Getting back on the bike... literally

Although I have tons to write about in this blog with being a new dad and how life with a newborn has affected my weight loss effort (surprisingly its been really positive), I wanted to take a moment and make mention of a personal success that happened today.

After several years of collecting dust, I got my bicycle up and running.  This entailed a little minor maintenance, which was luckily simple.  After a full day of work, I went for a short ride around Middletown.  Altogether it was a short, flat 1.23 mile ride, it was a lot of fun and only moderately difficult.  This non-scale victory will have a resonant effect, because it is not only a great milestone, it also opens a fantastic type of activity that I enjoy and fuels my thirst for adventure.

This was a big milestone for me.  Two years ago (and 50 pounds more), this wasn't possible.  I had gotten so big that it was unsafe to ride my bike and I couldn't stay upright.  In addition, my knees hurt so bad that peddling was extremely painful.  Today, this wasn't a problem!  I'm hoping that at this time next year, I'll be riding a bike in Berlin!  

The important part about falling off the wagon is... getting back on again

This blog isn't just about reporting and celebrating my successes.  It's also about being truthful about my mistakes, so that others may profit from my journey.

The past two weeks have been difficult.  Things have been busy at work and I had some major events that I was coordinating that required significant attention.  Additionally, preparation for the coming baby and another major responsibility that I'm not at liberty to discuss have weighed heavy on my mind.  These bumps in the road caused me to fail off the wagon a bit with my weight loss efforts.  I missed my last two Weight Watchers meetings and I haven't been tracking.

This journey isn't about being perfect and it isn't about beating yourself up for past mistakes.  In a Weight Watchers meeting a few months ago, I heard from a fellow member "Turn your setback into a comeback" and that is what I intend to do with this latest deviation.

My plan is to reboot and to once again focus on tracking and boasting my activity.  In addition, I will specifically schedule my next Weight Watchers meeting for next Saturday.  I'll keep you posted!

Half way to Berlin! - Two milestones in one week

Last Saturday, I had my weekly weigh-in and I came in at 299.8 lbs.  This marks a double milestone.  First, I crossed the 300 lbs mark.  Second, this weigh-in puts me at a 50.8 total lbs lost.  That is over half way to my goal of 100 lbs and puts me half way to going to Berlin!

Sometimes I like to picture my success in physical terms.  I imagine the distance I have traveled between here and Berlin on a map relative to the amount of weight that I have lost.  Since I am now at the half point, I used a website called "Let's Meet in the Middle" to show me where exactly that is.  The map below shows that I am currently in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean just past Greenland.

The first time I went through Weight Watcher, I hit this same 50 lbs mark and received a success token.  Because I rebooted my weight loss after gaining it all back, I regained this success token this week.  It's nice to feel that I've truly earned this reward again.

The past two weeks

The past two weeks have been a little packed and I haven't had a chance to write an update.  Although, I fell off the wagon of writing a positive thought publicly each day, I made it a point to focus on this internally, which was very successful.

As for my other goals, here's a quick look at how I did:

• Track my Weight Watchers PointsPlus each day. - Mostly successful.  I did have 2-3 days where I didn't track each day (because of the Memorial Day weekend and multiple events).  However, I still made good choices and didn't fall off the deep end with what I ate.
• Schedule a specific time to get activity every other day and keep to this schedule. - Successful.  I have continued walking almost ever day and have found specific times to go out and get active.
• No cigar smoking during the workday. - Mostly successful.  I have significantly decreased my cigar smoking, however I did have two days last week where I went out for one during the workday.  I'm going to refocus on this goal and attempt to scale back even more this week.
• 7000 steps per day - Successful.  I have been meeting this goal consistently and on days where I schedule extra activity, I can get into the 12,000-15,000 step range.  Unfortunately, my pedometer somehow reset itself and I lost all my data :(

These efforts continue to produce good results.  At my weigh-in on Sat. 5/24, I lost 1.6 lbs.  At my weight-in on Sat 5/31, I stayed the same, which isn't a bad result after a holiday weekend with several events.

Weekly Weigh-In - Saturday, May 17th

I had another good week at the scale this week on Saturday!  I weighed-in at 3.6 lbs down for a total of 45.4 lbs.  It looks like my focus is continuing to pay off :)

"7000 Steps a Day" - Weekly Goal Wrapup

Last week, I set the goal of walking 7000 steps per day and recording it via my Pedometer.  I was not strictly successful in meeting this goal.  The main problem I had was that mid-week I became ill due to side effects with my new diabetes medication, Victoza (I'll write about that soon), which left me resting for a few days.

Although I did not meet my per day goal of walking 7000 steps, I did manage to average 8828 steps per day, which was over my daily goal.  This was mainly due to having a very active day on Sunday, when Illa, some friends and I went down to New York City and did a lot of walking.

Here's a breakdown of my daily progress:

Day	Steps	PointsPlus
Monday	10041	6
Tuesday	12195	7
Wednesday	222	0
Thursday	4994	2
Friday	3682	1
Saturday	6433	3
Sunday	24231	17
Total	61798	36
Average	8828	5

I also set the goal of sticking with my previous weekly goals.  Here's a recap on how they went.

• Track my Weight Watchers PointsPlus each day. - I tracked every day except for Wednesday when I was feeling very ill.  (Partial Pass)
• Schedule a specific time to get activity every other day and keep to this schedule.  - I set and kept activity on Monday, Tuesday and Sunday.  Unfortunately, being sick also made this difficult.  (Partial Pass)
• No cigar smoking during the workday. - I didn't have a single cigar during the workday all week (Pass)

Although I had a few bumps in the road this week, I tried to stick to my goals as well as I could.  I'm not going to let these hurdles stop my continued progress.  I found this quote today that should help me keep focused:

"The game has its ups and downs, but you can never lose focus of your individual goals and you can't let yourself be beat because of lack of effort."  -  Michael Jordan

"No cigars during the workday" Weekly Goal Recap

Last week, I set the goal of limiting my cigar smoking by attempting to not have cigars during the workdays.  This would change my normal routine of taking a mid day break and going to have a cigar at the Owl Shop.

I'm happy to report that I met this goal and avoided having a cigar during the workday Monday through Friday.  This was no small feat for me, since I typically use cigar smoking as a means to relax and last week was extremely stressful.

Not only did I limit my during the workday smoking, I didn't lapse into having them in the evening instead.  Altogether, I only had a single cigar all week!  This is a significant improvement.

Because of this, I am breathing better and feeling more energetic.  It also saves me some money.  I plan on sticking to this new goal this week and continuing to improve!

Weekly Weigh-In - Saturday, May 10th

I had another good week at the scale on Saturday.  My efforts continue to pay off and I lost 1.6 lbs!  Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to stay for the full meeting again, because of a Masonic commitment.

Note: My starting weight is actually 350.6 lbs.  The 341 lbs was my original starting weight, but this was reset at my highest in June of 2012.

Celebrating Non-Scale Victories

One great element of the Weight Watchers program is their celebration of non-scale victories.  These are victories that are not connected to the scale and are very helpful when you work hard but don't see a change at the scale.  Examples of non-scale victories are going down a notch on your belt, being able to run further than before or sticking with a new routine.  Although last week was a successful week at the scale, I also had a nice non-scale victory as well.

I am an active Freemason and am a proud member of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.  A significant aspect of the Scottish Rite is the portrayal of ceremonial plays, where our members act  as characters from many periods in history.  Last monday, we conducted a ceremony where I portrayed a knight.  I have acted in this role many times over the past few years, but this time was different.

Normally, the costume that I use for the ceremony does not fit quite right because I was too large.  It wouldn't close in back and I would be forced to tie or pin it closed and hide the impromptu fixes with my cape.

However, much to my surprise this past Monday, the costume fit extremely well and closed without any further assistance.  My efforts since last December, when I last wore the costume, have paid off quite nicely and fitting into the costume was a great non-scale victory!

Weekly Weight-In - Down 1.6 lbs!

I stopped by Weight Watchers on Saturday and did my weekly weight-in.  Although normally I stay for the full meeting, I wasn't able this past weekend because my family and I were extremely busy preparing for our Baby Shower.

It looks like my latest efforts are starting to pay off.  I was down 1.6 lbs from the week before.  I believe that this is a direct result of my consistent tracking and regular activity!

Making adjustments, but staying with my weekly goal

Sometimes, life (and the weather) gets in the way of our best laid plans.  Yesterday was one of those times.

Previously, I set the goal of "scheduling time every other day to get activity and to use that scheduled time."  So, I set the following events up on my calendar:

Monday - 5:30-6:00 - Walk around Indian Cove before dinner
Wednesday - 5:30-6:00 - Walk around Indian Cove before dinner
Friday - 5:30-6:00 - Walk around Indian Cove before dinner
Sunday - All day - Setting up for the Baby Shower

Yesterday, it rained heavily in the evening, so we couldn't walk around outside.  At this point I had two options, find another activity to do inside or reschedule.  Unfortunately, the cottage is not ideal for any real sort of inside exercise, so I moved the event on my calendar to tonight.  The weather should be clear tonight and we'll definitely be able to walk.

The take-home message here is that making adjustments shouldn't be an exception to your plan, it should be part of it.  I could have simply became frustrated and cancelled it all together.  Instead, I consciously adjusted my plan while still keeping with it.

Tracking Goal Recap

Last week, I set a goal that I would track what I ate for the next week based on the Weight Watchers PointsPlus program.  I am pleased to announce that I successfully completed this goal, having tracked all my food from last Monday to today.

This goal has helped me get back on track with watching what I eat and I plan on continuing it for the foreseeable future.

At my weekly Weight Watchers meeting on Saturday, I talked about this goal and the WW leader gave me a bravo sticker.  These bravo stickers are good motivators for rewarding non-scale victories, such as setting a goal and achieving it.