I love golfing. Perhaps I should explain. I love going golfing, but what I do on the course may or may not be what one would call golf.
When I drive it is usually long but more often than not it slices like a boomerang and looks like it might come back and hit me in my face. Worse yet is my iron play which can go from bad to worse in a matter of seconds depending upon how angry I get. Very often I can throw the club farther than I hit the friggin' ball. Then there is my putting which simply put (haha pardon the pun) is horrible. I can take a great drive, a decent second shot and make it into a gentleman's 8 in a few short strokes. I love golfing, no sarcasm I actually love golfing.
My friend Kevin introduced me to it. He would stand and laugh at me as I teed off every ball in my bag as I got angrier and angrier because it wouldn't go straight. They would curve far into the woods never to be seen again by mankind. Eventually after I graduated College I used my grad money to by myself a grad present which was a set of new Jazz clubs (canadian made baby!) Over the course of the summer I broke each club (these were broke on hitting the ball not by me hitting the ground or anything else in anger) which sent me back to the store for another stronger set (bought on warranty). That summer I actually improved mostly because my friend Doug and I played almost 2-3 times a week as I was needing some serious stress relief after a break-up I didn't see coming, a graduation from College into a life of paying bills and learning about the real world and my continuing in a ministry of a church that was under it's own brand of tension and strife. Golfing for me became a boon, as did eating by the way and sometimes those things co-mingled!
Golfing can be great exercise. Lot's of walking (especially when you play like I do), lot's of twisting and turning your core. I was pretty excited when my wife and I and our friend Debbie headed out to my favourite local course for a quick round of nine of Saturday afternoon. I warmed up with a bucket of balls, as this was mine and Amy's first outing of the year with our clubs. It was interesting to me that I was able to swing more efficiently, and easily than I had the previous year. My back that had been bothering me since I hurt it last summer wasn't as tight either as I warmed up. Before we knew it our name was called and we were facing our first challenging hole of the year. A little par 4 that has a 90 degree dog leg in it making it perfect for a 'shape' iron shot. I surprised myself by parring the first hole. The next couple of holes were less than par but I was able to get myself out of trouble and do reasonably well. The fourth hole something clicked and I unleashed an almost 300 yard drive straight up the fairway about 40 ft. from the green. My game continued with good shots and bad shots and everything in between but I noticed that my score was relatively low for my first round of the year (which I usually don't count the score on). By the end of our round I tallied it up and I had shot a personal best for my first round of 46 (par is 36) only 10 over.
I began to wonder what had happened, and what the difference was. I decided it had to be that because I have lost almost 55 lbs, and I had been doing so much core work that I had more 'control' instead of 'momentum' as my core has been strengthened greatly. I was still pretty stiff and tired the rest of the day, mostly because of my tired back muscles but after about 10 minutes of some stretching and a back rub by my very amazing wife I was good to go and woke up the next day without any strains or stiffness.
I weighed in on Friday and I was at 372.1 lbs which means that I lost another 2.6 lbs for a total of 53.9lbs total weight loss.
This week will be a good one I think even though it's busy for me with recording, gigs, and travel all coming up soon. I am going to look at some new goals for the summer as I would like to be down to my high school grad weight which was 340lbs (I was a large 18 year old). That means I would need to lose 32.1 lbs in just over 2 months (Sept. long weekend). I think that's doable. Amy and I will also be measuring me this weekend!
Here's to summer at last !
Take care talk soon
Blake
Monday, June 28, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Sick and Fat
I caught a cold last week. When I get a cold my wife would like you all to know I become like every other man when they are sick. A whiny, sniveling wuss, who can't even crack a can of soup. I hate being sick especially during the summer time when you want to be outside. I was kind of happy it was January in June last week as it matched my mood.
I was worried about being sick though, because it meant I couldn't get to the gym. It meant that I had to stay home for a few days, it meant that I had to find at home, without going to the gym a way to comfort myself in my time of sickness. We all know what we are like when we are sick, get out the ice cream, get out the junk food, get out anything that will make us feel better.
Normally when I am sick I would make a couple of fast food runs, grab a movie or two, and hunker down and wait it out, all the while enjoying my reprieve from the real world with comfort in a burger, ice-cream or fries form. I am a simple man after all, it doesn't take much to make me feel happy when I am not feeling well. So what was I going to do now that I couldn't have my comfort food.
Well I still had comfort food. Comfort came in the form of soup (which is my all time favorite comfort food) in a can as I was too drugged up to be trusted with preparing my own homemade soup. I ate some trail mix (very little I might add) and I slept. Sleeping when you are sick is apparently the best thing for you, I never knew this before because I was too busy watching movies and eating ice cream to sleep.
I was really worried though because I wasn't able to get to the gym, as I knew going to the gym when you are sick is a real no-no. Although some might argue going to the gym when you are feeling good is also misplaced truth. Even though I was eating healthy, it did mean an entire week away from the gym.
I hit the gym on Tuesday to start off with some easy cardio for the next week or so. After my workout I decided to face the inevitable and climbed upon the harbinger of bad numbered news; only to find out that I hadn't gained, I had actually lost. I lost 4.9 lbs on a week that I hadn't gone to the gym. I was so happy I couldn't stop smiling in the change room, which almost got me in trouble with a rather 'muscly' type guy who thought I was checking him out. What I was most happy about though was the fact that I broke my goal of losing 50 lbs by the end of June early. I have lost a total of 51.3 lbs!
I am pretty excited about that, I think I will celebrate... McDonald's anyone? Just kidding...
Later
Blakey
I was worried about being sick though, because it meant I couldn't get to the gym. It meant that I had to stay home for a few days, it meant that I had to find at home, without going to the gym a way to comfort myself in my time of sickness. We all know what we are like when we are sick, get out the ice cream, get out the junk food, get out anything that will make us feel better.
Normally when I am sick I would make a couple of fast food runs, grab a movie or two, and hunker down and wait it out, all the while enjoying my reprieve from the real world with comfort in a burger, ice-cream or fries form. I am a simple man after all, it doesn't take much to make me feel happy when I am not feeling well. So what was I going to do now that I couldn't have my comfort food.
Well I still had comfort food. Comfort came in the form of soup (which is my all time favorite comfort food) in a can as I was too drugged up to be trusted with preparing my own homemade soup. I ate some trail mix (very little I might add) and I slept. Sleeping when you are sick is apparently the best thing for you, I never knew this before because I was too busy watching movies and eating ice cream to sleep.
I was really worried though because I wasn't able to get to the gym, as I knew going to the gym when you are sick is a real no-no. Although some might argue going to the gym when you are feeling good is also misplaced truth. Even though I was eating healthy, it did mean an entire week away from the gym.
I hit the gym on Tuesday to start off with some easy cardio for the next week or so. After my workout I decided to face the inevitable and climbed upon the harbinger of bad numbered news; only to find out that I hadn't gained, I had actually lost. I lost 4.9 lbs on a week that I hadn't gone to the gym. I was so happy I couldn't stop smiling in the change room, which almost got me in trouble with a rather 'muscly' type guy who thought I was checking him out. What I was most happy about though was the fact that I broke my goal of losing 50 lbs by the end of June early. I have lost a total of 51.3 lbs!
I am pretty excited about that, I think I will celebrate... McDonald's anyone? Just kidding...
Later
Blakey
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Motivating Factors Pt. Deux
Thanks everyone for the feedback, it's time to continue the conversation that I started a week ago.
I think we all understand and can agree that fear is a motivator. However for me and I think for most others the fear of dying because of lifestyle choices fades pretty fast. The moment temptation arises our fears are assuaged as we dive into the need to comfort ourselves from those same fears. It's really a sick cycle and we are the metaphorical hamster on the spinning wheel. This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from Austin Powers where Fat Bastard is bemoaning the fact that he is fat. "I'm unhappy because I eat, I eat because I'm unhappy"... many of us have this issue.
I asked last week what motivates you? If fear is not powerful enough on its own to keep us motivated then what will?
I think I shared this a few blogs ago, but in coming to my decision to become a healthier version of myself during a day of solitude I wrote down a list of dreams that I wanted to accomplish in my 30's. The dreams that pertain to my weight loss are my motivators. Some of them you probably will find ridiculous, but then again being almost 450 lbs is also ridiculous. (BTW-I tipped the scales Sept. 2009 at 440.6 lbs and lost 20lbs using the Weight Watchers System for 3 months. This journey started at 426.6 lbs)
1). To be able to sit comfortably in a chair with arms.
This might be to some a very silly and almost embarrassing motivator unless you are a large person. Chairs with arms frighten me, they make me shake, and sweat. They usually send me running, okay walking around looking for another chair without arms. CWA (chairs with arms) are a huge deal. I can remember times going to a new restaurant, hoping to God they would have at least one chair without arms so I didn't have to endure the 'Slouch' position. You know what the 'Slouch' is all about don't you? You know the one where you put your butt on the front of the chair and lean back so that you almost form a plank shape against the chair. This allows you to 'sit' with most of your largesse out of the arms while making it look as though you mean to sit that way.
I have to say though I may not be able to fit in some CWA's no matter how much weight I lose. I am pretty big-boneded (no that wasn't a spelling mistake, you have to say it like that 'I am just big-bone-ded') and there are some chairs that my ass just wasn't made for. Like those small metal chairs that used to be in every reception office and hospital waiting room. The ones with with shiny legs and upholstered seats. I can't even get a leg in one of those things. 'Just take seat sir the Doctor will be right in ' 'Uh no thanks, my hemorrhoids flared up again why the hell do you think I'm here?'
Plane seats aren't much better. The last time I flew was on my way home from our honeymoon in Mexico. Now I am not sure who makes those plane seats, but I can bet they look NOTHING like me. They probably haven't ever seen a person my size. I almost didn't make it home because the seats were too narrow, or was it my ass to wide... either way there was a struggle, a deep breath, a snap of the arm bending on the chair and there I was hoping that I didn't have to get out again till Edmonton, only 6.5 hours away hoping I didn't have to pay for that broken arm on the seat. I really thought it should move, I guess it does now, any other 'large' passenger that uses that seat can thank me later it is now officially 'broken in'.
The point is that one of my motivators is to be able to sit in a CWA without any fear of me breaking it, bending it, snapping it, or otherwise destroying a seat that some small person can easily fall into. My hope is to walk into any restaurant and never have to worry about the question... 'Booth or table sir?' 'I don't care I fit anything now!"
2). First shopping trip in a 'normal' sized store.
You know what's funny about this one, is that it happened last week. Amy bought me some new clothes to work out in. I was worried, how were we going to pay for this? (clothes at the Big and Tall store cost me anywhere between twice to three times as much as it would anywhere else, apparently we use THAT much cloth). Amy brought home 3 bags but from Wal-Mart! This is a big deal. I have never bought anything at Wal-Mart (some of you would applaud that). So either Wal-Mart is buying bigger clothes or I am getting smaller. It is a combination of both.
I always go into Old Navy with Amy looking for stuff for her. She always tries to find things for me, but I tell her it's a waste of her time, but in a few short months it won't be, and I will have joined the masses, the proud new owner of a poorly sown polo-shirt that only cost me $10!
3). The ability to do things that I haven't been able to do. (ie. Sports, Hike, Camp)
Acouple of weekends ago we went to Jasper and did a small hike, and a bunch of other really nice walks around a lake (I walked around an ENTIRE lake). These were huge milestones for me, normally I would rather watch others hike or walk around the lake, now I am the one doing it.
The camping well it might not be that strenuous, but from a guy who makes a 3 man tent look like a grocery bag I am excited to head off into the 'wilderness' and explore my 'Manhood' as I make fires, and sear meat yay for Coleman stoves and Hot Dogs. (BTW does anyone know how to make our stove work?)
I started playing ball again, this is always something I have done except for the past couple of years in Edmonton, but I am really excited to be able to play at a level that I haven't been able to do. I am looking forward to the day when I am more agile, quicker, and stronger on a bat than I was even in high school. I am looking forward to the day that when I run around the bases I actually run around the bases.
Fear might start our motivation, but living is what keeps us motivated. Motivation needs to arise out of a desire to achieve what you thought impossible. Motivation is all about setting a goal, and pursuing it relentlessly until it is achieved. Our motivation should be about LIVING LIFE WELL whatever that means to you. For me the key to a life lived well, means that I become a healthy person (emotionally, physically and spiritually) so that I can do the things that I dream of, so that I can be the husband, the father, the leader, the man that I know I was created to be.
I am excited to share my week with you. I had a great eating week, and I had a couple of dogged work-outs but I persevered. I lost another 4.4 lbs which means that I broke through 380 this week and I now sit at 379.6lbs!
Thanks for following, I pray that somehow, somewhere you will find the motivation to change your life wherever it needs to be changed.
Talk to you all soon
Blake
I think we all understand and can agree that fear is a motivator. However for me and I think for most others the fear of dying because of lifestyle choices fades pretty fast. The moment temptation arises our fears are assuaged as we dive into the need to comfort ourselves from those same fears. It's really a sick cycle and we are the metaphorical hamster on the spinning wheel. This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from Austin Powers where Fat Bastard is bemoaning the fact that he is fat. "I'm unhappy because I eat, I eat because I'm unhappy"... many of us have this issue.
I asked last week what motivates you? If fear is not powerful enough on its own to keep us motivated then what will?
I think I shared this a few blogs ago, but in coming to my decision to become a healthier version of myself during a day of solitude I wrote down a list of dreams that I wanted to accomplish in my 30's. The dreams that pertain to my weight loss are my motivators. Some of them you probably will find ridiculous, but then again being almost 450 lbs is also ridiculous. (BTW-I tipped the scales Sept. 2009 at 440.6 lbs and lost 20lbs using the Weight Watchers System for 3 months. This journey started at 426.6 lbs)
1). To be able to sit comfortably in a chair with arms.
This might be to some a very silly and almost embarrassing motivator unless you are a large person. Chairs with arms frighten me, they make me shake, and sweat. They usually send me running, okay walking around looking for another chair without arms. CWA (chairs with arms) are a huge deal. I can remember times going to a new restaurant, hoping to God they would have at least one chair without arms so I didn't have to endure the 'Slouch' position. You know what the 'Slouch' is all about don't you? You know the one where you put your butt on the front of the chair and lean back so that you almost form a plank shape against the chair. This allows you to 'sit' with most of your largesse out of the arms while making it look as though you mean to sit that way.
I have to say though I may not be able to fit in some CWA's no matter how much weight I lose. I am pretty big-boneded (no that wasn't a spelling mistake, you have to say it like that 'I am just big-bone-ded') and there are some chairs that my ass just wasn't made for. Like those small metal chairs that used to be in every reception office and hospital waiting room. The ones with with shiny legs and upholstered seats. I can't even get a leg in one of those things. 'Just take seat sir the Doctor will be right in ' 'Uh no thanks, my hemorrhoids flared up again why the hell do you think I'm here?'
Plane seats aren't much better. The last time I flew was on my way home from our honeymoon in Mexico. Now I am not sure who makes those plane seats, but I can bet they look NOTHING like me. They probably haven't ever seen a person my size. I almost didn't make it home because the seats were too narrow, or was it my ass to wide... either way there was a struggle, a deep breath, a snap of the arm bending on the chair and there I was hoping that I didn't have to get out again till Edmonton, only 6.5 hours away hoping I didn't have to pay for that broken arm on the seat. I really thought it should move, I guess it does now, any other 'large' passenger that uses that seat can thank me later it is now officially 'broken in'.
The point is that one of my motivators is to be able to sit in a CWA without any fear of me breaking it, bending it, snapping it, or otherwise destroying a seat that some small person can easily fall into. My hope is to walk into any restaurant and never have to worry about the question... 'Booth or table sir?' 'I don't care I fit anything now!"
2). First shopping trip in a 'normal' sized store.
You know what's funny about this one, is that it happened last week. Amy bought me some new clothes to work out in. I was worried, how were we going to pay for this? (clothes at the Big and Tall store cost me anywhere between twice to three times as much as it would anywhere else, apparently we use THAT much cloth). Amy brought home 3 bags but from Wal-Mart! This is a big deal. I have never bought anything at Wal-Mart (some of you would applaud that). So either Wal-Mart is buying bigger clothes or I am getting smaller. It is a combination of both.
I always go into Old Navy with Amy looking for stuff for her. She always tries to find things for me, but I tell her it's a waste of her time, but in a few short months it won't be, and I will have joined the masses, the proud new owner of a poorly sown polo-shirt that only cost me $10!
3). The ability to do things that I haven't been able to do. (ie. Sports, Hike, Camp)
Acouple of weekends ago we went to Jasper and did a small hike, and a bunch of other really nice walks around a lake (I walked around an ENTIRE lake). These were huge milestones for me, normally I would rather watch others hike or walk around the lake, now I am the one doing it.
The camping well it might not be that strenuous, but from a guy who makes a 3 man tent look like a grocery bag I am excited to head off into the 'wilderness' and explore my 'Manhood' as I make fires, and sear meat yay for Coleman stoves and Hot Dogs. (BTW does anyone know how to make our stove work?)
I started playing ball again, this is always something I have done except for the past couple of years in Edmonton, but I am really excited to be able to play at a level that I haven't been able to do. I am looking forward to the day when I am more agile, quicker, and stronger on a bat than I was even in high school. I am looking forward to the day that when I run around the bases I actually run around the bases.
Fear might start our motivation, but living is what keeps us motivated. Motivation needs to arise out of a desire to achieve what you thought impossible. Motivation is all about setting a goal, and pursuing it relentlessly until it is achieved. Our motivation should be about LIVING LIFE WELL whatever that means to you. For me the key to a life lived well, means that I become a healthy person (emotionally, physically and spiritually) so that I can do the things that I dream of, so that I can be the husband, the father, the leader, the man that I know I was created to be.
I am excited to share my week with you. I had a great eating week, and I had a couple of dogged work-outs but I persevered. I lost another 4.4 lbs which means that I broke through 380 this week and I now sit at 379.6lbs!
Thanks for following, I pray that somehow, somewhere you will find the motivation to change your life wherever it needs to be changed.
Talk to you all soon
Blake
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
