Old Habits Die Hard

I haven't been here in a while and for those who might check this regularly sorry for that. One of the reasons that I think that I haven't been writing is that working out and trying to change my eating habits is just what I do. In the beginning it was kinda big deal to me. It has definitely gotten easier. I work out with Jeremy twice a week just as always. Each week we do something different. I have been pretty good about working out on my own the other days. Notice that I said pretty good. I have my ups and downs.

The eating is tough. I don't always search out bad food and when given a choice I do pretty good about choosing the right food. The problem is when me and the food are just sitting around the house together. The other day Jenny made the kids some cinnamon rolls, homemade cinnamon rolls! When I came come and saw them on the counter it became a test of wills. The will of the cinnamon roll to have me eat them won. Also over spring break we made home made ice cream. Now I am sure that many of you have had homemade ice cream. That is something that is hard to eat in moderation. I also took a trip to see my parents and one of my brothers. We all went out to eat at a hole in the wall fish restaurant. I ate way to much fried catfish & fried redfish. I stayed away from the french fies not that it mattered but...

It is funny when i am used to eating good, i takes some time to start feeling good again. Bad nutrition is something that I feel. That is a good thing, it its another source of accountability in a sense. After eating bad it was harder to exercise as well. I still worked out over spring break but it didn't feel as good. The work outs with Jeremy were much harder the Monday and Wednesday following spring break as well.

I really must also say that I am getting discouraged. I feel like I have worked my butt off (literally and figuratively) but have not lost any weight. I have been loyal to the gym & really watching what I eat (with the exception of the ice cream and fish). So when the scale doesn't move it really makes me mad. Is this worth it? Is the pain worth it? Is all the time it takes worth it? I know my clothes fit better, People say they see a difference but man show me the scale!!!!! Everyone has really been supportive and telling me that muscle weighs more than fat, and its not always about the scale, and if you can see results its there etc, etc etc. But you know I am doing this to lose weight! I know its worth it, I am not quitting but it is discouraging.

Norene explained to me that since the working out and eating healthy is new, the body will hang on to the fat and water for a time. She said that once I reach the edge of the plateau I will drop a lot at once. She also said that the incident with the fish and the ice cream is enough to start the process all over. She said that the body says ahhhh more fat we can make it and it holds on to the fat for even longer.

So the way that I understand this, and I hope its true, The working out is good, but... my bad eating habits even though it was just once, caused me not to lose weight. Man I have to get it together.

At a group meeting with Eric and Lisa (the other big winners). I found out I am the only one that is not still food journaling. I am doing this again. I think this will be pretty good. I don't mind doing it and now see the benefits of it. That will be a start.

Life Happens

I haven't been back in awhile. This will be brief even though it's going to cover several days. I went back to the gym Monday. I went to the nutrition class. As always Norene was very insightful, and very informative. She spoke on how the digestive tract works and the importance of fiber in your diet to the whole process.

After the class I worked out with Jeremy. Jeremy kicked my butt this night. We did weights as a circuit. This was hard. I did a series of exercises and lifts for 30 or 60 seconds each. Today's workout was concentrating on the core. After the workout I was tired, sweaty, and worn out. The good thing is I felt good later that night. I was just a bit tired and sore but nothing like when it all started.

Tuesday I had a training and didn't have to be there till 830. It was for this reason I workout in the morning. I have been doing my running on a treadmill but on this morning I decided to run on the road. The road is much harder than the treadmill. I was feeling pretty confident in doing these treadmill workouts, not so confident on the road. I made it though. The bad part was the shin splints after the fact.

Tuesday evening Jenny, the kids and I went out to eat. I gorged myself on sushi, chased down with awesome homemade cheesecake that Jenny made for me.

Wednesday I skipped the cardio. Jack was sick, I had came home form school and relieved Jenny so she could go teach her art class. It was this reason that I missed my meeting with Norene. We did talk over the phone though in a brief conversation. When Jenny got home I headed to the gym and worked out with Jeremy. We had another good workout. This workout was also focused on the core and balance. Jeremy had me standing on one leg doing different exercises. Come on man, I'm top heavy, that doesn't work well! I made it through. At the end of the workout I felt fine.

Now-a-days the workout are hard during, but after the fact... I feel good, not that sore...

I'm looking forward to keeping on keeping on....

Two Days...One Post

Brief post today. Saturday I took the day off. Huguley was closed, I didn't work out at home. I did get up and work in the yard all morning. This is encouraging because I usually don't have that much energy. I usually wouldn't do anything I didn't have to. I was glad to get a lot accomplished.

On Sunday my Disciple class and my small group was cancelled so wasn't a real busy day. After church Jenny and I packed up the family truckster and went to Sam's club for some family shopping. Lauren was feeling bad all weekend. We thought she was over it but then at Sam's on Sunday she relapsed. When we got home we unpacked the truckster and all took naps. I woke up at 345 having to be up at church by 4 for the last session of the inquirer's class.

After the class I headed up to Huguley for my workout. I did day two of the running program that Jeremy had given me. It was much easier than Friday. At the end of the workout I felt good. I could have kept going. I've said it before, I don't how much is mental and how much is physical....but I'll take it.

I decided to go to the gym early this morning. I woke up at 5:15 and headed to the gym. I got my cardio done and headed to school. I heard something funny today. I heard two men talking in the locker room about how they are able to get the machines they want and It's not as crowed. The other man said yep, "looks like we're getting through the New Year's People". Then I asked myself, am I a New Years People? I thinks so. How long do you have to go, to not be a New Year's People any more? Anyway I left the gym and headed to school. I got here at 10 till 7 this morning. Man that's early. But here I am. I decided to do some blogging this morning. I go back to the gym tonight. At 6 I go to Norene's nutrition class. It is open to the public tonight and is in the Huguley Fitness Center Amphitheater. After the class I work out with Jeremy. Be back later.

Not much new today

I know it's an age old questions, but has anyone ever answered it? Why is that at 7 am Monday - Friday, getting my kids out of bed is pulling teeth and a battle? Come Saturday morning they're in my room at 6:30 bouncing off the walls!

Took the day off from any working out today. Jeremy told me cardio 6 days a week. Lauren didn't feel good so she laid around the house all day. Jack and I extended the flowerbed in the front of the house. We then moved a shrub in the front of the house to the extension. When that was done we spot treated some weeded areas with round up. My backyard is a jungle, I rounded it up, so soon it will be a mess! I am just tired of looking at weeds.

Jack was a big help today we filled in holes the dog and dug and just cleaned the yard and made it look better.

I really attribute having more energy to working out and diet. It is nice to not feel so lazy anymore. Whether it be physical or mental I feel like moving around and doing more. I was never like this before.

I was thinking of things I will look forward to and things I won't miss when I am down to a normal size. I will always be 6'4" but getting rid of 100+ pounds will make life better. At the end of some entries, (if i remember) I will put some of these. Here are a couple for today. If anyone can think of some please put them in the comments, or email them to me and I will add them. Also if you look to the right you will see a call me icon. I was playing with Google voice and saw that I can add a voicemail to my blog its more of a toy to play with, but because I could, I added it.. So feel free to call and leave a voicemail. Anyway; I digress, here are things that I look forward to- or won't miss.

I will enjoy being able to go to a store/ concert/ sporting event and be able to buy clothes or t-shirts that fit.

I will enjoy have a butt again. Right now the layer of fat on the bottom of my back is even with my butt. This give the appearance of having no butt. Worse than that my paints slide right down, even with a belt. This, my friends, causes plumber's crack. In a classroom full of elementary students it also causes, "crack kills Mr. Duke".

And the last for the list today is this. I will enjoy sitting in a booth at a restaurant and not have to be squished. Sitting in a booth is easier with kids. You sit next to them, you help feed them. You can control them and beat them without the world seeing. When you have a large protruding gut though, It can be uncomfortable. Luckily a lot of places the table's move so I am able to rearrange but some do not. When this is the case I have to suck in, and take shallow breaths. I am way to embarrassed to pull a chair to the end of the table or ask to move, so I just deal with it. I will be glad when this is not the norm anymore.

Git er Dun!

This morning was just like all the other. I woke up late, real late. I had time to either pack a lunch or a gym bag. I chose the gym bag. It is much easier to go straight from school to the gym, than to come home first. Plus on Friday, Huguley closes at 5 pm, so I wouldn't have a bunch of time after school.

I am lucky where I work. My school is near Hemphill and Berry, we are surrounded by good Mexican food, and near TCU area. There is a lot of good places to eat. For lunch we decided to go to Carshon's Deli. It is so good. I split a Rebecca with one of my co teachers. It is one of the best sandwiches ever! I doubt its real healthy, but its awesome. I also tried a first today. I had a bagel with cream cheese and lox. I split this with Christine as well, I really liked it.

After school I ended up staying way to long considering Huguley closed at 5pm. I stayed till 4 pm. I made it by 4:20, rushed in changed and went to workout. I went to the first level of machines to get on an elliptical. They were all taken so I went treadmill. Today I started the workout that Jeremy had given me so that I could start running. I made it through. At first I thought it was easy, the longer it went on, the more I realized it wasn't as easy as I thought. I made it through. It's gonna be a long haul to get up to running. The one thing that I found discouraging is the fact that I was dripping with sweat, and pretty tired, however, my calorie count on the machine was half of what the elliptical says after 30 minutes. I am not on the machine really looking for a specific calorie count but I do watch it.

Just read this post, it's pretty broing and poorl written, sorry for that but it's late and I'm tired. Be back tomorrow.

Another day down

Woke up quick at about noon.... or maybe earlier. Went off to work. I'm feeling a little sore in the legs today, dang lunges. Work was a long day, on and on and on. Left work went to the gym to do some elliptical. It was not quite as easy as I remembered it. I think part of the problem is that I have slacked a bit previously. This is more of a reason to stay at it and not slack off.

Yesterday Jeremy told me to start jump roping. I think I surprised him when he saw my light feet. 300 plus on the toes. I don't think that he was surprised when I only lasted 30 seconds a round. Of course it was after the workout that I was jump roping, so what did he expect? But now he wants me to work up to 5 minutes at a time! What????

I tell this part of the story here for one reason. After the elliptical I didn't do the jump rope. I had to pick up Jack by 6 and it was 5:20 by the time I left the gym. I was also supposed to pick up my neighbor's son. This was the the reason i left the gym a bit early, see they are out of town and a relative is in from Florida to watch the kids. When I wasn't there by 5: 30 I think she was a bit concerned, and she didn't have my cell. I really felt bad about this, but it all worked out in the end.

My co teacher Christine has been going to the gym lately. She is walking around the class room like I did my first week. I think its funny. I felt a little good when i read on her facebook the other day that I inspired her to go. That is what this is all about. I have also been inviting a lot of people to hear Norene talk at the nutrition classes that she is giving. Please come, it is Monday at Huguley fitness center amphitheater , it is free and she is good, you can learn a lot. I've been getting some good feedback from people reading this blog. Feel free to become a follower or leave comments or questions. I would love to know who's reading and what you think.

One of Those Days....

I must confess.... With Jenny's aching mouth she is limited to what she can eat. She asked me on Monday to stop and grab her a malt on the way home, who can go buy one and not get them self one? Don't judge me! I had my alarm set to go off early Tuesday morning, but managed to snooze for an hour, as luck might have it i got up at my regular time. I was up and off to work. I felt sluggish all day.

After work I picked Lauren and Jack up and headed home. I changed clothes and jumped on the treadmill to work out. I am trying to work up to do some running, I figured that I do pretty good on the elliptical, lets step it up on the treadmill. Every time I cranked the thing up to a running pace though, the breaker would blow. So lets go back to walking, fast-ish. After I finally got the thing going and in stride the kids came in. Daddy how much longer? Daddy I'm hungry? Daddy can I try? Daddy... Daddy.... Daddy... Alright I'm done. I did around 20 minutes or so. That was not a good workout. For supper that night I cooked a good meal that I had talked with Norene about. That night Jenny, who still can't eat went for a milkshake. Don't judge me!!!

Today I woke up and headed off to work. I felt sluggish all day again today. I tried to figure out why the last couple of days were tough. I was almost falling asleep while sitting up in a conversation. The only difference I could think of was the milk shake before bed. I did not have one today, lets see how tomorrow goes.

After work I picked the kids up and we hung out here at the house till 6 30. We headed up to St. Matthew for the Wednesday lent service. Another great prayerful service. After the service I headed up to Huguley to meet Jeremy. I must admit I wasn't looking forward to it. I wasn't quite dreading it, but I wasn't looking forward to it. The workout wasn't that bad. Don't get me wrong he kicked my butt! It hurt, but I made it through and felt good on the back side. I still hate lunges....

Here's a couple of side notes. As I said earlier I want to start running. I would like to run a 5K or 10K. Jeremy gave me a workout to prepare. A few months ago I watched my brother in law Rob run the Houston marathon, it was so inspiring. I don't know if I will quite be ready to run a marathon but I have to start somewhere, Bit by bit, I will be running soon.

As far as me... There are good days and bad days. Some days I have to really make myself workout (see Tuesday). Other days I look forward to it. The leaving to work out is also hard around the house. I'm gone a lot of evenings. When I get home I read my Bible, blog, shower, get lunch for tomorrow packed, and on and on. I think that Jenny gets tired of me being gone and coming to bed late. I will try to get up early more often, but man do I hate getting up any earlier than I have to. I need a am workout partner who could meet me at about 5:30 am. Not sure if that would make a different but who knows.....

I have really been trying to work on eating slow, not eating when I'm not really hungry, and stopping when I'm full. It's not as easy as it sounds. I got into a conversation with a co-worker about this today. He said will-power, you just do it. He couldn't quite understand it's just not that simple when your 300 + lbs. If I could just have "will power" this wouldn't have ever happened. Step by Step though, just as with the working out, I'll get there.