When I weighed myself this week I was unsure of how I felt.  My weight loss was a total of 7.2lbs or 3.3kg.  This puts me at 204lbs lost!  It was a pretty amazing feeling.  Even though I was fairly sure that I’d reach that goal it seems a bit unreal.  I’m not ashamed to admit that I did cry a little when I told my wife.  Even now I’m still overwhelmed at the amount of weight I’ve lost.

I mentioned that I’ve been reading “Starting Strength” and it’s been teaching me the correct form for squats.  I’ve come to discover that I still have a lot to learn when it comes to lifting weights.  I also found out that I probably need to reduce the weight of my squat as when I perform the lift correctly I find that I’m weaker than when I cheat.  I believe that I will reduce the weight in order to work on my form and let the rest come.  Although there is a part of me that is frustrated that I’ll have to reduce the weight I’ve come to realize that I need to define the workout and not let the workout define me.  If I move forward and allow myself to have poor form I’ll either have to correct it later or admit that I’m cheating myself of the full benefits when it comes to gaining strength and weight loss.

I was pretty on-point with my diet and weight loss this week.  However, I’ve been a bit flaky after losing 200lbs.  I could hear voices in my head telling me that it was time to party and to go nuts on food; even though another voice was paranoid that I’d lose that 200lb mark.  It just goes to show you that even after a year of working on myself I still have progress that needs to be made.  I still have tendencies that make me want to go bezerk when it comes to food.  I just need to recognize the signs and try to figure out alternatives other than eating when I start to feel the urges to binge.

How do you talk about something such as a weight loss of 200 pounds?  How do you describe almost a year-and-a-half of work?  No; make that 30 years of work.  You know one of the things I remember from Elementary School was a girl who was mad at me pointing out my “man boobs” (I don’t remember what she called them) because she was so angry with me at the time.  I don’t remember what I did to make her so angry (it was probably normal horrible boy behavior), but that shut me up.  That was the first time I think I really started to grasp that I was overweight.  And worse, other people knew it too.  I wasn’t just a normal kid.  Or rather, I didn’t feel like I was (which probably did make me normal).

The truth is that a weight loss of 200 lbs. starts with small changes.  It comes with the decision after decision to move in a progressive nature to your goal.  It’s not letting yourself give in to the temptation of negating your health.  It’s the acknowledgment that things are not what they should be with you and that you’re willing to do your best to change your mind and your body to improve your health.  And most of all it comes with the determination to keep making all these changes even when you don’t want to; when you can’t stand them; and not giving up on yourself when you fall short of your goals.

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• Starting out
  
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  • Walking 1-2 times-a-day for 15 minutes each.
    
  • I started tracking my time and length with Runkeeper
    
  
  
  
• I started taking Herbalife supplements once again.
  
• I started ShakeitOffCast.com
  
• I started reading Full-Filled
  
• I eventually moved to using my BodyBugg, which I used to track my calories and steps
  
• My wife turned me onto MyFitnessPal, which I thought was superior for counting calories
  
• I then started recording steps with a Fitbit Ultra
  
• Eventually I started working out in a gym using Jefit to create and record my workouts
  
• Over time I’ve modified my calorie intake and my workout to fit my life.
  

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• What do I eat?
  
• How often do I work out?
  
• How do I feel?
  
• Do I feel like I’ve missed out on anything?
  
• How far do I have to go?
  
• What tips would I pass on to someone who is having a tough time?
  
• How am I going to celebrate?
  
• What were the keys to my success?
  

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• The website is located at http://www.shakeitoffcast.com
  
• Leave a Voicemail on the Site
  
• Send me a review in iTunes
  
• I’m on Twitter as @tdhowell
  
• Email me at podcast@shakeitoffcast.com
  
• And on Facebook
  

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