Getting into a Rhythm

Just a quick post today. I'm starting to get into this rhythm for my workouts. Not during the exercising itself, but rather the anticipation of it. Let me explain.

I've never been an early morning person, so I do all of my exercising at night, usually around 9:30 or so. Late, I know, but I sleep so much better when I am dead. But something interesting has happened within the past few days. I'm finding that my body (Not me, mind you, but my body) is starting to crave exercising. I don't know how else to explain it. My brain will tell me that it's too late or that I'm too tired to work out (What the? I get tired, man! Give me a break! -Brain), but as it gets closer to 9:30, I find myself subconsciously setting aside or quickly finishing anything that would delay my workout. It's a good thing, sure, but I just wish my body would consult me first before making any decisions. You hear me, Body? No tattoos!

First Weigh In

So here I am, one week into my new diet and exercise program and I facing a crucial moment. I'm standing about two feet away from the scale and am paralyzed with fear. This shouldn't be an issue. I should be able to just step on that thing to have it pass judgment on me and be done with it.

Allow me to give you a bit of context as to why this is so difficult for me. The last time I seriously tried to lose weight, I had been working out and eating healthier for nearly a month without weighing myself. I figured that as long as I kept going, then the weight would just come off. Well, when I finally stepped on the scale, it was not pretty. Not only had I not lost any weight, but I had gained a pound. All that work and all I had to show for it was that I was bigger than I was when I started. Needless to say, it was devastating. I stopped exercising and got back into my poor eating habits. And here we are again. Me, staring at the scale. It staring coldly back at me. Alright, scale. Let's do this.

I turn it on and step up. The numbers dancing back and forth, as though it already knew the answer and were just taunting me. The numbers stopped moving. I looked at the display.

336.5 pounds. I've lost 3.5 pounds this week! That's about 1.5 pounds more than I needed to keep on track for my under 300 lbs goal I set (see last post). I step off the scale and do a little dance.

Victory.

Goals

So, now that I've (somewhat) settled into a (somewhat) regular exercise routine, I do want to share some of my short and long term goals.







Short Term Goals:

• Be under 300 pounds by August 21, 2009 (which comes to a little over 2 pounds a week for 18 weeks)
• Stop drinking carbonated drinks
• Write at least one post a week on this blog for accountability
• Hike to the top of Timpanogos Mountain before the end of this Summer

Long Term Goals:

• Get below 200 pounds
• Run a full marathon
• Eat a rice cake (This one may take a while...)

This is just a short list of what I hope to accomplish. Most of them are pretty self explanatory, but the one that I want to talk about specifically is running a full marathon.

Usually, telling someone that you'd like to run in a marathon got you a response like: "Why on earth would you want to do something like that? Why would you subject your body to such an horrifying amount of pain? 26.2 miles just to prove that your healthy? I'm going to go watch Oprah." I know because I used to say that to people. Except for the Oprah part. I swear. (He's lying to you right now. -Brain) Now that I'm at a point in my life where I've set this goal, I realized that the answer is a bit more complex than "proving that I'm healthy."

Like I had mentioned in my previous posts, I've always been a fairly large guy. To me, running a marathon not only seemed to be the pinnacle of athleticism, but it also represented something that, in my mind, was completely unachievable. Something like that was so far out of my reach that I would never be physically able to do it. I had impressed this point so much into my brain (Thanks a lot. -Brain) that when I initially made my list of goals, I refused to put it down because it was so ridiculous. I might as well have put "perform open heart surgery while bowling a 300" on my list. As weird as it sounds, I had to do a lot of convincing to myself before I would even consider it. But as I started to write this post, it occurred to me that the whole point of goals is to strive toward a place that you are currently not at. This isn't about being fit enough to be able to run a marathon, it's about setting a nearly impossible goal and putting everything I am into achieving it. So, while it may take years, I will accomplish this goal. And I expect you all to hold me to it. And just so we're clear, I'm talking about the marathon, not the rice cake.

Brett vs. His Brain

"Hello, Brett. What are you up to today?"

"Oh hi, Brain. I'm just about to start my first workout."

"Nice! So, you're just going to get right to it then, huh?"

"Yup. Why, something wrong?"

"Can I ask you when the last time you worked out was?"

"We both know the answer to that, Brain. It's been a while."

"Right. And don't you think that it might be a good idea to stretch before your workout?"

"What are you getting at? Do you think that I can't handle a simple workout without doing sissy stretching beforehand?"

"You don't really understand what stretching is for, do you Brett?"

"I understand enough to know that you really burn calories during the actual workout, so I'm getting right to the good stuff."

"Brett, if you just take two minutes to warm up, you could avoid any..."

"I totally got this, so just chill out."

"This is going to be a disaster, I just know it."

"Shut it, Brain! Let's do this!"

.....One Workout Later.....

"How is it going, Brett?"

"Really good! I just finished and I feel great! I'm going to go take a shower."

"Wait, you're not going to do any cooldowns before you finish?"

"Didn't you hear me, Brain? I am finished. What good will the cooldown do me if I've already done the hard stuff?"

"Well, for starters, it will stretch out any...Where are you going?!"

"I told you, to take a shower."

"Fine. Don't listen to me."

"I would if you knew what you were talking about."

"I hate you so much right now."

.....The Next Day.....

"And how are you feeling today, Brett?"

"Holy crap, Brain! I am in such an incredible amount of pain right now!"

"Pain?"

"Yeah. I can barely move. I'm sore in so many places..."

"Interesting. And what do you think caused this pain?"

"I'm being punished for trying to get healthy."

"That's certainly a theory...or it may be that your muscles weren't properly stretched out before or after the workout yesterday. Remember how I told you to do that?"

"Seriously, Brain, I'm in a lot of pain here and could use some help."

"Alright, alright. All you need to do is swallow this big "I told you so" pill as well as some IB prophin."

"I hate you so much right now."

Let's Get It Started (Ha!)

Ah, the Gym. How you tease me with your promises of massive biceps and abs so hard you could grate cheese on them. But we stopped seeing each other and lost touch. Why don't you call me anymore, the Gym? Was it something I said? Please, come back! I can change, I swear!

So, I guess that I should start off by telling you a bit about myself. I'm Brett. Hello. I work for a local internet company. I feel incomplete without my iPod. I just saved a bunch of money by switching to Geico. I also weigh 340 pounds. And therein lies the reason that I've started this blog: For some serious, no-frills, hardcore, beef-flavored, kid-tested, mother-approved, weight loss action. I've tried to lose weight in the past (see my previous efforts here: http://fitnesshappens.blogspot.com/), but I have a lot more motivation this time.

Now, I've been a pretty big guy for most of my life, so you may ask, "Brett, why the sudden desire to lose weight, other than for better general health and an overall increase in sexiness?" Well, I'm glad you might have asked that. There are two big reasons, but I'll just go into the first today. Three weeks ago, I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. This wasn't unexpected; both sides of my family have a history of Diabetes, but that doesn't make it any less of an impact. Hearing it from my doctor made it real. Like a slap in the face real. Like kick in the pants real. Like too much Indian food real. I needed to make some serious changes.

So here we go. Three sheets to the wind and the rolling bird gathers no stone, right? Truth be told, I don't really know that much about exercising and eating right, so I have a lot to learn and a long way to go. I'll be chronicling my progress and things that I've learned (as well as anything else that happens to be on my brain at the time) on this page, which I'll try to update at least once a week, and hopefully a bit more. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go find the theme song for Rocky. Let's be honest here, you can't be successful at losing weight unless playing that song is the first thing you do.