Half of Phil

I was due to make a post on Tuesday, but didn't. This past week we came back from our last beach trip of the summer.  We got to see baby sea turtles hatch again for the 2nd year in a row.  It's a very cool thing. Both kids had open houses.  The boy starts middle school!  I was pretty nervous but then we lucked out his home room teacher is my buddy's wife.  I don't know her really well, but it put my mind at ease for sure. I met with the life coach at work again last week.  She's pleased with my progress and said I was on the right track.  I got back in a month or so.  The snacking is still a new thing and I will have to get better. One of the guys at work is starting a step challenge the first of September.  I didn't have any sort of tracking device, but I wanted to participate.  Another buddy told me about an Up Move device that was under $20 on Amazon.  So I ordered some and they showed up right as we were leaving for a so...

Friday was very hectic, so I didn't get my post up.  Left the house at 6:30 to grab some butts to smoke Saturday before work.  I got home from the boys soccer camp at 9:30 and had to prep them to go on the smoker at 6 am.  I did my walking during his camp and I was brutally reminded why I get up do that in the mornings!!!  It was 95 degrees and that track has very little shade.  Also very hard to keep pushing for 2 miles on a track.  Much better motivation to keep going when your a mile from the house and your only option to quit is call your wife for a ride home!!! I got the smoker loaded Saturday by 6:30 am and crawled in bed last night just before midnight!  Long long days. Today I had to tame the yard.  Had to do it in the heat of the day to avoid the rain that was coming.  Kept hoping it would start and save me.  Afterwards someone told the boy that boardwalk Billy's was the best place around to Pokemon.  So I took him over...

Progress this week was steady, biggest news is I started snacking at work!  Sounds and seems very counterintuitve to me, but we all know I did everything exactly wrong for 40+ years so I'm going to follow the nutrionists advice. Snacks are fruit and either almonds or peanut butter.  We went to the farmers market sunday and got some fresh fruit.  It's gone good, just have to remember to do it at work and get in the habit.  Good news is i got a new lunch bag!  (Ha) Walking is going good, I've had some knee pain this week but I attribute that mostly to missing a chiro appt last week.  I had to go in early Wednesday morning for work so the family joined me for an evening walk.  That was nice the weather ended up being great for it.  Finally a break from the heat. The weekend is going to be hectic, it's birthday weekend for lil bit and she will have a sleep over tomorrow evening.  Hopefully the shrieking will be minimal or at least not in th...

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...