Merry Christmas

Hello and welcome to the Christmas edition of my weight loss blog! I uploaded a new vlog post to my YouTube channel. You can find links to both my channel and the new video at the bottom of this post.

I did not lose much weight since the previous weigh in post dated December 20th. I am happy to have lost weight though. My weight loss barely even registers at 0.2 of a pound. My current weight is 352 pounds. Total weight loss now stands at nearly six (5.8) pounds.

I had a great Christmas! I hope that you did too! I did not restrain myself as much as I should have. I did drink some regular soda. I am not too happy with myself about that. Still, I have heard many times that successful people are often the ones that just keep trying after failing. I am going to keep my chin up and try to do better.

All things considered, I am happy to have lost weight on Christmas day even if it was just a little bit. Progress is progress. It can be very difficult to lose weight during the holiday season. Please check out my video linked below for some other thoughts on Christmas and holidays in general. The next weigh in post will be January 1st, 2017. I cannot believe that we are about to start a new year already. It seems like just yesterday that 2016 was starting up and now it is over. I hope to make 2017 the year I drop some serious weight. Anyone with me? We can do anything if we make up our minds to really do it. Time to get busy. Until next time, goodbye!

My Weight Loss Journey 12/25/2016 Vlog 2

ATechWiz YouTube Channel

Calories 12/25/16-12/31/16

12/25/2016: Consumed 2,415 calories.  3,488 calories burned according to Apple Watch.

12/26/2016: Consumed 2,739 calories.  3,427 calories burned according to Apple Watch.

12/27/2016: Consumed 2,934 calories.  3,156 calories burned according to Apple Watch.

12/28/2016: Consumed 1,804 calories.  3,715 calories burned according to Apple Watch.

12/29/2016: Consumed 4,566 calories.  3,381 calories burned according to Apple Watch.

12/30/2016: Consumed 1,784 calories.  3,861 calories burned according to Apple Watch.

12/31/2016: Consumed 3,705 calories.  3,328 calories burned according to Apple Watch.

Setback

Hello and welcome. Today is the 20th of December and that means it is weigh in day! I am afraid that the numbers reflect the effort this time. Unfortunately, I do not mean that in a good way.

Since the prior weigh in on December 15th, I have gained exactly three (3.0) pounds. My current weight is 352.2 pounds. My total weight loss thus far is now a touch over five and a half (5.6) pounds.

I am upset with myself. I went a little crazy this week. I have been drinking a lot of regular soda lately. This needs to stop. My plan is to drink more water and possibly tea. This should cut a large number of calories out of my diet that have no nutritional value.

I have decided to start doing a video log of my weight loss journey as well. I will link to those videos here on my web blog but if you want a direct link to my channel, here it is. ATechWiz YouTube Channel. Feel free to subscribe if you wish to follow along there.

The interesting thing about doing video blogs is being able to see the weight loss even in the face. I have a few videos of myself on the YouTube channel around the time I had dropped quite a bit of weight the first time and I think it is pretty dramatic.

I really need to get focused and drop the soda. I am trying to focus on one thing at a time and then move on to some other issues that I need to work on. I will likely discuss those in future blog posts. For now, if I can drop the soda that will be a big step towards consistently losing some weight. The next weigh in will be on Christmas day! The best gift that I can give myself would be to drop some weight by then. Linked below is the video that goes along with this post. Enjoy and feel free to make fun of me. I look forward to the next post! Goodbye.

My Weight Loss Journey 12/20/2016 Vlog 1

Calories 12/20/16-12/24/16

12/20/2016: Consumed 1,938 calories.  3,687 calories burned according to Apple Watch.

12/21/2016: Consumed 3,332 calories.  3,780 calories burned according to Apple Watch.

12/22/2016: Consumed 3,934 calories.  3,872 calories burned according to Apple Watch.

12/23/2016: Consumed 2,611 calories.  3,808 calories burned according to Apple Watch.

12/24/2016: Consumed 1,840 calories.  3,832 calories burned according to Apple Watch.

The Tortoise

Welcome back to yet another weigh in post! Today is December 15th. I heard from some readers of the blog that perhaps I have been a little too focused on getting off to a fast start or at least to not be discouraged about dropping a pound at these early weigh ins. I appreciate that very much. It is easy to feel as though things should be happening at a more rapid pace. In the end, making progress is what it is all about. Perhaps like the tortoise in the old children's story, slow and steady will win the race. How did I do this time?

Since the previous weigh in on December 10th, I have lost nearly one (0.8) pound. My current weight is 349.2 pounds. My total weight loss so far is a little more than eight and a half (8.6) pounds.

I think I will begin to break up my short term weight loss goals into small bite-sized objectives. See what I did there? If only I was as funny as I think I am. With where I am right now, I can always have a goal just a couple of pounds away. For example, my next goal will be ten pounds of total weight loss. After that, my next goal would be to weigh in below 345 pounds. The goal after that would be fifteen pounds of total weight loss and so on.

I don't have a lot to blog about this time. I am just going to keep my focus on making progress. I have been pretty consistent about updating the blog this time and that is also encouraging. I stay on task much better when I am blogging about it. Thanks for tagging along with me on this journey. The next weigh in will take place December 20th. Goodbye for now!

Calories 12/15/16-12/19/16

12/15/2016: Consumed 3,745 calories.  3,904 calories burned according to Apple Watch.

12/16/2016: Consumed 2,198 calories.  3,680 calories burned according to Apple Watch.

12/17/2016: Consumed 5,018 calories.  3,546 calories burned according to Apple Watch.

12/18/2016: Consumed 2,100 calories.  3,754 calories burned according to Apple Watch.

12/19/2016: Consumed 3,344 calories.  3,661 calories burned according to Apple Watch.

Priorities

Hello and welcome to the December 10th weigh in post. It has been an emotional last few days around here. Things have changed that really make me think about what is important in life. I will discuss that a bit more but for now, here are the numbers.

Since the prior weigh in just five short days ago, I have lost exactly one pound. My current weight is 350 pounds even. My total weight loss is now closing in on eight (7.8) pounds.

Priorities! I probably can't share too many of the details but a friend of mine recently had a new born baby placed with her to foster. I mean a new born baby! This baby is so beautiful and it honestly breaks my heart to think about an innocent child that needs to be loved and not finding that in his biological parents. The baby did nothing wrong!

Maybe it seems like I am passing judgment on the parents. I remember when my two girls were born. You can go ahead and take my man card if this makes me a baby but I was so proud the day my girls were born. I felt like no matter what I how successful I may be in life, these two girls will always be my crowning achievement.

Then I ask myself, what am I doing today to show my girls that they are my world? Am I eating healthy so that I can see them get married and have children of their own? Have I made this weight loss journey enough of a priority or am I coasting? I am afraid that the answer is coasting and so I need to adjust my priorities. This needs to happen!

I love hearing from those of you that check in with me. Thank you. It is encouraging to know that I am not alone. We can get this done if we stay focused and keep our priorities as we head into the holiday season. The next weigh in will occur on December 15th. Take care my friends and stay safe! Goodbye.

Calories 12/10/16-12/14/16

12/10/2016: Consumed 2,874 calories.  3,252 calories burned according to Apple Watch.

12/11/2016: Consumed 2,694 calories.  3,126 calories burned according to Apple Watch.

12/12/2016: Consumed 3,168 calories.  3,770 calories burned according to Apple Watch.

12/13/2016: Consumed 3,958 calories.  3,673 calories burned according to Apple Watch.

12/14/2016: Consumed 2,079 calories.  3,772 calories burned according to Apple Watch.

Craving Consistency

Sometimes trying to lose weight can feel like a roller coaster ride. There are ups and downs. That can apply to both one's emotional status as well as their weight loss. Sometimes I find myself craving consistency.

Since my previous weigh in on the first of December I have lost exactly one pound. My current weight is 351 pounds even. My total weight loss now stands at close to seven (6.8) pounds.

It is funny that I mention consistency because really, at the end of the day, I am the one being inconsistent. I am inconsistent with both the number of calories that I consume as well as the number of calories that I burn. I am the one that controls that! No one is forcing me to eat too much. No one is forcing me to stay inside the house instead of getting up, opening that front door, and going for a walk. That is me! I need to be more consistent. There are days that I do great and there are days that I do terrible. If I can reduce the number of terrible days and increase the number of great days then I will see improvement.

I am not disappointed in losing a pound. Every little bit counts. I just also know that I could be losing this weight faster. The beginning of a weight loss journey is the easiest weight to lose. At least that has been my experience. I am confident that I can do better.

I am enjoying blogging about the journey. Hopefully people enjoy reading about it. The  next weigh in will take place December 10th. I am optimistic that I can be more consistent and see some real progress. Check back soon! Until next time...

Calories 12/5/16-12/9/16

12/5/2016: Consumed 2,554 calories.  3,363 calories burned according to Apple Watch.

12/6/2016: Consumed 6,081 calories.  3,474 calories burned according to Apple Watch.

12/7/2016: Consumed 1,956 calories.  3,827 calories burned according to Apple Watch.

12/8/2016: Consumed 2,468 calories.  3,471 calories burned according to Apple Watch.

12/9/2016: Consumed 3,654 calories.  3,304 calories burned according to Apple Watch.

November 2016

Hello and welcome to my weigh in post for December 1st. The month of November 2016 has come and gone. I have experienced some decent weight loss but also some challenges and things that I need to work on. I finally decided to apply myself to this monumental task of dropping well over a hundred pounds around the 15th of November. Let's take a look at the numbers for the month past but first, here are the current weigh in stats.

Since my last weigh in (November 25th) I have gained nearly a full pound (0.8). My current weight is 352 pounds even. My total weight loss is now nearly six (5.8) pounds.

This is disappointing. I keep shooting myself in the foot. Yesterday we celebrated my oldest daughter's birthday and I did not moderate myself as much as I should have. This left me no time whatsoever to work off those calories. On the other hand, there was one other day that I did not manage my calories well either so perhaps I should be happy with these numbers.

A couple of positives is that I have been getting some good steps while at work. In addition, I have also been going on walks at night and on the weekends. It could be possible that some of this weight gain may be due to increasing activity levels. I am not sure if muscle builds that quickly or not but it sounds like a good excuse for gaining weight.

November 2016 Summary:

• Total weight loss to date: 5.8 pounds
• Total weight loss this year: 5.8 pounds
• Total weight loss November 2016: 5.8 pounds
• Total weight still to lose: 177 pounds

The total weight still to lose would put me at 175 pounds. I have not weighed 175 pounds since my senior year of high school. I would be very happy to weigh in under 200 pounds. I am not sure how realistic it will be for me to ever weigh 175 pounds again but that is where I wanted to set the target.

I have a lot of work to do and the mistake that is very easy to make is to be intimidated by the magnitude of the journey ahead. Instead, I will choose to focus on smaller "bite size" goals. That was a pun by the way since I am blogging about weight loss. My next goal that I am going to focus on is weighing in below 350 pounds. I am only two pounds away. The next weigh in is November 5th. I need to get busy. With that, goodbye for now!

Calories 12/1/16-12/4/16

12/1/2016: Consumed 1,844 calories.  4,045 calories burned according to Apple Watch.

12/2/2016: Consumed 3,300 calories.  3,326 calories burned according to Apple Watch.

12/3/2016: Consumed 2,675 calories.  3,127 calories burned according to Apple Watch.

12/4/2016: Consumed 3,243 calories.  3,675 calories burned according to Apple Watch.