34? I thought I was 35! Keeping motivated!

Well I am into the 3rd week of weightwatchers. So far I have lost 7 pounds and become the lightest I have been in over 15years and now, I am 1 pant size away from my high school pant size. I currently wear 34's from old navy.  Now I am I sure I could get down to the 32 if I could just find a way to lose the looser skin. I know, all things in time.

One thing that can wear on a person is not losing the weight fast enough. On the WW forums, people are always complaining about how they aren't losing fast enough. I always remind people you don't get fat overnight, you won't get thin overnight. Average healthy weight loss is pegged at about 1 to 2 pounds per week. Anything more I guess is bonus, but you shouldn't starve yourself. The opposite effect to what you want may happen. So how do I keep motivated. I am a fairly positive person, and when I want to do something I just do it. So motivation for me internally is not too much of a problem. I guess I like to think I motivate others into action. That I inspire others to do things they have not done before. My wife told me that all through high school, she never ran due to her asthma. She always had a doctor note excusing her. Well this past week for the first time in her life, she ran for 12 and 13 minutes in one session on the treadmill. She told me that it was because of my success that she pushed on. I am extremely proud of her and her successes she is having. Keep it up hun!

One thing I would like to stress to people. You need people. You need to find someone who is on the same program or goal. Trying to do this alone may not be wisest choice. If you have a spouse who wants to lose some weight or a friend looking to lose weight, heck a co-worker or an in-law wanting to lose weight, use them as your support system. Everyone needs support and help from time to time. Knowing you're not alone in your struggle to lose weight is very powerful.

I was very worried yesterday. While running on the treadmill, my Nike + stopped responding. I was wearing it around my shirt collar when it "fried". I thought "oh crap! my receiver is broken!" I looked in the receiver and it looked like I  had corroded it with sweat! Good news today is that the receiver works. I will not wear it around the collar again! I was so sad!

If you are reading my blog, I would love to hear from you. I wonder if I am typing to the abyss at times. If you want to get a hold of me and talk weight loss or ask how I do what I do, email me rbailey(at)telus.net


Ryan

15 years

What is 15 years? 5475 days, 180 months, 131400 hours, 7884000 seconds, and now 72 pounds.

I am currently at 208 pounds after a little more than a week on weightwatchers. I lost 7 pounds so far from the start, maybe a little much, who knows.

At my heaviest of 280, I never thought I would see 210 nevermind 208. So I am currently lighter than I have been in a long time. How long? I've been married 11, known my wife 13 and have taught for 11. So most of the people I know, have never seen me this thin, or healthy, or fit.

15 years is a long time, just wondering what took me so long to get my act together.

Happy Valentine's Day, my wife can hug me a little tighter now!

Ryan

Watch Your Weight

So my wife and I decided to join weight watchers. Funny I used to watch my weight, it just kept going up and up. Like I said before I am not into why I eat I just knew I was eating too much and not exercising enough. As my wife put it, "Your iPod, your Nike+ sensor,are tools to help you lose weight, and weight watchers is another tool." Ok I will agree with her on that it is a tool. It is costing us 85 bucks each for 3 months. Like my wife says, you cant put a price on health. I am always skeptical when it comes to spending money, but I thought what the hay, I will try it.

     I really like the site at http://www.weightwatchers.ca/ it is really easy to use and is kind of like a facebook for people wanting to lose weight. I have already made a new friend from Toronto and like me, he is a teacher trying to lose weight. One thing I noticed about weight watchers is that it is dominated by women. There seems to be very few guys on there. I am not sure if guys think its a "chick thing" to try to lose weight or if people just don't know about the plan.

     This is the plan. It is the NEW points plus plan from weight watchers. As it is you punch in your current weight and other important info, then it gives you points. I currently get 45 points per day to use as I please and an additional 49 points for the week as extra (for the anniversary dinner or V-day) when you may go over in a meal. You can also earn extra points by exercising that you can convert to food points. This makes sense because if you are burning a lot of energy you need to eat a little more. If you don't have time for meetings, the online is really good, you weigh in on a day you decide and you can use the forums for support.

So you may ask, is 45 points a lot? Well I ate only 16 points today so far.
Breakfast - 2 pieces of whole wheat toast with margarine and PB. a glass of milk and a banana.
Lunch - 2 Turkey bites, a whole bowl of pomegranate seeds, a yogurt, a cucumber and a diet pop
Supper - 1/2 turkey breast skinless and boneless, 2 cups of mixed greens as salad and 2 tablespoons of 0 point dressing.

At the end I still have 27 points left to eat. What does that mean in a McDonalds way? I could eat 4 hamburgers and use 28 points. I could eat 3 cheeseburgers and use 24 points, I could have a double quarter pounder meal with a large fry and a diet drink for 28 points. So I am notsure how to tackle this. I am not going to run out to McD for those,but maybe I can have a treat of ice cream tonight. I dunno. I guess if I am not hungry, why use the points? So most likely the points will not be used tonight. Maybe tomorrow I will have 3 pieces of toast. Who knows? I think my problem is I can pre determine breaky and lunch as I make them, but my wife decides what we eat for dinner and last night (Feb 8) I had 2 tacos that added to 21 points total, tonight my meal was a meager 4 points. So I guess that's how it will all go for now. I will bank points for dinner. If you are in the Cold Lake/Bonnyville area, look for the group I made on WW called Cold Lake and Bonnyville WW. If you are not in the area but want to add me as a friend, I am Bailrs on WW. I look forward to hearing from you.

Ryan

My New Best Friends and Where Am I Running To!?

     So above are my new best friends. My new Asics running shoes, which are totally awesome....I could die!!!!!! My blue multi-touch iPod Nano and my new Nike + sensor. Now on my facebook, people have been asking me about my sensor. The cost is about 30 bucks at any Sportchek. I then purchased the nice holder for the sensor called Runaway, for 10 bucks. If you have an iPod touch or an iPhone, you can download Nike + Gps from the app store and it will do what the sensor does.
    
     So how exactly does the sensor work? I don't really know the ins and outs, but what I do know is I will plug in the adaptor into my iPod, then i activate the sensor attached to my shoe. I can then choose workouts based on time, calories burned, and distances. That is not all this does. After said workout, you plug your iPod into your computer and iTunes will autosync to http://www.nikerunning.com/ you set up your free account with nike and you can track all your workouts, set goals, participate in challenges and above all see how you are doing at running. To me, this is a great tool and very cheap.  The iPod can tell you your current distance ran, time remaining as well as current pace. I am told you can buy a heart monitor too, but to be honest, I just want my heart to keep beating and not explode. If you are a veteran runner, or a novice runner, this is easily money well spent.

So where am I actually running to? I thought about this the other day. I am currently training for a 10k race that happens the same weekend as the Calgary Marathon. My goal as you may recall is to run a marathon before 40...I am currently 35, 5 years is a nice goal! Anyways, I am running in a 10k race and I have been thinking, am I really running to do the race. The short answer is yes, the long answer is no. I am running for a goal that other people can't see, but I can. I am running to a better me, a healthier me. I used to look at running like I looked at hiking. Who the hell does this for fun I mean really who!? I now realize that not everyone is running to be a Simon Whitfield or a .....ok he is the only runner I know and he runs triathalons. I am running to be the best physically I can be. Eventhough I will probably never get close to a 4 minute mile, I would like to run as fast as I possibly can, and lose weight as I do it. So, with my newish shoes, my iPod and my Nike +, I will set out on the goal of running the biggest run of my life, the run to health. I hope you join me in my journey, and though I may fall down doing this, my support system is behind me and they will help me pick myself back up again. My Nike+ name is Bailrs, so if there is a way to add me as a friend, and you actually WANT to, hit me up, I would love to get more people in my support network.

     If you are overweight and having a bit of a struggle with getting started, remember I have been there, I am still working at it, you can email me anytime at rbailey(at)telus.net. I will reply as best I can if you want to know what I have done to lose weight or how I just Forrest Gumped my way into this. ("I just felt like running") I will reply to you. All my weight loss has been through hard work, determination, support and positive thinking.

Ryan

Mystery Building Coming Soon!

Well the South arena in our little town has been torn down. Just a few years back we were fighting to win Hockeyville to possibly spruce that little gem up. We never won and now the arena is no more. As the news reported it, it went something like this. "The walls of the south arena come down today making way for "the mystery building" to be built."

The demo for the south arena cost double what it was quoted. This was due to asbestos being found in the arena. It was like 50 yrs old or something so there's gotta be a ton of bad stuff in there. I thought to myself why couldn't they just get that spun out high school girl that burned the curling rink to the ground a few yeas ago to come demo the arena? I bet she would have done it for a 6 pack of Crest beer and a carton of De Maurier.

Now I thought to myself what could this mystery building be? I was hoping it would be a Future Shop, Best Buy or something of that variety. Then I thought, if it has to be a secret, maybe it is a huge adult emporium. I quickly dismissed this idea as there is a high school right next door to the proposed site. I asked my good friend Chris, who happens to be a councillor for the city about the mystery building. You would think friendship would trump red tape, it did not. Chris won't tell me what is going up in the spot so for now we all have to speculate. What do you think it is? Leave a comment below if you think you have an idea.


By the way, the building going up by the Lube Shop is a Wok Box/Taco Del Mar.

Ryan