Running For My Existence: 11: December Update (6 Months to change my life)

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Music for this blog (Coldplay - Life In Technicolor ii)
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Mary Christmas. I'm one of those people who usually does the majority of my Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve. There's a bunch of us (mostly guys) who show up at a store around 3 PM on December 24th, smile and nod to one another like we know each other, and run around the store grabbing whatever is within arms reach that we are positive our "significant other" will be exclaiming "This is EXACTLY what I wanted!". And every Christmas morning, regardless of what Mary receives, those are the words I always hear coming from her mouth, accompanied with a smile that melts my heart.

Anyone that knows me, knows that I honestly consider myself to be the luckiest man on the face of the earth because I have such a wonderful and supportive wife. When I asked her what she wanted for Christmas she replied You have already given me the best gift in the world - your health. I really don't need anything else. See what I mean? How do you compete with that? My love for her grows stronger every day.

Deadline. Like my Christmas shopping procrastination, I always put off what I needed to do regarding my health until "tomorrow" which fortunately never arrived. A procrastinators dream. Unlike the definitive deadline of December 24th that I pushed to it's limit every year, my health really didn't have such a tangible deadline other than the quite apropos word "dead" from the word deadline. And though mounting evidence of it's early arrival always stuck in the back of my mind when I visited my doctor or even looked at myself in the mirror sometimes, I justified that I could do something about it later. But unfortunately, unlike buying additional Christmas gifts AFTER Christmas for Mary, bundled with a heartfelt apology, there really aren't any "do overs" when it comes to waking up the next day from life's final deadline. And as selfish as it may sound, I have given Mary what she wanted for Christmas: My Health. And a promise to be around for many more Christmas mornings with a smile on my face and love in my heart. And a bunch of "This is EXACTLY what I wanted" gifts. :)

Another Landmark. This December 7th marked another significant landmark in my journey to the Boston Marathon as it has been 6 months since I started my training and weight loss regimen. That's it! Six months and I have completely changed just about every aspect of my life. That equates to just 1.08% of my entire lifetime (6 months divided by 552 months). On top of that, it has been just about the best 1.08% of my life as every aspect has changed in such a positive way. In the grand scheme of age, it's a very short time.

And since nothing usually illustrates a change better than a picture, here's one for you...

Wow! How about that picture? That's the proverbial "I used to fit in these?" shot that they show on TV or in ads to get you to subscribe to some wonder diet program, miraculous weight loss pills, or magical exercise equipment. Now that I think about it, I could have created some type of "magic pill" made out of some protein powder and some crushed up red cherry Life Savers ("activation crystals") and I'd probably be a millionaire!

In such a short amount time, I have completely changed my physical being. I have lost almost 93 pounds since June 7th and have lost ~115 pounds since the beginning of this year! If someone had told me 6 months ago that I could lose 93 pounds without surgery I would have told them they were nuts. Even if I had surgery, I seriously doubt that I would have lost that much weight! The thing that continues to amaze me is that it hasn't been that hard. I still eat just about everything that I ate before, but it's just that now I'm aware of what I'm eating and how many calories I'm taking in and simply reduce the amount of food I eat. Sure, there are going to be days like today (Christmas) where I'm going to have a "few" more calories than I should, but I also now know that I can make up for those extra calories the next day and spend a little more time exercising to burn them up.

Speaking of exercising, this the part of my routine that I am really concentrating on quite a bit more. While I am obviously very happy with the weight loss, I continue to amaze myself as to how much my body is now capable of doing. Six months ago I could only run 10 yards (that is not an exaggeration) and last weekend I ran 11 miles, nonstop! I'm doing it and I really don't even know how it's possible! That said, this weekend I will do 12 miles and I have no doubt that I will do it and feel fine afterwards.

As usual, below is my monthly "picture in front of my front door". As you may notice, the outfit has changed a little from the other pictures that I have posted each month. When I posted it on my website (www.RFME.org) I told people that it was a Christmas Edition, but the truth is that I couldn't find the my usual gray t-shirt/dark blue shorts outfit that I normally wear on the 7th. Eventually I found and rescued them from the ever growing "Clothes to Salvation Army" pile that has taken over an extra bedroom but they really don't fit that well anymore (see above picture). The picture below is what I was wearing when I ran 10 miles, in 26 degree temperature as well. Me, in spandex? Who would have thunk it!

I should also point out that this will more than likely be the last of my double digit weight loss postings as my weight is getting pretty close to where it should be. I find it strange when the vast majority of my friends and other people that "knew me when" tell me I look great but I really shouldn't lose any more weight. Ironically these are some of the same people that were probably scared for my health when I weighed 300+ pounds! lol In any event I did visit my doctor a couple of weeks ago and she told me that my ideal weight should be somewhere between 165-175 so I can lose a few more pounds. At the next "weigh in" (January 7th), especially with Christmas (and all the parties) along with New Years thrown in, I'll be happy to break 180!

Thanks again for reading and have a Happy New Year!

Roger

DATE: December 7th WEIGHT: 183.8
LOSS FOR MONTH: 11.4 TOTAL LOSS: 92.9