Keep On Keeping On

The good news is that I finally broke through my plateau of the 260s. Unfortunately I can't give an accurate weight because my scale was teasing me this morning. I'm somewhere between 256 and 258 lbs. In addition to the fitness class, I've also been taking Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at Delano MMA and Fitness. It's an incredibly fun challenge, and it will make you sweat buckets.

The exercise was always a big help, but probably the biggest change I've made has been in my diet. Casey (the woman who beats me up at the gym) asked me if I wanted to join her in her Lenten fast. It consists of no flour, no sugar, and no dairy. I had to say goodbye to my bread, pasta, chocolate milk, and a few other things that I'm too embarrassed to admit that I was eating. Now I have to eat more fruits and vegetables to satiate my hunger. I know it's common sense - and Chris has been trying to drill it in my head for years, but it's tough to resist those temptations sometimes. I'm hoping most (if not all) these new habits will stick. As I told Casey, it was difficult in the beginning, but now it's a piece of cake...a piece of flourless, sugarless, dairyless cake. Joking aside, I am looking forward to trying some new recipes. I've enlisted the help of my friend the Level VI Kitchen Wizard to help me find some cool new recipes to try. I'll have more on that later.

I've been encouraged to list some of my goals and accomplishments too, so here goes. I don't know why, but I promised Amber that I would do a six mile run with her this summer. Now that Spring appears to be here, I'll be running more. I can jog about a 1/4 mile without stopping, but my next goal is to run a whole mile before I have to take a breather. I think that can be realistically accomplished by the end of April or the beginning of May (weather permitting). That's the most pressing goal at the moment; there will be many more to come.

Here's what I've accomplished so far. I've lost about 50 lbs since August. I've gone down a size in pants and belt. I'm actually pretty close to tightening my new belt to the next notch. I've been wearing some old jeans that I had grown out of, but now I can fit them again. It's nice when people ask if I bought new jeans, and I get to tell them, "Nope! These are old, but I can fit in them again." Yup, that make me feel good about myself.

When I was still tipping the scales at 300 lbs, I took some body measurements. Nothing to be proud of I assure you, but I'm glad I did. It's a good way to track my progress. Here's my progress so far:

Measurements (in inches)........Then............Now
Chest.............................................51.5.............49.5
Forearm........................................12.25..........12.13
Waist.............................................58.5.............51.25
Thigh.............................................25................24.5
Hips...............................................45.5.............43
Calf.................................................17................16.25
Bicep..............................................15.75...........15.25
Neck...............................................18.25...........17.5

Thank you all for your help and support. I'll see you in the cage...sooner or later.