Can’t You See?

I am listening to The Marshall Tucker Band as I start this New Year’s day posting. (hence the title) I thought about coming up with a list of resolutions, and I may yet do it. I also want to spend some time reviewing the past year, which has been so eventful in so many ways. But not now. Now, I am just having my coffee and doing some laundry and waiting for the dishes to run in the dishwasher.

So, what then? I thought I might share how I have been to two training sessions at the kickboxing/grappling gym so far. It was awesome! I learned some basic moves, like the armbar and the triangle choke and the rear naked choke. On my second day, we did a kind of hot potato game workout with a medicine ball (12 lbs). If you dropped it, you had to run 10 laps around the room (small room, but still. . .). I dropped it twice! My big 3x pants wouldn’t stay up, so I am shuffle-jogging around the room holding them with one hand and trying to catch my breath with the other. Comical, to say the least. Then we did wheelbarrows, where someone holds your feet and you walk on your hands across the room and back. Ugh, did that suck! Then they did fireman carry squats, with someone over your shoulders. I knew I wasn’t strong enough to even try those even with one of the smaller guys, so I just did my 5 sets of 10 as regular squats while they all moved on to another exercise.

We spent most of the evening working on defending the rear choke, taking turns being the defender or the attacker. It was exhausting and frustrating and really really fun.

Man, I have got to get a car so I can work out there 4 nights a week without depriving my awesomely-sharing brother of his car. That’s gonna be a new years resolution for me, to figure out how to save up a few bucks.

Enough for now. Happy New Year to all. I will post more in the coming days about resolutions and such. . .

We

You Might Think I’m Crazy

This morning, I went outside to warm up the car. You guessed it, a lot of snow again! I rolled my eyes because I knew I would have to shovel the sidewalks at the office. Heck, shoveling or sweeping has become a daily task.

Well, I got to work, and one of my coworkers was shoveling — and wouldn’t even let me help or take over. I should have been deliriously happy. But you know what?

I was disappointed. That’s right. Somewhere in the crazy back of my mind, I realized that I like to shovel the snow (well, provided I have gloves on, I like it). It only takes about 15 minutes. But it gets my blood flowing and some crisp air into my lungs first thing in the morning. I missed it today.

Who’d have thought?

This House is a Rockin!

Okay, so a few things have happened since I last wrote in. First, some car trouble proved to me that picking a gym that I have to drive to in a car that isn’t my own is not the best choice for being a consistent gym-goer! I am in the process of trying to get them to cancel my account, but I don’t think they will. The next step is to try to freeze the account for a few months while I try a new experiment. I found a gym within walking distance of my office. It’s a pretty good little place, and it’s cheaper than my current gym. I plan to sign up a week from today and start going there everyday on my lunchbreak. I have to ask my boss, but I think she’ll be fine with my taking a 2-hr lunch and then making up the extra hour at the end of the day. I am actually quite excited about that plan. (plus, this gym has two personal trainer women who have competed in national fitness competitions.) I’ll keep y’all posted.

Second, the kickboxing/grappling club I have been looking into is ready to open again after Christmas. Check out their website at http://www.americangrapplingacademy.com/. It’s not the flashiest of sites, but it is a cool-sounding place just the same. I have already spoken with the owner, and he said it’s totally cool that I come out even with no experience.

Third, I anticipate getting my kickboxing workout bag next week. I received enough $$ as a gift to buy the bag, and I will add a bit extra for a pair of boxing gloves, handwrap/undergloves, and a set of grappling gloves. I’ve just been waiting for some after-Christmas coupons to kick in (get it? “kick” hehe). Should be awesome! Working on a bag is one of the things I miss most about the exercises Mel had me doing. Now I will be able to do it at home.

What else? Some stability, finally. My job moves from temp agency to full time in january. Health Insurance, baby! Just in time for a one year cholesterol, etc checkup from last Feb — I’ll just have them order up my records from Pasadena, and we can compare numbers. Plus, even though the paycheck will only come once a month, I think it’ll be a good thing to help me budget for things like the monthly gym fees and some new exercise equipment.

Guess that’s about it for now. Oh, I am down to 341 this morning. Only 2 pounds in a few weeks. But I expect to move into overdrive once the kickboxing and daily workouts get rolling. It’s been virtually impossible to be consistent at the gym without controlling my transportation. I hope that’ll be fixed soon with the ability to walk to the gym.

Used to Do a Little, But. . .

Down another 4 pounds this month, to 343.  

Friday is my 35th birthday.  It’s something o consider, how one gets to be my age and seems to have done so little.  Still, despite the recent setbacks, I feel fairly confident going into this birthday.  I’ve got a decent job.  Okay, the pay’s for crap.  But the people are nice and the work is valuable — I am helping keep the office in order for a foster child placement agency.  And despite the setbacks, I have found a gym that I have been able to join since my last posting.  I have hooked up with a trainer, and we have had a few workouts.  I am only meeting with him once a week because I can’t commit to more than that — my schedule is unpredictable since I share a car with my brother.  But he has taught me a few variations on some of the stuff I was doing with Mel, stuff she and I would probably have done at this point.  And I am stronger now than I have probably ever been in my life, based on the amount of weight I am lifting right now.  (I won’t tell you how much because it’s not that high!  But it’s all relative.)  The other day, I did 6 pushups in a row and a total of 10 before I had to drop to my knees for the next 10!  

One other cool thing:  I found a guy who teaches kickboxing and MMA — basically juijitsu and muay thai. You may recall that one of my goals when I got in better shape was to study some kind of martial art. These days, kickboxing is what I am liking.  This guy’s price is cheap (by Pasadena standards!).  He’s closed right now for a few weeks — he said he had a bit of a fire — but I should be able to hook up with him in a few weeks.  He said he has all levels, so a rank beginner is no problem.  I am really excited about the prospects!

Food is going pretty well, now that I have a regular paycheck.  I am getting into a flow of buying food each week, a little at a time.  One of the biggest things is getting into the habit of carrying a decent lunch to work.  It’s all good.  

Okay, that’s enough.  I will try to get some pictures pretty soon. . .

Goodbye 350 Road!

Well, I have been here in Colorado for two weeks now.  I have been job hunting and adjusting to the change.  Good news is that I have been losing some weight!  In fact, I have broken through the 350 barrier finally!  This morning I weighed in at 347.  How cool is that?  It’s my first major goal finally met!  I am two pounds shy of losing 90 pounds in eight months.  I have to admit, I never really thought I would get this far this fast, especially with the struggles over the last couple of months.  But here I am.  

I have also finally taken a couple of pictures.  The quality is a bit blurry thanks to my crappy phone camera, but they show some good stuff.  When I saw them, I thought:  ”I look just as bad as ever.”  But then when I posted them and saw the previous shots, I realized that I have come a long, long way.  And that’s a good thing.  

I found a gym here that has 24 hour access.  It’s a small but modern facility with the kinds of equipment I need.  The only thing I wish it had was some bags for kickboxing workouts.  I’ll just have to look into getting something for myself.  We have plenty of space in this house for one, probably in the garage.  I don’t want to lose that aspect of working out.   I will be joining this gym as soon as I get a job and some income.  In the meantime, I have been walking a lot and doing some exercises at home.  It’s okay, but I find that I miss going to a gym and having that environment around me.  

One other thing:  The other day, I did 5 REAL PUSHUPS.  Now, they were kind of ugly, and I didn’t go all the way down.  But they were 5 in a row without collapsing my arms or using my knees.  Can you imagine how long it’s been since I could do 5 pushups?  At least 1996, if not longer. . .

What’ll I Doooooo?

So, I am at a point of major transition, a time when I shall have to sink or swim on my own in this whole weight-loss journey.  When I started, I had a nutrtionist helping me to understand more about what I have been eating and should be eating.  More importantly, I had Melody making me move myself in ways I clearly did not want to move.  Her work was the cornerstone of this whole thing, and I couldn’t dream of having done it without her. 

But now, she is gone to me.  I have moved to Colorado.  Here, I may find a trainer.  I know there’s at least one gym nearby which I hope to visit next week.  But mostly, I am going to have to start applying what she has taught me and go it on my own a bit.  My brother will be living with me, and he has expressed interest in wanting to get to working out.  So we will have each other for encouragement.  There’s a part of me that just doesn’t know what I will do without her, but I know that things change; we have to move on. 

In a couple of days, I will take stock of my current condition, with photos and all.  (I am still waiting for some stuff to come in the mail to my new house, so I can’t take pictures and post them, etc.) 

I have one major encouraging story to come out of all this:  On Thursday, I flew from Las Vegas to Colorado, as part of my move.  As anyone who has ever been significantly overweight will tell you, flying terrifies us.  The seats are small.  The people next to you don’t like you by them.  And sometimes, though I am fortunate to have never experienced it, airlines will demand you buy a second seat or get off the plane.  So, it was with great trepidation that I boarded my flight. . .

Well, lemme tell you, I fit in the seat!  Not only that, but the seatbelt buckled!  Was it cramped?  Yes.  Did I have to extend the belt as olong as it would go and still suck in my gut?  Yes.  But I fit!  Not the case the last few times I have flown. 

If that’s not an exciting story, then I don’t know what is. . .

There’s a Tear From My Beer

Somehow, I have gotten into the beer habit.  It’s not been devastating or anything.  But it’s become a fairly regular thing a few times a week to have a few beers.  My roommate and his friends (who are becoming some of my friends a bit) are pretty active social drinkers, and I have not been for years.  And it’s been kinda fun, I guess.  I think it all started when I was in Vegas with the family a month or two ago.

But there is no excuse for that kind of sloppy indulgence.  I was looking in my calorie book the other day, and I realized that it doesn’t take long at all to get 500-1000 calories from a few beers.  1000 calories is almost half of the 2500 I aim for in a day!!!

No excuse at all.  So effective immediately, I am on an alcohol fast. . .

No More Mr. White Bread

Yeah, so the other day I bought a loaf of white bread, for the first time in well over six months.  I know I shouldn’t have, but it was cheap and I was trying to stretch that day’s grocery dollars just a bit more.  How was it, you ask?  It tasted like pure sugar, all empty and bland.  (Although to be honest, it tasted pretty good as dry toast.)  The slices were a little less in calories than my usual whole wheat bread (by about 20-30 cals per, depending on the brand I buy), but I somehow felt they were really empty of any nutritional value.  So I will pass on it in the future and pay 2x as much for the whole wheat from now on.  It’s worth it. . .

On this week’s Biggest Loser, the father/son team from Boston got voted off when they fell below the line.  I was amazed that they lost so soon.  I think the other contestants were concerned that they really had the potential to win it all, though.  Still, I wonder how much of the final vote is scripted?  Remember last week, when I said that that father/daughter team was my favorite?  I have to wonder whether they are being pushed because she’s so cute, and he’s so sympathetic (and a cop to boot)?  It wouldn’t be hard for NBC to manipulate the results just a little bit — and truthfully, it makes more sense for the contestants to vote her off as a threat because she’s shown so much heart.  But who cares.  It’s still a show full of drama and humor, and it celebrates living a healthy lifestyle.  I know I watch waaaaaaay too much TV, but this show is 2 hours well spent.

The other day, I dipped below 352 on the scale.  I am so close to my first checkpoint of 350, finally!  (It’s been a rough couple of months.)  I want to give it a few more days to see if I can get down below 350 for my next “official” weigh-in to be posted, along with some long overdue photos.  I am hoping to go next week and get some smaller workout pants (woohoo!) and a couple of size 3x t-shirts for the gym instead of the 5x ones I have been wearing since day one.  Not to mention that I think I might could probably fit into a 48 in jeans – OMG OMG OMG!!!  About five years ago, I had a pair of slacks that were size 48, but they were really too tight from day one.  So I have not comfortably been below a size 50 in going on 10 years, I am guessing.

Being a Bigger Loser

Last week, I watched the premiere episode of the new Biggest Loser season.  This time, they have hooked up families to work together.  One team is made of married couples, and one is made of a parent and an adult child.  I like this format because even though everyone is competing, the family “teams” have at least each other to support and encourage.

If you have ever seen the show, you know that some things they do could be improved.  I know Melody always complains about the harm the trainers do when they work the people to throwing up or when they get in their faces and scream — she says that ignorant personal trainers could watch that show and think it presents the best way to train people.  She makes a good point.  However, there’s a lot to like here.  These people know that they have spent their lives ruining their bodies and minds.  Large reward or not, they have decided to do something about it even though they must go through a lot of initial pain and suffering to do so.  When you watch the episodes, you see people shouting encouragement to each other and seeming truly sad to see someone leave the show each week, someone alongside whom they have struggled and fought.  Their reasons for making the changes always touch on deep issues of love for others, too.  They say things like, “I want to be there when my four-year-old graduates college” or “I want my dad to be around to walk me down the aisle.”  And they always talk about how tired they are of being so ridiculously overweight and so miserable all their lives.

I know the shows are edited to be dramatic and intended to touch the heart.  But I don’t care because the manipulations are for good reasons.  Think about this segment:  One young woman’s father was limited in exercise intensity by the show’s doctor — that’s the first time I have ever seem them do that.  In his case, they had determined that his 51-yr old body was internally closer to 80 years old.  So in the first challenge, she had to compete by herself while he stayed behind.  Their challenge was to cross about a mile up into some hills, a real struggle for all of them.  At the top of the biggest hill was a series of flags that would award them various prizes, such as a phone call home or some cash.  The best prize was Immunity from being kicked off the show that week regardless of the final weight-loss score.  The girl felt she just had to get that Immunity flag so her father and she could stay a little longer, for the sake of his health (and hers).

She made it.  As the other teams reached the top, they all talked about how her example had been so inspiring to them, encouraging them to push themselves just a little bit harder to get to the top.  And as she cried and cried (and so did I a bit), I knew that they would be the team that I hoped would win.

Whatta show.  And if the spiritual encouragement wasn’t enough, I felt like a slob for just watching the show there on my couch.  So during the commercials, I would knock out some calisthenics.  I did pushups, squats, inchworms, jumping jacks, etc.  And that made me feel good about me.

PS — One of the mother/daughter teams lives in Dallas and apparently goes to Fellowship Church.  During the opening segments of the show, they were on stage with Ed Young, who was encouraging them and getting the full auditorium to cheer and so forth since they were apparently in the final groups for the show.  And then in walked Jillian Michaels to tell them they made it onto The Biggest Loser, and the whole place went nuts.  That was cool.

Yeah, I’ve Got Something Else. . .

The last post was frakking long, but I thought of one other thing to share.  My roommate’s birthday was this weekend.  A party occurred at a karaoke club which rents private rooms.  At any one time, we had about 15 people in there, maybe a few more, but people were coming and going. 

Anyway, I was nervous.  I only knew Jason and the girl he is dating (well, I have met her a few times) and one other guy.  I didn’t want to sing, and the other people were enthusiastic enough that I could have avoided it with no problem.  But as I watched one other person repeatedly refuse to sing, I thought:  “I have been that guy all my life.  Why not just get out there and do it?”  Some of the people were good, but some of them were terrible.  I knew I would be somewhere on the spectrum, so what could hurt?  Finally, after a good hour of screwing up my courage, I dialed in SWEET CAROLINE (a song I knew would be easy to sing and a crowd favorite).  I have no idea how I sounded — probably flat-toned and shaky, especially in the first verse.  But I survived, and everyone loved singing along!  I even did a second song a bit later, SWEET CHILD OF MINE, which I know I was very flat on but which I feel I picked up during the “Oh Oh Oh Where do we goooooooooo?” bits at the end.  Nothing like hearing everyone scream and clap when both of my songs began, so I knew the songs were good choices. 

Anyway, I wanted to share that.  I had a great time the whole party, singing along with everyone.  And I actually did something that scared me to death.  Not bad at all. 

PS — They only had about 3 country songs, and not one of them was FRIENDS IN LOW PLACES!  What’s up with that?  Stupid California. . .