DANG IT!!! Stupid head cold got me!!! :-(
Things were going so darn great..... got fantastic news/results with my recent fitness testing and body composition..... getting ready for Grammy & Papa to come up for a long weekend visit with us.... ready for a nice 5 day off Kelly day stretch..... and BAM!!!..... I get hit this last Thursday night with the start of a head cold!!! :-(
Of course, each day gets just a little bit worse, and the nights produce less and less good sleep. I went to work on Saturday, when I really shouldn't have, and that didn't seem to help things at all either! Now, here it is Monday, Memorial Day, and I am still feeling like crud!!! Suckola..... that has been my word for the past several days now! :-(
On the brighter side of this, at least the weather is still looking and acting like it's only March, even though this week takes us on into June!!! I am grateful to get this over with now, before the real spring and summer weather finally arrive!!! :-)
I just want to take a quick moment to acknowledge that today is Memorial Day...... and to give my own personal thanks to all those men and women, past and present, who have given of themselves to our country, to our freedom, to us!!! Many have given their lives, the most unselfish gift that can be made. Many were willing to do the same, but thankfully didn't have to. I know the names and faces of only a few.... but each and every one of them holds a very special place in my heart... for without them, and their great service and sacrifice, I would not be able to live the life I am enjoying today!!! :-)
God Bless America..... and God, please bless all of the men and women of our armed services, who are doing their part to keep our country safe and free.
Happy Memorial Day to you all..... may you enjoy this day of freedom, and spend it with family, friends and loved ones, recognizing that a price has been paid so that we may have this day together! :-)
Monday, May 30, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
First long ride of the year logged!!!
WOW...again, it has been a while since my last blog post. How does time get away so quickly?!?!?!?! Don't answer that, I already know all of the answers!!! :-)
So, much has been going on, as usual, in and around our lives and our home...... and we are plugging along, still hopeful that spring will eventually prevail. For the time being, we are making do with the occasional day or two of nice weather, followed by grey skies and more showers.... stupid weather!!! ;-) I won't complain much, however, as we are truly blessed here in the PNW....we are NOT being dealt the horrible hurricanes and tornadoes that the Midwest states are getting hit with so badly.... death and destruction of too great a magnitude! Very sad :-(
With working extra shifts lately to help fellow brother firefighters out of a bind, and then to also strike a 24 hour overtime the other day, which led to yet another 48 hour shift in just the past couple of weeks, I have been missing my rides, and my fitness routine! I was in a workout slump for the past 3 or 4 days, and just really needing to get my groove back on. And more than that, it is the middle of May already, and I haven't logged even one 50 or more mile ride for the year yet! Crazy!!! So, I took full advantage of my one day off from work yesterday, and I turned it into a cycling day for myself... no guilt, no worries about anything else... and it was GOOD!!! :-)
I managed to log a full 70+ miles yesterday on the bike... certainly took it right on by the 50 mile mark! I broke it up into two rides... the first, a 42 mile solo ride at my pace, and a good workout for sure. the second was an additional 28 miles, but at a slower and easier pace, as I rode with Tracie! Yes, Tracie got on the bike for the very first time this year, yesterday!!! She logged a full 20 miles as well :-)
We headed first into Lynden. We rode to Jakes Western Grill, where we stopped and had a bowl of soup for lunch. Then we head back out and worked our way home via a different route. Now, because Tracie isn't as strong or fast a rider as myself... I would ride out ahead of her for a while, then turn around and come back to her. I did this the whole way back home...which is how I managed to log a full 28 miles, compared to her 20. It worked out well, and I do believe that we both had a very enjoyable time together!!! :-)
On another note.... going back to my most recent post.... I am very close to my goal as of this morning!!! I set a goal for myself to reach 190lbs, with a body fat of 10%. I weighed in this morning at 193lbs! :-) I have given myself until August 11th of this year to obtain my goal, and I do believe that I will achieve it much sooner than that! I am quite happy..... and more than that, quite healthy!!! YAY.... it feels so good. :-)
We watched the Biggest Loser finale last night... and I love seeing how the contestants have changed their bodies, and their lives.... amazing transformations! And for the first time in watching the past 10 seasons, I could sit there and completely relate to the finalists last night... it was awesome! I have done my very own Biggest Loser transformation in my own life.... and I am so crazy happy and proud of myself for what I have achieved. I plan to stay this way for life...and I hope that my story can, and will, inspire others, even if in only some small way. :-)
OK, well, Grammy & Papa will be arriving tomorrow afternoon to visit with us for a week. We will all spend Memorial Day weekend together, though I have no idea just yet what we will be doing.... we were supposed to be watching Evan play baseball in a tournament all weekend, but it got cancelled due to not enough teams signed up! :-( Now we gotta figure out how to entertain the kiddos all weekend long... thankfully Grammy & Papa will be here to help with that!!! :-)
The way things have been going... this will probably be my final post for this month...so, talk to you again come June!!! :-)
So, much has been going on, as usual, in and around our lives and our home...... and we are plugging along, still hopeful that spring will eventually prevail. For the time being, we are making do with the occasional day or two of nice weather, followed by grey skies and more showers.... stupid weather!!! ;-) I won't complain much, however, as we are truly blessed here in the PNW....we are NOT being dealt the horrible hurricanes and tornadoes that the Midwest states are getting hit with so badly.... death and destruction of too great a magnitude! Very sad :-(
With working extra shifts lately to help fellow brother firefighters out of a bind, and then to also strike a 24 hour overtime the other day, which led to yet another 48 hour shift in just the past couple of weeks, I have been missing my rides, and my fitness routine! I was in a workout slump for the past 3 or 4 days, and just really needing to get my groove back on. And more than that, it is the middle of May already, and I haven't logged even one 50 or more mile ride for the year yet! Crazy!!! So, I took full advantage of my one day off from work yesterday, and I turned it into a cycling day for myself... no guilt, no worries about anything else... and it was GOOD!!! :-)
I managed to log a full 70+ miles yesterday on the bike... certainly took it right on by the 50 mile mark! I broke it up into two rides... the first, a 42 mile solo ride at my pace, and a good workout for sure. the second was an additional 28 miles, but at a slower and easier pace, as I rode with Tracie! Yes, Tracie got on the bike for the very first time this year, yesterday!!! She logged a full 20 miles as well :-)
We headed first into Lynden. We rode to Jakes Western Grill, where we stopped and had a bowl of soup for lunch. Then we head back out and worked our way home via a different route. Now, because Tracie isn't as strong or fast a rider as myself... I would ride out ahead of her for a while, then turn around and come back to her. I did this the whole way back home...which is how I managed to log a full 28 miles, compared to her 20. It worked out well, and I do believe that we both had a very enjoyable time together!!! :-)
On another note.... going back to my most recent post.... I am very close to my goal as of this morning!!! I set a goal for myself to reach 190lbs, with a body fat of 10%. I weighed in this morning at 193lbs! :-) I have given myself until August 11th of this year to obtain my goal, and I do believe that I will achieve it much sooner than that! I am quite happy..... and more than that, quite healthy!!! YAY.... it feels so good. :-)
We watched the Biggest Loser finale last night... and I love seeing how the contestants have changed their bodies, and their lives.... amazing transformations! And for the first time in watching the past 10 seasons, I could sit there and completely relate to the finalists last night... it was awesome! I have done my very own Biggest Loser transformation in my own life.... and I am so crazy happy and proud of myself for what I have achieved. I plan to stay this way for life...and I hope that my story can, and will, inspire others, even if in only some small way. :-)
OK, well, Grammy & Papa will be arriving tomorrow afternoon to visit with us for a week. We will all spend Memorial Day weekend together, though I have no idea just yet what we will be doing.... we were supposed to be watching Evan play baseball in a tournament all weekend, but it got cancelled due to not enough teams signed up! :-( Now we gotta figure out how to entertain the kiddos all weekend long... thankfully Grammy & Papa will be here to help with that!!! :-)
The way things have been going... this will probably be my final post for this month...so, talk to you again come June!!! :-)
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
From Morbidly Obese to Very Healthy.....What a Journey!!!
Yes, the title says it all..... and it is the absolute truth! Just two years and three months ago, I was exactly that....morbidly obese! Sounds gross. Sounds sad. Sounds wrong. Sounds hard to believe today! Back in January of 2009, I weighed an astonishing 295lbs, with a body fat percentage of somewhere around the 35% range. I was morbidly obese, very unhealthy, very unhappy, had no energy, and made excuses to my two most precious gifts from God (Evan and Sierra) to no play with them, simply because I had no energy or stamina to do the things they wanted to do with me. It was sad, and heart-breaking, and down right wrong! My heart was breaking because of it, and yet I was in a downward spiral at the time, and couldn't figure out how to change it..........
Thankfully, God stepped in and intervened on my behalf. One day, after making yet another excuse and promise to Evan when he came to me to ask me to play with him, I watched him walk away, defeated, with his head hanging sadly. My heart broke as I stood there and realized at what I was doing to my kids, and as I saw the sadness on Evan's face because he couldn't get his daddy to come outside and play with him! At that moment, I believe God grabbed a hold of me and shook me to the core for a moment, because right then I broke down inside. I couldn't believe that I was being this way to my kids. I couldn't believe that I was allowing myself to be in such a state that I couldn't, or wouldn't, enjoy life with my kids to the fullest. Two precious gifts from God, here as my children, and I wasn't being the daddy to them, or for them, that I had planned to be or wanted to be! I was so upset with myself, and as I became rocked with emotions as I stood and watched Evan go outside alone, looking defeated, I went to the bathroom and looked at what I had become in the mirror. And I didn't like at all what I saw!!! I was disgusted, angry, sad and depressed at how I had allowed myself to get to this point. I couldn't believe how fat I had become, and how unhealthy I looked. I was actually embarrassed of myself!!! Enough was enough..... it was time to change..... time to change my life, my health, my body, and my relationship with my children!!!
I started my journey towards changing my life forever for the positive on January 8th, 2009. To date, I have lost a full 100lbs, and dropped a huge percentage of body fat. In fact, when I had my last body composition done a several months ago, I was at 11.9% body fat!!! I have gone from a size 42 waist in jeans, down to a size 32 today. That is awesome, and I am so very pleased with it. I am so very close to my final goal weight and body fat percent now, and I am so excited with my new health, new body and new lease on life!!! It is simply awesome!!! Awesome to feel good about myself.....awesome to feel alive and healthy...awesome to not be embarrassed of myself or self-conscious of my appearance anymore......awesome to be so very active in my kids' lives now!!! :-) I am physically, spiritually and emotionally so much healthier than I have been for so very many years now. I absolutely love my new lease on life, and love just how amazingly good and healthy I feel now each and every day!!!
My goal weight that I am working to achieve is 190lbs, and my goal for body fat percentage is 10%. When I went to my fire department physical last week, I weighed in at 193.5lbs, so I am getting very close!!! My time frame for reaching my goal is on or before August 11, 2011. Why? Well, that is my Bellingham Fire Department hire date, and will mark the completion of my 20th year on the job!!! It will be absolutely awesome to mark my 20th year with being as healthy or even healthier than I was when I came on the job at 23 years of age!!! :-)
So, that is my story! Today, I had the second part of my BFD annual physical, where I met with the doctor. We went over my labs, EKG, etc...... and the results were fantastic! I am healthy inside and out, and good to go!!! The doc was floored by my story, and my transformation (new doc who hadn't seen me before). I love the new me, and love being healthy...... I am confident that I am never going back to being obese, grossly obese, or morbidly obese ever again!!! I am too busy these days playing with my kids!!! Playing soccer, playing baseball, riding bikes, going for runs, jumping on the trampoline, and whatever else we can come up with to do!!! Life is so good, God is so good, and a healthy lifestyle filled with fitness is so good....
cardio, but also some form of weight training. It is really as simple as that..... though it doesn't seem that simple when you first start out! But, it absolutely works.... I can guarantee it from my own journey.... and I have a personal witness who can also attest to this truth. My brother Brad has followed the same routine as me, and has lost over 140+lbs in just over a year and a half!!!! :-)
So, there it is..... my journey back to health story. Some of you already knew it, but I keep finding more and more people who don't, so I just wanted to share it.
Have an awesome day, rest of the week, and weekend!!!
Thankfully, God stepped in and intervened on my behalf. One day, after making yet another excuse and promise to Evan when he came to me to ask me to play with him, I watched him walk away, defeated, with his head hanging sadly. My heart broke as I stood there and realized at what I was doing to my kids, and as I saw the sadness on Evan's face because he couldn't get his daddy to come outside and play with him! At that moment, I believe God grabbed a hold of me and shook me to the core for a moment, because right then I broke down inside. I couldn't believe that I was being this way to my kids. I couldn't believe that I was allowing myself to be in such a state that I couldn't, or wouldn't, enjoy life with my kids to the fullest. Two precious gifts from God, here as my children, and I wasn't being the daddy to them, or for them, that I had planned to be or wanted to be! I was so upset with myself, and as I became rocked with emotions as I stood and watched Evan go outside alone, looking defeated, I went to the bathroom and looked at what I had become in the mirror. And I didn't like at all what I saw!!! I was disgusted, angry, sad and depressed at how I had allowed myself to get to this point. I couldn't believe how fat I had become, and how unhealthy I looked. I was actually embarrassed of myself!!! Enough was enough..... it was time to change..... time to change my life, my health, my body, and my relationship with my children!!!
I started my journey towards changing my life forever for the positive on January 8th, 2009. To date, I have lost a full 100lbs, and dropped a huge percentage of body fat. In fact, when I had my last body composition done a several months ago, I was at 11.9% body fat!!! I have gone from a size 42 waist in jeans, down to a size 32 today. That is awesome, and I am so very pleased with it. I am so very close to my final goal weight and body fat percent now, and I am so excited with my new health, new body and new lease on life!!! It is simply awesome!!! Awesome to feel good about myself.....awesome to feel alive and healthy...awesome to not be embarrassed of myself or self-conscious of my appearance anymore......awesome to be so very active in my kids' lives now!!! :-) I am physically, spiritually and emotionally so much healthier than I have been for so very many years now. I absolutely love my new lease on life, and love just how amazingly good and healthy I feel now each and every day!!!
My goal weight that I am working to achieve is 190lbs, and my goal for body fat percentage is 10%. When I went to my fire department physical last week, I weighed in at 193.5lbs, so I am getting very close!!! My time frame for reaching my goal is on or before August 11, 2011. Why? Well, that is my Bellingham Fire Department hire date, and will mark the completion of my 20th year on the job!!! It will be absolutely awesome to mark my 20th year with being as healthy or even healthier than I was when I came on the job at 23 years of age!!! :-)
So, that is my story! Today, I had the second part of my BFD annual physical, where I met with the doctor. We went over my labs, EKG, etc...... and the results were fantastic! I am healthy inside and out, and good to go!!! The doc was floored by my story, and my transformation (new doc who hadn't seen me before). I love the new me, and love being healthy...... I am confident that I am never going back to being obese, grossly obese, or morbidly obese ever again!!! I am too busy these days playing with my kids!!! Playing soccer, playing baseball, riding bikes, going for runs, jumping on the trampoline, and whatever else we can come up with to do!!! Life is so good, God is so good, and a healthy lifestyle filled with fitness is so good....
cardio, but also some form of weight training. It is really as simple as that..... though it doesn't seem that simple when you first start out! But, it absolutely works.... I can guarantee it from my own journey.... and I have a personal witness who can also attest to this truth. My brother Brad has followed the same routine as me, and has lost over 140+lbs in just over a year and a half!!!! :-)
So, there it is..... my journey back to health story. Some of you already knew it, but I keep finding more and more people who don't, so I just wanted to share it.
Have an awesome day, rest of the week, and weekend!!!
Monday, May 9, 2011
May is Well Under Way!!!
BAM!!! One minute it is April 19th, and I am writing about the start of baseball season, and hopefully the arrival of spring..... and the next, here it is now May 9th, the day after Tracie's birthday and Mother's Day!!! And of course, baseball season is well under way now, in full swing......but spring hasn't really yet arrived!!!
Evan's team is off to a really good start so far this season. They have played six games so far, and have won 4, lost 2. Next game is scheduled for this evening. Evan has played really well, and has already hit a great home run, a nice stand-up triple, a double, and has stolen home several times to score for his team! :-) The weather has been cold and rainy this year so far, and it hasn't felt much like baseball season yet. We are hopeful that will change soon, and that perhaps we will have nice weather this year for our Sumas Memorial Weekend tournament!
In addition to baseball, Sierra is playing t-ball this year for the first time! I have not yet made it to one of her games, due to work, soccer, baseball, etc. I am told that she is doing very well, and that it is quite fun, and funny, to watch them play! I have three more opportunities to see my girl play, and plan to be there for each of them! :-)
Yesterday was Mother's Day, as well as Tracie's birthday.... 42 years now! We took it easy, went to church, had lunch at Applebees, and then relaxed at home the rest of the day.
Today we get back into the grind of our "routine", which is anything but routine these days. We have a schedule written out for games and practices, etc, but with the weather, we are constantly re-adjusting and re-scheduling due to rain-outs!!! :-( Oh well, it appears that today should be decent weather, and Evan will have a game this evening in Sumas at 6pm.
I completely took the last several days off from fitness and exercise, as well as eating right. I am feeling it this morning, and wouldn't dare step back on the scale today! Time to get back on track again, starting with some bike riding today. My good friend, Matt Smith, is coming over to look at an older bike of mine he may want to purchase from me, and we will go ride together for an hour or so late this afternoon. I am hopeful that I may get a chance to ride sole for an hour prior to that as well. :-)
So, for the next couple of weeks, more baseball and t-ball to keep us busy. If the weather ever gets nice enough for long enough, I will have to start mowing and weed whacking around the property, but for right now it is way too wet. Next big event for us will be Memorial Day Weekend baseball tournament in Sumas. :-)
That's all I got for now........
Evan's team is off to a really good start so far this season. They have played six games so far, and have won 4, lost 2. Next game is scheduled for this evening. Evan has played really well, and has already hit a great home run, a nice stand-up triple, a double, and has stolen home several times to score for his team! :-) The weather has been cold and rainy this year so far, and it hasn't felt much like baseball season yet. We are hopeful that will change soon, and that perhaps we will have nice weather this year for our Sumas Memorial Weekend tournament!
In addition to baseball, Sierra is playing t-ball this year for the first time! I have not yet made it to one of her games, due to work, soccer, baseball, etc. I am told that she is doing very well, and that it is quite fun, and funny, to watch them play! I have three more opportunities to see my girl play, and plan to be there for each of them! :-)
Yesterday was Mother's Day, as well as Tracie's birthday.... 42 years now! We took it easy, went to church, had lunch at Applebees, and then relaxed at home the rest of the day.
Today we get back into the grind of our "routine", which is anything but routine these days. We have a schedule written out for games and practices, etc, but with the weather, we are constantly re-adjusting and re-scheduling due to rain-outs!!! :-( Oh well, it appears that today should be decent weather, and Evan will have a game this evening in Sumas at 6pm.
I completely took the last several days off from fitness and exercise, as well as eating right. I am feeling it this morning, and wouldn't dare step back on the scale today! Time to get back on track again, starting with some bike riding today. My good friend, Matt Smith, is coming over to look at an older bike of mine he may want to purchase from me, and we will go ride together for an hour or so late this afternoon. I am hopeful that I may get a chance to ride sole for an hour prior to that as well. :-)
So, for the next couple of weeks, more baseball and t-ball to keep us busy. If the weather ever gets nice enough for long enough, I will have to start mowing and weed whacking around the property, but for right now it is way too wet. Next big event for us will be Memorial Day Weekend baseball tournament in Sumas. :-)
That's all I got for now........
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)