Feels good

Words of Encouragement

     I think that the best feeling I have gotten from all of this, is the words that come from my wife.  Last night while we were getting ready for bed she noticed just how much I have lost from my legs.  She told me how she didn't think I had anything to lose from there, but now they were so "little" and muscular.  It is amazing how the small saying like that have a deep impact in me.  She is the biggest reason why I have accomplished anything in my adult life.

     If it was not for her I might still not be working, or if I was not the jobs that I have had and loved.  I know I never would have gone to school, I use to talk about it, but never did I act on it.  She made me believe in myself and encouraged me to take the next step, now I'm just two classes away from my bachelors degree.     

     When it came to losing weight, she was the biggest reason why.  I knew I had to and needed to do it for myself, but I think we all need external forces to help.  It was her believing in me that kicked all of this off.  For that, I thank her, for changing my life in many ways.  School, kids, and my own health.

The football gift...

The gift that never gave... thankfully.

     Growing up I always would hear the same thing be told to me, "You look like a football player. " This had to do with my broad shoulders, and stocky look.  I would then be asked the dreaded question of, why don't you play?  Over and over I had the same answer, my heart and doctor will not let me.

     It was tough growing up and not being able to do something you loved.  I would watch television and desire to play. I would play on the ps2 and have the same desire.  I would play with my friends and almost always be one of the best players that were there.  However, I would run out of gas quickly.  My breathing would become hard, my heart would start to race, and I would feel the arrhythmia start to take over my heart.  This would be my reminder to why I couldn't play football for a league.  

     All throughout football season I would watch others partake in the sport that I loved.  I would dream of playing for the Huskies, I would dream of catching a touchdown pass from my favorite quarterbacks, or running over the defense on the way to a touchdown, or making that game changing tackle in the backfield.  I eventually became angry with the thoughts and the truth of the situation.  I hated God because of the limitation that had been put on me.  I felt here I was, just a kid, with skills that could take me far in a sport I loved, but I couldn't use them.  How dare He do this to me.  

     I struggled to understand why things were the way they are.  I didn't want to be limited in what I could do.  The truth hurt, and so did the questions of those who did not know my past.  Why didn't I play football?  I could only wish that I knew then what I know now.  One bad hop and my career could have been over, then what?  Instead I'm able to raise a wonderful family, work and do the things I enjoy, not be worried about some lockout, and things like that.  If I had become what I desired I would not have a life that was unimaginable. 

     We may want to fulfill our desires, but if it is not in our plans then we have to understand there are reasons for this.  Dwelling on the past or dwelling on things we cannot do will only get in the way of things that we can achieve.  If I just dwelt on the bad of my life, I never would have met my wonderful wife Kate.  I would not be just three classes away from my bachelors degree.  I would not have the life that has been created.  

    It took a long time, but I have realized that dwelling on the can nots in life will only get in the way of the can's.  Our paths are usually altered for a reason.  I never would have had my beautiful wife and children if mine wasn't, and I thank Heavenly Father for that. 

Thank you

To my readers...

    These past few days I have had different people message me or talk to me in person about how I have helped them out.  I will be honest, I never imagined I would have had the effect that I have had on people.  I could only of hoped that my blog would maybe help one person see that anything is possible.  Instead I have heard from quite a few the impact it has had on them and it makes me truly humble that I could help.

     If we are given the trials on earth that our Heavenly Father has in store for us, and do nothing with them, we are no better than the man who hides his talent in the dirt.  It is important to know that all your trials are part of His plan and it is important to gain knowledge, experience, and  share the knowledge we receive from those trials. 

     Don't be afraid to email me if you want to tell me your story or just to talk.  Also if you send me your story and would like it published in my blog I'm more than happy to do that as well.  I feel truly blessed for the opportunity I am having.  In closing I just want to say to my readers, Thank You.  I hope you keep reading and keep coming back because I promise you, we are still just beginning.  I have 28 years of history to give insight to haha. 

     Be blessed for I know I truly am. 

This is why I share...

Motivation

     "HI Adam! I started to read your cut the crap blog and found the calorie counter that you mentioned on there and started using it. Thanks so much for posting that site up. It has been a help for me in my weight loss goals. I've lost 5 pounds since i started using it. It is a great aid in helping to track what you are eating and making sure you are getting the right things in your body. You are AWESOME Adam! Thanks."

     When I began to blog, it was with the intention of letting everyone know that this is doable.  It takes hard work and dedication but for everyone out there, there is hope.  Growing up I was always overweight and let excuse after excuse after excuse stop me from being the healthy person I longed for deep down.

     This journey has been a long one, and I still struggle day in and day out to maintain what I have done.  If you are not struggling then likely you're not trying.  Daily I have to look in the mirror and remind myself the importance of being healthy.  Yesterday I did something I never thought I'd ever be able to do.  I played a game of half court basketball, I may not have been at full speed, and it may had been with my 8 year old scouts, but I was out there, shooting, passing, and just having a good time.  Every dream has to have a start, when are you going to start your dream?  

      

Lunch Time Boredness

Was tired of being bored...

     While sitting at work a few days ago on my lunch I started looking around and thinking just how boring it is to be on lunch.  I hate the feeling of not doing anything productive in a small cold looking room.  I would eat my meal, listen to music, and just have all the energy I had in me be sucked out faster than how I use to down pizza.  

     A few days ago I decided I needed to make a change.  I had 30 minutes to play with and wasn't hungry so I decided I was instead going to go out and take a walk.  I walked down Main Street, of course with my music on, and felt a wave of unfounded energy wash over me.  I kept an eye on my watch and when it came close to the half way mark of my lunch, turned around and headed back, sad that I couldn't just keep walking outdoors.  

     This has become my new norm when I am at work.  I think this just comes to show that you can really incorporate working out to any normal routine.  Already in just the few days that I started this little extra workout during the day I have noticed another drop in weight.  It is harder to lose weight when you get closer to your goal, but adding little extras like this sure does help.

My heart

One thing I've noticed...

     These past few weeks there has been one change I have noticed while losing weight.  This change has been settle but non the less, has occurred.  It is the most exciting thing that has occurred during my diet.  It's not the weight I've loss, the energy I've gained, or the muscles that have been built.  It has to do with my heart.

     I have always had trouble with my heart.  From not allowing me to do sports, to the palpitations I would often get, and even the weird feelings I would get and would stop my life for a few minutes until it felt back to normal.  It has been a struggle and one that I at times was not willing to battle out.  Now that I am losing a lot of weight, I have notice the best change out of everything!

     No longer do I seem to have the palpitations.  I feel like a new man.  My heart does not act up getting out of the shower like it often did for some reason.  No longer does it bog me down when going for walks, or exercising.  This has been my greatest accomplishment to date.  I feel like a new person and have at times even felt like jogging.  Sure it's only a few feet, but I have never had that feeling before in my life and it is a new experience.    

     The question that has started up in my mind is how far do I push it?  I have had my ICD go off on four different occasions on me, and that is not a feeling I wish to have happen again.  But yet there is this yearning inside of me to jog, to play basketball again, or even just to power-walk for a few minutes. 

      So for now I sit here wondering what would happen if I Did try these?  I have a watch that monitors my heart, but would that be enough?  I guess I just keep on at what I'm doing and wait and see, but yet those desires to do the things I haven't been able to in years pull at my heart.  We'll see what happens, for now, one more step at a time.

Break The Walls Down

Breaking down a wall...

     Breaking down a wall can be very tough when it comes to your weight loss adventure. When starting, I set up many goals on the way to my main objective.  The biggest one was the passing of the 200 mark.  This wall, once miles away, is now at my doorstep.


     For years I have been over 200 pounds.  Honestly, I can't tell you how long it has been. I would have to say that the last time I was under the 200 mark would be sometime right before going into high school.  For years I just didn't care about my weight or what I was eating.  Looking back I wish I could take back what I was doing and change my behavior.  Of course this applies to many different situations in my life.  


     The main reason I didn't care about my weight was because I couldn't be an athlete.  So why not just eat the way I wanted to?  Food was good and I didn't want to miss out.  I didn't even think about the fact that the medium pizza I just ate was 2600 calories.  It was good and that was all that mattered.  It may be a little late in life, but I have realized that there is more to eating than, "It tastes good."


     Back to the point, 200 is huge to get under.  I didn't think it was even possible.  I figured I may just have to stay at 220 and call it good.  I have now proven that wrong.  For a week or two I have been close to going under 200.  The see-saw battle I was in finally unveiled a victor.  This morning I stepped onto the scale and on the screen popped 199.  Excited I called Katie into the room just to show her.  This has been one of my goals from the beginning.  Once unachievable, it is now life altering and a new motivation to keep going. My sledgehammer hungers for more walls to break down, and I'm ready for them!

Slipping sucks

 It happens...

     Last week Kate and I decided that we would go out on a date and enjoy some personal one on one time.  That morning I weighed myself in at 201.  This was going to be a great day, lost weight, get some alone time with my wife, what could go wrong? 

     We went out to a Thai restaurant and had some really good food.  I decided that hey, I was close to being under 200, I could go one day without worrying about what I am eating and just enjoy the day.  Not saying that you shouldn't do this, because it is important to once in a while enjoy yourself and take off the burden of measuring just about everything.  However, this has come back to bite me hard, I think I went overboard. 

     We had some really good food, and afterwords we went out bowling.  We had a great time and really enjoyed ourselves.  Of course I'm not going to tell you how bad I did bowling.  It's been almost two years since I had bowled haha.  Also I'm almost positive those lanes were smaller than most, but anyways. 

     I woke up that morning and stepped on the scale, 208.  I rubbed my eyes, made sure I was awake and then checked the scale to make sure no one had messed with any of the settings.  I sat the scale back down and tried again, and sure enough it was still 208.  That was back breaking.  How did I gain 7 pounds in just one day? 

     That day I decided what is the point and decided again to eat whatever I want without calculating it.  I did exercise however and was pleased when I didn't gain any more.  Quickly I put myself back into the right state of mind and started back on my long trek.  It is six days later and I'm back down to 204.  Just comes to show that there will always be bumps in the road, it's all about what you do when those bumps get in your way.  Sometimes it's hard, but remember why you started your diet.  I quickly remembered the importance of being healthy.  I realized I am going to slip, it's alright too, but don't let it drag me under.

This mornings workout

Just a little insight to my workout this morning.  I can tell you my arms are burning right now!

For starters I warm up with a mixture of stretching and Yoga.  This allows my muscles to get warmed up and get me in the right frame of mind.  Oh and a little bit of Lead Me by Sanctus Real always helps me get going as well.




To start I used a resistance band, two 4 pound weights, and my 8 pound medicine ball. 

My first workout was a chest press using the resistance band, 2 sets of 15.
Second went into doing a seated row with the band, again 2 sets of 15.
From there I did arm curls using the band, 2 sets of 15.
Then switched to Lateral rises using the band, 2 sets of 10 (shoulders fatigued too quick for 15 haha).

Just to let you know I alternate between these.  For example I will do the chest press, move to the row, back to the chest press and then do the second row.

From here I switched it up to the dumbbells.  I did 2 reps of 15 of the squatting arm curls, bracing my back against the wall.
Then I went to triceps extensions, again 2 reps of 15.

I did then some knee bent triceps dips, 2 reps of 10 and medicine ball aided pushups.

Lastly I did with the medicine ball something called clockwork.  Starting by holding the ball at a 12 o'clock position, with locked elbows I went clockwise going from 12 to 12, and then reversed it back counterclockwise, one of those is a rep and man do those burn.

Then it was chow time!  Loaded up on some carbs and protein with some ground turkey fried up in onions and topped it on some brown rice. 

Just another day in the office. It might be a little time consuming and painful but I am seeing the results in my arms, so it's worth it.

To stumble is to learn...

Stumbling Blocks shouldn't block you...

     Many times I have fallen during my diets.  I would get to a certain point or a certain weight and be excited with what I had accomplished.  However, it would only take one stumbling block to make me feel like I couldn't maintain it and would give up, reverting to my old ways.  It was one stumble after another after another.  I would allow anything to give me the excuse to quit and not worry about it anymore.  In recent years, since getting married to Kate and having kids, I tried a few times to lose weight.

     The first time I was able to get down to 245 pounds from my 287 weight.  I was going to the gym, working out, and eating better.  Then in April 2008, everything changed.  I was working at my job as a delivery driver and was hit by another driver.  My back received some compression fractures and my knee was injured (resulting in knee surgery).  I decided that losing weight was no longer important, since I wasn't physically able to do much for many months.  I know that is a good reason, but there was no reason for me to start eating the way I did.  I gained back the 40 pounds I had lost.  

     I know that it was hard to exercise while being in a turtle shell and that I was not able to do much, but I didn't track my calories anymore and was eating like I shouldn't have been.  It took me a long time to recover and give losing weight another chance.  You can look at my earlier blog and see my picture from October 2009, I still had all the weight back on me.  

     Between 2009 and up until a few months ago, I was up and down on my weight.  I would go for a few weeks while working out and eating right, just to give up or let one bad day ruin all the progress I had made.  I don't know why but I just could not keep it up.

      In December I knew that my diets would never lead to anywhere and that I was going to stay unhealthy if I didn't make a change.  I needed to lose weight, get healthy, and stop allowing one little hiccup stop me.  I became determined to instead of letting those stumbling blocks get in my way, to instead use them as motivation and create a deeper desire inside of me.  

     I prayed and I broke myself down.  When I was building up my new foundation I prayed and thought about how I can use those stumbling blocks to my advantage.  One thing I found was when I would stumble I needed to see what caused that stumble and how to get around it.  Once I would find the root of the problem, whether it be depression, anger, boredom, or just laziness, I would look at how to use that to my advantage. 

     It's finding that opportunity that seems to be the hardest part about stumbling.  In times of depression or anger, I noticed that yoga would greatly help me with those issues.  Yoga allows me to collect my thoughts and be able to just think about what it is that is bothering me.  On top of that, I would get the exercise I needed by the stretching yoga provides.  

     In times of boredom, I knew that I couldn't just sit around and eat.  I needed to occupy my mind.  Whether I read my scriptures, worked out, or went for a walk, I would find something to do.  It is very important to not let those stumbles get in your way.  I have learned that gaining knowledge and learning from those stumbles makes you stronger and healthier.  

 

Why did I not exercise?

Am I really that busy???

     My biggest excuse for not exercising or even going for a walk was, "  Well, I worked today and I'm really busy so I'm just going to sit here in front of my computer and relax."   Which would lead to," Hmm now I am bored... I need something to eat."   This was a vicious cycle.  Instead of working out and getting fit, I was stagnant and eating.  How does that work?!?

     Now, yes, I am still in front of the computer.  However, I also have Sparkpeople open on the web browser and in between typing paragraphs I am stopping to do my strength exercises.   I have found that it is not enough to just diet.  I need to exercise and exercise often.  I found out that every time I told myself I was too busy, in actuality I had at least 20 minutes to become healthier.  Just another example of the crap I had to cut out of my life- the excuses.  

     No longer do I let the excuses control my life.  How many times was I going to deny the healthy person inside of me the freedom it so called for?  We all have our personal demons.  I sat there and looked at my life.  Do you know how often I gave in to the temptation of just doing nothing?  Too often.  I was letting my life slip away from me because of my lack of time management skills and lack of motivation.   How in the world could I have such a lack of motivation?  

     Instead I was pulling the plug on my life.  I prayed for God to get me healthy.  He would only give me the tools, but I was the one not using them.  He gave me so much to motivate me; a wonderful wife, a heart defect, and most of all, my children.  Does a person need more motivation than that?  

     It is never too late to start and so I have.  I try to exercise 6 days a week now.  I do at least 3 days of cardio and 3 days of strength training.  Sometimes I do more than just 3 days of cardio.  With that, I try to do at least 3 days of Yoga.  I have never felt better and the weight keeps slipping off my bones.  I cut the crap and stopped giving myself excuses.  I took the bull by the horns and now I'm in control.  God bless.

Look at what is truly important

Be blessed

Exercise is extremely important.

     

Eating Right

The first step to success

     Now that I have given you a little bit of a background on me, I'm now going to tell you what it was that I did to lose the weight I have and continue to drop the pounds.  I have tried many different diets, none of them worked long term.  Many of them would work for a week or two, but it would fail, or I would lose weight for two weeks but quickly gain them back.  I gave up on trying to find the next "big" diet.  I instead decided to do it the right way, learning how to eat right, exercising, and watching my numbers.

     The first thing I did was join Sparkpeople.  This would allow me to not only join a community that helps encourage you, but also allow you to track your numbers from the amount of calories you ate, to fat, to carbs, to just about anything else you can think of.  How is it the most successful people in business make it?  They don't just go into something without a plan.  They set an objective and they take that objective and create goals.  What is your objective?

     My objective has been to become 180 pounds.  After that I will re-evaluate what I have done and see what is left to be done.  But at 287 pounds, that 180 just seemed like a number that was unreachable.  It is hard to have such a far fetched objective when you don't have the goals (milestones) to reach that objective.  It would be like saying I want to be a millionaire.  Okay, great, you want to be a millionaire, now what?  To reach that objective of becoming a millionaire you need to set goals to get there.  Your own personal road map, get education, find a job, save, invest, ect...  

     My first goal was to start tracking my food.  Track what I ate and set the goals I needed to be able to lose weight.  I set up my account with sparkpeople, and then I did some research to find out what it was I needed to do to start losing weight.  I found caloriecount's calculator to be the best to not only set my goal weight, but set when I wanted to reach that weight.

     Now I knew how many calories I should be eating.  I took that number and subtracted 300 calories from it to create a daily calorie range.  For example; at 287 lbs, I needed to eat 2382 to lose 1.5 pounds a week.  So I would take that number and on sparkpeople create a calorie allowance between 2082-2382.  Now I knew what I should be eating each day.  I also had to realize the importance of consuming enough calories and healthy calories. 

     It is a difficult process.  I needed to stop letting excuses get in my way.  Instead of allowing the crap to beat me, I decided it was time for me to win.   I started to exercise.  I started to count the nutritional value of the food I was eating.  It can be hard, but if you want to lose weight (without using a fad diet, pills, or the magical drink), this is where it starts.  It is up to you to sit down and pick out your objective.  From there I set my goals.  First one was to track the food I ate, then exercise.  One step at a time, one goal completion at a time, that is all it takes.  I am so happy and feel so good now that I started this journey.  

Count the calories

Keep track of what you are eating

Set Objectives and goals, without a map, you'll be lost.

I broke myself down and started over...

I found myself...

     Once I peeled my onion away and looked at what there was, I was amazed at what I had let myself become.  For once in my lifetime, I eliminated everything I had been told about myself and how society told me I should view myself.  I was tired of all of the negativity and how it affected not just me, but also my family.  No longer did I want to allow what the media wanted, but instead what was needed for me, my relationship with God, and my family.  So once I peeled away everything and broke myself down now it was time to find myself and see just what type of a person I was and could be.  

    First thing was first, I had to look at myself and tell myself just how I truly felt about me.  I eliminated all of the negative and began a new foundation by realizing that I am a good looking guy.  We are all good looking people, we read in the scriptures that our bodies are a temple.  How dare I say that God's temple was not a beautiful thing.  How dare I question His creation because of what the "media" said I should be.  I needed to realize that it is not about what they think, it is about what God has create and what I think, and my wife with her words helped that situation as well.  We are all temples of God and with that said, God does not create ugly temples.  If you let society tell you different, you are falling prey to them and it is time to cut out that crap from your life.  

    I started to realize that yes I am one of God's great creations.  So with that said, why should I keep up with my body and my weight.  Then I realized that indeed this was too important.  Going back to the idea that your body is a temple I started to ask myself why am I putting so much crap into it?  It's bad enough I looked down upon it with my society influence outlook on what I should be, but I am also not taking care of my body!  I am cruising through life and not doing anything to make my body healthy and strong.  

      So I decided it was time, it was time to treat God's temple with the respect and honor it should be treated with.  This meant that yes, I would have to stop eating the way I ate, stop putting chemically altered crap into my body.  Sure, it tasted good.  Sure, it took care of those cravings I had for food.  But what did it do to my body?  IT destroyed my body!  It took away my health and made me an obese man who already had enough health problems to deal with.  I have a heart that won't let me run.  It wont let me be the person I had dreamed of being.  But this, I had to find out the hard way, is not about me.  The body and condition I have been given was a great blessing by the Lord.  This was me starting to lay down my new foundation, on the foundation of the Lord and the realization that he gave me this body knowing, knowing that I could take the ball and run with it.

     It was never in his plans to have me be some athlete or a mountain climber, or anything that takes a strong heart.  I needed to change my life and explore my deep down inner self to realize God knew what he was doing when he gave me the health conditions he gave me.  My foundation was finally laid.  I knew at that point what I had to do.  I knew that I could trust in the Lord, in his temple, in his creation that he knew what he was doing.  It has taken me 27 years to come to terms of my health.  It has taken me 3 months to change my life.  In 3 months I have laid down a new foundation.  That foundation is attacked daily but it holds strong.  


    I finally see me for me, not for what holds me back, but for what I have been given.  No longer am I going to allow society to influence my decisions.  I'm not going to let them determine how I feel about my body and I'm eliminating all of the negative words I use to think about myself.  I'm building back up my foundation, brick by brick, using the foundation of God and Jesus Christ.  My foundation laid, my bricks are going into place, it's a new life now.  I have taken control of my eating, I monitor almost daily what and how much I eat to know that my body is getting what it needs, not what I want.  I'm done with junk food, I don't need it.  I have eliminated most sugar (I don't eat anything with more than 10g of sugar in it).  Since I have decided to rebuild the temple that God has given me I have lost over 35 pounds, I sit right now at 210.  It is doable, this to me has not just been about weight loss anymore but a new lease and purpose on life.  I love my life now and all the blessings that I have.


Count your blessings
Remember you are one of God's temples
As we read in 1 Corinthians 3:16–17 

“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

“If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”

The choices we make about the use of our personal temples will affect us throughout all eternity.

The story behind Cut The Crap

Why name it Cut The Crap?

     So the question becomes why would I pick a name that is so harsh?  It just seems a little mean doesn't it?  I mean sure I could have picked other titles like, my life story, how to cut the fat, becoming a better person one step at a time, etc etc etc.  The fact of the matter is, it is not easy.  For a majority of the people who read this it is going to take that smash-mouth, in your face, type of thought provoking influence. We have all had many opportunities to try to lose the weight, we have had many different diets and many different... "I can do this" thoughts but each time they have failed us.  So that is why it is time to get straight to the point and just admit... we need to cut the crap out of our life and it starts right here.

     Through prayer and realization, I have come to the conclusion that it was going to take some deep personal reflection to truly understand myself and what I need to do to become a better person.  Not just for myself, but also for my family.  I'm jumping ahead of myself however because, before our family, before our spouses, before our parents, but of course after God, we need to look in that mirror, we need to get comfortable with ourselves and see what truly is there.  First and foremost, with again the exception of God, this is for us!  This needs to be for you!  You must learn to love yourself and see what truly exists.  Inside each and every one of us there is a soul, there is a desire, a fire that burns deep down in the gully of your stomach, it's time to take a torch and light that puppy up!  

     I can't tell you exactly how to do this, but remember the title of this blog, it's time to cut the crap.  Stop lying to yourself!  You need to look into that mirror and be honest with yourself.  Quit lying, quit trying to shake everything off your shoulders and pretending that it does not affect you because we both know it does.  The first step to getting better is to stop lying to yourself and open up your soul to a discussion of fact and fiction.  This is your new beginning, your awakening to say the least.  

     This does not just have to be about weight loss but anything that is bothering you.  Let's now all take that first step, find a mirror, go into a bedroom and be by yourself, or just meditate, but get this one on one time you need.  Now that you are by yourself it's time to cut the crap.  Let it all out!  Do not hold back and if you have to break yourself down (this was my first step).  This is how I decided it was time to change my life, I let myself have it.  Now, the next step is to build yourself back up.  Tomorrow we will lay down that first brick and begin your new foundation the way I did.  It's time to learn to love ourselves, once we can love ourselves anything is possible!