Monday weigh in

Jumped on the scale today.....

Weight today: 220

Loss to date: -50#'s

There is something mentally satisfying about crossing each new 10# increment and the 50# mark feels pretty good. It feels like a significant number to me at this point. I'm weird I guess but having lost 50 feels more substantial to me than the 2#'s more then 48 it actually is if that makes any sense. It's a nice solid number that looks big....it feels big enough for me to acknowledge it to myself.

My next intermediate goal is to "make weight" for an imaginary fight at 205.

My plan is over the next few days to go pick a UFC fighter at 205 and build a pretend fight with him where eventually I will set the date, start watching tape on him and train for the fight. I might even take a few private BJJ lessons or boxing lessons to add to the fun and "reality" of it all. The next 20#'s will be like a game.

Anyway, 220#'s today.... 50#'s down and my first 14er done and successfully marked on my peak list. Next target of 205 is coming online swiftly and my next 14er as well as some flatter but easily accessible weekend hikes are in the works. Production level is is good right now. ;)

False summit

Here is a very short vid I found of the last portions of some people climbing Handies. These guys are from http://www.neverbad.com and they are climbing all the 14ers and posting up on each of them.

It's the only representation I have found that shows the steepness of this section. I looked at a lot of pictures before climbing and most of it looked like a fairly gentle slope. I was surprised to see it for real because even the first 100 steps off the trail head (that are drastically more gentle than the reach for the summit) are much steeper than pictures would have you believe. For some reason grade/elevation does not translate well in pictures.

This vid gives and idea but even it is deceptive. The real tell is the guys voice when he says the words "steep" and "false summit". :) it's a real kick in the ass to gain the false summit BTW. You know for sure you will make it at that point because it's only 100 yards away but there is something cruel but appropriate about the mountain getting in an extra smack upside your head right at the end...ha ha, silly mountains.




http://www.neverbad.com/14er/2008/handies/tom/false%20summit.wmv

Handies Peak

Here are some initial pics of our Colorado trip. It was an incredible trip filled with fun, food, beer, and views.

I gained 1# that will be gone within 24 hours.

No problem considering the food porn I'm about to post......

Back to normally scheduled programing next Monday and more details of the climb to follow once I am done processing what happened. :) I need to gather my thoughts on the 14er but for now here is a hint of what it our last week looked like.

Closing in

The date for the 14er is closing in. As things get closer I'm not sure where my head is going to be at and I may/may not update until I get back on the 20th.

What I can say is that my weight today was 223 so I do expect to make my goal of 222 by Monday but like I said I'm not sure if I will update or not because it's getting to "all things 14er" pretty quick.

Example: today I had a job cancel and found some free time. I wound up getting a lap in at a local park pictured above so I could try out my shoes on some different conditions like pebbles, larger rock, grass/dirt.. My normal walk is on super smooth sidewalks so it was a good chance to see how they feel. They feel awesome. :) I had read a negative review of Merrell and sometimes that one negative review sticks in your mind. So far from the second I put these shoes on in the store to breaking them in and today's tests on various surfaces my feeling is that these shoes are a truly outstanding value. If I go on to take on more 14ers in the future I'm not sure how fantastic a shoe is going to have to be for me to buy it (and the mountain will be the real test of course) but I'm very happy with this product so far.

I actually have 5 major things running in the back of my mind right now that I want to explore but I feel the mental dial moving to 14er 24/7 and I just can't get into any of it right now.

We leave on the 14th and come back on the 20th with climb day on the 16th.

I am more than ready to get at it and report back about the journey ASAP.

Anybody who happens to read this hope for good weather for me on the 16th because all I really need at this point is good weather. ;)

Be back soon......

wek 28

I had a flat week this time and am holding at 224#.

There were some factors like beer an pizza on my B-day so I am fine with 224 this week..next week is a differnt story and I am targeting 222#'s for week 29. :)

Week 27 weigh in

Weight today 224

Weight loss to date 46#'s

Current avg -1.70#'s per week.

I feel re-focused now and am really glad my laziness over the last few weeks didn't hurt me too much. It hurt my rate of progress for sure but I'm back with it now.

I'm feeling great and am only a few weeks away from climbing my first 14er. A goal that was for some distant "one of these days" back when I set it but now it's really, really real and close at hand. I'm jazzed for it and am starting to feel like I used to feel before going on stage. It's anxious energy and I just want to get to it NOW. Waiting is going to get harder by the day...

Week 26 back on it!

After several weeks of static limbo I'm ready to get back to business.

I had several weeks of loosing focus of my goals but didn't suffer any sort of "falling off the wagon" or anything I just went into a lazy phase.

My laziness was rewarded with zero progress towards my goal. :(

Week 26 weight in...

Weight: 226
Weight loss to date: 44#'s.

Monday is the next week weigh in and I am geared up to be back on track.

Coffee Break

Last call
Originally uploaded by waxteeth

I've run into a break on blogging my weight loss.

I have NOT been eating Moonpies and milkshakes or gaining weight. I did gain a pound as I mentioned last time and that bummed me out because the week after that I held STRONG on that one pound gain and the scale did not move for 7 days straight (not even in the tenths of pounds).

I will be back to regularly scheduled programing soon but life had a way of distracting me and I let it......I'm not sure if it's a god thing to just take a mental break or if it is weakness to let myself do it but either way the break is almost over. ;)

Carezza shot - test

Carezza shot
Originally uploaded by waxteeth

This is just a test post to see how pushing a pic from flickr directly to the blog works. One day I might figure out how to work basic technology. :)

Week 23 weigh in

This is the strangest weigh in so far.

Over the last week I have noticed that my "smaller" pants are getting loose (so I'm going to have to move down a size again). I'm feeling lighter on my feet, and I'm having more frequent bursts of energy where I feel REALLY strong.

And the scale today says I have gained one pound. :O

GAINED a pound....

It's strange and I don't know what is going on but there it is:

Weight today 227
Total lost 43#'s
Net +/- from last week +1 pound.

This is the first time in 23 weeks I've gained weight. I'm not sure what to think because I'm pretty sure that I must be doing some body recomposition because my pants are getting so loose and I feel lighter.....

??

If I gain another pound next week I'll probably spin off into a panic mode or something and turn to drastic measures but for now I'm going to just try and observe it, make sure my nutrition is on track and everything else is going like it should and see what next week brings.

weird.

Babysitting Brutus II

When one coffee fanatic leaves another coffee fanatic to feed the dog while he is on vacation....what do you think happens to his coffee gear while he is gone?


The answer is obvious isn't it....It's getting used! :) :)








Now for some pics of an iced drink just because...

Week 22 weigh in

Weight today 226

Weight lost to date 44#'s

I've settled in to loosing 1# per week now and I'm undecided on how I feel about that. On one hand I know I could step up my efforts at this point and speed my weight loss but on the other I am currently eating/exercising in a form that I can live with forever and am still improving my health/loosing weight just slowly.

I'm not sure yet......

What I don't know is if I will hit a wall somewhere and then it will be required of me to re-double my efforts so I guess in the back of my mind I'm holding back for that time because it's going to be necessary at some point.

The only downside to not amping it up right now is time. If I changed nothing and my progress remained steady I would not reach my goal until 6/09. If I amp it up I can get there faster but I'm not sure how much faster.

In typing this out I already feel lazy for not jumping on it because I "know" I can do more so I guess I just made a real time decision while writing this sentence that it's time to take it up a notch right now.

The next few weeks will show if I can get off the 1# per week trend and back into the 2+ range for a while and start bringing that goal date closer in....