Day 162 Another Round of Endorphins Please and Powering Past Milestones

Day 162

Another Round of Endorphins Please and Powering Past Milestones

The “Lose To Win” Challenge is blowing up big time! That's a good thing! Today I was informed that all future seminars would be held at The Hutchins Memorial Auditorium. How fitting for me since The Hutchins is where I started walking on Day 1. Before the official weigh-in day next Monday, they could have over 500 people, maybe more, signed up and slimming down! It's such a wonderful feeling to be a part of something so grand. This means I'll have two weigh days next week. On Monday I'll weigh in officially at Ponca City Medical Center for the program, then on Wednesday I'll have my regular official weigh day at the Payne County Health Department in Stillwater. I remember how much I always dreaded weighing. But when you're putting in the effort necessary everyday, you completely look forward to it, because weigh day is the day we reap the rewards of our consistent efforts.

This evening at the YMCA, we noticed a couple of people from the “Lose To Win” kick-off event. We arrived earlier than normal because Courtney had to be at work by 7:15pm. When we go at different times we always notice a completely different set of people working out. Everyone in that building is working hard to get healthier and improve their quality of life. They're also releasing a bunch of endorphins along the way, and endorphins make you feel good. And that got me thinking...with a possible 500 plus people losing weight and feeling great, in some cases better than they ever felt before, this is going to be one really happy town in not too long! Endorphins are groovy baby! I climbed aboard that treadmill this evening and I decided to push myself a little harder. I started at 3.4 mph, then after about three minutes, I kicked it up one notch to 3.5, then at around seven minutes I kicked it into 3.6 mph. The last treadmill 5K I completed was at 3.4, the majority of the treadmill 5K this evening was at 3.6 mph. The extra effort was apparent in my perspiration and my finish time was shaved by two minutes! It was a real workout by golly! I'm feeling it now and it feels good! I'll sleep really nice tonight. Courtney does the elliptical machine, sometimes as much as four miles at a stretch, just incredible. I'm really pumped up about how far we've come in the last 162 Days. I'm also unbelievably excited about where we're headed.

Before our workout we enjoyed the most amazing meal. We had rotisserie chicken with sour cream and chive mashed potatoes and green beans with melted American cheese. The entire plate was just under 400 calories and it was real good food and very satisfying! Oh, and did I mention cheap? About eight bucks all together for three of us. If we had one of those rotisserie ovens, it could have been even cheaper, but I bought the chicken roasted and ready. I prepared the potatoes and green beans. It took all of about 5 minutes to put on the table. And the plate looked so elegant! I could get use to this. Oh wait, I already have. After my workout and dropping Courtney off at the station I picked up an ice cream cone. You read that right! A soft serve ice cream cone. I had quite a few calories remaining, but I only needed 150 for this little taste treat. It's a fabulous way to enjoy one of my favorite things without one ounce of guilt. I've probably consumed at least forty of these low-fat soft serve cones in the last 162 days. So if you see me around with an ice cream cone in hand, relax, it's all good! One of my regular readers still buys half gallons of regular ice cream for her husband, who doesn't have a weight problem, and she still enjoys some occasionally in a very responsible way. She buys cake cones. I know the word “cake” makes them sound horrible, but cake cones are the lightest and least calorie cones of all. If I remember right, one cake cone (minus the ice cream of course) comes in at about 15 to 20 calories. Check the box, it's real low. She then scoops a small serving of the regular stuff into the cone and enjoys! She's saving hundreds of calories over a traditional bowl of ice cream. Very smart move, good choices indeed. I could probably be this in control now, but I still don't think I'm putting a half gallon in the freezer anytime soon. If you've read some of the early days of this blog, then you know why...I'm an ice cream addict! But my occasional soft serve treat totally satisfies this craving every time, as does a 110 calorie Blue Bunny Star Bar or even a Blue Bell Dream Bar for 70 calories. Losing weight doesn't have to leave you feeling deprived! It's about those choices my friend! And these are choices I can enjoy making forever. I've posted the ice cream video from earlier this evening below. It's poor quality from my phone. I adjusted the setting to high, but that only gives me 20 seconds, so I switched back to “economy” mode, giving me up to a minute.

My goal of breaking my all time personal weight loss record was a sweet one to hit. Now I'm focused on powering right past it and never looking back. I broke it by four pounds last weigh day. Why is it so important for me to power past this mark? Because 115 lbs lost is where I tripped up in 2004, and then gained it all back plus five pounds. Of course this journey is nothing like that time. It really isn't. I wasn't learning anything along the way back then. I wasn't writing and discovering, I was simply going through the motions needed. I mentioned this not too many days ago. It just goes to show how important it is to really learn along the way. Really open up to a whole new outlook on food and exercise. The writing is so very important. You don't have to share your most personal thoughts and feelings with the world, but still write everyday about how you're feeling and what you're experiencing, even if you're the only one to read it. If you do, I promise it will not only give you daily strength to succeed, it'll make a profound effect on your long term success. If you're completely honest with yourself in your daily journal, then you'll learn all kinds of things along the way. It's knowledge that can help you keep the weight off forever! Thanks for reading my daily weight loss blog. Good night and...

Good Choices,
Sean


You don't have to give up ice cream to lose weight. Here's proof my friend!