Thinner, Faster, Stonger or Recovering from Dopey

[IamTrike]

It's kind of fun to do the Impossible....
That's one of my favorite Disney Quotes. In fact I'm staring at a plaque with that on it on my desk right now. Is losing weight and becoming a better runner really going to be "kind of fun"? Because it certainly seems impossible right now.
Since I completed Dopey in 2014 my running has dropped off (I've had nagging knee issues since the last couple weeks of Dopey training.) and my weight has gradually ticked up. I was afraid to weigh myself this morning but at last check I had gained about 13 pounds. I really need to loose that weight and about another 10 pounds too.

So who am I other than a guy that needs to loose a little more than 20 pounds?
I'm a married father of 2 great kids. I'm heavily involved in my local church. I work for a software company and get to travel a lot for work, this months trip was to New Zealand, en-route back I stopped in Hawaii and visited Aulani on a 5 hour layover. I'm an avid Disney fan. I enjoy exercising and running. I'm currently planning on running the NY Marathon in 2014 and the Goofy challenge in 2014.

I'm writing this so that I have a way of tracking my progress and so that I have something public that I can hold myself accountable too. Hopefully that will make it a little easier to skip the jars of fig newtons and m&ms at the end of my hall at work.

My goals:
Weight: I'd like to get my weight down to 180. (it's hard to even type that)
Speed: I'd like to be able to consistently run at a 7:30 pace for longer races. Right now my current PR for a Marathon is just under a 9 minute pace.
Strength: I'm not sure what an appropriate goal is.

I'll tomorrow morning with my starting point.

 

[Smile&Nod]

Good luck! I too am starting my most recent weight loss journey today - I have a bit more than 20 pounds to lose but I will start with that! Going to Disney the end of June and need to get my knees to quit hurting - betting that the weight is a lot of the problem! I'm in for your journey and mine!

 

[IamTrike]

Good luck! I too am starting my most recent weight loss journey today - I have a bit more than 20 pounds to lose but I will start with that! Going to Disney the end of June and need to get my knees to quit hurting - betting that the weight is a lot of the problem! I'm in for your journey and mine!

Good luck on your journey too. The weight definitely impacts the knees. I can really feel it when I run. It's one of those downward spirals. The heavier I am the more it hurts to run, which causes me to run less and gain more weight.


To give people a better idea of who I am I'm the snowman on the left. This was my costume for the 5k this year. Mine said "i like warm hugs" on the back.

As I uploaded this I realized that I am actually eating in this picture. I can't imagine why I struggle with my weight...

 

[IamTrike]

I've had a good morning so far. I met a friend to workout. We did 27 minutes on the arc machine( It's kind of like an elliptical), then did sets of Incline Bench Press, Leg Press, Seated rows, Leg Curls and the hip machine.

So far I've managed to resist the siren song of the fig newton's at the end of my hall.

Tonight we have dinner with a group of people from church. It's one of the meals that I usually struggle with. There's too much tasty food. Going to try and be good tonight.

 

[Smile&Nod]

I'm having zuchinni spaghetti for lunch - really good and in truth seems so much like pasta that I don't really miss the real pasta!

The key tonight since this is a long journey and one we want to stick to is do better than normal - don't have to be perfect, just better!

Good for you on the workout!

 

[IamTrike]

I'm having zuchinni spaghetti for lunch - really good and in truth seems so much like pasta that I don't really miss the real pasta!

The key tonight since this is a long journey and one we want to stick to is do better than normal - don't have to be perfect, just better!

Good for you on the workout!

Zuchinni spagetti sounds really good. Is that like Spagetti squash? What kind of sauce do you use on that.

This morning's workout was sprints. I met some friends at a local trail around one of the community lakes. We did 7 .25 mile sprints shooting for a 6:20 mm pace. I was able to do the first 5 but struggled through the last two and was closer to an 8 minute mile pace for them.

I haven't been posting my weight because it's taken an arbitrary short term dip. I'll probably post my first weight on Monday as that will likely be a better representation of what I weigh.

 

[IamTrike]

Yesterday was okay. I weighed myself this morning and was 197 which is still about 17 pounds above my goal weight. I didn't really work out but we took the puppy out for a walk around one of our outdoor shopping centers.

Overall image good choices for food yesterday, but I was tripped up by some hush puppies before my salad at dinner. Also I still struggle with finishing my kids food. While I just had coffee at Starbucks I may have finished off DD's frappachino and I also wound up eating dd's leftover Mac and Cheese at dinner.

 

[IamTrike]

This morning I was 198. I know weight can fluctuate but it's never fun to go the wrong direction. The main reason I'm writing this is so that I force myself to track my weight. I want to make sure that I don't have a another series of 15 it's just 1 pounds, like I've had earlier this year.

I made mostly good choices for food yesterday. I had fish taco's for lunch ( grilled not fried) avoided the chips and then made myself a sort off veggie soup for dinner. Didn't get much of a chance to work out, but I did rollerblade for a bit with the kids.

 

[IamTrike]

I was 197.8 this morning so things headed in the right directioneven if its in a statistically insignificant way. My gym time today is going to be spent in the dentist office so that's always fun.

 

[Smile&Nod]

Zuchinni spagetti sounds really good. Is that like Spagetti squash? What kind of sauce do you use on that.

You actually just take zuchinni and attack it with a julienne peeler - it makes spaghetti like pieces - once you can see the seeds turn the zuchinni a quarter turn and to another side. For each zuchinni you do put it in the microwave for 1 minute - add 30 seconds to the total - for example, if you do three zuchinni microwave on high for 3 minutes 30 seconds. I use a marinara sauce - but I would think any sort would do. I usually put the sauce on before I microwave it . It is really good served with roasted chicken as well!

Cute kids and puppy! Remember this is a marathon, not a sprint! so you had a few bites of mac and cheese - you didn't eat it ALL!

 

[IamTrike]

You actually just take zuchinni and attack it with a julienne peeler - it makes spaghetti like pieces - once you can see the seeds turn the zuchinni a quarter turn and to another side. For each zuchinni you do put it in the microwave for 1 minute - add 30 seconds to the total - for example, if you do three zuchinni microwave on high for 3 minutes 30 seconds. I use a marinara sauce - but I would think any sort would do. I usually put the sauce on before I microwave it . It is really good served with roasted chicken as well!

Cute kids and puppy! Remember this is a marathon, not a sprint! so you had a few bites of mac and cheese - you didn't eat it ALL!

That sounds really good. Anything that can act as a proxy noodle is good in my book. Sounds like it would be delicious with marinara and a tad bit of parmesan.

This week has been hectic. I had one day where on top of my job, I was also supposed to re-negotiate with the contractor working on my house, have mjor dental work done and go to the DMV. That's quite the trifecta.

Yesterday was a good wieght day I was down to 196.4 but I bounced back to 197.4 today. Hopefully I'll yo yo down tomorrow. I did manage to eek out 20 minutes on the elliptical and a couple sets of squats, lat pulls and bench presses today.

 

[IamTrike]

So my weight was static friday and their was a big jump up to 199 on Saturday. This weekend was a series of good dining choices punctuated by me finishing off whatever poor dining choices the kids made. I really need to learn to be okay with letting food go to waste.

This weekend was the start of Scuba lessons for DS and I. We spent 3 hours on Saturday puttering around the pool in our snorkeling gear. We both did the snuba in the Living Seas last year and so we want to get scuba certified so that we can dive there at some point in the future.

Here's a pic of me and my dive buddy.

 

[IamTrike]

So on Monday I had bounce up to 201. It bummed me out a bit to watch my weight swing up. I headed to london for work this week and while I was there I decided to start watching my carb intake. Even when I'm running a calorie deficit I never seem to loose weight unless I restrict carbs.

I was 198 this morning so hopefully I'll continue to see a downward trend.

 

[IamTrike]

It was kind of depressing to go back and read this. Since I last posted I drastically increased my weekly milage for marathon training, and I've been pretty good at watching what I eat. During this period my weights actually ticked up. I'm struggling now to stay under 200 pounds rather than fighting to get down to under 190.

 

[IamTrike]

I've been checking back here periodically, but haven't really been sure what to say. It wasn't tied to a new year resolution but there have been quite a few changes in my dieting routine.

I've started running more regularly. Thats always a good thing, but I am having to be conscious to lift weights and consume enough protien that I don't loose muscle mass too.

DW has decided to try eating low carb. We got a zoodler so we've been making a lot of the vegetable noodles Smile and Nod mentioned above. They aren't bad at all. DW being on board is probably the biggest catalyst for change. It means there is a lot less temptation to eat bad things because they aren't around.

I discovered the health app that's on all iphones with IOS 8. It's neat to have something that I always keep on me tracking my steps throughout the day. It's a good reminder to get out and do things on my rest days when I'm not running.

Lastly
I got a nifty new scale that connects to my phone and transmits and logs my weight, bmi, body fat, body muscle etc....



Hurray for decline slopes.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

I have been riding the same rollercoaster with similar goals for the last year or so, myself. I am currently at 190 lbs (started my journey at 199) and want to hit 175 before Christmas. I work out and run a lot, but I just don't eat well. I totally understand.

Keep on truckin'.

 

[IamTrike]

Well I'm back up to about 196 ish. Weight would probably be coming off because I am running around 50 miles a week, but I keep getting trapped by Oreo's. I really need to learn self control.

Right now I'm training hard for the Chicago Marathon and I'll be the disneyland Dumbo double dare challenge in september. My hope is that I'll get to the point where I can take my shirt off on a run and not feel embarrassed.

 

[roxymama]

Oreos are addictive per science....seriously there was some kind of scientific study out a year or so ago that found them addictive. I feel all boxes should have a warning label on them. "You will not eat just one" or something like that.

Thinking good marathon thoughts for you!

 

[IamTrike]

Oreos are addictive per science....seriously there was some kind of scientific study out a year or so ago that found them addictive. I feel all boxes should have a warning label on them. "You will not eat just one" or something like that.

Amen to that. My kids like them for their school lunches but I always seem to find a handful of them when I'm taking the dog out right before bed.

I'm running 6 days a week now. It's fairly intense, and I'm trying to lift weights before I run so I don't loose upper body muscle mass. I had hoped the weight would be flying off, but it's not.

This weekend I at relatively clean (except for a couple glasses of sweet tea and some candy to keep me awake while I drove), I ran 25 miles and I spent a couple of very physical hours moving stuff out of my wife's grandmother's house. For all my work I wound up gaining 3 pounds... Sigh.... The human body is a complex instrument. We have another long road trip this weekend so I planned ahead and bought healthier options for me to snack on and eat while we are driving. Hopefully I'll have better results than last weekend.

 

[IamTrike]

This week runs are tough. It switched from speedwork. Shorter repeats to strength runs. Longer distance repeats with less recovery time.

8/16 Was supposed to do 10 but only ran 2 miles
8/17 Was supposed to run 8 but Ran 10 along niagra falls
8/18 Was supposed to do strength but ran out of time so only got 2 miles
8/19 Was supposed to be rest. Did 2 miles warm up/warm down 6x1 mile at 7:35 with .25 rest at 10mm pace in between
8/20 1 mile warm up 8 miles 8 mm pace

I still have 7 and 8 miles on friday and saturday