July Weight Loss Chart Update

I wasn’t planning on posting during the long holiday weekend, but I couldn’t sit on this post any longer. I had my once-a-month weigh-in at the beginning of the week, and the results were fantastic. I postponed this post so I could share my Fitbloggin recaps (read them here, here and here), but I can’t postpone any longer! Here’s what the scale said:

Down SIX POUNDS during the month of June!  I tend to make

Early Weigh-In Results and Produce Haul

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!

Double Yolks. PLUS, Watch the Infomercial Online!

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:

Big thanks to my buddy Jon. Check out some behind-the-scenes photos from the infomercial shoot here.

Moving on…

The most bizarre thing happened recently.

Punched in the Gut By ‘The Whale’

I don’t think I’ve ever really shared on this blog what a huge fan I am of live theater. I haven’t consciously been hiding that part of my life from you, it’s just that my theater-going and my escapades in healthy living and weight loss don’t ever really overlap. They overlapped this weekend, though, when I saw a powerful new play that ended up leaving me breathless. It features strong performances and a compelling story, but what really brought the tears to my eyes (literally) was the fact that it hit really close to home. Too close to home.

The play is called “The Whale,” and South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California is presenting the West Coast premiere. “The Whale,” written by Samuel D. Hunter, tells the story of the final days of a man named Charlie, who is succumbing to congestive heart failure and other complications brought on by his extreme obesity. Charlie weighs 600 pounds, refuses medical treatment except for that provided by his only friend, a nurse named Liz, and is a complete shut-in in his small apartment in rural Idaho.

EGGIES! Plus: Weight Loss Chart Update!

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!

2012 Year-End Progress Report

We’re already halfway through January? 2013 is just flying by! At the moment, I feel like I’m finally free and clear of the cold that I’ve been fighting for about 2 weeks now, but I won’t feel that way in the morning. Every morning I wake up stuffed up and snotty, and by the end of the day, I feel much better. Then, I wake up the next day feeling stuffed up and snotty again, and the cycle resumes. I’m tired of it.

I haven’t been letting my cold affect my routine too much. I’ve still been working out 3-4 times a week, which has become my norm, including a workout today, and another one yesterday, too. And I’m still logging all my workouts in my calendar (8 so far in January), and brings me to the focus of today’s post:

My 2012 Year-End Progress Report! Even though I haven’t posted a monthly report since July, I’ve still been tracking everything, and it’s time to summarize my year in exercise.

First Weigh-In of 2013!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!

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!

Exercise Victories and Weight Loss Chart Update

My exercise routine has evolved (or perhaps devolved) significantly over the course of 2012. For the first half of the year, I was easily meeting my goal of working out 6 times a week (with 5 times a week being acceptable). But that was an easy goal for me to reach, as I was unemployed at the time, with a lot of free time.

But then in June, I started my new job, and exercising became more difficult, as I went from jobless to 50-55 hours a week in an office. I never stopped exercising altogether, but I did cut back significantly, to 3 days a week. Earlier this fall, I felt myself getting a little lazier with my workouts, which was one of the reasons I signed up for the 10K I ran last month. My plan worked: prepping for the 10K was the perfect way to get focused and excited about working out again.

After the race was over, though, the laziness returned. And I had no plan in motion to combat that laziness. Until I stepped on a plane and flew to Colorado for Thanksgiving. Sometimes there’s nothing like a getaway to reboot your system!

Easy Pumpkin Dip AND Weight Loss Chart Update!

By the time you read this, it’ll already be November 12th, and I just realized I never posted my most recent weigh-in results from… um… 12 days ago. Whoopsy, my bad! I got a little swept up in last weekend’s 10K race, which, by the way, left me sore in my quads and calves for nearly three days. Even though the race is over and done with, I still ran three more times last week, due to the convenience of running and my new habit of bringing a change of clothes to the office so I can hit the streets as soon as I’m done with work.

But I digress. I have a weight loss chart to update! For anyone that may be new here, I’ve kept a weight loss chart since I began this endeavor nearly three years ago (!), and every month I update it with my weight as a way to stay accountable, remind myself of my successes, and track my progress. After I weighed myself on November first, I updated my chart like this:

I stayed even at 241 pounds. I’ll confess that I was hoping for a loss, on account of all the running I’d been doing to prepare for the 10K, but I’ll take it! After two months of small gains, I’m glad that I stopped adding weight. And looking back at calendar year 2012, which that photo shows, I realized that I’ve stayed within the same 5-pound range since January. That’s pretty sweet, even though I’m at the high end of the range at the moment.

241 pounds represents a loss of 161 pounds. I don’t get tired of reminding myself of that! Here’s the chart in its entirety (for you new folks, it’s hanging on my closet wall, where I can see it every day as I dress):

weSPARK Universal Studios Backlot 10K RECAP!

My legs are still sore, ladies and gentleman, from the 10K race I ran on Sunday. That means I really pushed myself. And I’m really proud of how things turned out. But I’m jumping ahead of myself… I should start at the beginning.

Sunday was a beautiful day for a race: sunny and clear, although it was hot. It ended up being 90 degrees that day, and even though the race was held early in the morning, it was obvious that the day was going to be a scorcher. I got to Universal Studios a little before 8am, and met up with a bunch of friends that were also participating in either the 10K or the 5K run/walk. My buddy Mikael took this picture of me near the starting line…