Archive for August, 2009

Hey everybody. I’m still here.

Yes, I had a bad week last week. This week is looking better, but I did have a bad dinner last night.

I’m just gonna let this stuff remain in the past. Also, I wanted to post last Monday, but I had a server emergency at work and I had to spend a lot of time on that.

My buddy Trent called and said he acquired some pit passes for the Talladega race in April 2010. Which I am very excited about. I don’t know how he got them, but now I have got to finish this challenge.

My biggest problem right now is consistency. I noticed on my weigh-ins that I have a pattern of losing weight 2 weeks, and then gaining weight 2 weeks. What I hate about this is the guilt involved during the bad weeks. I am going to figure out how to be a consistent loser!

I’ve got two exciting things in the works to help with my weight loss:

First, Coach Jack Eyer and I will meet tomorrow about him helping out with my workouts. Stay tuned.

Second, I found out that the Make A Wish “Dream Team” is for walkers as well as runners. I thought that it was just for runners. There’s a kickoff party tomorrow night for the “Dream Team”. Here’s all the info:

Just a reminder…hope to see you all there TOMORROW Night = )

Be a part of this year’s Dream Team!!! The Dream Team receives free training to run the Mercedes Half Marathon while raising money for The Make-A-Wish Foundation. Come to our Kickoff Party tomorrow night to learn more, and bring all of your friends.

***By joining the Make-A-Wish Dream Team you will receive:
• Training by The Wonderful Danny Haralson!!!! Couch to Half Marathon!!
• Admission into The Race for the Cure (10/10), The Vulcan Run (11/7) and the Mercedes Marathon(2/14)!!!
• Running Tech Shirts, Jackets, Hats or more
• Plus… you will have lots of fun, enjoy great post run dinners and social events, meet plenty of great friends & complete a Half Marathon.
• And best of all you will make many children’s dreams come true = ) This past year The Dream Team granted 5 wishes!! And this year, only with your help, we hope to grant many many more!!! When running with the Dream Team, every step you take is a step closer to making many wishes come true!

The Make-A-Wish Foundation “Dream Team”
KICKOFF PARTY
THURSDAY AUGUST 20th 6pm!!!!!!!!
DAVES PIZZA

1819 29th Ave South, Homewood AL 35209
(Free Pizza – limited amount – first come first serve = )

***Also, don’t forget to register for RUN FOR WISHES! A 5k Race, Family Fun Run or you can register to stay on the Couch. Saturday August 29th, 9am, at Alabama Adventure. www.runforwishes.com. Presented by the Birmingham Track Club!

This is gonna be a lot of work for me. Basically, if I eat properly, I should have no problem losing weight with all the walking and training.

All of this will be fun to blog about.

I really look forward to it!

Have a great Thursday!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

View my food diary at: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/svinson6

View my exercise diary at: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/exercise/diary/svinson6

I’ve had it with the business practices of Gyms! Some of them are just as bad as car dealerships!

My current gym (tomorrow it will be my former gym) has a great deal on personal training at $25 for a thirty minutes session. Which, this is what they told me when I inquired about it. So, I said sign me up. I told him that I want to take golf lessons soon, and I want to have as much range of motion as I can for my golf swing, and I also, of course, want to build overall strength and lose weight. No problem, but when we scheduled a session he tells me, “You know you have to buy eight sessions right?” No!, but I foolishly scheduled a session anyway. I thought, “well, I’ll throw it on the credit card with all my other crap.” But the more I thought about it, the angrier I got. I’m not mad at the trainer. I’m mad at the gym for misleading me into thinking that I could train a la cart. My logic was that I’ll use the training to get started on my way, and then I’ll go to the gym to workout on my own.

So, tomorrow I am going to call and cancel the training and cancel my membership. I haven’t’ been to the gym in a while because I’ve been walking at home. Walking is a better workout for me than swimming.

I won’t be recommending them to anyone else. I understand why they require eight sessions, but I don’t understand why they mislead people. Especially considering that the hospital that runs this facility is a religious organization.

I have a book “fitness for dummies” that I will use to design my workouts.

I had an offer for free personal training from a gentleman named Jimmy, but his gym was too far away from my office. I wish I had explained things to him because he had some hard feelings about it.

Also, I had an offer from a local lady for free training, but I don’t think her manager approved of the arrangement, and she canceled a workout at the last moment one day (I had my workout clothes on, about to walk out the door), and her scheduling was flaky. Also, she flip-flopped between two different locations, and again, it was a lot of driving to the gym.

Finally, there’s coach Jack Eyer in my Business Networking International (BNI) group, and he seems like a great trainer with a great system, check him out at http://www.coacheyer.com/Sparks.html but I just don’t want to spend the money. He would allow me to make payments, and he gave me a discount in exchange for computer help, but I’m starting to learn that those arrangements don’t work out well.

I also must mention Tom and Robin. They are awesome, and I really appreciate the videos that they made for me, but it wouldn’t be right to ask them for free training. I am confident that I can do this by experimentation and reading.

I must remember that personal training and gym memberships are luxuries. I can live without them. I’ll just have to research and experiment. I already have 5 lb and 20lb dumbbells. I will eventually want a good weight bench and other dumbbells.

I’m just gonna use the money that I was spending on the gym to pay off some of my credit card debt. I really have to learn to prioritize.

Okay, now I’ve got that off my chest.

Next, today’s food. I entered today’s food in the diary. Tomorrow is my mom’s birthday, and I got us a box of chocolate low cal fudgesicles instead of cake and ice cream. I’m glad I thought ahead and bought the small box because we split the box. I ate six of them suckers, and they were good. So, I went over my calories, carbs, and sugar, but I don’t plan on doing that again any time soon. Besides the popsicles, today was a great food day. Also, I walked a mile this morning and worked out my upper body at home. I don’t need no stinking gym.

Finally, the highlight of my day: I received an autographed shirt from Moses Smith, driver of the #16 HASA Toyota NASCAR Camping World West Series Car:

Thank you Moses. Your shirt really cheered me up. I have it hanging in my office for everyone to see. Also, I like looking at it from my desk. It really motivates me to keep on keeping on with my weight loss and exercise. You made my day!

Check out Moses Smith at http://www.mosessmith.com/ Also, vote for Moses as your favorite NASCAR Camping World West Series driver at http://www.nascar.com/news/features/mpd.poll.camping.world.west/index.html Be sure to vote everyday!

I have to start a NASCAR photo page. It will be coming soon.

Have a great Tuesday!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

View my food diary at: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/svinson6

View my exercise diary at: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/exercise/diary/svinson6

Weekly weigh-in: 536 lbs.
Loss: + 4 lb.
Total loss: 96 lbs.
Emotion: relieved

Considering all of the bad sh*t I ate this weekend, a four pound gain was not bad.

I’ve already got my mile walk in this morning, and I’m about to workout.

Here’s to a good week.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

View my food diary at: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/svinson6

View my exercise diary at: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/exercise/diary/svinson6

Yes, fat man went crazy this weekend.

I agree with Tom: I’m glad this happened. It helped me to realize that I am an emotional eater.

Saturday, I moped around and pigged out for supper. I thought my stomach was gonna explode. I had half of a Little Caesar’s Pepperoni pizza, 10 mild chicken wings, and 1/2 of a large order of ranch fries from a local drive thru. Also, I drank one liter of Pepsi One. Essentially, I binged.

And to finalize a crappy food weekend, I ate a sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit meal from McDonald’s this morning.

I was depressed and didn’t care anymore.

I don’t feel too guilty about it. I will do good the rest of the weekend and have a great week, but I’ve got to do something about this depression. Plans change, and I don’t need to be a baby about it.

There’s a great book on how to fight depression: “Feeling Good The New Mood Therapy” by David D. Burns M.D. He explains different techniques to fight depression. I can’t afford counseling anymore, so here’s some of my faulty logic:

First, before I get started I want to explain that I have battled depression off and on for years. I used to go to counseling, and then I requested anti-depressants. There’s got to be something wrong with me. I mean look at me: I got up to 632 lbs!

One irrational thought that I’ve had this weekend is: “What if the Talladega thing falls through? I don’t think I could survive that.” The problem with this logic is that I’m losing weight for the wrong reasons. It’s fun to have challenges, but I should be losing weight for myself. Even losing 100 pounds has changed my life for the better. I have more energy now. It has improved my quality of life.

“My friend and his wife must not want to hang out with me” WRONG! – They just had plans and he (like most men) doesn’t know what his wife has planned for the weekend.

“Well I guess this golf thing was never meant to happen.” – Fiddle Faddle, I ran late on Friday because of work, and my friend had some plans that he didn’t know about. Plans change. We’ll schedule a golf outing one day; besides, I need to get some lessons and practice in before actually going out to play a full round. This will increase my chances of liking the game.

I’m feeling better after writing those few bits of my faulty logic. Now, my hope is that my friends (both online and local) don’t think that I am completely nuts.

I thought I would share this stuff with everybody because:
1. Depression is one of the most common problems, and maybe this will help some folks.
2. Maybe you guys have some thoughts about the logic. Maybe y’all can help me.
3. We’re in this together. We have to accept the good with the bad.

Okay, now lets talk about some fun stuff.

Pre-season NFL starts tonight. Buffalo Bills vs. Tennessee Titans. They’re playing at Fawcett Stadium in Ohio. It’s the Hall of Fame game. Mentioning football makes me happy. I can already feel the cool weather.

I bought “Golf for Dummies” to help with my non-existent golf game. I will call the golf instructor tomorrow to re-schedule, and hopefully put in a little practice every week. Like I said, I live three blocks away from a driving range. They also have a par three course and practice greens for putting.

I will weigh in tomorrow, but I’m not gonna weigh in again for another month because I’m gonna start lifting weights, and when I start this my weight will go up, and it discourages me. Hopefully things will equalize after four weeks. To help with my workouts I bought Fitness for Dummies, and of course I will be blogging everything that I do.

You know I’ve got that 5k in Feb, and I believe I have found another one in March. So next year I’m gonna be busy.

I’m gonna put all of my energy and efforts in for those 5ks. Whatever happens with the Talladega thing happens. Good or Bad.

Later today I will enter my foods and exercise for next week on the food and exercise diary.

Have a good Sunday. We’ll see how much weight I gained in the morning. I wonder what it’ll be. Five pounds, ten pounds, fifteen plus pounds?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

View my food diary at: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/svinson6

View my exercise diary at: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/exercise/diary/svinson6

Well, today was no fun except for lunch. This weekend won’t be much better.

This morning my first service call went longer than expected, and I was 15 minutes late to my golf lesson. And, as luck would have it, the instructor left when I didn’t show. So, I missed out on what I was excited out.

Then I couldn’t find Zoe’s Kitchen at Patton Creek for the Alabama Blogger’s meet up, but my friend Justin invited me to lunch, so I went and ate with him and his crew.

The kicker of my day was when I found out my friend wasn’t gonna be able to play golf this weekend. I know we’ll do it some other time, but I was so looking forward to it.

Needless to say, I can’t wait until Monday. This is gonna be a boring weekend. [edited]

Oh well, lets see, we ate lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings, and I really enjoyed it. I had the grilled chicken salad with raspberry vinegrette and hot sauce. I put one pouch of dressing and one serving of the hot sauce on the salad. WARNING: Their hot sauce is HOT! I should have tested the heat before dumping it on the salad, but it was good although it was hot. I had 4 glasses of unsweet tea and a couple of potato wedges (they’re like french fries) to put out the flames. The tears were flowing.

So now I’m just waiting on Monday. I’ll watch Nascar this weekend. Well, I just remembered they’re racing at a road course. Well, I’ll add that to the bad weekend list. [edited] Road courses in Nascar are a major disrespect to the fans and the drivers. Most drivers hate those things. [edited] Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with road courses. They just don’t belong in Nascar. It’s funny to see the weak crowds that show up to those things. This is gonna be a loooong weekend. [edited]

All I can say now is that I hope your weekend is better than mine.

I haven’t been exercising this week because my mom was injured this weekend from a spill she took at the house (she fell). She’s bruised but okay. We’re gonna walk in the morning. I know, I know, I should still walk at work.

Also, food choices have been good this week, but I haven’t entered my food in the food diary. Next week I’m gonna plan my meals ahead by entering them in myfitnesspal.com, and then at the end of the day I’ll modify the diary. That’ll make things easier.

Well, tomorrow I’m venturing into a new hobby: Golf. I take my first lesson at 10am tomorrow. Hopefully I don’t completely suck at it because I’m gonna possibly attempt to play this weekend with friends. No matter how terrible I am, hopefully I enjoy it because this might just be the thing I’ve been looking to do on the weekends. Golf has beautiful scenery and a lot of walking.

If we play this weekend, maybe we can do a little videoing with iphones.

About the golf lesson, there’s a driving range a few blocks from my house, and they provide lessons for $35 an hour. So, I figure I’d give it a shot. I’m just gonna borrow my friends’ clubs until I figure out what I’m doing.

Also, tomorrow I will be going to my second Alabama Bloggers Meet-Up. I had a good time last month. I’ll post pics.

Have a great Friday!

I had lunch with Shaun Chavis with Health Magazine a few weeks ago, and she interviewed me for a blog entry on weight loss blogging that she was working on. Here’s her post: http://diet.health.com/2009/08/05/blog-it-off/

Thank you Shaun.

WOW!, I am overwhelmed by everyone’s fabulous comments. Thank you all so much. I definitely would not have been able to lose 100 pounds without your help!

Things have been going well this week. One day at a time. I’m ready to leave the 500 pound club. Just 32lbs to go.

Oh, I got the results from the doc about my blood work. I was drinking too much water. Actually, I believe that I was drinking too much water at one time. I was drinking one gallon per day, but I was drinking half a gallon in one hour. So, I have to control my water intake and drink Powerade Zero everyday.

I haven’t walked in two days, but will resume in the morning.

Man, I’m still on cloud nine from Monday.

Again, thank you!

My weight is down to 532 lbs, which is a loss of 4 pounds for the week and a total loss of 100 lbs. It feels good to reach this milestone. Now I’m ready to get out of the 500 club!

First, I want to thank you for reading my blog. Next, a big thank you goes out to everyone following and commenting on the blog. I wouldn’t have been able to do this without your help. I have never stayed on a weight loss plan this long, nor have I ever had this much success. I am eternally grateful to all of you.

Even my blogosaurus is throwing a party.

This has made my Monday.

Have a good week!

P.S. Just 200 more to go till Dega!

P.S. #2: Here’s some new progress pics (I bought the shirt, tie, and belt just for this pic)