Hell Week

Busy couple of weeks lately. Vacation is around the corner and as usual I’m working like a dog to get everything done so I can go away and mentally be free of work. Late night stakeouts (I’m an investigator/glorified social worker) in a car is not very conducive to losing weight but the battle continues. Since beginning acupuncture treatments I’m 10 pounds down. (the pain reducing effects have been wonderful!) It’s a long, hard slog though. And frankly vacation worries me. I will need to really focus on getting my exercise in. The goal is to come home from vacation, weighing significantly less than when I left for it. We all know how difficult that can be. But at least for a week, I’ll be out of the car and out from behind a desk so I definitely feel like it will be possible.

On the Run

Treadmill every day, sometimes twice a day. Ate too much yesterday but getting back on the horse again and riding….

Trying to not let a wishbone grow where my back bone is!

Here’s something that I’m very proud of – my acting debut. Please give it a look. A lot of talented and very creative people are working on this thing. more episodes to come every few weeks or so. If you enjoy it, please share it with your friends, post in online, etc. This is a total word of mouth deal and we are eager to see how far it will go. Please be advised that it does contain adult orientated situations….

more info about the series as well as merch right here:
http://watch.mobontherun.com/

Pushing Forward

I’m in the midst of a 5 day challenge…cut my portions by a 1/3rd and exercise like a champ. This weekend I went a bit off the rails. Ate a pint of Ben & Jerry’s chocolate fudge brownie ice cream last night. Stupid for sure, but it’s the first time I’ve done it in months and months.

I’ve decided that I’ll be going back to the doctor for a full blood workup and physical by mid-September. That will be about exactly a year since I got sick. Good motivation to stay on the straight and narrow. I’m totally despise going to the doctor but it will be good to see where my numbers are at and if my general help has improved.

Progress has been slow but I’m in this to win this. I will absolutely get there!

The Weighting Game

Okay scale, I don’t like you and you don’t like me either so let’s get one thing straight – I need to have dropped some weight by my next acupuncture appointment on Friday. I refuse to go two weeks in a row with weight gain even if it is just a pound or so. I’ve been jerking around with the same few pounds for over a month. Now this weight has to begin to drop again. I’m eating right, I’m eating less, I’ll be on the treadmill, lifting and doing yoga. I will make more time for better self-care. I will make time to get enough rest. I can do this. We can do this together. We can become friends again, can’t we? Two more days to go. Let’s make a deal. I’ll work hard and you be gentle…okay??

The Yo-Yo Effect

I think I have put on and taken off the same 10 pounds three times now. I just can’t seem to break past the 70 pounds lost mark. So besides acupuncture and exercise, I’m adding a 3 day juice fast. I’m hoping that this will finally break the plateau I’ve been balancing on for a long time now. So far today though… zero weight lost but no weight gain either. There is something at least in maintaining. It may take a long time but I’m moving forward. I will not let momentary setbacks discourage me. There is something gained within the struggle that can not be gained without it.

And the Beat Goes On

26 weeks into my quest for better health through a mostly plant based diet and increased exercise. Acupuncture has remained helpful to me. I’ve lost 8 pounds in my first 8 days after beginning treatments. My cravings although lingering from time to time have greatly decreased. This still doesn’t stop me from doing occasional boneheaded things like eating way to much steak for Father’s Day. It’s weird actually, despite eating mostly plant based for over 6 months, I think my taste for a good steak will never completely diminish. This is a repeating pattern for me though, make some great gains towards my goal then gain some weight right back. I lack discipline. Some days are good and I am strong but then I fall apart. It’s frustrating but it is life.

The other great part about the acupuncture treatments is that my pain is really subsiding. Shoulder pain that I have dealt with on an increasing lever for about three months is now quickly fading away. If I wake up with it in the morning, it leaves quickly. Some mornings I have no pain at all. My ankle also feels a lot better. I tend to think I’ll have a long road to go to get it to where it needs to be but it is feeling better and I can’t argue so far with the results.

The needles in my ear to decrease the cravings, reduce stress and bump up metabolism are killing me this time around. With each session, the ears are switched. But this last round hurts so bad that massaging them is nearly impossible. I’m not sure how much of a benefit they are without the massage. The Chinese tea and herbs still taste like dirt and bark but I’m getting by with them.

I started out the day with yoga this morning and wrapped up the day with some exercise targeting specific muscle groups. I’m hoping that by my next acupuncture appointment on Friday, I will be able to say that the hard work has paid off and that I’ve lost more weight. Some of my eating this weekend has not helped me though. So now I have to play the catch up game. When I finally get the diet, exercise and treatment all going full bore, I’ll be dangerous.

Finding the Balance

A pretty good week so far on the health front. Maybe after 6 months I’m finally starting to find some balance. The acupuncture sessions are reminding me that making the time for selfcare is so important and vitally necessary. I have my third session today and I’m eager to see what their scale says. My scale here is looking good.

I’ve been juicing during the morning lately. I love this Vitamix. It was an expensive investment that was really worth it. For starters, all of the pulp and fiber that a traditional juicer would expel, the Vitamix blends right into your drink. These are important vitamins and nutrients. Why let them go to waste.

Juicing gives me a chance to be creative with the ingredients I use and about 95% of the time I enjoy what I’m making. Yesterday I had blueberry and kale juice (with apple and orange). Kale has almost no taste when juiced and is one of the most vitamin packed, nutrient rich foods you can eat. Earlier in the week I had strawberry dandelion juice (with apple, orange and sweet lettuce) which is actually a near perfect combo. Dandelion is very good for your blood but can often be bitter. It is definitely an acquired taste. I find that the strawberries compliment the taste without totally masking it. The morning berry intake is very important. Recent studies indicate that just a half cup of berries a week helps to keep our brains sharp. This is an easy way to get your daily antioxidant intake boosted!

I’ve kicked up the exercise regiment a bit this week as well. I still need to be exercising more and this will likely continue to be a stumbling block for me for some time but I will keep working at it. Losing weight is a process. I know that I’d be further along in this journey if I exercised more.

Posts here at Johnnysized have been more sporadic lately. I try for 5 posts a week but lately it’s been less. I don’t want folks to think I’m falling off. If anything I am more engaged than ever. I’ve just had a lot of sticks in the fire recently. My photography gigs have been increasing and photo editing is extremely time consuming. I have some interesting things going on musically with my band’s second album nearing completion.

There is also this web series coming out on June 30th. It’s going to be a lot of fun. I’m getting my feet wet in the world of acting. I’m playing the part of a legbreaker. Give it a look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwNcwmEO6-o&feature=youtube_gdata_player

More info at www.mobontherun.com

7 Pounds Lost in 5 Days

And so begins week 25 of my switch to a (mostly) plant based diet with increased exercise in an attempt to lose weight and get healthy. After 6 months, I’m down nearly 70 pounds. The last month or so has been a terrible struggle for me. I went off the rails for a little while and at one point gained about 11 pounds before shedding most of it. But the gaining can happen so quickly and the shedding is an awful lot harder. What I can gain in a few days, takes weeks to take off again. And a lot of the time what further complicates things is that I’m just not disciplined enough. I’m spread very thin with work, family and other endeavors and I don’t make enough time to exercise. I’m working at getting better with this.

Lately I’ve been trying acupuncture as a way to help get me through this plateau that I’ve been stuck on. I’ve also been incorporating some Chinese root tea and other medicinal supplements. It all tastes like dirt and bark to me but I’ve managed to lose 7 pounds in 5 days following the prescribed regiment – on my doctor’s scale anyway. That’s a whole separate issue. How the doc’s scale can vary so much from mine is a great and frustrating mystery to me. But as long as both scales are moving in the same direction, I’m happy.

My acupuncture sessions have been amazing. Despite often having a very unquiet mind at the start of the sessions, by the end I am in a near dream state. I really feel like these sessions take me places. I’m talking otherworldly here. Maybe they are just taking me deeper inside my self. Either way they are fantastically peaceful. During my last session, I felt energy traveling up and down my legs and through my gut. It was amazing. I felt like a living energy super highway. That’s not overstating the feeling either. I guess it is my energy meridians opening up. Really an amazing experience. This is how the healing begins. I’m so very excited for what the future holds in store for me on this journey.

Grinding On…it’s Gut Check Time

And so begins Week 24 of my switch to a plant based diet and increased exercise. I’m slowly on the road back, shedding three of the four pounds I gained last week. But I’m writing this after a night out with a bunch of friends that included three slices of pizza with the works and one fabulously made (from scratch) Bloody Mary. It’s alright to do this once in awhile but it’s not the way to really make the weight come off.

And that’s kind of where I am at lately. The first 65+ pounds came off relatively easy. I worked hard but my body gave up the weight freely. I wanted it and I stuck with it. Now the process has slowed. I know that if I want to see real gains made in my progress I need to turn the intensity, dedication and determination up big time.

I’m not losing ground lately as much as I am just hitting a stagnation point. In the journey of weight loss, I find myself in a deepening valley. I know that how I get out of this valley will be a predictor of how successful this overall journey will be for me.

The initial push of wanting to lose the weight and getting healthy cannot be allowed to fade. Everyday I need to wake up and WANT it as bad as I did on Day # 1. I need to WANT it like my life depends on it because IT DOES. I need to WANT it bad enough to cut out the foods that will harm me. I need to WANT it bad enough to make time for daily exercise. If I don’t do these things, then these are all just flowery words on a page. I need to push through this and get to the other side. These are the times in a journey that test the metal of a man. It’s gut check time. I’m not happy with my progress or my effort lately and it’s time to see how bad I really want this.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to share your story of struggle here or email me at johnnysized@gmail.com

Coming Undone

And so begins week 23 of my switch to a plant based diet with increased exercise. Except that this past week I ate less veggies, exercised not nearly enough and ended gaining four pounds back. Bringing my total lost from 67 to 63 pounds. These last 10 pounds have been such a killer. Just a back and forth… And despite the hard work to get to this point, I really have bungled it up these last 8 days. Prime rib, sushi, shrimp, Taco Bell, Memorial Day burgers, birthday ice cream and cake, chips… I’m disgusted with myself. After trying to hit the reset button and really tighten up my strategy a few days ago – I just totally derailed. I could give a bunch of excuses but what’s the point. The result is still the same. Back to the drawing board………..