Final Report

Half Mile to Half Marathon

I already used this title but this so typifies my experience this year, I look back and did see how far I’ve come.  I will not recap what went on every month, but I will cover what I went through overall.

Before the beginning

There were several things that motivated me to lose weight, but I think the proverbial straw that broke the camels back was my High School reunion in Hawaii, I had to trudge up a hill and really struggled.  On the way down I got hurt and on the plane trip back my foot swollen up and I decided then that this was not a way to live.

When my foot healed about two weeks later, I started training.

The start

It was kind of preplanned but my training started on June 21, which is the start of Summer.  Really I was looking for a good start point/excuse and the start of summer was good enough.  Plus my foot was healed enough by then.

I barely could run when I started, I clearly recall not being able to run a mile.  I was so tired running even half a mile, but I knew I had to keep moving.  So even though I had to walk, I did two miles.

The Weight Dropped Fast

It was oh so heartening to see the scale agree with you.  At one point I was losing 3 lbs a week.  The math was correct, burn 1500 calories above your consumption and you will lose weight.  My BMR was 2500, my intake was 2000 and I was working off about 1000 calories on my run and gym exercises.

Then It Stopped

Around the end of November I was averaging about 250 lbs.  It kind of leveled off at that point, I could break 250 for a few days.  But the formula was sound, I still to this day think it is, but I also got gout.  This really hampered my workout schedule, and it was clear that I would not break 245 by end of year.

Took a long time to heal

I did several types of medication to try and get myself healed, but I don’t know if it was the cold, or stepping on a pine cone or or my diet that triggered it, but I felt I lost 3 months to gout.  The weird thing is that I never really got heavy again.

Weight Loss vs Size Loss

After the gout, it took several weeks to get back to speed.  But I never could crack 250 and stay under 250, but it was this time that I started really getting in to weights and trying different supplements.  The result is a slimmer waste, I recall I was a 44 at one point.  But I was able to wear a 38.  So even though I was not losing weight, I think I was still losing fat.  So the subtitle in my blog is wrong, it should have said what it takes to lose a lot of fat.

Other Metrics to look at

So it was heartening to see weight go down, but it was dismaying when I leveled off.  But I did notice other things improving, my strength – I could bench 225, my stamina – I could run for 8 miles, my speed – going from 4.5 MPH to 6MPH and at bursts of 8MPH.  Also there were other things like not struggling to pull myself out of bed, my stomach not touching the steering wheel, and most important, the wonderful comments everyone was making.

What I learned about myself

The final test/challenge was the Half Marathon, it was good knowing I can push that hard, I will not break so easily and I got heart to go the distance.

I learned I have gout that I need to control, rest is just as important as workout, food makes a bigger difference in weight loss, and you need to breath.

What I learned about others

The support and inspiration is so important.  If others around you can help whether it be advice, morale, or actual work, then you will be a lot more successful, and this is so true even for stuff not fitness related.  It could be career, financial, or spiritual.

The Journey was worth it

This is so cliche but so true; This Journey was not easy, but things that are worth it seldom are easy.

I think one year of doing this is saying this is not a fad but a real lifestyle change, so with that said this journey is not ending.  This blog served as a window of 1 year and 1 week (yeah if the Marathon was 1 week earlier then this blog would be exactly 1 year).

See ya in the next blog.