My 2013 Christmas Wish List

I know the year's don't actually go by any faster but they sure seem that way as we get older. Such is the case this year as another holiday season looms upon us. The time of year when everyone seems more friendly and some of us tend to dream a little bigger.

This Christmas I've already received the best gifts I could have hoped for. Both of my parents are still around and in pretty good health overall. My brother, sister-in-law, nephew and niece are all doing well in the sunny south although it sure would be nice to see them more often.

For me personally the biggest gift I could have hoped for was actually having something taken away from me over the last year. That of course was my added weight and large frame. I'm still a big guy but being over 150 pounds lighter than I was a year ago is a gift that has given me back my life and freedom to be active. I think I'm probably smiling a lot more these days as well. Hopefully my continued weight loss efforts and gym membership will bring about an even svelter and happier version of myself a year from now.

But even though I've had all of these wonderful and personal gifts already, that isn't going to stop me from putting forth my annual and usually over the top Christmas Wish List. I'm a little early this year but if things don't change, this holiday season will be a busy one for me so I figured I'd better do this while I can. Sure the majority of the items on my list will not be found under the tree this year but it never hurts to give Santa Claus a little nudge. Perhaps an extra cookie and a shot of rum in his eggnog on Christmas Eve will help.

So without any further ado, lets have a little fun and see what I've jotted down on my list this year.

iPhone 5S 16GB

Cost: $800

(I already got this for myself)

Fitbit Force

Cost: $130

(I ended up buying the Flex instead)

Airport Extreme Time Capsule - 3TB

Cost: $400

Logitech Harmony Touch Remote

Cost: $250

Dyson Hot & Cool Fan

Cost: $400

Moxie Showerhead & Wireless Speaker

Cost: $200

Bose Soundlink Mini Speaker

Cost: $220

Xbox One

Cost: $500

Apple iMac 27 inch

Cost: $2050

Nikon D3x DSLR Camera

Cost: $8000

Sharp AQUOS 90 inch LED Smart 3D TV

Cost: $10-thousand

Mangusta 165' Yacht

Cost: $25 million

Rendezvous with Jennifer Lawrence or Kate Upton

Cost: My soul most likely.

 

2014 Chevy Impala 2LZ

Cost: $40-thousand

2014 Bentley Continental GT Speed Convertible

Cost: $260-thousand

Log Cabin Home in Canada

Cost: $2 Million

Waterfront Home in Florida

Cost: $4 Million

So there you go! Not an extensive list but certainly an expensive and delusional one for sure.

But of course, as I state every year, as long as my health and the health and happiness of my family and close friends remains, that's all I can truly hope for. That and Kate Upton.

To all of you who take the time to visit my blog regularly or to those of you who just stumbled upon it, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy 2014.

Thanks For Terrifying Me Bro!

As this amazing journey of mine continues and I keep working towards the healthiest me possible, I had a moment today to sit and reflect on how far I've come.

I guess I've been so focused on the fight to drop the pounds each day for the last year that I never took the time to appreciate fully what I've accomplished. Don't get me wrong, this isn't about me bragging or flaunting my healthy changes. It's about reflecting on what it has taken to reach my current status on this quest.

My frustration has been building over the last month as my weight loss has stalled. I continue to maintain my weight which is certainly a positive but with my original goal so close, the irritation of not progressing further has had me feeling a bit defeated.

Change Can Be A Good Thing

Of course this is completely ridiculous thinking on my part. The fact I've lost 153 pounds so far really can't be considered anything but a success. Sure I would love to drop those last 15 pounds to reach my goal weight of 250 lbs but at this stage it might take a bit more effort and determination. In other words, I have to take my game to another level to overcome my opponent.

When I think back to a little over a year ago when I began this process, I started to ruminate on what lead me to finally start down the road to a healthier me. Not only that but why did I succeed this time after failing countless times in the past?

It all came down to one conversation I had with my brother Scott.

Visiting Scott and his family in Florida in March of 2012 I was pushing at least 420 pounds. The exact maximum weight I was carrying is up for debate. I hadn't weighed myself in almost two years and at that time I came in at 418 pounds. In all likely hood it's plausible I was weighing closer to 430 or more at this time.

I hadn't yet been officially diagnosed as diabetic but I had been taking my blood sugar readings and they had spiked in recent weeks. We all knew the truth, even me, although I was trying to deny it. Diabetes is quite common in my family so deep down I knew the odds were high I would eventually be hit with the disease as well.

Being in denial it took some eye opening, straight, no bullshit confrontation from my brother to wake me up. It just took me another six months of coming to grips with it before I finally wised up and made the effort to change.

Scott pulled no punches. It was almost like an intervention. My parents were there as well as my sister-in-law Erin. I should mention that Erin is a nurse and my brother in a Nurse Practitioner among other things. He has worked in busy hospital Emergency Rooms and currently oversees the training of Nurses, EMT's and Firefighters. To be honest, he has so many fancy letter combinations after his name I don't know what all he is. PhD is one of them. Long story short, they know what they're talking about when it comes to the medical field.

So there I am sitting there when the onslaught of concern, truth and love began. A lot of things were said but the one thing that stuck with me the most was being told I would most likely be dead within a matter of years and not decades. Being told that your feet, legs and more could be amputated as a result of the combination of obesity and diabetes has a way of grabbing one's attention.

I'm sure at the time I probably brushed it off but I knew there was genuine concern there and with good reason. Scott's intent was to scare me and he had succeeded even if he didn't know it at the time. I'm not sure he realized how much his talk hit me. It did sink in and stuck with me. It's still with me to this day and that fear of death really is quite the motivating tool. The fact that it's the truth just makes it even more powerful.

There are no certainties in life. I could be hit by a bus tomorrow but to sit by and eat myself to death and let my health deteriorate to a point that I can no longer look after myself is something I wasn't prepared to let happen.

So today, thanks to having the crap scared out of me, I'm 153 pounds lighter and the healthiest I've been in decades. I've been going to the gym five times a week for the last month. I'm now using the treadmill and even jogging intervals. I'm lifting weights and strengthening my body. I'm not trying to look like Mr. Olympia, I just want to feel more fit overall.

Being open with my emotions isn't something I'm comfortable with. Don't get me wrong, I'm a very emotional person and have been known to shed tears at weddings or watching movies but when it comes to expressing my feelings to others, I could be better at it. I'm sure my family knows I love them even though I don't say it. I would lay down my life for any of them if I had to but speaking the words in person is something I just don't do. I'll have to work on that.

But I needed to say thanks to my brother for caring enough to give it to me straight. Sure I did all the work to reach this point but without his push, my future would have been grim at best. Perhaps the next time I visit him we can talk about the progress I've made and I can thank him in person. Most likely I'll just buy him lunch instead and we can talk about something more interesting.

Lifting To A Healthier Me

Its been almost two weeks since I joined the local YMCA so I could work out and keep active during the cold winter months and I have to say, so far it's going pretty good.

Not knowing what it would be like I was rather oblivious to the rules, both written and unwritten surrounding life in a gym. Don't get me wrong, it's not a big deal and very reasonable and responsible. The simple things like wiping down machines after you've used them makes total sense. And I like that fact that this place is very clean and well looked after.

I honestly don't see what the big deal is with mobile phones though. They don't like you taking photos or using your phones in the gym. Granted, I realize there are creeps out there but some people rely on their phones for work or to stay in touch with family. I can understand them not wanting photos taken in the pool area, but if I'm working out and want to take a photo of myself using a machine, where's the harm in that? But I know it's easier just to make a blanket rule to ban all mobile phone use so there's no confusion. Truth be told, I see people using their phones all the time. It doesn't bother me in the least, provided you're not snapping shots of me in the shower.

A look at my progress so far.

As far as the actual workouts and exercise goes, I'm pleased with my efforts so far. I've been to the gym every day except one since I joined. I usually do intervals on the treadmill for 30 minutes to start each visit. I'll walk at 6 km/h and jog at 9 km/h, alternating between each one every few minutes. I'll also increase the incline so I'm always going uphill. I try to walk 3.5 kilometres and burn around 360 calories in the 30 minutes. I usually work up quite a sweat.

I'll then move into the strength training portion of my visit. I usually alternate between arms one day and legs the next. I'll also throw in some abdominal, back and shoulder work as well. The first couple of days I felt some pain using muscles I hadn't used in some time but to be honest, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

While I don't have any official routine, I have some favourite machines I use to work the muscles I want to target. Some day in the future I may target more specific areas but I just try to get in a good general workout.

Most days so far I just keep to myself but I have chatted with a couple of friendly and fit ladies and I've also run into a few guys I haven't seen in quite some time. It would be nice to have a regular workout buddy to help push each other but I'm doing pretty well on my own so far.

I'd like to keep going at least 5 days a week and take the weekends to rest if all goes well but of course other things come up that could throw a wrench in those plans. Like my eating, I'm trying to make going to the gym part of my daily routine and plan my days around it. So far it's going well.

Now The Pain Begins

I have mixed feelings today.

I finally bit the bullet, opened my wallet and joined the local YMCA. It's an expense I'd rather not have but it's also something that I don't think I can go without.

Having lost over 150 pounds so far I'm thrilled with my results but simply cutting back on my food intake and walking many kilometres will only do so much. I needed to take that next step towards shaping the new me.

With that knowledge I joined the gym today. I'm not a fan of winter and the cold so this will allow me an opportunity to workout and walk inside. The treadmill is foreign to me but in time I'm sure I'll get a grasp of how to use it.

I've never been a "gym guy" so to speak. This goes back to my late teens when I used to visit another local fitness club semi-regularly and always found it to be kinda snobby. I always felt like people were looking at me and wondering why I was infringing on their gym experience and social group. The truth of the matter is I rarely talked to anyone when I was there other than people I knew or worked out with. So maybe those snobby people thought I was a snob as well. But I certainly didn't come from money like they did. We didn't travel in the same social or economic circles

New Under Armour Workout Gear

But having visited the YMCA a couple of times to check it out before joining I don't think that will be much of a concern. The people I've seen for the most part are just average everyday folks like myself and I think I'll fit right in.

My other concern was something that has always been an issue for me and that's acceptance. By this I mean having people looking at my large body and talking about me or pointing at me. Eventually this stopped bothering me because I stopped caring what others thought. Again, I don't think this will be a problem here. For one thing, I'm not quite as big as I used to be and I think people today in general are more accepting of overweight individuals making an effort to get healthy. The snobs are in the minority now. Kind of like Caucasians in Canada.

Even though its been over 20 years since I last used free weights or did any kind of real weight lifting and exercise of that type, I still remember the pain associated with using muscles I haven't strained in some time. That pain is not something I'm looking forward to but I know that eventually it will pass as I work through it. The thought of not being able to get out of bed without Advil doesn't excite me but what lies beyond that pain threshold does. The results of toning and tightening my ever shrinking and sagging body is something I look forward to.

So what do I hope to achieve?

One thing I don't care about is having big muscles although losing some of the flab and seeing some of the results would be nice. What I really want is to gain strength and hopefully continue to lose body fat both inside around my organs and on the visible surface.

During my walk through the gym today I spotted a couple of fit guys running on the treadmills. I'm a long way from being able to do that but perhaps one day I'll be able to increase the speed of my walk to a jog.

The facility also has a couple of pools which were busy today with it being a Sunday. I'm not sporting much of a beach body but I might be willing to try my hand at a few lengths of the pool if there aren't too many people around to begin with. A few of the girls in bikini's there today seemed comfortable so I suppose eventually I'll get more comfortable at some point.

Now it's just a matter of making the time to get to the gym for an hour or two each day or as often as possible and to begin the next step of my weight loss journey. My hope is that it will eventually become a routine and a regular part of my day that I plan my schedule around. It would be nice to have a workout buddy to help motivate me and keep me honest but I don't know anyone yet. But who knows, maybe I'll meet someone and we'll help push each other to reach our goals. Either way, I'm going to get the job done.

Closing In On My Goal

Time for another quick weight loss update.

After over 25 years of trying and failing to lose weight, this time things are going well.

I was asked by someone, what's the difference this time as opposed to my previous attempts? I don't have a clear cut answer but if I had to try and narrow it down it would probably just be my ability to stick to my plan. It's a simple plan and has worked for me.

1. Limit my daily calorie intake.
2. Remove all regular pop from my diet.
3. Exercise at least 5 days a week.

For the most part I have been able to stick to these three simple goals although I do have the odd day where I will eat a bit more than I should. The difference being that before I would do that and relapse into my old ways. This time if I do mess up I don't let it become a habit again. These changes have become more of a lifestyle change rather than a diet.

Latest progress comparison photo - profile view.

My daily calorie intake that I allow myself is 2000. That's not a lot compared to what I used to eat. The old me could easily eat 5000 or more calories a day. Heck, I could still do it today if I allowed myself to but that's where the willpower comes in. As I said, there are still days that I'll eat slightly more than 2000 calories but as long as I'm close and don't do it every day I can live with it.

I also try to cut out or at the very least cut down on the late night eating. When you work nights and sleep days, that isn't always possible. I'll have supper before I go to work and then I'll have a sandwich and snack at 1am. Not the greatest but it's still better than having fast food for lunch. Plus, you have to eat or your body will try to store fat because it thinks you need it. That's why it's better to eat several small meals and drink lots of water rather than one big meal a day.

The exercise I get is usually just in the form of walking. A typical walk could be anything from 3 to 12 kilometres depending on where I am and how energetic I feel. Plus in the summer I'm back to walking the golf course instead of taking golf carts. I'm proud of the fact that this summer I golfed over 40 times and not once did I rent a golf cart.

I've been talking about joining the local YMCA or a gym but as of yet haven't made that move. I want to but the membership fees have kept me from taking the plunge but I'm leaning towards biting the bullet and taking the financial hit soon. It's not a huge amount but $50 a month is still something I'm not thrilled about spending. But I suppose if I think about how much money I used to spend on fast food each month, it's probably a lot less. Plus, I'm still a big guy and have that big guy mentality that only fit people go to the gym and look down on bigger people. Perhaps times have changed.

As far as eliminating all regular pop from my diet, that was huge. I've talked about it before that I would drink a lot of pop every day and now that I think about how much sugar I was consuming, that change alone has gone a long way towards helping me to try and reach my goal.

And speaking of my goal, I'm getting closer to it. The whole point of this update was to just keep everyone that has been following and supporting my journey towards a healthier me up to date on my progress. So here are the numbers folks:

Starting Weight: 418.8 pounds

Current Weight: 266.4 pounds

Weight Lost To Date: 152.4 pounds

Original Goal: 250 pounds

So I'm only 16.4 pounds away from reaching the original goal I set when I began this quest. I am also now just 4.4 pounds away from reaching my high school football / rugby weight when I played my last year of Senior ball. And for the record, I have no plans to get back into a scrum anytime soon. I don't miss the ear biting and nipple pinching.