Posts Tagged ‘goals’

I say this cautiously as the many times I thought I was back on the right track I have fallen off.

There is so much going on in my life, all good though, that I am trying hard to stay committed to looking after me first than letting everything else take over and subvert my efforts.

A new gig as of next week will provide a lot more balance and drive my interest in the digital world further.

Two weeks ago I started a Weight Loss Challenge that is put on by Herballife – $50 in, and over 12 weeks you weight in and all of the money collected gets split among 1st,2nd,and 3rd biggest % of weight lost.

This is the third challenge I have done, I was an arrogant little prick the other times thinking I could just waltz in and take the money without planning and doing the work.

This time is different.

After putting back on 20 kilos last year – the work year from hell, and then giving up smoking after Christmas, and adding a few more, I’ve started the second effort at 147 kilos (just 14 kilos lighter than the very start of saving Alan two years ago), I am not ashamed or despondent, I’m just human. But time to buckle down and get this resolved once and for all. Giving up smoking has actually shown me it’s not that hard, it just takes a bit of commitment and persistence.

So in week one I lost 5.4 kilos or a 3.7% loss of my starting weight. This was with only a 35 minute walk the day before weigh in.

Week two, after re injuring my leg and doing no exercise I lost another 1.3 kilos, giving me a total loss in two weeks of 6.7 kilos or 4.6% of my starting weight.

Over 12 weeks I want to drop 12.5% of my starting weight to have a chance at the money. That means a 18.5 kilo loss and getting back down below 130 kilos, secretely I have a much bigger target in mind, let’s see what happens.

I’ll write more often now and update how I am going about making the change, I may even get a Cooking with Al up online that I shot a year ago.

Ciao for now

In about an hour from now a story that I filmed with Today Tonight will appear on national TV, and I suppose a lot of people who are reading this now have found me because of the story, so welcome.

My story is just like everyone else, not putting myself first, not planning, etc etc I am not unique or super strict, in fact I continue to battle into the second half of the Saving Alan program. I have another 35 kilos to go (I’ve added a few kilos since Nov) an the plan is to get of them between now and the end of December 2010. So the sponsorship is now open again, just fill out the form and commit to X amount of dollars, but only payable if and when I hit my goal weight of 90 kilos. Just click on the sponsor me tab above.

To help you understand my story here is a list of blog posts that will give you a good background. Please drop me a note, leave a message and even sponsor me .. it all helps and keeps me headed in the right direction.

If you’re interested in Bikram Yoga (and you should be) head over to Bikram Yoga Glen Waverley and South Melbourne to discover more.

• So here we go … almost
• My Son will not be condemned
• The starting point
• Over 50 and I’m super
• The first serious break
• Week 9 Update
• 80 years old
• The Physical
• ABC Richard Stubbs Interview
• Little Victories Week 19
• Man’s Week The Path Back
• Who’s right? PTs or me?
• Still Indestructible
• Week 32 Update
• A Perfect Gift for a Man
• Sunday Age – Page 2
• As seen on TV
• Wobbleguts and the Ironman
• And so 2009 comes to a close
• A late Christmas Gift

Connect with m on Facebook and Twitter as well, I need the support and keep coming back each week.

Cheers

Alan

Could best be described by my activity over the past 3 months.

I always knew that maintaining my focus on losing weight and getting healthy was going to be tough, but I really didn’t expect to fall off the wagon for three months.

So I’ve finished beating myself up mercilessly for my tardiness and lack of attention to myself and am committed to getting things back on track getting the next 30+ kilos off.

I’ve continued to exercise, but my food / diet has been a shocker, I’ll post later about why I went back to old habits and how I am going to step forward to become the healthier version of me.

I am back, I need your help and support.

Next steps – set a new goal, with a time-line and start getting some visualisation around what it will be like to weigh only 85-90 kilos.

’til later

A gift to myself really.

Since the weigh in at the end of November I gave myself a fair bit of leeway on food and exercise and the result was adding 6 kilos over 3 weeks and quite a few cms.

For the first time I can remember the addition of cms felt damn horrible, I did care (that is a big change). My suit felt tight, belt slipped forward a notch and exercise became that little bit tougher (I had some very rough Bikram Yoga classes through that period) and I could see the changes in my shape, specifically my gut.

It was all about my intent and how I was thinking about things, I was getting that old victim / self pity crap going again. Well toughen up young fella!

So at my last weigh in on 21 December I set a target of 117 kilos for weigh in on January 7 (today). Up until Boxing Day things weren’t looking so rosy, I had exercised a lot, but food had been a bit hit and miss but not a blow out.

From Boxing Day onwards I just stuck to my guns, even though I so desperately wanted to eat garbage for the sugar hit or to feel full. Holidays are traditionally a tough time to lose weight as the routine goes out the window, if we look back at my progress and check out the holiday weeks during 2009 I think I added weight in each holiday period.

Not this time though, I set out with the intent of making 2010 a great year on all fronts and most importantly my health. I will get to 85 kilos this year (a total loss of 73 kilos since the start of Saving Alan). I have made a flying start with a 6 kilo loss over the past 2 weeks and I’ve set a target of another 2.5 kilos by next weigh in on January 21, my intention is to surpass that. It’s not that hard to do really, it’s just hard to action, to stay in check, not to give in, not to say “oh, it’s only one thing”. Fat Food Friday helps out a lot in terms of providing a release of anything I may be craving, it gets it over and done with, I feel horrible after it and then I move straight back into the plan.

So I am currently 115 kilos, (-43 kilos), and am really keen on breaking through the 108 mark as quickly as I can, not taking another 20 odd weeks to remove the fifth 10 kilos like it did the fourth.

I am walking every day (40-50 minutes), doing Bikram Yoga three times a week and most importantly eating well. Simple plan, simple outcome.

I ventured onto a tennis court yesterday for the first time in 10 years, it felt good, it felt comfortable and I am looking forward to adding a weekly tennis game to the routine in the near future, I am just not quite mobile enough at the moment .. good news ….. the serve is as mean as ever.

So let’s see what I can achieve in the next two weeks, feeling very motivated after the weigh in.

Sometime over the next couple of weeks is a story on Today Tonight, not sure when as yet but that will keep me on track a little as I couldn’t think of anything worse than walking into a fish and chip shop and someone asking me if I was that guy from that TV story.

So here are this weeks results, enjoy the heat (if you’re in Melbourne)

Very happy, during a time when most people put weight on, I was able to remove 6 kilos. Not as many cms as I would have liked but they will come.

So Christmas and New Year have been and gone. Most people would expect to ad weight over this period, but I have taken a bit of different approach and on Thursday I’ll see what results I got out of being good with food and exercise over the period. Mind you I needed to as I had let rip a little (ok a lot) since the end of November and added 6.2 kilos in the space of 4 weeks.

I know it was madness and I intended to keep it in check but the Christmas cheer and relief that I had lasted the 10 month challenge just meant I gave myself too much slack. That’s now been tightened up .. a lot.

My final weigh in of 2009 (21 December) put me at a total loss of 37 kilos (121 kilograms), down from the 30 November figure of 43 kilos lost (115 kilograms). So I set a target of 117 kilograms by 7 January, 2010 reversing some of the madness that I had carried on with pre Christmas.

I am hoping that I’ll be able to improve on that, but I’m not so sure if it is coming off as quickly as I had thought, we’ll have to wait and see.

I’ve been walking and heading to Bikram Yoga a lot (pretty much every second day) and eating relatively well, not perfectly but much, much better than the weeks leading upto Christmas. The other standard influence has been still working too many hours – my own fault but sort of unavoidable.

Here’s the update from pre Christmas, not particularly proud of it, but it is what it is – just a bump in the road.

So here I sit on NYE 2009, just an hour to go until the new year comes and with it more hopes and dreams that I need to find ways of turning into realities. I’m not sure if I am ready, but I wasn’t really ready 11 months ago when I et out on this journey.

It’s been a pretty amazing year by anyone’s standards, here are some of the highlights and lowlights of the year and stories that made it into the 130+ blog posts during 2009.

• Launched Saving Alan, sharing my journey through a blog and social media.
• Appeared on Channel 7 News in January 2009 regarding obesity and genetic research.
• Having a fitness age of 80 and a BMI of over 50 putting me in the “Super Obese” category. (BMI now 37)
• Reducing my risk of heart disease substantially.
• Running a fundraiser for the victims of the vic bushfires with a couple of other local bands and raising over $3,500 in one night
• Lost 40+ kilos from a starting weight of 158 kilograms.
• Sponsorship of $6,400+ for Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute.
• Become a Yogi, loving Bikram Yoga and going on average 2-3 times a week.
• Cooking, skill improved and filmed 8 Cooking with Al sessions, more to come next year.
• Reconnection with old friends and colleagues.
• Generosity, love and support of family and friends.
• Putting myself first sometimes more often.
• Better understanding of what makes me tick and why I make certain choices.
• I like myself a whole lot more.
• Temptations – the failures and the successes, both equally as important.
• On air interview with Richard Stubbs on 774 ABC Radio Melbourne in May.
• Part of Perfect Gift For a Man book for the Inspire Foundation.
• Featured in an article in Sun-Herald on December 13.
• Story coming on Channel 7’s Today Tonight.
• Openly discussing depression and my darkest moments publicly for the first time.
• Started a new band  (a second one)
• Axed from original band of 7 years for personal reasons that they wouldn’t share – don’t you love 30+ year so called friendships.
• Resigned from new band – now selling one of two drum kits.

The key thing was a happy year with lots of time spent with my son. Most of ll I m in a much better and healthier place than this time last year and I have so many wonderful people to thank, which I will, but at another time. It’s getting late, I’m tired and I want to make the 8am Yoga class and set my intent for 2010.

I am enjoying the journey with all it’s highs and lows and twists and turns and look forward to 2010 as an absolute breakthrough year.

I’ll share resolutions / targets with you in the New Year.

Meanwhile have a safe and happy New Year.

This could be titled “The Tale of Two Brothers”, I’ll leave the other two aside for he moment, yes I come from a larger family of six children, four boys and two girls.

The six of us were born over an 18 year period (’54 – ’72) and all have a pretty good relationship with each other, at times testy, but that’s to be expected in a family of any size.

My younger brother has never dealt with weight issues, although no doubt has confronted his own challenges over the years, as a father of three and separated he has some of the same situations as me, but thankfully a pretty good relationship with his ex-wife.

As kids growing up I was closer in age to the brother above me and as we reached adulthood we had a lot of friends in common and so became quit tight, whereas little brother was 4 years younger and the relationship not so tight as kids. That has changed and developed as we grew older and no doubt will continue to.

I am incredibly proud of my little brother, he is the Ironman to my Wobbleguts – first let me explain Wobbleguts.

When I first started on the Saving Alan journey one of my forms of xercise was Aqua Aerobics, keeping the weight off my ankle joints and feet which were really suffering due to my size.

One day after class my son and I played in the wave pool and mucked around with a story about a super hero and a villain. I decided to give the superhero the name of Wobbleguts, because ion the swimming pool my belly wobbled like you can’t imagine, much to said sons amusement.

So I am Wobbleguts, he has lived on since that day in the pool some nine months ago through our bedtime stories. We create stories around Captain Wobbleguts and his merry men including Monster Guy, Dark Knight and Golden Ninja – a formidable foursome of force.

When we first started the stories, all my son wanted to do was kill Captain Wobbleguts, but we made a deal that we could only let him die when my belly was pretty much gone. So Wobbleguts, your days are numbered!

Back to my brother. A few years ago he started going to the local gym and getting a little more serious about his body shape (enter vanity comments here …), dropping his golf off which I never thought he would do as he was an avid golfer and was able to get his handicap down to single figures.

He seemed to find a little community and click at the gym which motivated him and the change was evident. From being just a normal lean 40 year old he started to develop some serious guns and went shirtless at every opportunity – so would I with the shape that he developed and how hard he had obviously worked.

But something else happened, the kid who was never into running started to get a bit serious and before I knew it he had clocked up a couple of marathons, sheer lunacy in my book, but little did I know that was just the start.

The next thing to appear was a racing bike (bicycle) and out came the lycra – well it was a great opportunity to show off the physique and the tan! He told me he had joined a Triathlon Team called Tribal, this was going to be interesting because couldn’t really swim very well, how was ever going to survive the swim leg of a Tri?

With gusto he threw himself into the training and now 12 months later he just completed his first (I fear there will be more) Ironman length Triathlon. I am so incredibly proud of him and what he has been able to achieve, how he has gone about it, his single-mindedness to prepare his body and mind plus his ability to juggle his everyday life and still deliver on being a father to three gorgeous kids, a worker, brother, friends and partner.

Our stories are similar in that we have both set out with a goal in mind and are focused on the journey and what we have to do to get there. We both needed to learn more about food and diet, exercise and how our bodies work and their current limitations, and we both need to plan ahead to be able to get everything into our sometimes complex and confusing lives.

So last Sunday I was tracking his progress via the web, saw that he had a great swim, a couple of minutes under his expectation, but the bike didn’t seem to be panning out as expected and so I thought he must have gone into complete meltdown after going too hard in the swim. I’ll let him pick up the story from here in an email he sent around last night;

Hey Everyone,

I am now officially an IRONMAN!!

Didn’t quite break 12 hrs. It was 12hrs 18min. But I am absolutely rapped.

The day was hot and windy. 30+ degrees, sunny and windy. Not ideal conditions. At least the water temperature was under 24 degrees so I could wear a wetsuit.

Did the swim in 1hr 18min. A couple mins quicker than planned. I swam really well. Controlled and easy. It felt awesome for a guy who couldn’t swim 100m 12 months ago. 143rd out of 194 in my age group (there must be 51 absolute nuff nuff swimmers…lol). This was by far the biggest thing I achieved. I have carried a fear of swimming and deep water for 30+ years.

Everyone wants to know about my 12min transition. That is embarrassing. But by the time i did my hair!!! I cant believe it was that long. Something to work on!!

The ride was a little disappointing. I rode to heart rate (77-80% of max heart rate) and just couldn’t get the speed up to what I wanted because it felt like we were riding into a head wind all day. It was probably a cross wind that was only a tail wind for a few km’s each lap. I decided to keep to heart rate rather than speed and destroy the legs for the run. I had a little mechanical problem towards the end of the first lap. Had to stop twice because the cadence sensor came loose and was hitting the pedal/crank. Fixed it ok the second time. Struggled on the bike around the 140-150km mark. Didn’t help that they ran out of sports drinks at the drink stations and only had warm/hot water or cola left. So I had to adjust the nutrition plan a little (Kath taught me well). But I coped. So I did a 6hr 20min 180km ride. 144th out of 194.

The run was fantastic, if you can say that after 180km ride. During the first 2km, I was thinking Olympic distance tri’s are a lot better option (10km run)…lol. But I got into a really good rhythm. I worked out I had to run a sub 4hr marathon. But it would have meant pushing my heart rate beyond 85% for the whole run. I again decided to run to 78-80% of max heart rate so I wouldn’t blow up. Which meant at the end of the first lap (14km) I knew I wasn’t going to break 12hrs, but I didn’t care.

I felt strong and was moving really well. But the run leg was like a battle zone. People doubled over with cramp, vomitting and struggling to just walk. I can’t believe how many younger and fitter guys I ran past (they all went too hard in the ride and paid the penalty). But the highlight was interacting with the crowd. I played it up alll along the run. Ordering beers, hamburgers, taxi’s, singing, high 5ing kids, and generally joking with different groups. I did this so I would look forward to seeing these groups at different parts of the course.

The last lap i started to feel it in the legs a bit and slowed. But it wasn’t about time at that stage, it was about taking it all in. And not walking at any stage, which I am happy to say i didn’t walk….ran all the way. Running down the finishing chute was unbelievable (the true highlight of the day). The support crew was towards the start of the chute. Hi-5’s all round and then sucked in the last 150m. It was awesome coming over the line. I felt like i could have done another lap. I was not in distress at all. So i ended up doing a 4hr 20min marathon which I was rapped with considering the amount of people i passed. 43rd out of 194 (266th male out of 966). Somehow running has become my strength.

So over all 12hr 18min. 90th out of 194 in my age group. 463rd male out of 966. And i am now an ironman, and planning the next.

Kath gave me some fantastic advice on Friday night. If I wasn’t smiling for 95% of the time, I shouldn’t be there. It was so true. So I decided to take that into the race. So I joked and chatted my way around the whole bike and run course. And it just puts you in a different mindset. It made my day so enjoyable. There were lots of people who went quicker than me, but I doubt that there was many who enjoyed it as much as I did. The spectators and volunteers were awesome.

The Tribal (the Tri squad i am a member of) cheer squad was awesome to. It was great to see Kath and a mate Nathan every lap. There smiles almost matched mine. It was great to have someone special watching along the way and at the finish and to talk about it afterwards. The coach was over here to and was great to have him here to keep an eye on me.

The house I am staying in is a Rockstar party house. So it should for $5000 per week (thank god we filled it with close to 10 people for most of the week). Wait for the pics on Facebook. Although there are 19 stairs to my bedroom. They have been a struggle until today. The legs are recovering well. I have shared the house with 2 Pro triathletes (one competed at the Olympics last year). And a few others have come and visited and it has been a great week. Just the 3 of us left now and heading back to Melbourne tomorrow.

So it has been an incredible journey and experience particularly for my first ironman. Now I have to prepare for my next. Port Macquarie. Very hilly and demanding, but it will a great challenge. Sis has already volunteered to come down as support.

Well that’s all for now. look forward to seeing everyone very soon. And i can tell you all about it in person. Thanks for all your messages, they have been appreciated.

Paul (Official Ironman)

The moral of the story – if anyone notices me starting to follow little brothers path – stop me! It’s starts with a bike and ends in lunacy.

The real moral of course is I just need to do things in the moment, for the fun, for the enjoyment, for the journey. I need to enjoy the personal challenge and you never quite know what I’m capable of.

So my journey continues with no defined events to compete in etc and I’ll pick up new things as I go and discard others as ell, most important is that I find things I enjoy and that enthuse me.

At 158 kilos no form of exercise got me excited, but things change if just give yourself a chance, schedule your world a little, live in the moment and with intent amazing things can be achieved.

Bro, thanks for letting me post your email, you inspire me.

Just got a message via Facebook from Jan, I’ll share it with you;-

“Longie. I had no doubt that you would. NOW though is where you get my real support. Whats the next goal? Don’t give me a weight goal, give me an event. x”

I must admit I have only had a weight goal that I thought would give me a good omfortable feel about myself physically, I never had an intention of doing any event of ny kind to prove my fitness or that I had achieved something.

But I m open to the idea of participating in an event although I really don’t know what is out there. One thing we can knock out straight away is the idea of doing a marathon, just not interested in running for 43 kilometres (that’s what cars are for).

So I need your suggestions for something I can target as a goal for next year.

I’ll collate the ideas and put them to communal vote and that will become a goal.

Over to you!

Well, here we are at the end of 44 weeks of trying to turn my life around from a health perspective.

Total weight loss -43 kilograms

It would be simplistic to say that I failed because I didn’t reach the goal of 50 kilos.

But I just have to look at the upside to know that this has been a great success so far, and I say so far because it doesn’t end here. I still have another 30 kilos plus to lose and a whole lot more to learn across a range of things – cooking, time & task management, health and my fitness.

So I am very happy and seemed to have found a renewed vigour to not only keep going but to up the ante a little, but I’ll keep that to myself for the moment and just let the results speak for themselves.

The donation function (which seems to have been disabled a little early, should be reactivated tomorrow) will continue to be available for anyone that wants to make a donation to The Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute indefinitely.

My next two goals are 100 kilos and then 90 kilos. So another 17 kilos to 100 and 27 to get to 90 kilos. From there I’ll head to 85 kilos and reconsider my goal from there, but my feeling is 85 would be a very healthy weight for me, still regarded as overweight on a BMI, but I reckon it will sit well with me. No time frames on the rest of the journey, except that this time next year I’d like to be at the 85 kilo mark, and I still have a lot to learn, understand, test and no doubt I’ll have periods of flatlining and increases as I have over the past 44 weeks – it’s just part of the journey.

I’ll continue to blog about my experiences and try and dig even deeper to give a perspective of what I have been through and and going through as well. I am looking forward to the next part of the journey with optimism and excitement to see what it will be like to feel light on my feet again, to fit good clothes properly and a whole lot of other little milestones that will pop up throughout. Speaking of hich I had a stupid one the other night, I realised that laying in bed I could see the my feet, that may not sound like much, but for as long as I cn remember my stomach has been in the way, who knows what I’ll see next!

So here’s week 44’s chart. There is one weird measurement here, my waist actually increased 2cm which doesn’t make any sense with the weight loss and the cm loss on the hips and highs. Size loss in the waist is normally inline with what happens in the hips and thighs, but I think the reason is my movements.

I bet you never thought I’d talk about this … nor did I.

I am so regular every morning, but this morning it just didn’t happen and I felt a bit bloated and blocked up. Normally I only have trouble if I have been eating poorly, but I had been very good the past 4 days, it’s weird but I can tell from the consistency of my movements (take that either way, both are relevant) how well my body is functioning and I’ve learnt how my diet at any given time alters it. So I probably missed on a bit of size loss this week and maybe even a little weight loss as well, but I’ll get the bonus of that at the next weigh in in 11 days.

Click to see larger image

So here I sit 8 days from the final weigh-in for the main fund-raising effort of Saving Alan. Some part of me is disappointed that I am not going to reach 50 kilos lost in the time frame, but I really should be damn proud of hitting 40+ kilos in 42 weeks so far.

By the end I should average 1 kilo a week. So after the end of November, I’ll still have another 30-40 weeks to go to get down to the weight I want to be, which is 80-85 kilos, probably closer to 85. So another 32.5 kilos from where I am now, that would give me a total loss of 73 kilos or 46% of my original body weight – even I’ll say that is pretty amazing.

I have been incredibly busy the last two weeks and have been having problems with the internet connection at home, so I’ve been a little (okay totally) slack in posting. Over the next week I’m going to try and post everyday, even just a short update on what I am up to.

I was genuinely surprised to lose this week, because I really hadn’t exercised much, hadn’t eaten well (but hadn’t been really bad either, unlike other weeks) and let other things take priority, but I had things to deliver, which I have almost been able to meet so I’ve got a good buzz from that as well.

When I travel I really should ring ahead and tell them to get all soft drink, chocolate bars and potato chips out of the room .. hmmmm, enough said.

Last weekend I tried on the the suit that was too tight when I started Saving Alan back in February and was absolutely shocked at how big it was around the girth. I just cant believe I was so big I couldn’t do it up, if I wasn’t so amazed I’d be ashamed.

More good news on the clothing front though is that I have moved three shirts from the “too small” section of the wardrobe to the current (yep, I don’t throw anything out). I haven’t worn them for 7-8 years or maybe more and it’s a good buzz to get back into them, certainly a great way to physically feel the progress because I adjust so quickly to different shape and size that I lose the perspective to know how the week is traveling or how big I used to be.

So the week and a bit a head is a challenge. I am really busy at work and have a heap of deliverables to get through, so there are a few things I need to do to maximise the loss over the coming 10-11 days:

• work at work intensely.
• don’t procrastinate
• Put myself first
• PLAN 60- 90 minutes a day for exercise.

Let’s see how I go, if you haven’t sponsored me as yet, please jump on board and help out. Together we have been able to raise well over $5,000 for the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute and it would great to give it one last tilt.