". . ."

When April starts, I'll be posting all that I eat, just to make sure I'm not putting the wrong things in the body.

This way, I'll be able to at least tell myself "hey, do you want that to go up on the blog?"

Likely, the answer will be no, and I'll keep it movin from the chocolates, pizza and other sweets that get the best of me.

I've lost two of the four pounds I put on last week, which brings my total to 49 pounds down since Jan. 1.

I'm down two pants sizes, my 17 shirts fit normally again, and I can't wait to start weights in April.

Getting back on it...

The gym wasn't even an option today.

When I woke up, my entire body ached. I don't know what it was, but something told me to stay home.

I've been thinking of tooling with my regimen, which has been working wonders. I read somewhere that the best way to keep it effective is to keep it new. At least, that's the way I took what I read.

When I do get back to the gym (which better be today or Thursday), I think I'll only do half the cardio, and add some weights to the routine. After all, light weights burn fat AND build muscle.

Any pointers?

M_Dubb, +4...

I'm back from out of town, but I'm back with a little something extra.

I gained four pounds while I was out of town.

That means tomorrow starts a new day with the same pace I'd been on before I left. I love that I was able to lose 10 pounds during the first half of this month. Now, even with the plus-4 I brought back to Raleigh, I'm trying to get that total to 15 for March.
And the daily digests start now.

I feel like rubber, but that's a good thing?

I stayed away from weights early on because I was told there was so much excess weight I needed to get off, I needed to get a head start on the cardio.

Problem is, I feel like a water bed.

Now I know some people like the fact that I have a little more on me, but I'm getting to the stage in this experiment where I wanna be as hard as I feel.

That, my friends, ain't happnin.

So I'm going to seek a second opinion. I mean, it's not like I'm going to start over. But I need to know how soon I can start toning.

I know this stuff didn't get on me overnight, but I'm feeling like a caterpillar getting ready for the cocoon phase.

What do I do? Who do I ask? What will become of me?

OK, that last one was a little over the top, but ya know...

Where I usually fall flat

I eat sweets to keep me up on long road trips. With the passing of my aunt last week, and the fact that plane tickets are priced through the roof, I'll be driving the SUV home for her funeral.

Oh, boy.

I dunno how I'm going to be able to make it through. Usually the sugar is what helps me when I'm close to conking out. Maybe I'll buy something upbeat like the new Danity Kane CD to keep me going. I dunno. But I'm gonna need all the help I can get, without my good friend Hostess to help me out with those 10 hours.

Passing the milestone...

OK, so I finally made it over 40 pounds. This last few pounds has kicked my ass so hard I was to the point where I thought it was impossible.

With the milestone in mine, it helps me to establish a new goal for myself. By the time my trip rolls around, I'd like to be down another 15 pounds. I reached back into my personal journals and realized I actually set a goal for myself nearly two years ago. I'm now 76 pounds from there, which I should hit before the end of the year, if I keep it up.

But we'll see.

All I'm sayin is...

A cheeseburger and fries from my favorite place went a long way today. The thing I'm noticing about my eating habits is that I want less and less on the cheat days when they do show up. Today, all I wanted was some fries from The Borough.

I got them.

They were worth it.

But I'll be in the gym early tomorrow.

It's worth it, too.

Week 1: You can't do what works for someone else.

The first thing I noticed about Kyle at the airport was how he looked like one of the regular people. My favorite thing about my boy up to this point was that his presence often times made me not feel out of place.

We've both been trying to do better by ourselves this year, so I knew we'd be able to compare notes while he was in North Carolina. but I struggled with the fact that we've had the same weight loss, but it looks much better on him.

But I also remembered our 100 pound weight difference, our four inch height difference and every other difference that comes into play. Something he said in hindsight made me feel like he felt I was on the losing end of this year's challenge.

I'm happy that I'm down 40 pounds since the year began. I'm not working as hard as he is, and I'm not trying to. I have to do something for me that helps me stick to it. Otherwise, I fail.

And failure means breathing hard as hell to climb two flights of stairs at work.

"You have two cheat days." "You should get a sauna suit." "You're not using ANY weights?"

Yep. Nah. I just started.

I think people sleep on the fact that I am a lot larger than I look. That means sometimes I have to push harder in some areas to jump start others. I appreciated his concern — and that he understood not to force his methods on me — and I'm proud of him for what he's done. But this is all about me.

I'll be at the gym if you need me.

Sabotage

I went to the fridge to grab myself a salad I'd made earlier in the day, and a strange bag from Subway begged for me to look inside. There, I found half a meatball sub and a bag of Doritos.

I love Doritos.

Then I remembered I had company this weekend. And my company must have been out to get me.

The hardest thing about getting your life right with food and exercise is that if the people around you aren't up for it, they'll bring you down. I'm not looking forward to this weekend, which will bring yet another friend to the Triangle, where yet again they will be trying to get me to bring dumb shyt into the crib.

Thankfully it's been enough time where I was able to look at the snacks and the meatball sub, rewrap them, and slowly put them in the trash. I couldn't trust myself with out of town visitors any other way.

Tell me something...

What inspires you to lose weight?

I know there are people out there who do quick diets in time for vacations, weddings, holidays, picture days and even to welcome the "beach season" with open arms.

Who are you doing it for?

Most people say they wanna lose weight for themselves, but I think in the back of our minds, we're doing it to get back at somebody, to prove someone wrong, to make sure somebody knows what they passed on and etc.

I just wanted to know, since I'm puttin all my business out there. It makes me feel better when we share with each other... lol

You need "cheat" in ya life

I sat down Sunday and ate three pieces of pizza with no remorse. It had been a while.

I gave up cheat days when my boy Kyle and I were going through our process to lose weight in a two-week period.

But losing weight without a quick reward here or there felt more like a chore than a challenge.

I welcomed back my cheat days with open arms. Maybe too much so.

When I went to bed, I noticed I'd eaten 6 slices. You know I was overdoing it in the gym today...

The Month of Thursdays Challenge

We all know I'm like the A-D-D kid on speed when it comes to a regimen that I need to take and stick to. I've been on the group blogs, the weird diets, I finally said no to Weight Watchers, but this will be another thing I'm adding to my arsenal.

For the next 30 Thursdays, I'll be checking in with something new I learned on the road to greatness. It seems like the blog I was doing with several of my friends has ventured off into the abyss, so I'll be refocusing my efforts here.

It's been more than two years since I started blogging about the fact that I wanted to lose weight. Seems the third year's gonna be the charm.

I'll still be updating daily for the next 30 days, but I'm also pubbing the journey I'll be on to retool my life to incorporate things that will help me make my way toward "a new me."

I hate cliches, but it's after 5. Sue me.

No pain, no gain

When you're sliding into first, and you feel a sudden burst...
GET OFF THE TREADMILL!

So I was beginning my third mile when the older lady took her position on the treadmill in front of me. I only had 75 cents, so I wasn't fearful she'd mug me.

What she did was far worse.

Five minutes later, I caught a whiff of one of the foulest gas attacks a (wo)man could have. At least I thought it was gas, until the smell didn't go away.

That's when I spotted it.

In the back of her pants, you could clearly see the outline of a diaper. Chick had "used it."

I struggled through my third mile until I just couldn't take it anymore. Moving was not an option. Not only did she smell me out, but others had started scattering for an open window, too.

I've been taking music to the gym to keep me focused. I take a towel to keep (somewhat) dry. The water bottle is to keep me hydrated.

I never thought I'd need nose plugs.

See, what had happened was...

I definitely wrote this one below yesterday. In the middle of all the work drama, I set it as a draft instead of a post. My bad:

I've taken the week off, to really good results. I have actually lost 2 pounds this week, and I haven't been to the gym at all. There's been some personal things going on (not to mention the fact that work kicked up, finally!) that I needed to prioritize.

But the fact that I ate what I wanted to eat, and still came out on top, shows me two things:

My metabolism is more elevated that at the beginning -- I definitely could not have eaten pizza and come out pounds lighter than I was going in.

I'm eating less -- I didn't think about it until I noticed myself putting more food into the fridge after I was done eating.

11 pounds to go. Wish me luck!

I cut out for a minute...

OK, so here's the deal:

I'm only down 40 pounds since the beginning of the year. My goal for the end of this month is another 13.

Life has just taken hold of me. I'm trying to get my money on. If you read the other blog, you'd realize I now have a kid to take care of... lol

I'm still on it. I promise I am. It's just that...

Hell.

From here until the end of March, I'll provide daily updates on what's been going on.

I promise.