Oh how far I have come and how far I have left to go

Right now I am battling the postive relationship I have had with the scale. I am now down over 160 pounds in total and 140 since last April when I started the Atkins Diet. Here is my current profile shot:

I know there are those people that call them (scales) evil. I call my friend. The same guy (of course mine is a guy) who has doled out such consistent loss numbers over the course of the last 9 months has taken a departure. Oh it is still doling out numbers like +4 higher than it was on Wednesday, but they are a lot less friendly one. I am taking this opportunity to reenforce all my old habits, aka the ones that generated 4 pounds per week loss for 6 months, so I am now:

* committed to using Fitday again. (Can't go by habit anymore I guess)
* dropping my flavored water habit (had at one point drank 64oz per day in addition to the 60-100 oz of regular) I am going back to 140 oz of regular water per day.
* Keeping the exercise level high - Cardio (from 3 times to 4 times/week) and weight lifting (still doing 2- 3 day cycles of weights).
* Final one is I am going to attempt to stop stressing about the weight. I am starting to let myself go hungry at night in an effort to see a positive scale result in the morning. I am also re-committing myself to thanking God each morning for whatever the result is on the scale and for the progess I have had so far.

I have gotten out of touch with what has generated 138 (re: 134 today) of weight loss, and the positive feeling about my weight loss. I get more comments today than ever, but they ring hollow when the scale is not as responsive. I will probably bring out the other friend (Mr Tape Measure) later and get alternative one done. A little early, I usually tape once a month and it is too soon in January to be doing it.

Profile Pic

Here is my Before-During Shot:

How spent my summer vacation - losing!

This post might be more travelogue or "how I spent my summer vacation" report, but I thought it time to post how I am doing on my weightloss journey. The trip seems to work very well in detailing on how to live on Atkins. The story also seemingly ends very bad. Then in a very surprise O. Henry moment the story twists to end well.

We left more than a hour late on Saturday (what family of 6 doesn't) to start our trip (about 3 hours with bathroom breaks) with a car full of junk food. My solace was previous late night trip for Chicken Breast deli slices, Swiss, pepperoni and Wells Carb Freedom yogurt (5g). We stopped early and often along with way with two five year old girl's bladders in the car. The trip lengthened in pain when we realized we forgot my laptop charger, so the movie (and attention grabbing) diversion was short-lived with the battery life.

With the help of our in-car GPS software on my PDA (minus one attached GPS), we made it safely. Before I continue, I feel I must account for the geekiness of the trip (gps software, laptops, and PDAs - OH MY!! ), but a job in the computer field has to have some benefits with the long weekend hours. As the kids rush us to the entrance gate in a very Grisworld-like Vacation moment, we fail to check the camera for batteries, which were at the moment packed away. We also discovered one of the 5 year old twins (fraternal -- but still!) required full admission price while the other still qualifies for junior rate. They're within a 1/2 inch of each other in height.

Being surrounded by junk food at the park and partially tempted by old eating patterns all day, I think I did amazingly well. In the 9 hours at the park, I had a ton of water and chipotle chicken salad (in the world of this food cart vendor "chipotle" meant drenched Louisana hot sauce). Now for the relevant part of the story with the original post, I made it on all the rides I tried and was not turned away once for being a "person of size" in SouthWest airline speak. My boy, who is 7 and initially was timid about going on pretty tame ride, even ventured on the tall wooden rollercoaster, the TimberWolf, with me.

This was the ride I was most worried about being rejected on that day. I initially got a glimmer of hope when another bigger guy was in the cart before us. I shoved down the restraint and heard one click, but trying for ultimate ride safety, I shoved even harder and managed one more click. So being two clicks from certain death, I was reasonably assured Atkins WOE prevented any humiliation. (Brett made it through the ride with flying colors as I kept reminding him his older sister didn't dare to come -- never hurts to play to a kid's sibling competition to get through a task ).

In the end, we walked a lot around the park. The kids were thoroughly tired and couldn't even stay for fireworks. Although initially covered in Sun block creme, we all got a bit sun burnt as well.

After swimming and visiting the KC zoo (more walking) the next day, we started the trek home. About a hour and half later, we stopped for supper at a small town restaurant. The meal was exorbitant (no prices available beforehand), so I left stewing in the car after paying the bill. Thinking more about bill calculations than driving, I backed up into another car. !@&!@#^ Small town, local plates, and out of town driver seemed like a recipe for disaster albeit we just scraped bumpers. I went inside immediately to find the owner of the other vehicle. Found him and brought him outside to survey the "damage" -- the older gentlemen actually laughed. His car was a semi-old car with rust spots.

He said, "you came in to tell me about that? Heck that's nothing. Look at this ding on the bumper. Don't worry about it." Well fortunate that the other owner was uninterested in the new application of grey paint to his car, I was still peeved at my driving and the gouge in my bumper. Whether due to this new stress or the dinner we just had, I got feeling sick with over a hour to go. We made it home just in time for me.

After unloading the car concluded, I went upstairs to see what the other damage of the weekend and the possible overeating (I had Wendy's Triple no bun and a ton of dry chicken and roast beef for supper) was for the weekend. I approached the scale with much trepidation (probably more than I had bringing my son to the TimberWolf). I hopped on, and it read

over 2 pounds less!!!

Woohoo!! I am down about 65 pounds now in 3 months of Atkins Diet. I started this WOE (Way of Eating) weighing in at 411 on 03-31-04 (just after returning home from Brainshare). On the scale this morning, I am still at 347, but being down 65 pounds in 93 days is great. If you want to see my ongoing loss, here is my Fitday page.

50 pounds in 67 days - Better than "Round the World in 80 days"

Although it doesn't quite have the same ring. I reached one milestone on Sunday - 50 pounds down on Atkins!! I have lost a total of 62 pounds this year. In that time, I have dropped 6-8 pant sizes and dropped a tremendously bad habit - 2 gallons of Diet Dew per day. My wife enjoys that I cook most of the meals now and even convinced her that low carb is the way to lose weight.

If someone would have told me in March that I was going to be 50#'s lighter by June I would have said they were crazy. I had tried low calorie, aerobic exercise, and low fat with little success (only 10# in 4 months). I still find it hard to believe I am not in 400's anymore, but then again I still catch myself writing "2003" in the date box on checks. I remember all the walking we did at Brainshare 2004, and dragging that excess weight around. I sure hope that being in the 200's again will sink in a little more.

I have posted a few during photos in my photoblog as well. 50 pounds down and another 150 or so to go....

Diet on Atkins going well - Diet and Technology analogy

I should have more technical blog entries in the near future. I am in the beginning stages of a number of large projects, from enterprise backup to implementing another imaging cluster.

Closing on our new house is progressing well. With financing, insurance, and inspections (both parental for Laura and professional for me) settled upon, the list of things to do is depleting as quickly as the school year for the kids. June 16 can not come quick enough for me.

My diet is going well - I am down close to 40 pounds on Atkins and over 50 pounds overall. I weighed in this morning at a still quite hefty 374 and had my body fat percent tested to be 26% at mybodycomp, down almost 20 percent. I was thinking I can't say the last time I weighed this weight -- I never had a big enough scale so I went clueless as my weight went up and up. My weight is seemingly a direct technology analogy. Without measurable goals to compare one's performance against, the day to day actions can rapidly get off track, such as server bloat or weight gain. Servers start to accumulate and rapidly become out of date with patches. Test boxes with evaluation editions of software (like Enterprise SQL) become production support servers, and new technology creeps in without a clear enterprise mandate. Current problems or cravings take precedent over logical future project planning. In essence, you only focus on the tactical and never the strategic.

The moral of the story is if you aren't measuring an item towards a goal, you don't have control.

Stop being scale obsessive

I have to admit one negative side-effect of being on Atkins is the scale obsession. With normal diets, one doesn't have to check the scale everyday let alone more than once a week. With Atkins during Induction at least, the pounds fly off each day, and sometimes too much positive reenforcement is not a good thing. Today was not a good scale day, not a horrible one, just one without any weight loss whatsoever. If I had the reenforcement of Lipolysis strips, it would one thing to prevent the self-doubt over yesterday's eating. In the end, one just has to admit one can't see pound-a-day each day. The good news I got my order (including testing strips) from Vitamin Shoppe today. Of course being a male, I had to immediately test them - firmly in lipolysis-keitosis.

I have to tell you that test was a lot easier to study for than Microsoft's 70-296!

One other piece of good news I may have the opportunity to write again for an online technology site. I enjoyed the time I did the same thing for BrainBuzz.com (which later became Cramsession), so I look forward to possibly doing it again.

Doing Atkins and seeing results

I haven't commented on weightloss or even posted my spreadsheet in quite a while - over six months in fact. To some extent, why comment if nothing changes was my philosophy. The initial weight loss I had stalled, and not much I did change that fact. I increased how much and long I was walking and lifting, but ran into trouble when my knee started acting up again. It almost went out again just getting into a car, so concern (and arguably laziness) weighed and decided rest was appropriate. For two months I just tried to eat right.

The good news I didn't gain much weight (2 pounds) during that period. The bad news I certainly didn't lose any, and I did lose some muscle in lost weight lifted. Combine all this with similarly-sized brother Tiny reporting his weigh-ins showing 3 pounds per week weight loss, and I had finally reached some conclusions. Tiny has been on Atkins diet since the first of the year and had lost over 75 pounds. With that kind of familial success, I could hardly look the other way. After losing some weight (6 pounds) at Brainshare (due to the walking and quality of the food), I thought now was the time to go in the right direction.

I started Atkins with good concepts based upon web research on the "how to"'s of induction. I have been on Atkins for 5 days and remained strictly under the 20 carb limit. Right now my diet is ultra-boring in terms of preparation mainly food straight from the butcher or limited veggie counter. For an idea on how boring, here is my fitday page (Note: Carb count is often higher than listed on the package). The cravings for carbs have not been bad, but my desire for any food is much reduced as well. Food simply does not have the same desire anymore whether that is due to the blandness or not being carb-addicted anymore remains to be seen. In either case, I have seen success already. I lost 8 pounds this week.

Diet Pills! What are the good for?

Perhaps not "absolutely nothin'"... (if you can pardon the double negative) I have to admit I am taking some diet pills. Since starting taking the thermogenic pills, I have seen some benefits. I have seen a reduction of appetite, which may be more attributable to the foul taste of the pills rather than any ingredients they might have contained. I have lost a few pounds as well, which is always a good thing.

All things have not been rosy though. My eye starts twitching occassionally. I am more likely to get irritable. That may be due to low blood sugar though and not being able to eat any Halloween candy. I also know about the dangers of taking Ephedra. I am torn right now between pills speeding up losing weight (in addition to exercising) and the possible side effects.

Dislocated Patella - Two Months Later

Well this week marked the two months anniversary of my dislocating my patella while playing basketball. I have been exercising rather consistently 2-3 times a week trying to rebuild the muscle and hopefully lose some weight. At this point strength-wise, the bad knee and quadricep is as strong as the good one. I am lifting 100 pounds per leg in multiple sets of 20 reps, and 220 with both legs. (up from only being able to do 20 pounds on the bad leg) On the leg press, I am doing 410 pounds multiple sets. In a controlled atmosphere like the gym, I am pretty confident in the leg. Walking around however is a little more exciting as the leg occasionally "freaks out." It feels like the kneecap will dislocate again. Luckily it only happens once a day or so, and straightening the leg usually eliminates the sensation. Needless to say, I don't think returning to play basketball is in my near future.

I have met Temptation, and her name is Hiland Park Ice Cream

Specifically her name is Hiland Park (Prairie Farms) Old Recipe Candy Bar Crunch ice cream. Since she has come into my life, my diet has gone to hell. I have lost any progress I had made in losing weight. According to the scale this morning, I have gained a number of pounds this past week. I have not been exercising like I should only lifting 3x this week, and walking once. Between the stress of the certification exams and the possible job moves, weight control has slipped from my daily thoughts. I hate making excuses for why I am failing. Heck, I hate failing worse than anything else.

Disappointing weight loss lately

My weight loss has been disappointing lately if the lack of posts hadn't proved that already. I have stagnated in losing any weight at all even though I have started jogging/walking again and doing more extensive weights than before. I'd like to believe the additional weight is muscle, but I am sure that is just denial. I haven't dramatically changed my diet. Although I am eating and snacking less, I am still eating too much -- having 4 slices of pizza when 2 slices would do. As dedicated as I have been to working out, I will attempt to eating right.

Category archive RSS feeds now available

I have added category specific RSS feeds for those only interested in my weightloss happenings or those only interested in Information Security posts. If you want to monitor updates on my humble take on security issues and eliminate some of the noise from this somewhat eclectic , these feeds would seem to be the best way. Here are the quick links (also present next to HTML category archive links on the right:

Family	Football	General
Infosec	Networking	Weight Loss

Good news - trend continues

Despite my contrary forecasts, I hopped on the scale (Tanita HD-351 for those wondering what scale could put up to my excess) yesterday morning. I actually lost a little weight to my surprise in the 2 weeks of being generally immobile with my knee. I didn't lose a lot of weight, only 1 pound, but I think the fact I hadn't ballooned up to my original weight pleased me more. I also started my exercises again both cardio and building of the quadriceps in the wellness center. I could immediately tell how apprehensive they were to even seeing me walking around, but doctor's orders seemed to be the word of day. I walked for 2 15-minute periods, and lifted weights with both legs between the two spurts of walking. I ended up doing 1.25 miles, and 1 set of 20 reps at 15#, and 1 set of 20 reps at 24# with my bad leg. The weight for my good leg was considerably higher. It was and still is sore today from the use, but I think it is probably a good sore.

One Week Later - Dislocated patella

Just over one week from dislocating my kneecap, I am off the crutches. It seems really fast to both me and my knee, but my doc said I could lose them as quick as I felt comfortable. I would not say I am comfortable as more frustrated with having to depend on crutches. I was able to maneuver around most of the day free of the blasted things and free of Alleve. I am probably heading towards more pain in the future, but at least the plan for now is to start the quadriceps building at the wellness center.

Sore knees

Considering how recently I messed up my leg, I have made it back to work this week. Today was my second day back since the injury last Thursday. Yesterday I spent most of the day lounging with my knee and leg propped on a second chair -- trying to keep the swelling down. I had my first visit to my orthopedist today, Dr. William Boulden. His first reaction was get that knee immobilizer off now. (I have had patella dislocation happen twice before, and both times I had to wear the immobilizer for 4 weeks) I am supposed to wear a simple knee brace with patella buttressing instead, and walk normally (with crutches). I was pleased to get rid of the immobilizer, but I don't think I quite ready to start exercising again. Boulden said I had slight muscle tear, but I should be able to start rebuilding that quadriceps muscle in the weight room. Instead of hoops over lunch hour, I have to look forward to the weight room. I think he might be trying for repeat business. :-)

Somber is still being attentive even without the whole straight leg thing, but I do think my pampered life is running out. Immediately after the doctor visit, she went to get the car. She drove up and failed to help me out with the crutches. The valet treatment door to door service was nice while it lasted. Her workers are already conspiring when her time is coming for reverse pampering by me.

Pain

After primarily riding a recumbent bike and lifting weights, I had started playing basketball with the guys again for the first time in 4 or 5 years. Up until today. I had played 2 times without much incident besides normal pain after exercise. That ended today. I was playing 21 with 2 other guys, and was actually up to 18 and in the lead. I went for a rebound and came down to a couple of sickening pops. I knew immediately what had happened -- dislocated patella, and what was worse was the patella stayed dislocated. For an agonizing 15 seconds, I was in PAIN!!!! Finally after writhing on the ground, it popped back into place.

I dislocated my knee two times before when I was 16 and 26. Both times no surgery was required, but both times I had to have my knee immobilized for 4-6 weeks. I knew while on the carpeted gym floor that my near future of exercising was over and my trend of weight loss was over. (Yes, I actually thought of those things) With the much appreciated help of the wellness crew, I was brought to a local clinic. After working my way inside and finally hooking up with my wife, I was ushered to X-ray. Too bad the X-ray bed was only rated for 300 pounds, which I easily outweigh. I had to take the X-rays holding the plate behind my leg. Hopping around on my good leg and my growing increasingly painful leg only partially stabilized, I started to get anxious for some pain medication and could feel the knee really starting to swell up.

At this point I made it home despite having to crawl and drag my bad leg behind me up the 3 stairs to my house. I have taken 4 Alleve and laying on the couch. I have an appointment with an orthopedist on Tuesday after the swelling goes down. The whole relieving of oneself in a small bathroom is absolutely disgusting and painful experience. As long as I am on the couch and medicated I am relatively pain free. I have my wireless Internet in my laptop. I have a very helpful wife to get me stuff not in arm's reach. I am just hoping for two things -- no torn ligaments or damage to the cartilage requiring surgery and that SomberSusie doesn't remind me too often about her wanting me to wear a knee brace. She already had forecasted that something bad would happen on that carpeted basketball court.

Weigh-Day: The trend continues

Trend continues from last week. We are heading back to stay with the inlaws this weekend, which is always fun to sleep on the couch and eat spaghetti as meal two or three times. It seems funny that for a Dutch family spaghetti with meat sauce is the main family meal.

Successful week - 4 pounds and total of 5.5"

Even though I don't write about it often, one of my main goals currently is to lose weight. In priority, it would rank above even achieving additional individual certification,.which is significant for cert junkie like myself. I have a long way to go, but having positive news was definitely a surprise. I was just telling another security person on Friday I had seen no results whatsoever after exercising 35 minutes a day/3-4 days a week. It was also frustrating to hurt my wrist, so I haven't been able to lift weights lately. We typically weigh-in every week using the faithful Tanita HD351 scale and measure each part three times and take the average once per week. This week to my surprise, I lost 4 pounds and total of 5.5". I was almost reluctant to post those numbers even though triple checked due to the stress on next week's numbers to continue the trend. Who knows that stress may be what I need. It certainly made the weekly family trip to Dragon House on Sunday more responsible with smaller portions.

4 week hiatus is over

Well it is time to call the hiatus from exercising and working out over, and get back to doing the right thing. The last time I did exercising other than the pain of moving was June 13. I just weighed myself, and I was the same weight I started. (415.8 lbs) Somber has been doing much better than me lately visting the company wellness facility a few times the last two weeks. Tomorrow is the new leaf.

Well the packing has started

First have updated the weight loss spreadsheets this morning to make them more readable. Somber and I have put the active attempts at weight loss on hold until the move. I have continued to lift weights, but have stopped doing the cardio workouts. Most of my time at nights have been spent either searching for financing, moving vehicles, or housing, or stressing about making the right decision. It's like trying to lose weight over the holidays or while trying to quit smoking- the two just do not go together. While it might not be a time to lose weight, I do think I have hit my highest weight. With a lot of less sedentary life (sitting while driving for 3.5 hours per day) and a company-provided gym within driving distance, I am also going to post the "before photos." You are forewarned. :-)

415.2

The scale has arrived. The magic figure is:

My Scale

HD351 TANITA DIGITAL SCALE with 440 lb capacity - Tanita Scales
My new scale :-) I don't know if I should be happy or not that I will have a definitive answer on where I stand daily. Am I a failure or on the pathway to success? Either way I won't have the excuse of ignorance anymore, and maybe that is worth the price alone.

Microsoft releases security product

Microsoft Solution to the Security Problems plaguing paper-MCSE administrated networks. Yes, MS has gone out of its way to release a security product. This by itself will make all Windows networks 100x more secure. I can't wait to be have the first one on my block.

Blogging way too late

Somber and I did our weekly measure all your body parts Saturday morning. You can see the results here. I am frustrated with the inaccuracy of measuring as when I am doing the measuring the result in the 3x per part the results can vary so much (.25"-1"). Hence is the 2.25 inches lost real or symptom of previous inaccuracies. For as much as scales lie in misrepresenting the movement from fat to muscle, they do have an ultimate number for that small period in time. Somber made the statement that she also can't wait for the scale to get here, and demonstrate the power Ozycise once and for all. I for my part celebrated the loss of inches by failing to do my exercises today. I should have lifted today, but I wasn't much in the mood. Tomorrow there is no alternative.

Every one in the house, except perhaps me, seems sick or under the weather with some melody. Today was the first day my son was off the pain medication, and by the end of the day he was getting grouchy and clingy. It was to be expected. Well one day of the long holiday weekend is gone already, and who knows if tomorrow will be any more productive.

T-minus 7 days to our next open house (June 1)...

Staying on the bike for 8 seconds...

We tried to teach our only boy tonight to ride a bike. He just turned 6 years old this month, and does not know how to ride without training wheels. (or at least confidently) We took him and his three sisters to a local park in our minivan packed with every bike we own. Brett starts to do fine and actually makes it 20-30' after I let go of him. We did this a number of times until you guessed it he crashes. Scrapes his elbow and maybe his knees, and refuses to try again. No matter how much his older sister cajoled him to get back on the "Rocket" bike. Oh well maybe next time...

Have now paid for the lazer tag guns and vests that I bought on two auctions from ebay... I hopefully will get them by next week - should be a fun game at least with the older two. I got two Laser Challenge Pro sets and two Laser Challenge Team Force 250' sets. Hey what good is having kids if you can't relive your childhood through them and get all the toys you were never given as a kid. If nothing else it will get the kids out of the house this summer -- which are magical words to somber as she contemplates the four home all day long for 3 months.

Say a prayer for her sanity this summer if you get the chance...

Weight Loss

I am going to try best write down my current situation with my weight. I weighed myself a couple weeks ago on a doctor's scale when my daughter had a checkup. I knew it was not going to be good, and I was right. I had thoughts that I would still be around what I was last year, 378. I was wrong - I had grown to 427 fully dressed.

First a little background, I am 31 years old, 6'4" guy. I work a primarily sedentary job as a network security admin, and spend 3.5 hours each day in my car commuting to and from work in Des Moines. When I got married and left for Advanced Infantry Training (A.I.T), I weighed 192 pounds. I was a size 34 waist, and medium shirts. By the time I had finished grad school in 1996, I was on the "fat team" in Guard meaning I had to weight in at every drill to track my weight loss or gain. Only once in the last three years of Guard did I test out of the fat team.

When I finally left or was forced out of the Guard (couldn't reenlist until I lost the weight) in 1998, I was 270. I believe my waist was a 42 @ that time. In the last 5 years, I have gained a lot of weight. In that time I have had 2 more children, have had 4 different jobs, and moved couple times. I am now 427, 56 waist, winded with a sore back after decent walk. I am also frustrated that one can't find a reasonably-priced scale to weight upon. (On the plus, the Tanita HD351 $80 is coming out in one month that will weight up to 440 lbs.)

For the good, I have been exercising and lifting weights for about a month again. I had been exercising before, but was not consistent or lifting weights. Right now my schedule for exercise is every other day I am riding the stationary recumbent bike for 30 minutes. I try to stay in the heart rate 120-140 for the entire time. On the odd days, I lift weights primarily focussing on the arms and chest. So far I have gained an inch in the last week in the right areas and lost one inch in the right areas as well (waist).

Well this is good ground work for where I am going with my weight loss. I am watching Law and Order:CI, and then it is once again on the bike for 30.