Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Well, starting out Day 52. Eight more days till 60 day weigh in. So, last night i didn't work out at all.  I got sick or something.  I think I'm trying to get some kind of respiratory infection cause i have some tightness in my chest.  Also, my Blood Pressure kinda shot up, not sure why, it's been good for almost 2 months now so I don't know.  I'm going to have to see a Doctor about it.

Had a fun chat with some of the crew at TeamDDpyoga.com last night on Hangouts, I've never used the function of Google+ before but it was really awesome.  I wasn't really talkative cause i wasn't feeling great. Don't know if any of those Members might read this (probably not) but I'll get there with yah don't worry.

So my plan today is to work out before i head to work.  I gotta Close tonight so that means i don't get off till 9:30pm.  As far as what I'll be eating today... That's still a potluck at this point.  Gotta get me some eggs for breakfast and we'll go from there.  I'll cut this one short, just cause I'm still not feel 100% , Everyone stay strong and Remember to Own what ever you do!!!

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Day 51

Another day almost done with.  Been feeling kinda low on energy for the past few days. Not really sure why. Probably cause my vacation ended and I'm back at work.. Booo.  So, pretty good day stuck to the new eating habits.  Had to modify a Tuna Pattie recipe to make sure it was gluten free and use the things in the house. ( cause I'm not going to the store to try and track down gluten free bread crumbs.) It turned out really good.  Need to add some spice to the "Breading" next time.
Here is the recipe for anyone who wants to try it, this is thanks to Marlena BTW.

Tuna Patties (Gluten Free) 

Ingredients

4  5oz cans of White Albacore Tuna (drained)
1/2 Cup mayo
1/4 Cup Carrots diced
1/4 Cup Bell Peppers (Green, Red, Yellow, you choice)
1/4 Cup Onions
3/4 Flax seed Mill
1 Egg
salt and pepper to taste.

Directions:
Mix 1/4 flax seed mill and all other ingredients together and let set in a refrigerator for 30 mins.
Preheat oven to 425 Degrees.
Spray cooking sheet with Olive Oil. 
Pattie out Patties in what ever size you want and roll them in the leftover Flax seed mill. (I would also add salt and pepper or spices of your choice.)
Place on cooking sheet and spay patties with oil and bake 10 mins on each side.



Add what you'd like and take away what you'd like. i really enjoyed them and had The Broccoli soup from the ddpyoga book.  Was and awesome dinner. Everyone stay strong and keep up the good work. Hope you all do well and succeed in your goals!!

Monday, July 29, 2013

Day 50

Dang, can't believe we have made it this far.  Kinda shocks me.  Well, we have been doing our best to stick with all gluten free diet and down very well so far.  It has been a bit more expensive and getting to the end of the month the budget is getting pretty tight.  We have been doing a lot of leftovers and just me and mommy meals and having hot dogs for the kids.  Going to try and budget out a little better next month. One of our neighbors told us there was a Wholefoods about 45 minutes from us and we are going to check it out and see what it's like.  Lucky for us we have a friend who raises chickens and has a ton of eggs we get for free.  Plus we have been pulling tomatoes from the garden and i got the first of my potatoes out too.

Also found a quick easy drink to help curve my sweet tooth.
I use Unsweetened Almond Milk and Olvaltine.  It tastes just like chocolate milk to me,  my youngest says its not sweet enough which tells me how much sugar she is used to getting from school chocolate milk.  We where just using protein bars to help curve the cravings after workouts but this is really low calories and has quite a bit of nutrients.

On another note, My blood pressures have been creeping up on me just a little. Nothing like it use to be mind you, but still enough i need to have some kind of medication to regulate it.

Also, I've been quite disappointed.  Ive lost a fair amount of weight. I'm very proud of it and have been waiting for people to notice, but i still don't get the "Dang you've lost weight.. how. blah blah..". I'm a pretty tall guy at 6 foot 6 inches and i usually carry my weight pretty good but i can see the difference in the mirror.. so much so that I'm excited for my 60 day photo's so i can show it off. Just seems like no one around me is noticing, even the people that haven't seen me in a few.  Oh well, i don't do it for them, would just like to have that recognition is all.

Well everyone who reads this, Stay strong!! You can and Will do this!!

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Day 48 What Inspires You

Usually i write about how i did one day to the next or something that might have happened to slow me or motivate on day to the next, but today i wanted to just write about what Inspires.  I've seen alot of stuff in Vlogs and Blogs people asking what inspires you or what made you start the DDPY program or even why it took so long.  Well, for me many of the videos you seen on YouTube including Arthur's, but not just him.  See I saw that video and i thought, well this is just one man who is to say this isn't a normal result.  So i set out to see more videos and i found a ton.. Everyone from DDPYogaVsRob , SLimtronic, Ian Rogers and everyone in between and i couldn't help but feel this was legit and exactly what i needed.

I know I've Wrote about my Open Heart Surgery, but I never really tell the whole thing.  See, At the age of 30 when i had the double-bypass to correct a "Widow Maker" The surgeon went out into the waiting room with my family and told them 50% of my Heart is dead.  He Told them If i did EVERYTHING they said I Would Live a MAX of 10 more years.. Of course i was told this information from my family and at first it motivated me.  I did everything i was told to do, but i kept going back into the hospital for a Multitude of reason, blood clots and pneumonia just to name a couple.  It got harder and harder to stay on track.  I had wonderful friend who tried to help push me and keep me going and in the end i pushed him away. I was doing what the doctors said.. I was Busting my ass everyday working out and eating right (so I thought) and couldn't keep the weight off and the thought of Just having 10 years lingered in my mind. I got so down.. so depressed I pushed everyone away.  I drank and wallowed in self pity.  I did horrible things to hurt people around me cause I was hurting so bad inside. Then Last Year i lost my Mother.. She was the world to me.  I lost so much time To spend with her just drowning in depression.. and my mother was so strong. So later that year i turned 36 I weighed 320 lbs and I was trying to get things together... I kept in my mind how my mother raised me.. and how much she loved everyone around her and she always help anyone who needed it. I couldn't be Depressed, Weak and just waiting to die anymore i had to fix it, my daughters are 13 and 7 and i want to teach them both to drive... I want to hold them on their first broken heart and i want to see my grandchildren... All that doesn't happen in 10 years.. I refuse to accept my expiration date.  If you have seen my day one photo's you can see the scare on my chest.. it's not very pretty.. they did a pretty crappy job putting me back together, but it was emergency surgery so i accept that.  That's a constant reminder of the expiration date. So, I push everyday to be stronger, healthier, and smaller everyday... I've not seen enough Smiles ... I've not shed enough tears in this life yet to give up.... I'm Stronger then that.  I've survived for a reason, a reason more then to just die at a 40.  I'll Live My Life at 90% .... I'll keep pushing and Ducking the Reaper and show just how stubborn i can Be and eventually he'll avoid me in Fear of the BANG!!  If I can Inspire just One person to keep going and maybe avoid the Reapers Grasp too.. then I've done good and I'll make my Mother proud.  That's why I'm thankful for DDPY.. this isn't just a weight loss program.. This gives me a way to share and help others on the same journey and Get help when we need it. Its Healing of the Mind and Body and I couldn't be more thankful for it.  Thank You to Everyone From TeamDDpYoga.com

Get Strong and Stay strong everyone!! 

Friday, July 26, 2013

Day 47

Been a few days sense our last post.  Had to take a few days to get things done.  Didn't get everything I wanted but got some of it. So, Everything has been going right on track so far.  My Blood Pressures are still staying down.  Marlena's gaining flexibility and losing some inches. So far so good.

So yesterday we did Below The Belt with DDPVsRob Live yesterday, it was an Awesome workout. Couldn't do some of the positions but did how i could and what i could. It was great but my only complaint was on Calf Raisers ... My Yoga Mat kept bunching up on me.  I tripped over it a few times.  It would stick to my heals and ball up.. i got mad and just stepped onto the floor until the next position.  Its a cheap mat from Walmart, not even sure the brand. I guess its time to invest in a couple of better mats.  Just sooo many to choose from and i can't afford $70 mats, that's just not going to happen, but I'll figure something out.

Something else I've been experiencing here lately is hunger..  I've been getting hungry more often then i was when i started.  I've been doing good drinking water or snacking on veggies is its early in the day, But i think i need to look and see if I'm taking in enough calories or if my body is just trying to eat because of boredom.  I was really bad for that before. I'd just eat cause i didn't have anything else to do.


Oh, One other piece of progress.  I've been seeing a lot of chat about Black Crow.  So i had to give this a go and try.  Well, I did it about about 6 tries over 2 days.  It lasted about 5 secs (long enough to get the picture) then i loosened up and went head first into the floor. Wife loved that one. I laughed too mainly cause i did it! I couldn't have done that a month ago, Hell i wouldn't have attempted something like that in fear of hurting myself.  But you never know what you can do unless you try and hell you'll probably surprise yourself.. i know i did!!  Now i gotta get Marlena to do it!!



Tuesday, July 23, 2013

DAY 44 Don't Lettem get yah down!!

Okay, today was a good, but frustrating day. Today we ate right and went for a good walk. After i finish this we will be doing Energy + RHC.  On to the Frustrating part.

Think I'll have to give a little background here. You see my Whole Family is riddled with heart problem.  My mother passed away last year of congestive heart failure.  So after i found My Blood Pressures had dropped just from going Gluten free i had to share with the family.  My sister is full on board, but she always was the smarter one of the bunch.  My dad on the other had.. Excuse after Excuse.  " I Can't do that" " I can't do this". I really hate that negativity at this point in my life, but he is still my father so i try and show him and just little bit at a time and you would thing just seeing his son Lose the weight and drop the BP he would be on board but no. Not even trying a gluten free diet just cause He doesn't want to cook... Flat out told me if its not microwavable he doesn't want anything to do with it.  Wow, just wow, but I just keep on.  Tell him some of his alternative and hopefully one day it will sink into that thick skull and hopefully we won't lose him too.  Now my Brother is another story we won't get into. Now this isn't the Truly frustrating part.

He goes to a retiree dinner and then comes to my house just after we had dinner (Broccoli soup from the ddp hand book and it was awesome) and says he brought some leftovers.  Well that awesome i thought but then i asked what it was.... Bread.  He freaking brings Banana nut bread and Cinnamon raisin bread over. All i could think was.. Really..Really....Really.  Then says my children can have it.. Now i don't force my children to be Gluten free yet, but they are for the most part cause we are, But i really don't want them to eat to much and i Tell him that but he argues back.. "They are still young they can handle it, Its just us Old farts that can't have it" .. It's like every word i have told him just slipped out his head.. like he never heard me.
But, i kinda laughed and after he left I tossed it out and told my Children why.  They understood and didn't fuss. ( I have Great kids)

It Just makes me want to work that much harder to try and show him and help him.  Just the same as i want to show the world that I Can't Never did anything!! Determination, Struggle and Hard work are what Makes a person strong!!  Not saying I CAN'T!!  So i Challenge EVERYONE who may read this Just take a week and Never say you can't.  Atleast Say I'll Try .. But I'll Tell You .. I'll Be Saying I WILL!!  Don't Let Negativity Get You Down, Let it Make you More Determined.  PEACE OUT!!

Day 43ish

Lets start out buy saying its been a rough couple day. We have had nothing but rain here in good ol' Kentucky for awhile now and i have many things i need to get done. Also, My back seems to hurt more when the rain comes.  So, for the past 2 days I've been in a ton of pain.  Yesterday I wanted anything but to do my yoga.  I tried doing anything but it, I don't know why I've loved doing it everyday for 40 days.  Stress is building from typical things, money mainly.  Trying hard to see the silver lining.  Back on track now, Yesterday I had to force myself to get my Yoga done... Again I LOVED IT. I feel so much better when i do it.. my back loosens up and i can move better.  I just Gotta keep moving forward, keep pushing my way through these low spots.  I'm keeping to the eating change and now i have my Sister looking into changing her diet and trying DDPYOGA. (I might have mentioned that.. lol short attention span) I truly hope she does cause I Blood Pressure runs in my family and if not eating gluten had dropped mine all i can do is hope it does her too.  Now I just gotta get My Brother on Board.

Oh before i forget. (attention span of a squirrel here) I seen a Vlog from a fellow member of TDDPY and he spoke of healthy snack and there where very interesting things, but unfortunately some of those things are not available in this area/Country.   So i did a little research and found somethings very similar.  First thing is a Almond Riser Bar They are a all natural, Gluten and GMO free protein bar and look very good.  The Cost is not that crazy. They also have a full mix of breakfast bars and alike.
The next are called The Core These look awesome but seem a bit pricey to me, but if i could afford to drop the extra bucks I'd be all over them.

Well, I'm off to get some breakfast and get this day rolling into overdrive.  Gotta Keep The Hammer Down.

Sunday, July 21, 2013

The Weekend (Day 41)

Well, been a good weekend. I start my 7 day "Staycation" from work.  Not going anywhere just going to get some repairs done to the house and yoga.

So yesterday we took a off day. We were beat. I kinda wished i hadn't though. I woke up this morning and my back was hurting horribly.  I got some water and popped in  Wake up cause that usually helps a ton.  I did the workout and was still a little stiff and sore. Well Marlena, my wife for those wondering, got home from church and i was lurking in teamddpyoga chat and someone said they did some of the exercises on their off day but didn't really engage the muscles so much and that made perfect sense to me.  So I told Marlena to strap on the heart monitor we are doing some yoga.

Now i normally work hard when i do the exercise but this time I just took it easy.  I engaged a little but kept it very mild and i was amazed that my heart rate got right into my zone just like normal but i wasn't pushing my muscles  that hard. I got sweaty but wasn't breathing nearly as hard and at the end of it my stiff back and pain was gone again.  Instead of reaching for painkillers i reach for a yoga DVD. Oh, and Thanks for the helpful comment from HeidiSue that inspired that workout!

We had a great dinner Sunday too. Finally bought a steamer. JCpenny's had on sale for 60% off! couldn't pass that up,  But we had steamed Broccoli, Cauliflower, carrots and gluten free Meatloaf! Meatloaf was leftover from the other day but when we cook we kinda go overboard. Great dinner, then i made the kids and Marlena "Milk Shakes" I used Silk Almond Milk, Half a banana and GMO-Gluten Free-all natural peanut-butter and blended. The kids loved it and the collieries where only around 290 a cup.

Now over the last month or so I've noticed a huge improvement in my flexibility and weight loss and dropped pant sizes. So had Marlena.  She had to buy new Bras cause her chest diameter had shank 4 inches. All that said i can't believe the drop in my Blood Pressure. I've not taken pills in 3 weeks and i watch it like a hawk and its always good.  The proof is in the pudding as they say and all i can say is wow.. I've told my sister about it all and I've got her excited to start and hopefully she will feel the same as me.  Honestly i don't see how she can't... this program is the best I've found.. people in it are just awesome..

Stay Awesome and Peace!!

My Blood pressure as of 30 minutes ago.



Saturday, July 20, 2013

G&M's DDPYOGA Experience Day 40

Day 40, still 20 days from our 60 day weight in. Well, day 40 was a hard day. I had a ruff work schedule that day and thought very seriously about skipping the day cause I've worked out everyday this week. But as i sat at my computer, lurking on Teamddpyoga.com i heard a little voice in my head from a friend of mine. I've not seen this man is a year or so and he is a dear friend. He lives in Taiwan now and i really only get to see him on Facebook or when we Skype from time to time. So, his voiced poped into my head telling me "The days your body tells you not to workout are the days you must work out." .. This was from a conversation me and him had over the phone one night when i told him i had hit 320 lbs.  He's right and I got my butt up and got Marlena's butt up and we did FatBurner.  We are both sore today but very worth the workout. I made it to work fine, though a bit tired, and got through the day.  Sometimes you just gotta drown out those other voices with positive ones. 

So today we are trying a Gluten free meatloaf. It looks very good and we got several new gluten free things from the store.  It's hard to find anything around here.  We don't have a Whole Foods or anything like it.  We also found Silken Tofu for broccoli soup so that will be awesome. so if you Interested here is a link to the Meatloaf recipe. I'll let you all know tomorrow if its any count.

One last note, I've been thinking of doing a Detox and I'm not sure if i should try one or not.  I've heard good an bad on both parts and I'm not sure if i should just give my body time to detox itself or try one of those many different one.  Either way leave me some info, a link, post or comment. Thanks a bunch.

Stay Awesome and Strong guys!! Peace!!

Friday, July 19, 2013

Day 39 of G & M DDPYOGA Experience

Yesterday was another great day. Had a good breakfast and kept all my meals on track. Marlena did that same but she had a late meal because She ended up doing two of the Fatburner workouts yesterday. I couldn't make it to the live one for DDPYOGAVSROB yesterday, but she did and rather then have me do mine alone she stuck it right in there with me. Once we got into Red Hot Core she stepped it back some cause she was really hurting.

Today is a tough day though. I've gotta work a long shift 11-9:30 and then gotta be right back into work tomorrow at 7:30am so I'm hoping i can get my Fatburner in tonight and then hit the sack, but I'm pretty sore. We will see what the day brings after i Get my Oil for this tin man.

Also, sense i've been gluten free for almost 2 months now my Blood Pressure has come way down. I don't know if anyone else has experienced this but i can't take my pill the way I use to and I've tried to take a small dose of just ONE of them and it drives it way down.  So, I've been off my pills for a few days and my BP has been pretty good.  I'll have to go to the doc and have it officialy checked out to see whats up.

Well Off to oil up and eat some Breakfast! Remember.. Everyday to OWN IT!!!

Thursday, July 18, 2013

G&M's DDPYOGA Experience Day 38

Alright Day 38, Yep first post starts with day 38 but you gotta start somewhere so we start here. Yesterday was a great day! Stuck to the plan and ate Gluten free and good healthy meals. We ended our day with Energy + RHC. Also, I guess there was a challenge in the TeamDDpYoga.com Chat to add RHC to your workouts everyday this week. I was unaware at the time but we had already added them this week just a Boost to the workouts! So Yay i was ahead of the game this time.

For today We plan on Doing FatBurner + RHC tonight. I will not be able to make it to The live view of DDPYOGAVSROB tonight but Marlena will be there right along with everyone there. Have fun and Melt some fat off your ass!! I'll have to do mine tonight after work but i'll still get mine, no worries there.

Okay folks, Time to get some Oil for this tin man and get this day rocking! PEACE!!!

Intro To G&M's DDPYoga Experience

Okay, lets try this again. I tried to post from my phone but it wouldn't let me and lost the whole post! JOY! so lets do this again!

First Off this is a Blog about me (George) and my Wife's (Marlena) experience with DDPYOGA. We have been doing it for 38 day and absolutely love it. Now this is our first blog away from Teamddpyoga.com but we have been posting a few things here and there.

Just a lowdown on who we are. I (George) am a 36 years old Male who at 23 had lower back surgery and at 30 years old had to have a double bypass operation on my heart because i had a Heart attack at the age of 25 and didn't know it. The reason for the heart attack wasn't because of my health but was because i had unregulated high Blood Pressure. So, at 30 I go into the hospital with some pains and technically died 3 times, I still tell my wife from time to time that we are technically not married anymore but she doesn't agree with that logic. So, after the operation i did good at that time i was 220 lbs and worked a pretty physically demanding job. Shortly after getting back to work and finding out i couldn't do the things i was doing the company started to lean on me cause i was costing them so much in insurance. Then one day laying in a hospital bed just after a clot passed through my heart I decided it was time to leave that job.  Well, after years of fighting to get disability I got very depressed. My family was struggling to stay afloat. If not for my wonderful family and friends we would have been homeless many times. But during this time i started gaining weight.. Lots of weight. At the beginning of this year i weight 320 lbs.  I looked in the mirror and had to remember who i was and remember what i had fought through and realized i was giving up... I DON'T GIVE UP! So I starting trying every thing i could to loose weight. But i couldn't get below 300 lbs. Then one day i say Arthur's video on YouTube and was amazed at the transformation, but i thought .. this is one guy out of a 1000 people who have tried this.. but i kept looking for other videos and say all kinds of self-made videos of people losing weight and getting their lives back.. but i still couldn't get myself to order those DVDs. Finally it took my wife to say she would do them with me and to give it a try.. the cost was less then a set of weights or any piece of exercise equipment. So i did..

Now my Wife (Marlena) is 34 years old Female who at 16months old was diagnosed with diabetes. She has lived her whole live with this disease. This last year she has been diagnosed with kidney failure and is currently on dialysis.  She does Peritoneal dialysis at home. For those who don't know what it is, here is a link. She is far from overweight but she decided to do this with me and help motivate and keep me doing it.  She just wishes to gain some flexabilty and to get fit for her Transplant. I don't need to go into the other things going on with her cause most are the cause of her diabetes or her kidney failure.

We have 2 children.. that we will not leave behind anytime soon. This i guarantee .. and if you know me.. i don't lie and WE WILL OVERCOME!!