Day 162-165 A Conscious Decision

"Reports of my falling off the wagon have been greatly exaggerated"- Shane Griffin

Ok there were no reports, but still. I hope this blog finds all my bloggy buddies doing well and having enjoyed their holidays to the fullest. I can honestly say I had as good of a time as I have ever had during the Christmas Holidays, and I don't even really like them. I got some cool stuff like my first Under Armour shirt, a bad assky leather jacket, Kathy got me a cool first person shooter game for the Wii, Call of Duty, World at War, and I got some new clothes. I also finally was able to save up enough money to spend on some decent walking/running shoes finally! I sprung for some Under Armour Shade running shoes. I had done some research and they came highly recommended by reviewers, so I took the chance. I love them! Most comfortable shoe I have had in quite some time. I broke them in this morning on my Wal Mart walking, got a second round at my lunch Wal Mart walk. I cannot complain one bit. Oh and I have committed to doing my first 5K on January 8, 2011. It is for the Van Buren's High School I guess drama club or whatever the acting people are in during high school. I am so looking forward to it!

As the title says, I made a conscious decision. In the days leading up to Christmas, I was sitting around making a war plan, getting psyched up, talking myself into a frenzy about not eating more than my normal calorie count for Christmas dinner. And suddenly, the on the 23rd, it occurred to me, once again, letting food run things. I know that the skinny people I know, they don't do all that. They eat normal the rest of the year, and the holidays, they eat mostly normal, but indulgence, that is ok. So, I decided on Christmas Eve morning, I would follow my usual diet up until we went to Kathy's mom's for that get together, and then I wouldn't eat till I was going to pop, but I wasn't going to get all psycho and eat two slices of lettuce either. So I took the blinders off, went to her mom's and had me two sandwiches and I ate some of the sweet treats her mom had baked. Nothing insane, but just a little letting go. Same thing with Christmas day when we hosted the dinner. I ate my normal menu up until 2 o'clock, then I turned it off, had me some good food in bigger portions THAN I NORMALLY DO and enjoyed the food of the season. Come yesterday morning, I was right back to the new Shane. I hopped on the treadmill, got my run in, had my usual breakfast, snack, lunch, snack and dinner. Now, I knew when I made the decision, I may not make my 210 by the end of 2010 goal, but I think that ultimately, I gained two things that are bigger than that, and that will help me when I do get to my goal weight. First, to eat like a skinny person would during the Christmas Holiday, some indulging, but not exorbitant amounts. Second, that I can take the blinders off for the holidays, cause they go right back on when they are done. This is my second day after letting my "diet" go. I have had phenomenal workouts on both days, I am just as motivated to keep on living healthy, and I gained a power over food, rather than continuing to let food define my actions, even if it is to the other extreme from my past practice of eating too much during the Christmas Holiday.

Did everybody else allow some indulgence in their routine, or am I the weinie of this group?

Day 161 Oh Those Muscles, Those Sore, Tired Muscles

My office is officially moved. And, I am officially so freaking tired and sore, it ain't even funny. I did a two mile walk before work. It turned out not to be necessary, cause I was moving fast and lifting so much today that I am in a huge calorie deficit I am sure. Another good thing, my office is set up! I have my own office and it is set up! I am so stoked! I have never had my own office before and now, I have not only an office, but an awesome office! I took a picture from my phone but haven't mailed it to myself yet, so I will get it on here soon when I get it mailed.

I am so ready to get to opening gifts. I know what one is and I want to play it right now! AAAAAAND the Hunter's are coming over for Christmas evening and Jason and I are gonna play it then too. I am so excited!

Well I am worn out, so I am gonna get off here. Ya'll have a great weekend if I don't see you between now and Christmas.

Day 160 My Shoulders Are Square

New "I just noticed" NSV. I have square shoulders! I guess I was just so fat before that they were round, but now, nope, square! I saw it today when I was working out with my shirt off. Got right angles there.

I have a weird thing going on. If I wear my contacts, I am geting wonky vision. I can't explain it fully, but I get like light flares in my vision, it is out of focus, except the very center of my field of vision. I only get it when I wear my contacts though. My glasses are ok. I wonder, is it possible my vision has gotten better as I lost weight? I mean my glasses are still a prescription from quite some time ago, my contacts I got last year about this time. I wonder if my contacts are just too powerful and messing with my vision. I dunno, but it is frustrating. I am going to have my eyes checked again at the beginning of the year and see if I need a new prescription maybe.

I have been exceptional with my eating this week. I did do one thing though. I have been doing 1500 calories a day for awhile now, but I have been getting what I am pretty sure is low blood sugar symptoms. I think I have been over exercising for my calorie count, so I have upped it to 1800 a day again. It is a calculated risk this late in the game in my 210 before the end of 2010 challenge, but I had to try it. I am tired of being scared of crashing if my sugar got too low for me to recover.

Lauren is baking Christmas cookies all by her lonesome! I am pretty impressed. I even took a small one and ate it so I could encourage her cooking skills. Sure is cool to see her growing up, but sure wish she would stop!

Day 159 Sedentary, I Knew Thee Well

I am sitting here thinking about something I just now realized. How sedentary I used to be and how much I was "going to do later". Seriously guys and gals. It was baaaaaad. I mean about the only thing I was up to getting out of my chair for was a trip to the kitchen or pantry! I never missed those opportunities for sure!

So, I got home tonight after a bit of a late night at the office, and having stopped to visit with my Mom. Kathy had supper fixed when I got home and we ate a yummy meatloaf with some chopped spinach as a side. It was yummy. I had gotten very light headed today and was starving all morning. I think I may have gotten my blood sugar low again, cause I went to lunch with Kathy and immediately after that, I felt back to normal. I have had these episodes before. I get a little disoriented, it seems like everyone is talking loud, I can't think very fast, etc. Once I get some food in me, I feel better almost immediately after, like 5 or 10 minutes. So I had a plate of yellow rice and cuban cooked ground beef. I guesstimated it to be around a 600 calorie meal, which is way more than I usually eat for lunch, but i was honestly worried. I usually go walk at lunch at the track when it is warm. I have almost no doubt if I had chosen to go that route today, there may have been a 911 call!

So about the sedentary lifestyle title; tonight I had a honey do list that was given to me last night. I was charged with moving the mirror from the dining room to the entry way, and hanging my wife's grandma's painting in the dining room, as well as assembling Lauren's desk chair that Kathy got for a steal. I got the chair knocked out pretty quickly. Next I took down the mirror in the dining room and marked where the painting was supposed to go. I got the anchors put in the wall for the painting and got it hung up. This, in the past would have been the point in time that I would have said ok, I will get the mirror hung tomorrow. In fact, I entertained the idea for a second and decide that I would just go do it now, get it over with!! It was not even a long debate, just did it! Then after thinking about it for a sec, I realized I have been doing that a lot lately. At work, the hold punch circles seen to escape from the punches pretty regularly. I have no qualms at all about stopping to pick them up when I see them, whereas before, those stay right there. I love this new feeling of I will just do it!

Day 158 The "Sweet Spot"

Good Monday evening all. I just got back from my last Quorum Court meeting as a spectator. Next go around, I am a the one making the calls! I am pretty excited about it too. Kathy went with me and that was nice. I like when she shows interest in my stuff.

So let me ask you this. Do you have little mental tricks to help you with your work outs? Is there a trick you use to help you maximize your potential? I have this thing. My coach always said finish strong in whatever you do. Don't give 100% for 90% of the game, then only finish at 80%. So, when I am walking or running or whatever exercise I am doing, I always have some preset point that I call the "Sweet Spot". When I hit the sweet spot, I turn it up a notch and give a little extra effort. For example, I usually to 10 laps around Wal Mart in the mornings before work. I go hard at it too. I get my heart rate up, my breathing is up, my muscles are feeling it by the time I am done. But, on lap 8, I make sure I am going at least as hard or harder than I did on lap 1. No slacking, no matter how tired and worn out I am. That technique has become more than a habit, it is an addiction now. I am unable to "cruise" during a workout. I even tried to today during my lunch walk. I was consciously trying to walk at a moderate pace cause I was feeling fatigued from this weekends walks and how hard I went this morning. I tried to walk slower, I did, but i would get off in my own little world and suddenly I would realize I was walking real fast again. So, I gave up even trying to dial it down, and just finished it out at full speed. Oh and I had a great ab workout today too! I really shredded those bad boys. I suspect tomorrow morning will hold some good soreness for me! Another strange thing about me, I really enjoy soreness, more than a person should I am pretty sure.

Uh, National Lampoon Christmas Vacation just showed up on my tv, see ya'll later!!

Day 157 Sundays Are My Fun Days

I can think of a multitude of reasons I love me some Sunday. It is the day for rejoicing in the Lord, there is NFL on tv, I typically have fewer activities planned on Sundays. But here lately, it has also turned into my day of physical achievements.

As you recall, two Sundays ago, I walked 10 miles straight through for the first time ever. Then last Sunday, I jogged a 5k straight through for the first time ever. Well today, I jogged an hour straight and wound up at 4.2 miles in that hour. I also finished out the workout by walking until I reached 5 miles. Here is the part I like the most about my workout though. When I reached the 3.1 miles for the 5k, I got all excited that I had done it in 44 minutes and 20 seconds and started doing a victory dance of sorts.

I think those of you who watch football will get this. One thing I have always admired about the athletes in the NFL is how obvious their core strength is. And it is more evident than ever when they are running away from a great tackle or a great run and they are high stepping and scrunching their body down at the same time. I was doing that today on the treadmill! I was doing it subconsciously, not even thinking about it! Then I realized that I was doing it and got even more happy about my workout!

I have gotten in so much better shape in my core that it is not even funny. When I am sore, it is even more evident how much more muscular my trunk is. Oh and I hadn't mentioned this, but now, I can feel my ribs on my side all the time!! If I need to scratch, there they are. If I just feel like poking them, there they are. AAAAAANNNNNNNDDD Lauren was giving me a hug the other day, and her head hit my sternum. She said what is that? I told her that was my sternum and she was like really? Nobody else I hug has that. Kinda humorous huh? And lastly, and I just noticed this today, don't know how long it is that this has been the case, but my love handles are gone! I hadn't even paid a bit of attention to that until it just happened to catch my eye today while I was measuring my belly, which by the way has shrunk from 53 inches around my belly button to 44 1/2 inches!

Quite a Sunday folks, if I do say so myself. I have two more Sundays left in this year, and I am going to make the best of both. I went back to check my Hot 100 goals that I originally set because I couldn't remember what my 5k time goal was. It was to get a 5k in under 40 minutes. I jogged at 4.2 miles an hour today and it never really challenged me to the point I was worn out, so next week, I am shooting for that goal! I think if I can jog at 4.5 miles an hour, I should be able to get at or below 40 minutes in a 5k! That would be so awesome. And I think it would go a long way towards getting to my goal of 210 by New Years Eve!! Ya'll be sure and say a prayer for me that I can get these goals accomplished and have a wonderful last two weeks of 2010! And I will give you the same courtesy by praying that each of my bloggy buddies finishes strong this year and makes the transition into a new year as the best you that you can be!

Day 156 Really? Really? You Have To Be Kidding Me!

Happy Saturday folks! I have had a pretty darn good day all the way around. Good eating, good exercising, good living, and even some good shopping, or as good as shopping can be in my estimation. I got Kathy's gifts finished up, so that was a bonus. Kathy and I got to spend time with the Hunters today. We went to watch the latest Harry Potter movie and it was an excellent movie! I need to get the rest of them and get caught up on watching them.

So, when I was a 3X shirt wearing kind of guy, I had the darndest time finding places that carried them and even more of a hard time finding some that were decent looking. Well I have worked and worked to get smaller and now that I am an XL, I am having a hell of a time finding those! I was at Wal Mart on Friday and was going to treat myself to a new t shirt. Well I found some t shirts printed commemorating that the Razorbacks are going to the Sugar Bowl (neener neener Doc!!) and was going to go ahead and get one. There were several designs, most were too cartoony for me, so I found the design I wanted that was understated but cool looking, and guess what, not one XL in the bunch. Fine. So I moved on to looking at other shirts, and I kid you not, every time I found one I liked, there were no XL's to be found! Really? Really? You have to be kidding me! I gave up and bought me a new belt instead finally. The one I had I was wrapping around to the middle of my back belt loop and it was getting on my nerves.

So I am two people I never thought I would be all of the sudden. First, I decided to go for a shorter walk this morning. I was going to just do 3 miles since I was kinda time crunched. Well I couldn't do it. I got hacked at myself over being a slacker, so I got my 5 miles in and I did the whole thing at a very fast pace. It really does amaze me that 5 months ago, I had a hell of a time finishing one mile or two laps around my block, and the hills killed me! Now I was on my 4th mile before I could ever even tell I was working out. Which brings me to my under 200 present I have decided to get myself. I saw a vest at Wal Mart the other day that you add weights too so it gets heavier. You wear it while you walk or jog to get more of a workout. It is only like 40 buck or maybe a little more, but it is so mine for getting to sub 200 pounds!!

I am debating doing ten miles of walking again tomorrow morning. I am either gonna do that or I may jog a 5k and walk another two miles all in one session just to see if I can. I will figure out which after my Sunday morning coffee. Ya'll have a great night and I will see ya'll tomorrow!