Day Seven! Another pound off. I weighed in this morning at 353. So for the week, I've lost 4 lbs total. Sending this post via SMS. Week Two starts tomorrow!

Day Six - Tracking the Progress

Day Six                 -              Saturday, October 29^th, 2011

Starting Weight: 357lbs

Current Weight: 354lbs

Goal Weight: 240lbs

Total Weight Lost: 3lb

Weight Remaining: 114lbs

Days Remaining: 176

Day Six reveals another single pound lost, for a whopping three pounds off. I know, I know, that aint nothing, but think about it like this, I’d still reach my goal. I would like to reach my goal ahead of schedule, but reaching it on time is still success. And let’s face it, 117lbs in 6 months would still be rock star success!

I’d like to talk for a second about this tracking process. A lot of people, my cool brother included, have said I should only weigh in once a week or some say two weeks. Some of their reasons behind such technique would be that the fluctuation or the idle days wouldn’t be so discouraging. And I agree with that; avoid discouragement as much as possible. However I have been so motivated before that I could flat out run 13 miles based on my sheer adrenaline alone, but I still failed. Why? Well, I think I’ve come up with the answer.

You see, motivation comes and goes like the tide. And if your efforts are based off of motivation alone or even a majority, then your efforts will come and go. I’m finding that true success comes from consistency. Whether you’re motivated or not, if your reason for running that mile or eating another god-forsaken kale salad is for consistency, you’ll do it regardless. You see, motivation is a sweetener, it’s like a beautiful sunny day. You have to run in the rain too, but it’s so much more pleasant to run in the sun light.

So my strategy of monitoring my progress and posting updates is based on the proven concept of consistency. If you weigh once a week and you realize you haven’t lost as much as you wanted, well it’s easy to get discouraged because you know that you now have to go another whole entire week or two before you’ll see results again. Ironically, this method also often leads to people, myself included, getting discouraged and giving up. But if you weigh daily, and you don’t see results for a day, you know that tomorrow is a new day and you’ll stay the course to see the results the next day. Even in my first week, you see that there was an idle day or two. Well, I knew it was just one day, and that tomorrow is a new day, so I pressed on and now I’m back to a pound per day. At this rate, I’ll be about 2 months ahead of schedule for my weight loss goal.

Just between you and me, I want to knock it out this weekend and lose 4 pounds in the next 48 hours!

Day Five - Down two pounds.

Day Five               -              Friday, October 28^th, 2011

Starting Weight: 357lbs

Current Weight: 355lbs

Goal Weight: 240lbs

Total Weight Lost: 2lb

Weight Remaining: 115lbs

Days Remaining: 177

I apologize for my missed post yesterday, I was on a road trip with my amazing girlfriend, and simply forgot to do one before I left for her house. We went to the Jack Daniels distillery in Lynchburg, TN. Very cool tour…you should check it out. Go to www.JackDaniels.com

Well, Day five and only two pounds lost. I’ve not been true to my nutrition  routine and I haven’t done really any exercise, so that’s obviously what’s holding me back. I’ll step up my efforts on those two things and show you some results later.

I’ve found liquor to be a weakness of mine. I actually have no desire to stop drinking to aid in my fitness goals. Ha, as I’m writing this, I’m wondering if that makes me an alcoholic. In the spirit of full disclosure, I must say I would only have one or two drinks every few days if that. I’m probably best defined as a social drinker.

Another weakness is my girlfriend’s cooking. She is an amazingly talented world-class chef with her own catering business. She does wedding cakes and almost any sized catering event. I encourage you to follow her blog at www.CreativeCrumbsNashville.blogspot.com. She makes some amazing meals and I devour them. Luckily for me, they are healthy for the most part but still outside my normal fitness diet.

And on the word “Diet”, I’m not talking about some guru program that tells you what to eat and what to do. I’m talking about the original meaning, the total food you eat on a daily basis. The difference can be found in the way someone asks these two questions: 1) “What diet are you on?” or 2) “What does your diet look like?”. Also, looking at the meaning of the word diet actually helps to solidify in your mind that it is actually a lifestyle change. A program has a beginning and an end. Your diet doesn’t.

Enough for today. Be looking for updates regularly and please subscribe to this blog via the link to the right! Thanks for reading!

Day Three - No progress...time to break through!

Day Three           -              Wednesday, October 26^th, 2011

Current Weight: 356lbs

Goal Weight: 240lbs

Total Weight Lost: 1lb

Weight Remaining: 116lbs

Days Remaining: 179

Well, no change at this morning’s weigh in. I’m not too happy about that. I was expecting to be 3 pounds under by the end of today, but instead, I remain at one pound under.

It’s not uncommon to have a slow or difficult start so I’m not discouraged too much. However, I do want to accelerate my weight loss so I will go ahead and stop eating the leftovers I spoke about in my previous post.

The new “diet” and exercise will be sure to blow a hole in this log jam so to speak.

Another update tomorrow!

And we're off!

Day Two               -              Tuesday, October 25^th, 2011

Current Weight: 356lbs

Goal Weight: 240lbs

Total Weight Lost: 1lb

Weight Remaining: 116lbs

Days Remaining: 180

Day Two starts off in the right direction. One pound lost! Haha. you have to celebrate the little things too!

Not as much lost as I would like, but hey at least it’s moving…downward. I didn’t really do much yesterday by way of exercising. I was busy at work and didn’t get home until late, and by that time the ol’ laziness kicked in and I was finished.

I have some leftovers that I’m too poor to throw away so I’m continuing to eat my way through all of that. It’s unhealthy stuff but still, I hate throwing money away. Afterwards, I’ll go to the store and get what I call real food. Ever notice how the unhealthy food is cheap and the healthy food is expensive?

One tip I’ve found to help me during the weight loss process is preparation. Preparation is key! I was kicked out of Cub Scouts, for reasons unrelated to this blog ;), but I remember the motto of Be Prepared! I used to give excuses all the time as to why I couldn’t stick to a specific nutrition regimen. The most famous one, which maybe you have used at one time or another, is “It’s just so inconvenient. McDonald’s is so fast!” Well, this is true, but you have to change that. McDonald’s spends a lot of time trying to make us fat, so you have to spend time trying to make yourself healthy. I’m starting to prepare my food for at least half the week in advance. This way you’re only making food twice a week but you’ll have enough to get you through the whole week. If you make a salad big enough to divide over three or four days, put those three or four Tupperware bowls in the refrigerator and grab one on your way out to work that day. Doing this simple, yet powerful, technique has helped me stay away from convenience and move towards health and vitality!

Here's to your success!

Day One!

Day One               -              Monday, October 24th, 2011

The Mission: Weigh in at 240lbs or less by April 22^nd, 2012.

The Purpose: I want to be in peak physical condition by my 30^th birthday, for myself, for my family and for the simple ability to enjoy life to the fullest!

Current Weight: 357lbs

Goal Weight: 240lbs

Total Weight Loss: 0

Remaining Weight Loss: 117lbs
Remaining Days to April 21^st: 181

117lbs in 181 days. Hmm...6 Months. I know it’s physically possible, but can I make it happen? I must say this is going to be an interesting journey. I’m writing this journal of sorts to hold myself accountable but also to show other people, who, like me, may be down and out, may be discouraged, or may not even know it’s possible to change your current circumstance to improve the quality of your life. I’ve never journaled my weight loss endeavors before. Yes, that’s plural…endeavors. Like many people, I’ve tried to lose weight many times before. I’ve had a little bit of success but it was short lived. I didn’t adjust my lifestyle. I didn’t have a new vision of myself…I still saw myself as a fat guy. I believe I have figured out the secret to weight loss, and just a healthy lifestyle in general.  I want to write a book on how to completely transform your life in many areas applying one simple technique. But first, I have to prove it to myself.

I’ve been fat all of my life and pretty much ate just whatever I wanted. I’ve recently learned the value of real food (stuff that actually grows!), and am ready to apply that as a real lifestyle not just theoretical knowledge. In the past, during the semi-successful attempts at weight loss, I consistently lost one pound per day and I did it through a mostly raw diet. More on my actually diet regimen later…

So here I go! It’s Autumn here in Tennessee and the leaves are changing. Hopefully my life will begin to change as well!

I’m 29 years old, and completely out of shape, but come April 22^nd, 2012, I’ll have gone from Fat to Hot!