Interesting 40lbs

Just one quick note this morning - when I met with my new doctor last week I asked him about excess skin by the time I'm down to my goal weight, it was towards the end of our mtg. He quickly replied there will be about 40lbs. but don't worry we’ll get you with a surgeon and they'll take care of it. 

I was walking out at the time and what he had said didn't really hit me until after I had left. 40lbs.? That seems like a lot, could he have said 4 and I just didn't hear him right? A friend of mine had GBS a few years ago so I asked him if it could have been 40 and my friend said 40 would be right. Since I have 89 pounds to go to be down 200 does that mean I only have 49lbs to lose? That could be done in as little as 10 weeks. Interesting. 

He also doesn't want me to start boxing again when I break the 250 mark - he wants me to weigh until I'm down to 225 or less. He's concerned about injury that might derail what I'm doing, I can appreciate that. 

I weighed 257.8 today

What’s up Frito Lay?

I’m a little ticked at the Frito Lay company right now I’m going to copy them with this info. I have been enjoying their sunflower seeds for the last couple of months or so. They have a few different flavors and the I’ve been buying the smaller pack that has 190 calories per serving and for which the packaging states there is one serving per bag. I like this because I have an inclination toward 200 calorie or so items. Plus they are difficult and slow to eat, it takes me all day long to eat one pack. It’s great because they taste great and it feels like you are eating all day long. They are very high in calories and fat though, but this is the best kind of fat. Pretty much my only source.

My new Doctor wants me to journal all the food I’m eating on line at fitday.com. You can custom upload all the calories and or nutritional info yourself or select from fitday's options. It’s a lot quicker to use what fitday has already established and they appear to be quite accurate. When I went to use the fitday numbers I noticed that their seeds were nearly twice the amount of the Frito Lay packaging. Upon closer inspection it became clear that there is a typo on the Frito Lay label. Look at the scan to the right.

So instead of eating 190 calories a day (I have these everyday) I have been eating 380 calories. When you are on a 600-800 calorie a day diet that’s a huge shift in the wrong direction. I wonder how much of an effect this has really had. I hope they fix this quickly - I’m going to keep eating them, but half as much going forward.  

I weighed 256.7 today.  

missed blogging yesterday - down 110+

I couldn't blog yesterday because I lost the little time after my workout - meeting with a new doctor who will be helping me the rest of the way through my weight loss process. I have very little time this morning to blog also because I had to get another blood draw this morning. The meeting with my new doctor went great! He's very supportive and I think that while I have already lost a lot of weight what he brings at this juncture is exactly what I need. He's helped 100's of folks through this and has dealt with his own weight issues so I feel like I've found someone who knows what he's talking about and has real experience. More about that tomorrow. 

The double workouts are working well. 

I weighed 257.4 today

Weigh in day

Got to be quick today - trying to get stuff prepped for the art show in Lima with every free second - I'll likely only do a half day today. Sadly made up little ground from being behind last week. I'm actually only to last weeks goal, now a full week behind goal. 

On a positive note I'm back into the 250's, I only just started into the 5 mile runs (I'm sure this will help to break the slow down) and I had a nice drop from yesterday.

Today I weighed 259.4.

New routine

I did my first second run yesterday. It felt pretty good. I'm now going to be doing 2 a day workouts (7 days a week) not sure how I'll handle that on the weekends. I was doing this every other day because I had started to lift weights, but the weight lifting is quite easy compared to the running. I'm not going to do a full 1/2 hour in the evening with respect to the run though - instead I’ll stop at 5 miles total for the day. I’ll still lift weights every other day (that will be tonight).  

This means I'm through with attending my weight group, I'll have to let them know. Because I have clearly reached a plateau and much of what I learned at the group related to dealing with such situations I'm sure they'll understand and be supportive. I just don't have time to attend and then do the second workout. 

I weighed 262.2 today. 

Up 3.4 pounds

What a disappointment, hard to believe. I was expecting a drop and instead a 3.4 gain. I noticed people kept getting on and off the scale to re-weigh in, I did this myself. They may have calibrated the scales. I may check into that. I won't be going to my weight group tonight though, instead I'm going to do another 2.75 miles on the treadmill. Just in case the scale is right. I'm planning to go back into the boxing once I'm below 250 anyway and that will be 3 nights a week, double work out days (in addition to the weight lifting). 

I guess it all makes sense because I seem to have stalled on the pace. My calories are low enough so I really can't cut back there - but I can increase the exercise. 

I weighed 263.6 today. 

Good workout

I continue to push myself on the treadmill; I'm now starting at 5.4 mph and moving to 5.5 after about 4-5 minutes. 5.5 represents a bit of a plateau for me. Hard to believe I'm almost there. There was a time when my sprint for the last 40 seconds was well below that. Shouldn't be surprised though, I've lost a lot of weight and the exercise keeps getting easier. 

I worked on my down200.com website most of the day yesterday and have more to do on that today. I really need to get my art/design site redesigned, Kelli (my wife) wants a site for her art and  jewelry, just so much to do.

I can't be here all day today either as I have to get stuff prepped for the art show in Lima. We'll be shooting video there for the down200 film and there's a really bad echo in the gallery. I don't anticipate getting great sound. The gallery itself is beautiful and quite large. It can be seen at artspacelima.com. The website is ugly (I need to redesign their site too), but the gallery space is great. This will be the first time I will be shooting in public, I need to find out if I need to get permissions signed from everyone or not. I hate when they blur peoples faces out. Maybe I'll offer a LE Print to anyone who will sign the release forms. Better look into that. Since this is a public event maybe I don't need to. I'll pose the question at the DVX user group.  

I weighed 260.2 today. 

Better

Much better day yesterday with respect to self-control. I ended up with 385 calories for the day. That's a little low for me actually but it sure beats going over. I dropped 2.2 pounds; I'm now at 260.4. This gives me a bit of confidence that I'll get back on track and make it to my goal of 254.5 by next Wednesday. About 6 pounds over. The key to yesterday was that I didn't eat when I got home. We went out to dinner at Chester’s last night (great new restaurant in Rochester MN), I didn't eat there either; by the time we got home I just went to bed. I'm going to try to take my calories while I'm at work rather then while I'm at home. Just too tempting and too easy to go over-board there. I'll give it a try for the rest of this week and see how it goes.

So - new rule; no eating while at home.   

I weighed 260.4 today.

Getting art prepped to ship

Still maintaining too busy a schedule. I went to bed at 12:30 last night. I ordered frames for 7 more art pieces and I've got another 20 plus already framed I'm getting ready to ship. I was really tired getting up for my run this morning (I get up at 5:00AM). It's going to really be hard if I can't get more sleep then that. That may be the case for the next week or two though. I've got to write a CV for the show so I can't blog much today. 

Today I weighed 262.6

Confession

Bad day yesterday. Missed the goal and gained some weight. Over ate last night/yesterday the previous day also. A few days ago I committed to a real effort to begin again. I did really well that first day and then lost it. Yesterday I probably had over 1200 calories. Enough of that though. I'm starting from scratch today - back to liquids only. I weighed 262.8 this morning - gained a pound from yesterday, still haven't made yesterdays goal (259.5) - and I'm now 8.3 pounds over for next Wednesday’s goal. Again I really need to rededicate myself to effort. 

I'm lucky my weight didn't go any higher.

I weighed 262.8 today. 

Didn't make it - yet

I'm sadly well short of the goal weigh-in for today. I weighed 261.8 and should have been at 259.5. I broke one of my own rules yesterday - I ate something without knowing how many calories were in it. My wife and I got out to see a movie and I had a little popcorn. I probably had a little more then a cup and a half. Yes it had butter topping. I'm guessing at this point that I'm retaining water as a result. I do have my weight lifting workout tonight so I will have one more opportunity to weigh-in tonight. I'm going to have water only today (no pop) and see if that makes any difference. I usually go up in weight by the end of the day not down - so I'm not counting on the weigh-in number changing by days end - but who knows. 

If it doesn't drop this will be the third time I have not made the goal. I've gotten back on track before and will just have to do it again. 

I weighed 261.8 today. 

Need to start some new art

Last night I got real sick. It was a weight lifting night and I had just got out of the hot tub when I started feeling nauseous. Driving home I felt like I had been driving for 8 hours, just exhausted and nauseous. I feel better today and just finished my run. Pushed the MPH to 5.3 - 5.4. My right foot has gone from numb, to cramping to just hurting all the time. It's disappointing to lose a fair amount of weight without too much difficulty and to now be developing an injury of sorts. 

Work's been rough. I need to start a new piece of art soon before I start to get depressed. There's a line in Jungleland that says; “barefoot girl sitting on the hood of a Dodge, drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain”, Springsteen is a god. I want to do a painting of this line. I need to find a mid 70's Dodge and someone willing to let me shoot the reference. One of my daughters could model. I actually have beer cans from the era. Got to start searching for the car. I'll put an ad in my companies classifieds today. 

I'm 2.5 pounds over for tomorrows weigh-in. I'll cut back a little today and should make the goal. It'll be good to be in the 250's again. 

I weighed 262.0 today.  

Good weekend

Not enough time to get things done this weekend - but still, can't complain. I shot both the photography I needed for work and some more video for the film. My weight  seems to have hit upon a stall of sorts. I still have a couple of days to make goal and I'm hoping I see a pretty dramatic drop tomorrow and the next. It's happened many times so far. 

Not much time to blog this morning, not much to say either so that works out well!

I weighed 264.4 today.  

Shooting almonds

Today will need to be about figuring out what doesn't need to be done. Last night I came to the realization that going to bed a 9:00 to be able to get up at 5:00 am (for the exercise) needs to stop. I'll still get up at 5:00 I just need to start staying up later. Just not getting enough done. 

Today I have to reshoot the almonds for my employers food pyramid - everything else I shot worked out well. I need to reshoot some of the sequences from my down 100 pounds shoot of last weekend, get the frames figured out and ordered for the upcoming art show and finish cutting the grass. Better go shoot the almonds.

I weighed 264.2 today. 

Weight up?

My weight has gone up a bit everyday since making my goal on Wednesday. I think it's time to really kick this into gear again. I've been over my calorie limits for the last three days in row (shame on me). I'm going to jump back to liquids only for at least a few days (and no more then 400 calories), maybe longer then a few days – self-imposed penalty. When I reached the 300-pound mark one of my friends said I really needed to keep pushing forward and keep my focus up. He knew I was at a point at which I could easily fail (having done so at that point about 5 years ago). I'm approaching dropping into the 250's, I should be there by next Wednesday. I can't allow myself to come up short of that goal. 

I have not been in the 250's in about 13-14 years. Everyone has been saying that the rate of weight loss I've been achieving will slow eventually, maybe so, but not this week. In fact I will not accept a slowing in the rate for the next 7 weeks. That'll put me back into the 220's. I'm not throwing in the towel after that either, I hope that the rate of weight loss remains the same till I'm down to 167.8. With everyone telling me my expectations are way too high (some being experts) I'm preparing myself mentally for the inevitable slow down, but at the same time I feel like this is sort of new territory. 

Maybe it'll be a miracle if the rate of loss remains the same throughout, but I weighed close to 370 pounds in March of this year, I was running a 17 minute mile and needed a step to be able to reach my feet to tie my shoes. I'm now in the 260's, running an 11 minute mile and able to bend over to tie my shoes. Minor miracles maybe, but the confidence in what I'm doing keeps growing. 

I weighed 265.8 today. 

Federal complete

Finished my Federal entry last night. Best piece I've ever done. It should be competitive. My kids also compete in the Jr. Duck contest. Two years ago Paige took a best in show in Minnesota (she's taken first many times), a best in show means her work moved unto the nationals - where she took third place. That's out of 36,000 entries over-all. She barely made the cut-off age wise this year to enter the adult contest. She did a great piece - only worked on it for 5 days, still came out real good. 

Here's a you tube link of us - me, Paige and Sarah at the jr mn contest a couple years ago. I really look heavy in this video. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lMJzfencdc

It felt good to paint a little more again, a good distraction from the work pressures and the diet and film stuff. 

I weighed 265.6

Federal Duck Stamp Contest

I'm almost done with my art for the contest. The contest was established back in the 30's to raise money for the purchase, set-aside and restoration of wetlands to protect waterfowl. It has proven to one of the best conservation programs/efforts ever conceived. Each year a contest is held to determine what art will be used on the stamp. The federal government gives the winning artist a plaque and a framed pane of stamps. The artist also retains the reprint rights to the image and typically produces a limited edition print. Historically speaking this has meant a million dollar pay day for the winning artist. 

Today as the limited edition print market dies away the value of winning this contest has diminished as well - it might be worth around $300,000 now. Still not bad. There are many other benefits as well. More later I'm sure. 

I weighed 264.6 today.

Made the goal

I was under by just one tenth of a pound, but that's great. Next week I'm going for the 250's. 

I actually got a chance to work on my federal duck stamp competition piece last night. Because art is such an important part of my life and because it's so important to keep busy while cutting weight, it's going to be a part of my film. I had to film myself and my daughter Paige working on our duck stamps. I wished I could just work on the art, setting up and shooting myself and Paige doing the art was about a two hour ordeal. This is one of the most difficult parts of doing the film. It's just a lot of work to create the lighting, the compositions and technical junk. I have large pieces of white foam core in many places around the house, the barn, the garage for white balance. Tonight I will focus on just finishing the piece - no filming. 

I weighed 264.4 

1.5 pounds to go

I'm close again - need to be down 1.5 by tomorrow, shouldn't be a problem. My run was pretty good this morning. I'm pushing the 5.2 mph level now. I'm also fighting holding unto the side rails. I know it's cheating, but it's hard not to do. Real soon I'm going to spell out in great deal what I'm doing with respect to calorie intake - etc. This will be detailed on my website, down200.com.

Special thanks to Laura Grossman and the Post Bulletin for the nice article yesterday. I've had a lot of positive encouragement from many as a result.

I weighed 266 today. 

A few advantages

Now that I'm halfway to my goal (I'm down 100 of 200 pounds) I thought I'd itemize some of the benefits even though I still have another 100 to lose. 

• Sleeping way better

• More energy

• Dropped 10 pants sizes

• Wearing 2x shirts down from 4x's

• Every thing fits better from clothes to chairs to my Jeep

• Exercise is no longer difficult

• Enjoy walking again

• A much higher awareness of my health in general

I weighed 266.6 today

Emotions are too high

Not sure what the deal is exactly, but the weight loss or the diet or both seem to have my emotions running at extreme levels lately. As an artist I kind of feel like there's some crazy positive energy possible in this, like I could really do something astounding artistically or I should be, but the pressures of work lately, the demands of the film project, the demands of the exercise, of family - feels like I'm chasing after every free second just to deal with basics.

Never touched my painting yesterday, will have to - today for sure. I'm in a two-man art show in Lima Ohio with my brother Phil; it opens September 12th and runs through October 25th. It's an incredibly beautiful gallery and opportunity. These opportunities continue to happen for me. I think I'm just to the point where my work is starting to get good and where I have built somewhat of a body of work. I think I may travel to Ohio for the opening. I wasn't planning to, but right now with emotions riding high I feel I should be there.

I need to finish up some work related stuff, I have to log and report everything I plan to have in the Lima Ohio show today - figure out what needs to be framed yet, etc. I need to shoot a sequence to mark the down 100 mark, I need to finish my Federal and cut a matt. Finish blogging and posting. It's all got to be done today.

Back to the emotions, I’ve had Jimmy Eat World on - looping the song “Here You Me”, not a good idea when you're feeling emotional. I’ve been working on a fine art piece I call "Sharing the Air", it's a list of all the people I'm proud to say that I've breathed this planet’s oxygen with. I just received an e-mail from Denny Griffith (President of the Columbus College of Art and Design) - Joseph Canzani (former President of CCAD) passed away Friday morning. Mr. Canzani is on my list. 

“Mr. Canzani - I'm really sad that we will no longer be sharing the air.” 

Anyone associated with art over the last 6 or so decades in the Columbus Ohio area will surely be grieving. I had him as an instructor in 1983, he was so fiercely passionate about great art, students both loved and feared him. He had an Italian accent, he was a real presence, a bigger then life presence and he had an enormous influence on all of us who were lucky enough to have known him or better still have been taught by him. My sophomore year a project my girl friend (now wife) and I worked on, a sensitive slide show about Vincent Van Gogh, got into the 1982 end of year show. This was quite an honor and probably the greatest highlight of my otherwise not so astounding college career. Mr. Canzani (and he alone) personally selected what got into this multi-media show. Not only did he choose this work, but also we were told he cried during it’s viewing. Today I repaid those tears. 

“Here You Me” has a line that says: “what would you think of me now?, so lucky, so strong, so proud, I never said thank you for that…”  - Thank you Mr. Canzani. Another line says: “May angels lead you in”. 

May they do so in the thousands. 

I weighed 266.6 today. 

down 100

It finally happened, I passed the down 100 pounds mark this morning after my run. I'm now down to 267 even. I'm half way back to a normal life. The only thing that really matters now is next Wednesdays goal, I need to be down to 264.5. Just 2.5 pounds to go. 

Lot's of pressure - I'm at work on a Saturday again. I have to get some photos I shot yesterday prepped for my companies food pyramid. I shot apples, broccoli, a variety of pastas, beans, almonds and dark chocolate. I use my own equipment because we don't have a good still camera here, didn't have time to get a colleague from the photography group involved. I paid for the food products myself and it looks like everything is still edible. Accept the apples, I had to tape them together with gaffer's tape. I'll give those to the horses. 

This is getting in the way of finishing my Federal Duck Stamp competition piece. It's due next week. When/if I get home I will jump on that. I'm going to need to film myself working on it also. My daughter Paige (my director of photography on the film) is also competing this year and she'll be joining me at the contest and filming me there. That'll be fun, the contest itself is great, I know a lot of folks in the duck stamp world - I've been competing since 1996. If my weight continues to drop at the current rate (I sure hope it does), I'll be down to 212. I saw a number of the folks who will be there just this April. They may not recognize me. Some of that might be good for the film - better still would be winning that competition. I harbor no delusions  about my chances of winning, still it sure would be great for the film. 

I weighed 267.0 today. 

Weight stayed the same - I'm a little disappointed

The pattern of my weight going up slightly then dropping dramatically seems to have changed. It makes me worried that I have reached some sort of plateau. Just a couple of weeks ago, in the weight loss group I attend, one of the instructors said that everyone reaches a plateau or has setbacks eventually. We've talked about various options for dealing with this, the one that makes the most sense to me will be to increase the exercise. I'm prepared to do that. 

I haven't shared too much in the group about my success thus far. It's been 5 pounds a week every week. That's pretty good but I didn't want to be saying the exact same thing every week. If  I reach the 100 pounds down mark by next Monday (the night of the meeting) I'll share that. If I can get down 200 I'll share that too. So I'll only need to talk twice, that's good. I'm not much for public speaking and while this doesn't quite equate to that, I'm still not totally comfortable with the whole opening up in public deal.  The Rochester Post Bulletin will be coming out with an article on the 11th (Monday) and I don't want people in the group thinking I'm hiding something from them. 

I can really relate to everyone in those meetings, it's not easy being over weight. Some of them are nurses, I have no idea how they can do a job like that while being over weight. Most do 10 hour + shifts while on their feet most of the day. They are very strong women. Not just physically either, it takes a great deal of character to serve in the capacity of providing health care when you yourself are not an example of health. 

I weighed 269.2 today.

Lifting weights again, high-tech

Glad to say yesterday's problem is gone. Another good product to thank. 

I started lifting weights last night. No real program to what I'm doing yet. Just know I have no interest in bulking up, just toning up a bit. I will contact one of the trainers to get some kind of plan put together for this. I have a key card (flash drive) to these high tech machines. In theory I should be able to insert the key card into whatever station I happen to be on and it will track what I'm doing all the reps, etc. that are in my program. If the system is working at it's best and if the technologies sync properly I will be able to upload all this to my Health Vault. I hope it works - it's a very futuristic high-tech approach to managing your health that's here and available today. I intend to press every button in the system before I'm done. 

I'm going to be continuing to do the treadmill every morning, 7 days a week and now weights in the evening every other day. My wife asked me how much longer I thought I'd be doing this. I told her expect I'll be doing it for the rest of my life. 

I weighed 269.2 today.

Made my weekly goal

Not much drama making this goal. I had actually reached it a few days early. Still have not quite reached the down 100 pound mark. I will in the next few days. In the category of too much information I had a lot of blood on both arms this morning after my run. I thought I might have been having a nose bleed - nope. It was my nipples - ugh. I've been running all my life and have occasionally had some soreness, but never bleeding. Fortunately one of my close colleagues is not only a great editorial director for our book and newsletters - he's also my daughters cross country coach, and a pretty extreme runner himself. I will be picking up a product called Body Glide, (his recommendation) and hopefully that will be that. 

So, now I really have no dignity left at all - between chaffing nipples and my half naked progress photos… I'm a big fan of the TV show the Office, there was a pretty funny episode in which they are having a run to cure rabies, Andy - has the chaffing nipples problem, not quite so funny to me now. 

I weighed 269.4 pounds today.

Work-out Zombie

I had another complete stranger approach me at the work out center, he asked how long (duration) I'm running on the treadmill. Then he commented on how much weight I've lost. I really appreciate this kind of recognition. More then appreciating it I'm always impressed that people even notice. For my part I’ve become a real zombie at that place. I walk in, check in at the front desk, go do the run, hot tub, shower and weigh in, dress and go. I don't even hardly realize I'm there anymore let alone notice what others are doing, who's there or that they're getting results.

I think it's better this way, I'm going to start lifting weights (hopefully yet this week). That'll happen after work. I'm going to start hitting that place twice a day now (for at least three days to start).  

Tomorrow’s my official weigh in - I need to be at 269.5 or less.

I weighed 269.2 today. 

New clothes / 260's

Well actually they are old clothes. About 11-16 years old. I have not fit into them since 1997-92. I actually found several very good pairs of pants that should work well for work. I got out a bunch of old clothes that have been in storage for some time. I hope I can make them last for the next few months. I have to pick up my daughter from the airport today and I brought a pair of old jeans and this shirt I use to wear. I'll change before I go - just for the fun of it. The big surprise for me last night was that I had dropped from 4-5 X shirts down to 2 X. What a shock. 

I also moved into the 260's this morning, no surprise there.

I weighed 268.9 today.  

Sick of my home page

I'm getting sick of my home page on down200.com. Seeing the picture of myself so over weight again and again is really getting old. Before and after pictures are very important though. Decided I would at least add a profile shot that was a little more current - maybe I'll update that one every week too. I'm sick of my design website too danbrevick.com - think I'll redesign that completely and relaunch - save that for next week. 

One thing I will NOT DO is hold out a pair of my old pants in front of me to show how much thinner I have become, nor will I jump up in the air and click my heals together. I had a hard time doing that back when I was an athlete. 

I weighed 271.6 today. 

Got to get some new clothes

Had another good run - still have not gone through my old clothes. The 54 inch waist paints on my now 44 inch waist are starting to look pretty poorly. I need to drill a new hole in the 48 inch belt also. I'm still refusing to buy new clothes. I have to look reasonable professional though. I think they cut me a little slack since I run a creative department. Still…

One of my friends has offered to take me shopping when I'm down 200 (he knows business professional dress), I’m afraid I won't have any money left by the time making the film brakes me. Getting very impatient with the pace of weight loss lately. Don't know why it's been at 5 pounds a week and still is. 

Today I weighed 272.3.

Progress photos

On my website down200.com I post a progress photo every week. One of my friends suggested that I had a lot of guts posting images that showed myself so overweight (without a shirt on). I told him I had already lost about 35 pounds when I started shooting - it was far worse. I wish I had thought to start shooting from day 1. For me, posting these images means I will have greater motivation, I really want/need to have better and better pictures as the weeks go by. So the motivation is to redeem myself with an improvement every week or fail with the whole world looking on. Pretty strong motivation actually, so far redemption is winning. 

I weighed 273.4 today.