couch to 5 cough....

couch to 5 cough....

c25k week 3 effot in weight loss

This morning has started off to a not so great start and I have been drinking my Green tea hot with some Easy Jesus and honey as I could not out run this sore throat that my daughter had, it is hard to breathe and my throat is raw. I do not think that I will be running W3D1 of C25K tonight unless some miracle of miracles happens and this goes away by then so I will just push it to whatever day this week my throat feels better and more importantly I can breathe.

This weekend was a pretty nice one with my getting to meet Heather on Saturday and have a nice long walk through a local park with her and Wify and then Sunday we just ran errands all day because it was suppose to rain but that never came so it turned out to be a pretty nice weekend as a whole. My calories for Saturday were a bit high because of the popcorn that I mentioned in an earlier post but other than that my calories were in check all weekend and I was hydrated enough as well. I am a little down because of this throat and non breathing thing because I was looking forward to starting week 3 of the program but I figure that I am not going anywhere and the road will be there when I am not under the weather, so it is what it is.

I will probably make today a ST day with some light dumb bell exercises and some push ups since I do think I won;t be up to running this evening, did I mention that it sucks that I can't start week 3 today? I will keep this post short and sweet as I need to run out for some cough drops of some kind so that I don't go nuts today.

Thanks for reading along and thanks for the support.

As Ever
Me

C25k and 200 pounds lost, will tomorrows weigh in be the day I hit the mark?!

C25k and 200 pounds lost, will tomorrows weigh in be the day I hit the mark?!

c25k week 2 effot in weight loss

Things have been going pretty good this week, but yesterday was pretty stressful (non weight loss related) and I did not feel like running W2D2 of C25K because I got home late which meant a later than normal dinner (7:45PM I finished dinner) and I usually run around 8:30PM so I was thinking about skipping it. I did end up going out for day 2 and when the time for the first interval came around I began running and quite literally felt like I was shuffling along and thought about stopping and calling it a night. I figured I would at least go to the second interval before I let that happen so I did and when it came time to run again I was taking large strides and felt pretty good about continuing on and by the third interval had forgotten all about what was stressing me out. I was ahead of my fastest pace and I knew this by the 5th interval because I ended the 5th where I began the 6th on day 1 of week 2. I started interval number 6 and it was on a spot that dips down pretty steep and then gets steep uphill so I had to run on that uphill portion but I convinced myself that it was the last interval and I could push myself on it so I did and ended up going 2.212 total miles last night and felt good at the end of the run, though I still find myself questioning Mr.Ullrey's ability to count to 90 seconds at times during the running portions of the program.

Now that the C25K report is out of the way I am thinking about the weigh in tomorrow, will it be the day that I join that 200 pounds lost club? will I be a part of that crowd that can say "I lost 200 pounds" on pure determination (does that club even exist?) will I prove myself wrong? once upon a time I said "no one can lose 200 pounds just by eating right and exercising" that was fat Tony talking, or should I say "fatter Tony" because I am not quite the svelte specimen of a young man that I would like to be just yet, but either way will tomorrow be that day? I sure would like it to be, because its going to be hard to cancel the fireworks show that I have arranged! 527 days ago I decided to get healthy, that's slightly more than 17 months ago and I am on the edge of having lost 200 total pounds, did I mention that I am amazed by this? yes I think that I did but I wanted to say it again.

Intake for Wednesday was 1695 total calories and I drank just under 1 gallon of green tea and 1.5 gallons of straight H2O, exercise for the day was W2D2 of the couch to 5k program. Things are right where they should be lately with diet and exercise and I am happy with the direction I am heading with the running, the only question left is will tomorrow be THE day that I hit that 200 pounds lost mark? since I am not stepping onto a scale until then, both you and me will have wait until then to find out.

Don't forget to drink that big ol glass of H2o that you just earned for reading through all of my morning ramblings, and keep in mind that if I can do this weight loss thang, you can do it as well.

As Ever
Me

C25k week 2 start and a Free MP3 player.

C25k week 2 start and a Free MP3 player.

c25k week 2 effot in weight loss

This weekend went well and over all I feel great about the coming week, tonight I will run W2D1 of the couch to 5k program and am looking forward to finding out whether I will struggle with it or go right through it. Over all I am pretty happy with how the program went within the first week and am starting to look forward with some things that I think that I will need to continue running including an MP3 player and yesterday during an impromptu visit to the mall with Wify and the animals kids I walked past a display with tiny little MP3 players hanging on it in Jcpenny with a sign that said "Fathers day sale $19.99 PLUS a $9.99 rebate" and the price tag that was on the box said $39.99 so I thought "hey I'm a father" what do I have to lose with a $9.99 MP3 player that was originally $40 right? I get up to the counter and wify has a coupon from Jcpenny for $10 off any item regardless of price and long story short I got the player for $0.00, so I am a happy camper. There was one condition set upon this purchase by the Bill and Teds excellent adventureesque cashier whom said, and I quote "The only thing is that you can't return this {insert short pause here} like ever, because you didn't pay for it" No problemo pal! and off I went with my brandy spanking new FREE mini MP3 player and one thing crossed off of my "need to get" list.

I used a quarter so that you can get an idea of scale when I took these photos the SPI is on the left and the shuffle on the right, click on the image to get a full sized picture.

Upon returning home I opened the package and followed the directions in the box and was charging it up so that I can use it tonight on my week 2 debut, 4 hours later I loaded the C25K series of podcasts onto it and tested it out, worked perfectly. Obviously I have not yet had a chance to test it out and give a good solid opinion about how it works yet but I will do a full review after I use it a few times. My son has an Ipod shuffle so I will have something to compare it to but on my initial observations I am already liking the SPI MP3 player a bit better purely because it has a display that lets you see the current track playing as well as the elapsed time of that track (which will help with C25K) and this is something that the shuffle lacks. The Ipod is slightly smaller but not so much that this SPI feels big, this thing is tiny and only weighs 20g vs the 16g of the Ipod, hopefully the new toy proves to be reliable, and honestly there is no beating the price that I paid.

My weekend went well where intake and movement were concerned, I did not go over my calorie limits all weekend and Sunday Wify and I got out for a 2 mile walk and some fishing at the lake earlier in the day. my hydration was on par with at least 1 gallon of green tea and 1 gallon of straight H2O each day along with a couple few Fuze Cranrasberry drinks randomly inserted here and there.

A pretty good week all in all besides the fact that my daughter was sick just about all weekend, She started feeling better Sunday afternoon and was inspired to do some "ekersizes" on our living room floor which brought a smile to my face. Knowing that I am effecting my kids in the way that I am (I should say we are because wify is doing the same) is an extra bonus to me getting fit and dropping this weight. With that comes the end to another page of ramblings from the one time quarter ton man, I will leave you with a quote that I heard over the weekend, this one is very special to me so pay attention to who I am quoting.

"When you watch tv then you have to get up and move your body, that's called ekersize"
~My Daughter~

As Ever
Me

C25K week 1 DONE! and I learned some things about myself.

C25K week 1 DONE! and I learned some things about myself.

c25k c25k week 1 effot in weight loss

Last night I completed Couch to 5k week one, I was sore, it was raining but I decided that anything worth doing is worth doing 100% so I did not let either of those things stop me. I got dressed and headed out in the rain for my final run of week 1 not knowing whether I would finish it, as I walked out the door I told wify "I will either start and come back in 10 minutes because of the rain and or soreness, or I will run the whole thing, see ya in 10 minutes" once the first interval came around I knew that it was going to be a good run because I was taking long strides and was well ahead of where I have been ending after the first interval. I was far enough ahead of where I have been running by the 4th interval that when I reached the hill that I dread running up I had walked about 1/4 of the way up it before the I had to start running, usually I stop running before the top so again I knew that I was ahead of my pace. I was feeling good, the rain was heavier than a drizzle but not too hard by New England standards and honestly it somehow energized me and by the last interval I was so far ahead of my pace that I started running in the spot where my last interval usually ends.


I learned a couple of things about myself last night, as long as I stay focused and remember that I am choosing to do this I can and will. The second thing that I learned is that I LOVE to run in the rain! this is so odd to me because I was that guy that if it was raining outside would stay indoors and avoid the falling water like I was the wicked witch of the west when I was bigger. Running in the rain is almost like the world is mine at those moments, no one is around and its just me and the wet road and we get to have the rain all to ourselves. The cooling affect that a light rain provides is just enough to make running a bit more comfortable in the being hot department and I am already starting to appreciate this.

My calories for Friday were at 1720 so says my excel sheet but I was up a little later than usual last night and ate two oranges around 10:30pm so I am over by that much, I have the feeling that I will have to raise my caloric intake because of the running and I say that because I have been hungry this whole past week and I can't help but think that its my body letting me know a change is needed because of the extra work that the running is taxing my body for. I drank 1 gallon of green tea, 1.5 gallons of water and a Fuze fruit punch so to say that I am hydrated is an understatement and of course W1D3 was my exercise for the day, I did go my furthest distance last night which was 2.162 miles in the 29:45 that week one takes.

I was going through some comments that were left for me and one of them stood out to me and the simplicity of the statement caught me off guard, and actually gave me a smile. Andrew said "You've got to have the right gear when you're a runner I reckon!" as a response to This Post where I mentioned buying a compression shirt and the "when you're a runner" part really stopped me for a second and I thought about it, Never in my life has someone referred to me as "a runner" and I realized that I have made substantial changes in my life that will almost certainly mean that I will have that many more years to spend how I wish, doing what I want to with my wife and children.

With that I will end this post, I have a bird house to paint with my daughter so off I go into Daddy duties, make sure to get that H2O down and if someone can refer to me a "a runner" anything is possible.

As Ever
Me

Weigh in, into the 330's he goes! 200 pounds lost is almost here..

Weigh in, into the 330's he goes! 200 pounds lost is almost here..

effot in weight loss Weigh in

Weighing in has almost become secondary to me because of the C25K program, I have convinced myself that it does not matter whether I lose or not this week and maybe that is what I needed to get me in a downward direction again. Last week I was 341.4 pounds which was up from my lowest weight as well as up from the week before, this morning I woke up and I weighed 339.6 pounds! I am back into the 330's and I must say that it was a pleasant surprise this morning because I was not expecting a loss with all of the soreness. Today I am 1.8 pounds lighter than I was last week, with that I am stronger physically because the soreness in my muscles means that I am building muscle and pushing myself past where I was before I started running which will set the mood for my day quite nicely.

One bag of flour away from 200 pounds lost.

My calories came in at 1725 for Thursday and I drank more than a gallon of green tea along with about a gallon of straight H2O and a Fuze fruit punch man are those things good, and exercise was absent besides all of the stretching that I did. Over all I am feeling good but still seem pretty sore, I am suppose to run W1D3 tonight but I may put it off until tomorrow night just to give myself an extra day rest for the soreness to go down a bit, I haven't decided which I will do and the decision will purely be based on how I feel tonight when the time comes.

With this weeks weigh in I am again within 5 pounds of having lost 200 total pounds and this is something that I have not really focused on for the past month because of the docs orders for me not to run/bike and it seems that as soon as I started back in on the exercise the weight came back down. Will this be the week that I join the ranks of the few that can proclaim losing 200 plus pounds by making healthy choices in food and adding some exercise to their days? I certainly hope so. This week is doubly positive for me with the start of C25K and now dropping back into the 330's bringing be within 5 pounds of that double century mark, this time the difference is that I am cleared for exercise so I'm just going to say it Nothing can stop me now!

A good week for sure, the only thing left to do is duplicate it again this week so that's the plan. Don't forget that big ol glass of H2o for reading all of the way through this post and remember that you are the one that decides what you do with your time, sit on the couch? complain how hard everything is? eat chocolate when you feel sad? or make good food choices and exercise daily, it really is up to you, make the choice.

As Ever
Me

C25K week 1 day 2 fini, and some new gear for my running.

C25K week 1 day 2 fini, and some new gear for my running.

c25k c25k week 1 effot in weight loss

Yesterday was time for W1D2 on the C25K program and sore quads and all out into the rain I went to get day two under my belt. Earlier in the day I was out and about and thought that I would look around for a compression shirt to run in, the last time I went out the highest size was a 2xl and I already knew that I was a 3xl so why bother trying one on? I walked in and again looked at all of the 2xl shirts and wify said "are you going to at least try one on?" so I thought about it and decided why not and off I went into the changing room with 3 different shirts. To my surprise a 2xl shirt fit me, in fact it was a bit long on me which was awesome in itself as this was something that I wanted in a compression shirt so I was happy to find a shirt, the shirt that I bought is a Rebok play dry compression shirt. I put the shirt on at home and wify took a look and we both agree that I am a lot smaller with it on, in fact my regular tee shirts that I wear look too big when I have the compression shirt under them. The amazing part about that shirt is that it shows me just how much extra skin that I have on me, if a compression shirt can make me look as small as it does I do think this is just the beginning of my skin issue woes, but that is a bridge yet to be crossed so I will not dedicate too much attention to it just yet.

The run itself last night went well for the most part, I started off and after the first interval the compression shirt rolled up and I thought to myself "this is wonderful, now I get to play with this shirt for the next 30 minutes" so as soon as the first interval was done I pulled the shirt down as I walked and prepared for the roll up again when the next interval came along, but I sort of kept an eye on it and I did not roll up this time and every interval after that it seemed ok because the dampness of my sweat gave it some grip. Along I jogged thinking about how my wife had said that after the 2nd interval when she was on day 2 that she had no more soreness in her legs and I started interval number 3 and still sore. The 4th interval is the hill, you know that steep one that I mentioned in the last C25K post? man did I feel it going up that hill, when I hit the top of the hill I looked back at it and said some profanities at the defeated hill and continued on my way. This is about when I was coming down a longish straight downward sloped section and someone in a car was not considerate enough to turn their high beams off and I was pretty much blinded, the only thing I could see was the lights! it was as if I was in space or something and everything was perfectly black except the lights and I got too close to the edge of the road and twisted my ankle a bit on the edge of a driveway, I felt no pain so off I went and the rest of the run/walk went smooth and nice.

I felt great during this entire run besides the soreness in my quads (which never went away) I found that I was not as winded as the first time out and the difference in this compared to the first run was that my sore legs were my limiting factor where the first run was limited by my being out of breath. I did remember to check my heart rate immediately after 5 of the 9 intervals and it averaged out to 168 beats per minute which as far as I can tell is slightly higher than it should be for my age but maybe I am wrong, chime in with a comment if you know what it should be. I covered more ground on day 2 compared to the first run, the first day I ran 2.049 miles in the 29:45 that the podcast lasts and last night I went 2.095 miles according to Gmaps, so ever so slightly further but further none the less, and there is always room for some inaccuracies but I am pleased either way.

Onto my intake for Wednesday, I consumed a total of 1610 calories and drank just under 1 gallon of green tea, 1 gallon of straight H2O and 2 bottles of Fuze fruit punch. My exercise for the day was the C25K program and other than the slight twisting of the ankle I feel like I am on my way with this program and feel good about it so far. I am less sore this morning than when I went to bed last night, in fact I am less sore this morning than I was before I ran last night as well which I hope means that the soreness will continue to get less and less from here on out, I do have some pain in my ankle but nothing that is even close to real pain, its more like a discomfort that is letting me know that something happened so I am going to keep an eye on how that feels and if it is even slightly sore come time for Fridays run I will skip it until Saturday giving it an extra day worth of rest.

Week 1 day 2 is fini and I look forward to completing week 1, I have not decided whether I will do week one twice or if I will move right onto week 2 when the time comes and I will decide on Monday when I actually head out for that run, it will all depend on how day 3 goes. Tomorrow I weigh in and even with the new exercise this week I am not expecting a big drop if any mostly because of the soreness and I know that I have to be retaining a bit of water because of it but it honestly does not matter if the scale shows progress this week because the running IS showing progress and as long as progress is being made in some aspect of my new healthier life I am happy with that, which is not to say that I am not looking for losses but I am pleased with myself this week to say the least.

Check out tomorrows post to see if the fat man has lost some weight and of course keep on keepin on and all that.

As Ever
Me

C25K start and a lot on my mind.

C25K start and a lot on my mind.

c25k effot in weight loss

Today is the day that I am planning on starting the C25K program and I woke up with a sore back but I am running anyways. I am planning on doing my runs in the evening and because of that I will have to post how each run went on the day after the run. I may add a C25K ticker or tracker on the side bar but I have not decided on that just yet and you will see it appear one day if I decide on doing that. Besides tracking my time etc for this program I want to track the distance that I go each day as well as how I felt during the run so that I can see if my pace is getting faster or slower each day, I am sure there will be an excel sheet snapshot posted after I get it made and some data into it.

My plan of attack is that I have no plan, I am just going to start walking and when the guy on the podcast says run I will do it and see how well I fare. a while back just for fun while I was walking I timed out week one and almost completed the whole thing without any real issues but I have not been riding my bike and only walking for exercise so I do not know if that will effect the way I feel tonight when I do day 1 week 1, all I can hope for is that I complete the entire 30 minutes. I did not exercise all weekend, I did not do anything that would even remotely be considered exercise honestly so I should be fresh for this new routine.


Since I mentioned the weekend I want to share how it went, Friday my sheet says 1370 calories but we went to the drive in theater and I had a small apple and a big bowl of pop corn (air popped from home) during the movie so I am slightly over maybe by 150 or so if my estimate is right. Saturday was fine and well where intake was concerned and a quick look at my excel sheet says that I had 1695 calories so I was within the limit and the weekend was off to a good start. Sunday I did not count my calories and I know that I went over, by how much I am unsure, my Father stopped by along with a couple of wifys friends and we cooked chicken and fish out on our grill, we had corn a salad some watermelon and corn tortillas & salsa with dinner out on the picnic table. I decided that I would load up on fruits early in the day because I knew that I was going to eat some fish (it was fried) and ate nothing but apples, oranges and bananas before dinner. I drank enough fluid all weekend and on Sunday I drank more than 2 gallons between my green tea and straight H2O so I stayed hydrated throughout the weekend and all but Sunday was decent on the calories.

Starting C25K is a step into uncharted territory for me and not only since losing the weight, I have run randomly throughout my life but I have never really run further than a mile straight in a row and the thought of running more than 3 miles is a bit daunting to me. A lot of the people that might be reading this right now that run 1/2 marathons or 10k's or even 5k's may be thinking "a 5k daunting?" To that I answer yes! I am the fella that less than a year and a half ago could not walk 200 feet without pain in his back, sweat spraying out of every pour sounding like a heavy breathing prank caller and I can honestly remember having the thought "why would anyone want to walk unless absolutely necessary" Now I am going to try and run 5 kilometers in a row? I recently walked 5k all at one time so the natural thing in my mind is to now run it.

If I when I pull this 5k thing off I will be crossing a line that I have never had the privilege of being on the other side of physically, and honestly I think there will be a mental line being crossed at the same time, if it has not already been surpassed. Imagine going from a state of mind where I created an animosity for people who could would walk any distance further than me to the mindset that I am in currently where I am actually thinking about running a 5k distance as a stepping stone to distances beyond that, I have not yet run a single mile yet and here I am thinking about going further than 5k already.

Today I leave you with a quote.

"Sanity may be madness but the maddest of all is to see life as it is and not as it should be"
~Don Quixote~

As Ever
Me