Body Image: Will I ever accept mine?

Like the cartoon above, often times I see myself appearing bigger than I really am.  Obviously, looking at my before and after pics, I don’t look like I used to.  Regardless of that fact, I still feel fat sometimes and I struggle with accepting my body.  My wife can tell me I am a HOT! husband, my mom can tell me I’m handsome, people at work can tell me I look great, but I am stilling learning to say these things to myself.  I never want to accept being overweight and unhealthy, but I would like to improve the way I think about how my body looks. 

How do you deal with this issue?

Below is a short BODY IMAGE ACCEPTANCE TEST and then a good article on HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR BODY IMAGE.

Go home strong and healthy tonight with these 3 tips

Do you worry that your crazy day at work might have just put you over the edge enough for you to say “screw my weight loss program”.   Well that is how I feel today a little.  Not overly bad,  but my wife won’t be home and I am feeling tired.  Lonely and tired, good reasons for the “fat mind” to try and take control.  We don’t have to let it though.  So although in the back of my mind this big fat guy is saying, “No one will be at home.  Eat whatever you want.  You deserve it!”; I am going to be able to withstand because of a few small things I did prior.  We can all try these things it they may just give us that little edge we need to hold on when our resolve is down.  Here they are;

1. I ate every two hours today.  I only had two large carrots left towards the end, but I still ate.  This keeps you in a safe realm of hunger.  I do this everyday and it helps.
2. I have made a plan to at least do some exercise when I get home even though today is my “day off” from running.  This will burn some lonely time up and it will make me feel stronger with my plan.
3. I have already decided what I am going to eat as soon as I get home in order to stay on track.  I will eat some pickles right away and this will fight off any lingering hunger from the last two hours.

That’s it for this little post.  I was struggling and I wanted to think of why I was going to make the right choices tonight.  Well, now you get to read my thoughts.  See ya later.

Warning: Shocking Results From The Scale

It is no wonder that today is a great day, I survived this last week’s journey and come out with a tale from the scale.  What a fantastic meeting.  I ended up losing 1.5 pounds.  This puts me at about 7-8 pounds away from my goal weight for my 40 miler.  I was very happy with the results and I could not have done it without your help.  I appreciate all the support, fun, encouragement, and help that you guys give out.  Thanks.  Other than the weigh-in, I did good on my points last night.  No exercise yesterday.  I also ate pretty healthy.  Jiffy Pop Butter 94% fat free big bags of popcorn are only 2.5 points and I think it’s a great snack.  Anyways, I survived another week on the scale and will continue on with my friends in the this weight loss journey.  Bye Bye Now.

Q&A post 9: How long did it take me to lose 130lbs?

100 lbs of fat Image credit: mypetfat.typepad.com

I know that this Q&A answer is out of order, but it was a nice and concise question that called for a nice and concise answer.  The answer is simple statistics.  Here is the question:

“….so how long have you been on the fitness journey to get you from 307 to were you are now? Is there anything you would have done differently?”

Ok, I want to start off by saying that what happened to my body won’t happen to every “body”.  At least not as fast.  I lost a lot of weight pretty quick, but don’t give up or get discouraged if you don’t lose like I lose.  We are all different, walking in the same journey.

• Journey start date and weight:  December 13th, 2006.  I weighed in at weight watchers for the first time at 307.6 lbs.  Afterwards I went and ate a half-pound bacon burger, large fry, and a large coffee/chocolate milk shake.  That is not to mention the snacks I ate once I got home.
• Started running on: April 5th, 2007.  I had lost around 60 something pounds at this point and could just barely run/walk 2 miles on the treadmill.
• Reached doctors goal: around September I think.  My doctors goal was 210 lbs.  He actually wanted me to weigh 155.  I told him he was insane and left to do a lot of research and take my body fat.  I went back and told him what I found and he made my goal 210. 
• First marathon:  October 5th, 2007.  Finished the Portland Marathon in about 5 1/2 hrs.  I weighed 194 going in.
• My goal: was to weigh 179 like I did when I was a sophomore in high school.  I reached this goal 1 yr later on December 13th, 2007.  My body fat went from 51% to 11%.  My cholesterol went from 307 to 151.  Pants went from 46 to 32.  Shirt went from xxx to medium.
• 2 years later:  Was able to maintain my weight within 10 lbs on Dec. 13th 2008.  I currently weigh 185.
• Would I change anything:  I don’t think so.  The only thing I wish I could have done was finish my 12th marathon in one calendar year.  I was not able to make it to my 12th because of work.  I attained 7 marathon finishes and 4 ultramarathon finishes in 1 calendar year.. Other than that, the journey to now was more than I could have ever asked or imagined. 

Thanks for asking this question.  Answering it has inspired me a lot.  I will keep on my brother.  Thanks.

How an obese, over weight man started running

I hate running!  I can’t breathe when I run!  Running hurts!  Running is just too boring!  Running is just too darn hard!  I can’t run fast nor far enough to start running!

Do these thoughts sound familiar?  They sure do to me.  These thoughts and more filled my mind as a fat guy who was just starting to get more activity into his life.  So many people believe these things.  It took me some time, but I was able to conquer all of these pessimistic thoughts. 

I just started out slow and put no pressure on myself to go fast or far.  My first run was for about 20 minutes.  During that 20 minutes, I walked every 4 minutes for 60 seconds.  That seemed to make it more manageable.  As time passed and my physical and mental fitness improved, I was able to go further although not much faster.  Running became a wonderful outlet for me to relieve stress and figure out my thoughts.  It was a creative time for me.

Other great weight loss success stories

I am always happy to see others succeed.  Their success in a way seems to rub off on me and bring optimism to my life.  Other’s victories bring good thoughts and good news.  I think there is enough junk out there to bring up the bad thoughts.  Here are some other people who will inspire a smile and help us achieve our goals with their wonderful success stories.  It is possible, one step at a time.  I put these up for your enjoyment and I hope you enjoy.

 Joes shows some amazing weight loss stats:

http://fatthenfitnow.wordpress.com/2008/12/19/progressobservations/

Cool shout out to encourage and congratulate:

http://butterfliesrunningshoes.wordpress.com/2008/12/18/shout-out/

Amazing uncoveredpamela (Good before and afters):

http://www.uncoveringpamela.com/blog/

A huge inventory of successes can also be found at:

http://www.theweighwewere.com/

Self Sabotage and weight loss

Well, I sabotaged myself last night by making every excuse not to go to my weight watchers meeting.  Yes, it was snowing, but the roads were certainly clear enough to go to the meeting and the temps were going up instead of down.

Why is it that we sabotage ourselves?  I know that I can’t lose the weight or keep it off all by myself.  I know that the journey is not as fun without brothers and sisters walking with me. We get this goal in mind but try and drudge up every reason why we can’t attain it.    The definition of sabotage is to wreck or destroy a government.  If we self-sabotage, we wreck and destroy our dreams for our lives.  We can attain our goals.  We don’t have to wreck our own dreams.  I guess I just have to remember that nobody else is going to keep those 130lbs off of my body.  It has to be me, I have to choose health.  As with many things in life, we need to go after what we want.  Climbing the obstacles, learning from our mistakes, stop making excuses, and going after the goal no matter what.  After all, our goal is an important one.  To create a happier and more fulfilling life by improving our health.

I am choosing health today.  How about you?

My before and after weight loss pics

http://run4change.wordpress.com/2008/12/13/before-and-after-pics/

Before and After pics

If you would like to track my journey and see if I gain it back or keep it off, subscribe HERE

Well, here are the before and after pics of my weight loss.  I will add some new pics in the future to change things up a little now and then. I have to say, it has been a journey.  I have now kept the weight off for 1 full year on Dec. 13th, 2008.  I feel better physically, emotionally, and just in general better about life.  Health is good. I just want to encourage anyone who may think that they just can’t do it.  Well, it’s possible.  You can do it. Click here for a little more inspiration: http://run4change.wordpress.com/you-can-lose-weight/   It may take time, but you can do it.  I believe in you.

OH, and don’t forget.  I’m not the only success story.  You may be a great success yourself.  Let me know if you are and I will post it on my blog.  You can also check out more successes here: http://run4change.wordpress.com/2008/12/19/other-great-weight-loss-success-stories/