My starting weight is now at 343 pounds, I’ve gained quite a bit back in the last year or so but it’s time to move forward. This is my new beginning.

I tried to do the 2 week goal plan, and I still think it’s a great idea, only I’m not so great at setting proper goals. I need to take some time to focus on what I really want to be doing and then make goals that lead me in that direction.

One of my current goals, however, is to start keeping this website updated. I need to be accountable to something. From now on I’m going to consider the decisions that I make and hope I start making the ones that take me in the direction I want to go.

My time schedule is finally evening out but it leaves little flex time and even less time to get to a gym. I’m debating just suspending my gym account and doing workouts at home. I’ve added volunteering two afternoons a week to my already full schedule so that doesn’t help. My issue with the gym is that it adds at least 30 minutes to my workout time just in getting there and home again. I have not made a decision on this yet though.

A sample day for me, a Tuesday:

5:30 – 6:30 AM : get ready for work, feed animals
7:00 AM – 3:30 PM : work, lunch
4:00 PM – 6:30 PM : volunteer
7:00 PM – 9:30 PM : study, take exams, homework, feed animals, eat dinner
10:00 PM – 5:30 AM : sleep (I rarely get to sleep this early though)

In order to move forward I’ve decided to take things a little bit slower and make changes using a 2-week goal setting plan. The way this works is I set a goal I want to achieve in a two-week period and then add a new goal for the next two-week period. Most of these goals will be things that will stay ongoing even after the 2 week period is up. I plan to blog about my goals so I have more motivation to stick to them.

Also, I needed to come up with a reward to motivate myself to keep going – so, at this point, every time I meet a two-week goal period I’m going to buy a new pair of fancy socks.

Week 1-2: Oct 3-16
Goal: Work out at least 4x a week for at least 30 minutes (go to the gym whenever possible)
Plan: I have created appointments on my calendar to go to the gym after work on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. I also kept Saturday mornings open so I could go out biking, walking or other activities. I decided to make the goal working out vs. going to the gym because I can still work out at home if I get a schedule crunch that leaves no time to get to the gym.

Step 1: Decide to do it
Step 2: Do it
Step 3: Finish or sustain it

So for example, I want to start running.

Step 1: Decide to start running
Step 2: Walk/Run
Step 3: Keep running

Or let’s say I want to eat healthy

Step 1: Decide to eat healthy
Step 2: Make gradual changes until I’m eating healthy
Step 3: Keep eating healthy

In the end, the important part is just doing the work that needs to be done and not worrying.

Stop whining and just do it!

I am calling this year, 2011, the year of the rockstar. I challenge you all to be your own rockstar and do all those things you know you should but sometimes don’t. Reach inside, find your inner awesome and create your own rockstar persona.

I’m starting new with a fresh outlook on things. I weighed in this morning, I’m tracking my food again and I have a couple of fitness plans ready and scheduled. I’ve been to the gym twice this week and I’ve worked out at home. I put all my workout plans on my calendar and stick to them like I would meetings or other appointments. This is a commitment I have made for my life and I’m sticking with it.

So with that in mind it’s time to announce that I am training to run a 5k, possibly at the end of March or early April, depending on which one we pick. I have a few friends joining in so that will keep me motivated.

I am also participating in the Live Healthy Nebraska challenge through work and am happy to have something to show my progress and a team to work with to stay motivated.  I’m feeling a lot better than I have in months so it’s time to get back to living the life I want.

I haven’t been as active as I have wanted because of a few factors but I’m moving forward and doing my best. I’m working on getting slowly back into the habit of going for walks and adding activity to my week. I’m going to try to go to the gym with a friend twice a week and then do things at home in between that time.

I picked up an awesome book, Anatomy of Exercise, and I’ve been doing a lot of those workouts. This book is nice because it highlights what muscles are being worked, what muscles are supporting and also gives you advice on form and what to avoid. It’s been a good read so far.

I’ve also started tracking my workouts on DailyMile and I’m really enjoying the community oriented parts of the site. If you join up be sure to add me as a friend!

Glucose – 83 mg/Dl – normal range: 70 – 105

Cholesterol – 132 mg/dL – normal < 200

Triglycerides – 66 mg/dL – normal < 150

HDL – 48 mg/dL – normal > 40

LDL (Direct) – 66 mg/dL – normal < 100

Looks pretty good to me!

Over the past few weeks I have been regrouping and thinking about what I want out of life. I don’t have a lot of answers yet but I have come up with a new plan of action.

Monthly Weighing

I decided, for my own mental stability, that I could no longer be so scale/weight oriented. Yes, I want to lose weight, but it’s not the deciding factor in this journey. I was going to go with weekly weigh ins but I need to make a break. I am going down to monthly weigh ins because I’ve seen it work well for other bloggers. It’s a healthy approach because I still keep tabs of my weight without that number becoming more important than it needs to be.

Calorie Counting

For the last year and a half I have spent a lot of time counting every calorie in and trying to estimate my calories out. This is an exhausting approach and it was starting to wear on me. I still think it’s important to know what you are burning so you can compensate accordingly, for health reasons, but I want to focus on something I can maintain for my whole life. I cannot maintain counting calories so I need to learn how to make good choices without tracking everything I bite. I know what I need to do so it’s just a matter of doing it.

Fitness Plan

I’m still trying to work out a new fitness plan but what I do know is that I need to slow it down a little and be smart about it. I get over committed to the things that I am doing and I end up either injuring myself or getting burned out. The things I enjoy are walking, biking and weight training. I think I got to aggressive with the bike riding and started putting in too many miles for my actual level. I am still dealing with post-surgery rehab, to some extent, but I’ve also created a new problem – hip bursitis. Now this new injury probably began from my bike accident (which I forgot to blog -oops) but my near unwillingness to rest has created a bigger problem.

My thoughts right now are to back down a bit from the crazy fitness and focus on a normal level of exercise. I’m going to start with keeping my treadmill times to 20 mins and using weight equipment when I have access. I’m back to debating if I should join a gym again and have been eying Anytime Fitness. The nicest thing about Anytime Fitness is there is one in the town where my brother lives and I’d be able to go there too.

So my focus is on keeping up with recovery while moving forward with new plans. I really want to start running and once my hip issue seems cleared up, I can start training. My physical therapist even gave me a plan to try that should, hopefully, keep me from injuring myself. I’m going to basically be doing a couch to 5k type program and will chronicle that here when the time comes to start. I’m hoping to be able to start at the end of November or beginning of December.

The Blog

I really want to work more with my blog and start posting more often. I’m still trying to figure out what I want from my site but I know that I have some amount of value to add to the world, I just need to figure out how. Hopefully good changes will be coming soon.

Life Plan

My life planning has taken some turns and I still don’t know what it is that I really want to do. I applied to the Medical Assisting program at Southeast Community College and I’m still waiting on confirmation that I was accepted for March 2011. The problem now, though, is I’m not sure that’s what I want to do. I would like to do Physical Therapy Assistant but I’m wait listed for that program until July 2013. I’m now leaning towards not doing the MA program and just focus on my current journey while waiting to get into the other program. I could save more money this way and spend more time figuring out a good plan.

What I want to do, really, is work with people and help people. I want to motivate and cheer on others and help them see whatever it is they are trying to accomplish. I wonder about other things too – personal training, coaching, sports related fields, etc. I want to do these things but I think it’s important that I finish working on myself first and I’m still a work in progress – but then again, aren’t we all?

It’s been an up and down journey so far but I finally seem to be on the better side of healing. I’m out of the walking boot and doing quite well walking around in two shoes. It’s taken me a lot of physical therapy, including biking, to get to this point. I had a few minor set backs when transitioning out of the boot including some tendinitis and a possible ankle sprain. Those problems seem to be cleared  now though and I hope it stays that way.

I don’t see the doctor again until November 1st and I still need to go in for physical therapy some but I’m not going in at all this week which is a nice break.  I know that post strayer procedure my calf muscle isn’t the same on the left as on the right and it is a little weird. There seems to be a large build up of muscle tissue around the actual cut and the upper part of the muscle is taking its sweet time in strengthening back up. I’m having occasional massage done on the calf muscle to see if that can help smooth it out but it might be something I just learn to live with.

I wanted to make sure and post an update in case someone planning to have this surgery wanders in here looking for others in the same situation. At this point I can say that getting the surgery done was worth all the rehab because it finally seems like the original heel pain is gone now. It’s just down to finishing up the strengthening and I can handle that pretty easily.