Resumed

I need to apologize. I promised, when I started this blog, that I would write at least once a week as part of being accountable for my own weight loss. As you can easily tell, I did not follow through on this. So what happened? The short answer is pretty straight forward. I stopped exercising, stopped eating properly, and stopped losing weight. In fact, I gained back much of the weight that I had lost, I'm ashamed to say.

These past few weeks, I have been working hard to get back to where I was when I left off. As of last Monday, May 24th, I’m back to 322.2. I’m going to keep my weigh in day on Monday, since I’ll be less likely to mess up over the weekend. So, tomorrow, we'll see just how "back into the swing" of things I really am. I aiming for 1-2 lbs per week. Any more than that is pretty unrealistic, in my opinion. Yeah, I've had weeks in the past that I lost much more than that, but I never expected to lose that much. If I can lose 1.5 lbs per week, then by this time next year, I'll be down to 244. And I'm more than OK with that.

Three sheets to the wind, right?

Monday, Rainy Monday

It took me longer than I thought it would to get back to this, and while my "Apology for not writing in so long/What I've been up to" post is still coming, I wanted to write a quick note about what a great day I had today.

A little background. I've been running (well, walking/jogging, if we're all being honest) at least 5 times a week around a lake nearby my house for the past few weeks. I figured that from my front door, around the lake, and back to my front door was about 4 miles. When I first started, it took 1 hour and 25 minutes. Slow, I know, but if I was fit, I wouldn't be writing a blog about losing weight, would I? Over the past two weeks, I had gotten it down to 1 hour and 2 minutes, with my next goal to get it under one hour.

Today, like most Mondays, was a rough day at work and by the time I got home, it was really gray and slightly drizzling. I had no desire to go running at all, ready to just sit down and watch something that required zero brain power. After some internal debate, I decided that I needed to go. If I said no today, I would have an excuse next time to not exercise. And excuses was one of the reasons I am already the size that I am. So, I changed into my shorts and a hoodie (it was still drizzling a bit) and put on my running shoes. Fully planning on it being miserable, I decided that I was just going to walk the route today.

Stepping out into the dusk, my mood switched almost instantly. I immediately felt good. The air was crisp and the misting rain beaded on my face. Feeling a slight boost in energy, I decided to put in a little effort as I started the 4 mile trek. As I went on, I felt better and better, pushing just a little more every few minutes. Then, about a third of the way around the lake, it started to rain like the dickens. Out of nowhere, it was suddenly as close to a downpour as you could get without actually calling it a downpour. The few brave souls that were also out at the lake scattered like rabbits. I was about to turn around myself when I remembered the reason I came out. If I stopped then, I would have an excuse to stop next time. So I kept going through the pouring rain.

There I was. The lone soldier. My hoodie weighed about 30 lbs more due to soaking in the water. AC/DC blasting through my iPod. Muscles rippling in the cold wind. Focus beyond what mortal men are capable of. One Man. One Desire. Coming this summer from Paramount Pictures.

I'm done.

Anyway, everything about the situation said that I should be miserable, but as weird as this sounds, I realized that I was not just enjoying it, but that I was having the time of my life. I just felt GOOD to be out there, soaked through all my clothing, and running my tired, out of shape heart out. I stopped to enjoy the scene, rain falling on the lake with Flogging Molly playing quite loudly in my earphones (Within a Mile of Home - Currently the most played song on my iPod). I felt better than I had in a long time. I pushed hard the rest of the way home, loving every step. By the time I got back to my house, the rain had pulled back into a drizzle.

End of the day, it's amazing how a quick exercise can change your mood. I ending up finishing at 55:34, completing my goal under the hour mark as well as beating my previous record by 7 minutes. But the best part about this whole thing is that next time, I won't have an excuse to not go exercise.

Beginnings...Again

What's that, you say? This blog is starting up again? Even I don't believe it. Stay tuned...

Back in the Saddle

Alright, so it's no secret that I've been somewhat...stagnant in my weight loss recently. No one is more aware of this than I am, so this past week I really put in a solid effort. I had a small goal to try to hit 321 this week, losing three pounds and getting back to keeping that shiny graph to the right moving south. So, feeling pretty optimistic that I just might hit that loss of three pounds, imagine my shock when I step up and see this:

316.6

...

Wait, what? I stepped back on the scale, thinking that can't be right. 316.6. Seriously?! 7.4 pounds lost last week?! That's more than a pound a day! Woohoo! Gotta admit, it's bee a while since I've felt this good. As a matter of fact, I think I'm feeling good enough to take on one of my goals. No, not the ricecake. Stop kidding yourself. I'm going to go hike to the top of Timpanogos Mountain either this week or next (probably next since this week in nuts at work. 60 hour work weeks are fun.) Let's keep this rolling stone moving, so that it can get the early worm! Or wait, that's not it. Umm..Two in the bird is worth ...uhh...three in the...umm... You know what? I think I'll just try and stay away from the motivation catchphrases. There's a reason why I don't work for Hallmark.

Car Shopping = The Devil

I finally, FINALLY found my car and bought it! Words cannot begin to express how happy I am. And not because I love my new car (which I do), but because I don't have to keep shopping for cars. That right there is worth the price of admission. Life...is good.

So, immediately after I purchased my car, we (Me, my brother Blaine, and my two cousins, Tyler and Jordan) took it for a quick test drive down to San Diego (we all live in the Salt Lake City, Utah area). Though it was an incredibly fun weekend (I got far too much sun, which is fine if you like your Brett extra crispy), I unsurprisingly ate nothing but foods that are normally associated with road trips: Fast food, sodas, burgers, all sorts of sugary junk food that comes in a pouch, ect. I had a perfect opportunity to show that you can even eat healthy on a road trip, but I blew it, and paid for it. Stepping onto the scale this morning I got another ugly number:

324.0

Ugh. This car shopping thing (and subsequent vacation) really messed up my momentum. Alright, no more excuses. Time to refocus my attention and get back to work.

LIAR!

Wow. I can't believe how long it's been since I posted. One of my goals when starting this blog was to write at least once a week, and there has been some serious failure on that front. Can I change the past? Not without a flux capacitor, and since I can't seem to find one on sale anywhere (they're fairly expensive), it seems that all I can do is offer an apology. I'm sorry and I will do my best to make sure that there are no further weeks without an update.

As to my weigh ins and what I have been up to, they correlate quite a bit. Let me show you:

6/22/09: 321.0

6/29/09: 323.0

7/6/09: 322.4

Not pretty, I know. Not to use this as an excuse (I've been making excuses about my weight for some time now), but these past few weeks have been an incredible stress roller coaster, one in which you get nauseous on the first turn and throw up, but the ride operator thinks it's funny to keep sending you though over and over again without giving you the chance to get off. Kind of. You see, I've been shopping for a new car. This sounds like a good idea initially. When you first decide to go car shopping, you will think to yourself, "Hey Self! This is going to be so fun, picking a new car! It'll be way easy and people will be nice to you and you can test drive a bunch of different cars to see what you like and the tooth fairy exists and you can even pick whatever color you want!" Do not listen to yourself when you say this because you are a liar. Shopping for a new car will destroy your soul; your very will to live. Everyday I got off work, I would stare at the computer for hours, HOURS, trying to find something that fit what I needed out of my new car. I looked at so many cars that I have the basic Craigslist page outline permanently burned into my retinas. Have you ever stared at a computer screen for so long that you can actually feel your eyes internally bleeding? I now have. On the upside, I think I finally found the car and we are in the process of getting everything signed. It's almost too much to hope for to think that this nightmare will soon be over. If it does all go through, I'll post some pics for you, even though it has nothing to do with weight loss. Try and stop me! You totally can't!

So, to review: Flux Capacitor, vomit, Tooth Fairy, soul stealing, Craigslist, internal bleeding. Did I miss anything?

No Weigh!

So, I'm all nervous about weighing in today. Mainly because I was denied my first 20 pounds lost marker last week. No, not denied. Cheated out of, more like. Or swindled from, if you prefer. I can keep going with these, but nobody wants that. On to the scale we go.

319.4

Booya! Suck it, Last Week! 4.6 pounds! That puts me at 20.6 pounds lost in 8 weeks. Which means that I have just under 10 weeks to lose 19.4 pounds and hit my goal of being below 300 before August 21st. I totally got this.