Yikes – it’s already almost the sixth month of the year! I’ve been feeling really good about how I’ve been eating, and even though June is still two days away, I decided I didn’t want to wait two more days before having my monthly weigh-in. So, this morning, I stepped on the scale.
DOWN FIVE POUNDS SINCE MAY FIRST!
Very exciting news. It wasn’t a complete surprise, since I’ve weighed myself a couple times over the past few weeks to see how I’m doing, but I’m still elated, especially since this month was a challenge, what with my surgery and my inability to exercise afterwards (I’m still not able to fully exercise, but I am walking a lot). I still have 10 pounds to go before I lose the 15 that I gained when I fell off the wagon, but I’m getting there! Read the rest of this entry »
Project Runway, here I come! I’ve lost a few pounds since popping that button, and while I haven’t worn the pants since the repair, I have a good feeling it won’t pop again.
It’s been an up-and-down sorta day. It started with a double-whammy: it’s been great having my mom here to help out while I recover from my surgery, but I took her to the airport bright and early this morning so she could hop a plane back to Michigan. It was a bummer to see her ago, and I’m man enough to admit that I already miss her.
Despite the circumstances, we had a nice visit (it also helped that the outcome of the surgery provided so much good news). We saw extended family a couple times, and before the surgery we had a nice meal out and saw “The Great Gatsby.” The other day we both wanted to get out of my place for a little while, so we turned a trip to Trader Joe’s into a pleasant scenic drive, where I pointed out a few celebrity homes and stopped at two very scenic overlooks on Mulholland, the road that winds across the top of the Hollywood Hills.
I only see my mom a couple times a year, and luckily for me, I’ll get to see her (and my dad) in about a month, so that will be really nice. Plus, she left behind presents in my freezer in the form of healthy food:
There’s a lot to talk about in this post, but I thought I’d kick things off with a quickie update: It’s been one week since my beginning-of-the-month weigh-in, and yesterday I stepped on the scale and was down 2 pounds. Woo-hoo!
Moving on…
If you’ve been a diligent Keep It Up, David reader (and I know each and every one of you has been, right?), than you’ll remember that, about a month ago, I fell off the wagon (and directly onto a pile a junk food) and stayed off the wagon for a couple weeks after a health concern unexpectedly threw me for a major loop. As the aforementioned two pounds shows, I’m back on the wagon and making progress on losing the weight I gained, but I left you in the dark about what else is going on. Well, you won’t be in the dark for much longer. Here’s what’s going on:
About a month ago, I got contacted by an editor at Everyday Health, a big health and wellness website. And by ‘big,’ I mean ‘gigantic’ – they get 20 million unique visitors a month. They were starting a new column featuring weight loss success stories, and the editor was curious if I’d be interested in being featured. Heck yea! I provided some photos and answered a bunch of questions and woke up today to an email saying that my column was published. Happy Friday to me! Check out my Everyday Health column by clicking here.
I filled out the questionnaire before I had my most recent weigh-in and before I fessed up to the troubles I’ve been having this month, but I just reread what I wrote, and it all rings true, and is all good advice for the situation I find myself in now. So nice that the me of the past is looking out for the me of the future!
EXCITING NEWS! You know how I’m featured in Richard Simmons’ new infomercial for Project H.O.P.E.? The infomercial clocks in at a full 30 minutes, but the online version is only 7 minutes, and I was left on the editing room floor. So unless you set your DVR, or happened to catch it on basic cable in the middle of the night, there’s a good chance you haven’t seen my little part of the infomercial yet.
UNTIL NOW! Check it out: the portion featuring the long-term success stories (me and my friends Joanne and Lori) is now on YouTube! It’s only 80 seconds – watch right here:
Man, I love hard-boiled eggs. I typically hard-boil a dozen eggs a week, and eat them as part of my lunches and after workouts. Usually, I eat only the whites, and toss the yolks into the trash, along with the shells, but every once in a while, I’ll eat one whole egg in addition to 2 or 3 more whites. Egg whites are an excellent source of protein, are fat-free, and low in calories.
So I was very excited to get my hands on an infomercial product that promised to make hard-boiled eggs a snap to make. The product is called Eggies, and here’s the commercial, in case you haven’t seen it (I’ve seen it roughly 2,500 times):
I can’t divulge where I got the Eggies, but I’m happy that I didn’t pay for them (and, no, I didn’t shoplift them). I don’t think that hard-boiling eggs is a particularly difficult proposition, and I’ve never been nearly as flustered as the women at the beginning of the commercial, but I’m all for kitchen shortcuts. And, well, I love informercial products. I’m in! Read the rest of this entry »
My legs are still sore from last night’s workout. It was the best workout I’ve had in a while, partly because I pushed myself, and partly because it happened in a very cool new location. That location is called the St. Andrews Stairway, and it’s actually not very new at all.
Back in the 1920s, a public stairway was built up the side of the Hollywood Hills, to allow residents on higher streets an easy way to come down to catch the streetcars that used to zip around Los Angeles (hard to believe, but back in the day LA used to have one of the largest public transportation networks in the country). The stairway is cleverly called the St. Andrews Stairway, as it starts at the end of St. Andrews road. Despite it being there for nearly 100 years, I didn’t know it existed, even though last fall, I ran right past it during an evening run. It didn’t catch my eye during that run because it wasn’t lit at night, but that changed last month.
I read online a few weeks ago that some 8 or 9 decades after initial construction, the city of Los Angeles finally made good on their promise to install streetlights on the St. Andrews Stairway, and I realized that it was relatively close to my office. So last night, I laced up my running shoes and went for a run. And even though I’ve only been twice (once last night, and again today to take some photos to share here), I’ll come out and say it: I love the St. Andrews Stairway!
There are 153 stairs (I counted myself). That’s basically a 10-story building! Here’s what they look like from the bottom. The arrow is pointing to the wall at the very top of the stairs, all the way up on Tryon Drive.
I hope your holidays were fantastic, like mine were. I went to Michigan for Christmas, and then to Chicago for a couple days for New Years. Now I’m back in Los Angeles, where I’m fighting a nasty cold and working my way through a box of tissues like nobody’s business. I have a (hopefully) fun post with lots of (hopefully) fun pictures planned of some highlights from my Christmas vacation, but I’m just too tired to start working on it now. But, I didn’t want to leave you hanging, since it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything – 17 days, as it was pointed out to me via text message from a friend and reader. So… here’s what happened when I stepped on the scale this morning! It’s my first weigh in of 2013!
I made it through the holidays without gaining weight!
A big hello to everyone that's discovering Keep It Up, David for the first time! I'm glad you're here.
My name is David. I live in Los Angeles, and I'm 33 years old. In January 2010, I began eating better and exercising more, so I could lose weight. So far, so good - I've lost over 160 pounds! But now that it's getting tougher, and the weight is coming off more slowly, I need to find new ways to keep motivated and on-track. I'll blog about my progress and share my struggles and successes. Join me on my journey!
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