Getting Rid of Old Clothes

During the holidays, I finally took the plunge and decided that it was time to ditch my "big" clothes.  For the most part*, everything in my dresser or closet that said XXL or had a bigger waist size than my current was put in a bag for Goodwill.

* I saved some of my old shorts because it will be a while until I can buy new ones.  Living in Southern CA, I can't be without shorts for too long.  Besides, old shorts make for great "work" clothes.  I even save a pair of my bigger jeans for the same reason.  My wife bought me 4 new pairs of smaller jeans and I don't want to ruin those.  My plan is for them to become my "work" type of pants before I know it.


For whatever reason, I've always had a hard time getting rid of old clothes.  Here is a list of my more current excuses:

• I might not wear a past it's prime T-shirt in public anymore, but why get rid of it when it can become a yard work shirt?
• I can't get rid of that (shirt/jacket/sweatshirt/etc) because it is was a gift.**
• Maybe it is just me, but it is hard to get rid of  favorite article of clothing.
• Those damn clothes cost money to replace.  I think everyone actually has this problem.  I think that it is way easier to buy a bigger size because wearing tight clothes is horribly uncomfortable.  Baggy clothes might not look great, but they fit and they are usually pretty comfy.

** I generally stay out of the "I can't get rid of (thing), because (person) gave it to me", but it gets me with clothes (a generally perishable item).  No one I know would be bummed about me getting rid of clothes that were too big for me, but it was still a mental hurdle.  Hell, most of the people who gave me the shirt probably forgot about it a long time ago.  Still, I had to tell myself that that even if someone was disappointed with me, they would be far happier that my health had infinitely improved since the gift was given to me. 

Why I like Weight Watchers..

I'm going to post twice today..so suck it fellas!

I sort of got the inspiration for this post from the Weight Watchers message boards.  Just to be clear, this is my second go round with Weight Watchers.  The first time was successful but I don't think that I last longer than maybe 3 or 4 months.  I lost weight, but I thought that I could really follow the plan without tracking.  It didn't work and I gained my weight back.  This time around it seems easier.  I am able to do everything online and can track with my phone.

But that's not why I am writing this post.  Someone posted on the boards that they like Weight Watchers because it didn't have to disrupt his whole family.  In other words, he didn't have to force his diet on his family.  Luckily for me, that wouldn't have been an issue because my wife and I are doing the diet together but I still like the sentiment.

For years now, my buddies and I have gone out on Monday nights for drinks and dinner.  Recently, I gave up the drinks parts (don't like what I can turn into when I drink) but I still like to do the dinner part.  One of my buddies has been on a couple of different diets over the last few years.  When he was on South Beach, we had to find a place that was carb friendly* and served wine**.  Now that he is on some cleansing "No Red Meat" diet (I don't even know what it is called), we have to find places that fit into that sort of thing.

* The funny thing is, WW wants you to restrict your carbs too and I'm pretty sure it's because a carbs are a source of a crap load of calories (just like fat, etc).  However, I can still have a piece of bread and not feel like I am going to derail my diet.

* * I've always liked that Weight Watchers dings you (more or less) the same for standard servings of wine, beer, or hard liquor (of course, foofy drinks get ya).  I seem to remember from one of my early meetings that the bad stuff in alcohol was, well, the alcohol.  


To be completely honest, it has never really bugged me all that much because diet or no diet, I was always able to get beer at a place that served wine and I could find something that I wanted to eat anyplace.  With WW, I can still do that.  I've been on the diet since September and I don't think that I've ever uttered the words "I can't go there because of my diet***" with friends, family, etc.  I might have to choose something a bit different than I did before, but I know that I can find something on any menu that will keep me on the right track.  Even if the food is on the "bad" side, I have enough extra points that I can kind of splurge if I have to.

*** Now, I have had to tell people that I couldn't take their treat or sweet but I think that is a little different.  One day my brother tried to get me to eat a cookie our sister made.  I had already scarfed down a few cookies at home that day and I just had to say no.  I just knew it wasn't going to fit into my points that day (plus, the cookies at home ate into extra points, etc)

In closing, I want to thank Weight Watchers for giving me the freedom to choose whatever I want on the menu as long as I have the points to eat it.

Musings on a Rainy Monday Morning

Today is a non-student day at school (which is a little strange).  Just trying to get organized a bit for the 2nd Semester.  Organization if my Achilles' Heel and I struggle with it.  I'm going to try a few different things this semester to see if I can find something that works for me.  I always have to remind myself that this is only my 3rd full semester of teaching and there will be some bumpy roads along the way.

Anyhooooo, on to the more important stuff..

• Today's weigh in was great.  I lost 3.4 lbs last week.  I'm entering my weight daily at Physics Diet,  but I've only been doing it for 4 days and I'm fairly certain that there isn't enough data for it to get a true average yet.
• Friday was a scheduled off day for the half training.  I swam on Saturday.  I did okay swimming and I think I am getting a little better at it, but it is still really hard.  I'm struggling with the breathing.  Oh well, I finished the first week of the 0 to 1650 program.  I think I may push through the program one time to get my endurance up and then start over again to work on technique.
• While I was in the pool on Saturday, I was reminded that some folks can be rude beyond belief.  The pool at our gym is relatively small (25 meters long with 3 lanes).  I was sharing a lane with another guy (far better swimmer than I) and a family of 5 or so decided that it would be a good idea to jump in our lane.  Luckily, someone in another lane was finished so I moved over.  However, the other guy got a little pissed at the family because he ran into one of them.  He gave them a little grief and what I assume was the Mom started giving him crap.  While I was in the midst of catching my breath, I thought I heard the Mom claim that she was in the pool for therapeutic reasons.  I don't want to be a skeptic, but I doubt  she was.  The family was playing around like it was the local community pool.  If the pool is empty, have at it.  When the pool is "full" with people sharing lanes, kindly stay the hell out.
• Ran 4 miles on Sunday.  Not a super great run, but I finished my run with no problem and I didn't feel too bad afterwards.  Sometimes I feel pretty crappy after a morning run for most of the day, but I didn't yesterday.  Most of the time, I like to run on a somewhat empty stomach.  I don't think that is a good idea anymore and I'm pretty sure that I am going to have at least a light breakfast on my long run days.

Random Thoughts on a Friday Afternoon

Okay, so another quick post about things I have learned this week:

1. Swimming is much easier with goggles.  They allow you to keep your head down in the water and avoid nasty neck cramps.
2. The first week of the half marathon training is coming to a close.  Only 11 more weeks to go.
3. The weight tracker thing over at physicsdiet.com seems like a pretty cool idea.  Instead of weighing in once a week, you weigh in daily (or multiple times a day).  Some folks on the WW message boards say that it gives you a better idea of your weight loss because our weight can fluctuate so wildly on a day to day basis. It averages your weight for the week rather than a one time weigh in kind of shot.  I'm going to give it a try this week and see if it makes any difference. (ie makes me feel better)
4. Swimming may be easier with goggles, but it is still pretty tough.  I can't believe how winded I am after 25 yards.  Somehow this will help my running I guess.

Why Am I Blogging?

I sort of got this idea to blog from the WW site, but I didn't really dig their interface.

1. To be honest, I like to write but I have been struggling to find an outlet.  
2. I like the subject matter (me, me, me)!
3. More seriously, I wanted a sort of accountability factor.
4. I actually don't like writing about me, but it is a subject (me) I know alot about.

Who is this Guy?

In October 2010, my wife and I signed up to do a 5k at the Lake Norconian Club in Norco, CA. I was interested in seeing the place because Huell Howser did one of his shows from there and it looked interesting. My wife grew up in the area and had heard a bit about it but had never seen it because it is on active military base. Her brother and friends were running the 5k so we figured we would walk and check it out.

You can't blame me for wanting to see the place!

Flash forward to the end of the race. We both walked and our time was about 56 minutes. I finished last in my age group, but it didn't really bother me all that much. I was just there to do some sight seeing. I think the time disappointed my wife and the idea of being able to improve it intrigued her.

She eventually found the Couch to 5k program and casually started it around January 2011. A month later, I bought her a fancy new iPod touch with the Nike+ app so that she could better track her distance. We happened to buy her Nike+ sensor at an Apple store (important, because I ended up buying an iPhone) and she started the C25k deal with vigor.

It should be noted that my wife started running and exercising more because she wanted to lose weight. We weren't small people on our wedding day, but we both of us had certainly packed on a few extra pounds. She carried two gigantor babies (both of our boys weighed over 9lbs), so at least she had an excuse. I just had gained sympathy weight or something like that.

Needless to say, after a couple of months she was certainly in better shape but the scale wasn't reflecting anything. After trying to be positive and saying things like "Hey, at least the scale isn't moving other direction", I finally decided to be more honest with her. Even though we were eating fairly healthy, we were eating too much. Before we were married, both of us had moderate success with Weight Watchers but kind of gave up on it too soon. I mentioned to her that maybe before giving up entirely on exercise that perhaps changing our diet might be a good idea and that she should give WW another try.

She did and in conjunction with her running, she has lost about 50 lbs. to date. She looks freaking amazing (she always has, obviously). This all somehow leads back to me in some sort of narcissistic way of course.

Remember that iPhone I bought? A couple of months after my wife put on her running shoes, I decided that I would like to try the C25K thing. There was even an app for it. I got a sensor and some new running shoes. After graduating the C25k program, I started on the Bridge to 10K program during the summer. I soon found myself in the same place my wife was in just a few months before.

I was certainly in better shape. At that point in time, I could run almost 5 miles at a comfortable pace without stopping. I weighed myself from time to time and even though there were a few dips, nothing was really permanent. After a month off from running (hot weather, wife went back to work), I decided I needed to worry about my weight.

On September 12, 2011 I officially joined WW. My weight at the time was 290. I had hovered around that number all summer. I ran quite a bit, but I also popped open quite a few bottles of beer during the summer.

As of today (January 20, 2012) my weight is 264. The weight hasn't been coming off as fast I would like lately, but I am still mostly losing.