Back on June 10th I posted about a weight loss challenge I was giving myself. My goal was to lose 20 pounds before Affiliate Summit East which starts next week. You can read my post about that here.
A quick recap: When I started I was 218.2 pounds so I would need to be at 198.2 to complete my goal.
I haven’t been doing anything too radical to lose the weight. Mostly just eating a bit better and exercising more. I haven’t been taking any Acai berry or hoodia or any gimmicks like that but have (for the most part) cut out a lot of the junk food I used to eat, eat smaller portions when I do eat, and try to walk or run 3-5 times a week.
That isn’t to say I don’t occasionally indulge. Just a couple days ago on Wednesday I ate this:
That burger does look as big as you think. It was probably 8 or 9 inches across and the patty was a full pound. I was able to plow through it in about 10 or 15 minutes and it all went down suprisingly easy. And I finished off a bunch of the fries als0.
So I haven’t been starving myself. And that is only the second “really bad” meal I have had since I started. So one of those a month seems to be acceptable.
Anyway, I got on the scale today and look what I saw:
198 pounds!!!
I was able to reach my goal with about a week left until Affiliate Summit starts. 20 pounds gone and hopefully never to come back. When you see me at Affiliate Summit there will be a bit less of me to see. Now don’t think this gives you the right to not take me out to pizza or bagels or street meat or any of the other great foods New York has to offer. I will still eat with the best of them when the opportunity arises. I can always lose the weight when I get home.
I will probably keep going and try to get down around 190-195 or so and try to maintain there. I don’t want to get too skinny and I will probably start doing more strength workouts to get some of the muscle back but for now I am at 198 and I was able to reach my goal!
There were a few of you who were also gonna try to drop a few pounds. How have you been doing? Remember, I am gonna donate $2 for every pound lost to Affiliate Marketers Give Back. So post your updates in the comments and let me know how you are doing.
Time for another update. When we last spoke I was down 8.2 pounds to 210 so I still had 11.8 pounds to go to reach my goal of 198.2 and 20 pounds lost.
Last week was a bit of a setback. I spent the week at a camp with 65 high school and jr highers from my church. These camps aren’t condusive to good eating so it was a week of not so heatlhy food. I kept my portions at the meals under control for the most part (i.e. one hamburger instead of 2 hamburgers and a giant hot dog, 3 tacos instead of 6 tacos, etc.) but there was more snacking than I would have liked. But my activity level was pretty high and I did a fair amount of running around so it wasn’t a total disaster. By the end of the week when I got home I was up to 214.
Time to get back to eating well. I made it through the 4th of July without any gluttonous indulgences and over the past few days the scale has been showing smaller and smaller numbers which is good to see. The extra pounds I put on last week quickly went away.
So I step on the scale this morning and I saw the smallest number yet: 207.8. That is a total loss of 10.4 and I still have 40 days or so to go. I don’t think it will be too hard to drop another 10 pounds if I keep eating well and walking or running 10-15 miles a week.
Total Weight Loss: 10.4
Anyone else have any updates? Post a comment and let me know.
It has been two and a half weeks and I figured it is time to give an update on the weight loss. If I were a betting man I would have bet that I would have given up by now. But that isn’t the case!
As far as food goes I have been doing pretty well. There have been a couple indulgences here and there (6 pieces of fried chicken and 3 biscuits wolfed down in about 20 minutes is probably at the top of that list) but even with graduation parties, picnics, fathers day meat feasts and other stuff like that I have managed to do a pretty good job of keeping the junk food away.
I think in those two and a half weeks I have logged about 12 miles or so walking/running, 3 games of softball, a couple rounds of golf (BTW, during a recent round of golf I walked 6.16 miles. I thought it would be closer to 4 miles) and a couple other various activities. I think I still need to do a better job of walking and running though. I said I wanted 15 or so miles a week. That might be a bit too ambitious but even 10 miles a week would be a good start.
So now for the weight total: My starting weight was 218.2. When I weighed myself this morning the scale showed 210. So in about two weeks I have dropped 8.2 pounds. I am pretty happy with that overall. If I keep eating well and start running a bit more I hope I can repeat that for the next few weeks and be down to 198.2 by Affiliate Summit East.
Total weight loss for me so far: 8.2 pounds.
I also have a few people joining me in this quest so lets hear how you are doing in the comments below. Also, if you want to join up you can read my previous post to see some of the details and join me in raising some money for Affiliate Marketers Give Back. Remember people, I will give $2 per pound lost for anyone that wants to join me. So far I have Vinny, Eric, Kate, and Victor along for the ride. Join up and help me raise more money for charity. Just let me know how much you plan to lose and keep me updated on your progress.
As I mentioned in a tweet yesterday my plan is to lose 20 pounds by Affiliate Summit East which starts August 15th. That gives me 67 days. Actually I started last Saturday so that gives me a couple more but all in all it isn’t a ton of time so it is time to get started.
Here is my plan:
1. More exercise – For the next couple weeks I want to try to log 15-20 miles walking/running. If I see some good weight loss from that I will keep it going. If not I will probably add in some other sort of workout. Either way I will probably add in one or two weight workouts each week just to make sure I lose fat and not muscle.
2. Eat better – I love burgers. I love chicken wings. I love pizza. I love bacon. I love Reese’s Cups. Pretty much if it is bad for you I can eat a ton of it. But that is gonna start to change. I will do my best to try and limit myself to one fast food meal a week. I want to try and get more fruits and vegetables in also. Generally speaking I love fruit but I just don’t eat enough of it. No more cake and ice cream. Only 1 cookie instead of 6.
Also I am gonna try to make the portions smaller. Instead of the 44 oz steak I will try a 12 oz one. Instead of a double cheeseburger I will go with a single (or even a grilled chicken sandwich). Instead of eating 2 pounds of chicken wings I will cut back to maybe a half pound. And also I will try to get rid of the fries. Basically I will try to just eat reasonable portions. Not necessarily the serving sizes listed on packages (have you seen how little 3/4 of a cup of Capt’n Crunch is???)
And better snacks. Instead of sitting down and eating a half bag of Doritos I will eat some carrots. Instead of a big plate of cheese and crackers I will eat an apple. And I will stop considering a Quarter Pounder a snack (was I wrong to think of that as a snack? I mean, come on… I didn’t even have fries with it).
3. Drink better – For the most part I usually down 4-6 cans of soda a day and maybe have 2 glasses of water. That will change. I am gonna do my best to limit myself to one can of regular soda per day. For the most part I hate diet soda but diet Mt. Dew isn’t terrible so I might have a couple of those. But gone are the Super Big Gulps. Also I will try to drink more water. And taking a cue from a friend of mine try drinking more tea.
So that is my basic plan. Nothing earth shattering. I don’t want to call it a diet or anything but I think it might be time to start eating a bit better. When I started last Saturday I was 218.2 so I need to get to 198.2 to meet my goal.
Does anyone want to join me in this challenge? You don’t have to commit to 20 pounds or anything either. It could be 10, it could be 5. But if you are interested in losing weight alongside me just leave a comment below. Not enough motivation? OK, how about this: For every pound lost by the people who comment below I will donate $2 to Affiliate Marketers Give Back. (and just so I don’t go broke I will cap my donation at $500) Just leave a comment below and let me know you want to join me and let me know how much you would like to lose. I will post weekly updates on my progress and you can just leave your progress in the comments.
So leave a comment below and join me in losing 20 pounds before Affiliate Summit.
