Archives for June 2017

06/10/17
Day 88 Extreme Accountability Challenge
Starting weight 304 pounds
Destination weight 175 pounds
Total weight loss to date 57.2 pounds
71.8 pounds to go

For most of you that are following this Extreme Accountability Challenge, the thought of having to lose 30, 40, 50, 100, or in my case 129 pounds probably makes you want to gasp. It certainly made me gasp.
Most people that need to lose weight probably just need to lose 10 or 20 pounds. The amount of weight that some of the participants have lost is nothing short of amazing.
Almost everyday, I read in my posts and others, ” slow and steady wins the race” I’m not so sure that’s true. What?? The tortoise always beats the hare or does he?

If you remember the hare got overconfident, “cocky”, he clearly wasn’t performing at his best. He lost sight of his goal. I believe that the hare can win the race.

Many of the participants of the Extreme Accountability Challenge, while it may not seem like it, are moving at blazing speed through the fat that they have accumulated over a lifetime. When watching the scales daily it just seems slow, it’s not. Think about it, like I told Summers Duffie a few weeks back, if he gained weight at the rate that he is losing weight, the ambulance would be showing up, sirens blaring, sending him to the hospital. When there, the best doctors would be called in to figure out how he could be gaining half a pound per day. By the end of a year, if we were talking about weight gain, it would be an unbelievable 182.5 pounds gained!! Completely unacceptable. But because it’s going in the other direction, weight loss, it’s slow and steady. Hogwash!

Many of us are moving at blazing speed, not overconfident, not “cocky”, doing our best every single day, staying completely focused on our destination. No tortoises to be found. Just humble hares blazing to victory.

Press forward.

175 pounds here I come!!!

06/09/17
Day 87 Extreme Accountability Challenge
Starting weight 304 pounds
Destination weight 175 pounds
Total weight loss to date 56.8 pounds
72.2 pounds to go

This dieter’s lottery mentality (finding some magical diet that you eat as much and whatever you want and lose 10 pounds a day) that I have written about in several of my previous posts continues to stay on my mind. Also, losing weight just to get thin is probably not going to bring about lasting change. I know at first glance that sounds a little off, but indulge me.

If the only reason I’m losing this weight is to get thin, it’s probably just me living up to other people’s expectations regarding me. It’s the paralyzed man at the well, when Jesus asked do you want to be well. John 5:2, Jesus didn’t ask, do your friends, family, and all of the other paralyzed people waiting for a miracle here with you, want you to get well. He asked the paralyzed man if “he” wanted to be well.

This applies to so many areas of our lives, but, I believe Jesus was asking that man what his desire was. Crazy question. I don’t think so. Dig deeper.

When I look inside myself, why do I want this change, when I get what I am working so hard for, lasting weight loss, what’s going to keep me there, why, why why?

Am I buying a lottery ticket just for the money, or do I want real change? I suspect that the reason so many lottery winners end up broke and disheartened a few years after winning a lottery is that nothing held them there, the money just represented a place where they thought happiness existed. When there, the happiness was nowhere to be found.

For everyone that asks me, so what’s the secret to losing the weight. Well it’s a bunch of things. It’s having an eating plan that I know with almost certainty will result in weight loss, if I stick to my program. It’s the accountability of the Extreme Accountability Challenge that’s huge. The accountability is huge. But it’s the why, I know “the why” has become almost cliche, but it is the truth.

So really the question is, what makes me stick to my program?

It’s looking at my wife Angie and knowing how blessed I am to be called her husband, knowing that I married so far above me not just in looks, yes she is drop dead gorgeous, it’s all of the sacrifices she makes for me, every day, giving no thought for herself. It’s me thinking wow, the last 36 years with her went really fast and I’m 55 years old, I was 304 pounds, if I don’t do something about this weight, I may be ending this life prematurely.

It’s my children and knowing their potential, and wanting to see the coming achievements, the future grandchildren, the years of joy that are ahead.

It’s looking in the mirror and knowing that I have so much more potential that I haven’t yet realized, and knowing that I have so much to do and be.

Then there is you, whoever is reading this, what if you have so much more potential, and you do, and something that I say or more likely watching what I do, like sticking to my weight loss program, causes you to change, you look inside yourself and know that you have countless blessings yet to come, and you decide for yourself and “your” reasons that sticking to a program and getting to your destination weight is worth the price.

Well that gives me reason to stick to my program also. If it’s you, find the reasons, find a plan, stick to it every day, every hour, every minute, and every second and…..

Press forward.

175 pounds here I come!!!

06/08/17
Day 86 Extreme Accountability Challenge
Starting weight 304 pounds
Destination weight 175 pounds
Total weight loss to date 56.8 pounds
72.2 pounds to go

As I move towards the halfway point of this public weight loss journey, the thought of this being like a Marathon comes to mind. So far I have the distinction of having the most weight to lose, 129 pounds. When I sent out my first post to all of my Facebook friends, it was 2 things, one my declaration to the world that I would get this weight off no matter what, second, that I didn’t want to do this alone.

I asked if anyone wanted to join me and a few days later Summers Duffie came along then Mike Wrabel then my amazingly brave wife Angie Thomas, crazy girl! Then several others.

The results have been amazing, the Extreme Accountability Challenge works. For me and a few others this is a Marathon. Marathon runners fatigue, but this Marathon I will not give up. Boys and girls this is tough, but I can see the halfway point. For me halfway is 64.5 pounds, less than 10 pounds away.

I found this quote from an article about marathon runners.

How to Beat Marathon Fatigue
by Jason Karp for active.com

“Hitting the wall is a fear shared by all distance runners on race day. Fatigue is not something specific to slow or average runners. Even world record holders fatigue.”

Do not give up!

Press forward.

175 pounds here I come!!!

06/07/17
Day 85 Extreme Accountability Challenge
Starting weight 304 pounds
Destination weight 175 pounds
Total weight loss to date 55.6 pounds
73.4 pounds to go

For me eating, overeating, and then eating some more has been a comforter. Sometimes it’s true physical hunger, sometimes it’s boredom, sometimes it’s worry, or sometimes it just tastes so good and I want to eat.
I’m not a physician, I’m just trying to understand myself as I move from morbidly obese 5’11” 304 pounds to a healthy, vibrant 175 pounds. Food has never been the enemy but my overeating of food has caused me a lot of emotional and physical pain. What I choose to do with the food is the real issue. The important words are “I choose”. It’s my choice really, the accountability is key but, really I could choose to ignore the accountability and overeat.

Yesterday was a day when the wheels could have come off and I could have derailed this entire process. I didn’t, I chose wisely. It seemed that my entire day was filled with the desire for more food, multiple situations that caused more desire for overeating, but I made it. I chose wisely. From early morning until I went to sleep last night, there was one test after another. At almost any point in the day, I was ready to eat whatever I could get my hands on, but I didn’t. I chose wisely. It was my choice to make.

I want this process to be quick and easy, it’s not. As I reflect over the last 85 days, I know why. If it were easy, I would go back. The challenging nature of losing 129 pounds, is first to lose it, but really what’s most important, never gain it back. The sometimes daily battles help me to strengthen that resolve. I will never go back. This is not a drill.

I imagine that several of my Facebook friends have “unfriended” me out of sheer boredom with their Facebook page being filled daily with pictures of scales and stories of a bunch of overweight people fighting their way back to a healthy weight. That’s okay, do what you must.
For years, I’ve resisted posting almost any of my views on any subject to Facebook, I just didn’t want to make a fool of myself. Well I guess you could say that all changed. This Extreme Accountability Challenge has changed everything. You get all of me in regards to what this weight loss process is like, what my heart is daily. I really want to make a difference, maybe there is someone reading this that has lost hope, maybe 2 people, maybe more. I’m here to tell you, there is hope, you can get to a healthy weight again. I’m proof that it’s possible. But you have to face a real truth, there is no easy way. Stop looking for it. The lottery diet mentality has to stop. Stop looking for a diet that will instantly cause you to lose 100 pounds in 3 months with no work or sacrifice on your part. Changing lifelong habits takes work and perseverance. It’s going to be hard. I promise. But when you are searching for something to wear and everything you own is way too big and you are healthier and have more energy than you have had in years it’s worth it.
The fight is real, fight now for your health, not tomorrow, not Monday, not after the vacation, or the special occasion, no more putting it off, start right now, and don’t stop fighting for your health until you reach your destination weight, then fight everyday the rest of your life to stay healthy. Do it now, whatever it takes do it now.

It’s my and your choice, it always was.

Press forward.

175 pounds here I come!!!