Monday, September 26, 2011
Another great week in weight loss. (287.2 pounds)
It has been yet another great week in weight loss as I lost 3.2 pounds. Next week should be a special edition of my blog as I should be over 150 pounds lost cumulatively. I stand in awe of the amazing miracle that God continues to do in both my body and my heart.
Monday, September 19, 2011
33 weeks in (290.4 pounds)
Well, I am 33 weeks in to my bodily life change and I am down 144.6 pounds altogether. I am losing on average an amazing 4.38 pounds per week and I am in awe! To be expected, my average weight loss per week has gone down a bit in recent weeks, but If I can stay around 2.5 -3.0 pounds per week I could lose a staggering 200 pounds in one year and be under 250 pounds in January of 2012.
I have chronicled a bit in prior posts about my lack of belief that I could ever lose weight. There is however no way that I could ever detail in print my dark feeling of defeat when it comes to my weight. I guess you could say that I believed that God could do miracles, but there was this one thing that I thought was too big (no pun intended) even for God. I truly felt my weight was a lost cause.
I am a very sociable person and my eyes have been opened to a lot of people like me. I remember going to a few open casting calls for the show The Biggest Loser. One casting call in particular stands out to me that we went to in Chicago. My friend Clint and I got a hotel room across the street from the TV studio where the open casting call was in preparation of getting up early the next morning to get in line for the call. We had a view from our room at the Embassy Suites of where the line would form. We went to sleep around 1 a.m. and there was no line at all, but when we woke to our alarm at 3 a.m. and looked out our window there was a line a half of a block long of people waiting to have their chance at the open casting that would start at 9 a.m. We quickly got ready and dressed and headed out to get in line on a cold and snowy day in Chicago. By the time we got in line, we were the 565th and 566th people in line. As the day wore on, it was expressed to everyone in line that there were well over 10,000 obese people that showed up for this open casting call in Chicago. In a similar situation, My friends Clint, Jon and I went to the open casting call in Columbus, OH. This time we were determined not to be as far back in line as we were in Chicago, so we took out chairs and headed out to get in line at 11 p.m. We were people 12, 13 and 14 if I remember correctly. While standing in line, I had hope. I believed I would have been a good fit for the show and I believed I would get on to a TV show that would change my life as we have seen over and over again on the phenomenon that is The Biggest Loser. As time passed without a phone call that they wanted to interview me further, I was discouraged and settled back into the belief that I would just always be a morbidly obese person.
There are countless people within my own zip code that doubtlessly feel defeated in the same way I did. There is good news though and that is that I know from experience that there is hope! Everyone has different life experiences that God can use to help them show others that there is hope. One of my life experiences is with my weight, yours may be with alcoholism or drug addiction, divorce, fear of aging, struggles with children, financial ruin, struggles with immorality, anxiety in sharing your testimony with other, the list could go on and on. The point is that you have the ability to choose to positively impact others or just sit back and waste your talents. I encourage you today to use your story to help others. After all, the only reason that I am in the program that I am in is because my friend Jon who I love and respect has also struggled with his weight most of his life and he had success with the program I am in and he came along side of me, loved me and encouraged me even when I did not know that I was not ready to change. Who do you have in your life that loves and respects you that you could use your talents to help? Think about it!
I have chronicled a bit in prior posts about my lack of belief that I could ever lose weight. There is however no way that I could ever detail in print my dark feeling of defeat when it comes to my weight. I guess you could say that I believed that God could do miracles, but there was this one thing that I thought was too big (no pun intended) even for God. I truly felt my weight was a lost cause.
I am a very sociable person and my eyes have been opened to a lot of people like me. I remember going to a few open casting calls for the show The Biggest Loser. One casting call in particular stands out to me that we went to in Chicago. My friend Clint and I got a hotel room across the street from the TV studio where the open casting call was in preparation of getting up early the next morning to get in line for the call. We had a view from our room at the Embassy Suites of where the line would form. We went to sleep around 1 a.m. and there was no line at all, but when we woke to our alarm at 3 a.m. and looked out our window there was a line a half of a block long of people waiting to have their chance at the open casting that would start at 9 a.m. We quickly got ready and dressed and headed out to get in line on a cold and snowy day in Chicago. By the time we got in line, we were the 565th and 566th people in line. As the day wore on, it was expressed to everyone in line that there were well over 10,000 obese people that showed up for this open casting call in Chicago. In a similar situation, My friends Clint, Jon and I went to the open casting call in Columbus, OH. This time we were determined not to be as far back in line as we were in Chicago, so we took out chairs and headed out to get in line at 11 p.m. We were people 12, 13 and 14 if I remember correctly. While standing in line, I had hope. I believed I would have been a good fit for the show and I believed I would get on to a TV show that would change my life as we have seen over and over again on the phenomenon that is The Biggest Loser. As time passed without a phone call that they wanted to interview me further, I was discouraged and settled back into the belief that I would just always be a morbidly obese person.
There are countless people within my own zip code that doubtlessly feel defeated in the same way I did. There is good news though and that is that I know from experience that there is hope! Everyone has different life experiences that God can use to help them show others that there is hope. One of my life experiences is with my weight, yours may be with alcoholism or drug addiction, divorce, fear of aging, struggles with children, financial ruin, struggles with immorality, anxiety in sharing your testimony with other, the list could go on and on. The point is that you have the ability to choose to positively impact others or just sit back and waste your talents. I encourage you today to use your story to help others. After all, the only reason that I am in the program that I am in is because my friend Jon who I love and respect has also struggled with his weight most of his life and he had success with the program I am in and he came along side of me, loved me and encouraged me even when I did not know that I was not ready to change. Who do you have in your life that loves and respects you that you could use your talents to help? Think about it!
Monday, September 12, 2011
Notre Dame Football (293.0 pounds)
I sure hope I do not live to regret this blog post (I guess this is not a good way to start my post...)
I have done more self evaluation in the last 12 months than at any other time in my life. I have learned to face my shortcomings and cultivate my strengths. Today, I want to be open and transparent and journal about something that I have been avoiding facing for a long time.
Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a college football fan. More specifically, I am a Notre Dame Football enthusiast. I am not a fair weather fan, but a die-hard fanatical Notre Dame nut. I enjoy the exhilaration of victory and I mourn the agony of defeat. It has been no secret to those closest to me that my emotions could be vastly different depending on the outcome of the Notre Dame game on any given fall Saturday. In years gone by, it has been easy for me to pass this by as acceptable behavior because that is what real men do... they watch football and are happy if their team is on top and grouchy if their team struggles. By now, most everyone knows that the last two weeks have been particularly difficult for me with regards to the outcomes of the ND games and especially the way they have lost both games.
Since Saturday night after the huge kick in the gut that was the loss to Michigan, I really started having some introspection. I have been asking myself questions like:
Why is Notre Dame football so valuable to me that I let it impact my frame of mind and emotions?
Is Notre Dame football so important that I can excuse bad behavior?
Has Notre Dame football become an idol in my life?
If Notre Dame losing a game steals joy from me, should I detach myself from it?
Is Notre Dame ever gonna be relevant again (I know it doesn't fit with the rest of the questions, sorry...)
Does Notre Dame football impact me in a negative way?
After a Notre Dame loss do I model Christ-like behavior?
Do my wife and daughters believe I value Notre Dame football too much?
Does Notre Dame football cost me more than it is worth (not monetarily, rather in my life?)
After thinking about these questions and many others, I am not ready to make any rash decision, but I can tell you that my life does need change in this area like so many others. I am not here to say that Notre Dame football is bad (wait, I am not saying they are not bad, because at 0-2 with 9 turnovers in 2 games and 960 yards of total offense and only 51 points to show for it, they are bad.) I am not saying that any sport or sports in general are bad. What I am saying though is that if you or I put (fill in your favorite sport, hobby or recreation here) in a position over God, family, country etc. it is wrong.
I have reached one conclusion with regards to this. I have decided that until I have sorted all of this out and come to a place that I can be pleasing to God no matter the result of the Notre Dame game on any given weekend I will not watch another snap of any college football game. (Just so you know, I typed, deleted and re-typed that last sentence three times before I worked up the courage to leave it there in print.)
I have learned this year that change can be very painful, but whether it be with my weight, my priorities or any other of so many things; it is paramount to my health and relationship with God.
I have done more self evaluation in the last 12 months than at any other time in my life. I have learned to face my shortcomings and cultivate my strengths. Today, I want to be open and transparent and journal about something that I have been avoiding facing for a long time.
Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a college football fan. More specifically, I am a Notre Dame Football enthusiast. I am not a fair weather fan, but a die-hard fanatical Notre Dame nut. I enjoy the exhilaration of victory and I mourn the agony of defeat. It has been no secret to those closest to me that my emotions could be vastly different depending on the outcome of the Notre Dame game on any given fall Saturday. In years gone by, it has been easy for me to pass this by as acceptable behavior because that is what real men do... they watch football and are happy if their team is on top and grouchy if their team struggles. By now, most everyone knows that the last two weeks have been particularly difficult for me with regards to the outcomes of the ND games and especially the way they have lost both games.
Since Saturday night after the huge kick in the gut that was the loss to Michigan, I really started having some introspection. I have been asking myself questions like:
Why is Notre Dame football so valuable to me that I let it impact my frame of mind and emotions?
Is Notre Dame football so important that I can excuse bad behavior?
Has Notre Dame football become an idol in my life?
If Notre Dame losing a game steals joy from me, should I detach myself from it?
Is Notre Dame ever gonna be relevant again (I know it doesn't fit with the rest of the questions, sorry...)
Does Notre Dame football impact me in a negative way?
After a Notre Dame loss do I model Christ-like behavior?
Do my wife and daughters believe I value Notre Dame football too much?
Does Notre Dame football cost me more than it is worth (not monetarily, rather in my life?)
After thinking about these questions and many others, I am not ready to make any rash decision, but I can tell you that my life does need change in this area like so many others. I am not here to say that Notre Dame football is bad (wait, I am not saying they are not bad, because at 0-2 with 9 turnovers in 2 games and 960 yards of total offense and only 51 points to show for it, they are bad.) I am not saying that any sport or sports in general are bad. What I am saying though is that if you or I put (fill in your favorite sport, hobby or recreation here) in a position over God, family, country etc. it is wrong.
I have reached one conclusion with regards to this. I have decided that until I have sorted all of this out and come to a place that I can be pleasing to God no matter the result of the Notre Dame game on any given weekend I will not watch another snap of any college football game. (Just so you know, I typed, deleted and re-typed that last sentence three times before I worked up the courage to leave it there in print.)
I have learned this year that change can be very painful, but whether it be with my weight, my priorities or any other of so many things; it is paramount to my health and relationship with God.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
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