Thursday, February 28, 2013

Challenge Two: Day Seven

(Click on image to enlarge)



Breakfast: 9am
1 Orange-Everyday-Defense Visalus Shake

Mid-Morning: Nothing.

Lunch: 3pm
1 Chocolate Visalus Shake

Mid-Afternoon: 6pm
1 Chicken Breast (w/Cheese)
1 Cup of Steamed Asparagus
32oz. Water

Evening: 7pm
1 Chicken Breast
46oz. Water

Walk-Count:



State of Being:
So, now my sinus/respiratory infection has apparently moved into my right, middle-ear canal, which is swollen, throbbing and deaf.

I see the doctor tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully he can give me something for this. For now, Tylenol seems to be helping a little bit with the pain.

I was right, yesterday; my legs are very sore today. lol Not so bad that I can’t do anything. But, I only got in a couple of walks today. I didn’t want to chance pushing too far, considering that I just got back to exercising yesterday.

See you tomorrow!



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Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Challenge Two: Day Six




Breakfast: 9am
1 Sweet-Cream Visalus Shake

Mid-Morning: Nothing.

Lunch: 12noon
1 Chocolate-Orange Visalus Shake

Mid-Afternoon: 3pm
1 Chicken Breast (w/Caesar Dressing)
1 Cup of Steamed Broccoli, Cauliflower & Asparagus
32oz. Water

Evening: Nothing.

Walk-Count:



State of Being:
Feel good!

I met some awesome ladies tonight, who are going to be getting on the Challenge with me. That was lots of fun.

I finally felt up to getting back on the horse and exercising again, after a (way too) long hiatus due to illness. I’m still definitely a little bit sick, but not to the point where I feel like I'm going to pass out just from walking to the bathroom. So, I got some walks in. Legs are going to be killing me in the morning. lol

See you tomorrow!



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Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Challenge Two: Day Five




Breakfast: 10am
1 Sweet Cream Visalus Shake

Mid-Morning: 1pm
16oz. V8 (Spicy Hot) (My LAST V8 for the month! *sob*)
32oz. Water

Lunch: 2pm
1 Chocolate-Covered-Blackberry Visalus Shake (w/real frozen Blackberries)

Mid-Afternoon: Nothing.

Evening: 10pm
1 Chicken Breast (w/Tabasco)
1 Cup of Steamed Broccoli (w/melted cheese & Tabasco Sauce)
46oz. Water

Walk-Count:



State of Being:
This is going up a little early today, as I’m getting ready to head up to Cleveland with David & Lori Crisp for the Visalus Founder’s Tour.

Hoping to meet some great people while I’m up there.

Yeah… I’m still feeling under the weather, but I really don’t want to miss this. Besides, I’m sure I’m not contagious. Nobody’s been getting sick in my wake over the last few weeks. lol

I’ll come back and update my afternoon and evening meals, when I get back. (Done.)

See you tomorrow!



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Monday, February 25, 2013

Challenge Two: Day Four

(Click image to enlarge)



Breakfast: 9am
1 Chocolate Visalus Shake

Mid-Morning: 11am
16oz. V8 (Spicy Hot)
32oz. Water

Lunch:2pm
1 Chocolate Visalus Shake

Mid-Afternoon: Nothing.

Evening: 7pm
2 Chicken Breasts (w/Tabasco Sauce & Chive-n-Onion Cream Cheese)
2 Cups of Steamed Broccoli, Cauliflower & Carrots
64oz. Water

Walk-Count:



State of Being:
Still sick.

It’s funny, I can tell that the anti-biotics are helping, but it’s still proving to be a slow recovery. This is week number four of this, and I just can’t tell how much longer I’ve got with it.

See you tomorrow!



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Sunday, February 24, 2013

Challenge Two: Day Three




Breakfast: 9am
1 Sweet-Cream Visalus Shake

Mid-Morning: Nothing.

Lunch: 12noon
1 Chocolate Visalus Shake

Mid-Afternoon: 4pm
1 Chicken Breast (w/Cheese)
32oz. Water

Evening: Nothing.

Walk-Count:



State of Being:
Didn’t really eat much today. Slept a lot.

Still feeling pretty sick.

See you tomorrow!



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Saturday, February 23, 2013

Challenge Two: Day Two




Breakfast: 10am
1 Sweet-Cream Visalus Shake

Mid-Morning: Nothing.

Lunch: 2pm
1 Peach-Complexion-Care Visalus Shake

Mid-Afternoon: 4pm
1 Chicken Breast (w/Tabasco Sauce)
1 Cup of Steamed Brussels Sprouts (w/ Butter Sauce)

Evening: 11pm
2 Fried Chicken Wings
48oz. Water

Walk-Count:



State of Being:
Long day.

Got to game with friends this evening. Unfortunately, I was still sick so I kept feeling like I needed to slip into a coma.

Going to get plenty of sleep and hope this gets better soon.

See you tomorrow!



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Friday, February 22, 2013

Challenge Two: Day One




Breakfast: 10am
1 Orange-Everyday-Defense Visalus Shake

Mid-Morning: Nothing.

Lunch: 2pm
1 Chocolate Visalus Shake

Mid-Afternoon: 6pm
Chicken Stir-Fry (w/Smoked-Red-Jalapeno Tabasco Sauce)
32oz. Water

Evening: 11pm
1 Pizza Salad
32oz. Water

Walk-Count:



State of Being:
Ooooooh-Kay. First day of the new challenge!

My goal this time is twofold;

First: I will lose an additional 70 lbs. My end-weight should be 487 lbs.

Second: I will regain complete upright freedom. I will no longer have to sit down every five minutes while I’m walking. (I'm being generous by saying "five minutes," by the way. Five minutes is a “good” time for me right now. It’s usually closer to one or two minutes before I have to sit. So, this is a pretty big goal for just 90 days.)

If you watched yesterday's video, then you know that I’ve tossed the cane.
It’s gone. I no longer need it.
(I’m already missing my extra reachin’ arm/back-scratcher. lol)

Some changes to the Challenge, this time around…

1. I’m going to weigh-in every fifteen days, instead of once a month. On the last Challenge, in the week or two preceding each weigh-in, I just felt too much like I was flying blind. A month is too long. Weekly is too frequent. So,… I’m going to split the difference and try to get weighed every fifteen days. That will split the ninety days up evenly. So, there will be six weigh-ins this time instead of three. I’m also intending/hoping that this will have the added effect of increasing the sense of accountability hanging over my head, in case it might start to fade now that I’ve been doing this for a while.

2. While, for the time being, I’m still sick and don’t want to risk making it worse by working out,… when I do resume exercising I’m going to be doing so under the guidance of Mr. Steve Hindman, who is the owner/headmaster of East Coast Martial Arts. If you’ll recall, the second of my three fitness goals (the first being full-upright-freedom by June of 2013 and the third being the Tough Mudder in summer of 2014,) is to begin studying Brazilian JiuJutsu and MMA at East Coast. While that particular goal is not set for this Challenge, I think it’s a good idea for me to start the early stages of that conditioning, as I think it’s going to take a bit more than three months to get me into fighting-shape, (particularly *ground-fighting*-shape.) Mr. Hindman has offered to oversee my conditioning, and I’ve taken him up on it. He’s going to be setting my routines, which he will modify and expand upon regularly as my fitness improves. I’ll be reporting on my progress in this part of things, here as well.

3. Regaining full upright-mobility, being a specific part of the goal, this time,… I am definitely going to continue my daily walking-laps back and forth between my apartment door and the dumpster. However, I’m going to be putting a bit more pressure on myself to increase the frequency of the walks. Also, once my daily walks are numbering into the double-digits, I’m going to begin extending the length of the route. I’ll keep you guys posted on my progress in this, as well.

I slept a lot today. From all the running around yesterday to get video shot of my weigh-in and the trash, while still being pretty sick with this respiratory infection,… let’s just saying I’m paying for it today. I’m sore and exhausted. But, I feel great! Having just completed the biggest and most challenging thing I've ever done, I’m too happy to feel any less than great right now. lol

Oh, and in case you might have noticed what I had for dinner. That’s a new idea/concoction of my own. Basically it’s a pizza with no crust.

I toss together pepperoni, crumbled sausage, chopped green peppers, onion and black olives, then stir-in some tomato-sauce mixed with oregano & cumin, and copious shredded mozzarella cheese. Finally I melt it all together in the microwave on “high” for 2 min. It was good, but the sauce could really use some work. I know nothing about making a good pizza-sauce, so I was just guessing and using what ingredients I had on hand. I might just use a premade pizza sauce next time if I can find a healthy one at the store. I can’t imagine there would be much in the way of ‘unhealthy’ ingredients in pizza sauce, but I’ve been horrendously surprised before.

One day down, eighty-nine to go!

The First Challenge was anything but easy. It was about the hardest thing I've ever done. Man, did I have some rough times!

But, I did it.

In spite of this, there is a very long road ahead. I've lost nearly one-hundred pounds, yes... but, reality check, I'm still around three-hundred pounds overweight. I've gone from carrying around two extra Christophers, to carrying one-and-a-half extra Christophers.

I've pulverized the foothills, but the mountain remains.

I am expecting this new Challenge to be even harder.
I want it that way. I've set my new goals specifically to make it harder on myself, this time.
When I get to the end, I want to know that I wasn't just repeating myself, but reaching further.
And I'll get this one done too.

See you tomorrow!



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Thursday, February 21, 2013

Day Ninety!!!




Breakfast: 9am
2 Eggs, Scrambled (w/Cheese & Mustard)
32oz. Water

Mid-Morning: Nothing.

Lunch: 12noon
1 Chocolate-Covered-Banana Visalus Shake

Mid-Afternoon: 3pm
1 Chicken Breast (w/Tabasco Sauce)
32oz. Water

Evening: 7pm
1 Chocolate Visalus Shake

Walk-Count:



State of Being:

Day 90!!!

I made it, guys!!!

Thank you, to all of you for the support and constant encouragement!





See you tomorrow!



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Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Day Eighty-Nine




Breakfast: 9am
2 Eggs, Over-Hard (w/Salsa Verde)
32oz. Water

Mid-Morning: Nothing.

Lunch: 1pm
1 Chocolate-Covered-Strawberry Visalus Shake

Mid-Afternoon: 5pm
1 Chicken Breast (w/Cheese, & Tabasco Sauce)
32oz. Water

Evening: 7pm
1 Chocolate-Covered-Banana Visalus Shake

Walk-Count:



State of Being:
Tomorrow is Day 90.

I’ll have my weigh-in video posted some time in the evening!

See you tomorrow!



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Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Day Eighty-Eight




Breakfast:10am
2 Eggs, Over-Hard (w/Salsa Verde)
16oz. V8 (Spicy Hot)
32oz. Water

Mid-Morning: Nothing.

Lunch: 2pm
1 Chocolate, Peanut-Butter & Banana Visalus Shake

Mid-Afternoon: 5pm
1 Chicken Caesar Salad (w/1 tbsp. Roasted Red-Jalapeno Tabasco Sauce)
32oz. Water

Evening: 7pm
1 Blackberry & Chocolate Visalus Shake

Walk-Count:



State of Being:
Rough day today.

Lots going on. Physically, I’m feeling a little better. I’ve got medicine now, so that helps.

Sorry to keep this one so short, but there's a lot right now that I'm not really ready to share yet. I'll open-up about it soon.

See you tomorrow.



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Monday, February 18, 2013

Day Eighty-Seven




Breakfast:Nothing.

Mid-Morning: 11am
1 Chocolate Visalus Shake (w/Water)

Lunch: 2pm
1 Hamburger Patty (w/Salsa Verde & Salsa Casera)
48oz. Water
Mid-Afternoon:
Evening:
Walk-Count:



State of Being:
Got my medicines this morning. Thank God!

I’m on 100mg of Doxycycline for my respiratory infection, and Cetirizine for congestion/allergies. I also finally have an inhaler again (albuterol sulfate) since my go-to rescue inhaler (Primatene Mist) is now illegal.

It’ll be nice to be able to breathe again, even though Washington doesn’t think I should be allowed to.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to exercise again soon.

I’ve been feeling lately like I may have hit a plateau. I won’t know for sure until this Thursday’s weigh-in, but I feel like I haven’t been losing weight… or at least, like I haven’t been losing it as quickly.

It also might just be the fact that I’ve been sick the last week or so. I don’t know.

I’m not sure what you’re supposed to do about a plateau, if it’s happening. Do you just wait it out? I’ve heard that a day or two of carbo-loading can break it, but I’m not sure about that method, considering my insulin condition. Also, having not had that stuff for a few months, I know it would make me feel terrible to suddenly load up on carbs.

Back when I was initially diagnosed with IR and lost about forty pounds, I carbbed-up on my birthday. Woke up the following morning and felt like a bomb had gone off in my gut. lol It was bad.

I’ve been having a rough time in general, for the last little bit. I guess it’s probably because I’ve been sick. My emotions have been all over the place for the last couple weeks. I go into the doctor again, next week to go over the results of my blood tests. We’ll see what’s going on now that things have been so radically changed. Maybe he’ll have some answers for me.

See you tomorrow!



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Sunday, February 17, 2013

Day Eighty-Six




Breakfast:9am
1 Chocolate Visalus Shake

Mid-Morning: 11am
1 Small Taco-Salad
48oz. Water

Lunch: 2pm
1 Plain Visalus Shake

Mid-Afternoon: 5pm
16oz. V8 (Spicy Hot)

Evening: Nothing.

Walk-Count:



State of Being: Still sick. Tired.

I know. This post sucks. Not much to say about today.
Just waiting for tomorrow, so I can get my much needed medicine and start climbing back to wellness. lol




See you tomorrow!



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Saturday, February 16, 2013

Day Eighty-Five




Breakfast: 10am
2 Eggs, Over-Easy (w/Cheese)
1 Cup of Salsa
32oz. Water

Mid-Morning: 12noon
16oz. V8 (Spicy Hot)

Lunch: Nothing.

Mid-Afternoon: 4pm
1 Chocolate Visalus Shake

Evening: 6pm
1 Strawberry Visalus Shake

Walk-Count:



State of Being:
So, I won’t be able to get any of my medicines until Monday.

For now, I’m still sick. Ears are still all plugged up. Doctor said that it was all fluid build-up behind the drums. The decongestant he ordered will take care of it. So,… in two days I’ll be able to hear again, hopefully. lol

See you tomorrow!



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Friday, February 15, 2013

Day Eighty-Four




Breakfast:7am
1 Chocolate Visalus Shake

Mid-Morning: Nothing.

Lunch: 3pm
1 Strawberry Visalus Shake

Mid-Afternoon: 5pm
2 Polish Sausages
1 Pickle
1 Bowl of Popcorn
32oz. Water

Evening: 7pm
1 Cheeseburger (no bun)
1 Cup of Steamed Brussels Sprouts (w/Butter Sauce)

Walk-Count:



State of Being:
Got to see the doctor today. (Well, , technically the Nurse-Practitioner, since the doctor wasn’t in.)

He was ecstatic about my success on the Challenge so far.
He ordered some new blood work on me just to get some new numbers.

In spite of my still being sick and having been walking around all morning, (I hit the grocery store before my appointment) and hence being sweaty and winded, my blood-pressure was normal. So, that’s definitely progress.

I’m also finally going to be getting some allergy pills. When you have lots of allergies, you’re constantly dealing with inflammation (in my case, respiratory inflammation) that is definitely a factor in why I keep getting sick this winter. So, that’ll be nice to have.

Got to hang out with my Mom, my brother and my nephew a bit today. That’s always fun! In the backseat of the car, I taught Mason a couple Ninpo strikes and let him practice on my hand a few times. He’s definitely got some impressive impact for a three year old, strapped into a car-seat. lol

See you tomorrow!



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Thursday, February 14, 2013

Day Eighty-Three




Breakfast: 8am
1 Round Steak (w/Black Pepper & Roasted Red-Jalapeno Tabasco Sauce)
16oz. V8 (Spicy Hot)
32oz. Water

Mid-Morning: 11am
1 Peanut Butter & Banana Visalus Shake

Lunch: 3pm
2 Scrambled Eggs (w/Cheddar Cheese)
32oz. V8 (Spicy Hot)
32oz. Water

Mid-Afternoon: 4pm - 6pm
48oz. Water

Evening: 7pm
1 Grilled Chicken Breast (w/Cheddar Cheese & Christopher’s World-Famous “Burn-the-Dancing-Devils-Right-Out-of-You” Hella-Salsa)

Walk-Count:



State of Being:
Today was not bad.

I’m still wheezy. Still coughing. My ears are still plugged-up and ringing. But, I’m way better than I was a few days ago.

I’m not going to walk or exercise again, until I’m feeling better.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve tried a couple times. It’s just that my breathing is really labored with all this congestion, so the minute I get going I need to stop. I think I just need rest for a while.

I had a chance to meet with Steve Hindmann, earlier this week when he was in town. He’s the owner/head-instructor at East Coast Martial Arts. He worked with me a little bit on some of the basic exercises I’ve been doing, then gave me a bunch more stuff to work on.

Absolutely awesome person! He’s actually offered to work-with and coach me toward my MMA/Jiu-Jitsu - September Fitness Goal, via video-share (he lives in South Carolina.) So, I’m looking forward to that.

Thank you very much, sir! It’s greatly appreciated!

Oh, and Happy Valentine’s Day to everybody!

I confess to having no understanding of this holiday, (St. Valentine was a martyred Christian who died horribly. So, when you say… “Be My Valentine!” …you are essentially saying… “Die horribly for me!”) …but I know that a lot of people enjoy pretending it's about something else, so… more power to you.

See you tomorrow!



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Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Day Eighty-Two




Breakfast:9am
1 Peanut Butter Cup Visalus Shake

Mid-Morning: Nothing.

Lunch: Nothing.

Mid-Afternoon: Nothing.

Evening: 6pm
1 Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Visalus Shake

Late-Evening: 8pm
1 Grilled Chicken Breast (w/ Roasted Red-Jalapeno Tabasco Sauce)
2 Cups of Steamed Okra

Walk-Count:



State of Being:
Feeling markedly better today!

Last night was the first night in a week that I was able to sleep for more than a half-hour at a time. So, after breakfast and a few household chores, I went back to sleep for several hours, (that’s why there’s a gap in my meals today.)

See you tomorrow!



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Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Day Eighty-One




Breakfast: 9am
1 Peach-Complexion-Care Visalus Shake

Mid-Morning: 12noon
16oz. V8 (Spicy Hot)

Lunch: 3pm
1 Sweet Cream Visalus Shake

Mid-Afternoon: Nothing.

Evening: 7pm
1 Round Steak
1 Cup of Steamed Brussels Sprouts (w/Butter Sauce)

Walk-Count:




State of Being:
Feeling a little better today.

Still congested as hell. My ears are all plugged up, the worse of the two keeps switching sides. lol

Got a lot of writing done today! That’s pretty cool. I haven’t written much, the last few weeks. Today I just caught the bug again.

See you tomorrow!



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