My Incredible Journey

Spreading the Word!

2010-01-17T09:26:00.000-08:00

The forecast calls for major rain over the next week. I got up early and was pleasantly suprised that it was not raining, so I decided to head down to the river for a walk before it starts. I got down to the Watt Avenue access point and walked to Howe Ave and back, approximately 3 miles.

When I got back to the car, i was checking my email and Facebook on my phone. Another guy pulled up next to me and asked me about fishing. A short time later, we were both out of our vehicles talking about weight loss and exercise.

I told him about my successes with Medifast and he is quite interested. I gave him my contact info and the Be Lean Team website as well as a Medifast Peanut Butter Crunch bar to try. I'm pretty sure I'll be seeing him along the river again or maybe at a tasting sometime. It made it kind of a "feel good" morning!

No More Checking The Scale

2010-01-05T19:45:00.000-08:00

So, since I have been training, I have noticed that the weight is not melting off of me quite as fast as it did at first. This isn't necessarily a bad thing as I know that I am increasing my lean muscle mass as well. I think I am going to take my trainer's advice and not really use the scale everyday like I had been doing but instead maybe once a month or so.

Another project or goal I have gotten started on in the past few days is 100 miles a month...which is my personal pursuit of walking 100 miles each month. So far I have logged 9.8 miles in 3 days. I will need to average nearly 3.5 miles each day for the remainder of this month to attain success!

I can do it!

2010-01-02T05:56:00.000-08:00

Well, the holidays are finally over...no more parties to tempt me off the program! Just the regular day to day grind!

I saw the Biggest Loser on TV last night and it gave me some extra motivation!

My short term goal to achieve by March 1, 2010 is a total loss of 75lbs...My long term goal is a total loss of 150lbs by July 1, 2010 and to be at my desired weight (whatever that may be) by my 42nd birthday on October 31, 2010!

I also have Fitness Goals which I have outlined in my Fitness Blog!

Medical Goals - I want to be off of all meds ASAP! This should happen fairly quickly with the rapid weight loss!

Goodbye Holidays and Soon 2009!

2009-12-26T13:49:00.000-08:00

Ok, the holiday fare is officially finished! I am back on the 5&2 plan full force, 100%!

This morning, I had a banana cream shake before I went to workout. The workout went great, but you can read about that on my workout blog. I drank lots of water throughout the day and when I got home around 12:30 pm, I had a Swiss Mocha shake.

I am going to fix a chicken breast and some salad soon and for dinner later on this evening I may have a lean steak and salad.

Feels really good to be back on the routine!

Last Night...

2009-12-23T10:21:00.000-08:00

Last night was our family Christmas party at our house. Had a great time, we had lasagna, minestrone soup and all kinds of Christmas goodies and desserts that are definitely NOT on the Medifast plan!

I seriously deviated from the plan...after all it is Christmas and I deserve it! Right?!?

Yeah, well this morning, I definitely don't feel so great...it was really refreshing to make a banana cream shake this morning and have that for breakfast!

I still have tomorrow and Friday at the inlaws in the Bay Area....I'm going to try to stay more on the 5 & 2, but we'll see. I am looking forward to the holidays being over and getting back to the steady 5&2.

A really good thing last night, is we got a "Silver Bullet" blender set! I used it this morning to make my shake and it works great! I was able to crush some ice in the shake and it made it even better! I usually just use the shaker.

I am getting ready to go work through the soreness I am still experiencing at the gym. I started a new blog "From Fat Kid to Fit Kid...The Transformation" to keep a diary of my fitness journey. Follow me there too for the total big picture!

Feeling Like an Old Man...

2009-12-22T01:57:00.000-08:00

Ok....I was told a little more than 12 hours ago that I would be walking like an old man on Tuesday....yes, I can definitely see (and feel) that! I have never been pushed so hard physically in my lifetime as I have with Steve. Not so much weight-wise but endurance-wise....which is a good thing! I just need to make friends with someone that has a hot tub! :)

One thing I can tell already is that with the addition of the tough exercise program, it is helping me make good choices! Its a few days before Christmas and we were out shopping last night and she wanted to stop at Panda Express....my usual there would have consisted of 50% Fried Rice 50% Chow Mein , sweet & sour pork, beiging beef, egg roll all the super sugary deep fried food. Well, last night I went with steamed veggies, black pepper chicken, kung pao shrimp and tofu with water. It tasted great and although I'm sure it wasn't 100% no sugar added or without added oil, it was a lot healthier than the alternative. And the reason I consciously chose the healthier items is because of what I had gone through earlier at the gym....I really didn't want that amount of "work" to be for nothing!

My training schedule at the gym is now Mon - Wed - Fri or Sat with Steve and 2-3 other days a week doing walking, etc on my own. And Medifast....everyday!

A Long Sore Weekend

2009-12-21T10:45:00.000-08:00

It has been a long sore weekend after my first workout with Steve on Thursday! The soareness should be motivation not too fall off the wagon ever again! I hate going through this part but, its all for the better!

I am getting ready to head over there for today's session...I'll check back in later today and let you know how it goes!

Jumping Into Exercise

2009-12-18T09:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I started with my personal trainer, Steve O'neil owner of Fitness Nexus in Sacramento, Ca. I really liked his style of assessment, his attention to detail and his "think outside the box" approach. I was introduced to exercises I had never heard of before that just make sense!

We worked on all upper body yesterday and today I am a little stiff and sore, but like the saying goes..."No pain....No gain!"

For now, I will be working with him Mon and Wed's at 1230 pm then Fridays on my own. I will continue walking everyday.

Medifast Beef Stew

2009-12-13T08:58:00.000-08:00

This stuff is great! Especially on days like this that are rainy....Here is my tip or trick for this one:
I put the mix in a shaker with a little less warm water than what it calls for (makes it thicker) I shake it thoroughly and let it sit for 5 min....then I put it in a big microwavable mug and nuke it for 2.5 minutes and add a pinch of Montreal Steak Seasoning....it turns out thick and perfect every time!

Be Lean Team has a Fan Page!

2009-12-12T10:13:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody,

Be Lean Team has a Fan Page on Facebook! You can become a fan at:
http://tinyurl.com/beleanteam

Thanks for your support!

Hellllllooooo! I have internet again!!

2009-12-12T09:12:00.000-08:00

Going without internet for weeks is just plain terrible!

Well I made it through the Thanksgiving holiday and now we are approaching Christmas!

We have a Medifast tasting scheduled for Tuesday December 29th...one at 5:30 pm and again at 6:30 pm in the Fair Oaks area. Come on out and bring a friend or 2. The Medifast meals are the key to the Take Shape For Life plan and they taste really good!

Give me a call at 916-459-9DAN if you want to get a jump on your New Year's resolution to be healthier.

I will have some new recipes for the "Lean-n-Green" meals as well as Medifast meal combos and variations posting up as early as this evening so, stay tuned!

It has been an incredibly hectic 12 days

2009-11-22T14:34:00.000-08:00

It has been 12 days since my last post...not exactly what I had in mind...the past week has been riddled with life problems and to be very honest, I fell off the wagon for a few days...I have come to the conclusion that I do eat for comfort sometimes...that my appetite is directly related to my state of mind...so, I figure now that I have proven this to myself to be fact, I have another knowledge type of weapon in my arsenal against the enemy.

I am getting myself back on track today. I am actually looking forward to Thanksgiving. I plan on arming myself with lots of Medifast meals throughout the day so as to not go "overboard" at the main meal. We are traveling out of town for the holiday so I will have a small duffel bag packed with oatmeal, bars and shakes!

One more thing, I promise I will be back to checking in more often!

Happy Thanksgiving!

More Tips & Tricks...

2009-11-10T21:36:00.000-08:00

For salad building materials, I have found Smart & Final! Since I am now eating more salad then ever before in my life, I found the need to build a better salad and not go totally broke doing it....Smart & Final is the answer!

First thing I discovered was the 5lb Ready Pack of shredded iceberg lettuce....it is just as good and filling as head lettuce but it has a great advantage in that it is easy to mix a little bit of dressing evenly throughout the bowl....kind of like cole slaw. The other advantage is the price...$3.99 for 5 lbs!

Salad dressing that tastes better and is a far better deal....When I go to a regular grocery store I get the cheapo stuff that often tastes funny...at S&F I get a quart of good tasting (usually blue cheese or Caesar) for less than $3.00.

Healthy salad toppings....5lbs of blue cheese crumbles for $16 and real bacon bits for less than $4. I usually throw in a hardboiled egg or chicken breast and top it off with 5 or 6 croutons and some extra veggies from the farmer's market.

Salads really help me have some variety with the "lean n green" meals!

Another trick I use is with the Medifast soups....I'm definitely not a fan of the soups "as-is". I have to doctor them up. I use tabasco sauce & seasoned salt....just to give some flavor! Another thing I do, especially if I've gone too long in between meals and I'm super hungry is to mix the chicken with wild rice and the chicken noodle and use the amount of water for only 1 packet. This makes it thick more like a stew and the flavor is a lot better than either one of them by themselves.

What I sometimes do with the Medifast eggs, is dice up a mushroom and onion, saute with a little bit of pam then add the eggs a dash of crushed red pepper and they turn out really tasty!

And for my final trick that I use when I get the super hungry feeling...the Medifast pudding...this is the only use for this product for me...I mix 1 packet with 8oz of water and drink it like a shake...it turns out twice as thick as a regular shake and also twice as filling!

Hope this helps somebody to add a little variety to their TSFL meals!

Back in the saddle again

2009-11-03T06:55:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I made my initial goal of being under 400 by my birthday. Then I had my birthday followed immediately by a family fuction down in the bay on Sunday. In a nutshell, I really enjoyed the variety of celebratory foods and desserts over the weekend....it was great!

One thing I did notice over the weekend is that I am able to not eat the whole thing now. In other words when I am full...I stop eating. What a concept.

So today begins 100 %....There shouldn't be any real challenges now until Thanksgiving!

For my next goal, I am setting a total loss of 75 lbs with no time limit to get to it, although the sooner the better!

I am also going to start some sort of exercise routine this week.

I'll keep you posted!

Goal #1....Achieved!

2009-10-30T22:23:00.001-07:00

My first goal was to break the 400 lb threshold by my birthday which is tomorrow. Well, I made it a day early! 399.3 lbs this morning! That is a loss of 35.1 lbs in 25 days!!

I had a few setbacks during these first 25 days...So I am now focusing on having less setbacks during the next chunk of time it takes to get to my new goal. My new goal is to lose an additional 40 lbs., which will bring my total weight loss to 75 lbs. My ultimate goal is a 175-200 lb loss!

Thank you Take Shape For Life!!

Just checking in...

2009-10-29T07:05:00.000-07:00

I am beginning the 6th day of having a golf ball sized lump on the side of my left temple. I have been to the regular Dr. twice and to the ER on Tuesday afternoon. I've had it lanced twice been on 1 type of antibiotics since Sunday, had an IV with superbiotics on Tuesday at the ER and started a second type of antibiotics on Tuesday. At some point today, I'll be going back in to have it checked and probably more IV. This all started as an ingrown hair over a week ago.

So how does this all relate to My Incredible Journey?

Loss of appetite and the need to have food in my system 4 times a day when I take one of the pills. I have really lost my appetite the past few days. However, a few times I have taken it, I realized I had to eat something to alleviate the almost immediate nausea. The three times this happened fast food was the immediate option as I was nowhere near my Medifast products. Keeping my supply in the car hasn't been at the top of my priorities for the past couple of days. I would have to say in all honesty that since Tuesday, I have been off the program. Today, I am going to concentrate on getting back on track...even if I'm not hungry.

This thing is really starting to scare me...its not showing any sign of going away...and, its not like its on my arm, its on my face. And, after 5 full days of it, I am becoming used to it and can't tell if its getting smaller, bigger or staying the same, since Monday evening it has swollen my left eye almost shut...

But, the upside is....I have gotten to interrupt a whole lot of medical people when they bring up me losing weight! When I tell them how much weight I have lost since October 5th, the weight conversation is always over!

I'll try to keep everyone posted!

And I want everyone to start doing a few things immediately! If you get the tiniest scratch, pour alcohol or hydrogen peroxide on it immediately and cover it immediately...this is an airborn thing called CA-MRSA and it is very resistant to antibiotics it gets in your system through any big or tiny opening in your skin....they don't know how to completely get rid of it. WASH YOUR HANDS a lot or use Purel or Germx a lot! I now use it probably 50 times a day and will continue forever. If you use a community laundromat or an apartment laundry facility, use color safe bleach in every load...a child in my complex has this and I use the same washing machine...who would've ever thought of that.

Say a prayer or 2 for me, and I'll keep you posted.

One Tip & One Feel Good

2009-10-26T07:06:00.000-07:00

I am going to start off with the feel good! I was at the Dr. over the weekend and during the course of my examination, she got around to the point of telling me I need to lose weight. When I told her I am losing weight, I could tell she was still skeptical so I told her "I've lost 25+ lbs since October 5th!"...This was the most amazing thing, the usual speech didn't happen. Instead, she asked about what program I am on. I told her that I am on the Medifast program. My Dr. is a proponent of Medifast!

Now for the tip! SOUP! Don't get me wrong, salads are great but they can get boring. So occasionally I make some vegetable soup. I use water, seasoned salt, crushed red pepper, Worcestershire sauce, mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, chopped spinach, onions, celery and sliced zucchini. I throw it all in a pot and boil it up. Its a wonderful alternative to the same old salad.

Just Checking In....

2009-10-25T04:10:00.000-07:00

I had some unexpected outpatient surgery Saturday evening. I have had flu like symptoms since Thursday. Turns out its not the flu but a staph infection. Basically the past few days I've been forcing myself to eat, as I've had very little hunger. Not quite the way I had in mind of jumpstating my weight loss again.

The Past Few Days...

2009-10-22T09:49:00.000-07:00

The past few days have been riddled with birthdays, events and just life stuff! I have basically been off the program or 50% at best. However, I have remained relatively free of bad carbs & dairy products throughout the time.

Today I am starting my "Big Push"...adhering to the program 100% so that I attain my first goal on my birthday (10/31) I want to be under 400 at that point!

I'll check in again later on!

Some Strategy I'm Implementing

2009-10-17T12:21:00.000-07:00

There are a few tools and/or strategies I have been utilizing.

First of which is I have basically gone to the 5 or 6 & 2 plan. First of all it is the recommended plan for diabetics (which I am), but more importantly for me, it helps to eliminate the overwhelming hunger that builds all day long before dinner. I had cut my daily caloric intake from approximately 3500 to 1000. As a diabetic, doing the 5 & 1 was making me feel very hypoglycemic in the afternoon. If you have never experienced hypoglycemia, it makes you feel lightheaded, dizzy, ill, headachy sometimes shaky...it is when your blood glucose level drops too low. The trained response and medical response to this is to eat or drink something with simple sugar to get a quick response getting the blood glucose level back up. There are a couple of problems with this. First, I don't want to go hypo in the first place. Secondly ingesting sugar to raise my blood glucose impairs the ketosis and also its far from an exact science. More times than not it raises the blood glucose level too high. As a diabetic, the blood glucose levels are not regulated properly by the body. When a diabetic eats the blood sugar rises sharply and then drops sharply, any exercise magnifies this effect. Ideally, there would be gradual smaller rises and falls. Medication helps but it doesn't do it all. With the 5 or 6 & 2 plan, I am at approximately 1100-1200 calories per day, which will slow my weight loss down a little bit but, I'm feeling a lot better while doing it.

My second "strategy" I will call "Educated Variety" I use this website a lot when preparing my 2 meals http://www.nutritiondata.com/ you not only can search for any food, but you can select the different serving sizes and it displays the nutritional information based on that serving size. For example I know that 1 large head of iceberg lettuce has only 106 calories for the entire head. This tool allows me to get variety in my 2 meals while maintaining each meal at approximately 300 calories. Garlic, crushed red pepper, lemon juice and other spices and flavors help keep the variety continually changing everyday. To keep from using excess amounts of salad dressing I mix 1 bottle of blue cheese or caesar with a bottle of rice vinegar. It keeps the flavors but really thins it out so it hits all the leaves of lettuce!

My third strategy has to do with not being at home. For less than $4 each, I keep 2 cases of 16.9 oz bottled waters in the trunk of my vehicle. I always have water. I keep 6 Medifast shakes, a few bars and a jar of pickles in there as well. When I am out and about I always have a stash of product to get me through the day. If I use any of the product, I restock the supply the next time I get in the car. Knowing I have my supplies with me keeps me from even stopping anywhere for water. Two problems with convenience store water....1. its expensive...I get a whole case for what they charge for a gallon. 2. there are all kinds of other tempting goodies on your way to the cash register....why even go there?

So here is what I buy each week over and above the Medifast products:
2-3 cases of bottled waters
7 heads of iceberg lettuce
7 boneless skinless chicken breasts
7 more lean meat choices
1 onion
3 cucumbers (I like something in a salad besides lettuce)
1 big jar of Vlasic kosher dill spears
1 jar of 0 carb salad dressing (caesar, blue cheese, etc.)
1 bottle of rice vinegar

This is how I am keeping within the program and making it work for me...and, IT IS WORKING!

Its been a few days...

2009-10-16T16:26:00.000-07:00

I had kind of a rough spot on Wednesday but got myself over it and on track again! Not that I was too far off track.

I definitely now know what Medifast foods I like and which ones I could live without. My tastes will make it very easy to remember what to order next time around.

I'm just checking in...I'll write more this weekend!

This is totally INCREDIBLE!!

2009-10-11T05:44:00.000-07:00

Every time I jump on the scale the weight is just melting off! I check when I get out of the shower....this morning was an early one....but the results are the same...more weight gone! I dropped another 1.8 lbs bringing my total loss to 17.2 lbs since last Monday!

People are starting to notice and are asking me questions about the program!

This is awesome! It's hard to get discouraged when the weight is melting off at half this rate let alone at this rate!

As I prepare my....

2009-10-10T14:34:00.000-07:00

boiled chicken breast, salad and pickle spears...I want to shout this out to the world...
"In 6 days I have lost 15.4 lbs!!!"

Last night was hard...

2009-10-10T09:02:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday (Friday), was just a super long day in front of the computer. I was working on all kinds of tedious projects including web design, social network design and the never-ending job hunt. My wife went to her parents in the Bay area for the night to watch our nephew. So I was all alone...just me and the dogs, the tv and the computer.

I found myself hungrier than usual, but thinking back to other times when I spend a large amount of time in front of the computer like that, I used to snack continuously. I was alright and super "on-track" until I went past about 10:00 pm....that's when the hunger really kicked in and started messing with my head!

I did have some pickle spears around 10:30 to stop the hunger, even though I was really craving something sweet. I really wanted a Medifast bar but I had already had my 5+1...in fact I had a Medifast Hot Coco after dinner around 7:30 which put me at 6+1 for the day. In my head I was talking myself out of the Medifast servings because I didn't want to run out early, and found myself really eyeballing the old standby peanut butter and jelly. I opened up the reduced fat peanut butter (which by the way tastes better than the original because they add more sugar) and smelled it and looked at it and really thought about it....thought about it for awhile....all the psycho thoughts going through my head "nobody will know but me"...."I lost 12.6 lbs in 3 days, a little PB&J isn't going to put all that back on"....then I came to my senses, put the peanut butter away without having any and grabbed a Medifast Peanut Butter Crunch bar....I didn't lay down til almost 1:45 am last night, and I had chicken and wild rice soup at about 12:30 am. Yesterday was an extremely long and tiring 8+1 day....it is what it is...things happen...and it is far better to have 200 calories extra worth of Medifast in a 24 hour period and end up reordering a day or two early than to risk a big unplanned cheat.

So in a nutshell....I hereby give myself permission on late nights working on the computer way past my normal bedtime, to keep up the "Every 2 1/2 hrs" Medifast eating plan if needed.

Its been a few since my last post...

2009-10-09T09:13:00.000-07:00

So on the morning of the fourth day I weighed myself and I have lost a total of 12.6 lbs over the first 3 days!!

I am running a contest to see who can guess how much weight I will have lost in total by October 31st (My Birthday)...up for grabs to the lucky guesser is a gift card.

Things are going pretty good. I have had to make some adjustments to the lean n green meal by actually splitting it up throughout the afternoon and evening to avoid feeling hypoglycemic. And I have found some more Medifast foods I really like...Orange Cream & Strawberry Cream shakes...the Scrambled Eggs are pretty good too.

I got a sample of the broccoli & cheese soup which smelled wonderful during preparation but was disappointing.

For flavoring of my lean and green, I am using a lot of garlic, Vietnamese chili garlic paste, lemon juice, lemon pepper, etc. I find if it is nice and spicy/flavorful it is more satisfying.

Well, I gotta go...time for a shake!

Day Two

2009-10-06T19:01:00.000-07:00

Day 2 hasn't gone half bad. I was at a seminar most of the day and my ADD wasn't too bad...I had my first "public speaking" engagement there, which also, wasn't too bad..I may have to give Tony Robbins a run for his money!

They provided lunch, I had a chicken salad with no dressing and it was really good! I also had a shake before I went in and a bar at the mid morning break. Afterwards, I had a shake in the parking lot.

I got home and discovered that my food arrived! I have been putting it away this evening. And will be reading the diabetic book tonight.

I am getting ready to head over to WalMart to do the weekly grocery shopping for the rest of the household. I'll be getting chicken breasts and vegetables for myself.

On a side note, having the lean n green midday isn't my choice scenario....I am rather hungry tonight. I think it is much easier to do the 5 & 1 rather than 2&1&3.

Day One

2009-10-05T20:22:00.000-07:00

Day one went pretty well. I was not at home, I was at my buddy's shop helping him with his Jeep (pronounced HEEP) and also working on my Bronco. At times more than 2 hours passed in between shakes and bars...when this happened I became extremely hungry but the Medifast food took care of it. I may have to set an alarm on my phone tomorrow.

I did have a diet pepsi and an unsweetened iced tea throughout the day in addition to at least 6 16oz bottles of water.

I got home about an hour ago and had about 6 oz of venison sausage....don't panic...its called sausage but has no added fat...it is ground venison and spices...high protein very low fat goodness! And I also had a wedge of iceberg lettuce with a little ceasar dressing thinned out with rice vinegar.

I tried an oatmeal a couple of hours after dinner....I liked the peach oatmeal.

So far, I really like the Swiss Mocha Shakes, the Smore's, Lemon & Cinamon bars. Not so hot on the caramel and fruit n nut bars.

Tomorrow, I'll try the chicken noodle soup and strawberry bars.

So tomorrow, I have an all day event to go to....I think I'll take some celery and maybe my lean n green to eat at lunch time....I'm kind of ADD and have a hard time sitting through all day seminars...it will probably help me stay focused if I am not hungry at all during the day.

I'll let you all know how it goes tomorrow!

On The Eve Of The Real Day One

2009-10-04T23:46:00.000-07:00

Ok...here it is...I received my food and the book late today (Sunday) so I will be starting first thing in the morning. I am reading the book tonight.

I plan on starting the day tomorrow with oatmeal and shake or bar every 2 - 2.5 hrs until dinner time. For dinner I plan on having 5-7 oz of venison and some broccoli.

Tonight, as I write this, I am weighing in at 434.4 lbs.

I'll talk to you tomorrow throughout the day!

Thursday Afternoon...

2009-10-01T16:49:00.000-07:00

It has been kind of a busy week for me. The last few days I have been working with my friend who is an electrician for some extra cash. I also developed a staph infection in a scratch on my neck...I went to the Dr. on Tuesday evening and got a prescription....it is amazing how quickly the super antibiotic is knocking out the infection...it does have a few side effect with me....first and foremost of which is sluggishness.

I did mention to the Dr. that I was starting the Take Shape For Life program within the week. He had nothing good or bad to say about any particular program just that I need to lose weight at a healthy rate and keep an eye on my blood glucose level, and of course that as little as a 10% overall weight loss will improve diabetes and blood pressure, etc.

I found out that my food delivery date is not until October 6th. I will be getting a few days worth of food this weekend from Susan so I can get started on my target start date!

Monday Afternoon Math time....

2009-09-28T14:38:00.000-07:00

So it is now Monday afternoon. I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my food and am ready to get started on it right away! After a weekend of eating all the "bad for you" foods, I am now craving healthier food.

I went to Safeway this morning and bought some boneless & skinless chicken breasts, a london broil (which I cut in half, repackaged and froze half), fresh broccoli, zucchini and summer squash, some celery, lettuce and cucumbers.

For lunch I had 2 sliced cucmbers with balsamic vinegar and for dinner tonight, I am making london broil with broccoli and sqash.

I've been doing the math and I firmly believe that in addition to the Medifast Foods, I will only be spending less than $20 / week on the "lean & green" meals.

I've also been doing a little research....I found a BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) calculator. I now know that in a few days, I will be taking in less than 1/3 of the calories I currently require just to stay alive right now....I can definitely see where the weight should melt off fairly quickly!

According to science, it takes the burning of 3500 calories to shift one pound of body fat...that being the case, the difference between my current BMR and 1000 calories per day on the Take Shape for Life program is 2500+ calories per day. Multiply 2500 by 7 and divide by 3500 and it is very reasonable that I will lose a minimum of 5 pounds per week! I do realize that as I lose weight my BMR will become less and the pounds per week will slightly lower as a result. When I average my current BMR with the BMR when I reach my ultimate goal and do all the math....my average weight loss will be around 4 pounds per week.

By doing all the facts and figuring I am helping create a positive road map in my head as to how this is going to go! It is a very realistic goal to have lost 2 people by this same time next year!

Like I said in the beginning....I can't hardly wait to get started!

Its Sunday...

2009-09-27T08:33:00.000-07:00

I feel a lot better today...

Susan emailed me last night that this blog has been added to the BeLeanTeam.com site...it feels a little weird having this be "out there" for everyone to see {kinda like listening or watching yourself on a recording}. However, having this blog where everyone can see it is going to do wonders to keep me on program and accountable!

This morning I took the dogs down to the river and let them swim and run....I look forward to stairs and climbing up hills not being so difficult in the future...

I have also been going through all of the information on the Take Shape For Life and Be Lean Team websites preparing myself for a successful journey!

I had a Subway pastrami sandwich for lunch and a banana slurpee...its already pretty darn hot outside and is supposed to be over 100 F again today.

At this point, my plan for the remainder of the day is to RELAX in the Air Conditioning as much as possible and take the dogs out again around 7 pm. I'll be doing some MBA work on the computer throughout the day and night as well..

I'll check in later tonight or tomorrow...

After the crawl....

2009-09-26T17:17:00.000-07:00

I participated in an edible crawl for charity today....while it was fun, mixing Chinese, Japanese, chocolate, frozen yogurt, mochi, sushi, 2 different types of pizza, carnitas, deep fried asparagus, pastries, mozzarella with basil olive oil and tomatoes and criss-cut fries.....not to mention tastes (3oz) of 3 different beers, 2 different sakis, tequilla, diep cola, water, champagne, mixed drinks...and walking approximately 5 miles in the 100+ heat - all over only a 4 hour period...my guts are angry with me right now!

I am most definitely opting out of next weeks edible crawl! And the way I feel right now, I am very tempted to make my start date for the journey sooner than the 4th of October as well!

It was not so much the quantity of the food ingested today, as everything was served "appetizer" style...But, more so the combination of everything that just isn't setting well.

So just to clarify with everyone, the name of the program I am soon starting is TAKE SHAPE FOR LIFE!

Its 3 am...

2009-09-26T02:50:00.000-07:00

Well its 0300 and I'm still up....I spent the majority of the evening helping a friend stuff "goody bags" for an event she is hosting tomorrow....I had some caffeine and a big carne asada burrito for dinner. My head cold has taken a turn toward a sinus infectiom...I'm now taking sudaphed and monitoring it....some chocolate chip cookies about an hour ago.

I'll be honest...

2009-09-25T17:06:00.000-07:00

I know that in a short time I will be embarking on the journey and there will be no room for "cheating". So I am having the foods I like now, for the last time for quite awhile.

This morning I had 3 doughnuts and a Diet Pepsi for breakfast. This afternoon, fish & chips and a cream ale at Hoppy Brewing Company. I'm sure dinner will be equally as healthy.

The level of my commitment to the upcoming journey is growing stronger. I am beginning to tell my friends and family of the process.

It's Officially Going to Happen

2009-09-24T22:48:00.000-07:00

Today, September 24th, 2009....Today I made my proposal to the Medifast People that if they sponsored me on this quest, I will stick to the program, lose the weight and serve as a role model and spokesman for the plan. The proposal was immediately accepted!

From this point forward I will be chronicling my journey to shed 2 people from my body (200 lbs).
Today with a T-shirt, gym shorts, shoes and socks I weigh in at 437.6 lbs. I am 6' 7", almost 41 years old...I have TypeII Diabetes since January of 2000. I am on 3 Rx's for it. I also have bad knees...the right one has no cartilage and osteophytes and patella tracking isuues. I have serious motivating factors to lose weight.....I have the will to live and to live long...pain free.

It should take approximately 1 week for my new food to arrive...I have picked October 4th, a Sunday as my start day. During the next 10 days I will be preparing myself for the greatest challenge of my lifetime....My overdue Journey.