miles!

Swimming.
Before: When I first started swimming in July, I could only swim 8 lengths (25 yards) of the pool and I had to stop. This is the equivalent of .11 miles.
After: On Thursday (Nov 5th) I swam 94 lengths of the pool which is equal to 1.33 miles!

Spin (Stationary Bike) Class:
Before: When I first started Spin class (3 days a week), I was convinced that the instructors had received special training in torture, had a much lower resistance level on their bikes (easier to pedal) than what the class was instructed to be at, and they somehow had the ability to slow down the clock on the wall so that a ONE hour session was in actuality a TWO hour session. In addition I was pretty sure that I had broken my tailbone/butt and that it would NEVER get better.
After: As of Friday (Nov 7th), with the exception that after 6 weeks my tailbone/butt finally repaired itself, everything else remains the same! lol All joking aside, I actually look forward to spin class, discovered that the instructors (also) received training in compassion and even whisper to myself "Bring it on!" when instructed to increase the resistance. That said, the clock is still suspect.

Weight Training:
Before: In June I was doing 1 set of 10 Reps, as fast as I could.
After: Yesterday I did 2 set of 15 reps. I have learned that you "push" for 2 seconds, "hold" for 2 seconds, and "release" for 4 seconds. I also have learned that less weight is more weight.

Diet
Another component of my preparation for the race is my diet. Exercise is great but for myself I also needed to change my entire diet. Fortunately my trainer/friend Rick helped set me up on a diet that broke down my foods into total calories, proteins, carbs, and fats. I would like to say it has been hard (and Rick, if you are reading this, it has been) but realistically it has not been as I really haven't been on an actual diet at all. It's just that now, I am completely aware of EVERYTHING that I eat and that not all foods are created equal. Here are some "before and after" thoughts on my diet.

Before: I ate approximately 3500-4000+ calories a day, completely disregarding the fat content.
After: Until a week ago I was limited to 2000 calories a day, although I never exceeded 1500. As of last week, I have reduced my allowance to 1300 calories a day but I rarely consume more than 1100 as the allowable fats or carbs max out before I get there.

Before: I would eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. Dieting was for tomorrow.
After: I'm one of those people in the store that actually reads the side panels of the food before putting it in my cart. As far as items that don't have a side panel (ie meats, fruits, restaurants, etc) I go to several websites that break them down for me.

Before: I would fry just about everything. Any health benefit that seafood had, be it fish, scallops and even lobster, was destroyed when I fried it up. Eating vegetables with breading on them was never an option. I even tried to fry lettuce once. It actually wasn't that bad.
After: I pretty much grill everything including fish, scallops and even tried lobster once (failure). I discovered that the food, instead of the crispy golden breading, has flavor as well. Who would have thunk it?

Before: I would snack (probably "gorge" is more appropriate) on sweets, ice cream, chips of all kinds, etc. I tried to fry ice cream several times but each time just made a mess in the kitchen.
After: Apples with fat free caramel sauce, bananas, fat free pudding, etc aren't as bad as I had suspected. Something in my brain snapped and I have absolutely no desire to eat the leftover Halloween candy bars that has been sitting in the kitchen since last week. Weird.

Well I could go on but I really need to go take the "front door" picture and finish this installment up. Thank you for taking the time to read this and have a nice day.

Roger :)
www.RFME.org

DATE: November 7th WEIGHT: 195.2
LOSS FOR MONTH: 16.4 TOTAL LOSS: 81.5