It's Saturday!

Just finished my run (I usually only do one run on the weekends). I'm thinking about doing a second run today. I weighed in at 215 even - which is quite good for the first run. I would think I may drop to 213+ if I were to do a 2nd run. It's tempting! My friend is stopping by to work on that ongoing project, I need to update much on my website. We'll see. Lots to do at home too.

My iPod quit at 28 minutes into the hour run. I knew it was likely needing to be charged - planed to charge it when I got home last night, just forgot. This is usually a disaster. The song Sister by Dave Matthews had just started (it's recently become one of my favorites). I took off the the iPod, my hat (holds my iPod ear plugs in) and my sweat coat. All with the hope that I'd still be able to finish the run. That's how dependent I am on the music. I made it through. I may update this blog latter should I do a second run.

I weighed 215 today.

01/09 is almost over

I was hoping to be in the teens by the end of January. Assuming I don't go up too much tonight I should be there by tomorrow. I was hoping to be "well into the teens" also. I'm already there too. I ran another 12 miles (19.3 km) today - 5 days in a row of that! Such fun.

I weighed 214.6 today

Progresso soup 3 for $5

I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few Progresso soups for this final phase of my diet and was happy to find them at 3 for $5. I stocked up. That has to be really exciting to read about.

I ran 12 miles (19.3 km) again today - that's 4 days in a row. It's been working and I'm just 7.6 pounds away from my final goal.

I weighed 215.4 today.

Busy day ahead

I'm taking today off at work - my new editing system arrived yesterday and I hope to get it all set up. One of our old cars (all our cars are old!) really bit it hard yesterday. The dreaded timing belt breaking. I ran 6 miles this morning and I hope to come back into town for a second run (we'll see). To that end I may add to this blog later and/or update the weigh in amount as I usually go with the second weigh in.

I weighed 217.8 today.

good visit with the surgeon

I had a good visit with my surgeon (for the hernia). He is totally in agreement with doing both the skin removal and hernia repair surgeries at the same time. It will be two teams of surgeons also, he will work with the plastic surgeons. Also he has no problem with waiting until I get the rest of the weight off (assuming the the hernia causes no further problems). Couldn't have gone better.

As to getting the rest of the weight off. I'm on the 2nd day of liquids only and feeling great! I had about 700 calories yesterday and so far just 70 today. I'll have some soup tonight and head into day 3 of the liquids only. After that it'll get easier. I ran 12 miles (19.3 km) yesterday and 12 miles again today. I'm burning over 2200 calories from the runs each day. If I stick with this it'll drop quickly.

I weighed 218.1 today.

going liquids only

It's down to the wire now - and I got a good start today with going liquids only. It's how I started the diet and I guess it'll be a good way to finish. I have about 6-7 weeks left. I want to at least be down to the point where I can consider the surgery for the excess skin. Every indication from my doctor puts that at or around 207.8. I weighed 221.2 after the second run, so just over 13 pounds to go. With liquids only and cutting back on the calories I ought to be able to make that pretty easily.

Then surgery - then the maintenance phase begins. Maintenance is really code for the start of the rest of my life. I watched a couple of clips of experts discussing weight loss and how most fail to maintain what they lose, in fact most gain back everything they lose. That's just hard to even imagine at this point. NO WAY!

I weighed 221.2 today.

got through the run

My stomach has been bothering me a little ever since the hernia, it actually hurt pretty bad during the run. I wasn't happy about that. I meet with the surgeon on Tuesday to discuss next steps. I think I still hope to convince them to hold off on this until after the weight drops a bit further. Still hope to get both surgeries at once.

Still got through the run - thanks in large part to Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds. I have three songs in a row on my iPod - Lie in Our Graves / Crash into Me / and Cornbread. The three songs (all live versions) run a total of about 20 minutes and have saved me countless times from quitting early.

My weight has gone up a bit as I have aloud myself a few more calories this weekend. This is because I'm planing / hoping to go back to where I first started - liquids only, tomorrow hopefully till I leave for Texas in March. I think I'm posed to actually make the goal (notwithstanding the excess skin surgery issue). The excess skin issue is completely out of my control. Hopefully that will work out fine.

I weighed 222.2 today.

went through more clothes

I boxed up a lot of clothes this morning - nothing fits anymore - almost every bit of clothes got put away. I think I have two old boxes of clothes from the 70's in my basement. Some of that may fit or it maybe too small yet. We'll see. I ran 6 miles today, actually 6.3 - I kept the MPH up high through out the entire run.

I weighed 219.3 today.

bad run

As I was getting ready to go for my run I got a very disruptive phone call. This delayed me 1/2 an hour getting to the Abraham Center - and by then the treadmills were all taken, I waited 50 minutes and finally took one that wasn't what I normally use. It didn't go to a full hour - and so the start stop killed the run. I was hoping for a 12 mile run but had to settle for 9. Had I gone the whole 12 I'd probably be in the mid teens - oh well.

I weighed 217.4 today.

12 miles today

Well - the party was ruled out, the jump in the freezing water too, I'll do the art but not sure when but for the celebration it was a private affair - just me by myself on the treadmill. So to celebrate being down 150 I did 12 miles today.

It was a great celebration.

I weighed 218.2 today.

another quick blog

I'm happy that I finally got my editing system ordered for the film - maybe in a week or so I'll be able to post some of the video - who knows. That's a whole new phase of putting the film together and will be a real challenge. I thought I was going to run 12 miles today (19.3 km) but only did 9 miles (14.5 km) oh well - i really got tried, just got weak again. It's happened before.

I weighed 217.2 today.

Down 150+!

Well I made it tonight – past what I guess is the 2nd big threshold. I weighed 217.2. I’m now down 150.3 pounds. I blogged a few days ago that I thought I needed to mark the occasion by throwing a party. I’ve given that idea some thought and I realized that really wasn’t me. First I don’t drink and 2nd I’m barely eating. Some how a party isn’t right. Also I realized that the kind of party I wanted was like the one they threw Rob when he was going away to Japan in the movie Cloverfield. Here’s a clip from the party.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWhASj1q30U

This presents a number of problems. First I’m not as cool as Rob, 2nd I don’t have enough really cool friends like Rob and third I don’t have a really cool place to hold the party – like Rob did. So the party is off.

My second thought was to do a polar plunge this Saturday. Basically some folks in my small town are going to be cutting a whole in the ice and we get to jump in with nothing but our swim suits on. I heard that the temperature for Saturday was going to be -2 F (-18.88° C), but that’s now been revised to -10 F (-23.33° C). That’s without a wind chill factor. I’m having second thoughts though. I have not talked to a doctor yet but someone told me that since my hernia has not been repaired yet I might be taking a big risk. The jump in (and the first step out) is a pretty big shock, I’m still thinking about this but swaying away a little now. Also I’m very concerned about my equipment not working or getting damaged in that extreme cold.

One final idea is create a piece of art to commemorate this occasion. When the local newspaper did an article on what I was doing (weight loss and film) it was published in both print and on their website. On the site was an option to leave comments. I had already lost 100 pounds at that time and yet someone left a rather negative comment saying I was going to fail. I kept a copy by my desk for sometime. Perhaps I’ll do a painting of that negative comment.

Anyway – I’m open to suggestions!

I weighed 217.2 today – down150.3!

till we meet again (in the blink of an eye)

I lost a great friend and mentor last Sunday (just found out last night). I blogged about Craig King back in early October of 2008. He had called to say goodbye because the doctors had only given him three days to live. He'd been struggling with a rare lung condition. He told me then he desperately wanted 3 more weeks. He got better then 3 months. His wife Pat commented on how thankful he was for that additional time. He was only 61 years old.

Craig was my Art Director almost 20 years ago when I worked at SBF, upon leaving SBF I hired Craig as free-lancer first at LDA and then here at Mayo Clinic. Craig was a well respected Designer/Contractor here at Mayo and had made many friendships here beyond my own. The hardest thing to do today was to simply let the others here know.

There's a thousand wonderful things I could say about Craig King - but I'll just say this to my GREAT friend - CRAIG you believed you had just 72 hours left - and you called to spend one of them with me - if the shoe's were swapped I'd a done the same.


They say you can't take it with you, but I think that they're wrong
'Cause all I know is I woke up this morning, and something big was gone
- bruce springsteen (Terry's song)


Goodbye, dear friend, I love you - and I'll see you again in the blink of an eye.

short blog

Quick blog tonight. I did the 6 mile run. Going to be pushing hard this week - both on the exercising and the diet. Up just a bit from yesterday but that seems to be the pattern. Proposal is done - just need to get it proofed and out.

I weighed 221.6 today.

made it into the teens!

Well I finally dropped into the teens. I weighed 219.6. I ran 6 miles + (9.7 km) today and thought I might need a second run to meet that threshold but looks like I don't. I may still do another run - but perhaps there are wiser uses of my time. Just so much to do! I will now get back unto the proposal for Progresso (still not sent yet).

I weighed 219.6 today.

a little disappointed

I didn't quite make it into the teens - I hope to tomorrow! It's late I worked at SEMVA tonight, that's partially why I didn't get into the teens - I couldn't do an entire run. I had to stop a short to get to the gallery on time.

I weighed 220.2 today.

Audacious dream / scheme!

Today I watched Man o a Wire, a documentary film about Petit Philippe. He's the man who in the early 70's strung a wire between the Twin Towers and did his tight rope act 1/4 mile of the ground. If you are up against a real challenge in your life or if your are working against impossible odds you'll definitely draw some inspiration from this great doc.

Here's a quote from Philippe that I found inspiring!

“to me it’s really so simple that life should be lived on the edge of life, you have to exercise rebellion. To refuse to taper yourself to rules, to refuse your own success, to refuse to repeat yourself, to see every day, every year as a true challenge and then you are going to live your life on the tight rope.

I've run 9 miles each day for the last three in a row - I reached a new low but didn't quite make it into the teens yet.

I weighed 220.6 today.

Got to shoot again soon!

This weekend I've got to shoot some more video - not sure what yet but will come up with something. Got lots to do tonight (need to clean up my office). Home late again tonight.

I weighed 223.6 today.

coming up to down150

I'm going to be reaching the down150 point by the end of this month. when I reached the down100 point I went out into the middle of our horse pasture to announce it. It was a lot work to get all the equipment set up for one quick shot (that was kind of the point). I'm thinking about having a party to celebrate reaching the down150 point. The idea would be to film the party for the movie. Get some comments from friends and family, etc. All for potential use in the movie.

I'm not sure of the date of this party yet but you are all invited.

Anyone who wants to send me a video/audio congrats to mark the occasion that would be cool!. Any format of video I'll find a way to make it work. You might be in the film or on the extras for sure. Credit in the film, etc. No rush as I will be editing over the next 5-6 months.

Tonight I ran 6 miles plus 3.4 this morning. The Abraham Center scale wasn't working (ugh!) - so I had to walk al the way back through the subway (shorts and a shirt only to weigh in on an antique penny scale. It was kind of fun to walk barefoot in the Ghonda building. This building is fairly opulent. Marble floors and pillars. Wonder if I'm the first to walk through barefoot?

I weighed 226.7 today.

Ultra Sound today

The event of Saturday night with the hernia was followed with a call from the ER today regarding something they missed on the cat scan. A potential problem with my gall bladder. I had to get an ultra sound done today - which turned out to be negative. That's good. It was funny because I just ran 6 miles and they told me I wasn't aloud to walk :) ... they pushed me around on a stretcher bed. It took 4 different people to push me back and forth and between floors. Pretty silly. The last test proved negative so I'm all fine.

I weighed 231.2 today.

Everything seemingly fragile (my trip to the Emergency Room)

At the start of this endeavor to lose weight the weight dropped incredibly fast and most important - consistently. This generated a good deal of success and as I blogged numerous times success breeds success. NOW the gains I make are seemingly quite fragile. I feel like it's a real struggle to hold unto them. On Tuesday I weighed just 222.4, Wed 222.6, Thurs 224.4, Fri 226.8, yesterday 227.2. I over-ate just a little yesterday and today I weighed in at 233.2. Up six pounds since yesterday and almost 11 since Tuesday.

I'm working on a design project with a friend - worked all day yesterday after my run and at about 9:00 PM my stomach started hurting. I had been feeling a little tightening in my stomach over the last couple of weeks (I thought it might have been the increased running). I went to use the bathroom and found a pretty hard bulge in my abdomen. I drove home (about a 40 minute drive) I should have gone straight to the emergency room. The bulge became larger and more painful and I had to return to the Hospital. I had a hernia. It lasted for a couple of hours as I waited to be seen by a doctor and as he walked in the room the bulge returned to normal. Pretty good timing. They did a Cat Scan to see if there had been any tissue damage or not and thankfully there was none. They contemplated operating last night but since it went down and no real damage evident I was aloud to wait. I will schedule a meeting with a surgeon on Monday.

I want to put this off until I have some more weight off. I'd like to get both operations, the one to repair the abdomen wall (the hernia) and the one to remove the excess skin - at the same time.

I didn't get home from the ER until almost 6:00 am this morning. I slept till 9:00 am and got ready and came in to do my run. I ran 6 miles today. Despite a fairly rough night (last night) the run this morning was pretty good!

I've been feeling so strong physically lately because of all the running. Last night showed me how fragile the body can really be.

I weighed 233 today.

Got the run done again

Did 6 miles this morning - no 2nd run today. Lot's to do at work - for the site, shoot some photos, blog etc. I don't have much time to blog and that's good since I don't have much to say!

I weighed 227.2 today.

The Chances of the World Changing

Today I watched the documentary "The Chances of the World Changing". It's a wonderful movie about a man (Richard Ogust) who becomes obsessed and passionate about saving endangered species of turtles. The movie itself was quite wonderful, very well made, - the story told even better, though a little sad.

For many of the endangered species the habitats that support them no longer exist, at this point they can not be released back into the wild. Groups of individual turtle keepers are trying to keep the gene pool viable with an array of "assurance colonies". What is most inspiring is that there are GREAT people out there willing to sacrifice time and treasure to keep something incredible alive and around, all with the hope that the world will change and someday they can be released back where they were meant to be.

I weighed 226.8 today.

toughest part here and now

I find myself laughing and shaking my head (not a happy laugh) - I think this has to be the hardest part. I ran 9 miles today, 6 this morning and 3 more an hour ago. I really wanted to run 12 today. It's been so crowded there I couldn't get one of the hour pre-set Pro-cores. Got the 1/2 hour version and just couldn't get myself to keep going after it stopped. Had I kept it up I think I'd likely be a little lighter.

I weighed 224.4 today.

life is pretty amazing

for some reason the movie Cast Away has been on my mind today. i'm pretty sure i can relate to the situation Chuck Noland was in and the last few weeks he was on that island. he made a determined conscience decision that he was getting off. i feel similarly about the weight here as I'm down to the last few weeks (i hope). it's just going to come off. I did another 9 miles today - that just keeps getting easier and it's making a difference. i ate during the day (before the run) so no food tonight. I'm working late with my friend again so i'll be late home and that makes not eating easier.

i guess the movie is pretty inspiring to me on a number of levels. first Tom Hanks performance was spectacular, the script and concept were spectacular and the lesions conveyed were spectacular.

Here's just three I love:

Don't take anyone for granted.
Don't sweat the small stuff.
Live each day like it's your last.

I weighed 222.6 today.

quick blog

Couldn't quite do 9 tonight got 8 miles. Dropped weight again. Down to 222.2. If the doctor is right about the 40lbs of excess skin that means I have just 14.8 pounds to lose. That may be the case. I'm almost there I guess.

I weighed 222.2 today.

getting aggressive

Feels good to be doing a little more exercise then where the routine has been. The weight is dropping a little faster as a result also, that's the real pay off. I ran 9 miles today - it was hard to get a treadmill tonight. Not just the ones I want but any. The place was so crowded I had to wait for one to open up. It's the first day back to work for many and I'm sure getting more exercise or losing weight was a new years resolution for many. I hope it stays this crowded. I hope people stick with it.

If you do you'll be glad you did! :)

I weighed 223.2 today.

The Devil Came on Horseback

I saw this documentary at SXSW 2 years ago. Now that Netflix has "play instant" available on a Mac I think I've played it 5x in the last few days. It's one of the best documentary's ever made. I highly recommend it. Warning - it isn't easy to watch.

It's going to be a brief blog tonight - I need to head home and help my daughter with an art project.

I ran 6 miles this morning - came back and really put some effort into the site and some shooting of more stills. Decided that I really needed a second run, ended up trying to go for another 12 - made it to 10.7, feels great though. It's crunch time, the deadline of one year is fast approaching and I'd really like to make the goal.

I weighed 226 today.

it's saturday

It's Saturday and I'm here again! Got my run in - 1 hour 6 mile version - felt great. It's getting easier every time now. I'm not putting any pressure on myself to increase the routine at this point though. Do want to drop well into the teens by the end of January though. Really need to make that happen. Dropped a little weight - it is the weekend and I'm glad to be at work right now because it will keep from eating! Just trying to catch up on some work for my website.

I weighed 227.4 today.

Ran 12 miles today

I couldn't run over the new year holiday - and I did over-eat, I did gain too much, so this morning with the pre-run weigh in being so high - I thought MAYBE - I should try to do two 6 mile runs. I did and it really helped and was not too hard to do.

I made the even bigger mistake of not thanking the folks at the Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center in my last blog! Don't know how I could have left them out - after all they have been such a great group of trainers and staff members, all of them - constantly being so encouraging and helpful! Thanks to all of you - you do Mayo Clinic SO PROUD! Thanks for your role in my great year of 2008!

Of course a big thank you to Daniel Abraham who's generosity makes the center not only possible but first class!

I weighed 228.4 today.