Memorial Day Weigh In

337.6:  High weight Dec '13

311.3:  Surgery day 1/16/14

191.8:  1st Surgiversary

193.8:  Last Weigh in

192.6: CW

180.0: Goal weight

Had a pretty good week regarding food, but as always could do much better. Damn conferences with all their "Continental Breakfasts" followed by a trough full of crappy meat goo for lunch. Ughh. Anyway, I did my best. This week, I am at a national sales meeting starting tomorrow (I have to fly to Tampa) and ending on Friday. Eating will be a challenge again, but at least the hotel we are in has a pretty good gym so working out should be easy. 

I started running a few weeks ago, and within two weeks both knees hurt. I think decades of underuse needs to be reversed. Both MCL's were tight. After two weeks of resting, the knees feel fine again. Yesterday I went back to the eliptical in addition to the weight training. I think I'm going to stick with that for a while. 

One of the technical conferences I was at last week was in Rolla Missouri. Rolla is about 20 miles from Fort Leonard Wood. My son graduated from basic training in Fort Leonard Wood and I can remember tearing up with pride watching him and his graduating class. Again, this week I was able to see both young kids heading to the base at the airport, and some kids leaving after training. What a difference!!! 

To say that I was proud of each of of these kids is an understatement. Whether or not you see someone in the military this weekend, please take a moment to remember them and what they do for our country. Without them, I couldn't even imagine where our country would be. They are for sure our best!!!

John, good luck on your continued travel marathon. Those national meetings were crazy. Food and drink everywhere. What hotel chain you staying that has the good fitness center? I know the feeling of trying to run and hurting for a few days or longer afterwards.

Last week= 304

Today= 298.8!!!

Here is a copy and paste from my blog this morning.

 Well...I am under 300 lbs for the first time in over 21 years!?!? Holy crap!!! I remember the day when I got on the scale and it said 298, then the next day or 2 days later it said 300. I thought ok I hit 300 pouds, time to get back into shape. Now 21 plus years later, I am finaly going under 300. It was something I have been thinking about all week. Wondering if I will do it this week or next. So it is this week. I am still just begining this journey only one week past my 2 month surgeversary. I have begun riding my bike again, and it is getting less difficult. I was not tired going up the small gradiant of some of my local streets. Amazingly!! I am trying to look into a safe place to ride with a little more challange beside my small comunity. My neighbor rides alot in the state park close to the house. I might drive out there and spin around, but there are some steep inclines. I guess thats why my bike has so many gears. I cant wait until my legs begin to respond to be able to run without pain again. I feel this will happen once I begin the strenghthen them a bit more. Well one major victory, on with the battle. 

Smellin up that room with that stinky 'ole FART there. Nice job. 

I still work to get my head around the things I can do today vs a year ago. Best example of that was when I was in North Carolina a few weeks ago, and for giggles decided to take a 6 mile hike in the mountains. That would have been the furthest though from my mind before surgery. I wonder every day how I will fit in my clothes, and every time I out them on and they fit I'm amazed. 

I normally stay in either Hampton Inn or Fairfeild Inn when I travel. This week is a national sales meeting though and its being held at the Tampa Airport Marriott. I've stayed there once, and the gym is pretty good. Becasue the gym's are hit and miss, I have a membership to LA Fitness that I can use anywhere.

Great job so far. Way to make the 300's your ***** On to the 200's!!

To say you're doing well with all the travelling John, is quite the understatement!  Keep up the good work!

Saw the Surgeon today for my 3-ish week appointment, and i was given the OK to start incorporating chicken, fish and soft veggies into my meals.  Real food... I'm not going to know what to do with myself.

Increasing exercise at the gym:  2 miles on the eliptical torture machine and a 1 mile cooldown on the treadmill.  Going to start incorporating light weight work next week. 

The doc also adjusted my thinking on my goal-weight... My thought was 175; he said I'd look malnourished and unhealthy at that weight.  He wants me to maintain at 210 - 215.  

Here's my numbers:

Consult weight:  324

Surgery Weight: 310

Current weight:  280.0

Non-scale victory (of sorts):  i can see my feet in the shower  

Make sure the chicken is good and moist!  I still get flashbacks to what happened to me early out on too dry of chicken!

Last week:  171.4

This week:  169.2

Got home last night from the "Fart Into The Wind" vacation.  Had a BLAST and got to visit a lot of the old haunts.  Couple of downers when I got home.  Building demo was not finished and windshield in truck at work did not get fixed because of the rain.  On the way home, not even 90 minutes into the trip, pickup in front of me picked up a "road gator" (loose retread) and flipped into my car.  Nice skid marks on hood where it is not dented and will need a new grill piece.  Have to make arrangements to get it fixed.  Car also rolled 120,000 miles on the way home.  I had a packet of paperwork related to divorce was in mail before I left.  Money grubbing..........

It is Memorial Day weekend.  If you think you have an understanding of the Day and have not ever been to a National Cemetery - go read some headstones.

@John, amen brother!  We live in the land of free BECAUSE of the brave!

@Eric, congrats on breaking 300!

@Tom, I remember that day seeing my feet in the shower!  Nice FART!

@Don, I get choked up every time I visit a National Cemetery – the “last full measure of devotion” as Lincoln said it.

    My stats this week:

           High weight:  392.0 lbs
Pre-op Weight 4 Aug 09:  377.5 lbs
      1st Surgiversary:  241.0 lbs
      2nd Surgiversary:  212.5 lbs
      3rd Surgiversary:  217.0 lbs
      4th Surgiversary:  214.0 lbs
      5th Surgiversary:  223.0 lbs
             Last week:  220.4 lbs / 21.8% body fat / 164.0 lbs muscle mass
             This week:  220.8 lbs / 21.6% body fat / 164.6 lbs muscle mass

I’m up a smidge, 0.4 lbs overall this week but up 0.6 lbs muscle mass.  I made it to the gym 5 days this past week for cardio and strength training.  I did ok mindfully eating.  Protein was good and water ok.

I’m headed to Europe on vacation for the next three weeks with the wife and her aunt.  I won’t be able to set aside gym time but have managed to insert some hiking into the itinerary in the Cotswolds and the Northern Lake District of England as well as Normandy.  So, I will not be checking in for the next few weeks but thinking of you guys each Sunday.

Be safe & have a great 3 weeks gentlemen!

-Mike

Enjoy your trip!! What an awesome time. 

One of the most emotional experiances I have had on vacation was in Europe. We were driving through souther Belgium on our way to Cologne. We saw a small (2'X3') sign on the road pointing toward a US cemetary. We decided to take the detour and drove down a narrow winding road until we reached the top of a hill about a mile in the woods. As we crested the hill, we saw the cemetary entrance, and as we walked into the reception area we saw the gravesites. 

We could envision Patton's tanks running through the forest when we were in the reception area looking at the photo's of the battles that had taken place in that area. The cemetary itself was perfectly manacured and each headstone was in perfect position. It was very hard to not get choked up looking at the history, and thinking about the young kids that lost their lives.

Now I have the national cemetary in Normandy on my bucket list.

Last week: 286.9
This week: 283.1

Almost 4 pounds! Glad to have an extended weekend. I managed food and water well this week but shorted some sleep. I notice if I cut sleep I feel more snackish during the day. I've controlled myself, but I noticed my temptation to even thinking about snacking. Must be old habits! 

Have a great weekend and holiday everyone! 

High Weight: 380

Starting Weight: 350

Last Week: 215.0

Current Weight: 212.7

Hi everyone.  Checking in late because we were gone camping for the Memorial Day weekend.  I was really off plan, and I'm mad at myself, but I still lost for the week.  I guess I should be happy while it lasts, but I can't let stuff like that happen again.