Not much time this morning

I have quite a busy day ahead - got to build a quick book map for a book we are releasing to the printer today, fix a couple posters and if at all possible get the time reports for my team at least started today.

I weighed 250.2 today.

Start staying late again

I really need to get some parts of my site updated, I just need to start staying up later. The second run seems to take the life out me after what have been very long days - just need to suck it up. I'd probably do well to do some of the needed work here at work, just to avoid over-eating temptations at home.

I saw a really good documentary the night before last called the "King of Kong". It's about the world of classic arcade game play and the chase for the highest scores. It focuses on Donkey Kong. Outstanding documentary. I can relate some aspects of what I'm planning to do with my own film to how they approached their subject.

I weighed 249.6 today

Silver Lake Gym closed

It's pretty sad the gym has been shut down. I guess the fire department needed the space. That gym has been there for 70 years. I don't know if it will reopen elsewhere. I guess we'll see.

I've really been pushing my runs. I'm averaging more then 6 miles a day now. I've realized that I'm just not nearly as winded as I use to be so I'm increasing the pace. So far it's feeling good - and I've still not reached the point of being too winded. The weight to miles run continues to increase the calories burned. This continues to surprise me. I'm now burning close to 1200 calories a day with the runs alone. If I do get the surgery to remove excess skin (and lose 40 overnight) - then I'm pretty sure I'll see the calories burned drop quickly. That'll be a nice problem to have.

I weighed 248.6 today.

Silver Lake Gym

I stopped by the boxing gym last night to see exactly what the hours/days were. It appears to have shut down. I'm so disappointed. All the signage is gone. This has been a plan of mine and even a goal for sometime now. There is another boxing club in town, I may look into that, it's just I was so comfortable with the other one. It had the look and feel of the small club in the first Rocky movie. It was in the basement of a small fire department near Silver Lake. Oh well - I'll look into it today.

I weighed 251.6 today.

Weight up and down

I need to really get consistent with the calories this week. My weight has really been up and down quite a bit. Had a good run this morning. Got lots to do at work today so can't blog much today.

I weighed 253.4 today.

I lasted a little over 45 minutes

I had to quit early again (did last week too). Again these hour runs are tough. Not feeling to guilty though - I'm going to leave here and go cut the grass (push mower routine). It's snowing today - and windy as all heck. I think I'm going to try to cut it any way. I wish I was back to the boxing. My plan was to start again when I got under 250, but my doctor said to wait until I was under 225. Last time I boxed I was over 310 and even so my upper body was looking more muscular and in better shape then I do now in the 240's. The doctor is concerned about injury.

I think I may start up the boxing anyway, just to do the weight lifting and training routine and especially the bag work. I just want to get back into the routine and work on the technique of it. Plus I love the atmosphere of the place and the people there. I tore tendons in my left arm last time, this stopped a good deal of what I was doing so I increased my run from 2 miles to 4 miles and that wrecked my knees in about 2 weeks. One injury led to another. I'm in way better shape now though, I'm already running nearly 6 miles a day and I'll stay out of the ring until I'm down to 225. I think I really need this, it'll replace my second run 3 days a week.

My weight has really been bouncing up and down (water weight fluctuations the last few days).

I weighed 249.6 today.

another hour run

These hour straight runs are really difficult. I had to walk for about 7 minutes towards the end. I'll do it again tomorrow (the long run - hopefully without the walking part). I'm within a pound of as low as I've have been since the start. The recent calorie cutbacks are working again just got to stick with it and be patient.

I weighed 244.4 pounds today.

Cross Country is over (for most)

We watched Sarah run for the last time this season yesterday (sectional meet), congratulations to her and the rest of the team on a great season. Special congrats to Kayla (hope I spelled that right) who won the sectionals. She is the 2nd person from the right in the photo. The top ten finishers will compete at the state tournament next Saturday. Kayla is not even in HS yet and this won't even be her first appearance at state. At the age of 13 (last year she took 3rd in the sectional), she's competing against HS kids.

I weighed 246.6 today.

Proposal to Progresso

I'm just about ready to submit a proposal to Progresso soup re: my diet. I could use a little financial help with music acquisition/travel expenses/editing equipment. From a financial standpoint they stand to benefit far more then myself. I just hope they see the potential. That's the job/purpose of the proposal. It seems like everything I do these days is calculated. How can this or that benefit the film? How can this event or that event be tied in? Can I market this or that? How to market it?

Lost to some degree is the art of filmmaking and also the diet itself, the process of losing weight is really not on the forefront of my thought. This is actually a good thing, my weight is dropping again (I've cut back on the calories) and I'm not thinking about it so much. The whole thing is a project and as a project weight loss is just one aspect. It's an independent film project. Typical film projects have large staffs of people who manage and specialize in many arenas that independent filmmakers end up handling for themselves. I'm not complaining about this - the experience is worth the effort.

I weighed 246.6

Cooking demos

I got the idea yesterday to do cooking demos. After all I have created a few original recipes of my own and my weight loss has been fairly significant. Not sure these will go in the movie but I think it could be humorous and worthy of youtube. Keep in mind that many of the demos would be "heating up soup". My daughter Sarah has agreed to be an assistant in the demos. I'l try one this weekend maybe. This would be more promotional for the site and film then valuable to the masses as real cooking demos. Again they will need to be humorous.

I weighed 250 today.

Forgot to dry my clothes (OMG - boring blog)

I got to get back into the routine - I forgot to put my laundry into the dryer last night. I'm just out of it after being away for a few days. One of my friends has suggested that I tape my laundry process for the movie. Every day I get home I go straight to the basement and move laundry from the dryer to a basket from the washer to the dryer and then I load my clothes into the washer and (if all's right in world) I remember to go back down and dry it. It's become a part of the whole routine.

But is it worthy of the big screen? It seems pretty benign. Vernor Herzog once said that film making is a series of banalities. After my dismal performance at the Federal Duck Stamp contest life seems to be a series of banalities.

I weighed 252.4

Start of a final push

Back to work and hopefully back to a tight diet! I'm going to be pushing harder then ever, in theory I could have the last 40 pounds of in two and half months. That's my hope. While on the way back from the federal my daughter Paige suggested that I give up on the duck stamp contest altogether. Not ready to do that yet, but this weekend was pretty depressing. I am going to start to paint some portraits.

I weighed 253.4

I'm back

I returned yesterday form the Federal Duck Stamp Competition. I was pretty disappointed in my own pieces performance. Just one in vote, which means I didn't get past the first round. Hopefully I'll do better next year. I gained some weight also - but not as much as I had thought I might. I aloud myself the privilege of not worrying about the diet/weight loss. I did no calorie counting etc. I also thought I'd not be able to exercise at all but as it turned out there was a treadmill in the condo so I was able to keep that routine going. I think that's why my weight didn’t go really high. Tomorrow I'll be right back on it.

I weighed 253.6 today.

Off to the contest

I'll be gone for the next few days so will not be blogging again until Saturday or Sunday.

Going to the contest tomorrow

I'll be leaving for the Federal Duck Stamp Competition tomorrow. My daughter Paige will be joining me and shooting some film for the documentary. It should be interesting. She has a piece in the contest also. I've been entering this contest since 1996, every year. I came in 7th place once. I've dreamt of winning this, it's very lucrative, instant national recognition, your art is added to the collection at the Smithsonian, you travel the country for a year attending various events to promote conservation and the stamp program. But oddly enough I don't care much about any of that stuff this year, this year winning it would be great because it would really be good for the film.

It would add an entirely interesting layer to the project. Some of the best documentaries have some sort of twist or unexpected event take place that really adds to the drama. This would really do that. I don't think I'm going to win though. The entries are all published online at http://outdoorsweekly.com/. I'm predicting that Adam Grims piece with the longtail drake and decoy will win or the Hautman piece with the mallard decoy. Both of these are so well done!

I weighed 248.8 today.

Crashed and burned

My run on Sunday was not good. I felt terrible from the start and only got through about 45 minutes of the hour run. I was fairly glad to come back and have a good run this morning. It's the first time I just felt so bad I couldn't complete the run. I'm not going to try to figure it out. I'm taking three days off work this week. I think I will still come in and do my early run on Wednesday. That way I'll only miss two days. I'm going to be staying at a friends condo complex in St. Paul. The complex has a guest quarters. It's possible that they may have a workout facility. If they do I'll use it.

I weighed 248.9 today.

Better late…

I was helping a freind again, very late to blog, oh well. Did the full 1 hour run again today and will do the same again tomorrow. The gallery open house went quite well last night. Next week I will be headimg to the federal Duck Stamp contest, always great to attend that.

I weighed 246.4 today.

Art & Hors d’Oeuvres

OK - this blog is going to be a shameless invitation to anyone in the South East Minnesota area to come and get some great free eats and drinks. One of the galleries my art is in is having it’s annual fall get together. It's open and free to the public. Most of the artists will be there. There will be much “new art” on display.

SEMVA - Friday - October 10th • 7pm-9pm, 16 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 507-281-492 (in the Galleria Plaza, near Chesters, across from the fountain).

If you see me there and you’ve been reading the blog let me know!

I weighed 243.8 today.

Getting better

The running is improving. Initially going to 6 miles a day was very difficult, I slowed the pace, but now I'm getting use to it and it's starting to pay off from a conditioning standpoint. I guess that I'm stating the obvious there, it's just that the initial doubling of the workout was quite a shock to the system. Not only physically but it demands a whole new routine. It really needed to be done though as your weight drops you move less mass during any exercise routine. I'm now at 5.8 - 6.0 mph for most of the run, 5.8 use to be the sprint. Just earlier this year my pace was so slow that people walking were passing me. One time one was reading a book as they went by. Now with the faster pace it's starting to feel more like a run then a jog.

I weighed 246.0 today.

The weight loss high

Well, I can't say I didn't eat (I did), but it wasn't due to a lapse of any sort. I didn't get home until 10pm last night (helping a friend with a project). At that point I had only had 200 calories. I felt so good. I couldn't mix and drink 4 shakes that late - I need to do at least that to be at 600 calories. Decided to have a can of Progresso soup 200 calories and a can of Kippered Snacks (fish) 120 calories. I was at 520 for the day.

Cutting back was not hard at all. Just the opposite it felt great. There's a real high to it. I've never used drugs or been drunk but this easily beats the runners high/creating art/caffeine it's like a narcotic. I can easily see why there is a dark side to weight loss. I believe I'm back in ketosis again. The last 6-weeks of additional calories have left me feeling as though I was not focusing (the feeling of ketosis that I was actually burning fat, was just not there). It's back now. I don't know how long I'll stick to this but right now it feels good and I hope I see some fast dropping again.

Another positive - I've got another batch of the HMR vitamins. So with this liquid only lower calorie swing the nutrition should actually improve.

I weighed 248.4 today.

Shake it up a bit

I decided that I'm going to try to go back on the liquids only - today. HMR shakes only. I just want to see if I can do it or not (it's not easy). And also my weight loss has stalled for the last 5-6 weeks. I don't know if I'll be able to get through the day, but here again I'm blogging about it and I really hope that come tomorrow I'll be able to say I made it through the first day without eating. The blogging adds the accountability that I believe can make the difference.

So no food today, I'm going to hopefully get a good run at going a few weeks and maybe I'll get the weight dropping again. Will let you know how it goes tomorrow.

I weighed 249.8 today.

Hair loss?

I'd like to think that I'm not so vain as to be concerned about this but that's just not the case (I guess I am that vain). I've noticed some thinning in my hair over the last few weeks. It's odd because it coincides with my increase in both calories and exercise. I'm of course still very conscience about taking the daily supplements. I've had my fair share of nutritional related hair loss. In high school and college I wrestled and cut a lot of weight to be competitive. My hair fell out (quite a bit), but in that case I'd go for days at a time on nothing but crushed ice. Weeks at a time where all I'd eat was a little lettuce. Supplements were out because they make you very ill without any food intake.

Now I'm getting all the nutrition (in theory at least) or does the hair falling out mean that I'm not??? If anyone has any knowledge that goes deeper on this issue I'd love to hear from you. I have been cursed with bad genetics where my weight is concerned - I accept that, but the full head of hair has been one of those positive genetic paybacks. Just a couple years ago Ronan Tynan told me I had the best head of hair he's ever seen on a man, I'd trade the hair for his voice in a second!

Maybe I'm just getting old?

I weighed 249.0 today.

Another weekend at work

Just finished the long run again, I got some very boring paper work to deal with today. I've been trying to get some admin junk done for HR regarding my recent hires. They sure have been patient with me. I'd much rather be doing other stuff. It's one of the negatives to climbing too high into management when you are a creative person. Still a dream job with a dream organization.

Again little time to blog.

I weighed 247.8 today.

did the run all at once

I've got to be brief today! Just got so much to do for the film this weekend. Got the standard photo shoot stuff and I hope to work on some of the scripting and maybe shoot the goals sequence tonight. Plus cut the grass, ugh.

Anyway I normally do 2 runs (almost three miles per) half an hour each. I decided to do both at once. I ran almost 6 miles over a full hour. It wasn't easy, but it does save me shower/trip to gym time. I will do it again tomorrow (going forward this will be my weekend routine).

I love and hate the exercise so much.

I weighed 247.4 today.

Sad phone call

Yesterday I received a goodbye call from one of my long time friends/mentors - Craig King, he called to let me know that his doctors were predicting that he had just three days at most. He's been fighting a lung condition that is incurable. Craig has been a great friend and was a great boss (I worked under him 18 years ago) and he has been a valued colleague here at Mayo Clinic as a free-lancer.

He was very upbeat on the phone and said he felt great, mentally and physically. He told me he was hoping for three more weeks. God knows as well as I do that if anyone deserves three more weeks it's Craig. It's hard to lose two mentors in as many months but it's a comfort to know that soon enough Joe and Craig may meet.

I weighed 246.8 pounds today.

the locker room towels

Today, for the first time, I attempted to wrap one of the locker room towels around my waist after my shower. It fit, I could actually wrap it around and tuck one end under the other and it stayed on without any problems. This should have been one of those wonderful little moments, but I had mixed emotions. When I started working out the towel was a good 20 inches short of even touching, let alone wrapping and staying on. I’ve been loosely holding the towel in front of myself.

I have a couple of over weight freinds who asked me about the facility and I said it was great but that the towels are no where near large enough. I've pointed this out a couple of times to the staff when the opportunity presented itself. Not in a complaining sort of way, rather that the smaller towels show a little lack of sensitivity. Many over weight people have body image issues, the smaller towels make it awkward. There aren’t a lot of over weight people working out there, I know the towel issue is keeping one friend away - she told me to tell her when it changes and she’ll sign up.

I don't think having a few larger towels would be a hard thing to do, but managing and sorting and seperating them would be very difficult. I'm guessing that they are going through 100's if not thousands of towels a day. The facility washes and drys and folds them daily. Then what size to get? The current size is 44 inches (one of the trainers told me this when I last pointed out the issue) if you got a 60 inch towel it would be no good to the person needing a 70 inch towel. I'm not saying this is a simple issue to solve but it would be worth the effort. I intend to point out the issue one more time in a more formal manner - perhaps to one of the higher up directors, in a nice letter. The folks working at this place really care, it's all about helping others get healthy - it may seem like a very small issue but it's really not.

I had the towel on like that for just a few seconds and I took it off. If the issue gets addressed in the future I'll wrap it on. It was only a couple of months ago I couldn't even think about these towels fitting me in this manner and I guess I'm feeling I need to have a little solidarity.

I weighed 250.0 today.