Celebrating With a 10 Mile Run.

To celebrate my 1 year anniversary of The Diet I decided to do something I've never done before....I ran 10 miles.

Before the run I had a quick chest workout with mom. 3 sets of flat bench, 3 sets of incline bench, 3 sets of decline bench, and 3 sets of machine flies. Then I made my way to the treadmill. I've never attempted to run much more than 6 miles before. I've run 6 quite a few times, and then would walk the remaining time I had on the treadmill (until I hit 60 minutes). The first 7 miles were easy. I finished in under 60 minutes. I then had to stop and reset the treadmill (it will only allow you to use it for a max of 60 minutes). I then started my final 3 miles. No problem at all. I did slow my pace somewhat during the last 3 miles, finishing the entire run in around 86 minutes. So that was 7 miles in just under 60 (like 59:40 or something) and then the final 3 miles in around 26 minutes. The only bad part of the run was during the last mile and a half. My socks and shoes were soaked with sweat and I could feel my feet sloshing around in my shoes. But overall it was great. Very rewarding. Last year, I would have been unable to do anything near 10 miles. If someone was chasing me with a gun and was going to shoot me if I quit running, I'd be dead. I don't think I could have run a VERY slow mile last year. So again, very rewarding...

As a result of the longer run, I'm skipping Insanity today. Well, not skipping it, just pushing it to tomorrow. I've felt pretty good all afternoon, I just know there's no way I could possibly do one of the workouts with good form. Plus I'm scheduled to do a Fit Test as well. No thanks. I am gonna walk around the lake with JJF when it cools off a bit.

Food on the day has been good. Muffin and a NS scone for breakfast. Protein shake after the run. A NS lunch soup a little later. Dinner was a frozen Indian entree. Snacks were a sugar free jello pudding and a small cup of Greek yogurt. My last meal of the day was a bowl of granola and a muffin (I made a fresh batch and had to try one).

One Year Ago (before and after with pics)

One year ago today I began my effort to get back in shape. At the time I weighed somewhere between 280-290. The scales stopped at 270 so I'm really not sure what I weighed. I know my heaviest was around the 290 mark, but that may have been a little earlier. Anyway, here's a photo of me the day before I started (@280+) above a photo of me from a few days ago (~200).

I began the endeavor by using NutriSystem. From August through the end of February I ate nothing but NS foods (except for Thanksgiving and Xmas). It was the easiest thing I've ever done. Simple eating plan and it worked great. NS wasn't the only thing I was doing. I was working out as well. I had been working out for a year or so before beginning the diet, but I hadn't lost a pound.

When the diet began I thought I was really doing a lot of cardio. I was walking on the treadmill for about 30 minutes a day, and a couple of nights a week I was walking the dogs with Kim. As I started to lose weight I started to enjoy the cardio more and more. I joked with Kim one evening that maybe a good goal would be for me to get into good enough shape to run around the lake one day. The urge to attempt to run kept getting stronger and stronger and after a few days of running on the treadmill I ran a little one evening outside. 2 nights later I ran the entire route I'd hoped to complete one day. Before this I couldn't run from the living room to the kitchen. Now I could run ~2 miles! Today I run at least 3.5 everyday. Some days I run 6. To celebrate the one year anniversary of the diet I'm gonna run 10 miles. Along with the weight training and running I now also typically ride a spin bike around 30 minutes a day. For the past month and a half I've been doing Insanity Workouts as well. All that plus a 2 miles walking of the dogs most evenings makes up my daily workout.

I no longer drive myself crazy with trying to weigh and make sure I'm still losing weight. I've slowly transitioned from being all about losing weight each week to being healthy, fit, active, and happy. Now if I miss a day of training or eat unhealthy I feel bad. I feel almost sick. I can't eat the way/things I used to either. I've become a part time accidental vegetarian. Kim doesn't eat meat, and when I was eating only very restrictive foods it was easier to eat fake meats with her and I kinda grew to like them. Before the diet I would eat multiple steaks each week, maybe some BBQ ribs, and lots of fast food. I can't really eat steak anymore. It makes me sick. I haven't had ribs in over a year (sorry Dubs). About once a month, or while on vacation we'll have a bite of fast food. I'm never happy afterward, usually looking forward to getting back to my healthy eating. My diet is pretty clean and any greasy fatty food doesn't sit well with me. That's ok. I really don't miss it at all. I now enjoy lots of fish, grilled chicken, turkey, some salads, cereals, protein shakes, etc.

During the past year my body fat has dropped around 13%. Total pounds lost are somewhere around 80. I wore a size 40 waist, now a 32-33. I was having to buy XX-XXXL shirts. Now I wear L or XL. Crazy. I've gone from my workouts being mainly resistance (lifting) to now a good variety of intense cardio, pretty intense lifting, INSANE interval training, and enjoyable outdoor activities (like walking the dogs in the summer heat).

One of the main things that motivated me to start a diet was when Kim and I were on vacation in San Francisco last summer and she had to help carry some of my camera gear up a trail. She was afraid I was gonna have a heart attack. That along with the fact I saw a photo I was in and didn't recognize myself. Now I'm confident I can outlast Kim hiking and playing around outdoors. I'm really amazed at how much happier I am doing anything outside in the summer now. Last summer I just simply stayed indoors. This summer has been different. I'm not saying I love the crazy hot humid days we've been having, but I'm ok with it. When fall gets here I may go outside, start running and playing out with the dogs, and not come in until winter.

This spring Kim and ran in the South East Warrior Dash. I NEVER, EVER thought I'd run in any kinda race. Now I'd like to find a few different 5k or 10k races to run just so I can have something to motivate myself to train for. The Tough Mudder, USMC Mud Run, and Black Foot Mud Run (night run) all look fun too. Well, the Tough Mudder looks awful, but something to shoot for.

Here's a few more before/after photos.

And the after...

But here is my favorite new photo....

Of all the things that have happened over the past year that I'm so happy with (losing weight, running, being more fit, more healthy, etc.) the one that blows them all away is of course our engagement. Maybe when the wedding rolls around I'll push harder and "dig deeper" and get in even better shape! I'm so thankful that I'm in better overall health and look forward to a long, happy, healthy life with Kim!

So to any of you that are just starting your journey to better health, it can be done. If you're interested in following my daily exercise blog (and all of my past posts over the past year of eating and training) check it out here.

Weekend Fare

This weekend was about average as far as exercise goes. 4 mile run on Saturday. Dog walk, bike ride, Insane Abs, and rest on Sunday.

Eating was weird.

Saturday I got and had a bagel before the gym. Kim had planned to work all weekend, but her plans changed. Once I got in from the gym on Saturday we decided to go out for the evening in Chattanooga.

We ate dinner at 3 different restaurants, plus ice cream afterward. If you're interested in our Great Eating Adventure, check it out on our non-exercise blog here.

Sunday we ate at Harvest Moon Cafe in Rome for brunch. That was basically all I ate all day. Probably still ate too much on the day though.

Tomorrow's workout schedule is already altered. Kim & I have to go to Chattanooga in the AM. I'm sure we'll have Indian for lunch, then back home in time to workout (I hope). If not everything gets pushed back one day.

Woke Up Tired On Leg Day

I woke this morning a little before 8AM, checked my email (I'm waiting on a few important emails for my father), checked twitter, and decided to rest for just a minute more before getting breakfast. A moment later when I opened my eyes it was 10:30. WHAT? I felt exhausted still. Not really a great way to start the day. I ran downstairs, kissed the Pug, drank some coffee, had my breakfast of a muffin & a NS apple scone, forced down some water and got ready to train.

I'm already sore in weird places (like the inner and outer portions of my lower calves?) before the run and workout. Not really a good sign of things to come. Once at the gym I ran 3.5 miles of hills on the treadmill. I kept the pace relatively slow and steady for the entire run. The leg workout began with 3 sets of smith squats, then 3 sets of hack squats, followed by 3 sets of leg presses, and finally 3 sets of leg extensions. Hamstrings work began with 3 sets of lying leg curls (heavy) and then 3 sets of weighted hyper-extensions. The workout overall wasn't that bad today. I did have one terrible calf cramp in the middle of the workout, but otherwise everything felt pretty good.





Back at home I tried to slow down and drink some extra water as I let the dogs inside and took the Pug on a walk. It's hot, crazy hot here. After tending to the hounds I had a protein shake with a banana as my post workout/pre-Insanity meal. My workout got pushed a few hours later than I wanted due to some work I had to finish. Kinda ended up being a good thing as I was much more recovered by the time I started. Today's Insanity workout was Max Cardio Conditioning. It was again very hard. I failed out on lots of sets. My form was much better today on football drills and suicide drills. All in all a good workout. Tomorrow is Core Cardio and Balance.

Dinner this evening was tortilla soup, NS veggie fajitas and veggie chorizo served on lite bread. We shared a small amount of ice cream after dinner. No walk this evening as rain showers have moved in.

I plan on running tomorrow, as long as my legs aren't freaky sore (they're already a little sore tonight). The run, plus a ride on the bike, a walk, and Insanity should make for an eventful day.

6 Miles & Crazy Sweat

No Insanity today. Luckily that was the plan all along. I had a good bit of bookwork to do this morning and an appointment late this evening, so I knew it was gonna be hard to squeeze it in. My only workout of the day was done at the gym. I ran 6 miles in around 53 minutes, then I walked for about 15 more minutes trying to cool off. After the run I trained arms. 3 sets of triceps press downs, 3 sets of rope press downs, and 3 sets of reverse grip press downs. Biceps was 3 sets of seated incline dumbbell curls & 3 sets of standing dumbbell curls. I noticed while doing my seated biceps work I had perspired so much I was leaving little (large) puddles everywhere I stood as I trained. I was actually sweating so much the puddles of sweat had suds/bubbles (for lack of better term). That's an impressive amount of sweat, even for me. I was a good gym person & mopped up all of the sweat with my gym towel. I might sweat like crazy, but I'm not nasty and rude with it.

Food today was not so great. Breakfast was a muffin and yogurt. Lunch was a protein bar and post workout meal was a frozen Indian Dinner. Late afternoon I had part of another muffin before going to my meeting. After the meeting my first dinner was 4 small Real Mexican Tacos! Al Pastor, Cabeza, Barbocoa, and Lengua! My second dinner was a little (or a lot) of some type of baked spaghetti my mother made. My third dinner was a bowl of cereal and a protein bar after I got home tonight. Plus another 1/2 muffin. I was crazy hungry tonight.



Tomorrow is another good run followed by a leg workout. Then Insanity later in the day. Somewhere during the day I gotta squeeze in a bike ride and a dog walk. Hope I sleep well...

Exhausted

I had a decent run around lunch today to begin my training. The first two miles were in just under 15:20, and then I slowed a little for the third mile. After the third mile I walked a bit to cool off before starting my shoulder workout. The workout began with 3 sets of hammer strength shoulder presses, then 3 sets of side lateral raises, followed by 3 sets of rope pulley upright rows, then 3 sets of machine rear delts, and finally 3 sets of shoulder shrugs.

The next part of my daily routine was the Insanity Max Interval Plyo workout. I did good for the first 1/2 of the workout. The next 10 minutes I ground to a halt. With around 20 minutes left I had to stop, hit pause, and rest in the floor. I thought that maybe if I waited around 5 or 10 minutes and recovered I could finish the workout. I tried and made it about a minute. I felt completely drained. I'd had about 64 oz of water just before and during the workout, so I wasn't dehydrated, I was just tired. I decided I needed food and ate a frozen Indian dinner.

When Kim got home this evening we went grocery shopping before going on our evening walk with Jumping Jack Flash. The walk was my only other exercise of the day. I skipped the spin bike all together.

I'm probably gonna skip the Insanity Recovery workout tomorrow. I think I'll run a little more than usual instead. I have a good bit of work to do tomorrow, so it'll be hard to squeeze in the Insanity anyway.

Full Hungry Day

Today has been one of those days where I have been hungry all day long. I've manged it well, to a point. I've eaten healthy foods all day, just too much of them.

My day began with a muffin and yogurt. I then rode the spin bike for thirty minutes before my morning conference call. Afterward I had half a granola bar and got ready for my daily visit to the gym. A 3+ mile started my workout before training back. I began with 3 sets of pull-ups, followed by 3 sets of pull-downs, then 3 sets of hammer strength iso-lateral rows, and finished with 3 sets of T-bar rows.

Back at home I had a turkey sandwich before my Insanity workout. Today was the Max Interval Circuit. Very hard. Again I did better than last week, but still hard. I drank 4 pounds of water during the workout (and nearly vomited the last half right at the end). After the Insanity I had a protein shake (with a banana thrown in) to recover.

For dinner I basically started eating (after I could stand again after the Max Interval Circuit) and didn't stop for hours. I first had some left over chana sag (spinach and chick peas) with rice. Not much, but it was good. Then I ate a frozen Mexican meal (around 400 calories). Then I ate a large bowl of granola cereal. So now for dinner I've had well over 1000 calories.

I made myself stop eating and go on a walk around 8PM. JJF and I walked about 2 1/2 miles around the lake. Once back home I continued eating. A muffin, a NS cinnamon bun, a little cheese, and finally a NS brownie. The bad thing is I'm still hungry as I'm finishing up this post and going to bed. At least I can eat breakfast when I get up in the morning. Which may be very early, 'cause I'm STARVING!