Day 85 (Not dead or forgotten)

Well, it has a been some time sense my last blog post. Life has gotten pretty busy with the kids in school now and just life in general.  That's really no excuse and i will get back into the groove of our blog just gotta get it into the new routine.  We haven't fallen off the wagon or anything we are still going strong with our eating and ddpy.  There has been some ups and downs though. Getting use to doing my yoga alone was harder then i thought.  On most nights Marlena goes to bed shortly after i get home from work and that leaves me up alone and having to do my yoga without her.  That happening I've found it very easy to talk myself out of doing it.  I still do the minimum at 3 times a week but that just doesn't seem like enough.  I don't feel like my lose will be that much come my 90 days, BUT I'm sure it will be a lose and that's all that matters.  I've gotten back on track the past week after going out to a friends house and doing ddpy with him out in the yard to show him how it's done.  I really enjoyed that and even though i thought it would bother me people seeing me do it i wasn't bothered at all.  Even one of his neighbors came out and seen us and i just hollered at him to come on over we can make room for him.  Then had to explain what it was and then i felt like an infomercial but that's okay.  I just ran him thought the diamond dozen and even got a workout from it myself.  Only down side was i kinda ruined my yoga mat so i definitely gotta get a new one of those, so if anyone still reads this and has a recommendation on a good but not super expensive mat let me know.

I'll keep this short for now and I'll try and post each day again to keep myself on track but to also help everyone will a little inspiration from time to time.  I'll let you know about my eating break down this past Saturday and how it affected everything next time.  Til then folk Stay strong and Go Do Your Dang DDP yoga!!!

day 71 (Moving by quick)

Man, these days are just cruising by.  Well, we are on track with the workouts and balancing those with school at the moment.  Could fall apart anytime but we will see.  Been sticking to the gluten free and had some Meatloaf tonight! Was good stuff.   Might do a RHC tonight I'm not sure, it's an off day but i kinda wanna do something.  On another note, I don't mention Marlena enough, she is in this with me.  Not so much to lose weight but to get healthy for a transplant surgery (time unknown). At first she lost very little weight and that was good, but she was loosing inches. Now she is seeing weight loss along with the inches.  She last weight herself at 113lbs and she started this at 120lbs. That's 7lbs and she started out in 7/8 pants and so she had to buy some new ones and found out she is now in 1/2's .  I told her no more weight loss! She's going to have to protein it up!!! For most ppl that would be awesome to be losing that weight and if she didn't have a tube in her stomach for dialysis i would be right along with it, but she has to have room to fill up with "Solution" each night.  So i gotta make her eat more LOL... Bet you never thought you would see that huh.

I'm still struggling with my Heart Rate and my Medicine.  I think i have found a way to do it so i can still get my Heart rate up and take my Medicine, but it'll be about timing when i take them and work out.  So, we will see how this goes.

Again, thanks for the encouragement guys! I will keep doing this and i will reach my Goals! Stay Strong!!

Day 57

Day 57, getting pretty excited at this point to take pictures and put up the comparison photos.  I can see I've lost inches and people are noticing like I've said before. Had a day off yesterday, got caught up on yard work and lazed around the house.  Still ate good.  Had some leftovers that are cluttering up the fridge and look some notes on a Live chat last night with some of the TeamDDPYoga folks. My illness seems to be pretty much gone now.  I had a TON of energy yesterday and did get somethings done in the house, like packing a bunch of stuff upstairs i didn't want to do before. I Did do a lot of heavy lifting and today my back isn't sore at all.  Just realized that as i sat here typing this lol.

So, last night during the live hangout a question came up about what your favorite quick fix meal was and actually a lot of conversation about food. It was killing me, made me so hungry.  I honestly couldn't think of a "Favorite" food i eat now.  To tell the truth i try not to focus on the food cause that kinda what got me here in the first place.  I know i need to cook good food, and i do but i don't want to make it all i focus on anymore.  Use to my day consisted of when is my next food break.  At work i would look for break for a time to eat. Then i get home and ask the wife What was for dinner.  Then after dinner I'd start wondering what i could have to snack on... It was bad, but i never noticed it.  I even remember a time i had pick up a friend of mine to hang out for the day and in a 3 hour period went out to eat twice because i couldn't think of anything else to do.  I've gotten to the point now i don't want to eat all the time.  I'll skip meals if i think i can, I know its not good, but I'm not feeling hungry when i do it.  Oh and i do have my tricks for my sweet tooth.  I use unsweetened almond milk Olvaltine and Peanut butter and make a shake.  Taste awesome and really cuts my cravings. So all and all i have no favorite foods ATM.  Maybe I'm odd, but I've never been quite normal.  I'm not very sociable either, but we will save that for another blog rant.  Okay guess, Be Strong and Stay Strong!! And don't forget to do Your DDPYOGA!!!

Day 55

Feeling a lot better today. Still not 100% but definitely around 90's.  Starting getting my "Bang!" back into my work outs again and pushing myself like i should.  I'm still getting tired in the evenings, but that could be lack of sleep cause the crazy work schedule. Not sure but I'm off tomorrow and i plan on sleeping in.  Well, that's the plan.. kids usually kill that one.

On another note I'm noticing a difference in how i deal with stress.  My work can get pretty stressful with dealing with the public and not so happy public at that.  Well, today we had a Call off and left us short handed and the day was pretty busy.  To make it even worse was the one guy with me was fairly new and the other only has two speeds... slow and stopped.  So as it gets busy and people start getting aggravated cause of the wait and every 2 minutes i have to help one of the other guys with something.  Normally I probably would have snapped.. But i didn't.  I apologized and explained the problem and help each person as fast as i could.  Even with one Customer who was getting very perturbed and wanted to get mad at me couldn't cause i just kept smiling and doing the best i could to help him and as he left he apologized to me.  It was a great day!! The other guys where frustrated and short fused and i told them after it slowed down.. "It's going to be that way no matter what, so why let it get you mad.. I'd rather be happy when it happens.. feels better that way."  They both looked at me like I'd lost my mind.  I'm glad I'm seeing the differences in my mind and body.  The pain i use to suffer from all the time and doctors just kept feeding me painkillers is subsided to the point i don't notice it and I don't have to wait 10mins to get out of bed or get out of a chair cause the shooting pain.  I'm thankful for this.

Well Time to fly and shower to get ready for bed. Everyone Stay Strong and BE Strong!!

Day 53: Falling ill

Well, it be day 53 of our DDPyoga experience, its been a fun ride for the most part.  The past few days I've been sick and little to no energy. I've done my work outs but just really didn't want to and it seemed a lot harder then usual. Finally went to the doctor today and found out I have pleurisy.  It hurts to breath deep, but no so much it keeps me from working out full on.  Down side, my blood pressure took a spike and i took my meds and it bottomed out my Blood pressure sooo i talked to the doctor about that and they set me up an appointment with a hypertension specialist to work out what meds i should be on. Funny thing is the specialist is the same doctor my wife sees for her kidneys, so i know him already and like him, so hopefully I'll get this annoyances fixed.

So, today has started out particularly stressful.  Nothing to insane but still aggravating enough to make me wanna focus on it.  I'm trying really hard to keep a positive outlook and live life at 90%.  I take a deep breath and do my best to keep everything calm and not get mad, but dang some people.. specially family (wife's side) just like to push buttons cause they are unhappy and want you the same way.  Just gotta stay positive and keep moving forward and doing what i have to.  Not feeling to energetic today so hopefully after some meds I'll feel the #BANG! again.  Be strong and stay strong!!

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!!!

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!!

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!!

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!!