The Journey Starts

Here I am at 471 pounds, Janaury 2006.




Q: How did I get to this point when I used to look like this ?
( December 1983)

A: Living a couch potato lifestyle which included medicating with carbs through a couple bouts of depression and stress, sitting in front of a computer 9 hours a day, and eating the typical standard Amercian diet (SAD).

Not only was I a couch potato, but I was just about an invlaid. It was hard to even walk to my car in the driveway! But with a great wife and two beautiful daughters who I want to see grow up, I had that epiphany/paradigm shift/get off my butt decision moment one day. So here I am, proclaiming publically that I am going to become an Ironman. It has been a dream for quite a while. So, you ask, what are you doing to change your lifestyle? Well, I'm glad you asked!

First, I realized I need to eat to live and not live to eat. I need to change my relationship with food. I've had enough pizza, dounuts, and junk to last several people a life time. I just don't need anymore (picture all the donuts you've ever eaten stacked up in a big pile and ruminate on that for a while, or, whatever food vice you may have).

Second, I hired a personal trainer with a kick-@!* attitude who is really a good accountability partner (Jess Hogue of www.shapeplus.com). I weight train for one hour, three times a week, doing two body parts per session. I do treadmill or swim 5-6 days a week. I also started climbing the stairs in my office building twice a week (I work on the 10th floor). All told, 8-9 workouts per week not counting the stairs.

A couple of weeks ago, I swam for the first time in about 25 years. Boy did I flounder! I even got sea-sick from being so out of breath. I immediatley signed up for private swim lessons. The instructor changed my whole way of breathing and I can now breath the right way, huge difference. I swim 750 meters in each practice session. I am really looking forward to the next lesson.

My fitness goals this year are to walk a 5k with my family on May 21st and to complete the Tri-Glenwood Triathlon on September 10th, which is a race with a 825 meter swim, 15 mile bike ride, and 5 mile run (which I will walk most of). Oh by the way, is there a grouping for "super-clydesdales"?

Next year 2007, my goals are to walk the Big D marathon in Dallas in April and then complete the 5430 Long Course (half Ironman distance) in August. Then I will set my sights on an Ironman.

Jess shared with me a key point that really hit home with me. If I total all the time in a day I cook, eat, and enjoy food, it probably adds up to an hour, two at the most. So I was enjoying food for only 1-2 hours and then suffering being extremely fat for 22-23 hours each day. The tradeoff was not worth it. Jess is at a weekend with Tony Robbins and I suspect he will come back and kick my butt in my workouts since he will be so fired up.

So that's the start. Check back for more as I share my workouts and the mental/emotional improvement associtated with this change in lifestyle. Thanks for stopping by!