If you're been paying attention, every time I mention my name and version X, the X is the speed that I ran on the treadmill when doing treadmill sprints. This time is no exception. This week I have been in the gym twice. Tuesday I did circuit training and at the end I decided to do some treadmill sprints.
The exercise equipment at the BLR is Cybex brand and my home gym has other brands. It is obvious that the Cybex equipment at the BLR is new and the other brands at my home gym are older. However, I decided to try it out anyway and I managed to work my way up to 10.5 mph. I am getting faster and will reach the point where I max out the treadmill speed at 12.4 mph.
On another note, there has been a setback in ice skating. One of the things that I haven't told you is that I have a high arch in my feet that causes me to walk naturally on the outside of my feet. Also, my feet are wider than normal. When buying shoes, I have to get a 2E or even a 4E width depending on the brand of shoe. This is not a problem because the shoe store has these widths in stock.
Buying ice skates is completely different. I mentioned earlier that my skates didn't fit right and it was because of my wide feet. The skates didn't fit right in college and I don't know why I didn't investigate it back then. Oh well, that is the past. Earlier this week I went to the rink to get fitted for skates. The width of off-the-shelf skates is 2E, which I thought would work. It didn't and a 2E in ice skates is a lot narrower than a 2E in shoes. Also, ice skates run about 2 sizes smaller in length than shoes. I wear a 9.5 size in shoes and a 7.5 in ice skates. Why are there two different sizing systems for skates and shoes?
So, all of this is to say that I will have to get custom made ice skates for my feet. I am alright with this because the ice skates are the foundation of hockey and to have a pair of skates that fit perfectly for my feet should be an awesome thing.
Also, in order to account for the high arch in my feet, I had an orthotic made many years ago and they work when I wear athletic shoes. Now that I am older and working, I need a strategy for wearing steel-toed work boots and dress shoes. I saw a Chiropractor with a kinesiology background and he conducted a thorough analysis of my feet including how I walk and distribute the weight as I walk. Most of this was computerized. We are making three totally custom insoles based on the analysis - one for dress shoes, one specifically for ice skates, and one for general use.
I am telling you this because I am excited and they should be in next week. I can only imagine the combination of the custom ice skates and the custom ice hockey orthotic. I will be able to stay on the skates longer and will enjoy playing that much more, which will result in more calories burned.
I remember wearing the work boots and them being uncomfortable because of the way that I walk. I will now be able to walk properly in the boots, which will keep me outside for longer at the job site, which will burn more calories.
I'm also looking forward to using the orthotics in my hiking shoes. I used the old orthotics during the hikes at the BLR and it was ok. The orthotics were hard plastic that moved around easily in my shoes. I've seen samples of the new orthotics and they will be much better. If only there were mountains around Houston where I could try them out. Despite this, having these orthotics will make hiking more enjoyable, which will allow me to do it longer, resulting in a higher calorie burn.
Do we see a theme here? I'll let you know what happens next week at the end of the week after I get the orthotics and the quote for the custom ice skates.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Biggest Loser moment
I realize that some of y'all aren't followers of the television show The Biggest Loser, so I need to do a little explaining. The season that is currently airing is season 11. Two of the contestants are named Arthur and Hannah.
Arthur is the biggest contestant by BMI that the show has ever had in their 11 seasons. His starting weight was 507 pounds. Hannah used to be a volleyball player and was pretty good. I don't know all of the details, but I believe she got injured years ago, stopped playing volleyball and gained weight. For those of y'all that do follow the show and want to provide more details of Hannah's story, please feel free to do so.
Over Christmas last year the contestants were sent home for 2 weeks. They started at the ranch in October of last year, so Christmas was about their 8 week mark. None of the contestants were finished with their weight loss journey at this point, but they were well on their way.
The cameras followed every contestant but I want to focus on Arthur and Hannah. Before going to the ranch, Arthur showed us that for him to fit into the driver's seat on a car, he had to move the seat all the way back, then recline the seat all the way. The cameras showed us how it was done, and I couldn't believe it. The seat was all the way back and all the way reclined.
I don't know exactly how much weight Arthur had lost at that point, but he was down over 100 pounds. The cameras followed him around for the first time when he went to get into the car. With losing over 100 pounds, Arthur was able to tilt the seat all the way up so there wasn't any recline. I don't remember if he needed to move the seat up or not, but I do remember being shocked at the change. During the episode, Arthur took his family for a ride in the car because he could. He told us that this was his Biggest Loser moment.
During the same episode, Hannah went with her dad to the volleyball court because she's physically able to play. The cameras showed her practicing volleyball moves and she was alright at it. It wasn't perfect, but she was doing it. It was emotional for her dad because he said they used to do this all the time when she was a little girl. While she was at the gym, a couple of people asked her to play a game of 2 on 2. She did it. Hannah said that was the firs time she had been on a volleyball court since the injury, which was about 12 years ago. Afterwords she said this is my Biggest Loser moment.
In a later episode of the Biggest Loser, Jillian is working out with Rulon using a body bag. This is probably around the 12 week mark and Rulon's said he's starting to see the former olympic champion in him come back. At one point in the episode, Jillian asks Rulon to use the body bag to do a take down move in wrestling. Rulon is a big guy and he does it. He holds the bag close to his body, flips over, slams the bag down, and lands on the mat. Go to youtube and find the video. After doing this a few times, Jillian said it looked like a great white shark jumping out of the water.
Do you see a theme here? Rulon and Hannah are about former athletes getting their body back and getting back into the sport they love. Hannah and Arthur's theme is saying that the story mentioned above was their Biggest Loser moment, which brings me to today. Now it is my turn for a Biggest Loser moment.
After my time at the BLR, I am about the same weight I was when I graduated from college almost 8 years ago. I have been saying that I can now fit back into my ice hockey pads and want to start playing again. The fist step for me is skating. There is a rink near my house and today I went skating. Let's get to the pictures and I'll explain afterwords.
The picture above is my Biggest Loser moment!! It is obviously me on ice skates during the public skating session. I was on the ice for about one hour before they needed to resurface. At that point I decided it was time to go because my skates don't fit right and felt like they are started to rub a blister. To be honest, these skates have never fit perfectly even when I was wearing them in college. One of the items at the top of my list for next week is to get fitted properly for new ice skates.
I am committed to get back to playing ice hockey again because I absolutely love playing the sport. I wasn't the greatest player even in my glory days, but I enjoyed it and it was great exercise. Today I managed to skate for about one hour. I have not been on skates for almost 8 years since I was in college and my concern was how would I do? Would it come back to me easily? Is it like ridding a bike? The answer is yes, mostly it came back easily and was almost like ridding a bicycle. I did not fall once during my skating session. There are a lot of moves in ice skating including moving forward, cross stepping to change direction, stopping, backward skating, backward cross stepping, backward stopping, and transitions between backwards to forwards. A lot of these moves are both on the right side and the left side.
The public skating session moves around the rink in a counter clockwise direction, kinda like a Nascar race. It wasn't that crowded, but there were a lot of little kids that were just starting to skate. Moving forward was easy, stopping on both sides came back real quick and the step over (right over left) is a work in progress. Backward skating and everything associated with it will be a work in progress. Today I did very little backward skating because it did not come back naturally. There is a high risk of falling when skating backwards and I'm going to do it without wearing a helmet.
By the way, in the picture above, notice the green Baylor hockey jersey. I have not worn this since college because I have not been playing hockey and then in the past few years could not fit into it. I ordered this jersey as a freshman and should have ordered a bigger size back then because it was tight back then when I put on the pads.
So the plan moving forward is to get fitted for ice skates that fit properly. Once those are in, I plan to attend some sessions that are called "stick and puck." These stick and puck sessions are for hockey players and are generally open ice time. It is a time for players to work on individual skills outside of the team practice, but most of the time it usually turns into a pick up game with whoever is there.
My plan will be to concentrate on the skating while wearing the hockey pads. I won't play in the pick up game, which will work out nicely because the pick up games are usually on one side of the ice. Stay tuned for a future picture of part 2 of my Biggest Loser moment.
Arthur is the biggest contestant by BMI that the show has ever had in their 11 seasons. His starting weight was 507 pounds. Hannah used to be a volleyball player and was pretty good. I don't know all of the details, but I believe she got injured years ago, stopped playing volleyball and gained weight. For those of y'all that do follow the show and want to provide more details of Hannah's story, please feel free to do so.
Over Christmas last year the contestants were sent home for 2 weeks. They started at the ranch in October of last year, so Christmas was about their 8 week mark. None of the contestants were finished with their weight loss journey at this point, but they were well on their way.
The cameras followed every contestant but I want to focus on Arthur and Hannah. Before going to the ranch, Arthur showed us that for him to fit into the driver's seat on a car, he had to move the seat all the way back, then recline the seat all the way. The cameras showed us how it was done, and I couldn't believe it. The seat was all the way back and all the way reclined.
I don't know exactly how much weight Arthur had lost at that point, but he was down over 100 pounds. The cameras followed him around for the first time when he went to get into the car. With losing over 100 pounds, Arthur was able to tilt the seat all the way up so there wasn't any recline. I don't remember if he needed to move the seat up or not, but I do remember being shocked at the change. During the episode, Arthur took his family for a ride in the car because he could. He told us that this was his Biggest Loser moment.
During the same episode, Hannah went with her dad to the volleyball court because she's physically able to play. The cameras showed her practicing volleyball moves and she was alright at it. It wasn't perfect, but she was doing it. It was emotional for her dad because he said they used to do this all the time when she was a little girl. While she was at the gym, a couple of people asked her to play a game of 2 on 2. She did it. Hannah said that was the firs time she had been on a volleyball court since the injury, which was about 12 years ago. Afterwords she said this is my Biggest Loser moment.
In a later episode of the Biggest Loser, Jillian is working out with Rulon using a body bag. This is probably around the 12 week mark and Rulon's said he's starting to see the former olympic champion in him come back. At one point in the episode, Jillian asks Rulon to use the body bag to do a take down move in wrestling. Rulon is a big guy and he does it. He holds the bag close to his body, flips over, slams the bag down, and lands on the mat. Go to youtube and find the video. After doing this a few times, Jillian said it looked like a great white shark jumping out of the water.
Do you see a theme here? Rulon and Hannah are about former athletes getting their body back and getting back into the sport they love. Hannah and Arthur's theme is saying that the story mentioned above was their Biggest Loser moment, which brings me to today. Now it is my turn for a Biggest Loser moment.
After my time at the BLR, I am about the same weight I was when I graduated from college almost 8 years ago. I have been saying that I can now fit back into my ice hockey pads and want to start playing again. The fist step for me is skating. There is a rink near my house and today I went skating. Let's get to the pictures and I'll explain afterwords.
The picture above is my Biggest Loser moment!! It is obviously me on ice skates during the public skating session. I was on the ice for about one hour before they needed to resurface. At that point I decided it was time to go because my skates don't fit right and felt like they are started to rub a blister. To be honest, these skates have never fit perfectly even when I was wearing them in college. One of the items at the top of my list for next week is to get fitted properly for new ice skates.
I am committed to get back to playing ice hockey again because I absolutely love playing the sport. I wasn't the greatest player even in my glory days, but I enjoyed it and it was great exercise. Today I managed to skate for about one hour. I have not been on skates for almost 8 years since I was in college and my concern was how would I do? Would it come back to me easily? Is it like ridding a bike? The answer is yes, mostly it came back easily and was almost like ridding a bicycle. I did not fall once during my skating session. There are a lot of moves in ice skating including moving forward, cross stepping to change direction, stopping, backward skating, backward cross stepping, backward stopping, and transitions between backwards to forwards. A lot of these moves are both on the right side and the left side.
The public skating session moves around the rink in a counter clockwise direction, kinda like a Nascar race. It wasn't that crowded, but there were a lot of little kids that were just starting to skate. Moving forward was easy, stopping on both sides came back real quick and the step over (right over left) is a work in progress. Backward skating and everything associated with it will be a work in progress. Today I did very little backward skating because it did not come back naturally. There is a high risk of falling when skating backwards and I'm going to do it without wearing a helmet.
By the way, in the picture above, notice the green Baylor hockey jersey. I have not worn this since college because I have not been playing hockey and then in the past few years could not fit into it. I ordered this jersey as a freshman and should have ordered a bigger size back then because it was tight back then when I put on the pads.
So the plan moving forward is to get fitted for ice skates that fit properly. Once those are in, I plan to attend some sessions that are called "stick and puck." These stick and puck sessions are for hockey players and are generally open ice time. It is a time for players to work on individual skills outside of the team practice, but most of the time it usually turns into a pick up game with whoever is there.
My plan will be to concentrate on the skating while wearing the hockey pads. I won't play in the pick up game, which will work out nicely because the pick up games are usually on one side of the ice. Stay tuned for a future picture of part 2 of my Biggest Loser moment.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Week in review
I apologize for the bad title, but this post will be a summary of this past week, which was not boring at all. One of the questions that I get asked frequently is how can I get away from my job for 8 weeks to spend the time at the BLR. The answer is because I work in the oil and gas industry on a project basis and my last project came to a close in January. Currently there's nothing lined up immediately, so I decided that 8 weeks fit my schedule and budget.
Please don't worry about me because I will be fine. I am currently in between projects and will be working soon. I have multiple "irons in the fire" and besides, have you noticed the price of oil lately? The high price of oil means there will be new projects coming online shortly which means multiple opportunities for me.
There is a ministry at a church in the Houston area called Between Jobs Ministry (BJM) for those people who are between jobs. I went through the ministry the last time I was between projects and I highly recommend it. They meet every Wednesday morning and last week I went back again as a "first-timer." Some of the church members like to bake items for the BJM and one of the local bakeries brings over some items as well.
Years ago when I was in the office full time we had people that would bring food in every Friday morning. It was enough food for a meal so I didn't eat breakfast at my house and would eat the food at the office. I now realize what a bad decision that was. I could have eaten a better breakfast at my house as I did every other day and saved the calories from the office food. When I went to BJM last week, I didn't realize there would be food, so I ate breakfast at my house. When I arrived at the church, I wasn't tempted by the food there. I noticed they had fruit as an option, but I didn't take any because I was full from my breakfast at home.
On Thursday of last week I had a job interview- kinda. This was a preliminary interview because the company will have some upcoming needs and wanted to discuss my career path and where I would be a good fit in the upcoming projects. There was one project briefly discussed in Canada. The person on the other side of the desk said there would be hunting and fishing opportunities. Hunting and fishing aren't my hobbies, so without thinking about it, I asked about hiking trails. He said he didn't know, but assumed there would be hiking opportunities. I was thinking about this on the way home because in my old life, if I didn't want to hunt or fish, I probably would have stayed in my room and watched movies or television shows on my laptop. The new me asked about hiking trails on a job interview. What a change.
Over the weekend, my family went to visit my brother and sister-in-law in Illinois. Since I knew about this trip, I planned it for the 10% rule. I had a few conversations with my sister-in-law about menu planning before making the trip and we were able to have a plan for each meal. Oh I did go off the reservation a little, but nothing like before. Rather than having a few drinks in one sitting, I decided to have half of a glass per sitting.
I assumed the breakfast at the hotel would be carb loaded with options like waffles and pastries and I was correct. The only thing remotely healthy was the oatmeal, but it was instant oatmeal and already flavored. There was skim milk which I had. I also planned for this by having eggs and whole wheat bread at the house where my brother and sister-in-law live. Also, I brought my own snacks for the trip. Overall it wasn't perfect, but it was better than before my time at the BLR.
Also while we were there, the family made a short trip to the Lincoln Museum. There wasn't a whole lot of original artifacts in the museum, but it was still an awesome day. I guess my baseline for comparison is tainted because I recently visited the Reagan Museum and have previously visit the LBJ Museum. The Reagan and LBJ Museums have a lot more artifacts, but they were recently president. The focus of the museum is on the life of Lincoln and his family and the hard life they lived.
On the way out of town, we visited the gravesite of Lincoln and his family. The monument built over the tomb is huge and I have not seen anyone else in the USA have a tomb or monument this big over their burial chamber. However, it is fitting because Lincoln managed to hold the country together during the civil war. There is a movie coming out this month about the plan to assassinate Lincoln and the arrest, trial and execution of those involved. I will be seeing it on opening day.
Please don't worry about me because I will be fine. I am currently in between projects and will be working soon. I have multiple "irons in the fire" and besides, have you noticed the price of oil lately? The high price of oil means there will be new projects coming online shortly which means multiple opportunities for me.
There is a ministry at a church in the Houston area called Between Jobs Ministry (BJM) for those people who are between jobs. I went through the ministry the last time I was between projects and I highly recommend it. They meet every Wednesday morning and last week I went back again as a "first-timer." Some of the church members like to bake items for the BJM and one of the local bakeries brings over some items as well.
Years ago when I was in the office full time we had people that would bring food in every Friday morning. It was enough food for a meal so I didn't eat breakfast at my house and would eat the food at the office. I now realize what a bad decision that was. I could have eaten a better breakfast at my house as I did every other day and saved the calories from the office food. When I went to BJM last week, I didn't realize there would be food, so I ate breakfast at my house. When I arrived at the church, I wasn't tempted by the food there. I noticed they had fruit as an option, but I didn't take any because I was full from my breakfast at home.
On Thursday of last week I had a job interview- kinda. This was a preliminary interview because the company will have some upcoming needs and wanted to discuss my career path and where I would be a good fit in the upcoming projects. There was one project briefly discussed in Canada. The person on the other side of the desk said there would be hunting and fishing opportunities. Hunting and fishing aren't my hobbies, so without thinking about it, I asked about hiking trails. He said he didn't know, but assumed there would be hiking opportunities. I was thinking about this on the way home because in my old life, if I didn't want to hunt or fish, I probably would have stayed in my room and watched movies or television shows on my laptop. The new me asked about hiking trails on a job interview. What a change.
Over the weekend, my family went to visit my brother and sister-in-law in Illinois. Since I knew about this trip, I planned it for the 10% rule. I had a few conversations with my sister-in-law about menu planning before making the trip and we were able to have a plan for each meal. Oh I did go off the reservation a little, but nothing like before. Rather than having a few drinks in one sitting, I decided to have half of a glass per sitting.
I assumed the breakfast at the hotel would be carb loaded with options like waffles and pastries and I was correct. The only thing remotely healthy was the oatmeal, but it was instant oatmeal and already flavored. There was skim milk which I had. I also planned for this by having eggs and whole wheat bread at the house where my brother and sister-in-law live. Also, I brought my own snacks for the trip. Overall it wasn't perfect, but it was better than before my time at the BLR.
Also while we were there, the family made a short trip to the Lincoln Museum. There wasn't a whole lot of original artifacts in the museum, but it was still an awesome day. I guess my baseline for comparison is tainted because I recently visited the Reagan Museum and have previously visit the LBJ Museum. The Reagan and LBJ Museums have a lot more artifacts, but they were recently president. The focus of the museum is on the life of Lincoln and his family and the hard life they lived.
On the way out of town, we visited the gravesite of Lincoln and his family. The monument built over the tomb is huge and I have not seen anyone else in the USA have a tomb or monument this big over their burial chamber. However, it is fitting because Lincoln managed to hold the country together during the civil war. There is a movie coming out this month about the plan to assassinate Lincoln and the arrest, trial and execution of those involved. I will be seeing it on opening day.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Back in the saddle
Today was a good day for me, but I first need to start with some background information. During my first week at the BLR there was a lady that I met who lives in another part of the Houston area, about a mile from where my parents live. I still have other friends that live in that part of town as well. So today a few of us met to go hiking. There was me, one of my friends, this lady that I met at the BLR, and my mom. We went to local park that has a hiking trail and it was very good.
It was nice to put water in the Camelbak hydration backpack and go hiking. Now please realize that hiking in Houston just means walking because we don't have any mountains here. On this trail there were several small hills that were maybe 6 ft high. We brought our lunch with us and had a picnic at the end. We were there for about 4 hours and did a lot of socializing and hiking. Actually, it was more socializing than hiking.
For almost 8 years now I have had a gym membership at 24 Hour Fitness, which means that I have access to all of the clubs nation wide. I talked to one of my other friends in this part of Houston and we decided to go to the gym and do the Zumba class. I've seen info-mercials for Zumba and noticed that 24 Hour Fitness offers it as a class, and I wanted to try it.
Oh my goodness, what a workout it was. For those that don't know, Zumba is a cardio dance class that is a mix of latin and salsa music with a hip-hop flavor added. It is high intensity with quick movements for the entire class. It was both mentally and physically tough. The class moves quickly and it was mentally tough trying to learn the movements and keep up with the rest of the class. If was physically tough because it is non-stop for the entire hour. There is no warm-up and the cool down part was a dynamic cool down and was very short.
I'm not sure if this Zumba dance class will be a fad or not, but it was a great calorie burn and a good cardio workout. The dance moves are different from other classes and I recommend it. I also recommend getting to the gym early to warm up and stretch first. I can't imagine going to that class cold because it is non-stop for the entire hour.
In cardio disco and other classes I've been to, the instructor shows the moves, breaks it down slowly until the entire class gets the moves down. Zumba was not like that at all. The instructor did the moves and we had to follow. There weren't any instruction of the moves or breaking it down slowly. First time people like me had to pick it up fast. I'm a fast learner so this wasn't a problem for me. I'm definitely going to add this to my cardio options because it was a fun class and burned a lot of calories. Next class I'm going to wear the heart rate monitor that tracks calories burned to get a number. I wouldn't be surprise if the number of calories burned was over 1,000 in that hour.
As I continue to look for for my next project I would like to continue the hiking part with the people mentioned above at least one time per week. I'm also going to add Zumba to the cardio options. Tomorrow I pick up my ice skates from the rink and will start skating next week because I can't fit it in this week. Tomorrow and Thursday will be filled with job related stuff and I'm going out of town this weekend, so I won't be back in the gym until next week.
If your gym offers Zumba, I recommend checking it out. Time will tell if this is a fad or not, but I'm going to enjoy it while it is offered because it is a good calorie burn, it is a different kind of workout, and I had fun.
It was nice to put water in the Camelbak hydration backpack and go hiking. Now please realize that hiking in Houston just means walking because we don't have any mountains here. On this trail there were several small hills that were maybe 6 ft high. We brought our lunch with us and had a picnic at the end. We were there for about 4 hours and did a lot of socializing and hiking. Actually, it was more socializing than hiking.
For almost 8 years now I have had a gym membership at 24 Hour Fitness, which means that I have access to all of the clubs nation wide. I talked to one of my other friends in this part of Houston and we decided to go to the gym and do the Zumba class. I've seen info-mercials for Zumba and noticed that 24 Hour Fitness offers it as a class, and I wanted to try it.
Oh my goodness, what a workout it was. For those that don't know, Zumba is a cardio dance class that is a mix of latin and salsa music with a hip-hop flavor added. It is high intensity with quick movements for the entire class. It was both mentally and physically tough. The class moves quickly and it was mentally tough trying to learn the movements and keep up with the rest of the class. If was physically tough because it is non-stop for the entire hour. There is no warm-up and the cool down part was a dynamic cool down and was very short.
I'm not sure if this Zumba dance class will be a fad or not, but it was a great calorie burn and a good cardio workout. The dance moves are different from other classes and I recommend it. I also recommend getting to the gym early to warm up and stretch first. I can't imagine going to that class cold because it is non-stop for the entire hour.
In cardio disco and other classes I've been to, the instructor shows the moves, breaks it down slowly until the entire class gets the moves down. Zumba was not like that at all. The instructor did the moves and we had to follow. There weren't any instruction of the moves or breaking it down slowly. First time people like me had to pick it up fast. I'm a fast learner so this wasn't a problem for me. I'm definitely going to add this to my cardio options because it was a fun class and burned a lot of calories. Next class I'm going to wear the heart rate monitor that tracks calories burned to get a number. I wouldn't be surprise if the number of calories burned was over 1,000 in that hour.
As I continue to look for for my next project I would like to continue the hiking part with the people mentioned above at least one time per week. I'm also going to add Zumba to the cardio options. Tomorrow I pick up my ice skates from the rink and will start skating next week because I can't fit it in this week. Tomorrow and Thursday will be filled with job related stuff and I'm going out of town this weekend, so I won't be back in the gym until next week.
If your gym offers Zumba, I recommend checking it out. Time will tell if this is a fad or not, but I'm going to enjoy it while it is offered because it is a good calorie burn, it is a different kind of workout, and I had fun.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Wedding day review
As you know my first priority the past two weeks was my friend's wedding yesterday. The ceremony was outside and the reception was indoors. Thank goodness the weather was just right. It wasn't cold or hot, and the clouds didn't produce rain. Everyone looked good in their suits and dresses. I'll show you some pictures in a bit, so I need to briefly explain the shoes. All of the guys in the wedding party were asked to wear Converse shoes with the suit. This at first reminded me of another wedding where we wore Converse shoes. Overall, it was a great wedding, I had fun, got to see some people that I had not seen in a long time, and there weren't any mistakes or glitches in the wedding.
You may be asking how did I do at the wedding regarding food? Well, I have known about the wedding for several months and assumed they would have cake. So if I wanted to, I could have included a piece of cake in my calorie budget this week and made adjustments elsewhere in my budget. When it comes to desserts, cake isn't at the top of my list of favorites, so I decided to not have a piece of cake. However, if they would have served cheesecake or Mountain Dew, then I probably would have made adjustments to my budget.
In lieu of the groom's cake, John made everyone "Yoda Doodles", which is snicker doodle cookies in the shape of Yoda. For those of y'all that know John, this is perfect for him and his personality. Each person had a package of two cookies. I had one and took the other one home. The cookies were thin and about half the size of my palm. I don't know how many calories are in each cookie, but looking at the size of them, it is not a complete budget buster.
After the wedding, a few of us went to Starbucks before everyone took off to go home. I know this wasn't included in my calorie budget and if I am going to drink calories, I'd rather have other beverages besides Starbucks. So I reached down to get a bottle of water and saw this blackberry flavored water that caught my eye. I looked at the label and it said water and natural flavorings so I decided to buy it. I was still able to socialize with my friends and stay on my calorie budget.
When I got home, I changed clothes and sat on the couch for a few minutes before dinner. I fell asleep, slept through dinner and woke up later. At this point I had a snack and went to bed for the night a couple of hours later. So at the end of the day, everything turned out well with my calorie budget. Before going to the BLR, I probably would have had a piece of wedding cake and would have gotten a coffee beverage at Starbucks. Those two items alone probably add up to about 1,000 calories depending on the size of the beverage at Starbucks. Yes the cookie wasn't on the budget for the day but it wasn't an outrageous amount of calories and it was also accounted for when I slept through dinner.
Now let's get to some pictures.
Here I am standing where the wedding will take place.
Here I am with the groom. I don't like posting pictures of other people online, but I've already noticed pictures from the wedding showing up on facebook. This morning I received several e-mails saying that I've been tagged in pictures, so I figured one picture of the groom won't hurt.
This picture was taken after the Yoda Doodles - mmmmmm it was good.
Here I am at Starbucks holding up the blackberry flavored water. By the way, it was disgusting and from now on, I will be staying with regular water.
You may be asking how did I do at the wedding regarding food? Well, I have known about the wedding for several months and assumed they would have cake. So if I wanted to, I could have included a piece of cake in my calorie budget this week and made adjustments elsewhere in my budget. When it comes to desserts, cake isn't at the top of my list of favorites, so I decided to not have a piece of cake. However, if they would have served cheesecake or Mountain Dew, then I probably would have made adjustments to my budget.
In lieu of the groom's cake, John made everyone "Yoda Doodles", which is snicker doodle cookies in the shape of Yoda. For those of y'all that know John, this is perfect for him and his personality. Each person had a package of two cookies. I had one and took the other one home. The cookies were thin and about half the size of my palm. I don't know how many calories are in each cookie, but looking at the size of them, it is not a complete budget buster.
After the wedding, a few of us went to Starbucks before everyone took off to go home. I know this wasn't included in my calorie budget and if I am going to drink calories, I'd rather have other beverages besides Starbucks. So I reached down to get a bottle of water and saw this blackberry flavored water that caught my eye. I looked at the label and it said water and natural flavorings so I decided to buy it. I was still able to socialize with my friends and stay on my calorie budget.
When I got home, I changed clothes and sat on the couch for a few minutes before dinner. I fell asleep, slept through dinner and woke up later. At this point I had a snack and went to bed for the night a couple of hours later. So at the end of the day, everything turned out well with my calorie budget. Before going to the BLR, I probably would have had a piece of wedding cake and would have gotten a coffee beverage at Starbucks. Those two items alone probably add up to about 1,000 calories depending on the size of the beverage at Starbucks. Yes the cookie wasn't on the budget for the day but it wasn't an outrageous amount of calories and it was also accounted for when I slept through dinner.
Now let's get to some pictures.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Back at home
I apologize for being lazy in my postings, but to be honest, there really isn't any excuse - I've just been lazy in regards to updating this blog. I've been home now for almost 2 weeks and the real test has begun. Can I keep going on my weight loss journey at home?
The answer is yes, but it takes a lot more effort at home than at the resort. Life at the resort was easy. We sit down in the dining room for meals every day and the workouts are planned in advance. At home obviously I have to cook my own meals, which is no big deal because I've been doing this my entire adult life. However, the food intake now requires a lot more planning in advance.
Last week I was in the gym twice, which now seems like a really small amount of time. In my past life, twice per week at the gym would have been acceptable. I've always liked weight training and building muscle, so I will definitely continue this at home. For me, cardio in the gym is torture and I will do cardio outside of the gym any time if I have the option.
One of the cool things about losing all of this weight is that I can now fit back into my ice hockey pads, so I plan to play ice hockey as much as possible. My brother is trying to recruit me into the cycling world and I am going to check it out - it is only a matter of time. My first priority with cardio is to start ice skating again because it has been a long time, then move to full ice hockey.
So you may be wondering how well this plan was executed since I've been home. The answer is mediocre. I only made it to the gym twice, but have done well with the food. To be honest, these two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity. My friend is getting married this Sunday and I have had to get a new suit fitted. This has been a multiple stage process and it has been about a 45 minute drive to the store each way.
During my rotations for the past year I have been working on having a new home theater installed at my house. This has also been a multiple stage process and it is almost done. Besides, in my free time I have been lazy playing with my new toy and watching 3D movies and television.
The best part of being home so far has been cleaning out my closet and shopping for new smaller clothes. This has taken awhile to decide if I want to keep stuff or give it away. Shopping has not been a simple matter and has also been a multiple stage process.
Even though my priority these two weeks has been my friend's upcoming wedding and shopping for smaller clothes, I can tell already that my time at the BLR has changed my life. I went to another friend's birthday party last weekend. I didn't have any cake or margaritas because these are not in my calorie budget this week and I know what it takes to burn off these calories. To me at that time, it wasn't worth it.
This weekend I am going to take pictures of myself and post them as the official "after" pictures. Next week my plans are to continue the food plan from the BLR, get to the gym for weight training, and ice skate for cardio.
Another thing that I liked about my time at the BLR was the hikes. Even though we don't have mountains in Houston, hiking is more like walking. I am still going to find a way to get in some good hikes or long walks.
The answer is yes, but it takes a lot more effort at home than at the resort. Life at the resort was easy. We sit down in the dining room for meals every day and the workouts are planned in advance. At home obviously I have to cook my own meals, which is no big deal because I've been doing this my entire adult life. However, the food intake now requires a lot more planning in advance.
Last week I was in the gym twice, which now seems like a really small amount of time. In my past life, twice per week at the gym would have been acceptable. I've always liked weight training and building muscle, so I will definitely continue this at home. For me, cardio in the gym is torture and I will do cardio outside of the gym any time if I have the option.
One of the cool things about losing all of this weight is that I can now fit back into my ice hockey pads, so I plan to play ice hockey as much as possible. My brother is trying to recruit me into the cycling world and I am going to check it out - it is only a matter of time. My first priority with cardio is to start ice skating again because it has been a long time, then move to full ice hockey.
So you may be wondering how well this plan was executed since I've been home. The answer is mediocre. I only made it to the gym twice, but have done well with the food. To be honest, these two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity. My friend is getting married this Sunday and I have had to get a new suit fitted. This has been a multiple stage process and it has been about a 45 minute drive to the store each way.
During my rotations for the past year I have been working on having a new home theater installed at my house. This has also been a multiple stage process and it is almost done. Besides, in my free time I have been lazy playing with my new toy and watching 3D movies and television.
The best part of being home so far has been cleaning out my closet and shopping for new smaller clothes. This has taken awhile to decide if I want to keep stuff or give it away. Shopping has not been a simple matter and has also been a multiple stage process.
Even though my priority these two weeks has been my friend's upcoming wedding and shopping for smaller clothes, I can tell already that my time at the BLR has changed my life. I went to another friend's birthday party last weekend. I didn't have any cake or margaritas because these are not in my calorie budget this week and I know what it takes to burn off these calories. To me at that time, it wasn't worth it.
This weekend I am going to take pictures of myself and post them as the official "after" pictures. Next week my plans are to continue the food plan from the BLR, get to the gym for weight training, and ice skate for cardio.
Another thing that I liked about my time at the BLR was the hikes. Even though we don't have mountains in Houston, hiking is more like walking. I am still going to find a way to get in some good hikes or long walks.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Recommendations
Well today is my first day back home and it is different waking up and not going for a hike in the morning. On the plane ride home yesterday I was thinking about some recommendations that I have for anyone that wants to spend some time at the BLR. So, in random order, here are my immediate recommendations.
1. Have extra room in your suitcase to allow room for the purchases made at the BLR or in LA. Another option when leaving the BLR is to buy a box and mail all of the extra stuff home.
2. Bring Body Glide. Notice that I capitalized the Body and Glide because it is a name brand of anti-chaff stick. When doing a lot of exercise throughout the day and sweating, some body parts will rub together. I didn't have a lot of problems with this, but I did use the Body Glide sometimes. Also, if you buy a heart rate monitor and wear it all day long, the band will rub on the skin and the Body Glide will help with this.
3. Don't rely on the store at the BLR in Malibu to provide all of your needs. This is a sore subject with some people because here is the deal. The BLR in Utah has a larger and better store. They also have a staff member in charge of the store and it is great from what I hear. The store in Malibu is smaller, so the volume of goods is less. Also, the person in Utah is responsible for ordering items for the store in Malibu and he does a horrible job. The owners will not let the people in Malibu order items for their store. We have discussed at length among the guests what a dumb business decision this is. The owners have lost a lot of revenue from the store in Malibu because of that guy in Utah. Yes, I'm on a little soapbox here and if you know the owners and it makes you upset, then good. Before I came to the BLR, I was told that I could walk off the airplane without luggage and buy everything I need at the resort store. This may be true for the location in Utah, but not for the one in Malibu. That being said, the packing list on their website is pretty good.
4. Have realistic expectations for weight loss. I feel that the show The Biggest Loser sets people up to believe they too can lose 10+ pounds per week every week. This is a false expectation. As a big guy, I was able to lose on average about one pound per day. At the end of the day, I was burning about 5,000 calories. The contestants on the show are burning at least 8,000 calories per day. Also, what they consider "weeks" is not a week in the real world. When a person arrives at the BLR, the trainers will take a measurement around the chest, belly, and hips, as well as weight and body fat percentage. The same information is taken before leaving. This information provides a quick snapshot, but doesn't tell the entire story. What is missing in this is weight of muscle mass gained, weight of fat loss, and measurements of other parts of the body like neck, arms, and legs. Please don't let this discourage you from going, but please don't have an unrealistic expectation of weight loss. I am only speaking for myself here.
5. If you decide to go, you'll need a ride between the airport and the BLR. The BLR's website endorses a company with red vans. Well, everyone that I know has had a bad experience with this company, including myself. They charged my credit card an extra time and don't answer the phone in their customer service department. When I found a back door way to talk to someone, I would have to say that this person could qualify for the dumbest person in the country who could not fix the problem. I had to resolve the issue with my bank and almost had to declare that extra charge as fraud. I've seen this company be late picking people up and one lady missed her flight because they were so late. The service is horrible and I told the BLR that as long as they endorse this company, their problems reflect badly on the BLR.
However, there is a better solution and that is TLC Limousine Service. Don't let the word "Limousine" throw you off because they are a commercial transportation company. I used them during my visits to LA on an hourly charge. They have a flat rate between the airport and the BLR. The base vehicle is a Lincoln Towncar or a Mercedes sedan for $100. If you get someone to split the cost, it will be cheaper than the red vans, the service is excellent, and they are on time. Actually, they have arrived early every time I have used them and I highly recommend them.
6. Bring proper hiking shoes. You don't have to bring full hiking boots for mountain climbing, but buy some good hiking shoes like Merrell or equivalent from REI or other outdoor stores.
7. If you like the pool, there will be times when you will be in the pool twice, so you might want to think about bringing 2 bathing suits. I went through about 3 sets of clothes per day and did laundry twice per week, so plan ahead and bring enough clothes.
That's about all of the recommendations that I have at this time. If there's any more I'll let you know.
1. Have extra room in your suitcase to allow room for the purchases made at the BLR or in LA. Another option when leaving the BLR is to buy a box and mail all of the extra stuff home.
2. Bring Body Glide. Notice that I capitalized the Body and Glide because it is a name brand of anti-chaff stick. When doing a lot of exercise throughout the day and sweating, some body parts will rub together. I didn't have a lot of problems with this, but I did use the Body Glide sometimes. Also, if you buy a heart rate monitor and wear it all day long, the band will rub on the skin and the Body Glide will help with this.
3. Don't rely on the store at the BLR in Malibu to provide all of your needs. This is a sore subject with some people because here is the deal. The BLR in Utah has a larger and better store. They also have a staff member in charge of the store and it is great from what I hear. The store in Malibu is smaller, so the volume of goods is less. Also, the person in Utah is responsible for ordering items for the store in Malibu and he does a horrible job. The owners will not let the people in Malibu order items for their store. We have discussed at length among the guests what a dumb business decision this is. The owners have lost a lot of revenue from the store in Malibu because of that guy in Utah. Yes, I'm on a little soapbox here and if you know the owners and it makes you upset, then good. Before I came to the BLR, I was told that I could walk off the airplane without luggage and buy everything I need at the resort store. This may be true for the location in Utah, but not for the one in Malibu. That being said, the packing list on their website is pretty good.
4. Have realistic expectations for weight loss. I feel that the show The Biggest Loser sets people up to believe they too can lose 10+ pounds per week every week. This is a false expectation. As a big guy, I was able to lose on average about one pound per day. At the end of the day, I was burning about 5,000 calories. The contestants on the show are burning at least 8,000 calories per day. Also, what they consider "weeks" is not a week in the real world. When a person arrives at the BLR, the trainers will take a measurement around the chest, belly, and hips, as well as weight and body fat percentage. The same information is taken before leaving. This information provides a quick snapshot, but doesn't tell the entire story. What is missing in this is weight of muscle mass gained, weight of fat loss, and measurements of other parts of the body like neck, arms, and legs. Please don't let this discourage you from going, but please don't have an unrealistic expectation of weight loss. I am only speaking for myself here.
5. If you decide to go, you'll need a ride between the airport and the BLR. The BLR's website endorses a company with red vans. Well, everyone that I know has had a bad experience with this company, including myself. They charged my credit card an extra time and don't answer the phone in their customer service department. When I found a back door way to talk to someone, I would have to say that this person could qualify for the dumbest person in the country who could not fix the problem. I had to resolve the issue with my bank and almost had to declare that extra charge as fraud. I've seen this company be late picking people up and one lady missed her flight because they were so late. The service is horrible and I told the BLR that as long as they endorse this company, their problems reflect badly on the BLR.
However, there is a better solution and that is TLC Limousine Service. Don't let the word "Limousine" throw you off because they are a commercial transportation company. I used them during my visits to LA on an hourly charge. They have a flat rate between the airport and the BLR. The base vehicle is a Lincoln Towncar or a Mercedes sedan for $100. If you get someone to split the cost, it will be cheaper than the red vans, the service is excellent, and they are on time. Actually, they have arrived early every time I have used them and I highly recommend them.
6. Bring proper hiking shoes. You don't have to bring full hiking boots for mountain climbing, but buy some good hiking shoes like Merrell or equivalent from REI or other outdoor stores.
7. If you like the pool, there will be times when you will be in the pool twice, so you might want to think about bringing 2 bathing suits. I went through about 3 sets of clothes per day and did laundry twice per week, so plan ahead and bring enough clothes.
That's about all of the recommendations that I have at this time. If there's any more I'll let you know.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)