Happy New Year in 2011 I lived Life Out Loud and lost 30 pounds

Well here we are the new year has come!!! What happened in 2011 Well I started off the year at somewhere around 320 and I knew I needed to make a life change. It was a struggle, weight loss and keeping it off is like getting married. You take a vow to yourself, through sickness and in health to death do us part.

I had some injuries along the way but I close out the year down a solid 30 pounds from last year. I had some really tought struggles around the holidays and when I hurt my head. My knee also went out for a couple of weeks and I have tennis elbow but I wouldn't give back the experiences for anything.


I rode the Red Ribbon Ride, Played lots of dodge ball, Came in 7th in a Triathlon and set a new personal best in the swim.


I am going to start the new year off by pledging to lose 20 pounds in 2012 and keep it off. I am starting the year off by signing up for not only Gladiator but also Boxing and I am keeping up on Dodge Ball Every Friday. I may even sneak in a 5 Hour spin or two in training for the Red Ribbon Ride.


What strikes out in my mind are a couple of phrases I keep hearing to remember for 2012.


Live Life Out Loud.


Love the Life you Live and Live a Life you Love.


Always give your best whatever it may be and you will feel good about your effort.


Have faith and Hope that things are constantly getting better. 


Life is not short if we live it with all we have.

I hope you have a great new years. My offer to you is this. Come train with me, bike with me, start clean eating with me. I can tell you this, if you really commit yourself to weight loss you will lose weight. It is a lot of hard work and can seem like it's not fun some of the time.


 Instead of the saying my grandma always says to me "a minute on the lips, a lifetime on the hips" just remember no food will ever taste better than feeling thin and healthy feels.

I am thankful for my health, I am thankful for a body that allows me to walk and exercise, I am thankful for my sight and hearing, my family and friends, I am thankful I

Well here we are the week before Christmas .  Yesterday I weighed in at 284.9  that's lower than I have been in over a year. I was looking through some pictures of when I started my new job. There is a picture of me at the sales convention holding an award we got and I look fat. I had a pretty good size double chin which is much smaller now. My new hope is that I have no fat on my chin by next year. 

I did some shopping this week because of all the holiday sales. I went to gap and tried on a new pair of jeans. Believe it or not I'm down a pants size. This makes me very happy. All the cardio and spinach are paying off!!!

 Over the holidays I still need to watch what I eat. Christmas eve I am going to do an hour on the treadmill in the morning and make sure I eat a healthy breakfast and drink lots of water. Lets pledge together that we are not going to over eat on Christmas or new years. 

Some tips I can offer for holiday eating . 

1.Don't drink eggnog or other fatty drinks, pay attention to how much you drink and make sure you drink water instead of pop. Limit beer and any drink made with pop or 

red bull. 

2. Eat nuts and vegetables or even cheese over cookies and sweet treats. Stay away from fatty dips and chips. 

 

3. When eating dinner pay attention to how much you eat and stay away from fatty foods. Eat salad and vegetables over meat and hot dish.

 

4.For desert have one or two but not 10 over the course of a party.

I have one month until the national sales seminar again. I know I am going to be leaner than last year. I am around 285 now I  am going to shoot for 280 by the seminar. I really need to keep up the cardio and not let myself lax on my no bad food diet but I am sure I can do it.

I think this holiday season it's important for us to give thanks and be great full for what we have. I am still heavier than I want to be but I lost a lot of weight this year. 

I am thankful for my health, I am thankful for a body that allows me to walk and exercise, I  am thankful for my sight and hearing, my family and friends, I am thankful I live a life I love. 

Here come the Holidays Duck and maybe you'll miss getting hit by Fat

Above is one of the many reasons I am heaver than I would like to be. When we had my son I put on 70 pounds that I have fought with ever since. I also put on 90 when we had my daughter. I am no longer the 6 foot 4   215 pound 4.5% body fat person I was before I had kids. I am doing well in my book, we are expecting our 3rd and I am at 288.5 today. That's down from almost 320 last Christmas. Around this year I start thinking about seeing all of my sales friends at our annual National sales convention in Florida. Last year no matter how hard I dieted or worked out or starved or took diet pills I could not get below 300.

     This year I find myself below that and looking back at the struggle. I have the hard core family dinners to come but I think I can fend them off. I need to duck and cover sometimes when a family member throws cookies my way, some people just don't care if you are on a diet they want you to try their food. 

     Some of my fat friends are the worst. We share stories about how we are trying to lose weight but then push bad food on each other during the holidays.  I don't know if it comes from deep insecurity or us having  a hate for fat people that pushes us to do it. I know when I was thin I was annoyed by fat people and now that I am not thin I find myself upset at how much I put into how we look.

     Everyone has something going on that you don't see. If we know people are trying to lose weight, we need to encourage them. Sabotage is never a good way to deal with family or friends that are over weight even if it might make us feel better seeing someone else eating that food we would secretly love to eat.

     I am back into my workouts and trying to get below 285 by Christmas. I know I can do it and I know you can keep away from foods that are bad or you this holiday. And if you want a fun workout join me at the Uptown Minneapolis YWCA Friday 6:45-8 for adult dodge ball,  you'll be glad you did.


 - Gabe

Happy Monday 12 Days Of Christmas Fire side Caribou Coffee and Cookies

Cracked My Head On Thanksgiving Up a few Pounds time to work out

Well It's been a wild ride since my last post. I was down a lot before thanksgiving. I was feeling really good, I ate dinner on Thanksgiving and didn't over eat. It might have been partially because I grabbed the metal top of a pan that had just come out of the oven and burnt my hand right as I was dishing up my meal. I sat for just long enough for my food to get nice and cold =)

Next I was still feeling good and I went outside to play food ball with my cousins and my kids. Well Somehow I got onto the street to catch a ball.  I ended up falling backwards with all my weight landing on my head first.  I remember putting my hands under my head because it hurt really bad. I remember thinking I shouldn't get up, then pulling my hands out from under me and they were covered in blood. Well soon after I went to the ER where I got a Tetanus shot, 5 X-rays of my jaw and 3 staples in the back of my head.  I couldn't eat any desert because it hurt to much to move my jaw.

The last week I have not been working out because I have had bouts of being really dizzy and tired. I got the staples out and clearance  to exercise Friday. Saturday I did the 2 hour Spin for World AIDS day at the Midtown YWCA. I did put on a few pounds not exercising and eating because I was feeling upset and not my regular self. Now its time to burn it all off and then some. Tomorrow I get back on my clean eating and working out at the Y. 

I hope you all had a Great  Thanksgiving and if you added a pound or two don't despair we can take them off.. 

 - Peace , Gabe