I Got Nothing For You Today

Nothing for you guys today. Other than I watched some of "The Biggest Loser" last night at least until I was yelling at the TV and Patrice wouldn't let me watch it anymore because I was going to wake up the girls. Yes...there were a few people on there who lost weight....but there were also some who did not lose that much. You all know my thoughts on the show. It is compelling television, but who has the luxury of being taken away from their everyday life and given the best trainers, etc and all they have to focus on is getting healthy and losing weight.

Then you have people on there who are worried that they may have gained that week. I am sorry, if you weigh over 300, 400, or even close to 500 pounds as some of them do, and you are in week 2 of a professionally managed diet and exercise program where your only job is to lose weight and you have to worry that you put on pounds....you are a loser. Nuff said. Read my earlier blog to understand my full hatred of the show

Anyway...at least it motivated me to continue my dieting in the "Real" world. I guess that is something to be said for it.

Not much new...very busy at work which is good......swimming, cheer, piano and lacrosse have the evenings pretty much taken up. It is hard to maintain focus and desire to eat right and workout, but such is life.

My brother has me on a sort of new plan. I am counting calories pretty religiously. Trying to stay to about 2200/day. Kind of sucks at first to get started but once you get the hang of it, it isn't too bad. And we all know that a Mich Ultra has 95 calories, so you can guess where my extra calories end up being used. It is pretty simple though....burn off more than you take in. Also I am changing up my workouts a little. Trying to get back to a little more weightlifting and scaling back the running a little. I really do enjoy running. It is nice just to get away for a half hour, but it is taking quite a toll on my knees. So I am mixing back in more of the weights and beating on the heavy bag and my sledge hammer and tire again. I am sure there is a letter from the Home Owners Assn in my future for the tire routine in the back yard!

So sorry this was not the most compelling blog but now I have to go help Claire with her homework then get in some type of workout.

Until Next Time!

Be Thankful for What you Have

In the words of my 9 year old daughter.."Hi Peeps!"

Well...I have completed my month of "Must Do" moments. I attended a NASCAR Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. I went to the OSU/USC football game at Ohio Stadium, and I went to the Metallica Concert. Looking back...maybe my wife was right....this could be a mid-life crisis. Come on I sold my Corvette...that should count for something.

The good news, is that I lived through all of it....and managed only to put back on 1 pound. And I highly recommend all 3 events. Although if my daughters think they are joining a sorority at Ohio State...they are crazy. They will be the only 2 who commute from Cincinnati and I am driving. I am all for having a good time and all....but when you can make me blush....nuff said.

So I am back on the diet train. And while it is wobbling....it is still going down the tracks. A couple egg whites for breakfast, turkey sandwich for lunch, a protein shake and some old plain grilled hamburger patties that I had left over from Sunday which quite frankly sucked. Plus I got in a quick 2 mile run in the dark and don't forget Wii Basketball. I swear, you can count that as a workout. Tennis tomorrow....and a meal plan that will look remarkably similar. Except for the burgers.

Things are going well. I touched on this before, but if you are overweight, you are doing yourself such a disservice. 70lbs ago, I would not have been able to do any of these. 4 miles of walking at Bristol....cramming myself into US Bank Arena for the concert, and there was a small parking mis-hap in Columbus that forced a surprise 7 mile walk from OSU back to downtown Columbus at 1am. That is material for another blog entirely. But these were all definitely things I would have not even attempted to do and would have truly missed out.

I said at the beginning...my doctor gave me my wake up call and while it took awhile to sink in, I shaped up and started not taking life for granted because you may not be here. I was reading my friend Sam's blog today. He is another Real Loser. He is actually one of the people who got me to think about running after seeing him lose over 70lbs. Check out his blog at http://www.operationjack.com/blog/.

Jack is Sam's 6 year old son who is autistic. In an effort to raise awareness for autism, Sam is attempting to run 60 marathons in 2010. A truly unbelievable task. Anyway...as Sam puts it..he wrote a letter to Jack today on his blog to wish him a happy birthday....even though Jack has no idea that it is his birthday, or what a birthday is for that matter.

That truly inspired me to continue on my weight loss journey. You never know what life is going to deal you. Some things, like with Jack, you have no control over. But this is something you can control and you have to control. I can't cure autism....wish I could, but I can't. What I can do is put down that Big Buford Burger from Rally's and get a workout in. I have learned, there is no excuse for being fat. None....unless you count laziness as an excuse. You have put yourself in this place. You made a choice to eat that double cheeseburger, drink those beers, or have that milkshake. And you are the one that has to fix it. You can ask for help....God knows I have tried everything out there. There is no quick fix.... unfortunately the only way to do it is eat less and workout more. So if you are fat.....fix it. Easy as that.

Happy Birthday Jack!

I Should Read What I Write

Well....here we are again. I have been a slacker. As someone who preaches no excuses...I will be the first one to admit that I have been totally lame the last 2 weeks. Too much beer (even if it is low cal/carb).....Eating junk......not running enough.....not blogging...now I am looking at the OSU Game, Bengals Opener....and Metalica on Tuesday. Not looking good at all.

And you know what...I feel like crap. I have not felt full in 7 months...and right now I am full. Again...not good. Only one thing to do....suck it up and get back on the horse. There are tons of excuses, but I can't let myself accept that. I let myself down. The fact is, I just have not been getting it done when it comes to my diet and exercise and I have fallen back into bad habits so enough is enough. I have more weight to lose and I have to get it done.

So tomorrow is another day....I owe my buddy Scott a 5K run in the morning since I had to bail on him for the Race for the Cure so we are starting the day with an early morning run and starting over. Yes...I am going to Columbus for the OSU / USC game tomorrow....yes, that is going to be a tough one....college football and diets don't mix real well, so what I will have to focus on is how great it felt to actually be able to buy jeans from The Gap. How nice it was to be able to sit in a booth in a restaurant. How I felt to crossing the finish line at the Flying Pig ( even if it was just a 5K) it was a marathon for me!

So thanks to Scott for making me feel like crap for not running tomorrow, but come on....free OSU Tix and a hotel room?? How can I pass that up. I will run / walk / limp a 5K in the morning for you. Plus I just got my new running shoes! And thanks to Cammy for reminding me that "My Public" needed to hear from me!!! And motivating me to get my head on straight again.

As I said before....there is not a quick fix for being fat. I didn't get to over 300lbs overnight and I will not take it all off overnight. It is a journey.....so lets keep journeying.

Until tomorrow.....

Excuses, Excuses.....

OK...I am back.....What Happened??? I got lazy! The same as I did last month. I hurt my knee, I was going on a guys weekend, business is slow, getting the girls ready to go back to school.....you name it, they were all excuses for me to "start again next week".

Well.....next week is here and it is time to get to gettin. The good news is that my weight has not gone up. While I was lazy, I was not totally stupid. Yes, I drank too much beer. But, it was still only Mich Ultra...(lame, I know) I did try the new Bud Select 55....55 calories and 1.3 grams of carbs per beer. Unfortunately, that is about all you can say about it. Anything that makes Mich Ultra taste good.....we'll....nuff said. Sorry Budweiser, if you still want a corporate sponsor, I can give it another try.

OK...today...I am back on track. Chicken, protein shakes, running, lifted....feeling good. Plus I got a new grill so I can grill up all that chicken! So, I didn't put on any weight, but I didn't lose the 10 lbs I should have in this time.

My buddy Jamie and I went down to Bristol, TN this weekend to watch the NASCAR race. We had a blast! If you have not been...go check out a race. There are no words to do it justice. Anyway....the only good that has come out of the last 2 weeks is that it dawned on me that there was no way on earth that I could have done this trip last year at this time carrying 70 extra pounds. We had about a 4 mile walk each way to and from the track to the car. Not to mention, it was a 15 minute walk from the entrance to the track just to get to the seats. After the race we had the 4 mile walk back, in pitch black, in the rain, mud, barbed wire ( don't ask) a maze of RV's and 165,000 of our closest friends. Oh, did I mention the 20 flights if steps we climbed to get to our seats?

AND....2 cute Tennessee girls flagged us down, picked us up and gave us a ride to the track from the parking lot. Yeah...they were just looking to make money...but don't ruin it for me. As far as ya'll (my new favorite word) are concerned...2 hot little southern girls picked me up! Even if they did call me "mister"

Anyway, the point is that last year I was so overweight and out of shape, that I could not have physically done this trip, and that would have been a shame because while I may have had a few (or 13) Mich Ultras, this was really a great trip that chances are I would have passed on last year.

And that got me thinking. How many things that I have passed on in my life because I was overweight? I never wanted to go to the pool with the girls. Sports, as much as I loved them, were out of the question. Anything where I had to dress up I avoided because no matter what the temperature was, I would be in an embarrassing sweat. I was not only doing myself a disservice, I was doing the same thing to my friends and family. And I can name at least 10 other people that are reading this Blog who are in the same situation...you know who you are. So, if you are not going to do it for yourself, do it for your family....do it for your kids....do it for your friends...but most importantly get off your fat butt and do it....ya'll

Talk to you tomorrow.

d

Oh Man.....

So today I received an interesting email. I will not call you out publicly, but you know who you are. It was from a nutritionist telling me that "I was doing a disservice to the diet industry because my diet was not nutritionally sound."

Oh...man....

First, thank you for reading my blog. I appreciate your interest. And thank you for taking the time to email me. I have never met you, and I am not sure how you found me, but thank you again for taking the time out of your apparently not so busy day to email me.

My response....NEITHER IS A McGRIDDLE!

Drastic times, call for drastic measures honey! You can be as nutritionally sound as you like when you can cram yourself into smaller jeans. Right now we are focused on losing weight. I am not sure what constitutes nutritionally sound as I have a degree in television not nutrition, but all I know is that I lost 70 lbs in 7 months, my blood sugar, blood pressure and cholestorel went down, and I can now run. So if that is what nutritionally not sound gets me...sign me up! I told you from the begininning I have no training in this and don't sue me when you fall over dead.

I could go on for awhile with you, but if you would like, I welcome you to post a comment here and explain exactly what I am doing wrong.

That should about handle that. Now, today there is a special treat for you. If you are doing the diet, you get to have 190 calories and 5.2 grams of carbs from beer. Thats right..I went to Quaker Steak and drank 2 Mich Ultras. Here is what I did to justify that in my head.

Breakfast- My favorite protein shake

Lunch- A turkey and swiss sandwich on wheat. But Medium Dave you ask....bread...carbs...bad. Carbs are not bad. You just shouldn't eat a whole lot of them if you are trying to lose weight. And they could have come from a Baconator and not a turkey sandwich. I needed the carbs, because, I played tennis for an hour and a half. Ran 2 miles, then cut the grass at 6:30 in the heat.

To reward myself, I continued to carbo load with 2 Mich Ultras and had the boneless wings at The Lube, which are just grilled chicken with some sauce. No breading and no deep fry.

Now I have come to the realization that I am old and tennis, running and cutting the grass was not the best plan because my knees are killing me, and the 2 beers have done nothing but make me feel full. BUT. I have lost 5 lbs since Monday, although I will say I took full advantage of weighing in after sweating for 3 hours and not eating since lunch. But in my mind...the scale says 5 lbs less than it did on Monday!

Keep being not nutritionally sound!

Why the name?

I had had a few people email asking what is up with the name "The REAL Loser". It is simple. I hate the tv show, "The Biggest Loser".

It is not reality TV. Tell me in who's reality does someone take you away to a retreat, give you the best trainers and nutritionists in the business, take all of life's cares away from you and then PAY you to lose weight. If you cannot lose weight in this scenario, you are a LOSER. A big fat chicken wing eating, Mountain Dew drinking, drive myself around in a scooter cuz I am too fat to walk through the outlet malls....LOSER! (that is a topic for another post) These people that are given this chance and then sit there and have to worry when they step on the scale....PLEASE!!!

Let me tell you about reality.....reality is when you have to get 2 kids to the bus by 7:30 in the morning, run a small business, run children to 20 different lessons and practices, all the while driving through Wendy's with the Baconator looking right back at you through the Plexiglas. (which for the record I have never eaten...if you have...shame on you...but please let me know how it was!)

Reality is running in the rain, snow, 90 degree heat and in the middle of the night because this is all the time that you have to squeeze in your workout. Reality is getting pulled over by the cops on your run (trust me I wasn't speeding) because you are out in the dark and rain, wearing dark clothes and 2 streets over there have been cars broken into...then the cop who just totally screwed up your workout wouldn't give you a ride home! All while managing to stay in business, married and be the apple of my daughter's eyes, and drop 70 lbs Hey NBC...I got your reality right here.

It may make for compelling television...but it is the farthest thing from what the average person trying to lose weight will go through. It is hard to lose weight. There is no quick fix. I have said it before and I will say it again...you didn't get fat in 2 weeks, and there is nothing on this planet that will make you thin in 2 weeks. I have nothing but the utmost respect for anyone that has have the courage to admit they have a weight problem and then do something about it. There are definitely ups and downs and it has to be a lifestyle change and not a quick fix or all the weight is going to come back on...but in the end you will be so much better off for it.

My doctor told me when I started (well...actually 2 years before I started this..it just took awhile to sink in and decide to do it) that this was my wake up call. I was getting too old and too fat to continue to put my body through this. Sooner or later is was all going to catch up with me and it would take years off of my life. Those would be years that I would miss with my family and friends and I decided to go do something about it. For those of you who are reading this for motivation....GO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Become a REAL Loser

Got to go...I have 18 almonds with my name on them....I call it The Almond-ator!

Wednesday Aug 5th- Uneventful

Pretty uneventful day today. Tried to get some tennis in but there were no availabilities on the courts. We will play tomorrow.

Breakfast- Uneventful. Had my normal protein shake with apples and peanut butter Yum.

Lunch- Since Claire ate my chicken for dinner last night, I had my favorite Wendy's grilled chicken wraps for lunch with an iced tea. I swear, if anyone from Wendy's is reading, you should hire me as your Jared. The woman at the drive through at the Mariemont Wendy's knows my truck and order when I pull in. The only question is usually do I want a Diet Coke or Tea. Now that is service, all for $5.17. It is actually pretty good and it is fairly good for you. Plus I am better looking, funnier and can kick Jared's ass in a street fight. Bring it Jared!

Since my cardio work was not stellar last night, I need to get in a good run when I get home from the office. Mommy is home tonight after being gone for 3 days which means dinner out somewhere...which for me means some type of protein grilled with maybe a salad! Oh well, at least the kids will have fun.

Tennis tomorrow and running a 5K on Saturday. There may be exactly 3 Mich Ultras in my future Sat night (95 calories and 2.6 grams of carbs!) We will have to wait and see.

UPDATE- I did manage to get in a good run. Got a couple miles in although it was hot and humid as hell out there. It also seemed like the entire subdivision had their yard fertilized today, so it was like running through agent orange. I am sure that was healthy. Went to the local Mexican joint for guess what...some more grilled chicken! I cannot tell a lie, I ate 5 or 6 tortilla chips before my 9 year old busted me.

Until tomorrow

Medium Dave

Man What a Day

Today I did something just as bad as overeating......I did not eat enough. I have been running from meeting to meeting since 7:30. Lightening hit a tree at the office and took out power. A pipe burst in the basement and I had to run our $75,000 HD deck to service because it stopped working!

Oh yeah....it has been pouring down rain since 7am as well. So far today, I have had some coffee, iced tea, 2 scrambled eggs and a couple handfuls of almonds. NOT GOOD. Got to go home and take the girls to piano lessons and hopefully throw down something somewhat nutritious.

Where this is going to hurt me the most is with any type of workout I try to do tonight. Too wet to run, so I need to lift pretty heavy and that is not going to be easy, given the fact I have starved myself most of the day.

UPDATE- Here is how we ended the day. Had to eat quick because it was off to piano lessons, so I went the egg route again for the protein. 2 eggs...some egg beaters, a couple strips of turkey bacon, garlic and a little cheese. Got the girls home and while they were in the bath, busted out 20 mins on the heavybag, and after today, it felt good. Lifting was not going to go well, so we will live to lift weights another day.Gonna grab a protein shake and water before bed and call it done.

Haven't weighed in yet since Sunday....probably jump on the scale tomorrow.....I know most of you all won't be able to sleep waiting to see if I lost any weight, but you will have to wait until tomorrow night!

Lucky you...it's dinner time! Now

OK kids.......

I know you are filled up from all that we ate today....but it I hope you can squeeze a little more in. Here is what else we did today.

After work....came home, and got the girls off to cheer practice (Go Eagles!!) then went for a 2 mile run. Came home and busted out a little work out.

3 sets of Bench press x10 reps

3 sets DB overhead press

3 sets 1 arm rows

throw in some shrugs, curls, push ups, and 200 crunches ( cause I want those 12pk abs) and call it done.

I realized no one was home and I had an hour to kill so I fired up the car and headed to The Lube. Why ruin all your hard work. I was running at 6pm in 85 degree heat, drenched in sweat. Here is a tip....you can still sit at the bar and not drink alcohol. Order up a nice refreshing ice tea and enjoy a lovely Cincinnati evening while watching the Reds suck.

Ice Tea = $1.50

Tip to not have Steph the cute bartender hassle you to drink at her bar or ship out=$7.00

1 hour without the family to watch the Reds and the drunk hillbillies=PRICELESS

Head home and throw down 1 grilled chicken breast, some romaine lettuce and Parmesan cheese, put the girls to bed....read tales of a 4th grade nothing with Claire and explain to Cora, why she cannot have a cell phone for the 900th time and here I am talking to y'all! How can it get any better. Drink a big glass of water and head to bed. After you deal with email from all of your West Coast clients where it is still only 6pm and they are just getting back to you.

Every excuse you had for not losing weight.....I just overcame. What is your problem!

Talk to you all tomorrow.......omelette's for breakfast!!!!

The Problem with Success

Here is a problem that I have run into on occasion with diets in the past and was starting to happen this time around.

Once you experience success on your plan and people take notice and congratulate you, DO NOT THINK YOU ARE THIN!!! Yes, I lost 70lbs, yes I lost 6 inches in my waist, etc, but I still weigh 276 pounds! I am far from skinny. I have gone from Big Dave to Medium Dave....but there is still much work to be done.

Don't get me wrong. I am happy to have come this far and there is an amazing differenece in the way I feel, act and approach life in general, but I am still fat. Just not as fat as I was!

Do not get caught up in your success! I don't know what my goal weight is. I am not really stopping at a number. I am just looking to be healthy, and maybe buy a pair of fancy jeans! But as the last couple weeks have taught me, I have about 20 years of bad habits to break, and while I have been good for the last 6 months, it is very easy to fall back into those bad habits again. This is not a quick fix. If you want this to work, You have to keep working at this everyday.

Its Lunchtime!

Ok....I was bad and forgot the lunch I made for myself so we get a special Wendy's "Treat" today!

2 Grilled Chicken Wraps with no Honeymustard sauce and an Ice Tea ( Unsweetened of course!)

Just wait....there are 18 almonds coming my way later this afternoon for a snack! And don't forget another delicious protein shake!!

Good Morning

Nothing says Monday morning like a protein shake!

1 TBS Peanut Butter

2 Scoops protein powder

1 TBS sugar free apple sauce

Water, crushed ice...throw into a blender.....

Yum.

And of course some coffee.

Have a good day!

Time to finish what I started!

First off...welcome to my blog. Secondly, you must have something better to do than to read this!!! I am using this blog as a way to record my thoughts and motivate me to continue on this journey. If I happen to help, inspire or entertain someone along the way, even better.

It is time to finish what I started at the beginning of the year and lose the rest of the weight that I want to lose. While I still have been working out and eating fairly well, I have been "enjoying" the summer a little too much the last few weeks and the weight loss has stalled out. It is amazing how fast you can fall back into old habits.

So...starting Monday it is back to the diet. Thanks to all of you have have been encouraging me along the way, your support keeps me going! A lot of you have asked for tips on what I have been doing. "Whats your secret?" The answer is simple. There is no secret....when you eat right and work out, you will lose weight. You can't take a pill, drink a juice, stand on your head 3 times a day and bow towards Rally Burger and think that you will lose weight. The ONLY way to do this is to change the way you think about yourself and the food you eat. The ONLY way to do this is to eat less and workout more. Period end of sentence.

That being said, I am going to post what I am eating and the workouts that I am doing. For those of you at home who would like to follow along, knock yourself out. Just know, I have no formal training in this, or anything for that matter, all I am doing is posting what has worked for me and things I have learned along the way. Hopefully it will work for you. Hopefully you will not fall over dead. If you do fall over dead, do not sue me. I don't have much that I own outright anyway. The old line of "check with your doctor" applies here.

So stay tuned for random thoughts and some ideas for some pretty bland meals. But if you are trying to lose weight, I hope for the both of us that this works!