Day 85 of 103in365: Weigh-in Monday 31/103

Merry Christmas!

Tomorrow is Christmas and I am very excited to have such great family to spend the holiday with!

I got on the scale this morning and what I saw both suprised me, and at the same time, didn't suprise me. I gained 2 lbs.

There is a few different ways I could process that, and at the end of the day, I am choosing to look the fact that I am still down 31 LBS since October 1! Not too shabby!

I felt myself slip a bit this week. Some food choices that were not great and some snacking that I could have done better.

I am going to enjoy tomorrow anyway and have a great Christmas including a great Christmas dinner! I will just go for a walk after dinner, instead of laying down on the couch for a nap. (there's a first time for everything)

I am choosing to keep my head up and focus on the positives and not let a scale take away my momentum. I am going to work a little harder this week, and get back the ground I lost. I have a long way to go and I suspect this will not be the last week I gain an lb or two.

It is more important that we learn from our success than our mistakes. Our successes teach us something much more valuable than what not to do (or what we did again) Our successes teach us what we should do more of, and what works.This helps us to not only stay on the road to our goals, but to find our way back to the road when we get off track.

Take away for tonight (and then I will let you get back to your Christmas). Don't spend all your effort learning from your mistakes. Remember to learn from your successes, since the successes are what you want more of.

Have a Merry Christmas!!

Scuba

Day 78 of 103in365: Weigh-in Monday 33/103

Hey There!

The result are in! ( I am cutting right to the chase this week)

I lost 4 LBS this week! That puts me at 33 lbs lost, thus the 33/103 in the title of this post.

I realize that I have not posted any pics since my first blog. I will post a October 1 pic next to a current pic of me soon.

It turns out the the re-commitment to my goal last week really worked. It got me fired up and ,,, well,,, re-committed. (Funny how that works) I payed more attention this week to what, when and how much I was eating. I also worked out or was active, in some way, everyday. That helps too!

I still am going with the "shorter work outs are better than longer workouts" concept and it is really working out for me. I am not doing what I have done other times I have lost weight where I do 30 - 45 minutes of cardio and then maybe some lifting of heavy things. I am spending no more than 15 minutes of either the bike or the elliptical, (sometimes only 5 to 7 minutes) and then spending another 10 to 20 minutes lifting heavy things. Because I am not crazy exhausted and spent, I am not making bad food choices after or before my workouts as I have done in the past, and I am often finding the energy and motivation to work out more than once a day. (or at least be more active and less sedentary)

I read an article early in October that really got me thinking about this theory, Here is the link to the article, but I will share with you what I found most interesting too.

http://health.yahoo.net/experts/losingitwithliz/how-your-workout-can-sabotage-weight-loss

When I read this part, I had one of those "the clouds parted and God's voice boomed from the sky while angles sang" kind of moments. It really made a insane amount of sense and I have been following it ever since.

"One small study published last month in the American Journal of Physiology found that overweight men who exercised 30 minutes a day burned more calories and lost more weight over three months compared to a second group who exercised for 60 minutes a day over the same time period. The shorter workout may have left participants with more energy to do other physical activities throughout the day; the longer workout may have triggered the impulse to eat more to make up for the extra burn. The takeaway? Cutting your workout time in half may yield even better results for weight loss and body fat. "

That is so brilliant and makes so much sense to me! It also fits in with one of the things I try to live my life by. "Work smarter, not harder." If you Google "shorter workouts better results", you find all kinds of info that supports the idea that many people (including me in the past) are stuck in the learned "Work harder" mentality. I am willing to work hard. I am willing to work really hard! Even more than I am willing to work hard, is my drive to work smarter.

Keep finding and doing the activities and exercises that are fun for you and get you motivated to move! This is one of the most important things I have learned and gotten better at so far in this journey. Another, is what, when and how much you eat is maybe even more important than what you are doing for exercise. Eat better and exercise more and better to be sure. But I think that sometimes, so much effort is put on the exercise part, that what, when and how much you eat is not emphasized enough. (Big mistake Sulu!)

Soon I will post at least some pics (maybe short video) of me doing some of the exercises and/or activities I am having fun and getting better at doing. 

Have a great week and "Work Smarter not harder!"

Scuba

Day 71 of 103in365: Weigh-in Monday

Hey There!

I will cut right to the chase today: the scale reads 289. The same as last week. No loss for this week, but no gain either. That is acceptable since I am still struggling with this knee injury and my amazing wife had a cookie party on Saturday. When the dust settled, there were cookies everywhere. (I had a few.)

I have reached another re-commit week. I had one a bit over a month ago (I think.) It is time to take accountability that I could have eaten better this past week, and I could have gone swimming or cycling and lifted more heavy things, and not have made my knee worse.

I did start PT on my knee today, so that is really positive! I got some exercise to do everyday, so that should fix that problem over time. 

I've been doing some thinking about portion sizes this week. I have really cut out most of the really bad things for me (fast food and soda.) (Except for Soda Saturdays.) (I love Soda Saturdays.) Really, the biggest thing I am working on right now is portion control. I am imagining the food I am about to eat, or am eating, or just ate, and I'm considering the space it takes up. Its volume if you will. Will you? Great!

So I am telling myself that the volume of food is enough food, even though it is less food than I am used to eating. That's ok though. In fact, it is necessary. The amount of food I was used to eating got and kept me fat. I'm ready to eat the amount that will help me get and stay fit!

Portion size is just about the most important aspect to healthier eating for me. I'm getting much better at it. I am skipping seconds most of the time, where I would almost always have had seconds if it were something I liked.

I'm remembering that it takes something like 30 minutes for your brain to receive the "I'm full" signal from your stomach, so that is the time you need to slow things down and not eat too fast, so you do not overeat. I have been saying to myself, "Its not a race!" or "Why am I eating like the fire station alarm is going off and I have to get this into my stomach so I can slide down the pole and off to a 3 alarm fire?" I am working on putting my fork down between bites and calmly enjoying the meal.

So, I am re-commiting myself to my goal! (I have a feeling this is will not be the last re-commit I do.) Maybe you have a goal that you need to re-commit to. If you do that today, in a week, you will be one week closer to reaching your goal too!!

Have a great week!

Scuba

Day 65 of 103in365: Weigh-in Monday

Hey There!

A funny thing happened to me yesterday morning. I performed another weigh-in Monday and discovered something unexpected. I weighed in 6 LBS less than I did last Monday!

I know that I did not lose 6 lbs this week. I have some theories.

One is that a bathroom scale is not the most accurate device in the world and will inherently have inconsistencies.

The other theory is that we weigh more or less at different times of the day (which is why I have been doing mornings) and that may be part of the jump. It would appear that I did indeed lose lbs the week before, but it just did not show up because of water retention or what have you.

Maybe the most important thing that I have been thinking about is that a scale is ultimately just a thing you stand on that gives you some ball part numbers that can give you an idea of progress or regress or nogress. What really matters is how you see yourself and feel about the progress you are making. (It helps when your clothes start fitting better and other people comment on how much weight they can tell you have lost too!)

I think I probably lost maybe 2 LBS the week before last and maybe 4 this past week. Any way you slice it, I am down 29 LBS total and I am coming in at 289! Still a long way to go, but also a long way from 318!! (BTW, I was 318 at the beginning of this journey on 10/1/12, but I was at my heaviest in January of this year at … gulp… 325. It is crazy that was 36 LBS ago! I can feel the difference everyday! Especially with 29 of those LBS coming off in the last 64 days!!

Another thing I wanted to talk about today was another challenge I am taking on. (Because losing 103 in 365 is not a big enough goal I guess)

I put on a purple “LiveStrong” style bracelet yesterday and recommitted to be Complaint Free!! Go check out www.acomplaintfreeworld.org when you get a chance.

In a chestnut shell (tis the season), you commit to not complaining and making negative comments in the effort to become a more positive person. In doing so, you do your part to bring to a more positive influence (and less negativity) to your life, your family, your work and beyond.

First step is that you put on the purple bracelet. Second step is that you move the bracelet from the wrist that it is on to the other wrist when you catch yourself complaining (or saying something that should precede a sad trombone sound). Ultimately, you will move it a bunch at first and less and less as you work to become complaint free. You are working up to not moving the bracelet at all for 21 days. (the length of time the website’s authors state it takes to create new habits.) It might take months to be able to keep it on one wrist for 21 days (or longer than months) but that is the goal.

So a few coworkers, a few of our clients at work and my amazing wife and I are taking the plunge and getting on the Complaint Free World train. Maybe you will want to too. It feels pretty good so far!

Well that is all for today! Have a great week!

Scuba Out.

Scuba

Day 58 of 103in365: Weigh-in Monday

Hey There!

I am a day late, good thing I am not a dollar short!

Thanksgiving has come and gone and here is my update.

No Change. That puts me still down 23 LBS since I started on October One. almost 25 LBS in my first 2 months of this journey! That feels great!

I maintained this week, which I think is just fine. I enjoyed myself on Thanksgiving (and maybe Fat Friday too. Too many delicious leftovers.)

I did get some workouts in this past week though, which I believed helped me to maintain and not gain. I did not stress out about what and how much I ate on Thanksgiving. I even went for more. I contemplated eating just little portions and only the healthy stuff, and then I decided that it is not the special occasions and the exceptions that make and keep me fat. It is the day-to-day food and portion decisions and workout decisions that are making the difference. It matters much more what I am doing 95% of the time that what I am doing the other 5%. I am not going to be able to stick to all my goals 100% of the time. I don't want to be that perfect and I will not be able to maintain anything like that. That is just not realistic and does not sound like any fun. I need this to be fun if I am going to maintain and succeed!

I am also having a bit of a setback with some pretty good knee pain. This is not new news to me, in fact I have known it for many years that my knee caps do not ride properly and this can cause pain and inflammation when I do certain exercises with higher intensity. I saw the MD and he said that I need to incorporate some lap swimming into my repertoire for times like this when my knee(s) are in pain, and to mix it up so things get stronger. I am also seeing a PT for a few sessions to get things dialed in with some exercises for that too.

Short story long, I went lap swimming for the first time ever yesterday. I went out and bought myself some of those little swim goggles, (I don't think my scuba mask would be that aerodynamic) and found myself a pool that had lap swimming after work. Let me tell you a secret. Michael Phelps makes swimming laps look easy but it is not! I consider myself to be a strong swimmer, but those laps kicked my bum! I am going to try again and work on my technique, but man, it was rough!

That is all for today. Make it a good week and remember, it is not what you do 5% of the time, it is what you do day in and day out the other 95% of the time that will make all the difference.

Scuba

Day 50 of 103in365: Weigh-in Monday

Hey There!

I did not do a mid week entry, but I am here now!

I weighed in today and I lost another 3 LBS!! That brings my grand total of LBS lost to an exciting 23 LBS so far. Not too shabby for the first 50 days into this here journey!

I am pumped for these 3 LBS! I was out of town for 4 days this week visiting a friend, and consequently had 6 meals in restaurants. I was not certain that I would lose anything this week because I was not sure I was going to have as much control over what I ate for 4 of the last 7 days. Well, I did it and here's how!

I started off by just thinking over what I ordered and not ordering the most unhealthy thing off any of the menus. (That being said, I certainly did not order the most healthy thing either. I ended up getting something in the middle)

Next, I got it out of my mind that even though things generally tasted really good, I did not have to finish everything that was served to me. This does not come naturally to me. My plate is typically the one at the table that is “clean as a whistle” when I am done. I am working to take smaller portions at home, and not eating everything on my plate at restaurants. It is making a big difference!

I also stuck to my soda rationing and only had soda twice! That is a big deal alone for me since I am used to having soda every time and am in a restaurant. (For that matter, before day 1 of 103in365, I would usually have soda everyday and sometimes, 2 to 4 times a day whether I was in a restaurant or not.)

It all boiled down to planning for success, staying true to my mission, and not taking 4 days off just because it seemed easier and thinking “I am not at home so I might as well just reconvene this thing as soon as I get back and just enjoy myself.” I still really enjoyed the restaurants I went to, but focused on the event of the meal and not just the food.

That is all for today! Have a great week!

Scuba

Day 43 of 103in365: Weigh-in Monday

Hey There!

43 days in! Wow, time is flying. It always does, but now I am doing something different (several things different) so now as it flies by, I am shrinking!

As it is Weigh-in Monday, I weighed in this morning and ... I have officially lost 20 LBS!

That means I lost only 1 LB this last week. Certainly a slow down from recent weeks, but at the end of the day, it is still 1 LB less and not 1 LB more.

This last week was not my best for a couple of reasons. The biggest one, is that this is the amount of weight that I historically have lost and then relaxed. The next normal step is that I hang out at that weight for awhile, or gain back more than I lost. This is not a "mission accomplished" moment! The battle is only 1/5 won. 

This time is different though. I am eating so much better and only drinking soda one day a week, that even though I worked out less this week, I still was able to lose a LB. That being said, I am not in the business of settling for a 1 LB a week pace. Not this early on at least!

Here is my game plan. The first thing is that I am telling you about it. The second thing is that I am going to get myself jazzed up again and get moving (no excuses) at least 5 days this week.

Eating better is huge for me on this journey, but I am not going to be putting up the numbers that I want with eating better alone. (Although eating better foods and smaller portions is a HUGE part of it.)

I am working towards a steady 2 to 3 LBS a week pace. I think that is really reasonable and totally within my abilities. I love when I lose more than 3 LBS in a week, and I will take it when it happens, but if I drop 2 or 3, I will be in great shape. (Literally and figuratively)

If, like me, you need to assess your progress towards your goals this week and get re-jazzed and re-committed, then do it! There is no time like the present and reaching big goals takes courage, strength and commitment to the process for the long haul. If it was easy, then everyone would do it!

Have a good week,

Scuba

Day 39 of 103in365: Make it fun!

Hey There!

One of the things that is keeping me motivated and moving around, is finding things that are interesting and fun to do.

One example of what I am doing, is using my speed and heavy bags. The speedbag in particular is becoming one of my favorite things (in the fitness and moving around realm.) It is relaxing even though I am hitting a bag very quickly. (This may sound weird that something fast and a bit violent can be relaxing, but it works for me and millions of boxers ... so there!) I have watched multiple speedbag videos on YouTube and have thought about attaching one of me doing a short round to a blog one of these days. Maybe I will, and maybe I will.

Another example is that I am starting to practice martial arts again. I have not actively been practicing for many years. I have spent many years studying and practicing different styles and concepts since high school, and it is feels great to be getting back into it. At this time, a good friend and I are getting into scheduled and reoccurring sessions of getting together and practicing techniques as well as supporting each others fitness goals. We are just getting started on this, but already it is becoming a time that I am really looking forward to.

This might sound small, but another way I have been keeping my thoughts on exercise and fitness is  by buying a set of old school hand grip trainers. You know the ones. They have the tension "spring" at the top and you squeeze the two handles together. (I picture that Rocky had a pair of these that he kept lying around to work on his grip and forearms during some down time)

Funny Story. I went to the sporting goods store to buy them, and the guy said "Try this one". He opened a package and handed me a new fangled, all plastic version of a grip trainer. He adjusted it to make it a bit tougher after seeing it was too easy for me (apparently this is the selling point for this particular model). He then handed it back to me and on my second "grip" ... the thing snaps and breaks. He looks at it, and then at me. I looked at it, and then at him. I then handed it back to him and with a straight face I said "I don't like this one." He kind of chuckled and agreed with me and I reached for the old 70s workhorse model with metal construction.

(That is a more than I ever thought I would write about a hand grip trainer. Funny.)

You have got to find fun ways to enjoy the process and journey of attaining your goals. If you don't, you are way more likely to get bored and quit. This might take some effort on your part, but you need to find methods of getting closer to your goal that you look forward to doing and makes you want to share how cool they are with someone else. (That is a measure for me on how much I enjoy or like something. Do I want to tell someone else about how cool it is or not.)

Some people like to run. (I don't like to run and that is OK because I am good enough, and I am smart enough, and gosh darn it ... people like me.) I do like to ride my recumbent bike (although it has been in storage all year, which is stupid and has made it much harder to ride.) I like hiking, even though I have not done it for some time now. (I plan to do more soon.) Some people love joining city league team sports they enjoy and may have played before when they were younger. (I played on a city league volleyball team relatively recently and it was a blast) I also like just walking with my family or even just with my pooch.

Hopefully there is physical activity you like to do. If not, good luck reaching any weight loss or fitness goals Spock! Probably not going to happen. You need to want to do what is getting you active and moving around, so find somethings you like to do and belly up to them on a regular basis.

Make it fun and you will do it more. Make it fun and make it be helpful for attaining your goals, and you will do it more and you will be successful! 

Scuba

Day 36 of 103in365: Weigh-in Monday

Hey There!

I have two big milestones this week to share! (Make that one big milestone for me, and one big milestone for 103in365 the blog.)

The big milestone for me is that ... I lost another 4 pounds this week! This puts me at ... wait for it ... the lowest I have weighed for at least 2 years! There's that and there is also the new grand total LBS lost thus far. The new number is 19 LBS! That puts me just under 300 LBS at 299. I am looking forward to never again expressing my weight starting with a 3! (I love the number 3 but it just looks so much fatter than a 2 does to me, with its two little starboard facing humps. A two is much more angular, which is what I am trying to look more like myself)

The milestone for 103in365 the blog is that this week I have passed 1500 pageviews! More specifically,  this blog has been viewed 1508 time as of right now. That is is a lot of views!

So I will keep on losing LBS and you can keeping on viewing and maybe I can maintain this harmonious losing streak for a long time.

I attribute my success thus far to some very uncharacteristic discipline on my part, as well as some outrageous positive support from many of you! This has been such a positive experience for me so far. I look forward to the entire journey and I am very excited to be that much closer to my ultimate goal of losing 103 LBS in 365 days!

Later this week I will write another post that will be longer and have more content.

I seem to have found a bit of a formula for this here thing. At least for now, I will continue with a shorter Weigh-in Monday entry with a few thoughts but mostly just my weigh-in update. Then later in the week, like Thursday or Friday, I will continue to write a second entry that is meatier and gives more insights and food for thought. (for both you and I)

There you have it! I hope you had a great weekend and I hope you have an even better week!

Scuba

Day 33 of 103in365: Carpe Diem

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,

   Old Time is still a-flying;

And this same flower that smiles today

   Tomorrow will be dying.

This is an excerpt from a poem by Robert Herrick, a 17^th century poet. It is discussed by Robin Williams in the movie Dead Poets Society. In the scene, Robin Williams is showing the young men in the class he is teaching, all these pictures of past students from their school. As he is showing them the old pictures, he points out that they all have something in common. They have all passed away. (He puts it a bit more bluntly, but you get the point).

He refers to the ones that have come before them to bring attention to that fact that like all of the men in the pictures, we all will one day die too. This does not have to be a morbid thought. To the contrary, Mr. Williams is speaking to the idea that since we have only a finite time on this earth, we should not waste it. We should not settle for less than great.

He goes on to teach them the Latin phrase, Carpe Diem . Seize the Day! The scene ends with Mr. Williams pretending to be the voices of the former students from the pictures. The voices are telling the youth men in his class to “Seize the Day” and to “Make your lives extraordinary. “

I believe it can be a healthy exercise to remind oneself that we are not always going to be here. It can put our daily lives into a bigger perspective and remind us that what we think is big deal in our lives today, maybe is not worth all the effort and stress we are assigning to it. There is a whole day ahead of us and we need to Seize every moment.

I like to think of what kind of man I want to be in 40 years from today. (First of all, I hope to be here 40 years from today, which is a big part of why I am on this 103in365 journey.) I like to imagine myself at 80, and think about what I need to be doing between now and then to not only get there, but to get there with too few regrets to mention. (“Regrets, I have a few. But then again, too few to mention”).

One of the things that I am doing to make sure I have too few regrets to mention is taking advantage, and appreciating, the opportunities that I have in my day to day life. This is much better than complaining about the opportunities I may not have and how unfair it all is. (I have tried that kind of thinking and it is dumb).

Another part of this quest is to stop putting off the things that can be done today (and maybe need to be done most days) to get me closer to my short term and long term goals. Not just my weight and fitness goals, but any of my goals. (Note to self: take the time to define and write down more of my goals). I will occasionally blog about the many different ways I am following through with that as the year goes on. 

In attempting do all of this well, one of the many things I am doing is demanding of myself that I am purposefully “spending” time throughout my day and not just “killing” time or simply “getting through the day”. This has helped me to take advantage of moments that I may have been formally doing things like channel surfing for some show to catch my interest and after and hour or two, realize that I never did find anything worth watching but not for a lack of trying.

That is time I am now spending writing, creating, working out, planning so that I can be eating smarter and spending more quality time with my family and friends. I still am watching a bit of TV, and I do mean a bit. Only fraction of what I was doing before.

I was watching a Dave Ramsey dvd a week ago (he is brilliant BTW! We are huge fans!) He was saying to “throw a brick through your TV and get a clue about your own life!” I can have the tendency to waste and kill a lot of time just staring at it that thing. (That is one of the big things I have changed in the past 33 days) He then went on to say the average millionaire, can not tell you what happened on any given TV show. They are too busy making their own lives richer, and richer with money too. (There are some bonehead millionaires too, but he was not talking about them).

I have lost touch with almost all of the shows I have been working so hard to follow, and you know what, it feels great! It is kinda cool to be the one that did not see Dancing with the Stars last night because I was too busy getting healthier and “spending time” instead of wasting time. Don’t get me wrong, I think that a bit of watching specific TV that you are really enjoying and that is being used as a finite bit of unwinding time or down time or a reward for a day well fought, can be a great thing. (I have a few shows like that right now, although they are on dvd and Netflix which makes it easier to watch them purposefully and on my time) If that is what Dancing with the Stars is for you, I did not mean to ruffle your proverbial feathers. Dance on!

Carpe Diem means (to me at least) that we have to purposefully Seize the meaningful things, time, and ventures we want to be a part of our days, in order to really be able to make our lives extraordinary. Go out there and Carpe what gets you a little closer to the person you want to become.

Make your day extraordinary!

Scuba

Day 29 of 103in365: Weigh-in Monday

Hey There!

The hits keep on coming. I weighted in this morning before work and I have lost another 4 LBS this week. That brings me to a grand total loss in 4 weeks of ... 15 LBS! Quick math here ... and ... carry the one ... only 88 LBS to go! Just a few pounds more down and I will weight less than I have weigted this entire year.

I realize that I will eventually, maybe sooner than later, slow down from this crazy pace of weight loss. But for now, it is a welcomed jump start towards a big goal.

I have had a good past 7 days. It was a long week with longer than normal hours, but I got a lot done and even more importantly maybe, is that I made good choices around the fatigue and extra pressure and ate and moved around like a fit person. (Which I am feeling more and more like everyday!)

I have thought a great deal about small successes and small stumbles this week and how they are both a part of the journey to reach any significant goal. It is important to set up small goals in between where you are now and the large goals you have. We all know that. What is tougher to remember sometimes is that small stumbles are a part of the whole thing too. If I beat myself up over the small stumbles along the way, I am shooting myself in the foot and I like my foot with its current amount of holes. (let me see for a second ... Yep still no holes to speak of in either foot!)

If I put myself down and feel all defeated or ashamed when I stumble, I am setting myself back in my progress. I certainly am not being my own biggest cheering squad! I love this particular line that Al Pacino says in Scent of a Woman. He is talking to a young woman in this restaurant/club and is about to give her a short tango lesson. He says to the young woman who is tentative to accept his tango lesson and states that she is afraid of making a mistake, "There are no mistakes in the tango darlin'. Not like life. If you get all tangled up, you just tango on."

In this way, I like to imagine that making significant changes in our lives, or working towards big goals in our lives, is like the tango. We can chose to get down on ourselves when we get tangled up with stumbles or difficult patches, or we can just tango on. I choose to dust myself off, take inventory of what contributed to the stumble so I can put into place strategies to minimize it happening again, and then simply choose to "tango on".

Don't get bogged down this week. "If you get tangled up, just tango on."

Scuba

Day 26 of 365: Stress

103in365 Day 26: Stress

This week has been relatively high on the stress scale for your humble narrator. I thought I would talk a bit about stress and how I was successful this week at making good choices, and how I managed to not do (practically) any of the stress reducing behavior that I typically engage in.

Short story long, in recent years I have managed stress in a few not so healthy ways. My “fat” voice would help me to rationalize exceptionally “short-term benefit/long-term cost” decisions. “You made it through a long stressful day, you earned a cheeseburger (or two if I’m being honest).” Or “today is going to be stressful, so this large amount of food will take the edge off.” The fat voice is really good at making me feel like I deserve or have earned the privilege of making really bad food choices. Herein lies the rub though. The fat voice is really only good at doing one thing. Helping me to get and stay FAT!

Stupid fat voice. (I roll my fist at you.)

Enter the fit voice, … stage left. I am being reminded that the fit voice is measurably smarter than the fat voice and that the fit voice has some really good “short-term benefit/long-term benefit” choices that, it turns out, are pretty hip! This week instead of overeating or fast food eating, I worked out. Turns out it helped reduce my stress level significantly, and best of all, I lost a few pounds instead of getting or staying fat. Get down with your bad self fit voice!

I have lifted more heavy things this month than I have lifted in the last few years combined, and it feels great! I have been a bit sore from time to time, but not crazy sore on account of the fact that I am pushing myself, but not going crazy. I am making progress in the right direction and that is what is needed right now. I can train for my triathlon later. Right now I just need to get more healthy and less fat. (Side note: I am not going to train for a triathlon later). 

I am purposely making a point of asking myself, “How do fit people handle their stress? Or “What would a fit person advise me to do right now?” This is helping me make better choices and helping me to choose moving around and lifting heavy things more than I have for a ridiculously long time.

I keep reminding myself that I need to get back to my inner fit voice and start making more decisions that fit people make, if I want to be a fit person, and make decisions that fit people make. (That got a bit confusing. I will do that if left unattended).

(Speaking of what I will do if left unattended, one time in kindergarten the teacher was either late or left the room to get something and left us kidlets alone for a few minutes. Bad move teach! We went bonkers! Papers and blocks were flying all around and I thought I would do something that I always wanted to do but could not do while being supervised properly. I got up on the table and after letting off giddy laugh/scream, I jumped! I landed on my feet (don’t worry, this does not end up with me saying “and that is how I got this artificial hip”) but I landed flat footed and stiff legged and my little head whipped around like a Dwight Schrute bobble head, giving me whiplash! I remember my parents taking me to the doctor because my neck hurt so much after that. Good times.) That was the longest parenthesis aside comment I have ever written.

 

Here is a take-away for today. Maybe your goal is not so much getting more fit, but to be better at something. (Maybe you want to be the Bocce Ball champ of your whole block. I am not judging.) Try asking yourself what a person that has reached your goal would do right now or how they would deal with a disappointment or setback of some kind, and then do that. This weekend, think more like the person you want to become and less like the person you are ready to say “Thanks for the memories, but hit the road Jack” to.

Maybe you have seen the bumper sticker “Be the change you wish to see in the world”. (sometimes Gandhi is quoted as saying this, but there is debate about that being fact. Or at least that is what the interweb would have me believe.) I like this version of that quote that I came up with in my very own head too. 

“Be today, the person that you wish to become”.

In thinking like the person you want to become and acting like the person you want to become, you are becoming the person you want to become, today!

There you have it!

Have a great weekend!

Scuba

Day 22 of 103in365: Weigh-in Monday

--> 103in365 Day 22: Weight-in Monday

Hey There!

Here I find myself again at another Weight-in Monday. And survey says … 3 less lbs I need to lose to get to 103!

This puts me officially at 11 lbs down, leaving me with only 92 lbs to go! I know what you are saying. “Scuba, be real here. 92 pounds is still most of Back Street Boy!” I know, I know. But I choose to be a glass half full kinda guy and I am refusing to be overwhelmed by 92 stupid lbs and choose to be strengthened and energized by the 11 lbs that I NEVER will have to carry around or lift up off the couch or the floor after playing with my son, again! There you go!

One thing different that I did more of this week, is taking advantage of short periods of time to get moving. At work, for at least one break a day, I am getting on the elliptical in our small but more than adequate workout room for 7 to 10 minutes and then doing a few reps of some heavy things. At home I am doing the same thing in our home gym. Even small sessions, maybe even more than once a day, will make a huge difference!

It should go without saying that this is going hand and hand to the high school dance with eating better. By better, I specifically mean that right now I am just making healthier choices by finding alternatives to some of the things I am used to eating, eating smaller portions and refusing to slip into ye ol’ “I have waited to long to eat and I am over hungry, and/or I had a stressful day, so I deserve to hit some fast food” kind of thinking.

Hey. No big deal. I just know where that kind of thinking gets me. It gets me and keeps me fat. I am not saying I will never have a fast food hamburger again. I am nowhere near making that proclamation. In fact, my amazing wife and my son and I hit up a great restaurant in town last week and I enjoyed my first burger in a few weeks (with a salad instead of fries mind you) and I had zero guilt or anxiety that I was being “Bad”. I am allowing a smarter “not so great” choice once or twice a week to remind me what I am fighting for! I will not sustain an eating style where I can’t have something off the stereotypical unhealthy foods list from time to time. That is called dieting and I am not dieting. I am losing 103 lbs for life and that is done through being smarter, not hungrier.

That is a new catch phrase for 103in365! Be smarter, not hungrier! I do not need to starve myself, or any variation there in, to get more fit! I just need to be smart about what and how much  I am eating most of the time, instead of making myself crazy hungry in hopes that I will be rewarded with my body burning up some fat as I sit around eating paper that has pictures of a grilled cheese sandwiches on it wishing that I was a thin boy. (That got specific, huh? Not sure where that came from.)

So here are my take-aways for today. Find even the small moments to get yourself moving, and be smarter, not hungrier!

Make some progress towards your goals this week. Take “build Rome today” off your TO DO list and make some sort of movement in the right direction and remind yourself it will make all the difference.

Scuba

Day 18 of 365: “Using no way as way, Having no limitation as limitation.”

Hey There!

I have 547 page views of my blog at the writing of this entry, so this thing seems to be getting some wings! FUN!

I have been receiving lots of feedback from many of you about my blog and my 103in365 journey in general. I want to say Thank You first of all. I love hearing that some of you are feeling more motivated towards change in your own life right now, and the support that you are giving me around the changes I am making right now too is invaluable!

Some folks are saying they are still having problems with, or are unable to at all, leave comments on this blog. I am going to see if I can find out what’s what with that. In the meantime, you can send me e-mail at onehundredinthreesixtyfive@gmail.com   Maybe make the subject line 103in365 and that will make it easy for me to identify. This problem will hopefully be resolved soon. I will leave you know.

I am continuing to chip away at my goals and I am excitedly learning about new theories, programs and healthy lifestyles that I knew nothing or very little about before. One thing I am reading about, and listening to a podcast about, is Paleo. I had heard of it before, but did not know much about it. One thing I have learned about it, so far, is that it encompasses many aspects of your life and there are whole communities that share their experiences about living the Paleo lifestyle.

The basic concepts are eating and living as our ancestors did. The Paleo diet is often referred to as the “Caveman Diet”. Paleo suggests that we are genetically designed to eat lean meats, vegetables, some fruit and small amounts of starch and good fats. Paleo is against processed foods, even grains, especially one that have gluten and refined sugars in them. Paleo fitness is about training to the body’s natural abilities and range of motion that is needed to survive in the wild, such as sprinting, grappling and moving around on all fours and lifting heavy things. The idea is that through a Paleo diet and lifestyle, one can minimize the risk of modern day illness such as diabetes and cancer and obesity.

I am not convinced that I will, nor am I even considering at this point, going full on Paleo. However, I believe there are aspects of Paleo (such as eating cleaner and not just doing dumbbell curls and riding a exercise bike for an hour a day) that make a lot of sense. Eat better and do interesting and diverse exercise is a great idea!

In my life since high school, I have spent years (on and off, not all the years) studying martial arts and martial arts concepts. I have studied Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Kung Fu, Tai Chi, Boxing, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Kali and Muay Thai Kick Boxing to name most of them. Almost all of those arts were introduced to me through Jeet Kune Do, Bruce Lee’s martial arts concepts.

Jeet Kune Do’s main philosophy, one of Bruce’s main philosophies, is written around the symbol for the martial art concepts. It reads, “Using no way as way, Having no limitation as limitation.” This is brilliant because it suggests that in martial arts, we should not limit ourselves with one way of doing something nor one philosophy of how we should be. Rather, we should learn the things that make sense and work for us, out of as many styles of martial arts as we can be exposed to. I believe this can be generalized to other things like fitness, food, and maybe even politics. 

I am putting these concepts into practice with my weight-loss and fitness journey. I am exposing my self (not all at one time mind you) to many healthy lifestyle choices, fitness plans, exercise programs and the people who are fired up about them. By doing this, I will continue to create and practice my own personal Jeet Kune Do in other dimensions of my life as well as martial arts.

I also plan to share with you the broad strokes of what I am learning and what I am trying. I am planning to try different things, either at least once or for a period of time, this year. Maybe stuff like less or no red meat for a period of time. Maybe I will even go veggie as an experiment for more than a day and tell you how it goes. I also plan to try exercise such as Crossfit, P90X and maybe even Sweating to the Oldies! I will let you know how those go too!

So I got that going for me, which is nice. (watch Caddyshack once a year. It will make you a happier person.) 

That is all for today my friends.

Keep fighting the good fight.

Scuba

Day 15 of 365: Motivation

 

Hey there!

It is weight-in Monday and I am excited to report that I have lost 3 more pounds this week. That is 8 lbs total so far in 2 weeks! Not a shabby start! 95 lbs left to go. It feels like a huge number when I look at it that way. It feels more motivating to focus on the fact that I have 8 lbs less to lose. Yep! That is how I will look at it.

Speaking of motivation, (I am glad you brought it up) I am more motivated than I have ever been right now and I figured out one reason why this week.

For many years now I have been digging a pit. (Ask anyone. I love metaphors. Sometimes I think in metaphors.) I am in the pit and it has always kept getting deeper the more weight that I put on.

There have been times where I can tell there is a rope ladder there, and I presumably can climb out. When I have lost weight in the past, it has been great at first, but ultimately, it gets too overwhelming to imagine how many rungs of the ladder I have left to climb and a cheeseburger (or two) is easier and feels better right now (even though that feeling is fleeting.) I soon realize that I am back at the bottom of the pit again, sometimes to dig a bit deeper because now I am bummed that I failed again. (this is not a fun metaphor right now but it gets better. Stay with me.)

Here is where I am today. Since I am going about this in whole new ways and I have put myself out here with my public commitments, I know that this time is the last time I will ever see the bottom of this pit. I have carved my name in the wall (Scuba Steve was here!) gathered my things, and I am off and up this bloody rope ladder for the last time.

I am doing all this very purposefully and thoughtfully. If you have read my other entries, you will see that I am chugging ahead this time with my eye on accomplishing small goals one at a time, and not setting myself up with too much pressure or in a way that I am going to become too stressed out.

Less Stress + Educated Plan + Follow Through = A Fit Scuba.

I encourage you, and would love nothing more, to have you replace the last part (A Fit Scuba) with your name along with whatever goal you are struggling with. Maybe you want to be a more flexible Paul, or a non-smoking Francesca, or even a harp playing Chester.

Back to climbing. The hope, energy and excitement I am getting from climbing out of the pit and up the ladder is amazing. Also, knowing that there is no stopping me and that there are a lot of great people saying “You can do it!” or encouraging statements like “Try using your feet more!” or “It is sunny up here in Fitville, and I saved a spot for you!” has a lot to do with my motivation feeling so different this time.

Just knowing that I am on my way up and out, and that each pound I lose, and each day I make healthy choices, and each soda I don’t drink, brings me closer to my goal and a healthier and longer life with my family and my friends, is driving me forward and helping me to do it again the next day and maybe even better than the day before.

Just for the record, I have not been perfect these past few weeks. I have made a few mistakes, specifically with portion sizes, but I am being resilient and dusting myself off (and not beating myself up) and saying things like “It is a damn good thing that I don’t have to be perfect! I just have to be better!”

Accomplishing small goals and making progress on my big goals, is making all the difference so far!

That is all for today.

I hope that you decide to not spend anymore time in your “pit” (whatever your pit is) and decide to purposefully reach for that first rung and get yourself out of there too.

One rung at a time!

Scuba

Day 10 of 365

103in365 Day10: 297 Pageviews in 10 days!

Hi. Howzit?

Have you ever tried to lose weight and were doing great and then fell off the wagon because the whole thing just got to be too much work and falling back into old habits was just easier? Hey, me too! But not this time though. I am going to share why this time is so different as time goes on, but for today, I will give you some of my thoughts.

Let me first share a theory with you. This is my own theory, so if you do not agree with me, it is good it is not your theory. Most overweight people are virtual experts at weight loss with just very inconsistent and/or very short-lived follow-through. If you are not overweight yourself, just ask the next overweight person you meet on any mass transit commute, and they will have any number of great or even cutting edge and healthy ways to lose weight and keep it off. Here’s the rub though. Here is the hic-up in the giddy-up, as it were. Inconsistent and/or very short-lived follow through.

I have had some really great success taking weight off and even keeping it off. (For a short amount of time.) You know what is easier than watching what you eat and moving around and repeatedly lifting heavy objects? You got it! Eating whatever you want, and a lot of it sometimes, whenever you feel sad, stressed, worried or even happy. In addition, it is often easier to not move around more than you absolutely have to in your day, and to leave the heavy objects where they are. (Cause … they are safe there, and if God wanted me to lift them a bunch, he would have made them lighter and out of fry sauce.) 

Herein lies the main reason I am going to lose and keep the weight off this time. (Aside from the fact that I am overweight and according to my theory, I am an expert and losing weight.) Ever told 250 people that you were going to do something big and then not do it? Me either, and I am not going to start at this stage in my life! (Post Script. At the writing of this entry, my blog has reached 297 pageviews with visitors from 5 different countries! (Hello to my readers from all over the USA, and from Germany, Thailand, India and the Ukraine.)

Bottom line, my ego and my pride will not let me fail this time. (So I got that going for me, which is pretty sweet.) 

Last bit for today. I love when people ask me, “What diet are you using to lose all that weight?” I smile and say, “The eat less and exercise more diet. I have tried the ‘eat more and exercise less diet’, and it hasn’t worked out for me. Time to try something new.”

Also telling hundreds of people in 5 countries is worth a try as well.

Remember, if you want something different you have to do something different.

Scuba

Day 8 of 365: Monday Weigh-In and update.

103in365: Day 8

Hey there people! I am officially one week into my 103in365 journey. (Its been, one week since I looked so fat. Cocked my head to the side and said “let’s do this!”)( barenaked ladies reference)

As mentioned in my inaugural blog entry, I am going to weigh-in every Monday and post my progress with a new entry. I have not yet decided how often I am going to make new entries, but at this point I can say that I will put up at least 2 new entries every week. Without further adieu (I love spell check! Like I can spell adieu.) Drum roll please … I lost 5 pounds! I started last Monday at 318 and I am sliding in at 313 today.

Every time I have ever lost weight in the beginning of a weight loss push, someone has always said, “The first 10 pounds come off fast because that is just water weight.” I don’t buy what they are selling, but I still have that voice saying that the first 10 lbs barely count. I chirped up the above “sad trombone” phrase since it has been so engrained in me for so long in a conversation with a coworker of mine today, and she said something really positive. She said, “Give yourself more credit than that! You work for every pound you take off.” (that is more or less how she put it, even though I put it in quotes as if I am totally sure that is what she said)

I like that a lot more! (I am using an overabundance of exclamation points today. (!) I am not shouting at you, I am just excited.) I like celebrating even small victories and even small goals since significant success is just an accumulation of small victories and accomplishing small goals.

I started some interval training this past weekend to keep my body guessing and to keep me interested. Can I just say that I am sore. My legs feel like they were just punched 103 times by Macho Man Randy Savage. The fat voice in my head told me today, “Hey. Nice job with that workout two days ago. You are sore because you are out of shape and you need to take a few more days off to recuperate.” Shut up fat voice! The fit voice in my head piped in and said, “You are sore because you worked out. If you want to be fit, you work out again today and eventually you won’t be as sore.” I listened to the fit voice and just finished a cardio and lifting heaving things work out. I feel great, and oddly enough, less sore. Go figure.

This week I did a few things that I believe helped me to lose the first 5 LBS. Gather around and I will tell you what they were.

Thing the first. I worked really hard to not get stressed out about what I was eating. I just started eating healthier things and smaller portions. If I ended up realizing that I had just eaten more than I intended to, I just told myself that I had a small stumble and at least I can recognize it and work to do something different next time.

Thing the second. I talked to a few people about my goals and about my ultimate goal of losing 103in365. That felt good to get even more support and to say it out loud some more.

Thing the third. I made working out fun by watching my new favorite show “White Collar” on Netflix, and one of my old favorites “Big Bang Theory” while I worked out. (We have a home gym so I can watch whatever I want during a workout and I don’t have to just watch “This Old House” next to the smelly guy at the gym because he wants to get a few home improvement pointers.) I also, as referenced above, started mixing it up so that it is more interesting. I finish every workout with a few minutes on the speedbag while I look at the Bruce Lee posters I have hung up on the wall next to the speedbag, and think of what a badass I am becoming.

So that is all for today my friends. Thanks for all your supportive comments on Facebook, your texts and your calls of support. I have so much excitement and joy about this journey I am on and the support is making a huge difference. Feel free to leave comments here on the blog too. Not only just supportive ones, (Enough about me. Let’s talk about you, and what you think about me.) If you wanna, you should leave general comments about weight loss or as detailed comments as you want about your goals too!

Have a great day and a pleasant tomorrow. (Stole it)

Scuba

Day 3 of 365: Goal Setting

Hey there sports fans! Welcome in to 103in365!

So here is it Day 3 of 365 and feeling alive!

I have been thinking a lot about goal setting and different goals I have for this journey that I am now officially on here.

I work with teenagers and teach them a lot of life skills, including anger management skills and problem solving skills (to name a few).  I teach them about goal setting, ranging from characteristics of a good goal to the merits of goal setting at all. I have not been setting and/or achieving long term weight loss goals for almost a decade now. Maybe you are like me and you get all geared up with some really positive and realistic goals about weight loss or fitness or any other worthy endeavor, only to retreat back to old habits after the novelty of the thing wears off.

Well, we’re not getting any younger Sparkles. Yep, I’m talking to you too Cha-cha.

This blog is about saying “I want and deserve something different so I am going to do something different!” That is the first step and I have completed it. The Declaration. That is the easy part though. Now comes the hard part. The Follow-Through. (Why can’t just declaring it make it happen? Well, it can’t, so stop asking.)

Here are some of my goals to date:

1)        I will do some form of exercise at least 5 days a week.

2)        I will eat smaller portions.

3)        I will only drink soda on Saturdays. (But not Mega Tanker Gulps.)

4)        I will eat whatever I want for one meal a week. (But not till I can’t move.)

5)        I will not keep my goals a secret. (Accountability to others is a huge deal for me!)

That feels like a good start.

Why drink any soda at all Scuba? Why give in and let yourself have a burger and fries at all? Aren’t you trying to loose weight here? (My imaginary critic is kinda pushy.) I have tried totally cutting stuff all the way out and the only thing I have learned from that is that it does not work. (Unless it is some crazy unhealthy act like maybe snorting a giant squid.) Letting yourself have a  “free meal or free day” in a planned and somewhat deliberate way, can be the difference between long term success and long term failure.

Don’t get me wrong though. I am not being so ignorant as to say that a recovering alcoholic should consider having a drink from time to time, or that someone who has quit smoking should light one up on a special occasion. Some vices require total abstinence or what you got on your hands is a relapse Twinkle Toes.

Eating is not like that though. (At least for me anyway.) A person’s gotta eat. A person does not gotta drink the sauce, and a person does not gotta smoke’em if they got’em. Therefore, a more realistic and stick-to-itable goal involving food, is one that allows for being human. That is why I have always been more successful with weight loss and fitness with a small number of “free passes” (Not a bucket of free passes! Like one or two a week.)

So far (and I am aware I am only on Day 3) I have been sticking to all 5 of the aforementioned goals and pushing on strong.

How about you? If you wanna, post a comment about at least one goal that you are going to commit to, weight or fitness wise or otherwise. Let’s get a little bit of back and forth going here. Let’s have more than just me achieving some rad goals. (365 days of just me rambling and ranting by myself and I am going to go monkeys.) (Side note: For a fun little treat, try substituting “monkey or monkeys” in place of any word once in awhile. I predict you and those around you will smile.)

That is all for today Campers.

Don’t snort giant squid.

Scuba

103in365 : Day 1

And so it begins...

Welcome to 103in365!

As Chris Farley said in Tommy Boy, "I have what doctors call a little bit of a weight problem".

This is not a new thing for me and in fact, maybe like many of you, I have struggled with my weight most of my life. What is the deal with this blog you ask? Good question. I am glad you asked it.

Today is October, 1, 2012 and I weighed in this morning at 318 pounds. This blog will chronicle my year in losing 103 pounds leaving me a much lighter man at 215 pounds by October, 1, 2013.           ( Look at me! I can do basic math right in my head.)

I will blog about strategies that I am trying and how they are working or not working. I will blog about goals I am setting and how they are progressing. I will blog about what exercise I am doing and how its going. I will blog about food and fitness products I am trying and review them. It is my aim that this be a blog that is funny, informative, and as I gain ground towards my 103 mark, hopefully even inspirational. I will weight myself every Monday to measure my progress.

Just to prove to you that I indeed have this weight to loose and am doing this for real, here are two pictures that my amazing wife took for me today.

I will include pictures from time to time so you can see me shrink. I will be the incredibly shrinking man.

I would love nothing more than to have those of you out there that want to do some shrinking of your own to shrink with me. Let's be shrinking pals! Send me messages and tell me how you are doing and I will occasionally make reference to your communications in my blogs.

I am excited and I hope that you are excited too, especially if you are going to shed some LBS with me!

I love movies so prepare for me to share movies, and or shows, that I am watching and many movie quotes in my blogs. You can Google the quote if you don't know where it comes from.

Don't be alarmed that I sign off every blog with a specific recreational activity rather than a traditional name. I shall explain. About 12 years ago, in college, I took a few Scuba Diving courses. (Not a bad way to earn some elective credits.) My first name is Steve and the Adam Sandler flick, Big Daddy, had recently came out and so the guys in my class started calling me Scuba Steve from a scene in the movie. The name "Scuba" has just stuck with me, thanks in part to a buddy of mine that was also in that class.

That is all for Day 1. Let's put our hands in and do this thing. On three give me your best 103 in 365. One...Two...Three
103 in 365!  

Let's kick the tires and light the fires,

Scuba