Half of Phil

Last week was hectic and I missed posting my update.  Crazy week of working remote and more soccer club drama.  Happy to now have my son on a new soccer club and even more excited the more I get to know his new coach.  He's very experienced and took a group of U14 boys from an also play team to the state championship game by they time they were U18.  I'm excited to see what he can do with this new team that's forming. You'll notice a new tracker on the left of the blog.  It's a few lbs off because obviously I wasn't tracking by in 2015 when I hit my max weight I estimate at 430.  But in the grand scheme of things I'm going to go with the tracking that is there going forward. So while over all I'm down 40 lbs this year, since I've only been since April 25, 2016, by this widget I'm down 29 lbs over 13 weeks which works out to over 2 lbs per week.  More importantly than this my energy level is much higher.  I mowed the grass last night in mid 90...

So July 25 will be 3 months of daily tracking my meals and walking 5 times a week.  It doesn't really seem like that long ago, but I just checked the calendar and counted on my fingers to confirm it. Over the 4th week I didn't walk, but we were at the beach and I stayed really active.  We were at the ocean nearly every day and they days we weren't I was working on a bathroom remodel.  I took the kids out and we swam at low tide across Tuggs Inlett it is between Sunset Beach and Ocean Isle.  Lil Bit did great no issues, other than got tired and panicked on the way over at the end.  The boy surprised me and struggled going and coming.  I guess her swim lessons are paying off.  It is definitely not something I could have done last summer.  So that is a win. I'm losing weight slow and steady.   I'm down 37 pounds in 12 weeks.  Seems like it's a very slow go, but looking at the numbers there that works out to 3 lbs a week.  That pret...

So I missed a week of checking in with the blog.  But the good news is that while traveling last week I did walk every morning.  The road by my moms is right at 1 mile long and I walked up and down every morning.  The extra incline was tough!!! I also stayed on track with my eating.  I've walked every day this week as well and kept my intake in check. I don't know how to best express it, but I can't believe how much better I feel in general since starting this new journey.  My activity level is much better, I'm not experiencing nearly as much back pain and foot pains I once thought were just part of life have basically subsided.  Dont' get me wrong I'm still sore most days at times, I mean I'm still 40 years old an 395 lbs, there's gonna be aches and pains.  But I'm happy to report I'm moving in the right direction. The next few weeks will be hectic, we'll be traveling a lot and off schedule.  I'm committed to seeing this through, s...

Slow and steady wins the race they say in the tortoise and hare stories. I got the slow part down!  Can't seem to get my walk times down much but did have a bit under 42 minutes one morning. Walking is going good aside from speed and becoming routine.  Up at it everyone morning, since school is out I've been going a hour later, it is nice to sleep but has been warm.  No doubt I couldn't do it mid day at work now and not need a shower and change of clothes! My energy level is much better, I've been doing yard work mid week after work.  I never had the energy for that before. This week I even weighed in under 400 lbs for the first time in years.  Can't say I remember the last time I was maybe a CAD biggest loser?  Probably not though. Next week I'm off to help at a camp with the kiddos.  Will be tough to keep the walking up away from home but I'm planning to do it.  I'll be driving home Friday so my next update probably won't be until Satu...

I just went back and looked this is my 7th week of this journey. I met my first short term goal last Sunday.  I rode my bike to the pool with my daughter.  My son didn't want to ride his, but we had our summers open party and rode.  I had to push some on the first hill, but to be fair it's a very steep hill and I nearly made it up. Hopefully next week we'll get a chance to bike up one day after work. This weekend we are headed out camping with our CAD friends.  We go a couple times a year and have since my son was 3.  My daughter started the next year and has been going since she was in diapers. I'm excited since Santa brought me a fancy REI tent.  Should be a good trip, hopefully not too hot and looks to be dry. I've settled into a routine of walking 2.1 miles every morning prior to work, most days my average time is 42 minutes. The daily stairs was really stressing my knee so I've paused that for now. I've controlled my intake this week and no...

Short week after our trip to the coast. I will say it was nice to not be exhausted after the walk to the beach for once. Buoyed by my success at losing weight I lost focus on limiting calories so my weight has held stead the last couple weeks. I got to do better on limiting intake for sure. Walking is becoming more routine.  I was encouraged that I convinced myself to just get on up and walk Tuesday morning after a long weekend.  Reason being that I'd still be sleepy after 45 min in bed when I'd have to get up, and then feel like crap all day for not walking.  So I drug my fat ass out of bed and walked.  Took 48 minutes instead of 43ish but I did it.  My best time has been 39 minutes but it was raining that day, so I had extra motivation to get done. Next committed update is 6/10.  May do it on the 9th since I hope to be in the woods with no cell service on the 10th!

I guess this late posting thing will occur more often. I've been tracking my intake and walking regularly for over a month now. I've surprised myself by sticking with it.  I've learned a lot about how I got this way now, just this week we went to Carolina Ale House one of my favorite spots.  The wings and fries I used to have at least once a week are over 2,100 calories.  That's nearly 90% of my daily intake need!  Wow!  Also a cookout strip tray is 1500 calories, that used to be my lunch nearly everyday for years. The walking has been good.  My back feels better than it has in a long time.  I have some pain in my left knee.  Of course I'm not using a cane like the dr told me I would by 30 if I didn't let him cut on it when I was 17!!!  That surgery may happen someday but hopefully I can coax a few more years out. Weight wise I'm down nearly 20 lbs, I had hoped I would be 25 by this week, but I'm glad to be where I am.  The scale...