End of Month, End of Quarter, End of Year

We are nearing the end of the month, quarter and year - and from what I can tell today the end of time as we know it. Lot's or issues being thrown out today. Had to step back and take a minute to eat lunch. Good news is that this too will pass and we will get back to working on some of the bigger issues that need to get addressed. Having fun:)

On another note, it looks like Apple is going to introduce the 5 soon, might wait a couple of weeks to see if it happens. Linda is about due an upgrade and we are thinking IPhone. Kathryn and Jen both have gotten them lately so it makes sense for LJ to get one. I am going to stick it out with droid at this point. The navigation is too good to give up.

Stronger Every Day

I find the longer I am following South Beach the easier it gets. Still have to stay focused, but no longer crave the same things I was 3 weeks ago. I was able to start the 10K training today. I am working on changing my stride so I am focused on form. Ran 2 miles today, will run 2 miles on Thursday and 2 on Saturday. Have the personal trainer on Wednesday. The mileage is not big, but the regiment it.

Meals were all good today.
Breakfast - 2 eggs, boca crumbles and a little cheese
Snack - turkey slice, hummas on celery and peppers
Lunch - salad with a lime chicken burger from TJs
Snack - nuts and a little bowl of bean soup
Dinner - salad from Baja Taco, had blackened fish tonight
Dessert - greek yogurt with blueberries

It was really a perfect day, the only carb I had were the blueberries

Tomorrow I will add a complex carb, probably whole wheat pasta for dinner.

More to report on later.

Progress

Weighed in on Saturday and was at 262, roughly 10 lbs. from 3 wees ago. I also feel good about what I crave (or don't crave) as a result of cutting out sugar and carbs. It takes a couple of weeks to get used to paying attention what and when you eat. Some things I have learned - you MUST stay away from fried foods. You have to take a serious look at cutting as much sugar out as possible. You have to eat smaller portions and eat snacks in between. You need to include protein in all meals and snacks.

I am now adding in fruit and complex carbs. However you have to add slowly. Greek yogurt, vanilla extract, sugar substitute, berries and some slivered almonds make a great dessert. Humma's makes a great snack, string cheese is critical, eggs, chicken breast, turkey and all fish is key. Finally as many vegis as you can get in. At some point exercise has to increase to facilitate an improved metabolism.

So a typical day like today:
Breakfast
2 eggs
Pork

Snack
Cheese stick (at church)

Lunch
Chicken Salad
Salad that included brocoli slaw and lettuce, tomatoes
Dressing (2 tbsp) - fat is ok, watch for sugar.
Bean Soup (chicken, can refried beans, can tomatoes, 2 cups chicken broth, jalapeno, 2 tbsp taco seasoning) 1 1/2 cup

Snack
TBD - will probably have hummas, cottage cheese, nuts and perhaps a slice of turkey

Dinner
Appetizer (veggies and hummas)
Pork tenderloin
Brocolini
Farro salad (farro is a grain used in Italy. Going to add roasted peppers, eggplant, garlic, onion, olive oil)

Dessert
Same dessert as noted above.

So what is missing - fried, processed, prepackaged, sugar, simply carbs.

My next goal, get under 260 by next Saturday - key will be to get 4 days of workouts in this week. Mon, Wed, Thur, Sat

Will keep things updated.

Dessert

SB Update

First week of travel while trying to follow South Beach. Overall a really good week. I managed to stick to the program all but one meat. It is getting easier to watch what I eat. I am no craving many of the things that I typically do. I am still not getting the exercise in that I need to. That will be the focus of next week. Tomorrow I have my trainer and then a weigh in.

I am going to start adding in some fruit this weekend and then a couple of carbs maybe on Sunday. I might try to time it to when I work out. If I work out that day, I enjoy some carbs.

Will report the weigh in tomorrow.

The Best Dessert

One of the difficult things about South Beach is the dessert hour. This week I was introduced to a life saver. Sugar Free Chocolate Fudge bar, Sugar Free Cool Whip and Almond Butter with Flaxseeds from Trader Joe's. I used two bars, 2 Tbsp. of Cool Whip and 1 1/2 of Almond Butter, just mix it up and eat it. It reminds me of Chocolate Almond frozen custard from Abbott's back in Rochester. These are the things that really help. Next week the berries with help.

Other then that I am still feeling a bit tired, it seems my energy level picks up at night (right when I am getting ready for bed)

Next week will be the first week where travel comes into play. It is going to take some major will power to make it through. I am looking for some weight loss this week to keep the mojo going. 

SB Continued

Another successful day on South Beach. Started the morning with a workout at the gym. One of the things that I have not done yet is to articulate all of my goals.

1) Weight - 200-210
2) Half or Full Marathon
3) Off of my Lipitor
4) More energy
5) Get my blood sugar lowered (not diabetic at this point, would like to keep it that way)

One of the things that has been happening in my runs up to this point is that I am not getting my feet off the ground. Weight, etc. My trainer is working on strength and conditioning so my runs are a little different now. I used to run for distance without concern for time, now I am working on getting my feet up. Net is I cannot run as long but I am working just as hard. I have to figure the routine out a bit more.

In terms of eating today, Linda made a Portobello Mushroom stuffed with goat cheese and roasted tomatoes that was outstanding. All in all a good day, have to keep hard at it every day.

South Beach - One Week In

Still feeling a little tired between meals. However I did drop 6 lbs since starting. I went out to dinner on Friday night and was able to follow the plan pretty well. You have to stay away from bread, pasta, wine and bear. I have also started to really focus on really cutting back on anything with sugar. My trainer asked me to extend phase 1 for another week which I am good with. However we did agree that I could add berries into my diet after the original 2 week time frame. This is key, I find the hardest part of the plan is giving up some fruits.

I am going to try to get some more runs into the plan this week. I am hoping that it helps on the energy level. 

Day 5 - South Beach

Well, made it through day 5. Went out to dinner with friends and was able to stay the course. I am noticing that I get tired at many points in the day and then when I eat I get my energy back. Not sure what to think as of yet. Cannot tell much on weight loss at this point. I have my trainer tomorrow so am hoping to be able to push myself a bit more than usual.

I have been eating a lot of salads which really are easy. I also eat eggs every morning, which I thought might not be too good. Will see if it has a negative impact on the cholesterol in a few weeks. I do not really miss bread, pasta and rice. I do however miss fruit so I will be glad to be able to get that back in the plan in 9 days.

I am looking forward to seeing a bigger difference in my energy level. Not sure how the weather impacted my energy this week - it was very warm all week and since we have no AC it wore us down a bit. Then the power outage for 12 hours made it even more fun. It however has cooled off today so we are back to normal.

South Beach?

I have been feeling very tired of late. I have also had a great deal of trouble staying focused. It was pretty simple to see that I have been eating too much and not exercising. Time for a change? I have started to see a trainer again, mainly to get some change up in the routine. More importantly, at his suggestion, I have started to follow the South Beach plan. Net net, get rid of sugar for two weeks. I am on day 4 and feel that I can easily make the two weeks. However after that I can see where it will become more challenging. However after 4 days, I am feeling much better. I am not traveling for a couple of weeks so it ended up being a great time to start something like this that requires focus.

So lots of vegi's, lots of lean proteins - no fruit, no pasta, no bread - no carbs.

I will report back as the days progress. Looking forward to seeing some great results.

We are made in the image of God.

We started a series at church called "fan or follower" a couple of weeks ago. It has made me think more about my priorities and areas where I need to focus. I have always used my running to spend time with God which should be a priority. Of course the less I run the less time I spend with God - funny how that works. The less time I spend with God, the less time on focus on others and the more time I focus on me.

Today I was able to get out and get a run in. Earlier in the day I had read a post on facebook from a friend who was reflecting on being more like Christ. As I was running I thought long and hard about that question. When I think of being like Christ, I think most frequently of the Golden Rule - treat others as you would want them to treat you. This has always worked well for me and I will continue to use it as a gauge. What if you do not care how are you are treated? Is there another way to think about this. I then thought how in Genesis, we are created in the image of God. There are lots of ways to think about this, however today I thought about image being more like seeing the images God sees through his eyes, or better how he views his creation and each one of us in it.

Well the run became more interesting, today I ran through the marina and there were lots of people there. I began to see how precious each person was, the time they were spending with family, the time they were relaxing, the time they were spending with friends. Then I was able to see the beauty of Gods creation. The ocean, the cliffs and a beautiful sky.

I think this is a pretty good reason to run....

Easter is Here

This is a very special week. We have been spending the last few weeks talking about the week in my Sunday School class about the week leading up to the resurrection. The kids have had to live through the Last Supper, the Garden, the denial, the trial and the crucifixion. Now they get to wake up to the special Easter Sunday full of fun and family. It is a blessing to be a Sunday School teacher, you learn far more then you teach. May God bless everyone this week and may we all remember what Jesus did for us.

Dana Point Turkey Trot

It has been a while since I posted - there has been lots going on. Linda and I went on our first cruise in the Mexican Riviera. We left San Diego on the Oosterdam, which is a Holland American line. We spend two days at sea to start and then entered into Mazatlan. From there we went to PV and then to Cabo for the last port of call. We have spent a great deal of time in PV so we had a really nice time. We were able to visit some of the spots we visited last time we were there. Cabo was pretty nice, would like to go back but would probably only spend 3 or 4 days there. Being at sea was fun, lots of time to read and relax. When we got back I ran in the Dana Point turkey trot, what a great race. There were over 10,000 runners in the Dana Point harbor. That is a lot of folks for that area. I ran in the 5K (you have to start somewhere) I am hoping to make this race an annual affair. It was really fun.

There is a new WW plan coming out tomorrow, it has a lot of hype around it. I am looking forward to seeing what the main changes are to the plan. I have lost some weight but got off track a bit with the cruise and the holiday. I am back at it.

Only other thing to report is that I have been doing some yoga to see if I get more loosened up. I am hoping to get to at least one, maybe two days a week.

Another Week - Not a Bad One

Got my weight down to 263.4 which was a loss of around 3.8 pounds last week. Candidly, there was nothing more to it then keeping to the program and hitting my exercise targets. It is great to hit the goal. I have found in the past it is tough to have two weeks of that much weight loss so my goal for this week is 2 points. That will put me within striking distance of under 260.

This week I carried a 40 pound bag of salt for the water softener. As I set it down I realized the benefit of losing that much weight - it is a lot to carry when you run, it puts extra pressure on the heart and body. I have a lot of challenging events coming up but will remain focused on staying the course, the long term benefits are far to great to ignore.

On another note, Linda and I had dinner with some friends on Saturday night. We had a little wine, bread and cookies. Sunday morning was difficult to say the least - it is interesting how simple carbs effect your body and energy levels. Mine was zapped. I was able to get a long run in but it was sloppy at best.

Looking forward to another great week.

WW Update #3

Well, did not meet the target on either weight or running. I did however lose .8 - not to exciting but not too bad considering the events of the week. Linda and I spent most of the week at the Four Seasons in Santa Barbara. The company had a big event with our key partners starting on Tuesday evening. We had lots of opportunities to eat and drink many things and did a pretty good job of not doing so. We both kept breakfast and lunch at a minimum - fruit, oatmeal, salads etc. During dinner we ate lots of fish and stayed away from the carbs. We did have a little wine but also limited our intake on that front as well. One night we did have a bit of pizza which was really good. LJ was able to keep her exercise routine up, I did not do as well as I would have liked. Still lost a little weight so all in all I am pretty happy with the week. The upcoming week should be pretty straight forward - my goal is 2-3 pounds this week.

I looked at when I would be at 235-238 which is the weight I got down to last time I was on WW. At 2 pounds a week, I will be there on Christmas Day. That is the goal. In between now and then, I have a couple of detours like the ones last week. I also have to be ready for the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning - I show 8 weeks to train now for that 10K. Need to get my number of days running per week up if that is going to happen.

More goals and more victories. Looking forward to being a little lighter when I post next weekend.

First Week Out

The first week goals were to lose 3 lbs and to run three days this week. I also had a couple of days of cross-train activities built in. I met the weight loss goal, actually lost 4 lbs so I am at 268.2. Met the running goals, did not meet the cross-train goal. All in all I am happy with the week. Some of the key things that I did this week that I think were helpful? I tracked my food intake with rigor. Using the online tools that WW offers is a big help.

The upcoming week is going to present many challenging obstacles - I am hoping to lose 2 lbs. and I am going to pick the running up to 16 mile this week. If possible I am going to find a stretching class to start attending. Might end up being a gentle yoga class. I know that my running will pick up if I can work on some stretching techniques.

Linda met her goal this week as well so we are off and running.

See you next week.

Weight Watchers

Linda and I went to a Weight Watchers meeting this morning - realized that we went to one last year at this time as well. This has not been a good year for weight loss and exercise thus far. There are a number of challenges that present themselves over the next few weeks that make it difficult to stay focused on healthy eating. As we all know, and the leader reinforced this morning, it is all in the mind. (I am also 100% convinced it is all around moderation - which was a word I must have not been taught early on) Our leader also told us to set weekly goals. With that in mind, I am going to do just that. First, I weighed in at 272.2, my goal for next week weigh in is 269.2 - 3 lb. not at all unreasonable. I am also going to run 3 days this week and cross-train a couple of others. Sunday (3-5 miles) Monday (cross-train) Tuesday (rest) Wednesday (3 miles) Thursday or Friday cross-train and then Saturday - the 5 mile run to the gym. I am excited to meet the weekly goals. I only travel one day so it should be doable. 

Labor Day Weekend

It is nearing that time when we get a little time to kick back. I am looking forward to this weekend - am planning a little extra time off. Heading to the Reagan Library which should be great. We are also planning on a little extra time to work out over the 4 days. If the weather is good, I am positive that there will be some beach time. All in all not a bad way to have to hang out. I am also planning on going back to Weight Watchers meetings - they really improve the end result. With that there will be a weigh in which I will be reporting on the blog so that everyone knows where I am and where I need to get to.  There is a hurricane working its way up the east coast, Linda and I are hoping that it does not out a damper on J&Ks weekend in NYC. Of course we really hope that it does not impact Js travel plans. 

I have been reading the Winston Churchill WWII series of late - just finished volume 3 (of 6). It has been interesting to go through. I am amazed at the amount of materials he output during the war - seems as though he would not have had time. I am pretty sure he never slept, not sure when he had time. I do know he took a nap every day to rejuvenate. For those that really want to dig into more detail on WWII, it is a great read. I find that I keep looking forward to the next chain of events. 

Thats it for now - will report back later. 

PS - what do you think about me taking up the guitar again?

Summer Is Here - Maybe

It has been a pretty cool summer thus far, but it is looking like things are going to be warming up a bit for the Labor Day weekend. Linda and I are looking at a trip to the Reagan Library and then a night with friends at the Mission for a little rock and roll music. Things have been busy this summer, getting the girls settled in their new cities - Jen in Chicago and Kathryn in New York. These are exciting times. Work has been pretty intense and things do not seem to be going in a different direction so it will be a race to the finish in 2010. Overall, business has been pretty solid. Still not getting to the level of running that I would like, but I have not given up. The goal is a 10K in Dana Point on Turkey Day.  Then the 1/2 marathon at Disney in a year. We will see what we can find in between. The BIG GOAL - Marathon in Chicago and New York City with Jennifer and Kathryn.

Starting Over

It has now been two weeks and I have managed to get some runs and cross trains built into my schedule. I am optimistic that I am starting to see a routine develop. It has been helpful to have the girls visiting as they do inspire the behavior. I will start to post more as success starts - the simple goal now is to get ready for a 5K in the next month or so. I am up to the distance but need to improve on the speed a bit. Of course the weight also needs to get down a bit which is starting to happen with the increased activity. Funny how that is. Lots of news to report, but will wait to see how the running proceeds.

One note, the girls did complete their undergraduate works and are starting the next phase of their journeys. Jen to Chicago and Kathryn to New York City. WOW

Our New Home

We have been moving into our new home in Laguna Niguel for the last two weeks and we are finally settled. It is great to be in a home again. We have a good size yard that has been really well kept up. It is good to have to do a little yardwork on the weekends again. Of course, the weather is just perfect right now, could not have picked a better time to move.

I am starting to get the running shoes out a bit again and really need to get back into a routine. It has been way too long and way too many excuses. The one that I seem to use most is work, which while busy should not keep me from getting and staying more healthy.

The kids are settled back into their last year of under grad school and we are so proud of their accomplishments. Both made the Deans list last year and I expect they will again this year.

Well lets see if we cannot get back in the saddle again with running, eating and posting to the blog.