My Journey so Far

johnnygizmo

I wanted to share this post from my blog http://johnnygizmo.blogspot.com about my weight loss journey so far. Feel free to visit my blog for updates (there is a lot of other non-fitness related stuff there too). I'm going to try to keep it updated as a way to motivate myself and to stay accountable.



This blog has gone through a bunch of changes over the last few years. Generally reflecting the things that I am focusing on at the time. For the foreseeable future, I will be focusing on something new: In the summer of 2012 I realized that I was not only getting overweight, but I had crossed a line. I had seen on weight charts that I was 'obese' but just said "oh, those charts are broken, I'm fine" Then I saw this photo of myself and knew I had been lying to myself and I had to do something. ( by the way, that's my youngest son with me in the photo)



It was late in the summer that I decided what I was going to do to try to make a difference in my life. I purchased my first pair of running shoes and hit the local high school track. I knew if I spent some money on the process, it would help me stick to it.

My first time out, I could not jog around the track one time without stopping, 1/4 mile, slow jog was too much for me. It took a while to build up. 6 weeks later I participated in a fundraiser 5K for my kid's preschool and ran it in 34 min 55seconds. Not too shabby, I was down to just under 230lbs and felt pretty good. I managed to twist my ankle soon after and by December it had gotten cold outside and I stopped running to let my ankle heal.

In January, my wife and I bought a treadmill, and I hit it pretty hard. I put in 4 to 5 runs a week on it averaging 5K distance each time. I also signed up for myFitnessPal and Runtastic to log my activity. One thing I did not do in the fall was change the way I ate. So I drastically cut my eating and kept close tabs on it. In 2 weeks I dropped 10lbs, and after 4 weeks, I was down 20lbs. Then the circuit board on our treadmill died. As an employee at Greenville College, I have access to our sports training facility. So I started going there in the mornings before work. In February, I ran 66 miles total.

At the beginning of March, I weighed in at 198lbs. The first time had been under 200 for about 15 years. I ran 111 miles that month (including a 59 minute 10K on the treadmill) and added weight training into my fitness routine.

Today, April 3rd 2013 I weighed in at 188lbs.



I've still got a ways to go until I reach my ultimate fitness goals which are ever evolving, but I'm going to be blogging about them right here, I've been working hard for over 80 days now and I need all the motivation and accountability I can get. I'll talk more about some specifics about the tools I'm using, the routine I've put together, my goals and such in future posts. I just needed to post this backstory to give context for my future posts.

unnur16

amazing job! you look very good

4Shantel4

Great story, thanks for sharing.. your doing great !!

make_it_so

Nice! I look forward to more updates!