I FIT !!!

My family has been vacationing almost annually (we missed last year) for the past 4 years at Hershey Park in Pennsylvania. It is a wonderful park, with rides for kids of all ages...even my age! In any case, I'm a roller-coaster enthusiaste and Hershey Park has a great variety of excellent roller coasters. In 2004, they added a new launch-style roller coaster named Storm Runner, which I desperately wanted to ride that year. We went in late June of 2004, and I got to the line entrance for the coaster, where they have a sample seat, next to a sign stating that due to the nature of the restraint system, "larger" individuals may not be able to be accomodated on this ride. I tried, but I simply did not fit. I was extremely disappointed. They also opened another ride that year (The Claw) which I tried to get on but had to do the "walk-of-shame" off of for the same reason...I was too fat!

So I was really looking forward to our trip to Hershey this year, not just because we skipped it last year, but because I knew I would get on rides I've never been on before. We went last weekend, which, if you watched the news concerning the weather in the North-east during that time, you would know was not exactly prime amusement-park-weather, but we went anyway. We did get about a good 1/2 day in the park, and I did get on to Storm Runner. I FIT! I sat right down and had absolutely no issue with the restraint system. I FIT! And I've got to say, it was absolutely the BEST roller-coaster I've ever been on in my life!

I got on The Claw without a problem, too. I FIT!

It's funny, though...the first ride that my daughter (8 yrs old) and I went on was the Comet (a classic wooden coaster) and out of habit, when the lap-bar was coming down, I sucked in my belly...but I didn't need to! I FIT!

And I got on the Wave Swinger and got back off without the swing seat sticking to my butt. I FIT!

I was able to comfortably sit in the seat of any ride I wanted to. I FIT! I really fit!

It was really an amazing experience! Due to the weather, we cut the vacation short and we will be heading back there in a few more weeks for more "fitting" fun! I can't wait!

Sure, I gained a pound or two while I was there, but that was expected...sometimes the scale isn't the only measure of success on Weight Watchers. Sometimes it's fitting in the seat of a 180-foot-tall roller coaster! 

Creating Habits

You know...One of the things that has been absolutely key in my successful weight loss so far has been the ability to add some new habits to my life. I have made it a habit to exercise almost every day. When I get up on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, there's no question I will be exercising. These days that most likely means going for a run. At first, it was a difficult chore to do the exercising, but after a pretty short while, not only did it become second-nature, but I began to LOVE IT. I absolutely LOVE to exercise now.

When I'm grabbing something to eat, it's absolutely a habit for me to immediately figure out how many points it is and how many I have left for the day. It's a habit for me to go to my WW meeting every Thursday evening. All new habits, formed because they are helping to accomplish something that I really want in my life. Things I don't have to even think about anymore, really.

I just read today's selection from "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers, which seems incredibly pertinent. (here's a link: http://www.rbc.org/utmost/index.php?month=06&day=15&year=06 )

Here's the thing, though. That has really confronted me with the fact that I have still not been able to "form" new habits in my Christian walk as well as I would like to. I have yet to make real prayer and scripture reading a daily habit, even though I know how absolutely critical it is to my success as a Christian man in this world. The reading above, along with my physical success in weight-loss has made it absolutely clear that it IS possible for me to make these things a habit, and yes, even begin to LOVE doing it. But I've got to be willing to put in the effort it will take to get through the "adding" and "forming" part, in order to get to the "habit" and "love it" parts. That much is up to me, but the cool thing is, I know that if I'll do my part, He will meet me halfway with arms open wide and grace flowing!

Now, similar to the fact that I didn't start my exercise program with a 5 mile run every morning, and I didn't change my whole diet all in one day, I'm not going to start this "forming" of new habits by promising to do 3 hours of Bible study and prayer every day. I'm going to take this a little bit at a time, doing some small study work and prayer each day and then add to it little by little.

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. How do you lose 100+ pounds? One pound at a time. How do you read the whole Bible? One chapter at a time. I'm making a commitment to do just that, starting today!

I wonder no more...

Not that I really ever wondered why it was that I was so fat in the first place...I sort-of had a pretty good idea...I ate too much. But several times over the past few months I took note of some specific foods that I used to eat and had a chance to figure out how many points they were. Boy was I surprised!

My typical meal at Wendy's? 45-60 points.
McDonalds breakfast (2 SEC McGriddles, 2 Hashbrowns, 2 Milks)? 46 points!
A slice of my favorite cheesecake? 14 points, but who can have just one slice?
Lloyd's BBQ Pork Ribs? 9 points for 2 ribs...I've polished off a whole rack myself, along with some side-dishes!

Those are just some of the examples. I am sure that there were MANY days where my daily point total well-exceeded 100 (not that I was counting!) When I see the way I used to eat, it makes it entirely obvious why my belt was getting tight at 56 inches and my 300-lb scale was pushing it's limits!

In actuality, I still did have my cheesecake on my birthday. Just one slice. It was WELL-worth it, as it is the BEST cheesecake I've ever tasted! (Jonathan Lord Cheesecakes) But that kind of treat is now just that...a TREAT. No longer a staple in my diet!

Visit to the Doc

Here are some more before-and-after pictures. The "fat" pictures were from the summer of 2005 and the "current" pictures were taken just today.

Speaking of today...I visited my doctor today, just to check out how he thinks I've been doing. I've been going to him since 1992. He has seen my weight go from about 215 at that time, all the way up to the 295+ I found myself at last summer.

Anyway, he is VERY pleased with my weight-loss so far. In fact, he's tickled pink. He bragged about me to one of his collegues in the office.

The good part of my visit, you ask? I've been on medication for my BP for several years now. Well, my blood pressure was 112/63. When I described to my doctor that I've been exerpiencing some minor dizziness when getting up quickly after sitting for a while, he was not surprised. He said that I should immediately discontinue the BP medications, as I no longer need them!

Pretty Unbelievable!

He also said that I should spread out my reflux medication further, taking it every THIRD day instead of every OTHER day. I used to take it EVERY day, so that's quite an improvement.

And hopefully, when I get my blood test results back, I'll be able to either discontinue or at least decrease my cholesterol medication as well.

One more piece of news...he took a good look at me and told me that my goal weight of 170 seems too low at this point. He would prefer that I stop, at least for now, at 180, so instead of 22.6 pounds from my goal, I'm now only 12.6 pounds away! Pretty cool!

When trying to find some new "before pictures", my wife and I went through some old photo albums...The one phrase that kept coming out of my mouth was..."Oh, my gosh!" Boy was I ever big! I didn't want to post pictures with my daughter in them, but I've gotta tell ya...I was HUGE! I simply MUST HAVE cracked 300lbs in some of those pictures, because, oh, my gosh...I was HUGE! It was fun and horrifying at the same time. It was quite encouraging, though.

Oh...one more thing. Last week, a friend loaned me some weight-lifting plates...90lbs worth, to be exact. I put them into 2 nap-sacks and added some additional weight to equal the then-101lb weight that I had lost to that point. I put one nap-sack on backwards (payload in front) and the other on normally (payload in back). So, at that moment, I was back at my 295lb weight. Oh my. It's hard to imagine what 101lbs actually feels like, but it's HEAVY, to say the least.

I walked up my stairs to the 2nd floor and back down, and man, was I winded...me...the guy who can jog 3 miles pretty easy these days, winded from going up and down 12 steps with the weight that I once carried everywhere with me. What an eye-opener.

I highly recommend, when you need some encouragement, putting your current "weight-loss-total" together in a bag/sack/whatever and really feeling what your lost weight feels like. You'd be surprised how heavy even 20lbs is...it's nothing to sneeze at!

101 Gone, 24.6 more to Go!

So, I went to my WeightWatchers meeting tonight, hoping for, but not really counting on reaching my 100 lb loss mark.

I got there! 101 to be exact! It's hard to believe that I'm actually 101 lbs lighter now than I was back in September, when I started this process. The changes in my life are astounding!

I run about 4-5 days per week, averaging about 3 miles per run, with my longest run to date being a 5-mile run done last month on my birthday!

My clothes have changed from having three 'X's in front of the 'L' to just a plain 'L' or sometimes even an 'M.'

The foods that I eat now are quite different, too, but I can honestly say that I enjoy food now FAR MORE than when I was gorging myself on the stuff I used to eat.

The picture included here was taken tonight. Comparing it to the picture from my last blog, it seems unreal that both of these pictures are the same person, much less that both of them are ME. 

Well, Here's a "before" picture. This picture was taken the weekend before we started on Weight Watchers at Jones' Beach. Shortly after this picture was taken, the Oceanic Rescue team showed up to push the whale back into the water, but were dissappointed to find that it was just me. :) 

First Blog Post

Well, this is my first-ever blog posting, so it'll probably be pretty lame! Really don't have much to say at this time, but I figured I should probably put SOMETHING up here.

Most people who know me know that I've been successfully losing a LOT of weight recently on the Weight Watchers plan. As of today, I've lost a total of 92 pounds! Only 33.6 more to lose until I get to my goal weight! It's been an amazing journey for me.

I've also taken up running over the past few months and as of today, my longest distance run has been 4.1 miles! Amazing, considering that 1 year ago, I probably couldn't have gone more than 4.1 HOUSES without collapsing.

Anyway, that's about it for now...I'll post up some BEFORE and DURING (not AFTER yet!) soon.