Stretching, drinking, sleeping and icing my way to success

I work from 3 p.m. - Midnight and with that schedule I am fortunate to have my mornings open for time at the gym.
I have learned over the years what my limits are when exercising and sometimes I've also learned the hard way with injuries that looking back now could have been prevented.

So here is a look at what has helped me prepare and get through my workouts.

Stretching is vital to my routine and not just after a workout. One side effect from being obese is a very bad sciatic nerve I have dealt with for 12 years and if any of you know the pain that can cause then you know there are times that even walking is impossible. So I stretch my hamstrings when I get up in the morning, 10 minutes before and after my workouts, before I leave to work, several times at work and right before I go to bed. This has helped tremendously because the hamstring is key to keeping the sciatic nerve under control.

Keeping myself hydrated is very important! In the past when I've hit the gym hard I never monitored my water intake which resulted in me having Kidney Stones. OUCH! I must love pain. I have passed 5 stones and if you have ever had to pass one you know the pain it causes. My first one I was in the ER on my knees. So I make sure I start sipping once I wake up and continue to drink water all day even the days I don't workout.

Another key component is sleep. On average I get 4-5 hours of sleep with the occasional 1 hour nap if I'm lucky. Another side effect of being overweight is that I have sleep apnea. I have been using a CPAP machine for the past 7 years. When I first took a sleep test the results showed I was waking up about 45 times an hour and I would stop breathing 8 times per night. So I wasn't really getting much rest which caused me to be sleepy and tired all day. I now get actual REM sleep and I am sure you have heard all the sleep studies connected to obesity. In my case I lose more weight the weeks I get 6-7 hours of sleep compared to my 4-5 hours where I still lose weight but at a lesser rate.

And one last essential ritual I do after every workout is icing my knees. Over the years my knees have taken a pounding on this 400+ frame and icing my knees for 15 minutes does wonders for the swelling and pain. Ice Ice Baby!

I signed up for the weight loss challenge at my gym for an added incentive. So far so good the last weigh in is end of March. Not sure what the prize is maybe a new car :-)

A little over 2 weeks ago I weighed in at 354.5 pounds and my current weight is 343.5 ... 11 more pounds for a total of 97.5 pounds lost from my starting weight of 442. Felling great! God is good!

This week's challenges: My left knee and ankle are very sore and with soccer tournaments and softball season starting up trying to eat healthy is always a big challenge.

I try to keep things in perspective and always turn to my faith and my wife (who has lost 67 pounds herself!) to get me through the rough times.

I want to thank everyone for their support, emails, messages, comments, joining my blog and even hitting the "like" button. Feel free to share the blog especially if you know of anyone struggling with weight issues.

Again great to hear updates from every one's own journey. Keep up the good fight,  and remember to keep on lb.ing away!

My pants are falling! My pants are falling! ... My pants are falling???

One of the constant struggles with being obese is finding clothes that fit. At age 18 I no longer fit in a XL shirt and my pants always had to be altered because I wore them below my "Santa belly" (still do but working on it). Back then there weren't many Big & Tall stores like there is now and the few that were around well their clothes were for older people.
I hated the way clothes fit and I remember many times I would not attend parties and other gatherings because of how I looked or just not having something nice to wear. I apologize now to my friends and family for all the clothes I received as gifts. They just never fit me and it wasn't their fault for not knowing my actual size it was my fault for letting my weight problem get out of control. In fact I would often lie and say "yes sure it will fit" knowing very well it wouldn't... not proud of that. So I mainly stuck with the tee shirts... first with a 1XL and so on.
4 years ago I could no longer wear my 5XL shirts due to my obesity and rather than throwing them out like I did the rest of my smaller size shirts I packed them all up in giant black Hefty trash bags ... 4 of them filled to the brim.
At my heaviest weight (442) I was venturing into the 7XL world which meant I could no longer shop at Casual Male XL which it's biggest size they carry is 6XL and my only option was ordering from a catalog.
Well I'm proud to announce that this week I pulled out the trash bags filled with 5XL clothes cause 7XL and 6XL is too big on me! Yes too big as in they don't fit... in a good way!!!
I have a whole new wardrobe and do I dare say the 5XL's are fitting a little loose too. I find myself muttering "oh I remember this piece of clothing" while shifting through the bags. Tons of dress shirts, Big Dog, Reebok, Nike shirts and even pants. Look out 4XL & 3XL I'm on your heels!!!!
Last week I weighed in at 359.5 pounds and my current weight is 354.5 ... 5 more pounds for a total of 86.5 pounds lost. God is good!
This week came with a lot of challenges: eating out twice but making good choices, some aches and pains and the dreaded self-doubts that creep in from time to time. I turn to my faith and my wife (who has lost 60 pounds herself) to get me through the rough patches.
I want to thank everyone for their support, emails, messages, comments, joining my blog and even hitting the "like" button. Feel free to share the blog especially if you know of anyone struggling with weight issues.
Great to hear everyone's success stories on their own journey's from starting off walking, better food choices, training for the L.A. Marathon, Jazzercize, and enduring a Crossfit regiment ... Congrats to everyone and keep on lb.ing away!

I want to thank everyone for their support, emails, messaI want to thank everyone for their support, emails, messages, comments, joining my blog and even hitting the "like" button. And if you know of anyone struggling with weight issues by all ments, joining my blog and even hitting the "like" button. And if you know of anyone struggling with weight issues by all means feel free to share my blog.nt to thank everyone for their support, emails, messages, comments, joining my blog and even hitting the "like" button. And if you know of anyone struggling with weighwant to thank everyone for their support, emails, messages, comments, joining my blog and even hitting the "like" button. And if you know hare my blog.

I made it through the holidays... with a little bit less of me

Oh the stuffing (my favorite), turkey, ham, biscuits, yams, pumpkin pie, cheesecake, eggnog (evil), cookies and oh yeah the candy... Halloween candy that is.

See I started my trek in early October right before Halloween. I had a problem with chocolate and before you say "Oh I love chocolate too."
I'll let you in on one of my not so proud secrets.
I had more than a sweet tooth... I had a serious problem that led me to become borderline diabetic.
I would eat a lot of it... at home, in the car, at work, mostly alone and I would hide it... in my car, desk at work and home. I would search the ads to see what store had the best deals. And not for a bar or single bag but the big bags. Every time I would enter a store I would go directly to the candy aisle  to see what was on sale. I realized I was masking resentment and other feelings I had in which I will share later down the road.
So starting in October was extremely hard because I went cold turkey. For the first time in probably forever I didn't buy one piece of candy and the only candy I ate was a miniature Hershey's dark chocolate a co-worker offered me. recognizing the problem is the first step and the problem wasn't sweets... the problem was hard feelings I've held inside for so long. It will take time for me to deal with those issues and as for now candy is... well its candy.
Thanksgiving and Christmas was great and I made sure at our family gatherings that it was going to be about spending time with my family and not about the food. I had all the traditional foods just smaller portions worked out and drank a lot of water. A big thank you to my family for supporting my wife and I through this journey. I was pleased to see that no one was walking on egg shells around us.
I want to thank my wife who has shed 55 pounds so far and who has been a big supporter of mine. Proud of you!
So my last weight was 366 and as of this morning I weigh 359.5, 7.5 more pounds for a total of 81.5 pounds.
I haven't been this weight since 1997.
I want to thank everyone for their support, emails, messages, comments, joining my blog and even hitting the "like" button. And if you know of anyone struggling with weight issues by all means feel free to share my blog.
I know a lot of you have started your own journeys so please hang in there! I have had tough days.
A good friend (Vincent) once recited a quote on our way to Vegas... "It's not weather you fall but rather what you do after you fall"
I hope I didn't botch that up but knowing Vincent he will let me know.
Keep the faith everyone and if you fall please get back up and continue pounding away!