100 Days

100 Days.  Little more than 3 months.

How much has changed in your life?

 How much of your life have you changed?

100 days ago I had a huge eating binge. How huge? 14579 calories.

14579. No that's not a typo.  That includes at one point 5536 during a 40 minute car ride home from downtown.

Can't live like that. You cannot go out and eat a weeks worth of food in a day and expect life to be grand.

100 days ago I had my last binge. I'm proud of that. But what can I do with the next 100?

What could I do to change the fat man by November 26th?

I made a commitment 100 days ago not to go on any more crazy binges. I've battled binges all my life, and 100 days later I've been successful so far.

So lets lay down a new challenge.

A good friend of mine Rob Foster is the owner of Trainersonsite.com. Rob is a great guy and he's been trying to help me for a while now. Despite my struggles he has maintained his energy and drive to see me through it all.

So what if I made this commitment. I'm going to follow Rob's program he's given me for the next 100 days.

In the last 100 days I helped myself. Now lets start getting help from experts.  I'm going to take advantage of people who want to help me, like Rob.  I'll  use tools like bodymedia.com and Myfitnesspal.com to track my food for the next 100 days, making sure I finish in the negative at least 6 days out of every 7.

Lets spend 100 days and start reversing this fat man. Lets spend 100 days together and see what happens.

100 days ago I had my last binge. Today starts the next 100 days. Join me, see how it goes.

Check back here frequently, my goal is to update as often as I can, daily whenever possible so that people can see the progression.

Motivation in 140 Characters or less, thanks @BL11Austin

Journeys of change are hard. Ask anyone who is on one or try one yourself and you'll see. If you know someone who has quit smoking, lost weight, kicked a bad habit, gone back to school, well, then you know someone who has challenged themselves and come out better for it. But take a second to appreciate just how hard a trip it was.

It's never an easy trip, and there are lots of pitfalls along the way. Lots of reasons to just go back to what is comfortable. Lot's of reasons to simply live in the now instead of being focused on your future.

And sometimes we need a little help, and sometimes it comes from surprising sources.

Earlier this week I posted a blog quoting Austin from The Biggest Loser. When I sent out a tweet tagging Austin I immediately got a response from him encouraging me. But that's not where the story ends.

The next day was hard, really hard. I didn't want to work out. I wanted to eat about half a tub of ice cream and just feel better for a minute. Then I took a quick look at my blog, I noticed that my last entry had 10X the amount of traffic I normally get. But I didn't know from where. I logged into twitter and discovered to my great joy that Austin had tweeted a link to my blog to his followers, and all these eyes had come over to read my story.

All these people, many in the same boat as me, reading about my struggles, my achievements, my journey.

And a funny thing happened. My motivation went through the roof. My next entry couldn't be about a failure. I couldn't let myself down and have to share that with everyone.

Austin, this young 20-something from California had, in under 140 characters, got me off a couch and out the door for a run.  The ice cream forgotten, a healthy snack in its place. My journey uninterrupted. The struggles of the last 6 weeks erased, I wake up this morning back to 258.6, those extra pounds shed and me ready to continue.

I know weight loss, and any self-help goal has to be motivated by your own desire to change, it has to be a little bit selfish. But sometimes we all need some help. Sometimes it's a friend with a kind word. Sometimes its a family member with nothing more than a look. Sometimes it's a quote, an image, a TV show that gets us moving.

And sometimes its a stranger, a young man, tweeting from California, who gets us going again.

Thanks Austin,  I needed that.

Fatfitman

Nothing happens in a straight line

I'm just back from 2 weeks on the road. The first week was for business in Cleveland. More on that later. The second trip was 10 days in Florida with my family. To save on airfare we drove down.

In a straight line it is 1184 miles from Toronto to Fort Myers, FL. By car it is 1520 miles. 340 miles, 20% of the trip is zig zagging your way down the highways, 340 extra miles because it's not a straight line drive. We have to go around obstacles like hills, lakes, valleys.

Weight loss is similar. I'm not just going to go and drop 50 straight pounds...I wish. I'm going to have good days and bad, good weeks and bad. I'll get to my goal, but I'll have travelled a lot further than 50lbs to get there.

On January 30th I announced I had lost that first 10lbs. well, a few weeks on the road has proved to be a detour. I now weigh 263.8.

I could get all depressed here, and quit the process. I could say, well, it's bad, so I'll start tomorrow and have a nice grilled cheese and bacon sandwich for lunch. but just like driving to Florida, i want to get there. I don't want any more detours than I have to make. So the bodymedia armband is back on, I have an exercise date with my wife tonight, and we start pushing deeper into the process.

Some people have been asking me how I managed on the road with food and exercise.  Well, it is HARD!!! Driving along seeing nothing but McDonald's, Cracker barrel, KFC...All poor choices. Subway was my salvation. Turkey subs, light or no mayo, lots of veggies, water to drink. healthy snacks in the car, made before we set out by my wife. Planning a little, waiting until we saw a Subway saved untold calories.

During the business trip it was even worse. At least in Florida we were staying at my parents house allowing us to cook. While in Cleveland I had to really watch what happens in the restaurants. Salad appetizers, dressings on the side, choosing small beef dishes (careful with chicken, many restaurants saute, or sometimes even presoak the chicken in butter!), went out for fish one night.

I was less successful with the exercise, in Cleveland I should have done much more, in Florida lots of walking.

All in all 2lbs or so gained after 17days on the road is not terrible. It's a detour. I didn't go too far out of my way, and I am ready for the next leg of the journey. I have to push hard these next few miles to make up some lost time, but overall...I'm still on course.  How about you? Still on that good track?

How do you fit it in?

Family. Religion. Friendship. These are the three demons you must slay if you wish to succeed in business. - Montgomery Burns

He could just as easily have been talking about fitness it seems.  Probably the number thing I am hearing from friends and family is where do you find the time to work out every day? I won't lie to you, it's tough. Two toddlers, a career, new house. It's a challenge when it's 9pm, all I want to do is sit down on the couch with my wife and watch TV.

But everyone does that, and the latest data shows we're all getting progressively bigger and more out of shape. And I've always done that, sat in front of the TV. And I've gotten progressively bigger and more out of shape. My favourite definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result. How can I expect to get healthier, how can I expect to achieve my goals if I just sit here.

So last night my DW (darling wife) and I went downstairs after the kids were in bed and worked out together. I have to give her special credit here, last night was a resistance workout, she is not a fan of these, but she stuck to it and worked hard. She's also promised to join me tonight for the Yoga DVD. I always look so awkward compared to her doing Yoga, but I'll be doing it nonetheless.

When you have a goal, a dream, a journey, never forget you can't get there by standing still. You can't rise above the masses by simply doing what everyone else is doing. You have to put in that extra effort. you have to do the things others are not. You have to find it within yourself to stand up, get away from the couch, away from the TV, away from your comfort zone and start putting in the work to get to your goal. Unlike what Monty Burns said at the start of this blog you do not have to sacrifice those around you, you can find ways to make them part of it. I challenge all of my readers to do something tonight that moves you a step closer to your goal. If you are serious about your own goals you'll find the time.

It's worth it.

Back to it

Distractions Distractions......Truthfully? Excuses excuses. And I am good at excuses. Really good..Especially to myself.

Since last blog I have moved houses, had some sick kids, travelled for business, and been sick myself. Now, some would say it is reasonable to take some time off from a quest during these times. That it is unreasonable to try to exercise, diet, make healthy food choices, and maintain a blog when life is so busy. I fell into these "reasons" in the last 2 weeks.

Here's the problem though. Like a person trying to quit smoking, or an alcoholic trying to quit drinking, I cannot simply "let up for a day". 1 day becomes 2, becomes 4 becomes a fortnight.  And in no time, unchecked, the old habits come back, the weight comes back. The motivation for change subsides, the accountability evaporates.

I can't let that happen. I have to make this healthy life a priority. It has to be above excuse, beyond reproach.

While I was away on business I had 5 mealtimes. Of those 5 I made exactly 1 good choice. bad odds..I had several hours in the evening to myself and the only thing I exercised was my remote control hand.

Can't do that and succeed. No matter what your endeavour, letting up for a couple of weeks puts you in a hole. You have to find a way to maintain the momentum. For me it's blogging, its watching The Biggest Loser, it's stepping on the scale and taking stock of where I am.

I was very lucky the last two weeks. Moving is hard work, and the exercise was helping me to keep losing weight while my food choices slipped.

So no more excuses, no more 2 week vacations from the effort. I'm making good progress. I need to keep driving forward. This is a year long journey, and like a job, you only get so many weeks off if you want to be successful. Those were my two weeks.

Think about you and the challenges you face on your own journey. Have you taken a few days off from your goal? Days that were counter-productive to what you were trying to achieve? Did you feel better or worse for the time off? I know my answer.

Starting my Journey

How the hell did I end up here?

How did a guy who plays hockey, referees, plays tennis, golf, hikes, sees himself as athletic, how does he weigh over 270lbs!

It doesn't happen overnight. It takes a lot of food to get to this stage. It takes a lot of changes in how I act to get here.

I used to identify myself as a fit guy, I used to believe I was fairly athletic...No one would look at me now and see an athlete.

Now I identify myself as the big guy, "Big D"...I'm the guy everyone says, "Here D, take the last piece" and I take it. I relish the moniker, it is who I am.

No more.

This blog is the start of a change. A change I hope you will join me in and help me through. A change in not only how I look and how much I weigh, but a change in who I am, how I am perceived, and how I perceive myself.

I want to look in the mirror and be proud of what I see. I don't want to shop in speciality stores anymore. I don't want to ache when I bend over and pick up my kids. I don't want to be afraid of having a heart attack when I step on the ice to play.

So, how do I do it.

First step, set Goals.

Goal number 1: At the end of 2011 I will weigh less than 220lbs. That's about 1lb per week. Reasonable, achievable, healthy sustainable weight loss. I think I can do even better, but that's my start.

Goal number 2: To run a 5k event. Again, should be very achievable, but I haven't run 5k since I was in the Army Reserves. That's a lot of years between me and the pavement.


Okay, second step, the plan. I love technology, and I love social media. So it only makes sense that this is part of my journey. I will be using the technology from www.bodymedia.com to help me monitor my exercise and my caloric intake. I'll post more about the technology in a future blog.

Second part of the plan, exercise...going to be tough the first couple of weeks as we prepare to move to our new home, but once we're set up I have access to my treadmill, and will be working through the P90x videos.

Third, and I think very important, accountability and support. That's where you come in. I'll be posting here, Facebook and @fatfitman on Twitter. Follow along with me as I share my successes, my temptations, my hard times, and hopefully very few failures. One of the reasons I think WeightWatchers(tm) is so successful is the support system around the people. So I am hoping to use social media to achieve the same things. I look forward to your comments and tweets.

So, this morning I weighed in at 272.4 lbs...the heaviest I have ever been. Its time to say goodbye to the fat guy, and start my journey back to someone I recognize in the mirror.