And the Battle Continues

10-21-10: The last week has been very difficult for me. I am constantly craving food. I have picked up on my exercise since being sick, but the over eating is getting to me. I am so far staying at the 214 pounds mark, but worry that come Sunday the scale will go through the roof.

The exercising is getting harder to stay motivated to do. But guilt can be a wonderful thing as long as it keeps me exercising.

The change in the season is also hard for me. I really do not like winter. But guess you got to have it to have spring and summer again.

10-07-10: Well the Challenge is over and the dust is settling. Its been a fun ride. I and several others did the Mike's Mad Dash 5k and had a good time. I plan on doing it again next year. Will probably have several of my family members with me then.

As of to date, my weight is at 214 lbs. I've been sick the last six days so exercising went by the way side. I am hoping to start back up tonight when I get home.

Was in St. George over the weekend and had an opportunity to hike in Zion's Canyon. That was fun to do and beautiful to see. I commented to my wife Kate that at the beginning of the summer I would not have even tried to hike due to my weight an lack of energy. It made me feel good to be able to do it.

09-20-10: Well all good things must come to an end sometime and we are at that point with the 100 Day Heart Challenge. I want to express my sincere appreciation to all that is involved with and support this program. John, my personal trainer was great. I could not have asked for a better trainer and friend. Words can't accurately express the gratitude I have for him and his dedication.

As I mentioned to Steve Smoot and the Administrative Council, a few weeks ago, I know that programs take financial resources and in this difficult financial times we find us in, the question has to be raised is this program worth the cost? As I assured them and want to assure you that from my perspective it is absolutely.

For me, the 100 Day Heart Challenge was most probably a life saver. It provided me a vehicle and support to make some healthy changes that I needed in my life. I am saddened to think that it is over, but look forward to the next 100 Days to see what additional improvements I can make.

Hitting below 220 is a mile stone in my personal progression. I am hoping that within the next 100 Days I can break the 200 mark. That is my goal.

Due to scheduling conflicts, Rob Daniels and I won't be crossing the finish line together in Mike's Mad Dash as we had planned. But we have compromised, he will be holding a can of beer at his cabin while I cross the finish line.

09-14-10: Got an email from Janet Frank this morning saying only nine days left with this challenge. Time really did travel quickly and I have to be honest in saying I will miss those associated with the program. For me, this has been a great experience, even a life saving experience for me personally. The hard part is just approaching, that being to continue to do this on my own without the formal support system of the 100 Day Challenge. The true test of personal change, where the rubber really hits the pavement.

I feel like I hit a mile stone, finally broke the 220 weight range on Sunday morning, weighed in at 219. Obviously, I want to loose more.

09-07-10: Not much new to report. Been trying to get back on track with my exercising and eating since my New Mexico trip. I was surprised to see that my weigh in on Saturday morning was at 221 lbs. I really thought I had put on more poundage rather than going down some.

Not a lot to report on that I can think of. Today being a Tuesday sure feels like a Monday. I hope you had a good holiday weekend.

09-03-10: Its been a while since I have last blogged. Missed me??? I spent the last five days in New Mexico attending Homeland Security Training. Several of us here at the hospital have. It was extremely interesting but I hope I never have to use the knowledge here at the hospital.

Being in New Mexico really knocked my routine out of wack. It was hard for me to keep an exercise schedule and stay on track eating correctly since my main source of meals was fast food. I really don't want to get on the scales on Sunday. I know I have put some weight back on. I saw a two pound increase last week. This obviously is troubling to me. So the course of action is re-dedication and working a little harder, right????

I really don't want to believe its September 3rd. The summer is over, its getting darker earlier, the night temperatures are a little cooler, the car show are about over and I really don't like the thoughts of winter approaching. So we enjoy the good weather until then.

I went to the Wellness Center this morning to work out. I was very surprised that I was the only one there for most of the time I was there. I guess the Labor Day Holiday has started early. Funny, I didn't seem to get that memo. After taking most of Fridays off this year to get me PTO hours down, the first one I come back to work, and no one is here. Hummmmmm.

Talking about little successes. This morning I pulled out a shirt that I have not worn in years. It fit pretty good. More motivation to keeping working and reducing.

Well gang, have a happy Labor Day Weekend. Enjoy the end of summer.

08-16-10: It been interesting that the Heart Challenge is more than one half over, yet the routine of exercising and eating correctly still do not seem to feel like a habit. For me I guess they never will. It will be a life style change that I will have to stay on top of and force myself to do.

This week I have been craving food big time bad. Almost to the point that I want to binge. This weekend, I did take a couple of eating pleasures.

My weight show 222 lbs, yesterday which was two pounds less from last week. The family took another walk up Provo Canyon yesterday morning resulting in a 7.8 miles. My feet did better this week over last week. I got two blisters on two of my toes which resulted in loosing one toe nail.

This morning John, the personal trainer, was back from his vacation. I knew I was in touble when he walked through the Wellness Center door. He had the look and sparkle in his eys that said, suck it up fat boy, you're going to work your buns off.!!! And I did.

08-09-10: What does me and Janet Jackson have in common?? I'll tell you a little later.

It has been an interesting week. I was very surprised to find that my scales indicated that I have lost two more pounds bring me to 225. That was surprising because I didn't think that I would. So that was very cool.

Friday while working on the Tread Mill, I bumped up my time at the elevated rate and incline. I had a feeling of accomplishment being able to do that. But no good deed goes unpunished, John told me to hang on because when he returned from vacation, my program will be more difficult. Even though John is kind of a quiet guy, he really enjoys seeing me sweat and snort.

Saturday was a horrible day for eating. Thus Sunday was filled with guilt. So I rode my bike at home for 50 minutes. Then upon the invite of my son, took a 5.3 mile walk up the river trail in Provo Canyon. That was fun to get out and enjoy the beauty of the canyon.

Kate, my wife came with us. She had been diligent in working out with the Wii Biggest Loser program. She has seen good success with this approach and has lost weight and shaped up. I am very proud of her accomplishment. And quite frankly, with her working out as well has been helpful and motivating for me.

Ok, so now to the question what does Janet Jacking and I have in common. Yesterday afternoon I pulled into my driveway and while getting out of my 350Z, a small low riding car, my cargo shorts that I was wearing dropped to my knees. This may not have caused any issues on any other day, but I live across the street from a LDS Chapel and a ward had just finished with their meetings. I had quite an audience. So the answer to the question is that we both experienced a wardrobe malfunction. The end result, pun intended, all of my 40 waist pants are going into storage.

08-06-10: Is it just me or does it seem like this week has been long? Perhaps the days of rain, thunder and lighting has something to do with it. I guess I need more sun to get my Vitamin E up.

I am feeling like my progress this week is stalled out. I don't believe I am losing any weight, although my pants fell down while working in the garage the other day. What a missed opportunity, no neighbors out to get mooned. I guess the upside was I didn't get arrested and booked into jail.

My trainer John is taking a well deserved vacation next week. I am on my own to keep my cardio and weight training going. I am confident that I will be successful.

I wanted to take a minute and give Rob Daniels a bad time. Rob and I usually workout at the Wellness Center in the mornings. He's an animal and doing it on a daily basis, I do three days a week there. I just wanted to thank Rob for his friendship and genuine care and concern for my success in this program.

We have committed that we will do the Mike's Mad Dash. Rob will run, I'll be walking it. Kind of like the "Tortoise and the Hare." It might be fun to watch this old fat guy crossing the finish line clutching my chest. Rob says he will have a can of beer in his hand at the finish line. Rob, if you wants me to walk faster or even run, all you have to do is dangle a banana split in front of my nose. That should do it.

On an unrelated side note for any of you that likes cars. My 74 Cuda won an award at two different small car shows this week. Kind of cool!!! Monday, August 9th is the Lindon City Car Show. That will be a good one to come see.

08-02-10: Last week I told you about the result of my MD visit and the good news from it. As you could tell, I was excited that things were making an improvement. Well no good deed goes unpunished as the saying goes.

Thursday was a long day of work for both my wife and me. We finally hooked up at about 8PM. Neither of us had eaten since lunch, her a small salad and me a cup of soup. Needless to say we were hungry. We decided to hit Mi.Ranchito by the University Mall, as we were driving down State Street the hungries hit hard and fast. We changed our plans and pulled into Apollo Burger instead. We ordered the kid's size cheese burger with fries. I stuck to water to drink. I must admit that the cheese burger tasted particularly good that evening. As we were finishing up, the family who I had not paid too much attention to sitting in the corner got up to leave. To my surprise, it was Jane Fox's family. Yes, I was BUSTED!!!! with my last mouthful of cheese burger. So out of guilt I went home and did another thirty minutes on the stationary bike.

Saturday morning after doing my routine on the stationary bike I went for a 20 minute walk. That was enjoyable. Sunday I did two sets of thirty minutes on the stationary bike. This morning I met with John and got butt kicked again. That boy does like to see me suffer.

My weight has bounced between 227 and 228 pounds, so that is one to two pounds less than from last week. So I'm looking at about an 18 pounds loss since this program started. I am hoping it will be more.

07-28-10: Well I have to do some bragging. I had my scheduled appointment with my primary care physician this morning. The last few previous visits had not been going well. I was put on probation by him at my last visit because my blood sugars were getting worse. He was at the point of changing me from oral medications to insulin, something I am not wanting to do. So here are the results.

From May of this year to today, my A1C has gone from 7.6 to 6.3. He had to check the results twice to make sure the number was actually mine. And his records shows that I have lost 19 lbs from May until today. Needless to say, he was in "shock and ah." On a side note from January 21, 2010 to today's date his records show that I have lost 29 lbs. I was wearing size 44 waist pants in January.

He asked for more information about the 100 Day Heart Challenge and was very impressed with the program and the positive results that are achieved from it.

Some of the other benefits I've noticed is that I sleep through the night without tossing, turning and waking up. I cut the grass last night with out any interruptions or stopping and not being winded.

So even those these things may seem insufficient to you the reader, they are positive indicators that my heath is improving. And that I am proud of.

07-27-10: Not really a lot to report in on. Getting back on track since my eye surgery last week. That went well and I am still surprised how much better I can see. Getting my exercise routine back on track. Yes it is still kicking my butt!!! But needed.

I have developed a new food vice, that being watermelon. I don't know why, but they seem unusually good this year.

Tomorrow I have my regular appointment with my primary care physician. I will be interested to see how thing are or have changed. It will be interesting to she what he has to say.

07-28-10: For the two of you who may be reading this blog, you may have been wondering why nothing has been posted since the 12th. Then again, maybe not!!!! Like I may have indicated to you in a previous blog, I had family visiting for the first part of the month which I visited with once I left the hospital. Also this Monday, I had a minor eye surgery and took yesterday off to recuperate.

I was amazed with the ease this procedure seemed to be performed. Ten minutes in the OR and that was it. Recovery went well and I am seeing a heck of a lot better. I want to thank the OR Staff at Orem Community Hospital. They were all wonderful!!!

It has been rough with the diet and exercise this week. I missed the exercising on Monday and Tuesday due to the surgery. I have some restriction from my MD on exercising that I will have to encorporate. But I did meet with John, Personal Trainier, this morning and had what I thought to be a good workout even without the weight training portion. I will start that back up on Friday.

My weigh in Sunday showed me at 229.5 lbs. However, at the weigh in at the OR on Monday my weight showed 233 lbs. Not so sure my clothes weighed three and half pounds. Anyway, I am grateful some pounds are being lost.

People ask me how the program is going. I just want to report, for me great. Something I have needed for a very long time. I was asked by John this morning if I was going to participate in the 5K at AFH later this summer. I really had not considered it before, but my goal will be to at least walk it. I have never particiapted in a 5K or any kind of a K before. Another new opportunity that is opening up to me through the 100 Day Heart Challenge.

07-12-10: Another weekend has come and gone. Isn't it interesting how most of live for those two days off. Well one has to work hard to play hard I guess. Can't have a Friday without a Monday. My daughter Cristy and her family left this morning to head back to Texas. Things will be different when I get home tonight with no grand kids, no extra dog, no treats on the counter, and no toys on the floor.

I weighed in at 232 on Sunday morning for a loss of approximately 13 pounds since the start of this program. However I worked out this morning with John and while in front of the mirrors at the Wellness Center, I still could see "Java the Hut" staring back at me. VERY SCARY!!!! I wonder what it would take to get those mirrors replaced with the ones you see at amusement parks that make you look tall and skinny?

On the food front, I did indulge somewhat. I enjoy an Ab's Fat Boy Special. The original double patty cheese burger. Have any of you readers been there??? Well worth the drive up to Salt Lake. Too many family food fests this weekend also, but I did maintain, so it will be good to get back to a more normal routine.

For those of you that stopped to say hi to me at the American Fork Steel Days Car Show, it was good seeing you and chatting for a few minutes with you. Hope you enjoyed the show.

07-08-10: It has been a little over a week since I last made comment on this blog. I never was good at keeping a journal. Too many of work and life's distractions seem to always get in the way.

It was nice to have some time off for the holidays. I could really get used to it quickly. I think its called retirement, someday maybe. The house was filled with family or family events, always plenty of good food. Have you caught on there seems to be a theme, that being food. So since I brought it up again let me just say, it was challenging to stay focused and on target with the diet.

I was faithful in my exercising. In fact, my wife came with me to the Wellness Center on Friday and Monday mornings. And yes, she out did me on the tread mill. But is was fun to spend the time together in doing something that is promoting good health.

In my last posting I mentioned that I went from a size 42 to 40 waist. Yesterday, I tried on a size 38. It's tight and I don't need a belt, but I was able to wear a size 38 jeans yesterday. So for me, that is a short term victory.

I was surprised that I only lost 1/2 pound last week. Keeping things in perspective, I don't know if I hit a plateau in the weight loss process or the holiday feasting was a hindrance. But, at least it didn't go up. I am curious what next Sunday's weigh in will bring.

I am still seeing some progress with my workouts with John. We are still ramping things up a little which is good. Again I do really appreciate all of his help and support.

07-01-10: It's amazing to learn about food and what it all contains. I thought I was doing so well with some of them. For example, call me slow but, I figured that eating eggs for breakfast was a good thing. Not so. According the information provided in our class this morning, I should be eating less eggs due to their high cholesterol in the yokes. One trick to reduce the intake of cholesterol is to have one egg with the yoke and and the second be the white of the egg only. That simple act will cut the cholesterol intake by 50%. A cool thing to know for us egg lovers.

We were also taught the "Ten Principles of Intuitive Eating" which include the principles of rejecting the diet mentality, honor your hunger, make peace with food, challenge the food police, feel you fullness, discover the satisfaction factor, cope with your emotions without using food, respect your body, exercise-feel the difference and honor your healthy-gentle nutrition. Some real food for thought, yes, pun intended.

I had my workout with John yesterday. I just want to publicly thank him for his time and willingness to help me out. The workout is still kicking my butt and probably will forever, but definitely worth the effort. I am told that I am progressing quite well. Kind of hard not to do when you are starting at a remedial level. Only one direction to go in.

I believe I hit a mile stone this morning, I went from a size 42 waist to size 40. And the 40 is feeling loose around the middle. Kind of cool don't you think??

06-28-10: It was nice to have such good weather for the weekend. Looks like summer may have finally arrived. I have family visiting with us so the house is filled with kids, grand kids and two dogs, one of which is a Great Dane. Trust me on this one, a Great Dane does not make a very good lap dog. This I know from experience.

Friday, I came to the Wellness Center to work out some. It really is nice that the region provides such a wonderful facility for the community and us as employees to use. I really didn't appreciate it until I started using it. I want to continue to take advantage of it after the 100 Day Challenge is over.

On Sunday, the house was filled with everyone. We had two birthdays to celebrate. It was a little tough. The feast was on at dinner and the food was flowing. All the good stuff if you know what I mean. I kept to my portions and watched what I was eating.

What I found interesting was to watch the others around the table going after seconds and thirds. It made me start to think about how we all seem to eat more than we need to. I tried to use some of the tricks taught to us in our class last Thursday, a smaller plate, watch the proportions and leave the table when done so not to be tempted to go for that little extra.

I will confess however, that small piece of birthday cake, minus the ice cream tasted really good. Guilt took over this morning during workout, so I tried a little harder.

06-23-10: I met with John my Personal Trainer this morning. I have to admit I arrived at the Wellness Center feeling really tired and my butt was dragging big time. I pushed myself to do the recommended cardio and weight training routine that has been established. I was pleased that we were able to bump some of the exercised ups along with some weights.

Not sure if this is a result of trying to be more active, but I cut the grass last night without having to take breaks to catch my breath and stretch my lower back. I felt manly!!!! To celebrate my son Glenn and I took my 74 Plymouth Cuda out for a drive. That was enjoyable. An old fat guy in a 70's muscle car driving up and down Orem State Street feeling like a kid again.

I've been working hard to control the portions and types of food I've been eating. Yesterday was really tough. I had a bad case of the "hungries" all day but I maintained. I particularly enjoy the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies last night.

06-21-10: Thought I had better get caught up on my written journey to better health. I met my personal trainer John withTraci Heiner at the Wellness Center. In conjunction they set up a work out module for me. Yes I am sure they enjoyed the old fat guy sweating like there was no tomorrow. But it was good for me and I didn't have to clutch at my chest yet.

On Thursday I attended the first class where we were taught about food consumption and what to and what not to eat and what proportions to have. Needless to say, out with the good and in with the healthy in what seems to be in very small proportions. What's the old adage, what won't kill you will make you strong? Well time will certainly tell!!!!!

I worked at applying what was taught to us for my meals during the weekend. I have been eating less but not quite good with the figuring out the measurements of carbs, proteins etc. Had dinner with friends at the Little America Friday night. That was a little tough. By the way, does anyone make healthy ice cream??

I met with John this morning at 0600 hours. Had our first cardio/weight training session. I felt pretty good about it. In a couple of areas we added a little more difficulty and I beleive we can add more on Wednesday. I felt good about that and today's session.

Well the journey began this morning with our first weigh in, blood draw and blood pressure taken. We were introduced to a heart healthy breakfast. The only question I had was where was the ketchup for the scramble eggs???

Tomorrow will be the intro to the personal trainer and starting an exercise program. This has always been difficult for me to find the time and more importantly to find the interest in exercising. I did take the advise from the MDs and started climbing the stairs this morning. Funny, I am really good going with gravity down the stairs, but have had difficulty going against gravity up the stairs.