Update.

Sorry the updates have been few and far between recently.  Life has been busy and so has work.  Guess I shouldn't really complain about that.

Weekly weigh in went well down to a shade over 187 now, only about 10 lbs to go till my goal weight.

Went for a great run a few days ago.  Covered 5 miles in less than 44 minutes.  Hopefully I can hold this pace or better during the marathon relay.  My goal for my 6.7 mile leg is to finish in under an hour.

I haven't been on the bike much in the last few weeks except for a few short rides on the trainer in the mornings before work when my legs were too tired to run.

Noah is doing great, pretty sure without a doubt he said DA to me the other day.  He is now pulling to stand with minimal or no assistance.  He can do the sign language for "MILK," and he shakes his head back and forth like he is showing "NO" even though I think he is just doing it to get that dizzy feeling.  Because he hasn't really used it to say NO, except once when I was trying to feed him cereal.  Gonna try to discourage him from using NO too much, but it is hilarious to watch him sit and shake his head till he falls over.

Life is good...weight in this week may not be, I have not been a good weight watchers disciple this week.

More soon friends, thanks for reading!

It's been a whole year.

It just dawned on me during my weigh in on Sunday that I have been doing Weight Watchers for men for a full year now.

I began that journey on January 9th, 2011 here with a different blog.  I started weight watchers at a hefty 235lbs and close to a 40" waist, I was headed down a path of obesity and self destruction.  Ok, maybe destruction is a strong word but theoretically that was possible if I continued down that path.  Those first few months were really difficult for me.  Adjusting to a life of less food, more exercise, and less scotch and beer was awful.

On my 1 year weigh in anniversary January 8th, 2012 I weighed in at an exciting 195.8lbs.  In my head my goal was to lose 50lbs in one year. That would have put me at a healthy weight loss of just under a pound a week.  I am at 39.2lbs lost for the year, and couldn't be more excited.  The weight loss is very noticeable now.  I had a friend who hasn't seen me over 3 months say, "where did you go?"  I laughed and took that as a huge compliment!

This was me before I started weight watchers:

I now fit in almost 34" waist jeans, I was able to put on jeans the other day that I haven't worn in years.

I am now no longer ashamed of my gut hanging over my belt and will tuck in shirts again.  (Now I look less sloppy).


This is me now:

(I really need to get some more full body pictures of myself, but its tough because I am always the guy behind the lens).

I definitely look drastically different in the face, and although the picture of me with Noah is from when he is 5 days old, I have only lost about 6 or 7 lbs since then.

I am regaining my confidence, and with the added weight loss my workouts supercharge my days.

I am faster.

I am leaner.

I am happier.

I am healthier.

I am stronger.

I am better now than I was before, and I will be even better this year.

I will be able to keep up with Noah when he starts walking and running.

I sleep better.

My joints don't hurt when I run anymore.

My feet don't hurt after work anymore.

My clothes fit like they are supposed to.

My wedding ring doesn't fit because my fingers got skinnier...(WTH, I had fat fingers?!!)

I bought a bike, I ride alot.

I run, ALOT.

As my next challenge to myself I also joined the Shirt Off Swimsuit Challenge , you can join their facebook page.  It is run by a rather inspirational person as well.  Brad L.  I met Brad when I first started running again at a Fleet Feet Couch to 5K program.  Brad is a marathoner (and longer distances), cyclist, and all around pretty fit guy these days.  Challenge yourself to be ready for the beach this summer and join his facebook group.  I don't know if I will ever be posting pictures of myself with my shirt off...but I will be ready for the beach this summer, will you?

Also, as a side note if you need some humorous and charming gems to read you should check out my little sisters blog as well...Click here, here, or here.  It will take you to her page.

longest ride yet.

In keeping with my workout routine, I sometimes feel like I have to make up for missed exercise days with an extended workout.  I haven't been on the bike in about a week and was feeling the itch to really get out and ride.  I gave my friend Mark a call and he was definitely in for a longer ride since we skipped our last ride for pancakes and time with our wives and kids.

I have been under the weather the last 4 or 5 days with a mild chest cold so I was curious as to how my lungs would hold up.  I must say that there is nothing that will make you feel better with a chest cold than fresh air and a 20 mile bike ride.  Yes, 20 miles.  This is my longest ride to date this year.  We headed out to the Montour trail at Logan Road and road well into Peters Township.  10 miles out and 10 miles back, total time with 1 stop for pictures and a snack 1 hour and 45 minutes.  Not too shabby if you ask me.  The sun was shining and the temperature was just right to prevent us from overheating.  If you haven't been to the Montour trail in the Bethel or Peters Township area I highly recommend it, the scenery is just amazing.

The ride gave me an additional 24 points to use during this week on the weight watchers program.  I am going to try to avoid using all 24 points because I am trying to get out of this weight loss slump I am in.  I made sure to snack on a fiber one bar while we were riding and got plenty of water.  Afterwards I had a low fat turkey burger (high protein) on a bagel thin and a bowl of Campbell's select beef barley (light) soup.   I also had a glass of skim milk right away to help get my muscles healing before I jumped in the shower.

Dinner last night was a spinach and tomato salad with light ranch and some leftover low fat turkey sausage with roasted peppers, onion, and garlic.

I don't know if it is the cold I am fighting or just the quality of protein I was eating yesterday but I feel very satisfied after those meals.  Maybe I will have to try them out again when my system is firing on all cylinders.

Post #2 10/27/2011 Fitdad update.

I seem to have become a cluster-poster.  Making all my posts for the past few days in one single day, so if you didn't read the earlier post from today you can find it here.  This post is going to be more fitdad, than dad, but there is still a small amount of dad thrown in at the end.

I have now been going on close to a week with my "refocused" approach to weight watchers for men.  Sunday will be the determining factor if it is working.  I have been diligently tracking my points and snacks and I also lowered my daily points target by 2 to see if that helps as well.  I have been on the bike trainer once for 35 minutes and ran two days ago, all since my last post.  I had made plans to go ride with my friend Mark on Wednesday, but rain and a hankering for pancakes kept us indoors.  Can't say that I regretting missing that workout for Pumpkin Pancakes and a great brunch spent with Mark and Kristin and their daughter Carly.  She and Noah are just too cute when they are together...all the old ladies were swooning.  Mark and I figure we can really pick up some hot blue hairs during brunches.

I set out on a mission during my run a few days ago to see how fast I could run a 5k.  I did that a few weeks ago when I was in Jersey for a wedding and ran a 25:38.  My goal was to run faster than that, I pushed and pushed, and finished in 25:25.  I was pretty stoked!!  Actually a little sore today because I haven't run that hard in a while.  I feel as though if I keep pushing myself I will be able to get my 5k time down into the 24's by the new year and hopefully further down that next year.

I need to get in at least 1 or 2 more workouts this week to feel comfortable with my progress.  Today is out because I work all day.  I will either have to get up early before work Friday (unlikely), or workout after work.  I am due to spin on the bike for at least 30 minutes followed by a run before Sunday.

My diet has been erratic the last few weeks, but it's difficult to always stay on the program when you are attending parties (baptism) and going out to eat.  Thank heaven that fruits and veggies are 0 points on weightwatchers plus because bananas, apples, kiwi, celery, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, and pears have been my hunger busters the past few days.  I have also relied on fiber one bars (4pts), baby bell (light) cheeses (1pt), and eggs (2pts) and chicken breasts (vary due to size), to fill my diet with fiber, protein, and flavor!  I rarely use mayo on sandwiches because its has a points value, I prefer hot sauce and mustard whenever possible.  I have really tried hard to cut out the mindless snacking that I consistently don't think about when I am hungry as well.

Now on to the additional "dad" section of part 2 of today's blog.  Here are the developed pictures from Noah's 2 month photo shoot!  I have had a few people ask me where we got the onesies marked with months for the pictures.  Those are actually stickers, we received them as a gift from our good friend Kristin Sullivan!  She said she got them from www.etsy.com just search for baby month stickers.  You will see a large selection of them.  (I don't make any money from you clicking that link just wanted to share!)

Workout? Not so much.

I had another uneventful weigh in this week.  I am plateaued at 199lbs, not that I am complaining though because I also haven't gained any weight in over 6 weeks.  I was only able to get a run in this week twice, which was disappointing but not the end of the world.  I am off tomorrow and after a dr appointment for Noah and a haircut for dad I am going to go for a run.  Hopefully get the week started of on the right foot!

Noah is doing really well now that he is primarily on formula.  He gets about 4 to 6 formula bottles and 4 breast milk bottles each day now.  Christine is primarily pumping because Noah all but refuses to breast feed anymore.  The problem is that bottles flow very easily even if a baby isn't actively sucking on them.  The breasts...well, not so much.  The baby has to work very hard to feed from the breast, he has to earn it.  Since we were forced to supplement Noah's diet until Christine's milk production came up we ended up spoiling him as well.  We are disappointed that he isn't breast feeding anymore but relieved as well because now we know how much he is eating at each feeding.  He is eating almost every 2 hours during the day right now and about every 4 or 5 hours during the night.  On the plus side for Christine, I am now able to wake up with Noah and feed him at night so she can get a little more sleep.

I don't have much else to comment on tonight, working till 9 and listening to the Steelers game on the radio until I get home.

Here is the last month in cell phone pictures...my has my little boy changed in 4 weeks!