Cross country today

I believe my daughter has a meet today (a home meet), I'll have to find out and see if I can break away early or not. Not much time to blog today, I still have obligations re: the art show (I need to provide some web images) I will complete this blog tonight.

I weighed 250 today. 

Love songs

I’m going to have to expand my song list to include all the love songs I’ve been so taken with lately. I felt a little funny at first including them on my exercise page (I have a top ten list of the best exercise/running tunes). They are, for the most part, fairly slow paced, but even so I find myself listening to them as I run (more then the up-tempo tunes), it’s only fair since they are inspiring me at the moment and they are on my iPod for that very reason. The list really needs to go beyond ten anyway because I’ll be lucky to get the rights to use any of them. A bigger pool improves my odds + it’s real, I’m listening to them/being inspired by them.

I’ll be going for rights to use them for non-theatrical release, use for film festivals only. I might be able to afford that, i.e. they might be free. If the movie is good enough for anything beyond that then some producer/producers would have to secure the real rights. 

The songs at this point include Picture in a Frame, by Tom Waits, one of the most beautiful love songs ever written. If I Should Fall Behind, Bruce Springsteen, this song really defines “true love”. Come What May, Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman (from one of my favorite movies Moulin Rouge). The opening line says; never knew I could feel like this - like I’ve never seen the sky before” - love it! 

I’m in the planning stages for my next documentary about “true love”. I think this is partially why I’m so into these songs right now. If anyone out there still believes in true love feel free to contact me at danielbrevick@earthlink.net, there are many angles to explore. I hope to start shooting for this next spring. 

I weighed 249.8 today.

Best laid plans

It seems the ultimate in poor judgment to be talking about plans (even small expectations) in the context of a blog. Yesterday I was quite confident about accomplishing what were relatively small goals, I got about halfway through at best. If you are blogging daily (I'm pretty close to that) everything you say is subject to cross-reference from something stated earlier. How many times have I failed? How often have I contradicted myself? Worse still how often have I repeated myself? I’ve barely got the time to write these let alone worry about cross-referencing my posts in one-way or another. 

Having said that and with the experience of failing to accomplish something rather easy from yesterdays blog and given I'm no writer, I find myself encouraging others who are trying to lose weight to considering blogging about. I really believe it helps. Let your friends, relatives, co-workers know that you’re blogging. It does add pressure - especially when you are at a family reunion or company get-together, I'm far more conscience of what I’m eating in those settings because what I’m doing is so exposed. The net result; I make better choices, I don't have setbacks and the weight continues to drop. 

I weighed 249.2 today.

Moving forward

Today I’m going to hopefully get caught up on most of the images for the down200.com site. I’ll shoot progress photos and a new portrait photo tomorrow and hopefully have the entire site up to date in the morning. I've got a knock off list created on tadalist.com, I need to add 4 more things to that and then - I have to start knocking off the items on the list. The film and what I need to do for it HAVE to start to play a larger role the hours I have during the day. 

I did both of my workouts in quick succession this morning (separated by weight lifting) and instead of doing a second run on the treadmill I did a half hour on the Elliptical. It felt pretty good, very different then the treadmill. 

I weighed 249.6 today. 

Getting cold here

It’s starting to get chilly here in the mornings. I’m so not a fan of the cold weather here in MN. My old leather winter jacket fits again. For the last few years I've been wearing nothing more then two light jackets all winter long. Not bad though I think the layering effect actually keeps you warmer anyway. 

I'm really hoping I get back on the 5 lbs. a week track. In theory I want to be down to 244.5 by next Wednesday

Today I weighed 248.3

Feeling good again

The best reward of dieting is losing weight. It’s such a great motivator. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve made any of the weekly goals and I’ve finally moved down one. Seeing a drop again is all the more encouragement to keep up with the new running routine, stick with the calorie limits and just to remain focused. 

The federal duck stamp art competition is coming up in a few weeks. I’m really looking forward to that. It’s being held in St. Paul, Minnesota this year. I’ve got a piece in the competition that’s better then I’ve had in years. Many of the people I know within that realm will be surprised by my my weight loss I'm sure. A couple of them saw me just last March before the weight started dropping. 

I weighed 247.8 today. 

  

Quick Blog!

I’ll be back tonight. I normally do these blogs in the morning before work - but this morning I couldn’t get access to the site. More this evening. I did make it into the 240's last night 249.4. But this morning (as expected) it was up a bit.

It's a little late for me but I'm going to add a little more to this blog. I droped to 248 after the second run. By tomorrow I really should be in the 240's by the early run. The new 800 calorie limit seems to be working. With both runs I'm burning 1050+ calories, taking in only 800 I should see some rapid dropping again.

I will be very thrilled if this gets the rapid results again!


I weighed 250 today.

240’s by days end

I’ve decided to compromise on the calories (I’m going to go with 800) mostly lean protein and also increase the running to 5.5 miles everyday rather then, two days of 5.5 and the third 2.75. We’ll see what happens. The cut back to 600 worked and last night I did 800. Plus my weight seemed to be doing better on the double runs days - then I’d gain it back on the single run day. I’ve been seeing an additional 2 pound drop with the second run (though I’ve only been reporting the first weigh in amount). If this holds true today I will be in the 240’s later today. It’s been about 20 years since I’ve been at that weight. 

I weighed 250.8 today.

Grass cutting day

Always a good workout, cutting the grass, the yard is just too big. I just finished my run and weight lifting and need to shoot some pics for my site. I seem to have no time to do anything lately (how many times have I said that?). Weight went up again, just really seem to be stuck, not going to worry about that any more. 

I'm going to leave here soon enough to film in the jeep on the way back, probably need to talk about the plateau of reached and got stuck on. 

I weighed 256 today.

Saturday workout

Just finished my Saturday workout.  Today is the rare day of the week when the single run and no weight lifting coincide. Makes staying within the 600 calories limit all the more important today. Shouldn't be a problem. I'm working at SEMVA today. That's always fun, but I sure could use the time to get my site and aspects of the documentary moving. 

I weighed 253.6 today.

Dropping back to 600

Starting today I’m dropping back to 600 calories, I’ll attempt to make it as much lean meat/protein as I can. I just really need to see some more weight loss. I will continue with the two-a-day workouts though. Should see some loss pretty quickly. 

Trying some new music for my exercise routine, a friend recommended Godsmack (same person who turned me towards Rammstein) it's got a lot of energy - reminds me a little of Throwing Copper. And my daughter made me by a Def Leppard album (Hysteria). I think I can pour some sugar on me while I'm running.

I weighed 254.4 today. 

An apology to Frito Lay!

I contacted Frito Lay re: what appeared to be  a typo regarding serving size (I blogged about this last month). The difference (this was my mistake) is accounted for by the weight of the hulls vs. the weight of the sunflower seeds themselves. That accounts for what appears to be a difference in the total weight of the product and the serving size which is half the total weight. I'll now be able to go back and adjust my calorie intake for those days I doubled it. Better still, it's good to know that going forward, it's half the calories I thought. 

My compliments also to Frito Lay because the customer service person I talked to was a Certified Nutritionist. I learned quite a bit more about the product and feel like it has been a wise choice in how I spend my calories.

I weighed 254.8 today.

Extra skin

The excess skin is really starting to show. Really hope that the surgery to remove it will be covered by my insurance. In the end, if not - I'm not sure that I won't end up looking worse then when I started. One way or another I'll have to find a way to deal with it. 

My run and now double runs have changed a little. I was in a phase of constantly moving the dial faster. With the second run I've stopped that. Happy just to get the second run in. So far I have not missed one. 

I weighed 254.4 today. 

Quick blog again

My weight just keeps hanging around in the 250's, though I’ve seen a little bit of trend towards dropping the last few days. I’ve really got to move into the 240's soon. If I don't see that happen by the end of the week I’m going to start to cut back on the calories (at least to some degree). I'm finding less and less time to blog let alone shoot my film. I did get some good footage at the art show though, that’ll help. 

I weighed 254.2 today.

I'm back

The art show went well in Lima. Good and interesting crowd. Most notable was Pearl. 

The family reunion was GREAT! Wonderful to see so many of my cousins/aunts/uncles etc. again, got to get back there next year. Double workout today, playing catch-up on work after being out so much to blog about but no time today. 

I weighed 256.6 today.

Off to Ohio

No time to blog - off to the Lima show. Will not be back until next Monday.

May blog if I can access a pc will out. 

I weighed 258.8 today. 

Missed blogging

I missed 2 days of blogging in a row - that’s a first I think. I was up to 257 yesterday so the weight keeps going up with the new approach - but did drop today to 255.8. I hope that represents a new phase of the weight dropping. I do feel better, stronger (despite the cold), I think the leaner meats/higher protein/weight lifting is having a very positive affect.

I’m stopping the double workouts for this week, at the suggestion of my personal running advisor (PRA)/daughters cross country coach. I'll be doing just one run in the morning plus the weight lifting every other day. Since I’ll be going to the show opening in Lima Ohio and staying for the weekend I'll also be taking a few days off in a row - altogether. Also something the PRA thought would be wise at this point. Then back on Monday to the routine. 

I was so busy prepping the last details and packing the last of the art for the show - that’s why I couldn’t blog for the last two days. Glad that’s all done.

I weighed 255.8 today. 

In on the weekend again

Wasn't thinking I'd be here but the work just kept mounting during the week. I'm here on the weekends now for the running anyway so it seems slightly less of a hassle. Today’s a double run and and right now I don't feel up to it. I've had a head cold/sore throat. I just got back from the first run so I suppose I may feel different later today. Feeling burned out by the whole process. I hate to admit that - I don't want to be discouraging, the good thing is I've come way too far to even think about stopping in any way. It's a fairly safe time to be feeling burned out.  

I think this is as much from prepping for the art show in Lima as the diet and exercise routine. I'll be doing more art prep this weekend too. Looks like I can make a final shipment on Monday. At this point I'm planning to go to the opening of the show.

Today I weighed 254.2. 

Weight going up

I have been ill today. Started getting a sore throat yesterday. I felt nauseous during the morning run. I read the bottle of Zicam later and it did say to only take on a full stomach (that's not an option for me). Anyway felt a little better during the evening run and weight lifting - just finished that. 

My weight is starting to go up just a bit - I have increased my calorie intake by adding 300-400 calories of protein (lean meat) a day. My doctor said this will cause a slight increase in my weight but that it will also cause a increase in the muscle mass. That will, in turn, increase the standing calorie burn - long run, I will see a faster increase of weight loss do to the increased muscle gain. He also said I'd have to trust him on this. I am. We'll see how it goes.

I weighed 254.6 today.

Last night to prep for the show

I was hoping to get out of here early today. That's looking less and less likely. Tonight, as much as I can get framed and packaged up is as much as I will have in the Lima art show. I was tempted not to do the second workout yesterday but did it anyway. Lots of Kudos today at the Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center. They are celebrating their first year anniversary today. That's the name of my companies workout facility. Dan Abraham is an amazing person, he donated the funds to build this incredible facility. I hope to meet him and to thank him personally at some point. 

Congrats to all at the DAHLC as you celebrate today and a very heartfelt thank you from me for all you've done!

I weighed 253.4 today. 

made last weeks goal

Increasing the run to 5 miles seems to have helped me to get past the first plateau, I'm thankful for that, but the extra time involved is really taking a toll on everything else. I made last weeks goal with todays weigh-in. Glad for that too. I'm 1.1 pounds ahead, so if I were to lose 8.9 pounds by next Wednesday I'd be back on track. I'm just thinking out-loud, it's not my intent to drop that much this next week, I'm quite content to be back to 5 lbs. a week. 

I was so tired last night I couldn't get any more of the framing done for the show in Lima Ohio. I can't allow that to happen tonight. My brother told me yesterday that there will be a family reunion in Ohio the weekend that I'm in Ohio for the show. It would mean staying over for one more day but for all the travel involved it might be worth it. I'm thinking about it, it might be really cool to interview some of those folks. They are really great people. Don't know how that fits into the film.  

 

I weighed 253.4

Trying to keep up

Can't seem to manage to keep up with everything. I'm starting to think that maybe having the film done by December isn't going to be possible. Good run this morning I'm going at 5.5 for most of the run, will have a second run and a weight lifting working tonight. Then back home to prep and pack-up more art for the show. 

I weighed 257.2 today.