Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

I weighed in today for my 3rd completed week of the YMCA's Corporate Wellness Challenge. I came in just under 250 at 249.8lbs.  I was worried that after the jumpstart period of my diet and I got my carbs back, my weight-loss might drop off completely. It appears everything is moving on course since I am still losing.  I plan on picking up on my activity by exercising 1 hour a day for 6 days a week.  Let's see if I can push 2lbs per/week to 4lbs per/week over the upcoming weeks.

So now I am down a total of 14.2 lbs since I started the challenge 3 weeks ago.  I started the challenge at 264lbs. The thing is... my heaviest, less than 1 year ago, was 283lbs. So in reality I am down 33lbs!  My target weight is 180lbs by March 28th.  I need to average 3lbs a week.  So far so good!

Doctor Oz did a segment about aspertame on his show recently. I'm happy he finally acknowledged some of the problems with aspartame, but I don't think he went far enough about the dangers of this chemical.

That's right, aspertame is made of chemicals, nothing natural about it. Do you know how aspertame was discovered? A scientist was working on a new medication back in the 1960's and accidentally had a taste of what would become known as aspertame when it landed in his mouth. Doesn't sound too good for you, does it?

I feel a lot stronger and athletic after my weight loss. It's not perfect, but I do see improvements in my muscles. I'm able to do things I never would be able to do before with the extra weight.

I've been practicing doing chin-ups. I use a weight-assisted machine and eventually I won't need the assistance to do them. Push ups were always difficult for me. I can't do them properly just yet, but I practice daily. Push ups are such a good work out that I want to be able to do them correctly. I do the modified version and gradually, I'm getting closer to doing the traditional push up. It's a good sign of strength and physical fitness to be able to do them.

If these guys can do it... I know I will!

I was talking with Rich Hubbard a couple of weeks back about my weight loss progress. To say the least things were going pretty slow. I was eating better but I lost the vigor from my previous motivations (the really embarrassing ones... My motivation to lose weight & My 2nd motivation to lose weight: A trip in Boston)

Rich recommended that I try the weight-loss challenge that kept him motivated and involved.  I figured it was worth the shot. Plus it would get me out of the house and bring me face to face with other people that have similar goals.