Day 236 Boxing The Boss and The Difference Between Me And "The Biggest Losers"

Day 236

Boxing The Boss and The Difference Between Me And “The Biggest Losers”

As Fridays go, this wasn't a bad one at all. I started the day like most, having breakfast with Irene, usually Courtney is at the table too, but she chose to sleep in a little and have breakfast a little later. I had a great show despite being tired, it's strange, but when I get little sleep I sometimes have my best performances...I know, it doesn't make any sense at all. I fueled up with a snack of apples and cheese mid morning and by the time 10:45am rolled around, I was ready to take on the remote broadcast scheduled at The Boys and Girls Club. They have a regulation boxing ring at the Boys and Girls Club, and since I've never stepped foot into one, I gave it a try! It wasn't long after climbing into the ring that I had a couple of contenders ready to take me on. Now keep in mind, I'm not a fighter. Not at all. In fact, I've never ever even had a fist fight. Not as a kid, not as an adult, never! I'm proud of that! I'm a peace loving fun and friendly kind of guy, and from a very early age recognized the complete absurdity of “duking it out.” Having said that, I do believe that one punch could have saved me some serious bullying in my elementary days, but that bare knuckled chance is long gone. Boxing is different. It's an organized sport, and although it can be dangerous in a deadly way, I just had to give it a try. Let me set the record straight, my two boxing matches today were conducted with giant sized boxing gloves. Apparently, the bigger the glove, the less of a chance of getting hurt. The first challenger across the ring from me was some guy from the sales staff at Team Radio. I would say his name, but then he would hunt me down and finish me off. He came at me with both gloves punching in a rapid fire motion. I tried to protect my face with my gloves, isn't that what you're suppose to do? Instead, he just punched my gloves, making me punch myself in the face. It was pathetic really. I did move like a fighter, well, OK, maybe like a really bad fighter. I moved back and back a little more, and soon he had me in the corner against the ropes. This is when the fight was called with him claiming a TKO. Whatever! The man I really wanted to face hadn't arrived yet. I wanted to fight “The Man.” The man I faced next is the guy who's signature graces the lower right hand corner of my paychecks. That's right, I was going to get a chance to beat the boss down! I said “a chance,” turns out he's a pretty good boxer too. “The Man” beat me into a corner a couple of times, but I kept fighting back. I even landed a few to his face, not solid punches, but I made slight contact a couple of times. This was enough of a victory for me! How many people can say they've had a chance to beat up their boss without the fear of being fired? I highly recommend company parties at the boxing ring in an effort to work out work place differences! How much fun would that be? Put on the over-sized gloves and get in there with that annoying guy in the far cubicle! Or punch out the lady from the payroll department that hasn't like you from the beginning! Before my match with “Mr. Blue Blazes” was finished, he landed a solid shot squarely to my head that sent me into the ropes. We were finished. No mas! No mas! The broadcast on the other hand wasn't finished, then I had others wanting to take me on, but I'd had enough already! My boxing record is 0-2, that's not very good huh? I did learn that trying to avoid getting punched is great exercise! I want a re-match! Where's the “On The Go” video crew when you need them? ;)

I never dreamed that losing weight could be so enjoyable. I always focused on dreading the process. Just the fact that I looked at it as “a process,” tells you where my mind was. Losing weight to me meant not being able to thoroughly enjoy what I relied on to make me feel good for nearly three decades. I feared the changes I knew I would have to make to lose weight. To me, losing weight was like being sentenced to something horrible. I never focused on the positive side of losing weight. Until 236 days ago, I was a very different person. If only I had stopped long enough to recognize the positive possibilities along the way, oh my, how much sooner would this journey have started? If I had realized that losing weight wasn't about “giving everything up,” not at all, it's about gaining a new perspective, a new responsibility, a new mind set. Instead of giving things up, I'm receiving so many more wonderful things and experiences. My life is richer now. I'm living! And I still enjoy all the wonderful foods I've loved my entire life, I just don't gorge on them everyday like before. I'm able to move and breathe with ease and comfort, and that's worth it all! Losing weight use to mean a complicated, confusing mess to me. It wasn't until I decided to make it something very simple, let go of the past, forget about what I thought losing weight had to be, and started being completely honest with myself about my behaviors that I was able to see a whole different side to losing weight. The rewards I refused to see before, clearly come my way everyday now.

In Thursday night's blog I talked about the “Biggest Loser” fan telling me how I wasn't eating enough, because, as he said “you should eat seven times your current weight in calories everyday” just like they do on the show. I've thought about what he said a bunch in the last 24 to 36 hours. You know me, I let things bother me too much sometimes. But I came to a conclusion: The difference between me and the contestants on that show is real simple. I'm losing my weight right smack dab in the middle of everyday life. They're losing the weight in a “boot camp” type setting. It's a very different situation. You notice how they get nervous sometimes at the thought of going home and “being on their own?” My day consist of going to work, heading to the store, picking up Courtney from school, making appointments, paying bills, dealing with everyday real world stress, working out, writing, and sleeping. On that program, their day consist of eating, working out, eating, working out some more, sleeping, eating, working out even more, and weighing in. I'm sure there's more to it than that, but you know what I mean. If I were in a boot camp style situation, then maybe I would need nearly 2500 calories a day. I'm not, I spend many hours each day sitting behind a microphone in a broadcast studio. I'm sticking with 1500 a day for now. When the weight training revs up to a whole new level, perhaps I'll need to increase some then. When Micheal Phelps is training for big swimming events he eats in excess of 10,000 calories a day, but he's swimming all day long. His day is eat, swim, eat, swim more, run, eat, swim, lift weights, swim, eat, and swim even more. He needs those calories. I'm doing great at 1,500, I don't feel deprived in the least, and I've already lost about 160 pounds so far. I'm going to continue doing what I've been doing.

My Friday night 10K was quickly downgraded to a 5K, then downgraded again to a “hard two” miles. It wasn't the workout I'm use to doing. But it was the best decision for me at the time. I do plan on a Saturday night 10K, and you can bet it will be done! I'll be putting out the call if anyone is within driving distance and wants to join me tomorrow (Saturday) night.

My apologies for this post arriving on the web about twelve hours later than normal. I was exhausted and completely out of gas late Friday night. Getting some much needed rest is sometimes the only right choice to make. I hope you'll scroll down and watch the bonus video blog I've posted. It's a “best of” collection from the “On The Go” Video archive. Each video is one minute or less, seventeen of them. I hope you watch and enjoy. My Friday was a fantastic day really. I even enjoyed some mac and cheese within my calorie budget, it's certainly not everyday I do that! I love mac and cheese!! Good night and...

Good Choices,
Sean