INCREDIBLE… Winner of Fat Boy (or girl) Fitness Competition | 12 week challenge, Harley style ANNOUNCED!

I got the official email today…
On Tue, Apr 30, 2013 at 3:45 PM, Dana Hall <dhall@eastsideharley.com> wrote:
Thanks to everyone who participated in the 2013 Fat Boy Fitness Competition! Zach Myers is the proud new owner of a BRAND NEW HARLEY-DAVIDSON!

BEFORE – 300+ lbs

AFTER – 198 lbs

Fat Boy (or girl) Fitness Competition | 12 week challenge, Harley style.

Congratulations ZACH! Enjoy your new Harley.

HEY, That’s my bike… NOT. Congratulations ZACH!!!

I have no idea how he lost so much weight… an average of nearly 16 lbs per week over 12 weeks.

And here I was just happy to lose 25 lbs (TOTAL) over the same time frame – I actually am including the weight that I lost prior to the official start of the competition so you will note that my final weigh in is less than what I am showing as my total loss.

I want to know how he did it!

Here are the final results…

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No Fatboy Lo for this girl…

Well, sad to say (but not unexpected) there will be no new motorcycle in my driveway this Spring.

I weighed in this morning for the last check-in for the Fat Boy (or Girl) Fitness Competition and sad to say I am only down about 15 pounds (for the competition).

As of check point 2 the leader has lost 26.78% of their body weight, and we won’t know until next week how much the leader has lost overall.  It is crazy. If I had lost that much body weight I would have lost over 35 lbs… that would have been over 3 lbs per week.

I didn’t give up though, even though I knew that I would never win this contest, I kept going to the weigh-ins and I plan on being at the last party where they announce the winner.

I did the best that I could and my personal weight loss – outside of this competition – is approximately 25 lbs since mid-January. My goal, while I REALLY wanted to win the Harley, was to increase my health and lose weight in a healthy and long-term way.  That means that in order to keep weight off a person should focus on losing about 2 lbs per week. More than anything I did not want to lose muscle mass as that is really what fuels a good metabolism and helps keep the weight off.

In order to reach my long-term goal I still need to lose about 75 lbs. At this rate, I am looking at reaching goal about January 2014.

As with all things in my life, I am taking things ONE DAY AT A TIME!

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Thankful for my life

7 weeks into my lifestyle change.

Other than waking up WAY too early everyday to get my workout in I keep thinking about the benefits gained over the past few weeks – down 22 lbs since 1/22, changed eating habits that included cutting out all soda (including diet), no more artificial sweeteners, no more commercially processed foods with additives or other junk.

Focusing on good fats, complex carbs and healthy proteins.

Not starving but eating a whole lot less food.

Focusing on gaining lean muscle and burning fat.

Am I going to with that Harley Fat Boy Lo? Most likely not, but has it been worth the journey – yes.

Working at keeping the weight off this time and considering my life is so much better now than it was a few short months ago my chance of success is much greater.

Besides my love Fred is the best partner and support system I could have ever hoped for.

Easily entertained…

It is nearly 9 PM and my normal bed time is fast approaching.  I need to get a good nights sleep because we have a very busy day tomorrow.

As I sit here pondering the evening I am struck at just how much laughing I am doing. And even more so how I actually get to have “evenings” and how I do not have to work in the evenings any more.

My evenings used to consist of working and grading… now they are about family and fun.

It’s just me, mom and Fred, and the dog and the cat. TV on in the background.  Me on my computer, mom playing on her iPhone and I think her Kindle too. Fred’s in the kitchen cooking.

I’m also distracted and “multi-tasking”… on my computer.

Tot is helping me with this blog post

Picking up the house (mainly the  bathroom) – it is about time I actually get some “other” work done.

Prepping the potato salad…

Having a conversation with my mom and Fred as he makes smoked salmon potato salad for our work party tomorrow at the F/V Taku.

Almost done…

Surfing the internet and having multiple simultaneous conversations on FaceBook

• Chickens or no chickens… that is the question
  • Backyard poultry
• The “new” household intercom (cell phones)
• Weather (winter storms)
• Catching up with old friends.

Fred nearly had a “wardrobe malfunction” but fortunately he fixed that before mom got too much of an eyeful.

All I have left to do before heading to bed is planning out next weeks meals. I found a cool feature on my FitBit Dashboard tonight… I knew it was there but I finally decided to do something about it.  I can download my weekly statistics and food log to Excel where I can then print it out and share it with my Curves Coach. Woo hoo…

Well, it is definitely past my bedtime.

Looking forward to the weekend, even if it does include hard work on the F/V Taku.

Making progress… 1 lb at a time…

I’m going to win that Harley… I am! I am just determined.

So far, I haven’t lost all that much weight. In the first month I only lost 3.6 lbs for the contest.

With that amount of weight loss, I am NOT going to win but I can tell you that the past four weeks have been great!

I have worked out consistently for four weeks now.  Getting up at 0500 and at the gym by 0600.

I did get scolded by my Curves “counselor” on Monday for not “following the plan” but to tell the truth, I just cannot get into it!  I really do prefer the Weight Watchers plan for weight loss. Very, very easy!

Here was my FaceBook post from Monday:

Well, I got scolded this morning because I am not following the Curves meal plan… just can’t do it! I know, I know, years of research, yada, yada, yada… designed to burn fat… I KNOW! I really do prefer the Weight Watchers program for meal choices. I’m doing well in spite of my lack of cooperation.

5 lbs down, 3.5 inches smaller – in the right places. Building muscle. That is what matters. I told my “counselor” that I would see where I am in another month and that if my body fat isn’t down I’ll consider trying the meal plan again… Otherwise I’m going with what I know works. I really joined Curves for the circuit training any way.

Weight loss is not easy. It takes work and dedication. Keeping it off is even harder.

I’ve lost weight before and kept it off for YEARS!  I know what to do.

This week I decided that I am going to do what I know works for me.  I am continuing to exercise daily and I am following a combination of the Weight Watchers plan and using my own knowledge of nutrition to create a plan that works for me.

One thing that I am concerned with is losing weight in a way that I will be able to maintain the loss

I do want to lose a good amount of weight in the next two months (if I am going to win that darn Harley!)

I am not going to lose weight at the expense of my good health.

The Curves “counselor” kept emphasizing that Weight Watchers causes people to lose more muscle than the Curves plan. I get the concept and I am monitoring my weight loss and muscle mass regularly.  I told her that I was going to give it a month and if it looked like I was not losing in a healthy way I would reconsider the Curves meal plan.

I’ve been focusing on increasing my activity level and one way that I do that is with my FitBit (love it!)

I’ve been using my FitBit since 2010 and starting using the Premium service in 2011. This past year I got really serious about it.

The trainer feature is pretty cool. This first graphic was for twelve weeks between August and November. Not so great!

This second graphic was for the twelve weeks between the end of November and just a few days ago (February 17th).

I am pretty happy with the results.  I can’t wait to see what happens at the end of this current 12 week period.

The other thing that I am doing is focusing on reducing my calories enough to lose weight but eating the right foods to fuel my body.

I am using the FitBit trainer and food log to analyze my food intake and make sure that I have the proper combination of healthy foods to help me reach my goal.

I haven’t been eating as much as I should this week. A lot of that has to do with my teeth… now that my mouth feels better I am sure that my food intake will increase.

The mindset that I am focusing on is FOOD IS FUEL.  I want to focus on food and how that fuels my body rather than how it feeds my feelings.

If you want to see where I am in the standings, you can find me here… Fat Boy or Girl Blog

Not very inspiring… the leader has lost 15.07% of their body weight, and it is only checkpoint 1.  That would mean that I need to lose over 30 lbs and that would be just to catch up… not likely to happen. But I’ll keep working at it.  I have 8 weeks left to make a dent in my weight loss… but most important is losing it in a healthy way.

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Weight Watchers vs. Curves

I’ve been diligently working out for 18 days now. 45 minutes a day, 5 days a week (I take the weekends off). Up at 0515, at the gym by 0600.

I joined Curves mid-January because I had to get moving. As hard as I tried to be “active” during the day I just did not do it well enough.  I needed help.

I am a firm believer in the Weight Watchers “program”… it works, I know it works, I’ve been successful with that program three different times, losing as much at 90 lbs and keeping it off for up to 6 years. I was even a Weight Watchers leader and I LOVED it!

What didn’t work?  I got tired. And overwhelmed.  At some point, monitoring my food intake was just one more thing, and I couldn’t handle that one more thing. It was all I could do to get out of bed each day and function. I didn’t want to have to think about food.

Well, things are looking much brighter these days. I’m starting to breath again, starting to think about the future. Oh, and did I mention that I am going to win a Harley Davidson Fat Boy Lo?

I just have to lose the largest percentage of body weight (as compared to all of the other contestants)… how am I doing?  Not so great. Why? I just can’t get on board with the Curves Complete meal program.

Not to mention the fact that I am not impressed with the online tracking tools or the support of the center staff… I’m not saying they aren’t nice or helpful… it just isn’t my “style”.

What do I really like?  I am enjoying the circuit training. A LOT! I feel really good after my workout and I am ready for the rest of the day.

Did I mention that I am NOT a morning person? I am NOT, AT ALL! But here I am, getting up at O God 30… getting my rear in gear.

So, for essentially the same amount of money per month I am now getting in regular exercise.

I will say that I much prefer the Weight Watchers approach to food choices and support however, I really like the built-in exercise program for Curves.

In my ideal world, Weight Watchers would acquire Curves and I would get the awesome coaching and nutrition program that I love AND the awesome circuit training too. The best of both worlds!

That WOULD be perfect… but alas, it isn’t going to happen. I am going to keep plugging along. I’ll get back to goal eventually.

I know what to do, I know how to do it. This really isn’t rocket science.  I want to be healthy so that I can hike mountains and trails when I am 70 (kickin’ a little bit of 40-year-old @ss in the process).

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Crazy Busy… loving life…

I can’t believe how little time I am spending on my blog.  I’ve actually found that I am receding into my own little world again… too exhausted to even turn on my computer.

I actually had to make a point of getting on here tonight and as I stared at the screen, wondering what I would write about, I realized that I have let myself get bogged down in the every day trivial pursuits.

Seems like life is whizzing by at light speed and I cannot believe it is already February, almost March… where has time gone?!?!

So, what have I been up to?

Mainly working – seems like I am working A LOT.  Not only am I working my regular “day” job, I am spending time with Fred working on the F/V Taku (one day on the weekend) and when I am not doing that I am trying to keep up with bills, laundry, house chores (which is NOT going well), car maintenance…

My day job is mentally exhausting but sedentary.

The weekends on the F/V Taku are hard. I don’t know how Fred does it day in and day out 6 days a week.  It is hard, hard work.

My brother made a smart @ss response to Fred about my being responsible for the torch this past weekend… we had a difficult job of removing the very old tar paper from the hull of the boat.  Fred has already removed the outer skin and is working at replacing the rotted wood, packing material and fittings.

See, I didn’t burn the boat down…we (Fred really) scraped a good deal of gunk off of the hull… about 10′ by 4′ of area.  We still have to chip out the cement and rotted packing. It is crazy!  Today Fred started demolishing the house – he has plans for a bigger and better living area. Currently at about 100 sq feet, we may go up to 101 sq feet (hahaha)…

Did I mention that I am still working on simplifying my life and getting rid of material goods – really not getting very far on that endeavor.

Taking care of myself

For the past three weeks I have been getting up at 0500 and going to the gym.  While I haven’t lost very much weight (just about 4 lbs so far), I am still working to win that Fat Boy Lo. I am feeling really good. My body fat percentage is going down and I am toning up. So even if I don’t win the motorcycle I am making progress toward being healthier – and in the process I am getting in shape for my hiking trip this fall in the Grand Canyon. It feels good to be active again.

Finances

Fred and I have been working diligently on our budgeting and financial goals. I really didn’t want to declare bankruptcy but after the divorce I really didn’t have any other options. The bankruptcy is scheduled to be final in March. One step closer, continuing to move forward.

We’ve been following a financial plan and budget. We talk about every penny that we spend – together. How refreshing! He’s absolutely wonderful, in all aspects of our relationship.

Karma

I truly believe that all things come to their end, or beginning, in their own time.

Life is so awesome right now. I knew that if I sat back and didn’t focus on all of the crap I was dealing with, and how “unfair” it all seemed at the time,  I would be set free – able to enjoy my life. Finally.

There is just no sense in wallowing in the past. I have so much future to look forward to.

The best thing that I have done these past few months?

Let it go!!!! I’ve let it ALL go!!!

I am no longer angry or resentful. I wasn’t even phased by a snarky message sent to me by the WASband a few days ago (never mind he isn’t supposed to contact me AT ALL!)

No need to respond. I don’t have to acknowledge or expose him, he’ll do that on his own.

What’s next? I am interviewing at the end of this week for a different position in the organization where I work.  I am learning new things every day.  Challenging myself in new ways. Loving my life.

Life is so much easier when you have someone by your side who shares your dreams and goals.

One thing that I have learned is that I am not going to take what I have for granted.  Relationships take work – but they shouldn’t be hard.

MOVE IT OR LOSE IT FAT BOY…OR GIRL! This Girl’s gonna win a Harley!

Competition is going to be tough… no doubt about it!

Fat Boy or Girl… Fitness Competition. The person with the greatest percentage of weight loss WINS this Harley.

A 2013 Harley Davidson Fat Boy Lo!! Woot woot, oh yeah!!! I’ve been ogling a baby like this for quite some time. It is even my favorite NON-color – BLACK!!!

2013 Harley Davidson Fat Boy Lo

There was a big line of people weighing in today at Emerald City Harley Davidson in Lynwood, WA.

Did I mention they were also BIG people… that will make the contest even harder.

I also have the cards stacked against me as there were many, many men entering the fitness competition… we all KNOW that men lose weight faster than women, right?!

The article Weight-Loss Wars: Men vs. Women explains a bit about why this is so.

This only means that I will have to work harder to build muscle faster while losing fat.

Another thing working against me?

This is a 12 week competition… a healthy weight loss is about 2 pounds per week and at that rate I would end up losing 24 pounds.

Nothing to sneeze at, that is for sure, but I highly doubt that would be a high enough percentage of body weight lost to actually win this Harley.

What have I got to lose with trying? Nothin’ but weight, that’s what! What have I got to win? This fab HD Fat Boy Lo… Wouldn’t that be awesome?!?!!!!

I’ve been working at keeping up my activity level and using my FitBit to track my activity.  I haven’t been going to Weight Watchers the past few months but have been following as best I can a healthy eating plan.

Where I really need more discipline is with actual exercise and not just activity.

There are a lot of things I need to get back into habit with.  Keeping my weight down takes a lot of work but in all reality I have to do it if I want to avoid weight related health issues that could pop up sooner rather than later considering my age.

I ended up joining Curves today.  I’ve added that cost to my monthly budget and figure that it is a good value as it will force me to get more exercise and especially strength training into my daily activities.  I will actually be held accountable for the exercise where I was not with Weight Watchers.

As much as I really like that program, I feel the need to mix it up a bit and really start focusing more on building muscle to get myself back into shape. Another area I have to improve in my flexibility… that has also decreased with age and is one thing that I will need if I am going to ride my new Harley Fat Boy Lo come April!

The biggest reason, outside of wanting to be healthy and fit, is my goal to hike the Grand Canyon rim to rim with my gal pal in October. I am WAY behind already in getting myself together for that trip.

Follow along and see how I do for the next 12 weeks… I’m hoping the next picture I post of that Harley is of me on top of it riding it out of the showroom!

 

References:

Weight Loss Wars: Men vs. Women  By Kathleen M. Zelman, MPH, RD, LD

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Training for the Grand Canyon – Week 11 – Week of 10/04/2012

Week 11 – Week of 10/04/2012
Weekly Weight – Loss/ + Gain: 0.0
Total Weight – Loss/ + Gain: +13.2 since February 26, 2012
Total Inches Lost: No measurements
Fitness/Activity:
56117 steps taken
91 floors climbed
24.55 miles traveled

Trip Planning Notes: Still no planning…

The grand kids have been in town for the past week. I was able to take time off from work and that allowed me to get some extra steps/mileage in this week.

I earned a new award! See there is something to be happy about… even if I am at my heaviest weight EVER!

I really enjoy my job, but it is so sedentary. I have to make a conscious effort to get in physical activity.

I’ll just keep plugging away…

Sad but true… I missed my mark…

I failed… On my Health and Fitness page I calculated that it would take me 38 weeks to reach my goal weight.

Well, 38 weeks from that date was today.  Not only have I failed to reach my weight loss goal, I have gained nearly 12 additional pounds. Ugh!

One consolation is that I am continuing to increase my activity and I am feeling pretty good about my overall health.

From February to April I was really doing well, and then I got a job that is sedentary… but I am working my way back up again and trying to figure out how to get more activity in my daily schedule.

I still have a lot of work to do before I am ready to hike the Grand Canyon next October (2013)… I won’t give up. I DO KNOW WHAT TO DO, AND I KNOW HOW TO DO IT!

I just have to DO IT!!!