Weight Loss Wednesday Results of My 90 Day Challenge

So that is what I weighed this morning, 221 pounds. I started 90 days ago with a goal of losing 25 pounds in 90 days, and I managed to lose 23.8. I am very happy with my results, but I am pretty disappointed in the overall way that this first 90 days has gone. Don't get me wrong, I am very happy with almost reaching my goal. After all, it was a lofty goal. But I could have done better.

Weekends........................................
Weekends.........................................
Weekends.........................................

Weekends killed me the last two months, period. I would lose 4-5 pounds during the week, then gain back 3-4 of them over the weekend. Fortunately for me, that still allowed me to lose what they consider a healthy amount of weight. After all, healthy is 1-2 pounds a week. I need to watch what I do on the weekends, and not just because of wanting to lose weight.

I have some internal issues, which I am quite sure come from my addiction's impact on me physiologically. Unfortunately, my addiction is still kicking my butt. Now my addiction takes the form of food instead of drugs, alcohol, money, power, sex, violence, chaos and criminality like in the past. I eat foods that I know I will have a bad reaction to because they taste good and make me feel better. I know that I will pay for it later and I don't care. I need to work on that.

This will be my goal for the next 90 days, to only have one cheat meal a week and to add at least one cardio during the weekend. I might add 2 if I can make it fit. That is one thing that I managed to do well during this 90 day challenge, cardio. I abhor cardio, and yet I was able to do 30 minutes 4-5 days a week. I am aiming for 3 1/2 hours of cardio a week this time, instead of 2-2 1/2.

In closing, food addiction sucks because you have to eat. There are a lot of addictions you do not have to do to survive. Food is a must. Besides, it is hereditary. As far back as I can remember, everyone in may family ate. Plus I was raised around food, so it is both nature and nurture.

Seriously, if you are having struggles I can relate. Here are a couple of tips for you:

1. Keep a food journal/diary that records everything that you eat.
2. Allow yourself one cheat meal a week, preferably on one of the days you work out on
3. Set up an accountability partner or two who you can be accountable to
4. Find a couple of other people who are also trying to lose weight. Meet at least once a week and update each other on your progress. If you want set up a contest where the winner gets something (I prefer cash).
5. Drink AT LEAST 80 and I would recommend 120 ounces of water a day
6. Get 7-8 hours sleep a night (here is where I fail, I get 4-5)
7. Do at least four 30-60 minute cardio sessions a week even if it is just walking. The best cardio in the world is the cardio that you will do

In closing, I am down 23.8 pounds for the challenge and 26.7 pounds for the year. My goal for this next 90 days, ending on January 1st is to lose 21 pounds and weigh in at an even 200. I will try to keep you updated on the first Wednesday of every month until then. I would love to hear encouragement, advice, or be able to give you support in your goals so leave comments!

Weight Loss Wednesday - My 90 Day Challenge pt 2

As you can see, the Visalus has dropped from the 90 day challenge I am on. I forgot when I started that I am basically broke. After spending about $600 for the first two months, I realized something. That is entirely too much money. Almost $300 a month for the transformation kit was not worth it. In fact, if I followed the calorie restriction I would be hard pressed not to lose weight if I exercised too. First, let me tell you that I am not bad mouthing Visalus. The shakes tasted amazing and I went from 244.8 pounds to 233.6 in a little over a month while still cheating on the weekends and doing no cardio. I lost over 10 pounds, which puts me well on my way to meeting my 25 pound 90 day goal. Visalus is just too expensive for me. So instead, I am going another route. I weighed 233.6 Monday morning when I began the second phase of my 90 day challenge. I am now lifting for only 25-30 minutes, then doing 30 minutes of cardio. I am also taking 1st Phorm’s 1 DB Overdrive and Thyro-Drive. When my sweet tooth kicks in late I am making a protein shake using 1st Phorm’s Level I Cookies and Cream protein. I was working out but with a partner that could only work out at night, so my workouts were not that motivated. I am an early morning workout guy, so I had to switch back to early mornings. That way I can guarantee that nothing comes up that might interfere with my workouts. Secondly, my workouts were too long to fit in cardio, too. Therefore, the workouts I was doing had to be improvised to get my lifting time down. They are briefly described at the end of this blog and if anyone has any questions or wants the routine let me know. I take the 1st Phorm pack (Overdrive and Thyro-Drive) as soon as I wake up. Thirty minutes later, I am in the gym and I can feel the difference. I have more energy than I have had before, and I sweat more. That is probably a good combination for weight loss. I take them one more time about an hour before I eat lunch, and I am good to go for the rest of the day. My water intake this week has increased, from about 100 ounces to 150 or more. I also don’t feel as hungry and my cravings have been reduced. So far it is all positives and far cheaper than what I was spending. I am curious to see where I am weight wise at the end of this month. I will let you know the first Wednesday of September, as I complete the third month of my 90 day challenge that month. Super positive that I will hit my 25 pound goal……….if not exceed it! Here is what I am doing in the gym now. I am hitting one body part at a time. On Monday, it is back and biceps. On Tuesday, it is chest and triceps. On Wednesday, it is legs and abs then Thursday I do shoulders and traps. For the first body part, I pick 3 exercises. I do 3 giant sets of 8 reps each, taking a minute rest after each set. Then I pick one exercise and burn it, doing 5 sets of 12 reps with a 30 second rest between each set. For the second body part, I pick 2 exercises and do 3 supersets of 8 reps each with a one minute rest between sets. Then I pick an exercise and do 5 sets of 12 reps with a 30 second break. I want to work up to 7 sets on the burn portion eventually. This is not done for legs, as I hit legs pretty hard one set at a time, but I do the burn sets to end my quad portion as well as the hamstring portion. This allows me enough time to end my workouts with a 30 minute cardio and still be out in about an hour. I am also going to try to add at least two more 30-60 minute cardio sessions during the week on off days.

Weight Loss Wednesday - Starting the Visalus 90 Day Challenge

We can just get this out of the way right now. I did not factually report something to you in the previous weight loss posts. I told you that I was not going to use anything to help me lose weight other than diet and exercise. I would use no pills or powders or programs, that is what I said.

Guess what?

I lied!

 I am tired of fighting my food addiction and I have found that I cannot do it on my own. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. I had thought it would be easy to do. After all, I had quit drinking and doing drugs after 24 years. I had quit smoking cigarettes after 26 years. That was 4 plus years ago, and I am still doing great.

If I could quit those, surely I could stop comfort eating. It was the same thing done for the same reason, intake of something for a desired outcome. I used drugs and food the same way, to help me escape and numb. So it should be just as easy, right? Wrong!!

I forgot that when I did drugs and smoked cigarettes, those were not needs. They were things I wanted, and due to some changes in brain chemistry over time something that I needed, but they were not true needs. They were not required by me or I would die. I might feel horrible for months after I stopped, but I would not die if I didn't have them.

Food is a different creature all together. I NEED food in order to live. I HAVE TO EAT. There is no way around that. I didn't have to eat the things that I did, but I had to eat. Being required to do something several times daily gives you several chances each day to mess up. Maybe I messed up because fast food was more convenient, or maybe because I had a client who died and needed to insulate myself.

Relapsing was easy, because food is much more "in your face" than my other vices are. Due to the ease with which I have been messing up, something needs to change. I work with those struggling with addictions and my job is to deal hope to them. I talk to youth and young adults in the community about how there is a better life in recovery!

When some of my clients and some of the people I speak to use drugs to lose weight, it is hard for me to get them to listen to what I say and it impact them when I am obese. Furthermore, how can I feel that I am equipped to give them sound counseling and inspiration to overcome their addictions when I am still struggling with one? I could not. I have found that I can not do it on my own.

So, I am doing the Visalus 90 Day Challenge. I have had several friends try it and lose weight successfully then keep the weight off. I figured it is my turn. It seems easy enough. I get to drink two shakes, eat one moderate meal and then have 2 or 3 snacks throughout the course of the day. That is eating 5 times a day, which is more than I am eating now.

I have a goal of losing 25 pounds in my first 90 days then I am going to lose another 25 in the next 90 days and if that works and there is still more to go than another 10 pounds in the last 90 days. That is me losing 50 pounds this year and 60 pounds by next Spring. If I am successful, that will be me at 185-195 pounds.
 I have not weighed that since I was 3 months off of meth. When I stopped using meth I was underweight. I had gotten to probably 145 pounds. I needed to gain 40-50 pounds to be healthy. Unfortunately, I quickly gained what I needed and then rapidly doubled it. I have held on to it ever since.

 That is going to change NOW!

 I am going to change this shack back into the temple it was made to be!

 The truth is, I started the 90 day challenge two weeks ago. When I started the challenge on the 27th of August I weighed in at 244.8 pounds. We round that up to 245 pounds so that my goal of 25 pounds puts me at 220 and the next 90 day would put me at 195. When I weighed yesterday, I weighed in at 236 pounds. That means that I have lost 9 pounds in 13 days. That has me pretty excited. What will be telling is two things:

1.Will I continue to lose weight
2.Will I stick with the program even after I lose the weight and not put it back on

We can at least answer the first question the next time we address weight loss in August on the first Wednesday of the month.

Talk to you soon!

BLiR VLog From 09/09/2012-09/15/2012

BLiR Vlog 09/15 Spiritual Attacks and Overcoming Them

BLiR Vlog 09/14 Why God is Never Disappointed in You

BLiR Vlog 09/13 90 Days to Hope or Your Misery Refunded

BLiR Vlog 09/12 The Bully and the Bullied

BLiR Vlog 09/11 I Am Against Decriminalizing Marijuana

BLiR Vlog 09/10 First BLiR Event