I don't think I've set a record... but I'm close

Okay, so it's been a month and a half, maybe not quite that, but...  here I go again not posting much.

I have started another blog.  Of course you can see it from my profile, or of course you can go to the link at Into The Second Half.  What I have been discovering is there is a passion growing in me about wanting to minister to older adults.  I've been taking classes at Seminary, though there's nothing available there for that particular field and so far it's been general Bible and theology.  I'm maybe at a crossroads trying to decide whether to even continue, as I have my degree already in Pastoral Ministries, maybe it's time to just start getting active again.  Anyway, as a part of that growing interest, I've created that blog to write about things related to the later half of life.

So maybe in that regard I can say I've not been so terrible about posting, as I have posted a bit more regularly there?  Okay, nice try, I know.

But one thing is coming clear as I look at all that, and it is that that particular blog cannot replace this blog.  It's about something totally different.  And the need to keep living healthy continues here, even though it's not been a topic lately in my writing.  As a matter of fact I've got an appointment this Friday with the weight loss clinic at Kaiser, time to quit trying to do this all on my own.

But I am finding that there is a way where the two blogs kind of come together.  People dread the later years of life and aging in general, but...  it's not necessarily something that's doomed to be awful.  In fact more and more people are living very vital lives well into their 70's, 80's, and even beyond.  Three things are key to that being likely to happen:  Keeping healthy in mind (keeping the mind active), body (having as good a health as possible), and spirit (one aspect is having a sense of purpose).  Obviously, the keeping healthy in body is a pretty major thing on this particular blog, yes?

So maybe I won't totally fade away.  Besides, the personal health thing for me doesn't have to be related to the other blog at all, it's pretty important stuff either way.

Hoping I won't take another month and a half to post here....  but no promises!

Still Kicking

As you can probably guess, the idea of this blog when I started it was to track my successes and to be able to write about how everything has been great, maybe be able to boast about myself a little, and perhaps to be an inspiration.

Of course, that does not happen very well when I disappear for nearly 6 months. I suppose it doesn't work very well when it's not always about success. While it hasn't been horrible, I have found about 3-4 pounds a month creeping back on. Those are not the kind of results I want to report, are they?

There has been a major change in life for me that has had a tremendous impact on the whole diet and exercise thing. I had been working at Sprint, and while the pay was never tremendous, the commute to work had opened the door to fitting in a regular exercise routine that either involved decent walks to and from the light rail station, or what became a fairly regular routine of riding my bike to work. I do have to say that I liked the look of surprise people would have when I'd say I was doing a 17 mile bike commute.

That did change when I got a job offer to a much better paying job. There is much that I love about the new job, as it has taken be back into the variety that I've enjoyed so much in previous jobs. As a field technician for a telecom company, I get to move around more and not be sitting in one place doing the same thing all day. However, the transitory nature of the job means no longer getting to walk or ride my bike to work as I have to drive to different businesses.

However, there is a clear trade off. While I don't get the exercise of walking or riding to work, I spend the whole day being much more active, especially a lot of days where the work involves a LOT of walking back and forth at a customer site or a lot of climbing latters. I come home sometimes pretty well dead tired, in a good way, from that work. So perhaps in that respect, it's either a net positive change or a pretty even trade off. Of course, I've not really been tracking the actual amount of exercise like before, so I cannot really say for sure.

I think the real difference is what the change has done to my eating habits. With a more stationary job, I found that it was easier to work around my impulses by packing a lunch and not bringing cash with me. Since starting the new job it's been easier to slip into the old habits of going through drive throughs and eating in a much less disciplined manner. In fact I'm sure that has been the difference.

My wife has asked me if I would ever consider going back to consider surgery again. I've always said that if I reached a certain point where I don't think I'd keep the weight off that I'd lost before, I would really need to look at it. Right now the remaining option would be a gastric bypass rather than the lapband, and in my mind I've been incredibly hesitant to consider that, as it is much more permanent. In light of recent gains, maybe permanent isn't a bad thing?

That said, here it is the day after Thanksgiving, and I'm coming to a conclusion that I do need to get back onto the road a bit and at least see what I can do here. I'm still significantly lighter than I was before the surgery... I just don't want that gap closing any more than it has.

So at this point, where I stand is a commitment I've made today to start tracking everything at least for the month to come. Food, exercise, and creating a bit more accountability to myself to start reporting all that again. Just for a month, I think I can commit to that. Longer than that, knowing me, would possibly be setting myself up to fail. Don't think I want to do that to myself right now eh?

Maybe, by doing that, it'll help renew some discipline and passion for keeping healthy that's sort of slipped away the past few months?

Racing Across America

Okay, so this is fun.... Found a great site for tracking workouts, and it looks like a great way to kinda keep some motivation going. exercise.lbl.gov. It's a virtual race across America. You enter in your walks or runs or rides, and it plots where that workout would have taken you on a trek across the Transcontinental Trail, a system of back roads that is popular for people who do take such journeys across the country. Nice thing is you don't have to quit your job or pay for travel to do it! It tracks your progress, shows you on a map where you would be, and gives you a picture of the view you would be seeing.

I just started, I'm 7.6 miles into it so far. I know, a LOOOONG way to go! Still, looks like a lot of fun.

Sprint Get Fit challenge

I was quite tickled to see my employer introduce a fitness challenge.  In it you put together teams and everyone tracks the number of steps, minutes of exercise and percent of weight lost. 

This comes at a really good time for me as it provides a kind of boost to get me going back downward in weight.  I have been sitting on this plateau the past 2 to 3 months.  I mean, its been a decent plateau in that while I haven't lost any weight my afctivity level has definitely improved.  I'm very pleased at how I kept to the training for the 5k and all.  I am getting out and playing tennis with Emily about once a week and I feel like my fitness level is way up from a couple months ago.
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Sadly I think I've let the increased activity become an excuse for getting sloppy with my diet.  I haven't been terrible I don't believe but I do think I find myself thinking that okay, I ran 3 miles... its okay to cheat a little. 

So, I'm pretty excited about the program at work because I think it gives me a sense of focus to look again at ALL aspects of my personal fitness.  Week one has just passed and I walked 65,000 steps, exercised about 660 minutes and lost 4 pounds.  Not a bad start but I want to do 70,000 steps a week.

So, there's something to shoot for next week eh?

My first 5k

I made it!  L

Sunday was the Cherry Creek sneak and the one I targeted to be my first official distance run...  And I was able to run the whole thing.

Granted, the word "run" is pretty much relative, there were probably people who walked it faster than I ran it.  A few weeks ago Janiece and I were running at a park and a lady passed us walking.  But that's okay.

My last training run I ran in just over 46 minutes though I walked the first half k.  So, I thought 45 would be a reasonable goal.  I was thrilled to come in at 42:13. 

When Janiece and I met she was training for her second half marathon.  When we'd go out together, me for a walk and her for a run I remember being so wistful and more than a little envious as she'd run on ahead.  Because of the knee problems I'd had in the past I figured those days were gone for me for good.

Needless to say I'm just a little psyched!

Now the question is what next? Focus on 5k's and on getting my times down?  Work up to 10k's (our longer)?  Duathlons?

Maybe all of the above...

Half mile, and I did it twice

Week 5, day 2 of the couch 2 5k. Two 8 minute runs with a 5 minute recovery walk in between. The course I ran was around Kendrick Lake, a nice little 1 mile path around the lake that has these posts every quarter mile, and I could guage by those I was doing more than a half mile on each of the 8 minute splits. According to my little GPS tracking thing I did 1.5 miles in the 21 minutes total, so with the walking and running that's about a 14 minute per mile pace.

My little armband tells me I've burned 2500 calories so far today. I know that's kind of the difficult thing right now is I'm staying very active. About every other day I'm doing my training runs, most days I'm either biking or walking several miles, and it appears I'm burning about 4000 calories a day. And yet my weight is hanging pretty much about the same spot.

Several years ago when I lost a bunch of weight on the Atkins diet, I got to about 300 pounds and just leveled out. I was working out at the gym like crazy and doing all sorts of stuff, and.... just kinda there. I'll admit that the current plateau makes me wonder if I'm back to that point, you know? It's like here I am again... and what do I do to start losing that weight again?

Okay, I know one thing I do... I've gotten a bit lax around my eating habits. Not real lax like constantly stuffing my face, and for the most part I'm choosing pretty good foods. But yeah, it's still a bit too easy to snack.

So I guess I know what the answer is to the question. With that little band around my stomach it was definitely easier to keep to that answer. Now though, I've got to get back at it.

The one thing I have going for me right now is knowing that not all that long ago I was doing it just fine without the lap band. I lost 20 pounds leading to the surgery. Granted, it's easier to lose 20 pounds at 372 than at sub-300, but still, I was able to do it then. Now it's just getting back into that mode again.

Couch 2 5k training update

Today was the start of week 5 in the training routine for the May 1 Cherry Creek Sneak 5k run.

I am quite happy to proclaim I am still alive and breathing. 

Week 5 starts out with a 5 minute warmup walk then has three splits of 5 minute runs separated by 3 minute walks with a cooldown 5 minute walk.  This routine will be repeated Wednesday and then Friday it jumps right into a straight 20 minute jog.  Yikes!

So far actually it's not been too bad.  Keep in mind you're reading from a guy who not all that long ago could not get himself to run through a heavy downpour to his car parked 50 feet from the store entrance but would have to simply walk and get that much more drenched.  So it's pretty exciting to be able to say I could run these 1/3 mile splits and to actually feel like I could keep going.  I can actually run around the "lake"at the park near my home.  I never used to think I'd see that day.

Friday of course is a different challenge.  20 minutes straight...  Good thing is that's not quite as intimidating as five minutes once seemed.  Even still, that's more than a mile of straight running (well, shuffle jogging anyway).  That's still intimidating.

Slow Starts

This afternoon I decided to ride my bike in to class tonight, a 10 mile ride but fairly easy as it is mostly on a bike path. My daughter was teasing me because I was taking a long time getting started. I didn't explain exactly why it was taking so long because, well.... she would have teased me even more.

On the left of this blog is a Map My Run widget that shows some of my recent runs/walks/rides. Way back when I found an application for my phone that would track my runs, and I could import that data into the Mapmyrun.com website, and once it's there it will automatically update on the blog. I had to pay for that application back a couple years ago, and now with my new phone, I now have a wide variety of similar applications that do most of the same thing. One of those is related to the mapmyrun site, which I appreciate because now I don't have to import. Only problem with that is, the app doesn't work real well at times.

So anyway, I've found 5 good applications so far, and I'm sure there are others, but these are probably the best known 5. (Note I said probably) The question is, which one is really the best. I'm sure you're asking, who really cares? I've found one I like, called Cardiotrainer, but I've had suggestions from some others about some to look into. So, for a week I'm doing a sort of trial: I've loaded all 5 apps onto my phone, and when I go out, I'm running all 5.

So before I head out, I have to make sure all 5 are tracking, so there's a bit of a routine involved. I launch all 5 applications and get them to the point of being ready to start, designating the kind of workout involved, etc. I make sure there's a lock on the GPS satellite and the programs recognize that. Then in order I start tracking with one app, wait 10 seconds, start the second, wait ten more, till all 5 are started, THEN get started. When I get done, I shut them off in the same order, 10 seconds between.

So yeah, if my daughter knew the reason it was taking so long to get started was I'm starting 5 different programs to all track the same workout, she'd probably be looking for ways to get me committed.

But, that's the geek in me I guess. I'm having fun with it, but looking forward to when it's all said and done and have gone back to just one program...

And by the way, the bike ride went pretty well. It was along the Platte River, and going upstream, but nice thing about the ride is there's not the huge hills. Having said that I will say that since I'm bike riding, climbing hills is much easier now... something about lugging 70-80 pounds less around probably has something to do with that eh? I think also the additional runnign and walking have me more fit, so I'm better equipped to handle the effort?

That said, my butt still hurts after going that far.

There's some before and after pictures a few posts before, taken right before surgery #2. I was right around 300 pounds at the time then, and I found myself curious as to whether it would fit now. It does, sortta, still too tight to wear in public, but anyway, it was from an MS-150 bike ride I went on about 12-13 years ago. I was able to ride about 135 of the miles over 2 days - the ride got cut short due to tornado warnings (though we won't tell anyone I'd already gotten on the sag wagon before that happened as the hills were killing me...) Anyway, at this moment I find myself wondering how I rode that far, even with a comfortable bike seat... did I mention my butt hurts?

And here I am planning on riding back. Am I nuts?

Week 3 Begins

Yesterday I started week 3 on the couch to 5K program. After a 5 minute warm up walk, it's 90 seconds walking, 90 seconds running, 3 minutes running, 3 minutes walking, and then repeat the whole cycle again. I was a little intimidated by the 3 minutes running, which really speaks to how out of shape I was where I was a bit unsure whether I'd be able to run 3 minutes straight. Or shuffle/jog as it were.

It actually went pretty well, even the second stint of 3 minutes, though I do have to admit I was checking on how soon the 3 minutes was comeing up the second time around.

I guess there's two ways to look at it. One could be that I could think about how pathetic it is I'm nervous about being able to run for 3 minutes. Or I could remember the times where I'd come out of a store and it's pouring buckets of rain and I walk to my car because I just can't run. Looking at it in that perspective, I feel pretty good about it all, you know?

And if I want to be intimidated, next week goes to 5 minutes running, with only 2.5 minutes walking in between for 'recovery' time. At least I get two more runs like this one before then. Regardless, I'm committed now to the Cherry Creek Sneak on May 1, a 5K run. Entry fees are paid for Janiece and I. I can do the 5K no problem, in fact looking at the times I could walk most of it and still end up somewhere in the middle of the pack for times, but having said that I want to be where I can shuffle jog the whole thing. Yeah, maybe that's my new term now for jogging, at least where I'm concerned.... certainly can't call it a run jsut yet.

Just can't blog enough

Lately I've been a little better keeping up with this blog.  A little.  Like any blog I've done however it's pretty much feast or famine for me.  I'll do great awhile then go weeks or more neglecting it.

So what do I do?  Start another blog.  This one isn't so public as just available at work.  Sprint has a sort of employee blog where people can post about life our work our whatever. Some post about gaming, some get into work issues, and I decided to start posting on weight loss stuff.  But theres a bit of a slant as I want to focus on how the very technology we are providing can make an impact.

I will say that from a business and marketing sense I've been really impressed with the direction sprint is taking.  More than just focusing on the "we have the best 4g debates they've built some great relationships that focus on using the technology beyond gadgets and phones.

One example is the Bodymedia armband.  They have another relationship with a medical monitoring company that uses wireless technology to keep doctors up to date on a patients progress.  It's pretty impressive stuff.

On tp of all that are the applications available that can really make a difference.  It's stuff like this I want to focus on.  I'm hoping to be able to integrate some of the posts into here as there are some pretty cool things out there, some I just recently learned about through comments made on the two posts I've made. And it would be pretty c ool if I could do  that without having to post in two coherent places eh?

Back in the saddle again

I'm back to biking again. It feels good, being on a bike for the first time since my bike was stolen about a year or so ago. I was able to do some extra work this past month, and decided to earmark some funds for a bike. Okay, let me just say, bike shopping can be... a pain? Some places want to push you right up into a thousand dollar bike, and I hate that kind of pressure. When it was all said and done I found a nice Specialized, bright red (Go Huskers!) that I was pretty happy with. It's a mountain bike kind of hybrid, meaning it's got the mountain bike frame but smoother tires for roads and trails. I'd thought I'd get a road bike this time around, but decided that for the hills here, weight, and price, not to mention a bit of comfort, this would work out pretty nicely.

So, today was my first time using the bike to any extent at all. I rode it to the light rail, about a 4 mile ride, and then from light rail into work and back, as well as about 3-4 miles otherwise. Part of that 4 miles was because I'd missed the bus off the light rail and decided to take off chasing it to see if I could catch it. Fortunately the bus had to take a detour because of a closed street but I could get on teh bike path along the street and keep going, so I was able to pretty much catch up about 2 miles down the road.

Okay, so I have to say being 80 pounds lighter than last time I rode a bike, you can REALLY feel the difference. Hills are not nearly so killer. That feels good.

It is good that I'm keeping my activity up. Right now I'm holding steady weight wise... I'm still not as disciplined there as I need to be, it's REALLY hard to do that. My armband tells me I'm averaging 9000 to 10,000 steps a day and more than 4,000 calories a day. I'm still supposedly burning more calories than I'm eating, but I"m not losing weight as I should if that's the case, which tells me that maybe the whole MET thing that measures calories burned isn't necessarilly accurate. After all, I could stay in bed all day and still burn 2500 calories, that just doesn't seem to be right, you know?

I'm having fun with some new apps on the phone and checking all those out. I'll have to follow up with some reports on some of them... there's some pretty amazing stuff out there. But, for now, I'm a sleepy guy, so... off I go.

Yay! Mobile posting

Just yesterday my phone had a fairly major update which is a good thing, however it defaulted everything which means ask my applications were wiped out.  Not really a big deal since I can reload everything pretty easily, just takes time.  Nice thing about it is surfing through android amarket I found some nice new applications and in the process found the blogger app so now I can post more easily from my phone.  That means there will likely be shorter posts but more frequent ones, probably both good things.

I found another cool free app as well called the instant heart rate monitor.  It uses the camera of all things.  It's a lot like how an oximeter works.  It says your finger slightly changes color with each heartbeat so you put your finger over the camera lens and out notices the changes this measuring your heart rate.  Pretty clever eh?  And it beats the heck out of paying 50 to a hundred bucks on another piece of equipment

Couch 2 5K

This morning I finished week 1 of the couch to 5K program. The idea is to work up to being able to run a full 5K in about 8-10 weeks. You do it by walking/running in intervals, gradually working up the amount of time that you are running, with 3 workouts a week.

The first week, you start out with 5 minute warmup walking, then for twenty minutes you run for 60 second intervals and walk 90 second intervals, then finish with a 30 minute cool down. Monday I go to week 2 which is 90 second runs, 2 minute walks, then the next week it becomes 90 seconds running 90 seconds walking, 3 minutes running, 3 minutes walking, and then repeat that cycle once. So it gradually works up.

So far it's gone pretty good. I get a bit winded which is good for me I'm sure. And so far, no problems with knees hurting or anything, that's important and definitely something to monitor.

I mentioned getting the armband. Here's a bit of a snapshot of what it measures. Essentially it will track your activity, so it will show things like how many minutes you're active, it will count your steps, tell you how many calories you burn, etc.

So for example this one shows the calories burned through the day, so you can see what was happening during my run/walk. Now of course the one thing missing is calories consumed, as I haven't entered my meals. But it's a pretty neat tool as I can see the balance between what I've consumed and what I've burned.

And right now, being sans lap band, the key for me is to really ramp up the activity end of things. Of course somewhere along the line I have to get figured out how to handle the consumption part of things, I've been in kind of this freestyle pattern since the surgery without a plan. Hope that changes soon eh?

Can I say I'm scared?

I'm incredibly amazed at my recovery. I can pretty much eat normally now. All the plumbing is working, I can eat, and drink, all in normal volumes.

And it scares me a little.

I've come so far, and now here I am on my own and... I'm just so afraid right now of falling back to old patterns.

Okay, so... resolve! Not gonna happen. I'm never going back. NEVER!

On to another subject.... I've decided to take up the running after all. I have been saying wait til I'm under 280, well... I'm there. Two days ago I started the first day of the Couch25K program and it felt really, really good. So.... that's one way to keep the momentum going.

I got my bodymedia armband. I'll have to go into more detail on it, got a great little deal going through work that lets me play with it, and I'm quite pleased with it. It definitely provides some interesting data, so sometime I'll get into that some.

Remember, I'm not going back!

Sleep is good

It felt good to sleep through the night! First time in awhile I could sleep that long without being awakened by reflux. Woohoo!

I actually gained 10 pounds. Granted, I miss seeing that 6 being the second digit, but still, that's actually a good thing. I was seriously that dehydrated. After so many IV's and now being able to actually drink, I'm getting replenished now. Fill 'er up!

I'm trying not to dwell on how much harder it will be to keep this all off now that the band's gone. That's a bit of reality starting to sink in. =( But I've got to take the attitude instead to run (maybe even literally?) with where I am and take advantage of all this momentum!

Ohhhh, and now for some pic's. First, front shot, before my initial surgery and before I went in Thursday:

And now for the side shots.