Snacking on the train ride home

It took all the will power I had make it through Union Station today without faltering.

Descending the first flight of stairs from Adams Street I first confronted Mrs. Fields. Oh that lovely entrepreneur is really quite wicked! The comforting aroma of warm cookies was ever-present at that particular spot. I knew precisely where those delicious but deadly treats were but I turned to look just the same. And when I did I saw a display case loaded with white chocolate macadamia nut cookies and the chocolate chocolate chip cookies and the sugar cookies.

"Keep walking" I said to myself while I battled the irrational fear that I might never again have the chance to sink my teeth into a warm, moist and chocolatey cookie. I made it! I've made past the cookie shop!

But wait! Oh no! It's McDonald's! I love McDonald's! I ate a McDonald's hamburger the day I arrived in America some 37 years ago and my fat cells have been kept stuffed ever since.

At McD's its the big color pictures of cheesy, beefy $1 burgers that attack my senses. "Oh man, what a deal!" I think to myself, "For $3.33 I can get full on 3 McDoubles!"

No!! I willed my legs to keep turning over, on foot in front of the other, and down the stairs. I made a deal with myself right then and there: "go down to the train level and if the train isn't at the gate then the McDoubles are mine!"

The train wasn't on track 9 where it was expected, but by now the temptation had waned. Phew! I made it through Union Station without stuffing myself with sugars, salt, fat and carbs. Damn, that was hard!

Once I got on the train my mind wandered to dinner! Where can we go for dinner tonight?

That's when I knew I had to pull out the protein bar. Mmmmmmm. Chewy. Sweet. Yum! It's amazing how absolutely appetizing and delicious a protein bar tastes when you're genuinely, truly hungry.

Peace. Finally, I had peace. No more fixating over food. I could finally think more objectively about dinner and not need to constantly fight off the urge to stop at every McD's, Burger King and Wendy's between my train station and my house (I'm not joking - it's an ongoing dialogue in my head)!

Eating healthy is tough and then cutting back calories to lose weight makes it even worse!

Patience! There will be a time and a place for the cookies and the burgers. They are not banished forever. They're just on hold until I drop 25 pounds.

A moment of weakness... Aaaargh!

I'm visiting family this weekend and in a moment of boredom, hunger, a strong desire to not eat super spicy Hyderabadi Nihari for a second time in one day, I succumbed to Wendy's charms....

Okay, take it easy people. I'm talking about Wendy's restaurant. I sneaked out to "pick up some milk" last night and while I was out I grabbed some dinner.

I had the #2 extra-value meal - a double cheese burger, small fries and a diet coke.

And that prompted me to set up my "blog by phone" mechanism. Maybe the thought of publicly shaming myself will deter me in the future.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Diet diet diet! I need to re-focus!

My diet has been absolutely horrible.

Trying to be moderate is actually harder than being really strict.  It's probably a psychological thing.  Eating a cookie or having a few chips or eating rice are invitations to disaster.  So, I'm turning back to my more extreme eating methods.

One thing I'm going to try is eating the same or similar meals everyday.  It's not as hard as one might think. The trick is to re-frame food as fuel and not as a source of pleasure.

This isn't to say that taste doesn't matter, because it does.  If the fuel (food) tastes bad then it becomes torture.  So, it needs to be moderately tasty even as it is viewed as fuel.

I'm also falling back on my protein shakes.  So many people I've met think its junk.  My response is simple - you can't argue with my results.  When I add protein drinks in place of some meals I get results.  I lose weight, I get stronger and my running is solid.

Happy 1 Year Anniversary! I've been at it for a full year and I'm still committed!

I started my journey to "get strong" after 40 one year ago.  At this time last year I weighed 260 pounds.  I was achy and sluggish.  Running - even on a treadmill - for any period of time was hard.  One year later and I've changed a lot!

I'm happy to report that over the past year I've lost about 55 pounds, I've run a half marathon and a whole bunch of shorter races, running 3 miles is an easy distance for me now, and I feel great!  It sounds so cliche I know, but gosh I wish I had done this years ago!

The best part of this journey, however, isn't about where I've been and what I've achieved so far.  Nope.  The best part is that I'm still excited and I'm still trying to reach new heights in my personal fitness quest.  I'm not ready to rest on my past accomplishments when I know I've got a lot more I can do!

Setting goals has been one of the keys to my success.  My second year of "getting strong" then will necessarily have a bunch of them to keep me fired up.

But before I share any of the goals I want to make one thing very clear.  All of this effort is about more than just a vanity trip.  Seriously, I'm not deluded enough to think that running an 11 minute mile is impressive in the grand scheme of things.  I'm doing all of this because (1) I want what ever time I have left on Earth to be energized and active, (2) I want to teach my kids to be fit by living that lifestyle, and (3) a healthy body is an integral aspect of being a spiritually whole person.

Okay, so now we move on to the goals!  Goal # 1 is to run 3 half marathons in 2011!  The first half marathon I've signed myself up for is on May 15th, the second one is on July 23rd and the third one is on September 11th.

Running 13.1 miles last November was hard, but it was also invigorating!  It was a distance that really pushed my body to its limits in a way that the 5Ks and 10Ks I had done prior never did.  The half marathon forced me to add miles to may weekly training regimen and got me running outside on the street and in the forest preserves.  I could do all of my training for the shorter races on a treadmill but I felt compelled to hit the pavement in preparation for the half marathon.

I trained for about 9 weeks for my first half marathon.  It took me about 2 weeks to fully recover afterwards.  Given the amount of prep and recovery time involved, I want to try to do more this year.  I know I can do 2 halfs in one year and that's why I chose 3 as my goal.

Goal # 2 is to drop down to 185 pounds by September 11, 2011.  That is the day of my third half marathon.  It's a special race.  I'm running that half marathon with friends from literally all phases of my life - people from high school, college and from my professional life and we're running it on the tenth anniversary of 9/11 to raise money and awareness for the reintegration of wounded U.S. veterans returning from war (we'll be running as Team Red White and Blue which is a charity based in Ann Arbor, MI).  Because its a special race with a special group of people at a time that will be quite solemn for us all, I want to be in the best shape possible.  Being lean is a critical component of being in great shape!

Goal # 3 is to run a total of 600 miles in 2011.  Even with races on the horizon it can be very easy to miss runs.  Since I don't run for time, once I build up a certain level of stamina, I can skimp on my training and still survive the races.  The solution?  Set a big enough aggregate goal for the year to keep me focused month to month.

To cover 600 miles in one year, however, requires that I run about 50 miles per month.  I need to cover 150 miles per quarter, and so on.  This keeps me going day to day.  When I miss a few workouts, I know that I'm falling behind in my miles.  But for the 600 mile goal those missed miles wouldn't really be missed.

So that's it for now!  I've got 3 big fitness goals for 2011!  Of course I'll running in other races (Shamrock Shuffle 8K on 4/10 in Chi-town, Race to End the Silence 8K on 4/23 in DC and Race Judicata 5K in Chi-town sometime in July) and I'll be lifting weights and all that other good stuff too!

Wish me luck and I'll keep you posted!

I want to be lean and mean... Not skinny and weird

This isn't sour grapes.  Really.

I do want to be lean and mean (Grrrr!  Eye of the tiger baby!!!).  I want to get down to a very healthy and athletic body weight and be strong.  I want to look good.  But this photo in the New York Times about Paris mens' fashion isn't what I have in mind:

I know my arm is bigger than one of the pant legs on this guy's trousers (well, I am making the assumption that he has some on), but that doesn't mean I'm jealous.

I like Levi's jeans, Nike and Reebok sports shirts, hoodies and cotton shirts.  But just for giggles it would be fun to special order a XXXL version of this guy's outfit and wear it to work one day.  Of course that would cost about a month's pay to afford it!

This fella's get-up just looks weird to me.

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P.S.  I'm not even going to comment on the hair!  That would be sour grapes!

3 Day Weekend (MLK Day) Means 2-A-Day Workouts!

I have Saturday, Sunday and Monday off.  This is a perfect time to get some strong workouts in!  I'm going to try to do 2-A-day workouts in all three days.

Up first on a Saturday afternoon - a 4 mile treadmill run!
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***UPDATE # 1 | 7:38 PM***

I ran 4 miles this afternoon on my treadmill.  It felt good.  I still need to squeeze in workout #2!

Slow start to a 600 mile year

I am going to run at least 600 miles in 2011.  That is one of my goals for 2011.  I expect to hit this goal.  I might even exceed it.  But alas the start has been painfully slow.

In fact the end of 2010 seems to have bled into 2011 with bad eating and a lack of motivation.  It's all mental.  The lack of some significant short term goals is making it too easy to slack off.

Thankfully the slacking is generating so much angst that I constantly feel uncomfortable.  This, in turn, is forcing me back on track.

Consider me back on track!

I've formally signed up for 2 8K races - the Shamrock Shuffle (4/10/11 in Chicago, IL) and the Race to Stop the Silence (4/23/10 in Washington, DC).  I still need to pick a half marathon for the summer.

I need to run a half marathon in either June or July.  I'll be fasting for the month of Ramadan all of August but I've got the 9/11/11 Chicago half marathon about 2 weeks after I finish the month of daily fasting.  If I can do a half marathon in late July just before Ramadan then I can use the 4 weeks to recover and still maintain my stamina for the next half marathon (or so I think).

It feels a lot better to have races lined up.  Hey, whatever works!