Losing.

I think I am back on track after this week. I have pretty much lost all that I had gained over the weekend in Vegas and the past week of not working out. I still haven't done much exercising mainly because work has picked up and is so busy. We had a meeting yesterday and the boss encouraged us to get away from our desks for an hour for lunch so we can have a fresh outlook, so I am going to start exercising again. I actually exercised once and it felt really good to get back into it, so this week I am going to hit it every day. Well I have to get going, lots of homework to do.

I fell off the horse...a bit

Last week was mine and Nichole's anniversary. Five years and running. A lot has happened in the last five years, so we went to Vegas to celebrate. We didn't eat to bad, and we walked A LOT!!! I am now oh so ready to be back in the saddle again. I haven't been super bad lately, I just haven't been working out, mainly because I have been taking my lunches to study for tests. I already lined out my school load this semester in a past post, but it has been a little overwhelming. Even today I have to take my lunch break to study for a test that I have after work.
Lately I have been loosing the steam and ambition that I had when I first started this venture. With my schooling I have been feeling like....like, well if you have ever seen the cartoon with the guy riding the horse through the desert and they are in search of water, that's how I have been feeling. I just feel like I have slowed down and then started dragging with my mission to lose weight and get healthy. Mainly because I have been putting in exercise and trying to eat healthy and everything, but I am still not loosing anything and have hit an early plateau. I still have a goal of losing 20 pounds by my wife's birthday, but this means that I have to step it up and lose three pounds a week. I guess my solution is strict dieting exercise everyday. I have started the strict diet today, but I will start exercising tomorrow again and get back in the saddle. I have at least picked myself up off the desert floor. Here's to tomorrow.

School Sucks

I'm sorry for the delay in posts. These last two weeks have been very stressful. My school has been overloaded and we also had a death in the extended family so needless to say I have been slacking on my exercising and been a little down with the unfortunate death. I really haven't done much, or lost anything. I am ready to jump back on the bandwagon this week as I have a new focus on things now. Nichole and I went to our 2nd doctors appointment for our first baby and it made me realize everything that I am trying to do and how important it is.
Lately I just really have been amiss and out of balance. I am taking five classes so I can be finished by December with my Bachelors and this semester is the hardest by far. I have two online classes that are just a bunch of busy work, and then a business calculus class (not real sure why I need this class), a web programming class, and finally an internet security class. I can't wait until the first week of May and this will all be over. I am just trying to keep my head above the water with all the homework business. The reason I am going through this is more for my sanity to put things into perspective. I have the hardest time staying focused when I feel unbalanced.
I would really like to be fifty pounds lighter when the baby gets here. When it does I will have three classes left and will have to focus on that and the new baby so I need to get it together. I will try and make another post this week, Nichole and I are going to Vegas for our 5th wedding anniversary and we are staying at a new hotel there so I am sure that they have a new gym and I can continue with my routine. I'll have to, to beat off the effects of eating and everything else we are going to do. Homework time!

Another 2...

I know, I know it has been over a week since I have updated my blog. I am still around and I am still working out. It has been a rough and stressful week. I was so inundated with homework last week that I just didn't have time to post. Good news is though, when I weighed in on Sunday I had lost another two pounds. Sometimes I wish it was like 12 or 13, but I will take the two. I subscribe to an email called Losing It With Jullien M. and she had a great post she sent out this week titled, "Be Proud of Any Success!" She made a good point in her "blog" she said,

"There's no such thing as mindless weight loss. You can't sleep off the pounds or take a miracle pill that burns fat. Losing weight is about making the right choices, every single day, in a variety of different situations. But even if you see the pounds coming off slowly, that doesn't mean you should throw in the towel. As one teammate explains, this journey may be slow going sometimes, but every milestone counts! "Many of us are losing between one and two pounds, and we all sound the same... just one pound but its okay since I'm heading in the right direction, wish it were more, only 2, etc. What I want to say is that the one and two pound losses are AWESOME!!! They are not something to just 'accept' or 'wish that it were better... Slow and steady wins this race people! And we need to be HAPPY with those 1 and 2 pound losses... no not just happy, but HAPPY!!

I think when we see those HUGE losses on The Biggest Loser, we think that we should be pulling bigger numbers ourselves, but NONE of us are able to work out, sleep, eat, work out, eat, sleep, and work out some more. We are living in the real world with families, jobs, and activities. It is not an excuse! But getting one really good workout in per day, eating healthy, and working at obtaining a doable calorie deficit that you can be happy with and make a new healthy habit, is something to be proud of... remember, a 1,000 calorie deficit each day for one week equals 2 pounds and the end of the week. So those 1 and 2 pounders have to be celebrated. I am guilty of it myself... 'just 1 lb, but I at least it is in the right direction'... instead it should be 'YIPPY!! I lost ANOTHER pound this week!!'

A half pound, 1 lb, 2 lbs are success, and so anyone who achieves these smaller losses in a weeks time are successful too! I just want us to celebrate being a success — no matter how small the loss may be.

So CONGRATULATIONS to everyone who lost pounds this week... keep up the good work and pat yourself on the back — yes, even if it were a pound, do it! Pat yourself on the back and tell yourself that YOU are a success!!" –fit4deb"

When it comes down to it, it really does take an active effort to reach a goal of losing weight. One pound equals 3500 calories. Some people eat more than that a day. If I ate like that everyday I would be so out of shape and 10 pounds heavier. For me to lose 2 pounds that means that I have cut my intake and burned 7000 calories. That is a lot of calories. So when I lose 2 pounds I need to remember that fact and be happy. My new goal is to lose 2-3 pounds a week until our baby is born in August, so if I can keep this up I will be able to reach my goal and then some.
One of my other goals this week is to cut down on my soda intake. I try hard to limit it everyday, but I ultimately want to cut it down to one or two a week instead of two a day. I just have a very hard time drinking water. It has to be very cold because if it is warm it always tastes funny, but when it is cold I have real sensitive teeth and it hurts my teeth, so I have to use a straw. Not my favorite thing to do, but I need to make the sacrifice and use the straw.
Here at work they are starting a weight loss challenge and I am going to enter it. It is only $15 dollars and the winner takes the pot. I don't know if I am going to win, but I can sure as heck try and give it my best. Something more to give me some motivation and spur me to keep working. There are supposed to be 10-15 people entering it, so 15x15=$225 which would be awesome to pad my wallet with.