Stellar Path

Archive for the ‘Train to Lose’ Category

Wow; I may be on track to post something every day this month. So far, three days in, and I’ve posted three times. Let’s see how it goes. I love reading your comments, so please, stroke my poor, pitiful ego and let me know that you’re out there.

As always, video may not embed, view this post on its own page, you know what to do by now.

This is my last video that I am in, but I’ll continue to post the videos until the grand prize winner is announced!

And then there were six… and I was not one of them.

I was eliminated tonight. The red team lost. I had the lowest percentage on our team. I had to leave the Biggest Loser Ranch. I mean the Island. I mean the Outback. I mean the Train 2 Lose competition.

And honestly, I am completely okay with that. I was not eliminated because I didn’t try as hard. I worked my tail off. I was not eliminated because of a popular vote. This was strictly numbers. Technically, Patrina had a lower percentage than me, but she gets to stay another week at least because the women’s team won.

I gave it my all. I had nothing more I could give. I just happen to be a slow loser, and that’s fine. Frankly, I’m glad to be out of the competition in a way, because now I can just concentrate on losing weight and being happy with a one pound loss.

I weighed in tonight at 334.2 pounds. That’s a loss of 1.6 pounds since last week. I’ll happily take it.

I had Tina take a photo of me when I got home from the gym, and I’ll post it beside the one I took when the contest started. I think I can tell a SMALL difference in my appearance. How about everyone else?

I’ll continue to track the contest here on my blog. These people are my friends now, and I’ll still be there on Fridays to cheer them on. I’m sure I’ll still workout with them periodically.

I am grateful that I did Train to Lose, because it taught me many things, both about weight loss and myself. And I can pretty confidently say that I will probably never again enter a weight loss competition, because I don’t want to get wrapped up in the numbers game of weight loss.

And I do find it VERY interesting that I actually lost slightly more after a week of doing one hour a day than I did the previous weeks doing four and five hours a day.

Also, I am VERY excited to start taekwondo again! I have a second degree black belt to earn, and I will be back at Jeramy Black’s Taekwondo Academy on Monday night, ready to train.

Okay, that’s not me.  I hope it’s me someday.

I am going to post a video here from YouTube of my instructor, Mr. Jeramy Black, testing for his 6th Degree Master Black Belt in Chattanooga, Tennessee about a year and a half ago.  I’m actually in his demonstration, barely.  (I was a board holder.  I held for a ridge hand break.)  See if you can find me.  I’ll give you a hint.  I’m the fat black belt.

Fridays will still be my weigh in day, only now I will record my weight first thing in the morning. I may see a gain next week as I post, just for the simple fact that the scale we used at the gym weighs about two pounds lighter than my scale here. But that’s okay, because this is more than about the numbers of weight loss. And after that, I’ll continue to see the numbers drop.

My Weekly $5 Goals Update

1. Reach 332.

Fail. I made it to 334.2, which is pretty close. But it’s still a failure.

2. Workout ONLY for one hour per day.

Success! This one ALMOST didn’t happen, for reasons I’ll explain in #5, but by divine intervention, this one was accomplished.

3. Write 3,000 words of fiction, including some on my novel.

Fail. I wrote about 1,600 on Ice Blog (which is updated tonight with a slightly R-rated post, go check it out!), but none on my novel and certainly not 3,000 words. We’ll try again next week.

4. Finish 3 complete workouts in the weight room.

Success! I love everything about doing weights, and I’m going to work out with weights later tonight. Can’t wait!

5. Take another spin class.

Success! Tina and I took a 30 minute introductory spin class on Thursday. I knew this would put me over an hour, with the one hour Train 2 Lose workout, but I wanted to try spinning again. Besides, we just bought two gel seats for the bikes, so we had to try them out. It wasn’t bad. I’ll do it again. So I did it, expecting to go over my hour limit for the day. However, we only did 30 minutes that night at the gym, so I managed to do both spin and stay under an hour. Success!

That gives me $6 toward Super Mario Brothers Wii and you all $9 toward another giveaway. As soon as I’ve hit ten dollars or so, I’ll find something else fitness related to give out.

My $5 Weekly Goals for Next Week

1. Reach 330.
2. Take at least three taekwondo classes.
3. Write 3,000 words on my novel.
4. Drink one gallon of water on at least four days.
5. Track every bite I eat on FitDay at least five days.

That’s my week. How has yours been?

As always, if you are viewing this on the main page, the video may not appear. If you click on the title of this post, it will be on the post’s page.

Sadly, the t.v. hosts did not seem to actually watch the video clip before they started talking about it, because while they were correct that Deanna was eliminated, she did LOSE weight, not gain. Stupid newscasters.

I suspect this will be my last week in the contest, and I am at peace with that. There are several benefits to no longer being in this competition.

One, I can go back to taekwondo. My classes meet at the same time as the Train 2 Lose competition, and I haven’t gone in a while. I’m still a Senior 1st Degree Black Belt, and I hope to test for Probationary 2nd Degree Black Belt in July.

Two, the numbers game of weight loss is getting in my head. I want to just be able to be happy if I’ve lost weight, not be upset if I haven’t lost enough. I can’t guarantee that still won’t happen as the wedding date draws closer and closer (we’re getting married in seven and a half months – holy crap!) but I want to relax about it. I really believe that stress may be a contributing factor. It’s also just SO frustrating seeing people who are not working out any harder than myself dropping such big numbers. It sucks. Hard. And blows. At the same time.

Three, I want to experiment with my eating and exercise to see what truly works best for me, and in this contest, I’m afraid to do that, for fear it may cause me to gain weight. Granted, that’s sort of what I’m doing this week, with only exercising one hour a day, but still… I want to experiment a little, and I don’t feel free to do that yet.

My trainer said he doesn’t think I’ll go this week. I think I will. I don’t suspect I’ve lost anything, and I certainly haven’t lost anything substantial, but we’ll see. He did tell me that he could tell my face is thinner, which was certainly nice to hear.

As soon as I’m out of the contest, I’ll resume Friday as my weigh-in day, but I’ll obviously use my weight that I record first thing every morning. I also need to start posting more pictures of myself. I think I may take a photo every Friday evening, just to see if I can track my weight loss as it goes lower.

On other news, I’ve decided to start Project 365. If you don’t know what it is, basically, you take a photo every day for a year. That’s it in a nutshell. I’ll likely take most of them on my cell phone; it’s only a two megapixel camera, but I’ve heard many photographers say that it isn’t the camera that makes a photo, it’s the photographer. Hopefully, my skills will improve over the year. I can definitely say that this first photo is not a prize winner. Anyway, you can check out my page here.  (http://365project.org/stellarpath/)

And then were seven… and I am still in the contest by the skin of my teeth.

I weighed in at 335.8, for a total weight loss of an astounding 1.4 pounds.

That was my sarcastic voice. Seriously, I have busted my ass this week, working out a MINIMUM of three hours a day, and I lost 1.4 pounds. I have not eaten a single carb after lunch. I have only eaten healthy, clean foods, and I am not in starvation mode.

So I’ve decided that for the next week, I am not doing as much. I’m going to do one hour a day.

Here’s my logic. I know that I cannot maintain three hours of exercise a day for the rest of my life. It simply is not possible. However, an hour of exercise is something that I can do. This is my new philosophy – if I cannot do it for the rest of my life, then I will not do it now to lose weight.

My weight loss may go even slower. If it does, then I’ll go to a doctor and have myself thoroughly checked out. I suspect, though, that a lot of this is truly mental. I am definitely a believer in the mind being a powerful influence on the body, both good and bad. With the mindset I have had in this contest of “win at all costs,” I don’t think it’s good for my body.

Because I have not been having fun with my weight loss for a few weeks now. So if I am eliminated next week, then so be it. I am honestly, truly fine with that. I can already name some benefits to being out of this competition. One, I can go back to taekwondo. Taekwondo meets four nights a week at 7 p.m., which is the same time as my workout. I’m itching to get back in class, start sparring again, and get ready for my 2nd degree black belt test. I want to perfect my form. I want to see my taekwondo buddies again, who I haven’t seen in a LONG time.

Two, I can go back to not being in a mental anguish state all day long over a looming weigh-in. I want to just get up, whatever my weight is in the morning, buck naked on the scale fresh out of the shower, is what it is. I don’t want to think, “Well, I know this would be good for me, but it’s food that would be sitting on my stomach, and that’s not good for me at this weigh-in.” That’s ridiculous, and starting now, I’m not going to think that way again.

Hell, I’m almost campaigning to be eliminated next week. I like the guys on my team and I like both trainers and I like the girls on the blue team, but I want to go back to just working out and losing weight, not agonizing over every ounce lost.

Because you know what? I should be happy with a low loss, even 1.4 pounds, and not begrudge it because it isn’t enough. 1.4 pounds a week is still 72.8 pounds in a year, and I’d look a lot better (and be a lot healthier) at 260 than 330.

Okay, bitch fest is over. The red team won, which is the only reason I am still there. I am the lowest person on the red team with a total weight loss of 16.2 pounds, and I am sixth overall. The blue team lost, and that means Deanna is going home. This one isn’t a sad elimination, though, because Deanna is not distraught, and she and her husband are joining the gym next week, so she’ll still be working out. Yay Deanna!

On to other news… first up… my first giveaway!

There were eight entries, thank you so much to those of you who entered, and the winner of my first ever giveaway was… Josie from Yum Yucky! Yay Josie! Josie, if you would, please email me at blueservo@gmail.com the address of where you would like the CarbQuik sent, and I will have it on its way to you Monday morning. While I’m talking about Josie, I’d also recommend you go check out her blog which is one of my new favorites. She has a wonderful writing style and sense of humor, and she is a true pleasure to follow, in a way that doesn’t sound stalker-y.

Second, and somewhat related to giveaways, is my Weekly $5 Goals Update.

1. Reach 333

Fail! Not even close. I’m still almost three pounds away. Granted, a loss is a loss, so I’m not too torn about not meeting this one.

2. Write 3,000 words on my novel

Fail! I did write 1,800 words of fiction (more on that in just a moment), but it wasn’t 3,000.

3. Drink at least one gallon of water a day

Fail! I came awfully close. On at least four days, I drank more than that much. I got close on the others, but I’m following this to the letter, and I didn’t make it.

4. Do at least 2 extra at-home workouts

Success! I, in fact, did three!

5. Finish 4 complete workouts in the weight room

Fail! Only three.

I have now earned $3 toward my purchase of a Super Mario Brothers Wii, and you currently have $7 toward the next giveaway. I’m not sure – I’m thinking the next giveaway will either be a water bottle or an exercise DVD. What do you think?

But I still like doing my goals, so here are my goals for this week!

1. Reach 332.
2. Workout ONLY for one hour per day. (That’s right – my goal this week is to do LESS.)
3. Write 3,000 words of fiction, including some on my novel.
4. Finish 3 complete workouts in the weight room.
5. Take another spin class.

That’s right, I said take ANOTHER spin class. I did one with Train 2 Lose, and there were parts of it I really liked. I liked the toughness of it; I liked the challenge it gave my leg muscles. I DID not like one aspect of it, and I can only assume that Spinning is Latin for “The Process of Being Anally Raped by a Bicycle Seat.” However, I am buying a padded gel seat this weekend, so I’ll be ready for next week.

Okay, my last thing – I mentioned I wrote 1,800 words of fiction this week. I’ve written more about it on the tab at the top of this page that says Ice Blog, but basically, I’ve created a fictional blog about a morbidly obese man who is spending the next two years alone in Antarctica. There are twists and turns planned, and I hope you’ll read it and see what happens. I’d always appreciate constructive feedback. You can find Ice Blog by either clicking the tab at the top of the page or going directly to http://www.stellarpath.net/IceBlog/.

As always, to see the video if you are on the main page, click on the title of this post and view this post on its own page. The video should be embedded at that point.

Very disappointing weigh in last Friday. And apparently, I have a tic of clapping my hands any time I am on camera.

I hope (and think I will) have a loss of at least three pounds this Friday. I am close to two pounds down now (I think). It’s very frustrating that I am busting my butt and still not losing like others, but what can you do? I’m still hoping I can pull into the top three at some point. I’ve got Jeanette, Chris, Daniel, and Christie as my main competition. If I could have two good weeks (and subsequently they don’t have as good of weeks), I can pull ahead. Maybe I can still turn my three pounds into five by this Friday? We’ll see.

I plan on doing four hours today. One hour of Zumba, one hour of elliptical on my own, one hour Train 2 Lose workout, and one additional hour of elliptical on my own again. It’ll be a busy day, but we’re getting down to crunch time. I refuse to have another bad weigh-in on Friday if I can at all keep it from happening.

In a way, I’ll be very happy when this contest is over, because I’m starting to get to a point where it isn’t enjoyable. I like the workouts, I like the people, but I don’t like the numbers game that I’m starting to play. I just want to be at a place where I can enjoy my weight loss, even if it’s just a pound or two, and not be frustrated if I don’t lose six.

I thought about naming this post “And then there were three…” as that is what my trainer said to me as I left tonight.

The guys lost. Again.

I lost a grand total of 0.2 pounds. There have been MANY, MANY, MANY times that I have seen a small loss, or even a gain, and while I was upset, I would have to say, “I know exactly why this happened,” even if I didn’t want to admit it to myself. This week, I have no idea why I had such a small loss. I have worked my tail off. I have measured every bite of every morsel of food that has gone in my mouth. I have drank tons of water. I honestly don’t know why.

Maybe it’s just one of those things. I can accept that. The human body is weird, and sometimes, weight gain or loss just doesn’t always make sense. It is what it is. Tomorrow is the start of another week.

As far as tonight goes, as previously mentioned, the Blue Team kicked our butts. Well, the beat us by 0.2%, but it was still enough. I don’t remember exactly how much everyone lost, but I know that Jeanette lost over four pounds, Chris lost over six pounds, I lost 0.2 pounds to come out at 337.2, and Angie and Kayvan neither one lost or gained. Dead zero. I’m pretty sure Deanna and Patrina had small losses. Kayvan was the lowest member on the guy’s team, and he is the Red Team member who was sent packing. Bye Kayvan.

What does this mean for me? If we don’t win again next week, I am probably going home. I am currently in dead last on the men’s team and in 6th place overall. The ranking from last week hasn’t changed at all. I’ve gotta figure out something to boost my loss. I’m also wondering if I should just stay the course or try something new? I had someone suggest that I try eating my carbs early in the day and only do protein and healthy fats in the afternoon and evening. I may give it a shot. We’ll see.

Let me also give you a rundown of my $5 Weekly Goals!

Last week’s goals

1. Reach 333 – Fail! I only lost 0.2 pounds this week. I currently weigh 337.2. Not quite 333.
2. Finish walking Rhode Island – Success! I completed Rhode Island early this morning, and I’m already 13,000 steps into my new state of Nebraska! (I’ll post more about walking Nebraska later this weekend.)
3. Write 2,500 words on my novel – Utter fail. I think I wrote… uhm, zero words. I really thought I would make this one. Oh well.
4. Finish 4 complete workouts in the weight room – Little fail, but still a fail. I did three workouts in the weight room. An act of God intervened on this one, as on one of the nights Tina and I were going to lift, a snowstorm came and the gym closed at 8 p.m. We didn’t have time. Oh well. It’s still a fail.
5. Begin the 100 Push Ups Challenge – Success! I utterly suck at push ups, but I have both done my initial assessment and done the first day’s work.

Thus far, I have earned $2 toward Super Mario Brothers Wii and you all have earned $3 toward your first giveaway. Still not sure what it’s going to be yet, but when I have about $10 or so saved up, I’ll figure it out then.

This Week’s Goals

1. Reach 333
2. Write 3,000 words on my novel
3. Drink at least one gallon of water a day
4. Do at least 2 extra at-home workouts
5. Finish 4 complete workouts in the weight room

These are my goals for the week. Hopefully, I’ll do them all.

As always, if you are viewing this post on the main page, the video may not load. However, if you click on the title of the post so you are viewing it on its own page, the video should load. Not sure why it’s doing this, but it is. On with the rest of the post…

I am a huge dork in this video, but I’m okay with that, because everyone was so lifeless, and I decided to just go for it and celebrate. Granted, I thought I had lost 2.6 pounds instead of 1.6, but if I was going to take Craig up on his challenge and throw a thumbs up out there, I knew I had to celebrate. The thumbs up is just there for half a second, but I held the thumbs up the entire time I walked back from the scale.

So I did. I threw my hands over my head, and because my shirt has shrank in the laundry (stupid dryer), you can see my gut. Oh well. They have my weight up there, and I’d wager that a lot of guys who weigh 337.4 either have a gut or they are approximately twelve feet tall.

There is also a shirtless picture of me on the internet now! The horrors!

They took our photo, swore to us that it wouldn’t be used anywhere but in our file for purposes LATER if we chose to use it, but the big fat liars lied. The lying liars. Granted, this is just a shoulders-up shot, kind of like on Fear Factor (but without the spinning), and it really doesn’t bother me. I just wish they had told me they were going to use it so I would have flashed my best driver’s license smile. Tina made fun of me because my chest hair looked like the top of a heart. It does and she already knew this, but apparently, this picture in 8×10 form in our gym makes it a little funnier. Who knew?

As stated previously, we ended up losing Vaughn Flickner.

I’m very nervous about this week’s weigh-in. I have a hunch I’ll be nervous about EVERY weigh-in. I just don’t think I’ve lost much. I hope I can lose a pound or two, but… we’ll see. Still, I’ve lost 14.6 pounds in three weeks, and I have to recognize that that is an achievement in and of itself.

I’d still love to win the whole flippin’ contest, though.

We have a new video!  (For reason I still do not understand, the video will only show when you look at this post on its own page and not on the main page.  So to see it, please click the title of this post, and the video should be embedded on that page.)

In other diet news, I’ve decided to up my calories. I was eating around 1500 to 2200. Now, I’m eating around 3000 to 3500, and so far, it seems to be making a difference.

I have heard from various sources that eating a different amount of calories per day can help keep your metabolism a little higher than it might otherwise. So, in my variable calorie diet, I may have 3700 one day, 3000 the next, 3500, 2400, etc… I just want to keep my metabolism humming along. My trainer told me that I wasn’t eating nearly enough for as active as I’ve been, so I’ve definitely upped how much I’m eating. I must admit that I feel a LOT better, and because I’m eating healthier foods, I feel like, for the first time in months, that I’m actually satisfied.

Yesterday, I ate around 3800 calories. Today, I plan to eat around 2500. I want to keep it low for a day and see if I can get a weight loss spike. Tomorrow, I’ll up it to 3500ish again.

I also found an amazing resource in Fitday.com. I had been using SparkPeople, but it’s become more of a social networking site, and while there’s nothing wrong with that, I want something that is simpler and easier to use. I stumbled across FitDay, and so far, I love it. I just enter every bite of food that goes in my mouth, and it gives me a running total of my calories, percentage from carbs, fat, and protein, and some other cool facts.

As you can see, I am off low carb. I felt too run down, and while I’m sticking to the spirit of low carb by avoiding everything white, I had to incorporate fruits and vegetables back into my diet. I also added some whole grains. I feel 100% better, and I’m going to stick with this. This is a diet I can live with, because low carb isn’t. I realized I was in a very bad place mentally about it because I kept saying to myself, “As soon as the contest is over, I can have a banana again.” That’s not a good mindset, and frankly, that won’t help me.

Back on track – FitDay will even keep track of your calories burned, and you can actually enter every activity you do for a solid 24 hours and know (relatively speaking) exactly how many calories you’ve burned. I don’t take it to that extreme; I tend to enter how much I slept, along with my cardio or weight lifting exercise, and I use that to roughly estimate how many calories I burned for the day.

So far, I am keeping under how many calories I’ve burned. I’m pretty pleased. Funny thing is, according to FitDay, I burned about 700 calories more than I took in yesterday. That’s 1/5th of a pound. My scale this morning showed that I have lost 1/5th of a pound. I realize it won’t work out that perfectly every time, but it’s kind of neat that it did today.

I’m about two pounds lower than I was last Friday. I’d love to lose two more. I don’t even know if that is possible in the next two days, but I’m going to try. I was hoping to drop double digits this Friday.

Damn the Biggest Loser for skewing my perception of possible weight loss!

And also, did anyone else find themselves actually liking Miggy last night for the first time ever? I thought she was the problem; maybe it was Migdalia?

We were also hoping the Blue Team would come back instead of the Yellow team, but I really respected what O’Neal said about wishing the Victoria, the blue team daughter, could take his place. Frankly, I wish they had made that work out. It would have been a nice twist, if the parents of each team had gotten together somehow before and said, “Let’s approach the producers about our kids teaming up and us going home.” But I digress. But not too much, because I’m still talking about the Biggest Loser.

I’m rooting for Stephanie, who I think is adorable, and Tina and I both love her, and the Grey Team, who just have such a great attitude. I also like the Black Team. So far, this season has quite a few people that I like on it. Much better than last season’s, where I really wasn’t that fond of that many people. (Still not as good as season seven. Tara was awesome. I wish she had won.)

In other news, I am still walking across Rhode Island. Nebraska is my next state. Anyone with me? What’s your progress?

We had our 2nd week weigh-in last night.  Last night’s weigh-in was the last freebie.  Starting next Friday night, we’ll lose one person per week.

Craig, I have sobering news.  Last night, if it had been “for real,” we would have lost Vaughn.

The men’s team lost.  Poor red team.  Stupid blue team kicked our butts last night.

Okay, not really.  They beat us by 0.15%.  As I pointed out immediately, earning a sad head shake from a few and laughs from others who knew I was right, that’s just one good trip to the bathroom.  We’ll beat them next week.

To be honest, I kind of wish we were on teams of mixed gender.  I am not one of these guys who are insisting, “Women can’t win this!  Men must!”

No, I am only saying that because they divided us by gender, and MY team must win.  That’s the only reason.  I could be the only guy among four females, and I’d still be saying the same thing.

Anyway, for my results… I weighed in at 339.0, which is a loss of 1.6 pounds!  I am honestly thrilled with this.

I don’t remember everyone’s results, but I do know that we had only one gain, and that was Daniel, who gained 0.4 pounds.  Last week, he lost 17 plus pounds, so a gain of 0.4 isn’t too bad.

I am, unfortunately, currently ranked fifth.  I’m not worried about it.  I still have time to pull ahead.  I’m just reminded of the winner of the first Train to Lose, who was NEVER in the lead until the last week.

1. Jeanette
2. Chris
3. Daniel
4. Christi
5. Me
6. Angie
7. Kayvan
8. Patrina
9. Deanna
10. Vaughn

This Friday, the team with the lowest percentage will lose a member with the lowest percentage.  One thing that I do like is that the percentage is from the beginning and not the week before.

My trainer is urging me to go a little easier on the cardio, and he really stressed one rest day a week.  I’ve decided to follow his advice, and I’m going to take today as my rest day.  For a few days, I’m going to limit my cardio to 2 hours a day.  I’ll just see if it really does make a difference.

Today is an easy day to take a day of rest for one big, snowy reason.

We finally have snow!  And for south central Kentucky, this is a decent snow!  We currently have about six inches of the stuff on the ground, which for us, is HUGE.  This is a city that sometimes shuts down at the mere mention of snow.  This is a lot.  I’m not housebound by any means, I do have a four-wheel drive, but it’s just nice to stay in.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Just a quickie post with my video weigh-in this week. For some reason, the videos don’t always work on this page, but they always work on the page with just a single post, so if you can’t see it here, if you click on the title of the link, that should bring up a page where the video WILL work.

I hope I have lost at least four pounds this week. I don’t feel like I’ve done fantastic, but I don’t feel like I’ve done awful, either. My exercise has declined, just because I’ve been so busy with work. I’ve only managed about an hour and a half to two hours a day. I will DEFINITELY be getting four hours tonight. I have to. Weigh in is in just two days!

However, WBKO posts their weigh-in videos on Wednesday, and here is last weeks! Apparently, I have gotten the amazing honor of being the first one in the line up. I’m not sure why; my name isn’t first, but I’ll take it anyway. And no, I don’t remember what I was doing with my hands right after my single hand clap. Apparently, I turn into shades of Ricky Bobby on camera.

One way I am going to be getting in some more activity, if not aerobic exercise, is to do workouts with my kids. At my job, I run an after school program for kids Kindergarten through about sixth grade at three different sites. I plan to travel to a different site, or maybe even sites, per day and do some activity with them. I’m on the lookout for some kid-friendly exercise videos. If you know of any, please let me know. I found one by a PE teacher named Judy Howard that may be good I’m going to try and get a hold of.

Random fact about me: I once wrote a blog that featured MST3K-type commentary from an imaginary blue dragon named Mason. It was fun; I enjoyed it. I think I’m bringing Mason back tomorrow.