200 days, 45 pounds, and not enough blog posts...

I have done a pretty good job of sticking with the diet and exercise.  I have logged my calories for 200 days in a row.  I have lost 45.6 pounds.  I have missed a lot of blog entries.

I'll work on that, but for the next 5 weeks I will be focused on someone else's blog.


Causes and Effect: My Year of Giving Daily, was started in 2013 by entertainment and culture journalist Melinda Newman, who made daily donations to a wide variety of non-profits and wrote about her experience.  USA Today music writer Brian Mansfield took on this monumental task in 2014.  This year, 12 individuals will contribute, each taking over the blog for one month.

I will be taking over the blog for the month of May.  You can follow along here:
http://myyearofgivingdaily.tumblr.com/

Wish me luck!  I'll keep you posted on the weight loss journey as often as I can.

The First 40 Pounds Is The Easy Part...

I have to write something.  Isn't that the root cause of all writer's block?  That terrible feeling that you have to write something, but you can't get it out.  I'm going to give this a valiant effort.

Wish me luck!

I have so many things to be happy about.  Why don't I just write about that?

First and foremost, my best friend who was critically ill and in the hospital for 75 days is now home and nearly fully recovered.  I am so grateful that he is alive and will soon be 100% back to normal.  It's such a strange feeling to think of someone so young and healthy being so deathly ill.

Dominik told me last week that his priorities are now completely shifted after this incident.  I want to point out that Dominik did not have his priorities very out of place before this happened... at least not any more than we all do.  Everybody refocuses their life after a near-death experience.  Most people talk about putting their friends and family above their career, and being more in touch with what they really want in life.  Dominik told me all that, but he also said that right now his first priority is his health.  He is not going to take it for granted anymore.

We should all be more aware of our health.  If you're in good health, don't take it for granted.  If you can do something to improve your health, do it!  Even small steps are better than no steps (or steps in the wrong direction).

I couldn't be more happy with my career at the moment.  Things are busier than ever, but everything is going great!  We had a great first year on our own in 2014.  We are making even more progress so far in 2015.  We won an ACM Award!  I'm getting opportunities to perform stand-up comedy.  I couldn't be happier with that aspect of my life.

Oh, and I met Reba today!

REBA!

I heard from an old friend this week that I haven't spoken to in several years.  We had a wonderful phone conversation and we're getting together in Dallas next month.  I'm so glad we were able to reconnect.

My little girl just turned 6.  She is absolutely adorable.  She's turning out to be a really cool kid too!

Dating is...

Well...

Maybe we should skip talking about women completely...

Let's just say that things are definitely NOT going as well in my personal life as they are in my career.  We'll just leave it at that for now.

Now that it's not freezing, dark, and iced over, maybe I'll be able to get out and walk a lot more.  That's certainly been the case lately.  I'm feeling very good about the next few months of this mission.  Slow and steady is nice, but I'd prefer a little less slow...

I can this though.  It has been easier to stick with moderate dieting.  I haven't done anything drastic and I haven't had a lot of bad days in the last five months.  I don't always feel deprived and I don't have a lot of urges to binge.  The urges are still there, but not nearly as bad as with every other diet in the past.

Maybe that's the secret after all.

I still have a LONG way to go, and I'm ready to pick up the pace, but I'm determined not to burn out.

* * *

Over the last two weeks, I averaged about 2650 calories per day.  I lost 0.8 pounds.

I have lost 40.2 pounds total (in 161 days).

Bonus pic!  Me and Reba!  Best Saint Patricks Day EVER!
Reba McEntire pinched me for not wearing green. Totally worth it.

This writer's block is killing me.

I have been staring at this empty blog post off and on for two days now.  I just can't seem to find the inspiration to write anything.

A lot of things have been happening lately.  My diet is going well and I am slowly and steadily losing weight.  Things are extremely busy at work, but it is an exciting time!  Oh, and I totally won an ACM Award last week.  Actually, we don't win it until April 18th, but the Academy of Country Music announces it's radio winners in advance.

I am a little disappointed that I don't have a spouse to bring to Dallas as my guest for the Awards ceremony, but I'll have to write about that some other time.

Overall, things are going well and I'm still on the right path.

Over the last two weeks, I averaged about 2500 calories per day.  I lost 2 pounds.

I have lost 39.4 pounds total (in 147 days).

Still going.

I am still on the path.  I'm just suffering from some nasty writer's block.  It has been pointed out to me that, even if I have nothing to say, I should still give updates on my progress.  

So, over the last two weeks, I averaged about 2600 calories per day.  I lost 2.2 pounds. 

I have lost 37.4 pounds total (in 133 days).

I'll try hard to find something more to say soon.  

I Just Want To Stand On My Own Two Feet

There are a lot of things I wish I could do, but I can't do because of my weight.  I wish I could run further and faster.  I wish I could get down on the floor and play with my daughter more easily.  I wish girls thought I was hot (or at least acceptably cute).

But the thing I most want to do is stand.

I can't stand still for more than a few minutes without being in serious pain.  I can walk for a couple of miles with no problems.  I just can't stand still.

Because of that, I am miserable at any event without chairs.  I won't even attend certain concerts and parties when I know the venue won't have any place to sit.  If I do go, I know I'll be in pain the whole time.

This isn't a problem every fat person has.  My issue is a little more serious because of arthritis in my right hip.  It's mild and it's manageable, but it is a nuisance when I'm on my feet too long.

It's also the result of my weight.  My doctor has said in no uncertain terms that I could easily lessen and even reverse the progress of the arthritis by losing about a hundred pounds.

So, just in case I needed another reason to stick with this...

* * *

Last week, I averaged about 2800 calories per day, and I walked about 20,000 steps.  I lost 0.8 pounds.

I have lost 35.2 pounds total (in 119 days).

Where There Are No Expectations, There Is No Disappointment.

I did everything by the book last week, but I didn't lose any weight.  It could be the insomnia that I've been dealing with since last Wednesday.  It could just be a normal plateau in the weight-loss process.  Either way, I'm exhausted and a have very little else to write about today.

Here's hoping next week brings more success all around.

Don't Hurt Yourself

Everyone seems to know, on some level, that moderation is the best method for losing weight.  It's a pretty good strategy for life in general.  The problem is that moderation is not easy.  If it was easy, everyone would do it and there would be no market for gimmicks and tricks.  Moderation is downright hard to do.  

That's where all the fad diets and exercise programs come in.  Most of them are, in their own right, good in moderation.  The extremes are what bothers me.  

I want to focus on exercise for this particular post.  Moderate exercise is hard to do.  

Why is that?  By definition, moderate exercise should be easier than extreme exercise...

It is harder because it doesn't give us the dramatic results that we're craving.  The hard part about exercising in moderation is having the willpower to stick with it when the rewards are small and slow to materialize.  

I have personally seen people get hurt doing too much too soon.  It doesn't matter if it's cardio, weight-lifting, cross-fit, or whatever else.  You have to know your limits.

The most dangerous thing to a fat person in a gym is someone with good intentions who doesn't know the line between ' helpful encouragement' and 'dangerous peer pressure.' 

My most recent personal encounter with this was in a '30 minute intense fitness' workout that I tried at a gym a while back.  The instructor (and several of the students) kept pushing me to do exercises that I know are unsafe for someone of my size who hasn't worked out regularly.  This time, I didn't listen to them, but another guy in the class did.  He sprained his wrist, stopped going to the gym, and gained back all of the weight he had lost plus some.  

Another friend of mine went way overboard doing pull-ups in a cross-fit class.  He knew he had passed the point where he needed to stop, but he kept going because the trainer and the entire class were pushing him not to quit.  He damaged his shoulder so badly that he will need surgery to correct it.  

Here's the bottom line.  You are not a professional athlete.  When you are in pain, you should probably slow down.  I'm not talking about soreness and discomfort.  I'm talking about those times when you know something isn't right, but you keep pushing yourself because "pain is just weakness leaving the body."  

No.  Pain exists to motivate us to withdraw from damaging situations, and to protect a damaged body part while it heals.  

I'm not saying that you shouldn't push yourself, but I am saying that you shouldn't push yourself too far.  More importantly, you shouldn't push other people, especially strangers, in situations where they might injure themselves.  

In other words, let me walk and stop telling me to run!  I'll run when I'm ready.  I am NOT ready.  

Click here to read a great article about the dangers of the Biggest Loser for more info on this subject.

* * *

Last week, I averaged about 2300 calories per day, and I walked about 21,000 steps.  I lost 2.0 pounds!

I have lost 34.2 pounds total (in 105 days).