Flirting with ONEderland

The last time I could say I weigh one hundred and something pounds was when I was in the 9th grade. Well, just one year after being sleeved, I am less than one pound from being able to say it again. I have been flirting with ONEderland for more than a week now and it is driving me crazy. I think the anticipation of this major milestone is hanging on to that pound for dear life.

I celebrated my one-year "surgiversary" on February 24. It is hard to believe it has been a year since I started this journey. From everything I have learned, to the results I see and feel, these past twelve months have been truly amazing. As of today, I have lost 136 pounds (an average of 13.6 pounds a month), more than 40% of my excess body fat, and I only have 25.5 pounds to go before I reach my goal.

According to those incredibly stupid BMI charts, I would still be considered overweight when I do reach my goal weight but I want to be realistic with my weight loss (BMI charts are misleading anyway). However, it goes without saying, that if I lose more, you will not hear any complaints from me. I just want to achieve my goal and I know I will.

Don't Stop, Don't Give Up!
Every now and again I need a little motivator to keep me going. My mother MADE me watch this when I went home for Christmas and it stuck with me. This little girl ALWAYS gives me that extra push when I need it. Her little voice echoes in my head while exercising or working on a difficult or time-sensitive project. I guarantee you will be repeating it at some point too.




Photo Update
I searched for two good before and after (current) photos and, in my eyes, these were the most dramatic. The image on the left is me in 2009 at probably my highest weight and the one on the right was taken this month after an employee at Costco questioned the validity of my card. After checking my ID (which looks similar to the picture in question, they took a new photo let me keep the old card as a "souvenir". I wonder if I am going to have this same problem in six months when I renew my license.


It's Game Time
Since surgery, I have been focused on losing the fat but now is the time to step up my game and start building muscle. The added muscle will help me lose body fat quicker. In case you did not know, muscle burns fat three times faster than fat does alone. At rest, a pound of muscle can burn approximately 6 calories per day all by itself (if you add resistance training you can increase that number to 7). For example - if your exercise program does not include resistance training and your muscle/body mass weighs approximately 100 pounds, it will burn 600 calories a day all by itself. If you add resistance training, you could increase this to 700.

Now, I am not going for a body building physique here. I just want to be in a healthy body fat range. I am getting there. I need to drop about 12% before I can be considered in a healthy body fat range.

Exercise, fitness, shoot even just plain old P.E. have never been my strong points. I remember in Junior High we had to do the 20-minute walk/run every now and again. The intent was to either walk or run a mile within 20 minutes (which I could NEVER do). Well...two weeks ago I bought an elliptical and just three nights after I got the machine, I ran 1.2 miles on it in the same time it took me to do 1/2 a mile in Junior High. For all you pessimistic haters out there, yes, that equates to what it would have taken me back then had I ran the damn thing. For all you optimistic ones, that simply means that today I have twice the energy despite being twice as old. I know 1.2 miles in 20 minutes is not much to brag about but considering where I was a year ago, I would say that this Butterfly is spreading her wings and beginning to fly...

Listen to R Kelly's words in "I Believe I Can Fly" and you will experience how I am feeling right now.