Another Week, Another Loss

Having to tighten your belt an extra notch shouldn't be this exciting, but it really is. The last time I lost enough weight to recognize a difference in my clothes was in the months leading to my wedding. That's been almost 7 years ago. Since then, the only time my pants have felt loose was when I would go and buy a larger size. I didn't lose a lot of weight this week but I really started to notice a few pleasant changes. As I have already mentioned, my belt is working overtime, which is awesome. The other thing is that my walk is getting easier. Not easy, but easier. There are a few hills on my walk that are rather challenging but they are becoming a little more manageable with every walk. I lost 3 pounds this past week which got me down to 389. I look forward to even more weight loss this week because I have finally decided to start a food journal. I've been eating a lot better the last 3 weeks but I haven't been writing down everything I eat. I seem to do better when I do this. I guess we'll see if the food journal helps me on my journey. The next few weeks will mark the time period that most of my previous diets have been thrown out the window so please continue to pray for me. I hope to reach my next goal of 370 within two weeks. It will be difficult, but I know I can do it.

Looooooong Week

The weather is beautiful today but that wasn't the case all week long. All the rain made the week seem to crawl by. I thought the week was starting well as J-Mo and I started our 5-mile walk right on time Monday morning. However, heavy rain cut our walk in half and forced us to take refuge and call for a ride. If that wasn't enough, J-Mo got sick and I didn't seem to have the will-power to go walking on my own. Even though I didn't exercise the way I should have this week, I still watched what I ate and was able to lose 5 pounds. That's a total of 19 pounds in 2 weeks and almost halfway to my next goal of 370. Thank you for your support and prayers. Please continue to pray for me as I get moving again this week.

Good-bye 400

A little over one week into my weight-loss journey and I've accomplished goal number one. I started my journey last Thursday at 411 pounds. I was not able to weigh in this Thursday morning because I was at my parent's house, away from my "big-boy" scale. When I weighed in first thing Saturday morning I weighed 397. That's 14 pounds in 9 days. I know that I can't expect to lose that much weight every week but it was nice to see my hard work pay off. I now focus in on reaching my next goal...370. I appreciate every one's support and prayers.

The First Weekend

I sure am glad to have the first weekend of this journey behind me. I don't believe in coincidence so I thank the Lord that this weekend's schedule assisted my weight loss journey.

The weekend started on Friday evening with a 90 minute drive to Overton's football game. Because the game was so far away, my wife didn't want to go. That worked to my advantage because she decided to go to the East Texas Fair with her parents. Had she not gone to the fair with her parents, I would have had to go with her. Not that I don't enjoy spending time with my wife but the fair is not a friend of diets. Fried Twinkies, fried pies, fried pb&j, fried snickers, funnel cakes, smoked turkey legs...need I go on? None of these were temptations that I wanted to face on my first weekend and thankfully I didn't have to. I didn't even eat nachos at the football game...okay, I had one of J-mo's nachos, but ONLY one.

It was also a good thing that the Longhorns didn't play this weekend. College football usually means a menu of Hogs-in-a-Quilt & Cheese Dip or Digiorno Pizza. All washed down with sweet tea, of course. Instead of watching football all day Saturday, I went to a pumpkin patch with the family. Walking through a field of pumpkins and getting lost in a cornfield maze has to be better for you than rooting on your favorite football team.

Speaking of walking, this past weekend marked the beginning of my 5 mile regimen. I decided to map out a 5 mile walking path through Overton. That's not that hard. You simply walk around the whole town. I tried it for the first time on Saturday morning and actually finished. It helps that when you want to quit, you're on the other side of town. For those of you that aren't familiar with Overton, there are some hills on my path. On some of the hills, I was on the verge of needing climbing gear to reach the summit. The hardest thing to deal with was the boredom. At my size, 5 miles takes a little while to walk. It took an hour and forty minutes to be exact. (I hope to increase the pace in the future.) Fortunately, J-mo, my nacho dealer, has decided to walk with me. We did the walk this morning and it was much better. Two 5 mile walks in 3 days. That's two more 5 mile walks than I have done...ever!

The journey now continues. Hopefully Thursday's weigh-in will show that the hard work and sacrifice has been worth it. Actually, I know it has because I already feel better. Continue to pray for me in this effort.


Follow this link to see the walk on Google Maps.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=E+McCool+St&daddr=S+Helen+St+to:S+Helen+St+to:Church+St+to:S+Williams+St+to:S+Meadowbrook+Dr+to:S+Pearl+St+to:S+Lakeshore+Dr+to:N+Meadowbrook+Dr+to:N+Buchmeyer+St+to:Kingsway+to:32.282978,-94.983995+to:E+Elm+St+to:N+Warren+St+to:E+McCool+St&geocode=Falt7AEdVspW-g%3BFWRs7AEdmMZW-g%3BFTZZ7AEdYsBW-g%3BFTJd7AEdNrBW-g%3BFSdz7AEdCLFW-g%3BFc9r7AEdHKZW-g%3BFaRv7AEdqp5W-g%3BFSB-7AEdmJ5W-g%3BFTCH7AEdJKlW-g%3BFZKJ7AEdtrJW-g%3BFdaV7AEdCKxW-g%3B%3BFfiR7AEdUNdW-g%3BFcJ37AEdgNlW-g%3BFcFt7AEdaslW-g&hl=en&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=11&sz=17&via=1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13&dirflg=w&sll=32.281437,-94.982439&sspn=0.004635,0.009624&ie=UTF8&ll=32.275341,-94.974661&spn=0.018541,0.038495&z=15

Day One

Day one is in the books. I am convinced that there is nothing easier than starting a diet. It's the days, weeks, and months to follow that it becomes increasingly difficult.

I was able to follow through with some of the initial commitments that I had going in. First, I didn't drink one calorie yesterday. That's a big step for someone who loves sweet tea, not to mention the large glass of apple juice that I normally consumed just before bed. I know diet drinks aren't great for you either but they have to be better than pouring straight sugar in your body. I also drank water. I can remember going several days in a row with no memory of drinking straight water. I'm not a big fan of it, but I know it's good for me.

I also got moving yesterday. I walked a little over 2 1/2 miles without killing over. I know, I'm surprised too. I'm planning on walking 3 or 4 times a week to get started and then increasing that to 5 or 6 times a week.

Like I said, I've started many diets and day one has never been a challenge. Keep me in your prayers as I continue on this journey.

The Journey Begins

Today is the day. There's nothing special about October 1. It's not as though I've had this date circled on my calendar as the day I would start losing weight. I've put this off long enough and now it's time to get started.

I know I have friends that have heard me make weight loss commitments before. I've even used the name Jeff's Weight Loss Journey before. I've used all the clichés: "Nothing taste better than being thin", "A journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step". "The best time to plant a tree was thirty years ago but the second best time is today". I would do great for a week or two and lose some weight. Then I would be on-again, off-again for several weeks and still lose a pound or two a week. Then off-again would outweigh on-again and the weight loss would stop. I want this time to be different. I'm going to encourage people to follow my journey on facebook. Encourage people to keep me accountable. And maybe even encourage a few that may need to join me on this journey. I will blog on a regular basis and give updates on how I'm doing. I guess it's time for the first report.

I woke up this morning and stepped on the scale. The number did not surprise me. I step on the scale all the time; I just never do anything to change the number I see. I weighed 411 pounds. My first goal is to get out of the 400's. Hopefully I can do that this week. After that, my goal will be 370, 10%.

I can't do this on my own. I know I can do it with God's help and your encouragement.