Ed Chavis' Blog

Rough Start

2012-01-11T11:25:00.000-05:00

Last Tuesday, I posted my weight of 259 pounds. On Thursday, I started feeling sick, and that sick feeling lasted all the way through the weekend. While I wasn't feeling well, I didn't work very hard on my eating plan, and defaulted to "easy" food. Sunday morning I got on the scale, and it read 266 -- a seven-pound gain over 5 days. Not what I was hoping for, obviously. Since Sunday, I have been very careful, and am back down to 259.

Exercise-wise, on Monday I started running again, building towards an eight-minute mile. This morning, I did intervals of running and walking, with my last "run" interval at 9.0 mph on the treadmill.

Because of my setback over the weekend, I'm now 2 pounds behind on my goal. 255 would look really good next Tuesday....

Back At It, Again....

2012-01-03T15:02:00.000-05:00

Hi, all.... well, it's been nearly four months since I last wrote a blog entry. Partially because I have been extremely busy with life in general; partially because that busyness has led to a lot of stress eating, poor food choices, and little energy to get much exercise in. I haven't given up; there have been periods when I have done extremely well with my diet. But they have been few and far between.

Sunday, I read a blog post by Shay Sorrells from Biggest Loser season 8. Shay was the heaviest woman to ever appear on the show (weighing in at 476 pounds). She lost 172 pounds on the show, and another 52 pounds by the season 9 finale. But she has been struggling, and documents how she even got to the point that she was not even acknowledging to others that she had ever been on the show. Her new starting point was one of honesty, and she wrote a blog about the seven mistakes she made after leaving the show.

So.... in the interest of honesty and transparency, I am re-starting my blog, and letting everyone know where I am at in my journey. I ended Augusta's Biggest Loser in May of 2010 with an "official" ending weight of 199 pounds. I probably only weighed 199 pounds for about an hour, having nearly killed myself that week to push the scale down. I actually used my vacation time the week leading up to the weigh-in, spending the week in the gym, and out in the yard, doing everything I could to notch that magic number on the scale. I was eating basically nothing but cabbage soup, taking in about 500 calories a day. I knew I would win... I knew that weeks ahead of time, just by doing the math. Coming into the last 11 days, I calculated that if I could hit 200 pounds, my closest competitor would have to lose nearly 25 pounds in that 11 days in order to catch me. So I did it, just for the ability to say that I had reached my goal of getting below 200 pounds. As soon as I got some food in me, and got re-hydrated, my weight almost immediately rose to my pre-starvation weight of 208 pounds. I managed to keep myself at a pretty respectable 215 pounds... for about 6 months. Then I moved into the season of the candy and sweets holidays -- Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas... by November 2010, I was up to about 231 pounds. I struggled with the 235-lb mark for a while... then 240... then 250.... Through this holiday season, I've been struggling around the 255-260 mark. So from where I wanted to stay, I'm up about 35-40 pounds.

These are tough pounds; it's not like when I started Biggest Loser. My official starting weight was 342, but I knew that I was not at my heaviest then. I'm pretty sure at times, I was well over 350, probably pushing 360. So I've basically kept 100 pounds off for nearly two years now. But I'm not satisfied with that.

Last week I tried on my "big" coat -- the suit coat that I went on TV with to show how much I had lost. It still swallows me up, which I am thankful for. But I also tried on the suit coat that I wore to our finale, and I see how much work I have to do. So here's my goal: as of today, January 3rd, I weigh 259 pounds. I am going to try and lose 39 pounds by my birthday in April, an average of a little less than 2.5 pounds per week. (By comparison, during Augusta's Biggest Loser, I averaged over 5 pounds per week. I started January of '10 at 280 pounds, and by my birthday that year, was down to 212 pounds.)

I will update my blog at least each week with a progress report, in the hopes that this will help serve as accountability for me. I'll also update it periodically with what I'm doing to reach my goal.

Ding.... "RUN."

2011-09-12T20:55:00.001-04:00

So I'm grousing about my weight, and I have come to the conclusion that I am going to have to start running. For real.

I hate running. I hated it when I was a kid... I hated it in college... I hated it during Augusta's Biggest Loser. Now I'm not talking about interval training on the treadmill... I don't mind that so much. But running out on the road (or in a parking lot) -- I'd just as soon not. But if I don't get some serious calorie burning going on, I'm going to be in trouble.

I've seen some of these "Couch to 5K" programs before, but I never really paid them any attention. After all, I wasn't "on the couch". But has time has moved on, and without the support of a team, I've been moving closer to "couch" than to "5K". I've never run more than a mile, and I could barely do that. I did better sprinting during our workouts than distance/time running. But there is that motivation to get moving.

One of the things I said during my interview with CSRA Active magazine was that before Augusta's Biggest Loser, my life was about "I can't". I can't fit into a seat; I can't climb much; I can't find clothes to fit; I can't, I can't. After our finale, I said that now, my life was about "I can". I guess it sounded like a good quote, because they printed it as a pull quote. A year and a half later, I find myself questioning my ability in many different areas.

So I set to work finding out all I could about the Couch to 5K (C25K) program that, if all goes according to plan, will have me running a 5K by Thanksgiving. Isn't there a Turkey Trot or something? Anyway, I found an iphone app that does it all for you. (Except for the running.) Not having an iphone, I went to the android market and found an equivalent app. I set it up, got dressed to run, and headed outside. I turned it on, hit "Go" on day one, and the guy said, "Warm-up." Five minutes later... Ding... "RUN". So I ran. When it said "WALK", I walked. And around and around the parking lot we went, "Michael" and I. (I discovered later the female voice -- "Allison" -- was British. No thanks; it kinda felt like that gal that used to host "The Weakest Link". Wasn't interested in that.) I lost count a few rounds in, but it wasn't that long before he said, "you are halfway done".

The second half went pretty much like the first half, including sore knees, a gimpy ankle, and knives piercing my lungs. (Did I mention I hate running?) And then, the words I was longing to hear: "Cool down."

Day one, done. Three days a week for the next nine weeks means I have 26 more days of this routine. Wednesday and Friday are a repeat of today, and then next Monday, we bump up the running and reduce the walking. This is exactly the kind of program that I have traditionally quit after about a week and a half. But I'm going to give it my best, and we will see what happens.

All this, coupled with proper nutrition... I hope to be back down in my goal weight range by Halloween.

Getting back on track...

2011-07-20T08:17:00.001-04:00

If this seems like the hundredth blog post I've written about getting back on track, it's because weight maintenance is a life-long, never-ending battle. Anyone who says, "I'm going on a diet" is already doomed to fail, because they have already established in their mind that there will come a time when they can go back to "normal" eating. While there is a place for treats and indulgences from time to time, the "new normal" knows they have to be few and far between. When "few and far between" becomes "more often than I should", it's time to get serious.

I'm going on vacation in 3 days -- the first vacation I have taken since I started my weight-loss journey 20 months ago. This may seem like an odd time to clean up the diet; the old me would have rationalized that I'm going to be eating out a lot next week; worry about the calories when I get home. But I want to make sure that when I AM eating away from home, I'm careful and diligent. And frankly, my waistline can't wait another week! So.... lots of protein, minimal carbs, upping the exercise, and hopefully some time to learn how to rest again.

Wow -Two Months....

2011-07-12T07:05:00.000-04:00

Well, it has been two months since I last penned a blog entry; but writing about my weight loss journey kept me motivated, and so I decided to take my digital "pen" in hand and write something...

As I write this, it's about 6:45 AM on Tuesday morning at youth camp. Thanks to the marvels of technology (with a D-minus to T-Mobile for failing to deliver a decent data signal out here in the middle of nowhere), I am able to read, write, etc., and share with you who may be reading.

This week, I am getting a fresh remembrance of the power of shared experiences. We have a camper with us this week who is a PHC client. Those of you who followed our journey in the media know that PHC is the weight loss center that held my hand every step of the way until I reached my finale weight. When I saw that we had a teen who was a PHC client, I realized that it had been a very long time since I have talked to someone who was going down the same road I had been down. I am watching my p's and q's this week, conscious of what I eat (mostly!), and running/walking every chance I get. I normally log about 17,000 - 20,000 steps per day at camp, and have been looking forward to this week. When I am tempted to just let my guard down and eat whatever I want to, rationalizing that I will "walk it off", I look across the way and see Katie sitting there, sipping on her water while her friends are scarfing down Yoo-Hoos and ring pops. As a leader, I have access to eat what I want, whenever I want it; very thankful that in spite of all the "kids" food we have here, we also have fresh veggies, fruits, wheat bread, and other items to keep me (and Katie) on track!

Getting ready to go back on TV for Biggest Loser; Nandy's "where are they now" story airs tonight. Sometime in August they will come knocking on my door for a follow-up interview; THERE'S some motivation... if the camera "adds ten pounds", then I have a lot of work to do!

Praying today for my friends who have shared my journey with me: Linda in south Georgia; Stephanie in Missouri; Eric in Wisconsin; and most of all, my new little PHC friend who is trying to fight the battle of a lifetime at the tender age of thirteen...

One Year After Finale...

2011-05-13T09:00:00.000-04:00

One year ago today (well, the actual date would be Saturday, but it was the third Friday in May), I stood on a scale and set an Augusta's Biggest Loser record with a 143.4-lb weight loss. Others lost more, both in season 2 and season 3 - but no one had surpassed losing 41% of their body weight. There was a lot of pressure (including some from myself) to push down below 200 pounds by weigh-in time on that Friday night. The last eleven days were a furious push to the finish - my trainer gave me a four-hour per day workout routine; the weight loss center had me on about 600 calories per day. I started that eleven days at 208 pounds, and lost 9 pounds by the final weigh-in.

Extreme? Yes. Recommended for everyone? Categorically, no. But for me, in that moment, I learned that I could do anything that I set out to do. And that was totally worth it!

Where am I at, one year later? Well, to be quite honest, I weigh about 18 pounds more than I want to weigh. I'm fighting the "spare tire" along with all of my middle-aged friends. I don't exercise as much as I was exercising last year; I'm not quite as strict with my diet. Last year I bought several pairs of denim shorts with a size 34 waist, and I am still wearing them this year. (Before ABL, I was wearing size 48, with elastic or drawstrings, and that was a stretch.) In November of '09, my shirts were a 3X, and my girth at my navel measured a staggering 59 inches. When I began writing about my experience, I wrote a list of things I couldn't do when I started. These included rolling over in bed without running out of breath; squatting down to pick something up off the floor; and climbing the stairs to my office without getting winded. It has been so long since those things have been hard that I don't even remember what it felt like to live life so restrained. The only thing on that list that is difficult is the squatting, and that's due to creaky knees!

I keep mementos of my weight loss journey around me all the time. I still have the pictures on my desk of myself and my teammates; on the wall is a copy of the article in the Augusta Chronicle about ministers and obesity, which featured my picture on the front of the religious section; and I still have the notebook that I put together with photos, my blog entries, and other things that remind me of where I was and what I did. (I also still have half a box of CSRA Active magazines with Nandy and me on the cover, if anyone wants one!)

I'm always conscious of what I eat; if I cheat, I'm aware of what I'm doing, and I try to compensate for it. I am still very careful with carbs, sodium, and red meat. One of the things that surprised me when I was finished with ABL was how much I had learned without realizing it. During some of our sessions at PHC Weight Loss Center, we were given a lot of information - almost too much to absorb in one sitting. I still have notes from those sessions, but I no longer need to refer to them. One year later, much of it is just second nature. I have a whole new set of "defaults" - things that I do automatically. If I'm at a restaurant, I'm looking at salads and grilled chicken. I have not eaten a fast-food burger since October of 2009. I don't think in terms of "going on a diet" - to me, going on a diet meant putting myself on a self-depriving regimen of specific foods in order to lose weight, and that at some point in the future, I would no longer have to be "on a diet". Everyone is "on a diet" - your diet is simply what you eat. There are just certain foods that my diet no longer includes, as well as some that it shouldn't include, but that I still sneak a little of, anyway. My weaknesses? French fries, candy, and portion sizes.

I had a conversation with a friend recently about body image - for a very long time, there was a huge disconnect between the "me" I saw in photographs, and the "me" I saw in the mirror. The guy in the pictures was skinny; the guy in the mirror was fat. I wrote about this in my blog last March or so... since then, I have learned that body dysmorphia is a common condition in those that lose large amounts of weight. I "feel" fatter at 230 pounds than I did at 350 pounds.

Many of you who followed my journey and read my blogs last year have said to me that you don't have "the willpower" to lose weight. Overcoming bad habits is NOT easy - in any area of life - but it's totally worth the effort! Don't give up. On the night we all found out that we had been selected, they had the previous year's winners talk to us about the competition. Bernard got up and said, "if I can do this, ANYONE can do this." I thought he was crazy - but he was right, and I extend the same advice to you: If I can do this, you can, too.

Thoughts on Starting Over...

2011-03-15T07:54:00.001-04:00

After 6 weeks of either my wife being sick, or of me being sick, the weight is up. It happens - it's not a huge deal.

In the book "The Biggest Loser Success Secrets" (which I highly recommend), Pete Thomas offers this bit of advice: everyone is in one of three phases with their weight - they are either gaining, losing, or maintaining. Those who are successful at keeping their weight off are those people who are able to shift easily from one phase to another. I've just gone through a phase shift - losing again.

A lot of people can maintain their current weight without too much thought or effort; I am not one of those people. Just as a diabetic who is serious about controlling their diabetes has to monitor everything they eat, I have discovered that I have to be that diligent about what I eat.

The battle is fought in the mind. If you can win the battle of the brain, you can win the battle of the bulge. Fortunately, I'm currently in the right state of mind - throwing out the bread from a grilled chicken sandwich, skipping the french fries, accurately recording everything I eat, and putting into practice everything I learned during my weight loss journey. Now the trick is to stay in this mindset until those 20 pounds are gone.

I'm looking forward to the "snug" clothes becoming loose-fitting again!

Something different... (this is about Bible translations - if you aren't interested, skip this one.)

2011-02-14T19:48:00.001-05:00

This post isn't about weight loss. I'm very sick this week, my weight is up, and when I am able to get back to it, I will get back on the straight and narrow. I promise. My doctor and his nurses were impressed that I am still within 20 pounds of where I was at my Biggest Loser check-up last May.

When I am lying around doing not much of anything, my mind tends to race. One of my facebook friends (and college classmates) posted a link about how horrible the publishers of the NIV are for releasing a fourth corrected version, and about how all the modern Bible versions have caused 21st century Christianity to descend into a morass. And on many levels, my friend is correct. There are versions that are translated from faulty manuscripts (including the NIV), and there are versions that are translated with sketchy methods (also including the NIV). But staunchly defending the "Authorized Version 1611" is asking for trouble, because the logic of doing so defies logic (intentionally redundant). The AV 1611 is written in an English that in many ways, is foreign to us. The average English-speaking person would be hard-pressed to make out Psalm 23 without already knowing what it says. The AV 1611 also included the Apocrypha, a collection of books that almost no one outside of the Catholic church would even consider to be scripture, much less interpreted correctly.

Those that would argue in favor of the modern translations usually argue from the standpoint of them being more easily understood, from the standpoint of churches that use them are alive and seemingly thriving, and from their massive popularity, especially among younger people. Bibles have been made into comic books and canteen/tin-shaped devices, and every other way has been tried to make it "cool" to carry a Bible with you.

I read from the King James Version (1769, not 1611 - word spellings were standardized in 1769); I study from the King James Version; I teach and preach from the King James Version. I have reasons for doing so, because of not only how I was raised, but because of the several studies I have done on my own.

And then I run into Romans 1:20 - "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse." Ask any 5-year old to draw a picture of "outside" - you will probably get a pretty standard-looking landscape of a blue sky, a yellow sun, white clouds, a green tree, and green grass (unless you live in West Texas or one of those other states, which have their own unique beauty). If I can take the liberty of paraphrasing a little (OK, a LOT), I see God saying this: "If all I gave you was a starry sky at night, rolling clouds, incredible sunrises and sunsets, trees that rustle in the wind, majestic mountain peaks, and a world full of unexplained mysteries, then I've given you enough information to know Who I am, what I expect, and how much I love you." In a nutshell, that's exactly what God told Job after 39 chapters of Job's wondering, "Why:"

Even in our enlightened age, there is evidence of God in the things we are discovering. A report came out late last week that said that currently, humanity has produced 295 exabytes of information. To break it down more simply, if every bit of information we have on computers and other storage devices were all burned onto CDs, the stack of CDs would reach past the moon, or enough information for every person on the planet to have 15 personal libraries. Pretty impressive, right? Not so fast. That is only equal to approximately 1% of the amount of data in the DNA of a single human being.

Do Bible versions matter? Of course they do. But I have a sneaking suspicion that God is interested in more than who has the smartest scholars on their side to support their position. I think His questions for us will be more along the lines of, "how much did you love Me, and did you love others as you would love yourself"?

Sound familiar?

My Favorite Things...

2011-01-22T17:32:00.000-05:00

Was thinking earlier about my favorite things that help when I'm losing weight. In no particular order:

Sugar-free/fat-free jello and pudding. Hard to find sugar- AND fat-free pudding, but I use fat-free jello puddings when I want something really sweet. Only 60 calories each (but you have to make sure you watch your carbs). The sugar-free gelatin cups are 5 calories each, and are really good - even the generics at Walmart and your local grocery store.

Barbeque sauce. There is a brand of barbeque sauce that is low calorie, and super-low in sodium, called Wing-It. One of our Walmarts carries it - look in the specialty area. It's great with chicken, and even in tuna.

Lowfat cheeses. Laughing Cow is famous for their lowfat cheeses, but Sargento makes a reduced fat line that is really good, especially the Colby Jack sticks. Their products are 50-60 calories per serving.

Arnold Round Sandwich Rolls. These are 100 calorie mini-buns, wheat or multi-grain. Another good choice is Nature's Own Whitewheat Hamburger buns taste like white, but are really wheat, and while not as fibrous as other wheat breads, they have the same calories, carbs, and sodium as the Arnold rolls.

Apples. PHC taught us that apples are a dieter's best friend. My favorite? Plain old Red Delicious apples.

The Prodigal Returns Home...

2011-01-22T09:50:00.001-05:00

I told myself that I could eat pretty much what I wanted to through the holidays, and then, after normalcy returned, I would just "drop" the weight I had picked up. I'd always been able to do it before; my pattern for nearly 4 months had been to go up a little bit, but be back down to my 216 pounds by time for weigh-in. That worked for a long time... but after I got through the holidays, I realized that it wasn't just "coming off" like it had before. A few fast food biscuits here and there - stuff I knew better than to eat - a dessert every now and then... and I looked in the mirror and didn't like what I saw. Worse, I had pushed up to a weight that was close to a plateau for me in the past.

I had delayed a visit to PHC, because I was feeling the pressure to be "good enough" before I went back to see them. I was actually supposed to go the week between Christmas and New Years, but I couldn't go then - there was still too much dessert at home that I had to eat my way through! I got on the scales, and when I was pushing 236 pounds, I realized that I was at a turning point. My clothes weren't fitting properly, but I couldn't get rolling again.

I just had a choice to make of whether to let it continue, or go get some help. Honestly, I am not a "go-get-some-help" person. I am the stereotypical male who won't ask for directions, won't ask a store clerk where something is, and won't accept help for anything in my life. I chose to go back and get some help. So Tuesday afternoon, I went back to PHC.

Of course, the folks at PHC were very glad to see me, and they were not condemning or panicky at all. I found out later that Donna had been in a bit of a panic, because I had emailed her and told her I was up, and asked how much would they charge me to put me back on a plan. I got on the scale, and their reading was a little less than mine had been at home.

The bottom line is, my target weight for maintenance is 215 pounds. My official weigh-in had me at 231. Sixteen pounds to go.

For those of us who have been 100+ pounds overweight, sixteen pounds sounds like a drop in the bucket - a couple of deck chairs on the Titanic. But go the dairy section of your local food store, and pick up a gallon of milk in each hand. Or, to get the full effect, arrange the handles so that you are holding both gallons in one hand. THAT is roughly sixteen pounds. That's what I need to lose.

I have not stopped to think whether it's been emotional eating, habitual eating, or convenience eating. Probably a little of all that. I have documented my new-found chocolate addiction (which I have given up); overall, just too many carbohydrates and too much eating out.

Savannah put me on 1200 calories a day - 3 proteins, 3 dairy servings, 3 vegetables, 3 fruits, 3 starches. She gave me the dreaded "green sheet" - the food diary that I have to report with. I always hated filling those out, but the accountability is crucial. She took my blood pressure (which could not have been accurate - she came up with 167/110), and sent me on my way. Some of you who are reading this and are trying to lose weight, I would seriously re-consider the advice of those who are telling you to eat 2000-2500 calories per day. If you need to lose 200 pounds, a rate of one to two pounds a week is not sufficient, unless you think you can maintain a weight loss plan for three years. (I'm not a nutritionist or a dietitian , I'm just a guy who lost 140 pounds in 6 months.)

That night on the local news, they featured the founder of PHC in 26's "26 Women to Watch", a series of stories about women who make a difference in our area. In nearly every camera shot, there is either a picture of me, or our Biggest Loser team, or the posters they made up for our finale with our weight loss on them, or the T-shirt we all signed. And I realized that I have a lot to live up to, still! Hopefully their clients can find some motivation in seeing our stories.

I have not strayed from the plan, and so far, so good. I have lost 4 pounds in 3 days. And it's not "just water", because I was already doing all the stuff to get rid of water weight. I'm hoping to be around 225 when I go back to PHC - that will leave me with just 10 pounds to go, after one week.

Stay tuned...

Seven Habits of Highly Successful Losers...

2010-12-31T18:35:00.004-05:00

In no particular order, here are seven habits of successful "losers":

1. Successful losers avoid sugar. Sugar does all sorts of things to sabotage weight loss, from adding calories to messing with your pancreas.

2. Successful losers avoid salt/sodium. The average person needs about 1200 mg of sodium per day; you can get your entire day's worth in one Big Mac. There is a dish at P.F. Changs restaurant with nearly 8,000 mg. (Note: don't order the Double Pan Fried Noodles.)

3. Successful losers drink plenty of water. There are many reasons for drinking water, including improving liver function, reducing water retention, and eliminating excess sodium. (Divide your weight in pounds by 2 to determine how many ounces of water you should drink per day. A 200 pound person should drink 100 ounces per day.).

4. Successful losers exercise. There is a chart at the weight loss center that I went to that lists reasons to exercise... there must be a hundred, at least. Weight loss is aided by getting your heart rate up to about 75% of your max (220 minus your age is your max heart rate; roughly 75% of that number is where you want to be to burn fat).

5. Successful losers know what they eat, and how it affects their body. People who write down what they eat and track their calories are MUCH more successful at weight loss than those who don't. There are so many tools available with which to do this, from reading labels to the latest technology. I have become a huge fan of the website fatsecret.com and their very well-done phone app, Calorie Counter. You can simply scan the bar code on a product package, and it will automatically enter it into your food log. It will track your calories, fat, sodium, and all those other numbers that are so important. One button-click will sync it up with the website, from which you can print out your daily or weekly food journal. If you have a food that is not in their extensive database, you can add it.

6. Successful losers know how much they weigh. Some people weigh daily; some weigh weekly or bi-weekly. I've never seen a Biggest Loser contestant get on that scale for their starting weigh-in and say, "oh, I'm not as heavy as I thought I was." Unless they KNOW already, they are almost always shocked by how high the number has gotten.

7. Successful losers embrace a life-change, not a "diet". From shopping the perimeter of the grocery store, to just having that mental awareness that it takes to be committed, successful losers are in it for the long haul.

To those of you who are beginning (or resuming) a weight-loss journey, I am available anytime for advice, encouragement, tips, etc. I am willing to share with you what I learned during my own journey. I have promised PHC that I will not give away their weight loss plans, but they have no problem with me sharing the principles that I have learned from them (and that are freely available on the internet to anyone who does the research).

I hope 2011 brings you the change that you are looking for... be healthy!!!

Last Supper, And Looking Straight Ahead

2010-12-28T07:27:00.002-05:00

Well, I normally recommend against "last suppers" before starting a weight loss regimen; why give yourself even more of a disadvantage before you start getting serious? But I did exactly that, because we had planned a chili dinner last night at a friend's house, and I decided that would be my last splurge before getting back into a strict routine. Chili, cheese, corn chips, sour cream, and hot dogs were on the menu, and I gave it one last "hurrah" before a serious weight-loss effort. It could have been done with a quasi-healthier twist (turkey instead of beef, low-fat cheese and sour cream, etc.), but I wasn't doing the cooking. So we ate, and I indulged in seconds, plus some chocolate afterward.

In spite of a really late bedtime last night (watched/listened to the Falcons lose their game), I set the alarm so that I was in the gym by 5:15 this morning. I was pleased to discover that after a half-mile warm-up, I was still able to crank out several minutes of running without too much effort. Running intervals and 15-degree incline walking made up my workout this morning.

As I write this, I am literally six inches away from a third of a chocolate pecan pie, and half of an apple cake, as well as assorted cookies, candies, etc. We set up a table in the dining room to handle all the desserts Brenda made, plus various candies, nuts, etc. that were gifts from other people. It sort of looks like a shrine to the "fat gods". But I'm done with them. I ate, I weighed, and I repented! I wrote my buddy Skip and told him about my holiday damage - he just wrote back and said that at least we know what to do about it.

The battle really does start with putting "blinders" on... I haven't looked it up, but I wonder how many times in scripture God told various people to turn "neither to the right nor to the left". There's a reason for that - to the right and to the left are temptations that will get us off track and cause us to stumble.

To all of you who are planning on starting after the first of the year - I'm not going to be critical. It's better to have a specific start date in mind than to NOT have one in mind, even if it means a couple of extra days of indulgence. But on the other hand, if you need to lose 40 pounds, why push it up to 45 before you start?

I'd love to hear what your plans are regarding your weight in the coming new year - drop me a line on facebook, or comment on this post. I will be posting more frequently, and will be refreshing some of the things I posted last year regarding diet, exercise, and motivation.

Do NOT Open email from me (besides this one)

2010-12-26T17:05:00.001-05:00

Many of you may have received an email from me with weird subject lines. Someone sent me a suspicious email that I accidentally opened on my phone, and it may have emailed you. Just delete it without opening it, please. Hopefully there won't be any more!!!!

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2010-12-26T15:38:00.001-05:00

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Uh oh...

2010-12-09T21:01:00.001-05:00

It's not been a good week since the end of my weekly visits at PHC. It's been a week of hot dogs, cookies, hot chocolate, and fast food on the run. Our outdoor Christmas spanned last Friday through Sunday, and the same schedule happens this weekend, as well. I haven't had to invest the long hours associated with our Christmas cantata, since we did not do one this year, but as always, there is more than enough work to fill (and exceed) the available time. The weight is up, the clothes are snug... those old, fat feelings are creeping back in on me.

I saw an online article on the Today Show's website called, "Where Are They Now"? They went through each season of The Biggest Loser, and, for those who would fess up, posted their starting weight, their finale weight, and their current weight. A few of them were within 10-12 pounds of their finale weight (some within 3 pounds), but on average, the men from seasons one through nine are up about 30 pounds. Very few are less than that away from their finale weight. I have been hovering around 12 pounds over my goal weight - 12 pounds that I desperately need to shed.

I start my days out ok, most of the time. My usual breakfast is a couple of eggs, a little cheese, and two strips of turkey bacon on a whole wheat 100-calorie bun. Sometimes I will add a piece of fruit to it, but that's how I start. Lunch is usually tuna, or a light sandwich, or salad. But I'm not eating frequently enough, or drinking enough right now, and without the pressure of the competition to keep me focused, I'm finding the holiday season this year much tougher to deal with. I guess the one difference is, I didn't really feel fat at 340 pounds; I feel wretched now at 220.

There's three weeks left in the holiday season... we shall see what happens. Stay tuned...

Another Milestone...

2010-11-29T19:37:00.001-05:00

Today was my last weekly visit at PHC for weigh-ins. I am somewhat "off the leash" now - I only have to go once every two weeks to check my status.

I had them look up my stats today. When I started on my maintenance plan, I weighed 215 pounds on their scale (that's fully clothed, including shoes). During most of the summer, I held my weight at a very consistent 216 pounds. I recently regressed upwards, but all in all, I'm only about 6 pounds heavier than I was six months ago, and I'm currently on the way down again. My goal is to hit 208 on the PHC scale - that will put me right at my lowest reasonable weight, which is what I weighed before that insane push to the end of the competition, when I lost 9 pounds in 11 days just for the privilege of being able to say I broke the 200 pound barrier.

There was a fair amount of external pressure to get below 200, and I suppose it fueled my inner desire to do it, as well. But with a penultimate weigh-in of 208 pounds, I would have still won the competition - my closest competitor was 18 pounds away. I guess now the motivation to get back down to that 208 number is the fit of my clothes and the shape I see in the mirror. It won't happen by next weigh-in, because that would be a pound a day, and those days are long gone. Besides, I don't want to do it the way we finished. The push of the contest drove most of us to near-starving diets and excessive workouts (we're talking THE Biggest Loser-style workouts - 4-5 hours a day is what we were being encouraged to do, for the final 11 days, and those workouts would consist of the highest calorie-burning exercises our trainer could find). No, not going there again. It will come, though, in time.

Confessional, and Thoughts On Getting Back On Track

2010-11-26T20:13:00.004-05:00

Well, I'm back to blogging.

I have officially hit the point on my weight loss journey where it's time to REALLY get serious. I looked in the mirror; I looked at the scale. I know, I know... "I'm up." My friends have heard it all before. But I am officially higher, MUCH higher, than I want to be.

I know where I got derailed. Before I lost weight, my thing was fast food and starches. I wasn't really too big (pun intended) on sugar and candy, particularly chocolate. But with the onset of our Awana children's ministry year, we began keeping chocolate and sodas in the Awana office as a respite for our Awana workers on Wednesday nights. Some of them are convinced that enough chocolate and caffeine will help them keep up with the stress, I think. Well, I would come through the office, or near the office, during the week, and stop by and grab a small handful of little chocolate candies. After all, they're really little - mostly those little bite-sized Hershey milk chocolate, dark chocolate, Mr. Goodbar, and Krackle bars. Sometimes bite-sized Snickers, Milky Way, and Three Musketeers. I'd scarf that handful down, and later on, I'd do it again. Two or three times a day I would do this. I wasn't stealing them, because I paid for them out of my own pocket... and I always made sure that there was plenty for the workers on Wednesday night.

I'd inch up a little on the scale, and would tell the PHC folks, "It's just water - it will come right back off." And more often than not, I was exactly right. I held my weight very well between 215 and 217 throughout the summer, at one point holding it dead on 216 for 6 weeks in a row. But Awana started up, the candy became easier to get to, and I began seeing the scale inch up. We went to Florida in early November, and I have to confess that I pretty much ate a whole bag of them on the way there (I was driving, and trying to stay alert). On the way back, I bought another bag, and ate some of those. I bravely put the rest in the Awana office when we got back.... and ate on them the week after.

"Facts are our friends", Johnny Hunt likes to say, and so I finally looked on a bag of those little chocolates to see what kind of calories I had been casually tossing back. THREE of those little bite-sized bars are a serving, and they range from 40 to about 70 calories PER PIECE. Ten or twelve of those bars, and I was unwittingly (or deliberately ignorantly) consuming an entire day's worth of calories when compared to what I was eating during the competition (about 900 calories a day). Then breakfast, lunch, and dinner on top of all that, plus a couple of snacks, and I came to the stark realization that I was consuming upwards of 2000 calories a day. Note: you cannot lose weight on 2000 calories per day. For someone my size, that will be a slow, steady gain.

Wednesday night I watched, "Where Are They Now?", a Biggest Loser special. I watched as the former winners from seasons 1-9 (minus Michelle from season 6) came into a room for a healthy Thanksgiving meal. With the exception of Danny Cahill, every man had gained a pretty significant amount of weight. Ryan from season 1 had lost 122 pounds en route to his win, but has regained all but 10 pounds of his weight. They are not happy with him, needless to say. Matt from season 2 regained a lot, but continues to be quite athletic in spite of his weight. Season 3's Erik had regained most of his last year, but has taken 162 of it back off, with probably about 40 or so left to lose. Season 4's Bill Germanakos looks "okay", but I doubt he is much below 200 (his finale loss was 170 pounds down). Next was Ali from season 5, who is within 2 pounds of her finale weight. Helen looks "okay"; Danny looks terrific, and Michael still looks like he has a ways to go. I knew most of these results already, but it really brought home to me that if those guys who had all that time on the ranch, all that training, all that knowledge, and all that motivation could stumble, I was certainly not immune. Watching that particular episode has helped to fuel the fire again.

I didn't do TOO bad on Thanksgiving for lunch... I made sure I ate only white meat off the turkey, only one bite of ham, loaded up on veggies, and I did try to limit my desserts and starches. That was lunch - dinner was another story altogether. We went out to some friends' house around 7:30 PM, where we had been invited to get "a bite of supper". I ate more than "a bite"... and indulged in desserts. Cornflake candy (2 pc.), white macadamia nut cookies (2), half a chocolate chip cookie, and some kind of chewy bar that was very good - two bites of that.

I had a not-so-good meeting with my scale this morning. But I am pleased to report that today, I ate absolutely perfectly. In spite of us having tons of ham, macaroni & cheese, two pies and a cake, I did not cheat a single time today. My total calorie intake was right at where it was during the competition, and with the exception of having to do the workouts on my own, I am in full-blown contest mode. I had two eggs for breakfast, a white-meat-only turkey sandwich on a 100-calorie wheat bun with a slice of low-fat cheese for lunch, and a dinner consisting of 6 ounces of chicken and a cup of steamed broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, etc.

To those of you who are still telling me that I look great.... I love you all, and I will politely and humbly accept your compliments. But I'm not going to pay you any attention!

Starting Over...

2010-11-08T22:39:00.001-05:00

Well, I had to take an out-of-town trip... and as my wife pointed out to me, I ate too much chocolate, chicken and dumplings, biscuits, etc. on the trip and at my mother-in-law's house. I had not been there in a year and a half, so no one down there had seen "the new me". Took a few copies of CSRA Active to show the family, and also took my Biggest Loser scrapbook. It was fun re-living the experience of a whole bunch of people who had not seen me, but I knew that even as I was talking about losing weight, I was putting the pounds back on. I did make some attempts to eat right at meals, but I ate a LOT of chocolate trying to stay awake and alert. We stopped at Cracker Barrel, and while everyone was eating pancakes, I had a yogurt, and only a few bites of the HUGE muffin that accompanied it. We hit Steak and Shake about 7 PM Sunday night, and I had a decision to make. And of course, I made the wrong one. I ate what I wanted to, telling myself that I had not eaten at a Steak and Shake in over a year and a half, and I "deserved" it.

Got home late Sunday evening and crawled into bed; this morning, I decided to come face to face with the number on the scale... I was hoping against hope that it was not as bad as I thought. It wasn't... it was WORSE. Much worse. Could not wrap my brain around the number being so HIGH!! But I made a conscious decision to not beat myself up... and that I was not going to do the 4-day cleanse that frequently marks our attempts to get back on track. I just decided I was going to do it - get some serious exercise, get the food plan into gear, and do all I knew to do.

Fortunately, a big chunk of that number was water retention, which can happen not only with poor eating, but with the sedentary nature of traveling. My horrible number didn't last very long, as I dropped over eight pounds of water weight today; really, just in a matter of a few hours. I got myself back to the gym this morning, and did some serious treadmill sprints, step mill, and other cardio work. I ate absolutely perfectly today - zero cheats, more protein than anything else, and all of my carbs from vegetables and a protein bar. The only thing I missed today was the pedometer, but I will start tomorrow.

I know what to do; it's just a matter of doing it. And because it won't "get done" before Thursday, I will have some explaining to do when I show up at PHC Thursday for my weigh-in. And I will "deserve" that, as well!

Closure...

2010-09-11T22:09:00.000-04:00

I must admit it's getting harder and harder to keep thinking of new things to write in this blog, particularly concerning weight loss. Up a little, down a little, up a lot, back down... I was grousing to my wife today how tiring it is to try and keep my weight within that little 2-pound window that PHC set for me. One can be up two pounds after a decent meal. She reminded me that this year I have with PHC will fly by, and then it will be all up to me to maintain my weight, without that external accountability. After all, we are already coming up on the one-year anniversary of our selection to participate in the contest, which is only about 7 weeks away.

I was also grousing about how my kids never really got on board with what I was doing - neither one of them has looked at a copy of the magazine featuring the Augusta's Biggest Loser competition. Brenda said, "They're probably sick of hearing about it..." So I have come to the conclusion that it's probably time to stop writing about the journey. My entire body of work regarding the competition will remain online - the blog, the photos, etc. are all available on facebook, as well as on my website, http://edchavis.net. I have uploaded a short video of my journey onto youtube, in the hopes that someone who is searching for "weight loss" or "biggest loser" will find some hope and some help. The last bit of publicity is over with - Liz Hill spoke briefly about the magazine on the news Friday morning - but there are no more commercial shoots, interviews, or photo sessions. In my visits to PHC, I see the photos from our contest scattered around the lobby, and I remember every moment when each picture was taken. We have hopes of being involved in the next season of Augusta's Biggest Loser, and when a decision is finally made about the future of the program, I will either be up to my elbows in ABL all over again, or it will be relegated to the memories of the 32 of us who were privileged enough to be given the opportunity of a lifetime. There is the possibility that I will be featured on a national news program, but that will take some months to unfold, if it does happen. We shall see.

To those of you who are currently on your own journey, I will continue to stay in touch with you through facebook, your blogs, and email. If there is something noteworthy to report, I will post a new blog entry, or put something on facebook. I remain available any day, anytime you need me.

To those of you who simply followed my journey through the past 10 months, I thank you for reading along. Many of you prayed for me, cheered me on, and offered words of encouragement that kept me accountable and moving forward. I am convinced that losing weight is one of the hardest things to undertake in life, and overeating is one of the hardest addictions to break. You can live without cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, and an immoral lifestyle, but you can't live without food. One cannot simply divorce themselves from it; one must master it.

I want to take one more opportunity to thank those who were directly involved in my journey, many of whom will never read this, but they deserve to be thanked anyway.

*NBC Augusta for sponsoring the Augusta's Biggest Loser contest; Jay Jefferies, who handled nearly all the TV interviews and made us feel welcome; Liz Hill, who ALWAYS had something encouraging and positive to say every time I came to the studio, even when she was busy; and Mariah Gardner, for working so hard on the contest as the promotions manager.

*Omni Club for their part in sponsoring the contest; Johnnie Hughes for his guidance, encouragement, and counsel as he trained our team; Barry Allison for his diligence in running the weigh-ins and his encouragement to all of us. We didn't always want to hear what he had to say in his post-weigh-in speeches, but if you listened closely, there was always something you could take away from it.

*PHC, also for their part in sponsoring the contest. Mark, Donna, Savannah, Pricilla, and Pat - you people are brilliant, caring, and effective. Savannah did most of our counseling; Mark and Donna did our off-the-record counseling when they came to work out at the gym. These people are like family to me, and I look forward to continuing my relationship with them in the future. Also a big thanks to Rob Baker, who manages the location that the blue team worked with. Rob was a constant encouragement even to those of us who weren't on his team, because he understood that ultimately, this wasn't about the teams, it was about the life change that he wanted for all of us.

*The Red Team for an amazing 7 months of shared experiences. We usually saw each other about 15 minutes after we dragged ourselves out of bed at 5 AM. Jokes, frustrations, pains, drama, highs, and lows - we experienced all of that, and more, as we worked out together and met at PHC every other week for a group session that usually turned into two hours of counseling. I was closest to Nandy and Charles (Nandy being the co-leader, and Charles being the only other male our our lopsided team), but I will always love and respect all of them. Nandy, Tammy, Bronnie, Lisa, and Charles - if you guys happen to read this, you are the best! Although I never get to see or talk to any of you, there are pictures of you guys in my office, and I think of you all constantly.

*The Blue Team - wish we had had more opportunities to do stuff together besides watch each other stand on the scale every Monday. But I learned to really appreciate all that you guys were doing, and in some ways, you guys had a tougher road to travel than we did. Thanks for hanging in there during some hard times. Colin, Tim, Tanner, Ashlee, and Laycee - you guys will always be a part of my experience and memories, as well.

Thanks also to my Lumpkin Road Baptist Church family for their encouragement and support. Some of them still tell me that I'm "too skinny" - I know better, but appreciate the advice!

This is not the last you will hear from me, but now that everything is over and done, I just wanted to bring a little closure to my experience as an Augusta's Biggest Loser competitor. I got everything I wanted out of the experience, and much, much more.

Uh-Oh....

2010-09-02T17:10:00.001-04:00

I wrote last time that I am in my first prolonged struggle with my weight - I'm still there. Many of the obstacles that hinder weight loss (and cause weight gain) all ganged up on me this past weekend. They are the same enemies that prevent many of you from seeing the change on the scales that you want, and I want to write briefly about each factor.

1. Lack of proper rest. If you are not getting adequate amounts of rest and sleep, two things occur. One, in order to keep moving and functioning, you substitute food for sleep. Of course, food is not an adequate replacement for sleep, but for many of us, food can produce a small burst of energy or alertness simply because we are participating in an activity that we enjoy. Less sleep = more food. The other negative impact is that a lack of rest pushes your body into survival mode, during which it holds onto fat stores and fails to release excess fluids. More food plus less burn equals weight gain.

2. Busyness. When we are busy, it's easier to rationalize eating poorly and not getting any exercise. This may partially explain why, although people are busier than ever, obesity is rampant.

3. Lack of accountability. Accountability doesn't have to be in the form of a partner, or a support group. It can be as simple as frequent meetings with the bathroom scale. I read arguments for and against weighing in often; I have found that for me, if I know exactly what the number on the scale is, it directly affects my food choices. The most dangerous place for me is "comfortable", because if my weight is on the low end, I tend to work harder to push it down; if it's up "just a little", I'm not quite as careful with my diet ("one more won't do any more damage"). I have found for me that if I don't weigh every single day, I get more careless. Only one time have I skipped daily weigh-ins and been pleasantly surprised.

There are many other reasons for being stuck, but these are the ones that are affecting me right now. The question is, how do I fix it? I just do what I know to do, and stay motivated to change. I subtract out of my diet some of the things I had let back in; I increase my exercise; I increase my fluid intake; and I keep regular (daily, at least) appointments with the scale. For me, it's almost always about the fluid. Yesterday at PHC I was up 5 pounds; that will just about be gone by tomorrow morning.

(Insert a 24-hour pause here...)

It is now Thursday; Tuesday I was up 5 pounds at PHC; today, I was back down by the same 5 pounds. These spikes don't ever last very long with me, but they have to be dealt with right away.

In totally different news, I blogged a while back about a photo shoot and a three-hour interview with Nandy and me. It was announced via facebook yesterday that the new issue was out. Two Kroger stores and PHC did not have them yet, but I hit the jackpot at Kroger in Evans. I grabbed about eight copies off the newsstand, and, after lunch with my bride, I took a few of them over to PHC. They were closed for lunch, but I caught Mark outside, and he, Donna, and I looked through the issue. If you haven't heard or seen by now, Nandy and I are on the cover, and there's about 8 pages in this issue dedicated to the Augusta's Biggest Loser competition. For my out-of-town friends, I'm hoping they will have it posted online before too long.

My First Prolonged Struggle...

2010-08-20T20:21:00.000-04:00

One of the things I read in "The Biggest Loser: Success Secrets" that stuck with me was this: you will always either be losing, gaining, or maintaining weight, and the people that can shift seamlessly (and often) from one phase to the other are those that are going to experience the most success with long-term maintenance. (By the way, if you are trying to lose weight, the book I just mentioned is a terrific resource - I've mentioned it in my writings before, probably in my healthyagain2010 blog. You can pick it up nearly anywhere - from the bookstores, amazon.com, walmart.com, or whatever your preferred shopping outlet is.)

It would be negligent and unfair of me to get online and tout my success without acknowledging my shortcomings, as well. This week has been a struggle for me. I haven't eaten particularly badly; I have had weeks where I have eaten worse, and weighed less. But old habits can creep back in, and old patterns of eating are not that far removed from me. I have been extremely tired since around the third week in July, and one of my old eating patterns was to fill in the gaps in my rest with food. I find myself eating to keep going, and while my food choices aren't bad, the constant eating is. After a few consecutive mornings of weighing more than I was comfortable with, I have shifted back into biggest loser mode. Now is the time I get to practice what I preach to others - finding the motivation to do right without the pressure of the competition.

If you are wondering how "bad" my weight has gotten, I'm up about 6 pounds from where I want to be. Not much, compared to the 143 I dropped from November to May. Not even much compared to the nearly 9 pounds I dropped in the last 11 days of the competition. But way too much for all the work I've done. I am back on the wagon with a vengence - no carbs, no fast food, little fat, lots of chicken, eggs, veggies, and fruits. I'll report on my progress, of course. I'm still trying to learn how to walk on this balance beam called "maintenance".

Maintenance... (the blog, not me!)

2010-08-16T12:25:00.001-04:00

For anyone stumbling across my blog and noticing something missing, NBC Augusta has changed over to a new hosting company, and thus, all the videos that I had linked to in my blog are no longer available. Most of them I have managed to save, and I will go back and change the links so that my online record of my journey is complete, without the holes! Meanwhile, you can see my videos on the "media" page at http://www.edchavis.net.

Three Months...

2010-08-12T09:06:00.001-04:00

Three months ago I stepped on a scale and posted a ridiculously low (for me) weight of 199.4 pounds, sealing a win in the Augusta's Biggest Loser competition. I can't say that I have kept every single pound off, because that weigh-in was the result of 11 days' worth of working out an average of 3 hours per day and consuming very few calories. As soon as I got some food in me, and got properly hydrated, my weight settled back up to about 208 pounds. In the ensuing three months, it has been up and down some, but on average, I have stayed right around 211-212 pounds. I immediately shift into weight loss mode when it creeps up over 215, because I don't want to have to return to writing down everything I eat! When it creeps up, it's usually because of sodium in pre-prepared foods; when I work on getting the water off, the weight comes right back down. Because I know what to do, I have actually seen the number on the scale drop 5-6 pounds in a day. Note: this has only been my experience during maintenance - if you are trying to lose, don't think I have some quick weight-loss program to drop that much. Because I continue to eat mostly healthy foods, and use extreme moderation in "cheat" areas, my weight gains have not usually been due to excess calories, but excess water retention.

I have added a lot of foods back to my diet, but I eat them in different ways now. If there is something sweet, or something laden with calories, that I just HAVE to have, I fill up on something healthy first, and then take just a bite of the food I thought I had to have. One thing that PHC taught me is that the satisfaction of food lasts only as long as it stays in your mouth - once it goes down, food is food (not nutritionally, of course, but as far as the whole eating experience is concerned, the pleasure stops at your taste buds).

One thing that has struck me three months later is that I have sort of lost the feeling of "I feel better". I know mentally that I am better, and I do feel good, but it has been 9 months since I started my life change, and I've just about completely forgotten what "before" felt like. Anytime I carry something heavy, I try to remind myself that I lived for years carrying that weight around, and more. When I look in the mirror, I still see the fat guy - I wrote about this in an earlier blog entry, and actually had a brief discussion with Liz Hill about it earlier this week. But I have all this evidence of my success, and I continue to surround myself with it. When I run, I listen to the audio track from our finale show. I listen to myself describing my goals, and how I hoped to inspire a change in others. I hear my before and after weights read aloud, and I listen to the experiences of my fellow contestants. I try not to talk about it quite so much anymore, especially to those who were around me during the entire six month process. The video archives, my pictures, my blog entries, the publicity stuff I've collected - I keep them all around me, as reminders that I am still on this journey.

To those of you who are still in your own weight loss struggles, you can do this, and there is a light at the end of the tunnel. My prayers are for you every day - Eric, Peter, Linda, Valerie - and several within my own church family, who continue to battle on.

...And in the Tribune...

2010-07-29T21:01:00.000-04:00

How Ed Chavis Became Augusta's Biggest Loser

This is the last in a three-part series of articles I wrote about my weight loss experience, in the hopes of helping others know that there is a way out of the sedentary lifestyle and poor eating habits that are so prevalent among those in the ministry...

In the Yellow Pages...

2010-07-29T11:09:00.001-04:00

Exit Interview...

2010-07-24T20:49:00.001-04:00

Thursday evening around 5:00 PM, I sat down with Nandy Cordova, my Augusta's Biggest Loser teammate, co-winner, and friend, and a reporter from CSRA Active magazine, to do the interview that goes with the photo shoot we did last Friday. Bill (the reporter) had shown up back on November 18 to get our basic information for the first issue that mentioned Augusta's Biggest Loser; he made a return visit in May, when we were nearly done; this interview was the final part of the story.

Up until now, all the press stuff has been "stand here, say this, smile pretty" type stuff. This was different - very different. Bill took us all the way back to the beginning, back to the application/selection process, and we got the chance to rehearse the entire period of time from then until now, step by step, in roughly chronological order. He asked each of us the same questions, with Nandy providing her answer first, and then me. Many of the questions we answered with matching answers; some revealed two completely different perspectives. The most notable differences in our experiences mainly centered on two areas: 1) I had a little bit better idea of what to expect going in; and 2) my battle for first place was nowhere near as intense as hers. He also asked us some questions about our friendship with each other, forged through not only the shared experience of leading the competition for so long and being on the same team, but also having a lot in common, such as both of us having lived in Amarillo, Texas, and similar likes/dislikes.

We also had an opportunity to talk about some of the ugly side of the process, which will never make it into print. Some of our more - shall we say - negative experiences, we haven't discussed with anyone except those involved, our spouses, and each other. As thorough as my blog was during the competition, there were incidents and experiences that I did not write about. At times during our interview, Bill turned off the recorder, laid down his pen, and let us talk freely. I know the first rule of interviews is to never trust the reporter, but Bill has done an excellent job covering us thus far; our photo session with the magazine's photographer had been extremely enjoyable; and he has a vested interest in presenting us in the very best light possible, as the companies that sponsored the competition also are heavy advertisers with the magazine.

A question that struck me as odd had to do with the reaction of other people to our new selves; he wanted to know if our spouses were jealous of the new-found attention we are getting from the opposite gender now that we aren't heavy anymore. Nandy instantly answered yes - she's 33, a very pretty lady, and garners a lot of unwanted attention from guys. I told Bill that I had not experienced anything like that, and, if anyone was looking, I had not noticed it. He didn't buy my answer, and appealed to my position as a minister to 'fess up! I'm 46, still a little pudgy, and going gray; I have crooked teeth, I wear inexpensive clothes - I'm not going to get much attention, which is fine with me.

After the questions about the contest, the process, and our lives since then, he did a word-association drill with us, and gave us the chance to talk about Omni, PHC, and NBC. We both expressed the sentiment that we had been given our lives back, and are forever grateful for the experience. Before we left, Bill asked if we had any desire to be involved with the competition in the future, and we both said yes - we had often talked about wishing we had had some of the previous winners around (I talked with Kristy Youngblood frequently, but we never had the opportunity to see any prior contestants during the competition). I thought he was speaking in general terms, but he then asked me if I would be interested in covering the next season of ABL for the magazine as a special correspondent. I hope it works out - that would be a lot of fun, and I think the things I have learned in my experience could be valuable if I had the opportunity to talk to future contestants.

The final question of the day was "Complete this sentence: If you're thinking about applying for Augusta's Biggest Loser......" Nandy said, "...don't put it off - do it!" (or something to that effect). I measured my words carefully, and I said, "... don't bother if you are not prepared to completely give your life over to it, and give it 100%." I told him I didn't mean that in a negative sense, just that I knew what kind of effort it took to get to the top of the heap and accomplish my goals, and it was all-day, every-day, all I thought about, a constantly-consuming process.

I looked at my cell phone as we got up to leave - three hours had passed since I had arrived at Starbucks. We guiltily noted that we had taken up one of their tables for three hours without buying anything, but I'm sure no one in the shop took it personally. All in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening, and I can't wait till the magazine hits the newsstands.

Final Photo Shoot...

2010-07-18T17:01:00.001-04:00

Wow... I didn't realize that it has been almost two weeks since I wrote anything in my blog! That is partially due to rather extreme busyness on my part, and partially due to the fact that nothing has really changed that much with my weight loss journey in the last two weeks. I can't even remember if my weight was up or down last week at PHC; all I know is that I keep hovering around the 211-pound mark, and I really want to get down a little lower than that. This entire battle has basically come down to two main things: managing water, and managing carbohydrates.

I have gotten back into a little more regularity at the gym, and I am seriously considering joining the group power class that meets at Walton Way at 5:45 AM on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It's a very small class, from the looks of it. I've not yet gotten the nerve up to speak to anyone there that is working out; some of them seem to know each other casually, but none of them have identified me as Augusta's Biggest Loser. The managers there know who I am, but no one else does. I've gotten back into my treadmill routine, and this past week, started learning how to use some of the machines.

As I've mentioned on facebook, we had a photo shoot on Friday, July 16. It's probably the last one Nandy and I will be doing together as winners. We've done all the Omni stuff and all the PHC stuff that we have to do, and this last one was for the final installment of our story in CSRA Active magazine, a great local fitness magazine that launched shortly before we started season three of ABL. We met at the photographer's nearly-impossible-to-find studio and dragged our wardrobes inside. (He had asked us to bring a variety of clothing, so that all the shots would not be of us wearing one outfit, and so that our colors could be coordinated.) Nandy had a black and yellow top that she was bringing, and so I brought a yellow shirt and black slacks to coordinate with that. Everything else was a wash - she had orange, I had red. She had purple, I had blue. At least the yellow/black thing went together well enough to get us in a nice shot for the cover. Rob Forbes probably took 40 pictures of us in one pose, then turned us back-to-back and shot another 40 pictures of us like that - closeups, distance, elevated, different lenses, etc. Then he shot me alone with my now-way-oversized suit coat and my way-oversized Biggest Loser t-shirt. Nandy had to leave and get her "before" pictures, which she had forgotten at home. She arrived back at the studio, and then I had to leave, because I had forgotten mine, as well! Rob was pretty amazed at the difference between our before pics and our current weights. When I got back, Nandy showed me her "before" shirt, which was the green "tent" she had worn on the night we found out that we were in the competition. I don't remember her being that big, just like she doesn't remember me being as large as I was. I guess seeing each other almost every day for nearly 7 months does that. Unlike previous photo/video shoots, this one was simply pictures - no interviews. It was very relaxed and a lot of fun. He promised us that we would get copies of the pictures he took, so when those are available, Nandy and I will put those up for everyone to see. The ones he showed us in the camera were really good.

More importantly than the pictures or the fun, Nandy and I had some time to talk. We are both struggling right now with self-image issues - concerned about looking fat, still seeing our old selves in the mirror (and storefront reflections, car window reflections, etc.) It's really almost like we've done all this work, but still feeling fat. Obviously we are both very different, but the mental pictures are not so easily changed. I'm beginning to see how an anorexic or bulimic person who weighs 85 pounds can look in the mirror and not see what everyone else sees, and that's not something that a person of normal (or at least consistent) size can understand. It was good to be back with my ABL partner again - there is something in shared suffering and experience that makes the path a little easier.

Hopefully it won't be two weeks before I post another update!

Eight Months In, The Training Wheels Come Off...

2010-07-06T18:56:00.001-04:00

I have now made it through the six-week stabilization process without my weight at PHC ever going past the "danger weight" they set for me. Looking over the past six weeks, my weight has fluctuated between 211 and 215 on their scales. I still want to get down a little more, so we have gone back to the 4-day flush - the process that we began Biggest Loser with. My weigh-ins are down to once per week now, and until I mess up and cross that danger point, I don't have to turn in a weekly food log anymore. I will continue to weigh myself daily at home, and I will continue tracking my food intake at fitday.com. If you are reading this and trying to lose weight, you really need to set yourself up a free account at fitday.com. Best tool I've found for tracking your weight loss, your progress towards your goal, and your food's nutritional content.

My weigh-in today was something of an accomplishment - Friday was our wedding anniversary, and on Tuesday, my friend Ashley brought us a huge cake for our anniversary, which was frosted and then covered in fondant. We ate on it for a few days - I ate too much - and then decided we needed to quit. We also ate out Friday night at Red Lobster, and I ate all sorts of stuff I would not have normally eaten, like a Caesar salad (don't let anyone fool you into thinking a Caesar salad is a good choice - LOADED with calories), fried mozzarella cheese sticks, garlic biscuits (which tasted really salty to me), fried popcorn shrimp, mashed potatoes, and then a little cake when we got home. If you are thinking I've fallen off the wagon, or lost my mind, I assure you that I haven't. I've done the work; I've learned what it takes to counter the effects of one bad meal, and I've learned to plan ahead so that I budget my calories. What did the folks at PHC say about my splurge? They weren't concerned because my weight was right in the range where it needed to be, and besides, everyone deserves to celebrate every now and then. Priscilla reassured me today that if I could keep my weight off successfully for a year, I would never have a weight problem again. I'm sure everyone that loses has the potential to fall back into the old habits, and I know some who have, but I will always remember where I came from and what it took to get here.

Exactly eight months ago today, we started our first day on the food plan and our first day in the gym. I just looked back in my blog and read the things I wrote about on the night before. The topics were things like being grateful for the opportunity; the need for a good support group; my first statement of a goal, which was to break 200 by the last weigh-in; and my best wishes for all the other 11 contestants. I wonder where they all are today. Some of them, I know where they are. I keep in touch with Charles and Nandy fairly regularly; I see Lisa and Bronnie posting every now and then on facebook. I talk to Laycee every now and then, and still see either her or her husband David in Walmart. I hope everyone is doing well; we worked too hard from November to May to go back to the old lifestyle. The one thing I need to do is kick it back into high gear with my exercise. I'm getting some, but not enough. (I had to laugh today - Donna at PHC told me I looked like I had tanned a little bit, and I told her that I had been out playing disc golf a couple of times. She asked if it was hard, and I found out that she was wanting to know what level of intensity it was physically. One of their clients has apparently told them that it was like working out.... what a joke. It's like a walk in the park.... well, actually it IS a walk in the park!)

Besides the food thing, we had a good anniversary weekend. We bought a new grill and cooked out Sunday night - burgers, hot dogs, and a couple of pieces of chicken breast for me. We went downtown for the fireworks, and I spent my time enjoying the show instead of trying to take a ton of pictures. Monday, my sister came into town, and she didn't recognize me for a second. She had not seen me since I started my journey (except in pictures), and I guess it was a bit of a shock. It's still fun to surprise people who haven't seen me!

Back In The Groove...

2010-06-29T08:45:00.001-04:00

We all get lazy from time to time when it comes to diet and fitness. Busyness, lethargy, overconfidence, poor time management - all these things, and others, get in the way of our goals sometimes. I have a goal weight that I want to be at, and I'm not quite there. If you tell yourself enough times, "just once won't hurt me", those instances will start piling up, the clothes will start getting tighter, and the scale will start creeping up. Eating strict 5 days a week and not-so-strict 2 days a week will devolve into 4 1/2 and 2 1/2; then 4 and 3; and if you're not careful, the old behaviors will slip back into becoming habits.

I am reminded of a verse which has nothing to do with weight loss, but everything to do with slipping back into old habits: "Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip." (Hebrews 2:1). When I was in Augusta's Biggest Loser, I gave over nearly every waking second of my time, thoughts, and energy to the process of trying to lose weight. I am finding that maintenance requires that same diligence, and I also find myself not wanting to apply it all the time. But I keep reminding myself of where I've been, what I've done, and the consequences of going back; looking through my before and after pictures in my ABL scrapbook keeps me focused on the goal. I have the broadcast of our finale downloaded onto my mp3/video player, and I relive that experience at least once a week while I am walking, running, or working out. I have faithfully kept my appointments at PHC so they can help me monitor my weight. Mostly it's gone well, but today, I feel fat. I look fat. It's definitely one of those times to tighten up the belt, or, as the King James Bible says, time to "gird up your loins".

One old habit I have fallen back into is the habit of staying up too late. Daris, one of the finalists on The Biggest Loser, said during the finale that he learned that if you eat supper at 5 PM, and then stay up until 3:30 in the morning, you're going to get hungry, and you're going to eat. I don't stay up THAT late, but midnight - 1 AM is about normal for me. But if the alarm is going to go off at 4:30 so I can be at the gym by 5:00, a midnight bedtime isn't going to be conducive to achieving what I want to achieve.

So often we know what to do; actually DOING it is another thing altogether, isn't it?

Fear of Failure...

2010-06-28T20:56:00.001-04:00

There may be some heavy folks out there who are as brave as can be, but my experience has been one of "I can't". Not being athletic, talented, or "cool", I was always afraid to try new things. I think having a history of failures creates a fear of adding to that history and reinforcing that poor self-image. When you are used to living like that, it is very difficult to get out of that mindset.

Saturday morning, I was brought face to face with that old pattern of behavior, and it was over something silly. It wasn't football, baseball, running, or biking; it wasn't even anything particularly athletic.

It was disc golf. I was invited to go play a round of disc golf with some of the guys from church. Here's all the instructions you need to get started: Stand here and throw this round thing. Walk over to it, pick it up, and throw it again. Repeat this sequence until you land the disc in the basket at the end of the hole. I had all the necessary qualifications - I can see, I can walk, I can bend over, and I can throw a frisbee. I was on a roll of doing things I'd never done before (like strap myself into insanely-nauseating roller coasters, running for fun, losing 140 lbs., etc.), and so I willingly accepted the invitation.

I left for the park at the appointed time...

I almost drove past the park. On purpose. My fear of adding to my legacy of failure had nearly paralyzed me, and I came this close to simply driving on by and running some errands. I actually had to have a conversation with myself, and force myself to go play. Everyone I went to play with was athletic to some degree or another (although, I repeat, this sport takes little athletic prowess). I was the only first-timer in the bunch, and I did not do very well. But it did not matter - I forgot all about trying to be "good", and just focused on having fun, enjoying the fellowship, and getting outside and enjoying a beautiful Saturday morning.

Old mental habits and attitudes are extremely hard to break - when we rehearse them, we strengthen them, and deal a serious blow to the likelihood that we will ever do anything to change them. You can change them with time, but studies tell us that it takes many, many positive affirmations to counter the effects of one negative thought. And when that thought has been reinforced over and over through experiences, thoughts, and fears, it can be crippling.

After many failures, Thomas Edison said, "If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward".

Weight loss has stopped; the media circus has ended; but I continue to grow and change in ways I never could have imagined.

Man, this is fun!

Augusta Chronicle Article

2010-06-26T18:58:00.001-04:00

Because there are some people following my blog who aren't on facebook, I am posting the link to the article from The Augusta Chronicle that includes a section about my weight loss. This article ran on the front page of the religion section, and took up nearly the entire page, save for an article by a gay minister (boy, THERE'S an oxymoron), and a small article about religious iPhone apps.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/life/your-faith/2010-06-25/many-ministers-struggle-obesity?v=1277495605

The Struggle Continues...

2010-06-24T11:23:00.001-04:00

It has now been almost six weeks since the final weigh-in of Augusta's Biggest Loser, and I have been on a schedule of mostly maintenance, with some stricter days thrown in. My weight has fluctuated up and down, which has taken some getting used to after six months of almost steady decline. Since November of last year, any slight gain has thrown me (and the fine folks at PHC) into a minor panic. Now it's just, "I'm up a couple... oh well. It'll come back off." During the competition, I was so focused on trying to drop the weight that I never gave a lot of thought as to how I would keep it off once the pressure of the contest was off of me. So far, it's not been too bad. There have been days I have eaten some things I wanted to - cake on birthdays, a little bite of sweets here and there, and a couple of trips to all-you-can-eat buffets. During the competition they told us to stay away from those places, but now during maintenance, they are telling me that buffets are good choices IF you go in with the right mindset.

It really is largely about the mindset in all areas of this journey. I can remember past attempts at weight loss, and I remember what it felt like mentally when I quit. I definitely noticed a difference in my thinking when I was "in gear", and when I just let everything slide back into neutral. Thus far, there has been no regression into neutral thinking. Although my family is sick of it, I still pull up reruns of The Biggest Loser online. I look at my Biggest Loser notebook - my written compilation of my weight loss journey - at least once a week. I watch Jillian Michaels' new show, "Losing It With Jillian". The refrigerator still is full of sugar-free jello, low-fat cheeses, and other, better choices. I guess the closest biblical analogy I can think of is to notice how many times the Bible commands us to "take heed", meaning to give constant attention to what is to follow.

One of the comments that was made to me online during the finale of The Biggest Loser was that I had done better than a lot of the people on the show. The other day, I went online and looked up all their statistics. For the season that just ended, there were 22 competitors, and if I had been on the show, and lost exactly the same as I did "at home", I would have done better than 16 of the 22. The only people who had a higher percentage of weight loss than I did were the final four, plus two at-home players. When you consider all the resources available to those who make it onto the show, that's mind-blowing. I cannot say enough about PHC and our trainer, Johnnie Hughes, at The Omni. Several of my friends have tried to do PHC's program in the past, and I don't know what caused their experience to be less than successful, but as far as I am concerned, those people are THE best at what they do. Are they perfect? No - no one program is perfect for everyone; we expressed a lot of frustration at times during the competition, but this "speed weight-loss" process that we went through means there's much less time for course correction. It wasn't a matter of "let's try this for a week and see what happens" - it was often literally a day-to-day change, with lots of experimenting. If something didn't work, they re-wrote the plan, or threw it out and started over. So anyway, that's my PHC commercial for the week.

Speaking of which... new PHC commercials should begin airing in the next few days. I will put a couple of them online later on; if you follow me on facebook, they will be up there (I do this not for vanity's sake, but because of the many friends and family that do not live in the Augusta area, and would not see them otherwise). In other media, there will be an article in the Augusta Chronicle "Your Faith" section about pastors, the church, and obesity, for which they photographed and interviewed me extensively. Hopefully something I said will make it into the article, as he interviewed several other pastors, as well. I think the last little bit of media will be CSRA Active Magazine, which said they would profile the winners in the next issue, but I have not heard from them yet. The commercials will air for the next year, I'm sure, but all the "new" will be off of them long before then. I wrote my final article for the Baptist Bible Tribune last night and fired it off to the editor. Hopefully the experience I've had and the journey I'm on will inspire someone who needs a little push and a little hope.

P.S. - Put on 3 pounds over Father's Day weekend / fish fry; lost all of them plus one extra for good measure. Current weight at PHC is 212, five pounds below my "danger weight". I'm small enough now that I can tell when I'm up 3 pounds, and it didn't feel very good at all. Would like to drop another four or five soon.

Weight Loss vs. Maintenance

2010-06-15T20:01:00.005-04:00

Just a few thoughts on the topic of weight loss vs. maintenance: which is harder?

I keep going back and forth on which one is more difficult. Obviously I have had great success during the weight loss phase, and maintenance thus far has not been difficult. But in the last few days, I have let out a little more slack in the line, so to speak, and I think I have hit a spot that may turn out to be tougher to navigate than I originally anticipated. I have discovered a few tendencies that I need give more attention as I go through this stabilization process:

1. I have discovered that if I put on an unusually high amount of weight in a very short period of time, it's usually sodium and water retention issues, not fat. I can usually fix this by making sure I get extra water.

2. For me, the discipline of saying "no" is easier than the discipline of saying, "yes, with limits". Refusing to eat certain foods takes a set of blinders, but it's pretty easy to shut that stuff out. Limiting portion sizes, or knowing when to say "when", requires much more focus and discipline. I've mostly done OK with this; this past weekend brought several occasions of eating "freestyle" - a couple of birthdays, an out-of-town trip, and a couple of fast-food meals. I've not made "horrible" choices; but I can notice the cumulative effects of eating some things I have not been eating. Now it's time to see if I can get the train back on track, as I am pushing against the upper limits of where I should be pounds-wise.

3. I have not been burning calories like I was previously - last week we were at camp all week, and then out of town yesterday, and today was pretty ugly as I only got about three hours of sleep last night. So I have not been to the gym in about 12 days, and I can tell it. My energy level is down a little, and my running has lost a little (although I ran in the Six Flags parking lot yesterday, and didn't do too badly, considering I had been walking through the park for 9 hours before that, and it was brutally hot). So tomorrow morning, my schedule will be undergoing an adjustment - up at 4:45, in the gym by 5:30, an hour of work there, then a dash home to get ready for work, take my daughter to her job, and then back to the church to begin my day of work, hopefully by 8:00 AM, or shortly thereafter.

4. The standard has changed a little bit - during ABL, the only scale that mattered was the digital scale we weighed on every Monday night. Now, the only scale that matters is the one scale I totally ignored for six months - the scale at PHC, the weight loss center. I still don't really track that one too closely, because if I keep my scale at home well within my safe weight range, I will be okay at PHC. There was a little panic for me this morning, as my scale got up to around 216, up from 209 just 48 hours earlier. But seven pounds in 2 days is water weight, mostly, and it should come off fairly easily as I up my water intake and tighten the reins back on my diet.

Today, four of us "losers" had to go to a media production studio to shoot video and record a few sound bites for TV and radio spots for PHC. Nandy and I were on the call sheet, of course, as were Lisa and her son Tanner. I hope it went okay... the production people noted that I had "done this before", as my calling as a minister of the gospel frequently puts me in the position of speaking publicly. I also have done some amateur production work of my own, recording narration, voiceovers, and other bits of audio and video for various reasons. I hate hearing my own voice (who doesn't?), but hopefully my efforts were adequate for their purposes. Nandy is so bubbly, and that really comes across well on camera; Lisa is very well spoken, and does very well on TV also. I basically did it all through a walking coma, as I have a total of approximately 6 hours of sleep since Saturday night (it's currently Tuesday). But I was happy to help PHC any way I could; even if I were not contractually obligated to do appearances such as these sessions, I would still do them. These folks gave up a lot of time and attention to make sure that we losers were taken care of, and gave us the knowledge and tools to change our lives. I will be doing some work for them in the future - website updates, probably some graphics work, and hopefully, some opportunities to help some of their clients.

The Ups And Downs Of New Clothes...

2010-06-12T22:11:00.001-04:00

One of our speakers at camp this week asked me, "What have you done for clothes during your weight loss? Obviously your sizes changed frequently..." I told him that I had to shop cheaply - Walmart, Kmart, Goodwill, etc. Now that my size has settled off and stopped changing every month, I have collected a few more articles of clothing than I had during the contest. I have tons of workout t-shirts, a few pairs of shorts, enough shirts and slacks to get me through a week at work... but one area is, sadly, rather skimpy.

Suits. The uniform of the ministry. Well, in our church, and in most like-minded churches, anyway... one of my facebook friends posted pictures of himself preaching in blue jeans and an untucked, button-down shirt - we at our church probably couldn't get away with doing that. I guess there are advantages to starting your own church - you can set the "rules" (or at least, the expectations) as you go. Regardless, coats and ties are what those of us in leadership at our church do, and I'm okay with that. I would personally feel uncomfortable preaching a Sunday morning service in less formal attire, but I'm not here to throw stones at anyone for how they choose to dress on the platform or in the pulpit. I suppose there could be a stewardship argument made for simpler dress - the apostle Paul might have chosen a $15 shirt and a $20 pair of slacks over the indulgences of expensive suits that cost hundreds of dollars. But anyway...

I purchased a new suit last month in preparation for our Biggest Loser finale. It was a pretty big expenditure for me - but a lavish change from the sport coats and casual slacks I had been wearing for the previous six months. However, it has become painfully obvious that I have exactly one suit, and it makes an appearance every other week. Now, our church takes good care of us, and I have no complaints whatsoever. A complete wardrobe change, however, is not part of our usual monthly expenses, and I feel guilty about purchasing clothing when the van needs repairs, the air conditioner is on its last leg, as well as all the other expenses that we all have from time to time.

This evening my wife asked me, "I'm going to Goodwill... wanna go?" Frequently I don't want to go... the women's clothing section takes approximately five times as long to go through as the men's section. But I said I'd go (I haven't seen her since Monday, except for Wednesday night), and so we climbed in the car and made the trek to Evans (about 12 miles away) to go to the "good" Goodwill. I went to the men's section to look through the single rack of suits and jackets they had. A lot of the items looked familiar - I have seen the same items on many trips to this store. Seeing as how I already have a navy blue blazer, I don't need a tuxedo, and double-breasted suits refuse to make a complete comeback, there wasn't much left to browse through. A solid gray jacket caught my eye, and I picked up the hanger - 42 long, the label said. My size. I slipped on the jacket, and it fit pretty well. I pulled it off, looked carefully at the coat and the pants that accompanied it. No flaws, no wear patterns, no nothing. Just a suit, in excellent condition. I nearly ran to the dressing room to try on the slacks - bingo! I had gone hunting, and had found my prey.

Excitement got the best of me, and I returned to the rack to see what else might be available. I knew the odds were pretty slim of lightning striking twice in the same place, but it did. A black suit, this time - a 4-button black suit by some Italian brand, in perfect condition. The pants had been taken in, and were snug at the waist, but closer inspection proved that they could be restored to their original size by an average tailor.

For the massive sum of $30, plus dry cleaning and a little alteration work, I have two more complete suits in my closet. God is good!

A Week of Temptation...

2010-06-11T18:13:00.000-04:00

I have just arrived back home after a week at youth camp. Phone service was very sporadic; rather than continually frustrate myself over a non-existent signal, I decided to not write anything until I returned home.

My new relationship with food was cast into a stark light this week. Our camp always has the most amazing meals, for a camp. I've been to camps where breakfast is cereal and toast; we serve, on various days, pancakes (not the frozen kind, but straight off the griddle), grits, biscuits and gravy, sausage, eggs, bacon, cereal, muffins, and other treats. For lunch, there's a hamburger day, a taco day, a spaghetti day, and a sandwich day (first day of camp - an easy meal). Dinners were beef stew, barbeque chicken, ham, and chicken casserole.

Almost none of these items have made their way back into my food choices yet.

Before camp, I went back and forth between "I'm going to take all my own food and be very strict", and "I'm going to eat whatever they serve, just in reasonable quantities". I'm still early in the stabilization phase at the weight loss center, so I didn't want to stray too far from that. Bottom line, I went without much of a plan at all, except to pack a few cans of tuna and a bag of apples. I had actually not really been aware of two things in years past - one, I can stroll into the kitchen at any time and get anything I want to eat; and two, we have a pretty well-stocked kitchen. One of our counselors had her husband pick up a couple packages of those thin 100-calorie wheat buns, and a bagful of Carbmaster yogurt cups. I was able to eat a lot of salads, turkey sandwiches, baked chicken, and veggies when available. I splurged a couple of times during the week - had to grab a couple of homemade chocolate chip cookies (okay, they were from pre-fab cookie dough, but still); I passed over ice cream dessert, cake, and anything that was sold in the canteen besides lowfat yogurt and diet Coke. Contrary to what I anticipated, I didn't spend my week looking longingly at all the foods I "can't" have. It was more like "ya'll can eat that, but I'm not interested." I sent our nutritionists an email midway through the week, thanking them for changing the way I look at food.

I have to let things kind of settle out for a couple of days, but I think I did lose some of that extra weight at camp this week. I had intended to run and work out; I did run Tuesday morning, but two miles in, I realized that if I got hurt, I would be useless for the rest of the week. I strapped on a pedometer, and logged over 12 miles of walking per day just in the normal course of a day at camp. One of our speakers wanted me to help him get started on his weight loss journey, and for exercise, I suggested he start by walking. You won't lose as quickly by JUST walking, but you can still lose if your nutrition is on point.

Some of you may be thinking, "Augusta's Biggest Loser is over; why are you still writing about food and weight loss?" Well, I will be writing about other topics, but there are a lot of people who are on their own weight loss journey, and when you are in the beginning or middle stages of the process, it can seem like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. I continue writing to let those folks know that they can come out on the other side successfully.

At The Walmart Photo Counter...

2010-06-03T16:40:00.001-04:00

Once or twice I have mentioned that all of my postings, pictures, magazine articles, etc., are going into a notebook that I will keep as a constant reminder of where I've been and what I've accomplished over the last six months. I had everything up through about the end of April, but had not printed or inserted anything after that point. I sent some digital before/after pictures, as well as some finale snapshots, over to the one-hour photo lab at Walmart. I've done this a couple of times during Augusta's Biggest Loser, without incident. I sent the pictures early this morning over the internet, and received confirmation that they would be ready by 10:00 AM. I walked into the store, went to the photo counter, and waited for someone to man their post. A lady came from the electronics area of the store, and instead of "may I help you?", she just said, "Hi!". Struck me as a little odd... but I said hello back. She didn't even ask me if she could help me - she walked over to the pictures that had been processed, pulled out my envelope, came OUT from behind the counter, and shook my hand as she said, "Congratulations! I saw your pictures when I went to cut your 5 by 7's... you look great!" She asked me a few questions about the contest - how much did I lose, how did I do it, etc.

Everybody wants to know how I did it, until I tell them. Yes, I did it faster than the average dieter, but in a nutshell, the answer is "diet and exercise". It was just at a pace that very few people are willing to keep. There are plenty of people at the gym that can work circles around me; there are people at PHC who are better at sticking to their food plan than I am. But by and large, the dieters won't exercise with any degree of intensity, and the gym rats won't eat right.

I had my PHC appointment today - my third stabilization visit. I was down nearly 3 pounds, which is good, because I had put back on some weight since the finale. Most of it was bound to return - dehydration and prolonged, intense exercise tends to wear the body down. But I'm slowly dropping again, and as long as my body is in the mood to drop a few pounds, I'll run with it. This time, though, it will be fat weight, not water and stuff-I-might-actually-need-one-of-these-days. Just before I left, my counselor Savannah handed me a white PHC t-shirt and a Sharpie, and said they were having all the Biggest Losers sign it, and they would hang it in the lobby. I was the first one to sign, so I asked if they were looking for "thank you's", or something that would help inspire their clients. She indicated the latter, and after a minute of thought, this is all I wrote: "I did it - so can you! | 342 - 199 | Ed Chavis, WINNER!" I've never talked to Pam Segers or Bernard Milligan, the season 2 winners, but I remember Bernard saying to us that November night when we all learned our fates, "If I can do it, ANYONE can do it." He doesn't know me from Adam, but his words helped drive me forward; I hope my few words will compel someone to stick with it just a little longer, when everything in them and everything around them says, "you can't".

One other neat thing today at PHC: the latest copy of CSRA Active magazine is out, and inside there is a story about our journey, and the promise that the next issue will feature the winners. I hope they do a photo shoot, because the last time their reporter was out to talk to us and take pictures, it was at the end of a workout, and we all looked horrible. One way or another, it looks like Nandy and I will be gracing newsstands around the Augusta area in early September!

Losing Your Voice...

2010-06-01T21:02:00.001-04:00

Today I finally got to see the entire finale of "The Biggest Loser" - not our little show, but THE show. There was a little segment near the beginning where they showed some former winners in the crowd - Bill Germanakis, who has parlayed his victory into a very lucrative speaking and consulting career; some guy whose name I don't remember right now (I didn't get into the show until after about season 4), and Eric, from season 3, who had to display to the world in a "Where Are They Now" episode that he had regained nearly all of his weight. He was also featured in the third from the last episode of this season, serving as a warning to the contestants not to fall back into their old habits. In the "Where Are They Now" episode, trainer Bob Harper went back to Eric's house and got him to start working earnestly on his weight loss, and told him that he would be "on stage" at this season's finale. Well, Eric worked, and had lost 150 pounds by the finale, but instead of being feted onstage, he was simply a footnote on the night, sitting in the crowd, obviously with much work still ahead of him.

Ironically, I was looking through the book "Biggest Loser Success Secrets" today - it was published shortly after Ali Vincent's season 5 win, and included photos and tips from past contestants, including Eric. At the time the book was published, he was still sporting the physique of a record-setting winner, which, of course, lent a strong degree of credibility to what he had to say. But after spiraling out of control, his message was no longer one of hope and victory; it had been reduced to, "don't be like me". Instead of being a motivator and a cheerleader, now he was simply a bad example. He had lost his voice.

As I was contemplating all of this today, I realized that those of us who have lost weight, whether on our own or with help, have a very powerful message to share. The easiest thing in the world to do is to gain weight; I'm convinced that one of the hardest things in the world to do is to lose it. Flip through the infomercials each morning before the news begins - the ads for weight loss / body shaping consume about 25% of the airwaves, because EVERYONE is looking for "THE" answer. "THE" diet. "THE" workout. "THE" gadget. If you can stand up and say, "I did it, and you can, too", you have a message that will get people's attention. My message is already being put out there whether I want it to be, or not - as a result of Augusta's Biggest Loser, Nandy and I are about to be on TV in a commercial that will air so often that people will get sick of it quickly; our picture is going to be featured in the Yellow Pages ad for PHC; my name and pounds lost has been on the PHC sign since November.

I had these thoughts today as I was thinking about the general topic of "why should I keep the weight off". Not that I ever want to go back to the way I was, but the odds of all of us keeping our weight off for life are not good. There are plenty of casualties like Eric among the ranks of both the "pros" and us amateurs. If you can't find the desire and the drive within yourself to keep toiling away at this lifelong task, let me encourage you to think about the opportunities to change others' lives that you will miss if you go back. Far greater than the gift of getting your life back is the gift of having the opportunity to help someone else get theirs back.

Don't ever go back - if you slip, get back on course, and quickly. People are watching you when you don't even know it, and you could be either their last thread of hope, or their last sigh of resignation.

Facts Are Our Friends...

2010-06-01T08:38:00.003-04:00

"Facts are our friends."

This quote from Pastor Johnny Hunt, current president of the Southern Baptist Convention, is applicable to most areas of life. Most of us have at least one area of our life where we're not really interested in the facts, because this lack of knowledge helps us look past our own faults and shortcomings. I am reminded of the classic story "Snow White", where the evil queen asks, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" She was more interested in the mirror's opinion, and how she compared with everyone else, than she was in the mirror's reflection. She was enraged when the mirror declared that, with Snow White's arrival, she was no longer the fairest in the land.

In ministry, we have been known to fall into some of these same tactics - a fellow pastor asks how many we are averaging in church, and I have heard many pastors round the numbers WAAYY up. A crowd of 150 can easily become 250 through the power of the "guesstimate"; the latest trend is to add up the total number of people in every service, and that's the "attendance". If Sunday School attendance is 100, morning worship 150, Sunday evening 70, Wednesday night is 40, it is perfectly acceptable now to say that your church is running about 360 (well, 400, if you count those who would have been there if they could have been, and a few more if you count those who attended the monthly service in the nursing home).

The same thing holds true for our eating and exercise habits. Unless we are very intentional about tracking everything we eat accurately, we will often paint a very distorted picture of what our diets actually look like. One thing I discovered during ABL is that the rule of thumb is, you usually eat more than you think, and you usually exercise less than you think. This past weekend was Memorial Day weekend, and I ate some things I would not have normally eaten. I am on a stabilization plan with PHC, in which certain foods are gradually re-introduced back into the diet. I ate well outside of that list this weekend (not excessively bad, but a few things that weren't on the list). Predictably, my weight is up a little bit - with a three-pound swing in two days, I can tell you that it is water weight. When I sat down and plugged yesterday's eating into my fitday.com profile, I was rather shocked to discover that my sodium intake was THROUGH THE ROOF! During the competition, one of the pleasures that I allowed myself was the Chargrilled Chicken Sandwich from Chick-Fil-A, and I would indulge myself with this treat almost every Monday night following weigh-in. It was in the PHC book as an acceptable eating-out alternative; I ate it without giving it too much thought. Every week I faithfully wrote it down in my food journal, and I always had a good laugh about it with Savannah, my nutrition counselor at PHC. Previously I had recorded it in my fitday.com journal as a piece of chicken and a couple of pieces of bread, and figured, "ah, that's close enough". This morning, I looked up the actual nutrition information for the sandwich at thedailyplate.com (which lists almost every food you can imagine from every restaurant chain you can imagine), and discovered that my treat is probably responsible for every single mid-week gain I had during the competition. The calories aren't bad (about 300), but the sodium is off-the-charts (1120 mg). That wasn't too bad for weigh-in day, because most of us didn't eat anything between a light, early breakfast and weigh-in time at 7:00 PM. But when added into a typical day's eating, the results can be quite alarming. Yesterday (Memorial Day, remember), I ended up at nearly 4800 mg of sodium, almost four times what I would get in a normal day. Now, I can fix this... today I will be eating very low sodium foods, and will be drinking water like crazy to get my body to stop retaining the fluid.

Here's the point: you can't fix the problem until you can accurately define the problem; you can't accurately define the problem until you know the specifics. And you won't know the specifics until you overcome your fear of the facts. Fear of facts is why we won't get on the scale, or check our bank balance, or be accountable with our time. Ignorance may be bliss, but bliss can be a very dangerous thing.

Addendum: I mentioned a website in this post, thedailyplate.com. This site has now been incorporated into www.livestrong.com. Just go there, and in the search box at the top right of the page, type the name of the restaurant or the food item you are looking for. If you tell it to search in "food and fitness" instead of "all", you will get where you're going much faster. You don't need an account to access this information. If you do decide to register for an account, you will have access to features similar to fitday.com, where you can input your food and track your progress.

The Power of Words...

2010-05-27T23:11:00.000-04:00

After a photo session this morning and a commercial this afternoon, I was looking back through my photos in my facebook photo album. One thing I have not included in my book yet are some of the things other people have said when commenting on my photos, and I wanted to make sure that I saved their comments. In no particular order, here are some of the words of encouragement that friends and acquaintances have left for me:

"Go, Ed!" - Mark Shimeal, November 6, 2009 (college roommate)

"Oh my goodness! You almost don't even look like the same person!" - Sandy George (friend)

"Who are you and what have you done with my brother?" - Kim Stady (my sister)

"I couldn't believe how awesome you look, when I saw you this past weekend! Praying for you every day!" - Linda Keffer - music evangelist's wife

"You're doing great... keep it up!" - Skip Braswell, season 1 winner

"You look amazing!!! You are doing awesome!" - Rebecca Kitchens, former teen from my youth group

"You look absolutely amazing!!!!! WOW!!! I am so thrilled for you!! Now, the real hard part will be keeping it off. But I know you will." - Jenny Gottschalk, high school classmate

"WOW! Just WOW! You look great and I'm soooo impressed by anyone with that kind of will power" - Liz Hill, NBC Augusta news anchor

"uhmmm.ok....you can stop now! :) you look amazing!" - Liz Hill (again)

"Ed... you look great brother... great work... I am glad that you have the support and adoration of many friends, family and NBC..." - Barry Allison, blue team trainer

"Awesome!!!!! SOOO PROUD to share the WINNER's stage with YOU!!!"- Kristy Youngblood, season 1 winner

"Eddie ~ I'm still amazed when I see these pictures side-by-side. It's such a remarkable change! You should be so proud of yourself and I know that you've been an encouragement to so many others." - Sheila Hiler, friend from college

So many others have left notes, emailed me, texted me, and snail-mailed me their best wishes and compliments; I want to tell all of you who may read your comments here that your words of encouragement kept me going through the entire process. This, of course, does not include the weekly encouragement by so many in my Lumpkin Road Baptist Church family... you guys are the best!

I am living proof of the power of words; it's a lesson we could all stand to learn. Before you tear someone down with your words, understand that you may be impacting their life, for the rest of their life. Choose carefully.

And The Media Frenzy Starts...

2010-05-25T22:47:00.002-04:00

Got up this morning early and hit the hospitals to visit our sick... I got up with my wife... it was so nice to get ready and spend a little time together in the morning. Before losing my weight, I was hard-pressed to get out of bed in the morning; during Augusta's Biggest Loser, I was leaving at 5 AM (4 AM during "crunch week"). So it's nice to be on the same schedule with her every now and then, even if I still plan to hit the gym early some mornings.

I got into the office around 8:30, went to program some changes into our digital sign. Couldn't connect to the sign... lovely. Nearly an hour of tinkering, and I finally got the computer to talk to the sign. This, after half a Monday of the piano totally flummoxing our tuner with a loud squeak. We had our staff meeting, I did some more work, and then had an appointment at PHC at 12:30.

Mark, Donna, and the usually-missing Patricia were there today (Patricia is their nurse who is spread around quite a bit). For the first time EVER, Donna was happy to see that I had GAINED some weight, because my finale weight was a little light for me. (For those of you keeping score at home, yes, I am totally aware of how drawn and thin my face looked - Donna told me some of you were complaining at the finale!) Anyway, Mark had sent me an email Monday night and told me that they wanted to take my "after" pictures on Tuesday. "Yeah, let us eat for a week, and THEN schedule our "after" pictures", I thought. But they probably came out better, because the sunken face has filled back out just a little with re-hydration. What he DIDN'T tell me was that these pictures were not for my file, nor for the bulletin board in the foyer... they were for the new PHC ad in the Yellow Pages... yes, my ugly mug will be gracing homes all over Augusta for the next year! The main purpose for my visit, ostensibly, was to get the specifics on stabilization and maintenance. This is the part of the program where, for the next six weeks, they gradually add more food selections back to your diet, in very specific quantities, and help you learn to eat like a normal person should. After six months of "thou shalt not", I'm finding that I am already bucking against "it's okay"... six months of avoiding certain foods like the plague, I now have to establish a new relationship with them. The philosophy for maintenance is this: three pounds above your desired weight, and it's time to start back on the heavy work again to get it back down. Seems logical to me: three pounds is not an unmanageable amount. I have a feeling that most people would set their "danger weight" a bit higher, like 10 or 15 pounds. The problem, though, is that it never stays at 10-15 pounds - it usually grows to 20, then 25, then we're buying larger clothes again, and before you know it, we re-gain everything PLUS a few more. My mutually-agreed upon weight is in the 205-210 range; therefore, at 213, I will shift back into weight-LOSS mode instead of weight-maintenance mode. I would guess that those people who successfully keep it off go in and out of that mode quite often. After six months, weight-loss mode is second nature to me now. One of the things Pat had me do today was write a list of all the foods I have missed... I really had to think hard, and those that I wrote down, I put question marks beside them. I can't really say that there's anything much that I miss. I thought of burgers and pizza, but as I mentioned, I had some pizza, and it made me sick, and it just seemed like a slab of grease on a hunk of cardboard.

I went back to work after my PHC appointment, and two hours later, my phone rang. It was Tina Terry, a reporter from NBC Augusta, who was on a mission to get some fresh material to air on the evening news tonight. She gave me the choice of her coming over to the church, or me coming down to the station. I had somewhere to be tonight, so I told her I would go to the station, lest we waste half an hour finding a suitable background with suitable lighting, etc. So I hopped in the car, headed down to the TV station, and let Tina ask me questions about my experience. She was not as impressed with what I had done, because she had never seen a "before" picture of me. I guess by the time she finished putting the story together tonight, she probably had gone into the archives and found my fat pictures - the station has a couple on file. One little tidbit: when the reporter IS the cameraman, you have to do a little bit of misdirection to make everyone think you are talking to someone off to the side of the camera. If you're watching an interview on local TV, and you don't see the reporter, the subject is looking at a spot away from the camera and, usually, away from the reporter. I've done a couple of these now, and it's a weird experience.

After the interview, I met a few guys from the church at Rhinehart's 'Orshter' Bar (I can't help it, that's how the owner, Amy, pronounces "oyster"). I'm not much of a seafood eater, but I told myself that I go back into weight-loss mode tomorrow (that three-pound thing), so I will enjoy a dinner tonight of not having to watch every little bite. I told myself I would eat the fish, but not the breading, where I thought most of the grease would live. Wrong. EVERYTHING I put in my mouth was saturated in grease. I gave away about a third of my fries, left some on my plate... didn't finish the fish... I was supposed to go to a shooting range with them, but by the time everyone was done eating, I was sick. Not throwing-up sick, but violently-cramping sick. I had to excuse myself and go home. One of the guys said, "I guess your stomach isn't used to real food." I didn't give it much thought at the time, but later it crossed my mind that "real" food is what I've been eating for the last six months - lean meats, veggies, fruits, whole wheat, lots of protein, little fat - and the stuff on my plate tonight is the kind of stuff that helped pave the way to 342 pounds. (Incidentally, each Biggest Loser contestant got a gift certificate to Rhinehart's... and I won't even begin to address the irony in THAT.) I got home, and they had just started airing the ABL finale. I arrived just in time to see my "after" video, and me standing on the stage and watching my numbers be revealed. Brenda's phone started ringing - old co-workers were watching, and reporting in. I tossed back a triple dose of Maalox (something I had not needed since starting the competition), and watched everyone else's part of the show.

After our show went off, the network aired the live finale of the hit show, "The Biggest Loser". About half an hour in, I got a nice note from Kristy Youngblood. She said that she noticed that so far, I had done better than the at-home participants in the national show. Eventually, they did get to some who had done better, but my 41.38% ranks right up there near the top. 20 more pounds would have had me beating Daris, the third finalist. As Johnnie pointed out, we didn't have the benefit of 6-8 hour a day guided workouts; we had our trainer for one hour a day, three days a week, and the rest was up to us.

I'm struggling to stay awake for the 11 PM newscast; I want to see what Nandy said to Tina Terry today, if she got interviewed. Then off to bed; and tomorrow, getting serious again about the weight. I haven't gone too far off the rails (with the exception of tonight); I look forward to getting back in the groove. I'm already fully-stocked on fruit, chicken, stir-fry veggies, tuna, yogurt, fat-free cheeses, eggs, and the other foods that helped me bid the old me a fond farewell.

The Contest Is Over...

2010-05-22T19:44:00.001-04:00

It's been nearly a week since I wrote anything, and I still haven't gotten around to the "thank you" post I promised. It's coming, but not right now.

This first week post-ABL has been very busy for me. I never got around to eating that steak I said I would eat in my last post. I've not had any beef yet - still a little afraid of what effect it may have on my beefless-for-six-months digestive system. I've eaten fairly close to what I was eating during the competition - not quite as much tuna, and added some carbs back into my diet. I have actually eaten out a few times since the finale, but I had chicken twice and grilled pork tenderloin once. Last Saturday we had lunch with our best friends, at my insistence. They have been so supportive and encouraging throughout this whole process, as everyone's friends have been, and I wanted to start making up time with them. That was a trip to Cracker Barrel, where I had a grilled chicken sandwich. Tuesday night we went to O'Charley's with my parents (a late Mother's Day dinner). My normal fare there would have been an appetizer of fried cheese, two or three rolls, a triple-cheese bacon burger, and regular fries. This time, I had a grilled chicken sandwich (notice a common thread here?), sweet potato fries, and a side salad.

One of the prizes we all won as Biggest Loser contestants was $25 to French Market Grill West. I'd never been, but we had the certificate, so we might as well use it, I figured. The food was good; the waiter got a little perturbed with me when I asked for "lite ranch dressing". He tried to tell me that there was no such thing, that it's the exact same dressing, just labeled differently so people would buy it. I wanted to say, "Buddy, I've been reading nutrition labels every day for the last six months - don't tell me there's no difference." He wouldn't let it go, so I said, "just bring me regular ranch, then... I'm not going to argue with you over salad dressing." As it turned out, there wasn't enough dressing on the salad to argue about! (For the record, regular ranch is 148 calories and 15 grams of fat; lite ranch is 48 calories and .3 grams of fat.) But the food was good - pork tenderloin, carrot-broccoli vegetable medley, and a scoop of garlic mashed potatoes (yes, I ate the potatoes. At $16 bucks a plate, I'm not leaving four dollars' worth of food sitting there! Besides.... the contest is over.) Had a wonderful date night with my lovely, shrinking-waistline wife! My plan for this morning was to make her breakfast in bed, but she got up anyway, so we ate at the table. Breakfast was bacon-egg-cheese burritos. Lest you become concerned about my breakfast choice, the tortilla shells I found this morning were just about the best ones nutritionally that I have seen - the contents are almost identical to one slice of wheat bread. Same carbs, nearly the same calories, everything. The filling was a scrambled egg, a chopped-up slice of turkey bacon with the grease drained off, and a dash of fat free shredded cheese. Thought we had some green peppers, but got home and didn't find them. It was a little bland, but still very good, and only around 200 calories. Even with the constraints of the contest off of me, I still check the calories, carbs, fat, sodium, and protein of everything I eat. Hopefully, a habit for life.

The contest is over. THOSE words are taking some getting used to. For the last six months, we have had the structure of daily workouts (with our trainer on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; on our own on the other days) and regular appointments with PHC. Since Mark and Donna Plants usually came to work out with us at least twice a week, it was almost like having four PHC appointments a week - two at their place, two at Omni. In talking to some of my fellow teammates, "a little lost" or "disconnected" is the general feeling that is floating to the surface. I have stayed in touch with PHC this week, not for an appointment or anything, just staying in contact, seeing what their plans are for my future, etc. Because of an extremely busy (and largely sleepless) week, I did not go by Omni to get my membership put into their system until lunchtime on Friday. I have been doing some running on my own, and when I went to the gym Saturday morning and hopped on a treadmill, I discovered that one week off does not mean I have to start from scratch. I was running intervals at the exact same speeds I was running the week before the finale. Actually, this has been a week of letting my body rest and re-hydrate thoroughly, and I think it has done me some good. Is my weight up? Of course - it took some dehydration to get down to 199 in time for the final weigh-in, and a gallon of water weighs eight pounds. My weight is currently hanging around 210, which is about what it was in the picture I posted as my official "after" picture - the one in the black shirt and khaki pants in my green office. I was discussing via e-mail with Donna at PHC what weight I should look to maintain, because obviously 199 was an aberration - my face looked horribly sunken in when I saw the pictures from the finale. She told me to check the BMI tables and see what I needed to weigh to have a body mass index of under 25. Well, the number I came up with was 189 pounds... I wrote her back and told her no way was I going to try and maintain my weight that low. She agreed that was probably not a healthy weight for someone of my stature, and we settled on keeping it around 210. I suggested 215, but 210 is doable. I may eventually end up a little lower, but it will be the loss of body fat over time through healthy eating and exercise habits, not a mad rush to hit a target by a deadline. I may also end up a little higher, if I start adding some muscle. Bottom line is, I want to look healthy, BE healthy, and fit comfortably into the clothes that I am wearing right now.

(Programming Note: If you live in the Augusta, Georgia area, you can see the first half-hour of our finale this Tuesday night at 7:30 PM, immediately before the finale of "The Biggest Loser". It airs on channel 26-1 if you are using rabbit ears (yes, there are still some of us); channel 8 on Comcast and Knology.)

Final Results...

2010-05-17T06:41:00.001-04:00

Well, the day finally arrived... I will use this post to describe my day, and then the next one to thank everyone for their support.

I got up around 6:00 AM Sunday - my usual wake-up time most Sundays - and started getting things ready for the day. I pulled out my brand-new suit and went over it twice to make sure I had no leftover threads, price tags, or all the other stuff they sew onto new clothes. This may not sound like a big deal, but for the last five months, I have been wearing hand-me-downs and Goodwill clothes to church. Slipping into a new suit with plenty of room was a wonderful way to start the day!

I had asked my dad to teach our Sunday School class this week, because I did not know what all this day would hold. Information about our finale has been on a need-to-know basis, and apparently they didn't think we needed to know anything until the last minute. It turned out to be a good decision, because as I noted earlier, I have been battling a nasty cold all week long. By the time the finale rolled around, I had nearly lost my voice. I have to confess that after addressing my Sunday school class briefly, I used the rest of the hour to gather my thoughts for the day ahead. I knew that Sunday afternoon I would have about 30 seconds to say everything I wanted to say, and I wanted to put some thought into it and choose my words carefully.

When the service was over, the family and I jumped into the car and headed downtown. They let me out at Ft. Discovery, and Brenda took the kids to grab a burger for lunch. To avoid replaying the entire day, I will hit the main things I noted in bullet points:

* They had us arrive at 1 PM, but we basically did nothing until 2. The girls fussed with their hair, their makeup, and all that sort of stuff.

* We knew seating was limited, but I had no idea exactly HOW limited until we got into the theater and saw how many seats had "reserved" signs on them. I immediately began texting everyone I had a phone number for to tell them that their chances of getting a seat were pretty slim. As it turned out, everyone who wanted in got in, but there were people standing and sitting in every aisle. Even with my repeated warnings at church that seating would be limited, nearly fifty of our church family came to cheer me on.

* I regretted not eating lunch, because they brought us a tray of sushi backstage... ugh. By the time I got to leave after 4 PM, I was starving!

*I am very glad the show wasn't live, because we started 15 minutes late.

After the beginning acknowledgements, they began bringing us out one at a time. I'm not sure what determined the order, but the red team went first, and we went in the following order: Tammy, Charles, Bronnie, me, Lisa, and then Nandy. Each person's "package" - the one-minute video clip they put together to introduce us - featured clips from our initial audition interview, and then from our "halfway" interview. Obviously there was a big difference in everyone's face from one clip to the next, but I distinctly remember a very visceral reaction from the crowd when my face changed from the "before" shot to the "after" shot. I don't remember if it was "wow" or applause or what, but it was a very pronounced reaction. My "after" was taped in late March, when I had already lost 113 pounds. It was the day Nandy and I went on TV with our old clothes to show off how much we had lost. They brought me out, and the crowd was pretty boistrous (might have something to do with the fact that we stocked the crowd with all those Lumpkin Road people!). I think Mark, Donna, Rob, Barry, and Johnnie were standing - not completely sure. They showed my "before" photo, and then put my stats up on the screen. The only question in my mind was, had I done enough to push that scale under 200 pounds? They showed my starting weight of 342.8 pounds (which also got a reaction from the crowd), and after a three-second delay, the ending numbers popped up. Jackpot! 199.4 pounds for an ending weight; total weight loss of 143.4 pounds.

The only real suspense of the day was this: Nandy, or Laycee? Nandy had taken off with an early lead in the competition, and had led by double digits (in pounds) at times, but Laycee fought and scratched her way within a pound of the lead, less than one percent back, several times during the course of the six months. Both of them worked incredibly hard, but in the end, Nandy had prevailed with a winning margin of 4.4 pounds, or 1.46%.

When they announced me as the winner, I thanked my wife and kids, my mom and dad, had my church family identify themselves, and then I said this: "Finally, I want to thank the Lord Jesus Christ for changing my life. Anyone can change their diet; anyone can change their exercise; but only Jesus Christ can change your life." I may have been imagining it, but I felt a little "Okay, that's enough... give me the microphone back..." from Liz... who knows. I know we were on a time crunch, and it might have been just that.

The rest of the afternoon unfolded pretty much as expected, although the post-show session wasn't nearly as long as I anticipated. We posed for a few pictures, and then they let us go. I had arranged to be away from church Sunday night, but I got home in plenty of time for church. I went ahead and let Ron Crouch lead singing - as I mentioned, my voice was shot.

I received a note from Charles' brother Michael late Sunday night, saying that he was sorry that he had to miss the afterparty at T-Bonz. If any of my fellow losers happen to read this, I didn't stand ya'll up - I did not know there were plans for after the finale. After the photos, I heard Tammy ask if we were free to leave, and somebody told her we were, so I got my family and left. I said "bye" to Mark, Donna, Nandy, and Barry, and no one said anything about dinner. So if dinner happened, I apologize for missing it, and I will go eat a steak in your honor!

Starting weight: 342.8 lbs

Ending weight: 199.4 lbs

Total pounds lost: 143.4

% of body weight lost: 41.83%

Starting waist size: 59 inches

Ending waist size: 36 inches

Total body inches lost: 74 inches

Final Weigh-In...

2010-05-15T23:24:00.003-04:00

For the past eleven days, we have been furiously working to try and get more pounds off before our final weigh-in on Friday, May 14th. After "Skinny Soup", "High-Low", "Chicken, Eggs, and Tuna Plus", "Millennium Meltdown", and six months' worth of other diets, named and unnamed, it has become very difficult to trick our bodies into burning fat and releasing those extra pounds.

We came in Friday morning and did our usual workout; keep in mind, "usual" only refers to the time we meet, 5:30 AM. There is nothing "usual" about the workout itself, as we have done something different every single time we've met. But we worked, and did what we were supposed to do. We all had things to do on Friday - most of us work full-time - so we would all arrive at the gym at different times during the afternoon. After leaving the gym, I went into the office for a while, and then took off the rest of the day as I had planned to do. I had some errands to run, and then I set about the task of getting as much work as I could in. I went to the mall and walked. I went to Wal-Mart and walked. I went home and pounded a truck tire with a sledge hammer. I jumped on the trampoline for a while. Then I grabbed some lunch (skinny soup) and headed back to the gym around 2. The girl who was working the front desk stopped me after I had scanned my key fob in, and told me that my membership was expired. She was new, did not know who I was, and I don't think she knew what the Biggest Loser competition was, either. While I was trying to explain to her what was going on, Barry walked up, and I told him they wouldn't let me in the gym. He and Big Mike explained who I (and the other contestants) was, and then Mike loudly announced that we could work out today, but if any of us tried to get into the gym after midnight tonight, we were NOT to be allowed in without purchasing a membership. Yeah, we all felt quite welcome there.

I got on a treadmill and started walking; Charles came in about 45 minutes later and joined me. I did the treadmill until about 5, and then I decided I needed a change of scenery. I was going to go with Charles into the steam room / sauna - usually good for dropping at least a little weight. But something told me, no, I had gotten this far without resorting to the steam room, space-age plastic sweatsuits, or any other devices to reduce my number on the scale, other than making sure that my stomach was empty and I was not constipated on Monday. Sorry to digress into such topics, but when one goes on a high-protein, low-carb, low-fat diet, constipation is a constant battle. PHC tells me that I am their first client who actually had a case so severe that they had to go to the hospital. So I bypassed the steam room and headed for Wal-Mart, where I walked some more. I passed the aisle where the bathroom scales were sold, and there were three scales, all different models, out of the package and sitting on the floor. I took off my shoes right there in the store and got on the scale. I was hoping to be somewhere below 201... the scale displayed 199.2. I got off, let it reset, and got back on. Same result. I stepped on the other two scales (both were the dial-type), and both showed me at a tick under 200. I left Wal-Mart with a little time left before weigh-in, so I stopped at Lowe's and walked around in there for a while. I returned to the gym, got on their platform scale - same result. So HOPEFULLY my official number will be below 200. If you've been keeping up with this blog, you know that is the last number I had to crack to reach every single one of my goals for myself.

After we weighed in, the crew all went somewhere and ate Mexican... I am still feeling poorly, so I ran by Chick-Fil-A, grabbed a sandwich and some food for the family, and headed home to take cold medicine and get some fluids in me. Friday was an extremely long day...

Saturday was a good day... I got up early, did the dishes in the sink, ran some errands, went to lunch with some of our best friends (Cracker Barrel - grilled chicken sandwich on wheat bread, no cheese or bacon or mayo), and then we headed downtown for the Thunder Over Augusta celebration. We looked at the car show, watched the motocross riders do stunts off a ramp, and then watched the army guys with service dogs (this was much more impressive than it sounds - you haven't seen a dog do what a dog can do until you've watched him jump through the window of a pickup truck and drag the driver out of the same window by his arm). We left for a while, and then went back to watch the fireworks over the river.

Off to bed... tomorrow is my last day as an Augusta's Biggest Loser contestant, and I will join the ranks of Augusta's Biggest Loser alumni. If my count is correct, there will be 32 of us who have completed the program over the three years of its existence (9 + 12 + 11). If my numbers hold up, as they should, I will be one of six who have won the competition; one of three men who have won the crown; and the first contestant ever, male or female, to finish with a percentage of weight lost of over 40%.

24 Hours To Go...

2010-05-13T19:56:00.004-04:00

It's a little surreal that this entire Biggest Loser experience is coming to an end... this day seemed like a long way away a few months back. We were counting the time left in months; months turned into weeks, then into days, and now, it's hours. I will probably write several concluding posts as I move through the weekend, but just a few thoughts here on Thursday - the LAST Thursday that I can say "I'm participating in the Augusta's Biggest Loser competition".

I've been sick since sometime on Monday of this week - pretty sure it's just a cold, but somehow, they always seem nastier in the warmth and humidity of spring as it rolls into summer. I thought yesterday was the worst day, until today rolled around. Yesterday I managed to make a hospital visit (yeah, I know you're not supposed to do that) and preached at church last night, but today, I spent the entire day in bed, except for a little light cardio at the gym this morning (and I do mean "little", and I do mean "light"), and my appointment at PHC. I enjoy my PHC appointments - I can only remember really being fussed at one time early on, but usually my visits are very pleasant, and usually pretty short.

Today they took my final set of measurements that will be taken during this competition. I don't have all the numbers in front of me right now, but I do know that I have lost 23 inches in my waist alone. Overall, I have lost 74 inches, a set of measurements that includes chest, waist, beltline, arm at the biceps, and wrist. I've lowered my blood pressure to 112/70; as I wrote halfway through, my bloodwork all came back fabulous; and last week, my doctor kicked me out with a clean bill of health and told me to come back in a year.

I asked for advice for the last day of the competition - I'm pretty much just to follow the same routine I've been doing on weigh-in day since we started. Other than a little extra work in the gym, I've stuck pretty much to the same routine since day one, and not really needed to vary too much.

I've talked a little in the past few weeks about hitting my goals, and I assigned various weights to those goals - breaking the record for highest percentage, losing 140 lbs, and getting below 200 lbs. I won't know until Sunday if I achieved those goals, but there's another set of goals I wanted to reach, and I have accomplished those. My first, most overreaching goal, was that I wanted to change my life. I've done that. My life is so different now at near 200 lbs than it was at 350, you can't imagine the contrast if you haven't lived it. My second goal was that, whether I hit a specific number or not, I wanted to be "done" when we hit the end of the process - in other words, I didn't want to have to clean up 30 or 40 pounds once the competition ended. I'm not taking anything away from anyone who still has weight to lose; on the contrary, some of them have been so inspirational to me during this process, and I respect every single pound that has been lost (over 1,000 pounds as of last weigh-in, with only 11 people participating). I had just personally hoped I could say "I'm there" at the end of the journey, and I think I've accomplished that The weight I had to lose is all the weight I could have lost during these six months, I feel. My third goal was that I wanted to be able to take the things I'd learned, the success I've been having, and use those things to help other people. Even before I was halfway done in my journey, I've had the opportunity to help several individuals, and to start a blog about living a healthy lifestyle using the things I've learned. Finally, the last intangible goal I've had was to be able to say, "I have no regrets about anything I've done or didn't do during the competition." I missed exactly one workout during the entire 6 months due to an unavoidable trip; I worked out myself at the hotel where we stayed, and I still lost 10 pounds that week. I was late a couple of times, but we all were at sometime. (Just for the record, Nandy did not miss a single team workout - not one.) I made it to the gym after spending most of the night in the emergency room once; I made it after being up with a sick kid all night; I did everything I could. On the food side of the equation, I did not put one bite of food in my mouth that I was not supposed to have. Was I ever tempted? Sure, I was. The weekend we started, there was a turkey fry at our church; then Thanksgiving, Christmas parties galore, Christmas dinner, New Year's Day - it seemed like there was always an occasion to eat. Our church has monthly birthday fellowships on the first Sunday night; our missions emphasis month in February had food every Sunday afternoon. There was anniversary Sunday and Easter and Mother's Day, and all the usual times to eat. Besides those scheduled "opportunities", I have two kids approaching adulthood who don't eat the way I have learned to eat, and there have been many trips to the fast food places and the pizza joints. I will never forget the first trip to Papa John's shortly after I began, because my kids had ordered garlic bread, and it was so buttery and garlicky, it stunk up my van for a week. My Biggest Loser journey encompassed every single birthday in our family except for my son's (three in the third week of April alone), and I ate no cake or ice cream for any of them. There were trips to Krispy Kreme for various early-morning church functions, and countless other opportunities to "cheat". I can say with a clear conscience before the Lord that not one time did I ever eat a french fry, a cookie, or even a food item in a restaurant if I thought it had too much butter, fat, or sodium for me.

Lots of people have praised my "willpower", but I told my Sunday school class this past Sunday that it wasn't a matter of willpower; it was simply day by day, sometimes minute by minute, making my choices based on what I wanted to become, not based on what I wanted. The blogs, the photos, the repeated viewings of "The Biggest Loser" - all those things helped me stay focused on what I wanted to become, and allowed me to by-pass the things I thought I wanted. I used to look at my favorite breakfast on the Sonic menu and think, "I want that." Now I can look at it and think, "that will kill you if you eat it enough times." A whole day's worth of calories, carbohydrates, fat, and sodium wrapped up in a burrito, and I would toss back a pair of them and a 44-ounce soft drink. AND be ready for lunch three hours later, where I would consume another whole day's worth (or more) of calories, carbohydrates, fat, and sodium.

All I'm trying to say is this: whether or not I hit my numerical goals; whether or not I win the contest or not, I've achieved the goals that really matter in the long run. I'm not too heavy for the ladder; I'm not the biggest guy in the room, no matter what room I'm in; I don't have discussions with myself about whether a 2x shirt will shrink so much that I'd be better off buying a 3x.

My life has been changed, and sometime over the weekend or early next week, I will pass out my "thank you's" in a later post.

I Get Sick At The Worst Times...

2010-05-11T17:20:00.001-04:00

Last night my right eye started getting really red... thought it might be allergies, since I've been doing a lot of stuff outside over the weekend. But this morning I woke up with full-blown cold symptoms, and those colds you get when the weather is warm always seem worse to me. I got home from the gym this morning with every intention of going back to bed, but after breakfast I got an email from PHC, asking if I was available to go down to the TV studio and tape one more spot for Wednesday morning's newscast. I'm not the best on-air personality in the group (that would probably have to be Lisa), but I have the most flexible schedule, and I'm the easiest to reach on short notice. Donna explained that she had been prepared to talk about childhood obesity, but since this was the last spot before the finale, she wanted to talk about us. I did my due diligence to talk about PHC when Jay threw it to me. It's not hard to do - the crew at PHC knows their stuff. I sat in the center between Jay Jefferies and Donna, but most of the spot was conversation between the two of them. I tried to look nice and stay out of the way! PHC had asked me to bring a "before" photo to the studio, so I grabbed my ABL notebook and brought all my pics. Donna was astounded - apparently no one has kept as careful a record of their experience as I have. I have taken all my blog entries, all my photos (before and during), the weight-in result charts, my personal weight charts, and put all of them into page protectors, and then into a three-ring binder. We had a lot of fun at PHC this morning looking through my pics with Donna, Savannah, and Priscilla.

I'm curious as to how the rest of the Losers, particularly those on the other team, are preparing for Friday night's final weigh-in. I do find it odd that, with all the tools available to us at Omni, I see no one working out when I'm at the gym. Maybe I just keep odd hours... I've pretty much kept the 5:30 AM workout time ever since we started, because it just seems to work best for me. I'm not on any super-secret mega-plan regarding my food; in fact, I'm not doing anything that I haven't done at some time during the competition. I have pretty much stopped sending my daily pedometer readings in to Johnnie, but I have not stopped walking. I shoot him my numbers a couple of times a week, and I still shoot for 10,000 steps every day. What's the old saying - "dance with the one that brung ya"...

We have, at this point, very little information about our finale "show" on Sunday. We all got an e-mail yesterday from the promotions manager at NBC, saying that the "makeovers" will be done on Sunday morning at 8:15 for anyone who wanted to participate. I assume that means hair and makeup for the girls; hair trims for the guys (although since Colin got a haircut and Tanner got a "buzz cut", I have more hair than anyone, and I don't need a haircut right now). I will be in church Sunday morning, and then head on over to Ft. Discovery and meet up with everyone there at 1:00 PM. I really feel torn between telling our church family to get there early, and leaving enough seats to accommodate the friends of the other 10 contestants. Jay said to me this morning, "I hear you're bringing your whole church Sunday", and I told him I was kinda waving some of them off by telling them there may not be enough seats. He just said, "hey - first come, first serve... tell them to come on!"

PHC may be having us do a photo shoot Saturday morning, but the rest of the day should be free, and we have our annual Thunder Over Augusta fireworks show Saturday night. Once the trauma of the weigh-ins is over with, it will be an enjoyable, memorable weekend. To my fellow Biggest Losers, regardless of who wins in either the male or female categories, take in the entire experience, and understand how unique this has been for all of us.

The Final Saturday...

2010-05-08T22:33:00.000-04:00

Today was the last Saturday before our final weigh-in... seems hard to believe. I slept in a little this morning, after not really having gotten any good sleep since Tuesday night, and went to the gym a little before 9:00 AM. Upon arriving, I did a little warm-up and then went out back to see if anyone I knew was working out outside. It was just Johnnie and Big Mike (not the Big Mike who trains people while he eats biscuits for breakfast; Big Mike, the super-muscular, super-big guy who is always carrying a gallon jug of some concoction, and always makes a point of stopping to talk to us about how well we are doing.) Lisa was there, doing her thing on the elliptical, while her husband Ramon was in a spin class. I came back in, got on the treadmill to do some cardio, and discovered that the treadmill apparently was out of whack. Three times it put itself on pause - the first two, I thought I had done something, but quickly realized that no part of my body was anywhere near the pause or stop buttons. If you've never been running on a treadmill when someone hits "stop" without you knowing it, it's quite a jarring experience. I dutifully reported it to the front desk, where some fairly new guy whipped out a "Tempoarily (sp) Out of Service" sign. (They are good with those signs - apparently they hung one on the clothes dryer, and spent the entire day Friday telling clients that the dryer was broken and there were no towels. Not sure why it didn't occur to any of them to load up a car and haul a load to the laundromat that is pretty close by. But whatever.) I finished my workout, and headed to the house. I still wasn't feeling extremely well today, but had a lot of stuff to do. I got the oil and air filters changed in the ol' minivan, went by the church to do some stuff, came home and cooked lunch, mowed grass for Mom and Dad, took Steven shopping for Mother's Day, and some other things.

Brenda (my dear wife) went through her entire closet today... she has dropped several sizes, and it was her turn to cull through her clothes and figure out what to keep and what to give away. I'm very proud of her - without nutrition counselors or a trainer, she has dropped nearly 40 pounds in the last few months. In going through the clothes, she found my old Awana uniform - a shirt which, in its heyday, barely fit me. (For those of you familiar with Awana, it was an old gray uniform shirt. For those of you who do not know what Awana is, think boy scout uniform, but in light gray with red accents.)

Backtracking a little, I went to Omni's Walton Way branch with Brenda Friday evening. It wasn't very crowded, and I did a little cardio while she worked a bit harder than me. Lance came over and talked to me, and was very complimentary. He said that most of the guys that have gone through ABL look like they still have some weight to lose after the finale, but I was "already there - skinny". He left, and a few minutes later brought his sales manager, Jonathan, over to meet me. With a manufacturing background, I'm always wary of salespeople, but he was nice, and also complimentary.

Anyway, after supper we went to Walmart to pick up my food for the next few days, along with other things we needed around the house. All in all, a pretty normal day today.

A Sense of Accomplishment... Seven Days to Go

2010-05-07T15:19:00.001-04:00

It is a very eerie feeling that some of the things I was hoping for when I began this back in November are starting to come to fruition. Some are little, some are big; all are important to me.

1. Somewhere along the way, "I'm-just-happy-to-be-here" turned into "I-want-to-win-this-thing". It is amazing what a little taste of accomplishment will do to fuel the desire to succeed. Success, as they say, breeds success. When it became apparent to me that I had a real shot at winning the competition, one of the thoughts that I tucked away in the back of my mind was that I wanted to not only win, but to win by reaching the highest percentage of weight loss for any ABL participant ever. Officially, with this past Monday's weigh-in, I achieved that goal (barring a total collapse between now and the final weigh-in!) My inquiries and research came up with the factoid that Pam Segers, last year's female winner, had a 39.05% weight loss. As of Monday, May 3, my percentage was 39.26%. If I hit my goal by losing 8.3 more pounds by next Friday night, my percentage will be 41.69%. Winners will not be announced until next Sunday's finale, but I know how my scales compare with the Omni scale, and I will know if I made it.

2. I've mentioned the whole clothes-buying thing in various posts throughout the competition; today I bought my first-ever off-the-rack suit from the regular men's section in a regular store - no "Big and Tall" (the grown-up equivalent of the infamous "husky boys" section). You cannot possibly know how it feels unless you've experienced it.

3. I was given a unique opportunity on Thursday - our church hosted the May meeting of the Georgia Baptist Bible Fellowship, and due to an unforeseen circumstance, I was given an opportunity to be on "standby" in case the pastor who was scheduled to speak first was not able to do so because of illness. He did speak, but he preached a short message; time flew by, and there was plenty of time left for me to speak. However, instead of being the first speaker, as originally planned for, I was the last speaker before our snack break. I questioned aloud the wisdom of allowing a preacher who had just lost 135 pounds to preach right before we went back to eat! I shared a very simple message - "Run Well" - from I Corinthians 9. In that passage I saw desire, discipline, direction, and determination. Probably an outline they had heard preached 20 times before, but probably not by someone who was in my position. For the rest of my life, I will be able to talk about the fact that God has brought me out of an addiction to the most widely-abused substance in the United States. After I finished my message, we went to the fellowship hall where the fruit was devoured quickly, and a HUGE pile of cookies went nearly untouched.

We're REALLY in the home stretch... and there's no time to let up. My goal is ambitious, still... trying to push that scale down under 200 by May 14th, 7:00 PM.

Stay tuned...

Getting Close...

2010-05-01T21:38:00.001-04:00

For the most part, this week was uneventful until around Friday. Our pastor had to go out of town to be with his family while his mother had open heart surgery, and I had the privilege of speaking in our mid-week Bible study on Wednesday. Thursday was quiet...

Friday morning we got to go over into the new side of Omni - P.U.R.E, they call it. If you google it, you get water filters. It's an acronym that I can't remember right now, but they have tractor tires and sledge hammers and sandbags and ropes and all sorts of cool stuff to exercise with. Friday was our first time over there; SOMEBODY who shall remain nameless got a little overzealous with dropping a sandbag near a window, and it shattered the glass. Word is that we are now banned from P.U.R.E. workouts. I don't know if that's the case or not, but if so, that's pretty silly. We can break a $4,000 treadmill with no consequence, but break a $100 (and, I might add, OLD) piece of glass, and we get thrown out. Lovely......

One big personal thing for me Friday morning happened after we finished our workout: I walked over to an arrangement of overhead bars, grabbed one I could reach, and attempted a pull-up. The bar started coming closer, and I realized, I WAS DOING MY FIRST-EVER PULL-UP! Nobody was paying attention... so with all the strength I had left, while I was still at the top, I yelled, "JOHNNIE!" THAT got everyone's attention... I was so proud of what I had been able to accomplish, and in that moment, I think the thought finally settled into my mind, "I'm really getting there." Amazing moment for me.

Today, Saturday, was the big Plane Pull. We put together a combined team of Biggest Loser contestants, PHC folks, our trainer Johnnie, several folks from NBC including Liz Hill and Navideh Forghani, and a stray football player from another team that we drafted to give us 20 people. The object was to pull a plane 12 feet in the fastest time. Our time was 9.241 seconds; some teams were turning in times under 7 seconds. Can't feel too bad, though... our throw-together team of half men and half ladies beat the U.S. Navy team!

We hung around the plane pull a little longer, and then made a beeline back to the church to go bowling with our teens and young adults. It's been a long time since I bowled - at least five years, by my count. A bad back limits what you can do, but I was feeling good today. Man, was I rusty! My first frame was 0/0.... I managed to break 100 the first game, but didn't even break 90 my second game.

All this fun was sandwiched between a morning of working on my car, and an evening of yard work. All told, I logged over 13,000 steps walking today.

Two weeks from today will be the first day of watching what I eat WITHOUT the pressure of the competition. Final weigh-in is 13 days away, and our final Monday weigh-in is this Monday night. Tonight I ordered a pizza for Steven, and when I opened the lid to make sure they got my order right, I wanted a piece SO badly! Not even a piece - just a bite. There will be a time for moderation, but I will never, EVER forget what all that junk food did to my body, and the work it has taken to get rid of the accumulated consequences. That's one reason why I've written this blog... posted these pictures... I said in an earlier post that they were evidence of my success, but they are also reminders of my past failures. I hope to always hold on to both the positive and the negative sides, because we need different kinds of motivation at different times.

18 Days Till Final Judgment...

2010-04-26T21:02:00.001-04:00

Well, tonight's weigh-in was interesting all the way around. I don't know what Tanner did - I was probably talking to someone. I went next, and after a week of being UP, I ended up down 1.6 pounds. I'm hoping PHC has something up their sleeve for me. I'll get to what I need to lose in a minute. Tim lost whatever he needed to lose to join us in the 100-lb club. Ashlee dropped 4.something, Lisa and Bronnie both dropped enough to get below the 200-lb mark. Chuck lost 3, Tammy lost a couple, and I don't know what Colin did. Nandy was up .8 and not very happy; Laycee was down, but only by 1.8. She closed the gap some between her and Nandy, but she was looking for more. She worked very hard this week, from what I understand. Sometimes it works that way...

Now, for me and the task before me: I currently officially weigh 211.8 pounds. I am about 6 pounds away from breaking the 40% of weight lost; I'm 9 pounds away from hitting the 140 I wanted to lose; and I am 11.9 pounds away from my ultimate goal of breaking the 200-lb mark.

11.9 pounds - that's all that stands between me and hitting every one of my goals. 11.9 pounds is the task... an 18-day span is the enemy.

It's ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Three Weeks To Go...

2010-04-23T22:33:00.001-04:00

Haven't posted anything lately... not much news to report. Weigh-in Monday was so-so for me - 3.8 lbs. But, over the last two weeks, I lost over 12 lbs. on the PHC skinny soup diet, so I can't complain too much. A six-pound-per-week average is pretty good this late in the competition. As I have detailed, I have about 13 lbs. to go to goal. A little more now - I'm up some over the course of this week. I'm on a plateau-breaker for the rest of the weekend. Hopefully it will be enough to get me back down to at least a zero... I really don't want to post a gain this week. I started creeping some carbs back into my diet, and predictably, my weight loss stopped. Actually, it went up, even though I am still not consuming enough calories to cause me to gain. Seems to be some water issues... I was up quite a bit yesterday, but it's come back down some.

Today happens to be my 46th birthday... didn't do cake or ice cream... had stir-fry veggies and chicken, and had an apple for dessert. Been a good day - , and my wife, daughter, and son each bought me a gift. I wrote a note to my trainer, telling him that I was celebrating FREEDOM from cake this year. Normally, I would have picked out the cake of my choice, and had some for breakfast with milk, and then as dessert after lunch and supper. There will be a time and place for a small piece of cake, but not before May 14th's final weigh-in.

The final weigh-in is three weeks from today. I'm not making any progress towards the goals I have set for myself, but I told Brenda tonight that I'm going to give it my best, and if I fall short, I will still have no regrets. I've changed my life, I've lost nearly 40% of my starting weight, and I've already been able to help others in their journey. If I don't make it all the way to 199, I can be OK with that.

Tonight I was walking around in Wal-Mart, getting my 10,000 steps in, and I went by a rack of really cheap suits - the Wal-Mart "George" brand. (I don't know who "George" is - probably some poor soul in Bentonville, Arkansas, home of Wal-Mart.) Anyway, they have always had very limited sizes and quantities of these items, and nothing very large. I walked over, looked at the sizes, and found one that sounded close. It didn't fit extremely well, but that was just the cut of the suit, because it buttoned very easily around my waist.

I was thinking tonight about writing a pair of top ten lists, but since I probably can't come up with ten in each category, we'll just do it like this:

Things I miss because of ABL:

Pizza, hamburgers, milk (large glasses of it, any way), french fries, ketchup (you don't realize how much you depend on it until it's gone!), potatoes, corn, fried cheese of any variety (cheese sticks, cheese wedges). Some of these things may be back eventually, in VERY small quantities on special occasions. Where I went wrong was, the things on this list were pretty much all I ate - the tools that got me to 342 pounds. I will have to learn to eat a BITE, not a BASKETFUL... and some things just will have to be "no way".

Things I don't miss, THANKS to ABL:

Migraine headaches, high blood pressure, "spare tire", belly rubbing the steering wheel, worrying about exceeding "maximum capacity" on ladders, etc., "plumber's crack", editing myself out of church photo albums because I'm too big, being the only one in the room sweating and out of breath... wow, the list goes on and on!!!

If I don't hit my goal... disappointed? Sure. Devastated? NO WAY!!! I appreciate what Charles said on TV - might just take a little longer than the end of the contest to get where I want to be.

Feedback...

2010-04-17T19:02:00.002-04:00

These blog entries are going into a memory book, and I include the following two stories here because I want to remember them:

1. Yesterday morning I walked into CVS Pharmacy while wearing my "Biggest Loser" t-shirt. For those of you who have not seen pictures, they look a lot like the t-shirts on the TV show, with the addition of the word "Augusta's" across the top, and three small logos across the bottom for Omni, PHC, and NBC Augusta. I walked to the pharmacy counter; the pharmacist asked if he could help me, and I told him I was picking up one prescription for my wife. He looked at my shirt and said, "Do you work for NBC?" It struck me that he did not look at me with a giant Biggest Loser logo on my shirt and ask if I was in the competition; he wanted to know if I worked for the TV station!

2. This morning, a couple that used to go to our church, Jim & Louise Boner, came to our spring festival. These people sang in my choir, heard me preach, and even sang in a trio with me on a couple of occasions. They are very sweet people who love me and my family dearly. I walked up to them and talked to them for a little while... about 20 minutes later, Louise saw me again, but this time I was with Brenda. She hugged Brenda, called her name, and then turned to me and said, "ED???!!?!?" She then confessed that when we had first talked, she knew I looked familiar, but absolutely did not know who I was! I saw a few people today who had not seen me in a while, and they all commented on my weight loss, but she is the first one to not even recognize me.

I'm getting more and more of the "you've-lost-enough-weight -- stop!" comments... got one from my mother last Sunday. I told her, "You were on me about being fat for the last 40 years... don't give me grief about being skinny, now..."

This week I should see a little loss... not too much, I'm sure. I'm on the second week of the same diet that produced an 8.8 pound loss last week, but as we have discovered, it doesn't take the body long to adapt to the number and type of calories being eaten. I'm hoping for maybe a 3 or 4 this week.

Been a rough week for my co-leader Nandy, who may be finally surrendering (temporarily, I hope) her lead. She has been one sick girl this past week - bronchitis, among other things - and the doctor gave her a steroid shot to reduce the inflammation. On top of that, she had a pretty good quantity of cough syrup and cough drops, all loaded with sugar. She is discouraged, of course, but as disappointed as she is, she understands that getting her life back is a much greater prize than winning this competition. And she has definitely succeeded in that - if you've seen any of her pictures in my facebook album, or have seen her on TV, you know that she looks great, feels great (when she's not sick), and has totally knocked this thing out of the park. Either Nandy or Laycee is going to win this thing, in all likelihood, and it's going to come down to the wire. There's a couple guys within striking distance of my lead, but it's a little bigger lead than the 1 to 5 pound lead Nandy has nursed for weeks on end now. If she ever reads this (don't think she does, but she will tell me if I'm wrong), I hope she knows how proud we all are of her.

Plotting The Course For The Next Month...

2010-04-13T08:09:00.001-04:00

REALLY getting close to the end of this thing now... last night's weigh-in sort of had that "school is almost out" feeling to it. Pictures were being taken, conversations are turning towards the finale, and the post weigh-in speech definitely has that "moving on" flavor to it these days.

I'll keep it short - not much point in writing anything about motivation, goal-setting, etc.... I will just update my stats for now. Last night's scale showed that I had lost 8.8 pounds, bringing my total weight loss to 125.6 pounds. I started 5 months ago at 342.8 pounds; I am currently at 217.2, having lost 36.64% of my starting body weight. I am two pounds heavier than my 17-year old son.

I have three goals left to reach (other than little "I weigh less than so-and-so" goals), and they are all very close to each other: the first goal is 205.6 - the number it will take for me to top 40% and to become the highest percentage loser in ABL's three years. That mark is only 11.6 pounds away. The second goal is 14.2 pounds away - the 202.8 pound mark. When we began this thing, I told Bridgett Williams of NBC that I wanted to lose 140 pounds, and 202.8 will put me at 140 down. The third goal is 2.9 pounds further away - the 199.9 mark.

4 weeks... 17.3 pounds away from hitting all three of those goals.

I don't want to make a huge deal of this publicly, but my buddy Nandy, who has led the ladies since week 2, is still narrowly holding onto the lead. By, like, a pound. I don't know if she will win this competition, but she has achieved the impossible over and over and over again. I refuse to count her out until the lights go out at Fort Discovery on May 16.

Reflections On The Daily Grind...

2010-04-07T13:32:00.002-04:00

It's been a few days since I've written anything at all, much less anything substantial or profound.

We are getting ever closer to the end of Augusta's Biggest Loser - as of this writing on April 7, there are only 38 days until the finale, which means there are only about 36 days left in which to lose weight for the competition. Thanks to an increase of .8 pounds this week, I still have 24 pounds to go to get to my goal of having lost 140, and 26.1 to get to my ancillary goal of getting under 200 lbs. I've not had too many diet changes, but I met with Donna and Savannah, and we together decided that I would probably benefit now from a major change in the way I've been eating. I haven't been doing anything "wrong", but my body is used to what I have been eating, and it's time to shake things up.

I've been injured again - I was running outside Saturday morning, and I messed up my back. Whether it was the jarring motion or just plain old pinched nerve, it's been bad. Really couldn't get much work done in the gym from Saturday until this morning (Wednesday). Worked up a good sweat this morning, though. Now if I can only get caught up on my sleep... and that will be difficult. It's Masters' week, and I am shuttling my kids to and from an overnight shift making those world-famous pimento cheese (yuck!) sandwiches for the tournament.

I think everyone is aware that we are tired, we are sore, we are stressed, and we are about ready for this process to be over with. Everyone seems to have started getting cranky and sore within the last 2 or 3 weeks. This has been a pretty intense ordeal, but it really has gone by fairly quickly just as Kristy told me it would.

I read something last night that made me appreciate even more the work that we are doing. I saw an interview with Kai Hibbard, a THE Biggest Loser runner-up from season 3, I think. Supposedly the show has cleaned up its act, but Kai told a reporter that while pushing the virtues of diet, exercise, and moderation to the public, behind the scenes at the show was another story. She tells tales of severe dehydration, working out while wearing plastic bags underneath workout clothes, and other unhealthy means of reaching those gaudy, double-digit weight losses. We have been on some odd food plans at times - not for quick weight loss, but to jump-start our metabolism and get things moving again. Some of our contestants have spent a little time in the sauna or steam room, but for short periods of time, and usually with very little to show for it. Our exercise has been intense, but not severe, and usually no more than a couple hours per day (anything past an hour is voluntary). A normal person following a sensible diet and doing a little exercise is going to lose one or two pounds a week, on average; on the TV show, men and women alike are pining for "double digits". Three of us now have lost over 100 pounds in less than 6 months, the same amount of time that a dieter could expect to lose from 25-50 pounds. Well done, everyone!

I will continue on the path of learning to make healthy choices with my life, but I have to admit... I am SO ready for the competition part to be over with!

Basketball Game...

2010-04-05T14:12:00.003-04:00

Here is the video from the basketball game we played on March 5, red vs. blue...

Biggest Loser Basketball at James Brown Arena

New Article

2010-04-01T20:51:00.000-04:00

For anyone interested, here's the update article that was printed about my Biggest Loser experience in the April issue of the Baptist Bible Tribune:

http://edchavis.net/scan0001.pdf

Give Up Now... For Your Own Good!

2010-04-01T08:46:00.001-04:00

Most of my blog posts are primarily for my own edification, a "confessional", if you will. Some of them are explanations of thoughts, attitudes, or actions. A couple of them, like my last one about collecting evidence of your success, are directed squarely at my fellow Losers. This one falls into that category, as well.

My mind is such that, when I see something, I begin thinking about it from a different angle. Our PHC team knows that when Barry releases the statistics each Monday/Tuesday from that week's weigh-in, I'm all over it, pulling out information, keying it all into another spreadsheet, and going over various "what-if" scenarios. By the time I see Mark and Donna at PHC, I know exactly what I want to shoot for that week. This entire experience has been a study in goal-setting for me, personally.

As of April 1, we have 44 days left in this competition (depending on when our last weigh-in before the finale will be held). We all had a picture in our mind 5 months ago of where we wanted to be at the end of this process, whether it was a specific weight, a specific size, or a specific set of lifestyle changes. How close are you to what you wanted to accomplish? Can you finish what you set out to do in 44 days?

If you cannot realistically accomplish your 6-month goal between now and the finale, I would encourage you to give it up. NOTE: I did not say "QUIT"... what I mean is, if you have not re-evaluated your goal since the beginning, and you have no hope of reaching that goal, re-adjust your goal to something specific and attainable in the next 44 days. When we all reach the finale and are standing on that stage, every single one of us will have something to be proud of, no matter where we finish in this competition. If, on that day, you choose to focus on your "failure" in reaching your goal, you are setting yourself up for failure on May 17th, or shortly thereafter. To keep pressing on towards an unattainable goal is not a good strategy. There are several alternatives: you can re-adjust your goal; you can re-adjust your personal end-date; or you can make a change in what's important to you.

How do you know if your goal is unattainable? The best predictor of future performance is past performance, to quote Dr. Phil McGraw. If you've lost 20 pounds a month for the past six months, you are not going to lose 150 pounds in the next 44 days. It's not going to happen; there's no sense in kidding yourself. In order to be attainable, a goal must be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Action-related, Realistic, and Time-related. You must know where you are going, there must be a way of gauging your success, you must have the knowledge and tools for getting there, you have to understand what can and cannot be done, and you should be able to track your progress against time.

I say all that to say this: even if you can point to times during this competition where you have not given it your best effort (and we ALL have had those times), give yourself something in the next 44 days that you carry away as a trophy of success, and use it to move forward in your continued success.

Some of you may be saying, "That's all well and good... you can say those things, because you're going to win. You've accomplished everything you wanted to." The first statement is definitely not a given, and the second is definitely not true. I've done OK, but I don't look like what I want to look like; I don't feel how I want to feel, and I am battling many of the same insecurities and inadequacies that I was facing back before November 2nd.

Whether you are in a position to "win", or find yourself "not even close", I want to challenge you to determine what you can achieve between now and the end, and create your own success that will fuel the fire to continue even after Barry, Johnnie, Mark, Donna, and Rob are no longer in your ear telling you what to do, how to do it, and when to do it.

2010-03-30T14:45:00.000-04:00

Here's my updated weight chart:
22 lbs left to goal.

Six Weigh-Ins Left...

2010-03-30T09:19:00.000-04:00

That number may or may not be accurate, depending on whether we weigh in on Monday, May 10, and then again on finale weekend. That last weigh-in, we won't know how much we weigh.

I had a pretty good number this week - 5.8 pounds down, bringing my total percentage loss to 34.31% of my starting body weight. Over one-third of me is gone - over 117 pounds - and I'm 22 pounds away from my stated goal of losing 140 pounds by the end of this competition. My weight loss chart is almost completely full, with just those 22 little squares left at the bottom of the page. There are two weeks on there that I regret having on there - "no loss" and "up one", but I just marked those with a very small notation on my chart, because I refuse to be defined by two low weeks. By the same token, I did not mark my biggest weeks with any special marks - I just filled in the squares. A little math here: 117 pounds divided by 21 weeks means that, to this point in the competition, I have averaged 5.6 pounds per week. That's almost 3 times the rate of the average weight loss.

One of the fun things during this process has been watching my clothes size shrink. If you saw the last video with Nandy and me, you can see how the clothes I used to wear swallow me up now. But I think I'm just about as small as I'm going to get, at least in the hips. All the way around, I feel bones. I'll lose more fat in my thighs and in my belly, but I think my hips are done. Shirt sizes have slowed, as well. I'm a large in most things; a medium in some.

Seven weeks from now, I know that I will never see some of these people again, except to maybe run into them at a gym. I will miss them - even those on the blue team, who I only see on Monday nights. Speaking of the blue team - there are pics and videos of them working out outside with Skip and Kristy - I wish I could have had that experience. Maybe one of these days. And a huge congratulations to Colin Heslip, who joined Charles and me as the third member of the 100 club - he'll never see this blog, but congratulations, buddy - it's a huge accomplishment, and I hope your team fussed over you the way the Reds fussed over Charles and myself. Tim will be next, possibly as soon as next week. A couple of the girls still have a shot at it - we may have 5, or possibly 6, people who will have lost over 100 pounds during Augusta's Biggest Loser.

Old Clothes...

2010-03-26T15:23:00.000-04:00

Nandy and I with our old clothes... big fun!

Collecting Evidence of Your Success...

2010-03-25T15:40:00.001-04:00

Since we began with the ABL competition, I have done some things that could be taken as being vain, even though I have tried my best to explain what I was doing. On my facebook page and on here, I have put pictures up of me before I started losing weight, and pictures taken along the way - down 50 pounds, down 70 pounds, down 90 pounds, etc. I write in my personal blog about 3 times a week or so about my experiences. I share my victories (and my defeats) with my friends. And I always feel like I have to write, "I'm honestly not trying to brag or anything..." I have wanted to explain why I was doing what I was doing, but I never could find the words to correctly express my intentions. Until now...

In my email this morning, I learned that Kindle, the electronic book device from Amazon, now has an application that will allow you to download and read digital copies of books on your PC. I installed the application, and the first book I downloaded was "Believe It, Be It: How Being the Biggest Loser Won Me Back My Life" by season 5 winner Ali Vincent. I've been wanting to read it for a while. I read almost the entire book this morning, and in it, she talks about the struggle she had trying to change her mind about herself. She said that she still saw herself as that fat girl, just a smaller version of it. The way she got past it was to begin, to use her words, "collecting evidence of (her) success".

Johnnie tells us there are no moral victories in this competition, and he's absolutely right in regards to the competition itself. There are no prizes for tiniest waistline, smallest shirt size, fastest 5K run, heaviest bench press, best "after" photo, or even for the most pounds lost. But the tiny waistline, the small shirt size, the 5K time, the weightlifting capacity, the photos, and the scales are "evidence of your success". As I've written before in my blog, when I look in the mirror, I still see the guy in the "before" photos. I need evidence of my success in order to re-define who I am.

Nandy and I were at the TV studio Tuesday morning, she with her big ol' pants, and me with a gargantuan suit jacket that used to fit me. Bragging? no... just collecting evidence of our success. My last three weeks on the scale have been like this: no change, down 10, up one. I was not upset or concerned with the "no change" or the "up one", because all along the way, I have been collecting evidence of my success. As I post pictures and statistics about pounds and inches lost, I am not trying to tell the world, "look what I've done"... I'm telling the old self-image in my head and my heart, "look what I've done". My blog, my photos, my ever-changing clothing sizes, my "PR's", my health status - all those things are evidence of my success. The people that I'm sharing those things with are my "witnesses" that help validate that evidence.

If by the grace of God I do happen to come out on top in this competition (and that is by NO MEANS a "given"), I will not regard that as having achieved my goal. My goal is to change my life for the rest of my life - a victory would only be another piece of evidence of my success, no more and no less important than fitting into the next size smaller jeans. If I do not win, that fact simply will not be part of my collection of evidence. To my fellow competitors - do NOT look at winning or losing this contest as the end-all, be-all gauge of your success. Twelve of us were chosen for this competition; ten of us are not going to "win". But all of us can use what we have accomplished as evidence of our success!

Back On Television...

2010-03-25T06:06:00.001-04:00

One of the things that people say to me when they find out that I'm participating in Augusta's Biggest Loser is, "Oh, it's so cool that they are providing you all that stuff for free!" Well... that's not really the whole story. Bottom line, ABL is a marketing promotion between NBC Augusta, Omni Heath & Fitness, PHC Weight Loss Centers, and Pidcock Chiropractic. That means that until this competition is over, our image, likeness, and time pretty much belong to those entities. Part of that commitment is that on Wednesdays and Fridays, NBC Augusta airs interviews with the trainers, nutritionists, and contestants. This piece of business used to be done live on the air, but since channel 6 has taken over operations at channel 26, these segments are now videotaped on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I did my first one the day after I hit the halfway-to-goal point, and I've been on twice since then with our trainer and our entire team.

At Monday night's weigh-in, it was discovered that a scheduling conflict prevented the scheduled contestant from appearing the next morning. Scrambling for a replacement, Donna asked Nandy if she could go on in Bronnie's place. Nandy is usually working during that time, but her job has allowed her to re-arrange her schedule when necessary. Well, I received an email on my way out the door, asking me if I would be willing to go on with her. I said that I would; so instead of a segment featuring Bronnie Spinks and her weight loss as a busy single mom, we did a segment with the two leaders.

A little backstory is necessary at this point. As I was perusing through the clothing racks at Goodwill (the only way we can really afford to dress ourselves during this weight-loss!), I found a suitcoat Saturday that was in my old size, a 56L. Early on, it did not occur to me to save any of my "big clothes", but when I found this coat, it hit me that it might make a great visual for sometime later on in the contest, possibly at the finale, or in a commercial after we're done. The line was too long Saturday at the store, and I made a mental note to return on Monday and pick it up. I stopped by before weigh-in; the coat was still there, and no waiting to checkout this time. I told Donna about the jacket and how it swallowed me up, and she thought it would be good to show it on TV.

Tuesday morning I reported to the studio (on time, I might add) with jacket in tow. I slipped it on to show Nandy, because the jacket wasn't just big - it was jaw-droppingly huge! Nandy had brought an old pair of pants with her, and they easily slid over her clothes, with plenty of room to spare. It was just a terrific morning of great fun, seeing how far we had come. She is about 24 pounds from her goal at this point, and I am around 28 pounds from my stated goal of losing 140 pounds. After we shot the segment with Jay Jefferies (twice, because the cameraman got in the way, Jay couldn't see his cues, and he got tickled), Nandy and I each did our "mid-point" interviews with Mariah Gardener, the promotions manager at NBC Augusta. We also got new Biggest Loser T-shirts - a medium for Nandy, and a plain old large for me.

Tuesday evening we had our group session at PHC; I suspect these are supposed to be instructional and motivational (and they are), but they usually evolve into something else. Does anyone remember the old Bob Newhart Show? Not Bob as innkeeper, but Bob as a psychologist. He would hold these group sessions with several of his patients, and those segments were always a lot of fun as they disintegrated into something other than what Bob intended. Our PHC sessions are somewhat like that! Donna had us all measured Tuesday evening because of some new research that shows a correlation between the ratio of waist to hip circumference and risk of serious disease or illness. I fell into the "low risk" range, which was good news. It wasn't all good news, though... they also did my BMI and my body fat percentage, and those numbers still aren't great. I don't remember my starting body fat percentage, but it's currently at 23%; my BMI, which was 44 when we started, is 31. For those of you who are concerned about me losing too much weight, be patient. The plan is for me to drop all the body fat I can, and then to build some of that bulk back up with muscle. That BMI number needs to get down under 25 for me to get into the "normal" range.

One Over Par...

2010-03-22T21:47:00.001-04:00

Well, I finally had a gain... +1 this week. It was bound to happen sometime - I'm less than 30 pounds from my goal.

I ate better than I did last week... I exercised more, and with more intensity, than I did last week... I did better with my water than I did last week... but last week I dropped 10 pounds, and this week, I gained one of them back. I was sick overnight, and the fine folks at PHC say that most people, when they are sick with a stomach ailment, actually do tend to experience a gain. No one who has gotten sick has experienced any kind of freakish weight loss for that week - they've either been down very slightly, or up a little bit.

We had our church's anniversary Sunday, and that always means a huge spread of food. I brought a four-ounce piece of turkey breast and some jello to eat. I stayed busy in the kitchen fixing drinks, making tea, and taking out the trash. But sadly, my reward for staying faithful this week was a +1. I received a lot of compliments, though - anniversary Sunday usually brings out some people who have not seen me in at least 6 months, or longer. One person thought the old music guy had been replaced with a new guy, so I was told.

Our ladies did a great job this week - Tammy is finally out of the 300's, Nandy is into the 160's, and Lisa and Bronnie each lost a few pounds. Charles lost two - was hoping for more than that this week.

I had my Chick-FIl-A grilled sandwich tonight when we got done. Tomorrow morning, it's back to work - going to try to push that scale down to around 225 this week. I'm also seriously considering running a 5K of my own next month... we'll see how that works out.

I think I'm supposed to go on TV tomorrow morning as a last-minute replacement for a scheduling conflict... if so, it should air Wednesday morning at 6:20 AM. Hopefully it will be up on the NBC website by Wednesday evening. If you're up getting ready for work or school at 6:20 Wednesday morning, and live in the Augusta GA area, tune in to NBC Augusta (channel 8 cable, channel 26 via rabbit ears). It will either be Nandy or the two of us. For you out-of-towners, I'll link to it from this blog if they post it online.

A Few Complaints...

2010-03-17T09:08:00.002-04:00

We have been at this now for 131 days, and there are 59 days left to go before the finale. We passed the two-thirds point five days ago. To be totally honest, here's my personal assessment after 131 days:

* I'm tired of taking so many supplements in the morning that I have no room left for breakfast.

* Speaking of breakfast, I'm tired of eating eggs every single day. My stomach actually starts hurting in anticipation of eating them.

* Parsley tea - I've had quite enough, thank you very much.

* I want a hamburger - it doesn't matter what you put in, on, or around a patty of ground turkey, it's not a hamburger.

* I get tired sometimes of the whole competition component of it - can't we all win?

* I get tired of the pain. While it is true that I have more energy and vitality, it has not been without a price. I hurt - sometimes in different places, sometimes everywhere all at once. Every new pain brings with it the fear that I have torn/ruptured/broken something that will keep me from finishing the course, and especially those involving my twice-operated-on lower back.

* I'm tired of my much-diminished social life, especially with our friends at church. We used to go out to eat pretty much every Sunday, and at least another weeknight every couple of weeks. Now the fear of sodium and fat has paralyzed me to the point that I don't trust anything that I didn't cook myself.

* I get tired of having to live up to expectations. No one will voice it, but the fact is that, because I have set such a high mark for myself, I'm expected to be out in front on everything. Run faster, jump higher, more reps, more stamina, more pounds... sometimes flying under the radar looks pretty inviting.

All that being said... this has been the ride of a lifetime, and I can't wait to see how different I will be in two more months!

Home Stretch...

2010-03-15T22:12:00.001-04:00

With 61 days left in the Augusta's Biggest Loser competition, I have now lost 112.8 pounds. After having lost not one ounce last week, I dropped a staggering 10 pounds this week. I say "staggering" because while a ten pound loss has not been uncommon, it is very rare for someone to pull a double-digit this late in the competition. Charles did it last week with an 11.8, but those big numbers have been few and far between. This was a big boost for me - now I only have to average about 3 pounds a week to make it to my goal of losing at least 140 pounds. My desire is to lose at least 31 more pounds before the end - that will make the first digit of my weight a "1" for the first time since probably 8th grade!

Some of you may want the nitty-gritty, nuts-and-bolts of what I did this last week to drop ten pounds... without going into too much detail, I figured that my body had gotten used to the constant barrage of chicken, and it was time to make a major change to jar things back into losing mode. I stopped eating chicken and started eating tuna instead. Not just any tuna - the "very low sodium" tuna. It was a major change for me, and my zero from last week quickly turned into around eight pounds by Friday, and I managed to squeeze out two more pounds before I had to step on the scale tonight.

I will probably write a longer entry Tuesday, recounting my half-week in Atlanta and trying to stay on a diet while sitting in a Steak and Shake; for now, I'm tired, but very, very happy and pleased. And grateful to God, because I do not have it within myself to have this kind of success at something that I have failed at my entire life.

A New Top Ten List...

2010-03-12T20:21:00.001-05:00

When I began Augusta's Biggest Loser, I did a "Top 10 Things I Can Do Now" list. Now that I'm over 100 pounds down, I thought it was time for a new list, as I'm discovering new things I can do:

10. Stand on the back of a pew to take down the missions conference flags without worrying about breaking the pew.

9. Walk between two pews in our auditorium (as opposed to scooting sideways).

8. Stand on a sitting stool without breaking it or falling off.

7. Spend a lunch hour at Steak and Shake without eating cheese fries.

6. Real push-ups.

5. See pictures of myself at 340-350 and not remember being that large.

4. Climb a ladder rung by rung, instead of dragging my bum leg up one rung at a time.

3. Run a mile in nine minutes.

2. WANT to run a mile in nine minutes.

And the number one thing I can do now...

Buy clothes without paying the "$2 more for extended sizes" upcharge!

Biggest Loser Doesn't Always Lose...

2010-03-08T21:54:00.001-05:00

Well, tonight was a first for me... this is the first week that I have lost nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Not one ounce.

I guess it's time for me to take the steps myself that I recommend to everyone else when they ask me how to proceed after a week of little or no loss (or a gain). So, here we go:

1. Analyze the diet: Did I eat something I should not have? (Nope.) Did I eat too much of something that can slow down my weight loss? (Probably - I do know that I tried increasing my carbs slightly, and that probably had something to do with it.) Did I eat out? (No - aside from my usual Monday night trip to Chick-Fil-A, I've not eaten out.) Did I get too much sodium? (No, I didn't eat anything I didn't cook myself this week.) Lesson for next week: lose the carbs again.

2. Analyze the exercise: We did change our exercise routine this week - last Wednesday we started running during our hour with Johnnie; Friday morning we had that basketball game; the physical repercussions from the game did limit my workouts over the weekend, and even this morning's run. Talked with Johnnie tonight about going back to alternating cardio with weight training. He approved, so hopefully I can get back on track.

3. Supplements, vitamins, parsley tea, lemon water - the ancillary stuff we have to do. Check, check, check, and mostly check. Gotta get back on the water.

Sometimes your body just gets used to what you're doing, and you have to shake things up. I will be making some changes this week, and hopefully will get things moving again. It's coming during a difficult week - I have to take an out-of-town trip for the first time since starting the Biggest Loser. We will be at a church conference that will be feeding the crowd like kings, and I'm going to have to navigate all that.

Am I disappointed? Yes. But I'm not upset. Even Barry said, "You didn't lose a dadgum thing and you're still in the lead... good job." My trainer Johnnie echoed those sentiments, and I do understand where they're coming from. I've done the work and had the discipline to put myself in a position to be able to weather a bad week here and there late in the contest. I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing, and it will pay off in the end. So - back to work tomorrow morning.

One sad note: one of our fellow Losers may not be able to continue in the competition. Colin Heslip should find out tomorrow if he has a blood clot; if he does, he will be forced to drop out. My prayers are with him.

Biggest Loser Basketball Game - James Brown Arena

2010-03-06T20:49:00.002-05:00

Broken Mirrors and Face Plant...

2010-03-05T16:50:00.001-05:00

As you've read by now, I have lost 102.8 pounds as of Monday night, March 1st. Tuesday we had our group pow-wow at PHC with our weight loss consultants, and, in an effort to get everybody moving towards their goal a little more quickly, they have put our team on a pretty stringent plan for the week. I've been losing well on average, and they gave me the option of the bread and water diet (minus the bread, plus a little chicken and some seasoning) or of staying on the same program I've been doing. As tired as I am of chicken and eggs, I decided that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" was probably the best course of action. So I'm sticking to my usual routine for this week, and if it slows up, I will be making some quick changes.

By Tuesday night, Johnnie (our trainer) had had plenty of time to think about the fact that none of us had a very good week, especially compared to the other team. I knew we were in for it Wednesday morning, and, sure enough, he told us all to dress warmly because we would be spending our hour outside. With winter weather advisories humming over the radio and TV waves, we went outside, warmed up (a relative term when you're sucking in 32 degree air), and ran wind sprints in the Omni parking lot until our workout time was up. I enjoyed it (surprisingly, because I've always HATED running), and although my legs are still sore two days later, it was a good workout.

The rest of Wednesday was uneventful; Thursday I went to PHC, and it was that time of the month - time for us to be measured again. When people talk about losing x-amount of inches, they add up the total of inches you have lost from various parts of your body to come up with a number. For the men, they measure your chest (on an inhale and on an exhale), your waist at the level of your belly button, your waist right above your pants, your biceps, and your wrist. For the ladies, I think they add the thighs. One of my teammates can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that's how it works. I took my measurements home and discovered that during the first month of the competition, I had lost 15.5 inches. During February, I had lost 19.5 inches - proof on paper that I had gone through one of those phases where the scale doesn't reflect the loss, but the clothes do! I am really proud (and also stunned) that since beginning this competition, I have lost nearly 18 inches off my waist. I even lost half an inch off my wrist this last month, a number that had not changed since November. My watch and my wedding band don't fit anymore.

After leaving PHC, I went to the gym to work out (I usually don't work out in the evening, but circumstances prevented me from going Thursday morning. I grabbed a treadmill next to a wall, and started walking. The walls at Omni are large mirror panels, with a six-inch mirror panel at each seam. I happened to catch my reflection simultaneously on the wall panel and the seam panel, and it made me look like I was much wider than I really was. That wider image is still how I see myself in my mind's eye when I look in an ordinary mirror - I still see that guy who was always the largest person in the room. It was kind of startling as I moved back and forth in front of the mirrors and made myself go from fat to thin in the blink of an eye.

This morning we got to do something that my teammate Charles had been wanting to do for a long time. Charles is in charge of food services at the civic center and Bell Auditorium (excuse me, the James Brown Arena - it will always be the civic center to me, just like Lake Thurmond will always be Clarks Hill to us old-timers in Augusta). The Harlem Globetrotters are due to appear next weekend, and Charles managed to secure permission for us to play full-court basketball in the arena at 5:30 AM this morning. He got us in the building, secured a ref, and we went to town against each other for two halves. Good thing the civic center had us sign waivers releasing them from responsibility, because we had our share of injuries this morning. I was probably the least injured - got a raspberry on one knee and a big ol' strawberry under my chin. Several of us got tangled up going after the ball, and I ended up with it in my hands, but in trying to avoid landing on Ashlee (blue team member with a hurt back right now), I tried to sail over her and ended up on the floor, face down, chin sliding across the hardwood, and the basketball stuck right where my stomach used to be. Someone (probably Donna from PHC) arranged for an NBC Augusta news camera to be there to shoot some video and a little "face-time" for each team, which will hopefully see the light of day sometime on TV. It was a great time with both teams together, a ton of fun, and I appreciate the effort Charles went to in order to get us the time. With 10 weeks until the finale, everyone has been stressing, and it was a lot of fun to get together over something besides "how many pounds did you lose this week". (In full disclosure, our team lost. With the notable exception of Charles, we were a bunch of klutzes on the court!)

2010-03-05T16:07:00.001-05:00

Technical time-out again - reposting the ABL logo so that my blog links will have the right icon.

Pics and Summary from 3/1/10

2010-03-02T20:48:00.004-05:00

Monday night was a big night for me - as I stated earlier, I crossed the 100 lb. mark. For some reason, it happened to be the night that a camera from NBC showed up to shoot some "filler" video, I assume to put with the interviews that we are all about to do down at the TV station. We had to step on the scale, face the camera, and act happy no matter what the number on the scale was. For most of our team, those numbers weren't good. Mine weren't great - just enough to push me over the 100 lb. mark, plus a couple to spare. 38 pounds to go to reach my initial goal of losing 140 - a couple more would be nice, to get me down to (or below) 200. I haven't weighed 200 pounds since about 6th grade! For the record, my exact weight Monday night was 240 pounds, and I had lost 29.99% of my starting weight. I could have sneezed before getting on the scale and pushed it to 30%!!

A Milestone...

2010-03-01T20:52:00.001-05:00

So... tonight was weigh-in... I broke the 100 lb barrier!! I've now lost 102.8 pounds in just under 4 months, nearly 30% of my starting body weight. My current official weight is exactly 240 pounds, and I have 10 weeks left in which to lose the other 40 pounds. I'll write more later, because it was a weird weigh-in tonight.

It's Not About Me...

2010-02-26T12:48:00.003-05:00

My name is at the top of this blog; the pictures on this blog are pictures of me before, and during, my Biggest Loser journey. But I want everyone who reads my blog to understand this, above all else: this is not about me. I'm posting all this stuff to share with others the grace of God that has put me at this juncture in my life; the power of God that has enabled me to participate, and the love of God that gives me the motivation to give it my all. I am a broken, fallen man; a recovering food addict, if you will. If you look at me and my journey, and you find inspiration, motivation, or some other impetus to keep going or to try harder, I'm happy about that, and it is very satisfying to me. But understand that the power and ability to conquer a set of lifelong habits is not something that I have "dug deep inside of me" and found. It's not the desire to be successful, or a winner, or good-looking (well, doing the best I can, anyway)... it's not the desire to breathe deeply, feel better, or be more active. It's because that while I am a child of God, and a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, I found myself living the first verse of the song in the video at the top of this post:

Hear the cries of the shackled from the onset of time

For the chains of defeat, there's no key;

See the tears of the broken, hear the cries of the slaves,

"Is there no one worthy to set us free?"

If you have time, play the video; listen to the words; understand that without Jesus Christ in your life, nothing has any meaning or gives any satisfaction - not fame, not money, not looks; not power, position, or prestige. You may think you are living in total freedom, and in a sense, you probably are - you are free to roam anywhere inside that cell that you want to. No matter how successful your life is, though, at the end of the day, you're still in a cell.

Nothing I have done is worthy of praise or honor. Don't heap either on me, because I'm not here to promote myself. Another lyric from one of my favorite songs, and I'm done writing for today:

I boast not of works, nor tell of good deeds,

For naught have I done to merit His grace;

All glory and praise shall rest upon Him

Who so willingly died in my place.

19 Ounces...

2010-02-24T22:03:00.001-05:00

I started this past week (my weeks run from Tuesday to Monday now, because of Monday night being judgment time on the scales every week) needing 9.8 pounds to reach the 100-pound mark in my weight loss journey. I knew that it would take me two weeks to knock out 9.8 pounds, and, while I did my best this week with every aspect of my program, I had expected to get 5, maybe 5.5 of it this week, leaving myself a 4.5 pound "putt" for next week.

I was wrong. I had 8.6 pounds this week, putting me at 98.8 pounds. That's 1.2 pounds away. 1.2 pounds. 1.2 pounds is roughly 19 ounces. Once I announced how close I was, everyone started chiming in with "you should've"'s... "you should've gone to the bathroom again"... "you should've taken your shoes off" (I always weigh in my shoes, because they had me weigh in my shoes at the TV studio on November 2nd)... I think someone suggested that I chop off an arm...

So I've left myself a very short putt to get to 100 pounds lost - a tap-in, if you will. And for some reason, I'm nervous about it. I've not had a weigh-in that low yet; I'm not stuck on a plateau right now; there's no reason to think that I will be kicking myself instead of celebrating next Monday night. But you never know - nothing is a given when you are dealing with weight loss.

One of the privileges I have had during this competition is the opportunity to pick the brains of two people who not only have been down this Augusta's Biggest Loser road, but who were the very first to finish this journey as winners - Skip Braswell and Kristy Youngblood, the season one male and female winners. Skip wrote me today, and I include it here because I want his message to be a permanent part of my recollection of this week:

"Next weigh in will be a day you remember for the rest of your life...There is something special about hitting that 100 pound mark. Keep it up brother you are doing great...I am so proud of you."

And this, from Kristy, was one I received a couple of weeks ago:

"You are doing AMAZING THINGS...focus on HIM and not on things of this world and He will drive you through...remember 'I can do all things THROUGH CHRIST who strengthens me!!!!' Love ya BIG...Keep it up...almost there!"

If they can come, Skip and Kristy are on my invite-to-the-finale list, because encouragement and effort work hand-in-hand to produce excellence.

Almost at 100...

2010-02-23T11:31:00.004-05:00

This is the chart I have kept in my office ever since week one of Augusta's Biggest Loser. Every square represents one pound that I need to lose; every week, I record my weekly loss in a different color. I don't color in a weight until I am down to, or past, that number. I am at 244.0, so I have filled in the "244" block. The "242" block represents 100 pounds gone, so I highlighted that one as an interim goal. In a few weeks, when I have colored in every block, I will have hit my much-publicized goal of 140 pounds lost. If I hit it before the end of the competition, I will keep going!

Aired Friday morning, 2/19/09

2010-02-19T11:15:00.000-05:00

Look How Far We've Come...

2010-02-19T10:43:00.001-05:00

It is now 84 days till our final weigh-in on Friday, May 14. I thought it might be fitting to post this again...

Why Now...?

2010-02-18T20:00:00.001-05:00

Well, it finally happened... no, I have not lost the lead; I have not stopped losing weight (although 2 lbs. can seem like a plateau); I have not gotten sick or ended up in the hospital. I have, however, gotten hurt. When? I don't exactly know. I think it started on a Saturday morning nearly two weeks ago, trying to do a one-legged leg press with my left (weaker) leg. I felt a twinge in my back, and had Johnnie pull the platen back up (probably not what it's called, but just go with it. All you really need to know is a large, heavy object was driving my leg into my chest, and it didn't feel good). It didn't hurt bad once I got up, but then little things started irritating it, and a week later, my sciatic nerve was mightily inflamed, and I felt the pain from my hip down to my foot. I did not miss a workout, I didn't skip an exercise, and only needed a slight modification on some, partially due to a right shoulder that has been giving me problems for a couple of weeks.

I made the soonest appointment I could, which was Wednesday. Wednesday morning's workout was pretty tough on me - at one point I had to stop the treadmill and take a knee, it hurt so bad. I hated it, because this was immediately after Johnnie had said, "No more exercise modifications. Either you CAN do it, or you CAN'T." Timing is everything, huh? Two hours later I saw my general practitioner, who was pretty happy with my weight loss, but not so much with my injury. He loaded me up with Vicodin and a couple of anti-inflammatory drugs. N-SAIDs, for those of you with some medical background - Non-Steroid Anti-Inflammatory Drugs. Dr. Scott said the usual treatment was steroids; however, the most common side effect of steroids is weight gain, which he did not want to create. So I am on the strongest N-SAIDs, he said, that he could prescribe me. One of them I've taken before; one of them I had never heard of, but it's only one pill a day, so it must have some kick to it.

Today was somewhat better, after 18 hours of drugs. I was able to run this morning, even bumping my speed up to 9.6 mph in short bursts. I did a full hour on the treadmill and was still able to walk out of the gym under my own power. Later on in the morning, Johnnie had us all down at the TV station to film a 2-minute segment for Friday morning's newscast. (In case you ever feel like tuning in, in Augusta, we are on channel 26, the local NBC affiliate, usually between 6:20 and 6:30 AM Wednesdays and Fridays. You can also find most of the stuff after it airs at nbcaugusta.com/features/loser.) Liz Hill was at her desk in the newsroom, and she hadn't seen me since about 20 pounds ago. She said, "Wow - you look great!" It's always a treat when the people who don't have to talk to you take the time to do so.

After some errands to get my son ready for a youth ski trip, I headed up to PHC to meet with the nutritionist-of-the-day. I usually see Savannah, but my needs are small, so I'll talk to anyone there, pretty much. I asked Priscilla if my bloodwork had come back yet, and it had, with LOADS of good news on the lab report. My blood sugar, which wasn't too awful bad before, is down to 96, a 25% drop. My cholesterol is 119, down from 196, and my triglycerides have fallen from 121 to 51. I'm a little low on the blood factors that involve iron, so we may have to do something about that. I've had exactly 3 ounces of red meat in the last three and a half months, so that might have something to do with it. I was also down a pound and a half in the last two days, and this evening at home, I weighed tonight exactly what I weighed this morning, which means my scale at home should be down about a pound and a half in the morning. If it is, I will officially be OUT of the 250's, into the 240's. Each ten-pound marker seems to be harder and harder to break through. I'm hoping this food plan will be worth it, 'cause we're all on the same plan, and we're all HUNGRY!! My teammate Charles was going to make some comment about wanting to eat his young during the taping, but fortunately, all he had time for was name and weight.

I'm hoping the weight loss will pick back up soon - the last 3 months is going to FLY by, compared to the first 3 months!

Thoughts On Quitting...

2010-02-12T22:06:00.002-05:00

While I understand that this blog is a source of encouragement for many of you that read it, you should know that I am writing it as a way to record my experiences along the way, the good and the bad. So far, it's mostly been good. The last day or so, not so much.

I'm thankful for the weight loss, and grateful for the opportunity, but quite honestly, I've never felt so close to quitting as I did last night. I took a very long walk outside on a pretty chilly night - normally I go to Walmart or the mall to get my walking in, but I felt the need to go outside, and to be somewhere where I could be alone with my thoughts (and with the Lord). So I went over to the track near the Y on Wheeler Road, and when I started walking, it was just me.

Funny... 72 hours earlier, I was standing in front of a camera, telling everyone how wonderful and "great" everything was (borrowed "great" from a friend of mine). In some respects, this is a great and wonderful experience. I will never have an opportunity like this again, and nearly everyone I know will never have the opportunity to do something like this. As I'm writing this, I am watching pictures of "the old me" roll by on a digital photo frame, and I'm so glad to see that guy is disappearing one pound at a time. I enjoy the compliments from friends, near and far, as they size up my progress in their mind's eye. I even enjoyed it when the oldest member in our church walked up to me Sunday, put her arm around me, and said, "You've still got some rolls there you need to get rid of..."

I am trying to give this experience my absolute best effort - as we were reminded this morning, we get out of it what we put into it. But while it's been "great" and "wonderful" and life-changing, it's not been easy. Every morning I wake up and my right knee hurts so bad I can hardly bend my leg. The back and leg pains that had largely subsided since beginning this process have returned again, like a car problem that you thought had been fixed, and suddenly it's doing "it" again. I constantly fight digestive tract issues as a result of a high protein diet; three weeks ago, it put me in the emergency room, something that apparently was unprecedented in this process. Cramps, muscle soreness, aching joints, blisters, sleepless (or sleep-deprived) nights, and general overall pain are par for the course.

To give this competition my best effort, a lot of things have gone on "hold" in my life. I am so grateful to have a "boss" (my pastor and one of my closest friends and confidants) that allows me enormous flexibility in my schedule. I don't know about the blue team, but the rest of the red team have pretty inflexible schedules. But even with wide latitude, there is the time pressure of having to be somewhere every day; at the beginning, it seemed like it was constant. Monday morning workout, Monday night weigh-in (and this past Monday, a photo / video shoot that didn't end until nearly 11:00 PM), Tuesday workout and weigh-ins or group meetings, Wednesday morning workout, Thursday workout and weigh-in, Friday workout, Saturday workout (often double workout on Saturday)... plus chiropractic appointments three days a week. Sunday, our one rest day, is the busiest day of my week. My Sundays begin at 6:00 AM, and often don't wind down until well after 8:00 or 9:00 PM.

I'm tired of having to watch every bite that goes into my mouth, wondering if I am getting too much sodium or fat or something else that I don't need. Losing weight is hard enough; trying to lose x-amount of pounds in y-amount of time is grueling. And I think I speak for all twelve of us when I say I'm a little tired of chicken and eggs. I've never really been legitimately tempted, but man, I miss a cheeseburger or a slice of pizza every now and then.

With six of us working so closely together, and seeing each other at our worst, we have become a family of sorts; sometimes we are a dysfunctional family - we fuss, make each other mad, and hurt each others' feelings. We have purposefully made it a goal not to have any drama amongst us, but there is some from time to time, and I am neither completely innocent in its origin, nor immune from its effects.

As I began writing this blog entry, I was sitting at my desk, where I have a digital photo frame. Looking at the pictures that scrolled by, I was reminded why I am doing this. There are pictures my family - the most important people in my life. There are pictures of drawings I did of our proposed church renovation, and it reminded me of the many people who give me support every week. There is a picture of the red team, several of whom have singled me out as "the leader" of our team (a mantle I wear uneasily, because we are peers, and all in this together). Finally, there is the before and after 80 pounds picture of myself - at 342 pounds, and at 262 pounds. That picture reminds me that I must do this for me, because my family, my church family, and my teammates need me to be the best "me" I can be.

I can't quit... I won't quit... and as hard as it is, I am resolved to meet my goal of losing 140 pounds by May 15. I can't control whether or not someone else wins this competition, but I can control whether or not I do my absolute best, and give it 100 percent every day.

Halfway Home...

2010-02-09T11:32:00.001-05:00

Ninety-five days gone... ninety-five days left. We are halfway through with the Biggest Loser competition, and, as always, I have a few thoughts about the past 13.5 weeks:

1. If someone had told me that I could be down nearly 100 pounds in 13 weeks, I would have said they were nuts. It can't be done... it's not safe... I'm not that disciplined... I don't like vegetables... (actually that one is true, still!)... I've never been athletic... on and on. But it's happened - I'm down 89 pounds in 95 days. The weight loss has slowed down, but it is still coming off.

2. My perception of what I thought I could do and what I've actually done are two completely different things. Growing up as the fat kid, the last one chosen when picking teams, I never thought that I would be the fastest, strongest person on my team (or one of them, anyway). I have legs that should have had corrective surgery when I was a kid; a back that has blown two discs and required two surgeries; and complications from those surgeries including cramps and numbness in my left leg. But somehow I have been able to overcome these things and do more than I ever thought I could. As I said in my interview last night, I was afraid to walk into the gym that first morning, because I had never been in one, and was afraid of failure. But as someone said, if you don't experience failure, you're not trying hard enough.

3. I had not planned on getting so close to my teammates - my plan coming in was to remain detached, maybe a little lost in the pack. But it has not turned out that way at all. They are the first people I talk to when I've had a bad day, when something funny has happened, or when I have health concerns. In our interviews last night, everyone noted that our team has become their second family, and they meant it. We see each other at pretty much our worst, which most mornings is crawl out of bed, grab a T-shirt, and head to the gym.

4. Week one, I wrote our trainer an email, saying that while I knew I had no chance at winning this competition, I was grateful for the opportunity. That may still be true, but in week three I grabbed the lead (percentage of body weight lost), and have held onto it for eleven weeks now.

The pounds are harder to lose; the workouts are getting tougher; the journey does not get easier. But it is one worth taking, because the rewards greatly outweigh the sacrifice!

Thank you, NBC, Omni, PHC, Johnnie, Barry, Tim, Colin, Tanner, Ashlee, Laycee, Lori, Nandy, Lisa, Tammy, Bronnie, and Charles for this experience - truly the chance of a lifetime!

Tuesday Evening...

2010-02-02T21:57:00.001-05:00

Well, I wasn't thrilled about Monday night's weigh-in (2.4 pounds), but there have been other things today to be pleased with. This morning I ran my mile in my fastest time yet - nine minutes, seventeen seconds. I got measured at PHC today, and I have lost 13 inches in my waist since I began the competition. I'm still in the lead for another week. So I guess things could be worse, huh? I'm already working very hard on next week's loss - hoping for a really BIG one!!

Inspiration...

2010-01-29T13:24:00.001-05:00

One week to go before the halfway mark in our Biggest Loser competition... if you had told me in November that I would be down 80 pounds before the end of January, I would not have believed it. There are people, men included, that get all the way to the finale on the television show without losing that much weight. If I hit my goal by the time our finale rolls around, I will have surpassed the very first winner on The Biggest Loser, who lost 122 pounds, or 37% of his body weight. By Monday's weigh-in, I will already be at 25%, with three months left to go. Somehow I don't think my win will net me a quarter of a million dollars, but I am gaining something much more valuable than that - I'm getting my life back!

I think today was Infirmary Day at our workout - Nandy is still battling back from her injury from 3 weeks ago (although doing much better, thankfully); Lisa has something going on with her; Tammy is working with a bum knee; Charles is having back problems... I think Johnnie had four different workouts going for seven people this morning! I've worked hard this week - double workouts on Tuesday and Thursday. I'm going in on those mornings by myself, and then in the evenings with Nandy, who had to make a schedule change. I miss the camaraderie in the mornings - and when I work to keep up with Nandy, I WORK! If she comes back full-strength from this injury, and STILL has the lead, I think she will officially be the most determined person I have ever met. I can think of ten reasons why she should have never been able to get in the lead; however, not only is she beating all the women, she is beating almost all the men, as well. Definitely a source of inspiration.

Through circumstances that I did not play a part in, I got to meet up today with another person who inspires me. Kristy, the season one winner who became the season two red team trainer, asked me to help her with a video she is submitting in a contest. Kristy and I go back a ways - she was a teenager in my youth group back in '93 - '95. I don't know if she particularly liked me much back in the day, but her example is what inspired me to submit an entry for Augusta's Biggest Loser. I was as nervous as I could be - I felt like a star, or a hero, was coming over. I had no reason to be nervous, though - she totally put me at ease, and seemed genuinely impressed by my progress in the competition. She's the only person I know personally who has been through this entire process, and it has been SO helpful to bounce stuff off of her, as well as Skip, her co-winner who she connected me with via facebook. When I write to the world on facebook, "I'm doing well", she's the person I can write and say, "I'm not really doing so well - need some help here." She has been as generous with her time as she can possibly be, and I will be forever grateful to her for her help throughout this competition. Helping her with her video is only a tiny dent in repaying her- thanks, Kristy, for all your help!

Gotta give a pat on the back to my buddy Charles, as well. For those of you who don't know, Charles is my only male teammate, and we spend time grousing together when the girls are all talking about... well, whatever it is they talk about. We're all pretty open on our team, but there's just some places you don't care to go, if you know what I mean. Charles is about to wrap up an absolutely horrible schedule at his workplace, and we were really dreading what kind of mood he would be in. (For those of you who don't know, the Augusta Futurity is going on right now - about 2 weeks of non-stop rodeo action - bull-riding, cutting - the whole nine yards. Charles is responsible for making sure all those people, as well as the attendees, get fed every day.) I gotta say, Charles, you have been amazing this week in spite of what all is going on in your life right now. You will get a break soon, and when you are out from under all that stress and the extreme hours, you're gonna start dropping weight like crazy. You may be trailing me a little in this competition right now, but in drive, desire, and will-power, you've got me beat. Well done, sir- you are another source of inspiration for me, like it or not.

I started a new food plan today - the "Millennium Meltdown", which is not nearly as chocolatey as it sounds. Basically, I'm meat, veggies, and grapefruit for the next couple of weeks. No carbs. No cheese. No snacking. But on the plus side - I got to eat turkey bacon with my eggs this morning, which honestly was just about the most amazing thing I've put in my mouth in three months! Burned it a little bit, but I didn't care. Bacon and eggs for breakfast - whoo-hoo!!!!

Eighty Pounds Down...

2010-01-27T08:47:00.002-05:00

On the left is me, on the night we found out we were chosen for Augusta's Biggest Loser. I am explaining to everyone who I am and why I want to lose weight. On the right - same guy, 80 pounds lighter. The camera doesn't lie, but when I look in the mirror, I see the guy on the left more than the guy on the right!

Looking Ahead... But Not Too Far Ahead

2010-01-26T10:08:00.001-05:00

For anyone keeping score at home, I dropped another 5.2 pounds this week, bringing my total lost to 80.4 lbs, having lost 23.45% of my starting weight. My current weight is 262.4, down from 342.8 on November 2nd. When I began this competition, I stated that I wanted to lose 140 lbs. I have 59.6 pounds to go to reach that mark, and if I can sustain at least a three pound-per-week loss from now on (I've never had a week lower than 3 pounds yet), I will be at my goal weight of 200 pounds before the finale on May 15, and will have lost 41.42% of my starting weight. 41.42% is a higher percentage than the majority of the contestants on "The Biggest Loser", and is actually a higher percentage than the very first winner (37%), who got to spend three months on the Biggest Loser ranch with Bob, Jillian, doctors, nutritionists, etc. For one more week, at least, Nandy Cordova and I are still the leaders. I think it's been 10 weeks for me, and 11 for her. With the exception of one week, the red team has had the male and female leaders from the very first week. Charles, Lisa, and Tim (the only blue team member to have the lead for a week) have all held top honors one time. I have a little margin for error; but there are a couple of blue team ladies who are trying their best to take the lead from Nandy (who, I might add, is on her third week of no running or biking because of the injury she sustained three weeks ago).

Until that day arrives, I have a lot of work to do, though. Seems like the pounds are harder and harder to shed the further I go!

Red Team...

2010-01-26T09:15:00.004-05:00

Me on Day One- November 2, 2009 - explaining who I am and
why I want to lose weight.

Just the six of us - Ed, Nandy, Tammy, Bronnie, Charles, & Lisa.
They never took our group "before" picture, so this is the
very first time we've ever all been in one shot!

The red team, with our PHC consultants and our trainer, Johnnie

Good News / Bad News

2010-01-21T19:12:00.001-05:00

Well, this has been one of those good news / bad news weeks:

Good news - we had a really good workout Wednesday morning.

Bad news - I did something to my right foot that hurts really bad today.

Good news - found a solution for, shall we say, "stomach distress".

Bad news - it didn't work.

Good news - I picked up a pair of size 40 jeans (down from 50) and a size L shirt (down from size 2x or 3x).

Bad news - Uh - no bad news. There's never any bad news with buying smaller clothes!

Good news - the fine folks at PHC were happy for my new clothing sizes.

Bad news - the fine folks at PHC weren't nearly as happy with my weight on the scale (see "stomach distress" above).

Good news - I did really good with following my diet plan so far this week.

Bad news - just when I got it all together, they changed my diet. Again.

I just hope that come Monday night at weigh-in, my wheel of life stops on "good news" instead of "bad news"!

Latest Video

2010-01-20T10:16:00.001-05:00

Posted this over on facebook, but for anyone who may follow me here but not there, here's the latest video from NBC:

Click here to view video in a new window:

Bigger Things in Life Than 3.2 Pounds...

2010-01-19T16:34:00.001-05:00

OK, so this week's weigh-in wasn't spectacular, and it wasn't great. For me, it probably qualifies as an "OK". I wasn't happy with it, but I wasn't mad about it, either. In looking at the big picture, I've lost 75.2 pounds in 73 days. Seven pounds a week is a pretty doggone good average. I'm 24.8 pounds away from having lost 100, which I hope to achieve by mid-February. I'm about 10 pounds away from having lost 25% of my total starting body weight. In three weeks we will be halfway through the Biggest Loser competition. I don't know if I can drop 24.8 pounds in the next 21 days or not, but how cool would it be to have dropped 100 lbs. at exactly the halfway point! It's not impossible, but it's a pretty tall order.

Two really cool things happened this Sunday. First, our church secretary decided to put together an informal accountability group for weight loss - it's up to each person to find their own food and exercise plan, but we are having a contest to see who can lose the most by June. I don't qualify - I have a 75-pound head start! But I offered to come talk to the group about some basics as they were signing up Sunday night. Twenty-five people signed up to try and lose some pounds and inches with me! I am now writing a daily (hopefully) email on nutrition and fitness. (If you are interested in receiving it, drop me a line at echavis@lumpkinroad.com - you don't have to be part of our church group to get it).

The other cool thing that happened Sunday was that I had to go to Wal-mart Sunday night and walk out the rest of my 10,000 steps. When I was finished, I went to the men's section to try on some pants. The blue jeans I picked up about a month ago are already getting too big for me, so I grabbed a few pairs and took them into the dressing room. When I started this process 73 days ago, I was about a size 50 waist (I say "about", because I was wearing 48's, but testing them rather heartily). Sunday night, I slipped into a size 40 pair of jeans, and they buttoned and everything!

Three pounds was not a great weight loss, but it was a great week! Now onto the task at hand... 24 pounds in 21 days....

Relax...

2010-01-15T17:24:00.001-05:00

So far this week, I have lost basically nothing. Again. Yes, I know this is about the fourth time in the last five weeks I have started a blog entry with that sentence. Last week after I had only lost a little by Friday, I was panicking. But this week I decided, along with my counselors, that I need to get back to a "normal" diet. I've been eating tons of protein, done a couple of "plateau busters" along the way, and pretty much eliminated most carbohydrates from my diet. I'm hoping to be down some by Monday night, but if I'm not, it's not the end of the world.

Two things, I think, have caused this attitude shift. One is the fact that last week, I hit the halfway point on my weight loss, and that was a huge victory for me. 72 pounds from November 6 - January 11 is terrific; some official "Biggest Loser" contestants don't have that kind of result. I now have nearly twice that much time left in the competition to drop the other 68 pounds of my original goal. As of this writing on Friday, January 15, there are 120 days remaining until the finale. The other thing is that I have been able to build up a fairly good lead over the last couple of weeks, and a week or two here and there of low losses is not going to cost me the lead. Every week when we get the results emailed to us, I sit down and do the calculations - where I'm at, where my competitors are at, etc. - I know exactly how far in front I am at all times. I do this for my female co-leader, as well. The only day the lead truly matters is May 15th, but I'll take all the other days I can get - those days are motivators for me.

My "que sera sera" attitude has had no bearing on my workouts. I try to work every day as if I am trying to catch up to the leader. The workouts since last Wednesday have been pretty tough; this morning I was in a sweat at 6 minutes into the routine. Yesterday I tackled the Stairmaster machine and wrestled it for 20 solid minutes, the default workout time on that particular machine. I argued with myself for the last 10 minutes - "good Ed" was sitting on one shoulder, urging me forward; "bad Ed" was sitting on the other shoulder saying, "10 minutes is good enough - you've never gone 10 before." I had this conversation at 10 minutes... at 7:43... at 5:51... even at three minutes left, I was still debating within myself as to whether or not I could do it. Saturday morning I will have this internal fight with myself all over again.

I also have still not eaten anything that I'm not allowed to have. There have been times when I accidentally went over on a carb, but it wasn't anything I couldn't eat. I haven't had a slice of pizza, a French fry, or a cheeseburger since the first of November. Even if I don't ultimately win, I want to be able to say "I gave it everything I had", and "I never went back to my old way of eating." Finishing well is more important to me than finishing first.

Now that I have hit the halfway point, my next two weight loss goals are: 1) to reach 255 - that will make me lighter than a friend of mine; and 2) to reach 242.8 - the 100-pound mark. I hope to hit the first mark in about 3 weeks, and the second in about 5 weeks. I'll keep everyone posted!

Red Team Video

2010-01-12T13:17:00.002-05:00

Red team (most of us, anyway) on channel 26 last Friday morning:

Click here

Monday's Weigh-In

2010-01-11T22:07:00.005-05:00

"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory..."

Thursday afternoon at PHC, their scale showed that I had lost less than one pound. I was discouraged - they had just adjusted my diet to include a few more carbs than I had been eating, and now they were putting me on a "plateau buster" that included little more than chicken and eggs. We were invited over to a friend's house for supper Friday night, and she graciously cooked what I could eat (although I felt really bad about "phoning in my order" of chicken and eggs). As we met together for our weigh-in and compared notes, I found that most of our group of 12 is on some combination of chicken and eggs.

I was hoping against hope that I had dropped at least 6.6 pounds - that was the number that would put me at 70 pounds, halfway to the goal that I stated at the beginning of the competition. Since my 0.8 at PHC on Thursday, I have been working my head off at the gym and at home, even walking and running around the outside of a shopping center at 28 degrees Saturday morning.

I walked into the weigh-in room (I always go second, for some reason) and Rob, the manager of the other PHC location, said, "You look about eight pounds thinner this week." No clue what made him say that, but I got on the scale, and Barry said, "It is eight, but it's more than eight. It's 8.6 pounds". WOW...

With tonight's 8.6, I have lost 72 pounds in two months, and 21% of my starting weight. The six of us on the red team have lost 303 pounds. I told my trainer Johnnie that tonight's loss left me with only 68 pounds to go in order to reach my goal of 140 pounds. As usual, he raised the bar, and challenged me to forget about 68 pounds, and to go for another 100. That would put me at 170, a weight I have not seen since probably eighth grade. All of this is great news that I get to go to the TV studio tomorrow morning and share - it should air Wednesday morning, I would presume, during the 6:00 AM news broadcast on channel 26.

One last piece of news - if you've followed my blog, you've read about Nandy, my co-leader. Nandy bruised her Achilles' tendon and tore some muscle fibers Friday morning, and is wearing a boot to immobilize her ankle. Johnnie has worked up some exercise routines for her to do while she is recovering, and she still lost over 4 pounds this week. Our losses mean that we are both still in the lead - Nandy has led the women for 8 weeks, and I have led the men for 7 weeks.

I got in the car and headed home, thinking my day could not get any better. Then I had one of those "where's a cop when you need one?" moments. This little green car flew by me on Bobby Jones tonight, and no sooner had I thought, "where's a cop when you need one?", when I saw a set of blue lights fire up way ahead of me. As I approached the cop... yep, you guessed it - he got the guy that left me in the dust.

All in all, it was a perfect evening!

P.S. - I guess it's time to change the photos at the top of my blog - I don't look like that guy anymore!

And It All Comes To a Screeching Halt...

2010-01-10T22:12:00.001-05:00

I thought I was "stuck" during week 5... that was nothing compared to the "stuck" I find myself in now. I have worked hard this week in the gym (and out of it), gone through 2 changes in my diet this week, and watched a teammate damage her Achilles' tendon. Saturday I did an hour and a half in the gym between the treadmill and the bike; the kids had to be up on Washington Road to sign up to work Masters' week, and the rent-a-cops informed me that I could not go in with them to help them with their paperwork. So I bundled up and did laps around the entire perimeter of the shopping center - walking along the front side, running along the sides and the back for nearly an hour. Then I went home and did The Biggest Loser Last Chance Workout video. Sunday, I went back to the gym between the morning service and choir practice, and got some time in on the treadmill. My shoulder has been hurting since Monday, my knee has been hurting since Wednesday, and my back has been hurting since Friday. Tonight I had to face yet another food fellowship at church, where I ate absolutely nothing.

And I'm stuck. As in, no weight loss.

Skip and Kristy told me it was coming, and to just be patient through it; if I keep doing what I'm supposed to be doing, the weight will start coming off again.

I don't want to be patient, though... I have my eye on my next goal. I'm SO close to hitting the halfway-to-my-goal mark, only 2 months into the competition. I will get there, just not as soon as I wanted to.

I know I've disappointed some people this week... but I'm giving it my all.

Almost Halfway Home...

2010-01-07T16:43:00.003-05:00

As of these photos, I'm only 5 pounds away from halfway to my goal:

Time to Re-focus...

2010-01-06T22:20:00.001-05:00

I didn't do bad this week - but I felt like I had. I lost 5.6 pounds, and even though I was expecting more, I guess I can't complain too much. We are about 9 weeks into the competition, and only once have I lost less than 5 pounds in a week. I have a goal this week of 6.6 pounds, because that would put me at having lost exactly 70 pounds in the first 66 days. That will leave me with 70 pounds to lose in the next roughly 123 days. I feel like getting halfway done in a third of the allotted time is pretty doggone good.

But am I doing my best? Could I be doing better?

Johnnie challenged us all this morning to dig deep and give our very best effort in light of the tremendous opportunity we have been afforded. There are things I could be doing better... things that need more attention... things that may mean the difference between holding onto the lead and letting it slip away. I'm off to a pretty good start, I think. I've eaten right, at the right times, drank my gallon and a half of water, walked my 5 miles, and worked my tail off in the gym. I want to do my very best, and if I do that, I can face the scale with no regrets next Monday.

Pay It Forward...

2010-01-03T22:13:00.001-05:00

Participating in Augusta's Biggest Loser has opened up new ministry opportunities already. I submitted an article for publication in a Baptist pastor's magazine (the monthly magazine published by the Baptist Bible Fellowship), and it made it into January's edition. Through a combination of that article, and my presence on facebook, I am beginning to hear from pastors, former classmates, etc., who are looking for help, advice, and accountability in the area of managing their weight. I'm hoping to have my story published in some form in the Augusta Chronicle's religion section - a Baptist pastor who is trying to lose weight is a novelty, as we Baptists (particularly here in the South) are noted for our love of starchy and sweet foods.

I've not addressed the moral aspect of these issues thus far, because overweight preachers do not generally have much to say about their own shortcomings in this area. But the hypocrisy of denouncing the evils of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs while joking about our ever-expanding waistlines is too overwhelming to ignore forever. Maybe when I am at, or close to, my goal weight, I will feel more able to address these issues. Our pastor's wife suggested maybe eventually doing a Sunday night series of messages, not to condemn, but to offer hope.

Weigh-in is tomorrow night (Monday)... I don't think it's going to be as good as I hoped for, but still should be at least a 4 or 5. How can I be upset with that?

Wednesday Night...

2009-12-30T21:52:00.001-05:00

Monday's weigh-in was good - I dropped another 7 pounds last week, and our team as a whole did well. Nandy, who is leading the ladies, had a rough time - she worked so hard last week, and only lost a couple of pounds. She totally put me to shame with how hard she worked, and I felt bad that her numbers weren't that great. But her weight loss will pick up again soon. She got to go on TV Tuesday, and got a lot of compliments, so I hope that offset her disappointment. Brenda got to go with me to our weigh-in, and she got to meet everybody in person that she only previously knew through my stories.

Tuesday night we had our group meeting, and Donna showed us a group of photos of food servings that we had to put in order from highest calories to lowest calories. They were things as varied as fried shrimp, chocolate, chicken wings, Doritos, and macaroni and cheese. We settled on the correct order as a group, and then she told us that every serving contained exactly the same amount of calories. I had a suspicion, because in my head I kept coming up with somewhere between 300 and 400 calories. After discussing portion sizes and reading labels, we shared stories about experiences we had had as heavy people. Tammy had the funniest stories, and we laughed, not at her, but because we could relate. I recounted my last visit to Six Flags and the Ninja roller coaster. I watched and listened as the ride operators pulled each safety restraint into place - "Click-click-click-click-click-click"... "Click-click-click-click-click-click"... but when they came to my car, the safety restrain made this noise:

"Click."

The bar was down as far as it would go on me, and I spent the entire ride in sheer terror that I was going to fly out. I'm looking forward to going back with a normal-sized lap and a normal-sized belly. Others told similar stories about airplane seat belts and narrow seats. Our group meetings are always so enjoyable - I almost wish we had them weekly.

Wednesday morning's workout was really good - Johnnie had been trying to get us more on schedule with our workout, and this morning, it was like everything clicked. He challenged me to move on up to a heavier set of dumbbells, and I have the hardest time telling him "no". But I have learned that Johnnie is a better judge of my abilities than I am, and he was right. I had to go lighter for one exercise, but other than that, I did well.

There's one last holiday to get through - New Years Day - and then we will be on our regular schedule pretty much from now until the end of the competition. My next short-term goal is to be down 13 more pounds after the next two weigh-ins. I'm scheduled to be on TV on Tuesday, January 12th, and I hope to be able to say, "Only 2 months in, and I'm halfway to my goal." That means I have to get a 7 and a 6, or an 8 and a 5, or some combination that adds up to 13 pounds over 2 weeks.

It's Weigh-In Time Again...

2009-12-27T22:19:00.001-05:00

Some weeks the time flies so fast between weigh-ins - this has been one of those weeks. Having a day off in the middle of the week really shortened it, as did moving our workouts with Johnnie from Monday / Wednesday/ Friday to Tuesday / Wednesday/ Saturday. I'm hoping the scale will be kind to me this week - I've made it through several parties, church functions, and Christmas day without cheating a single time. I'm hoping for at least a 5 lb. loss this week, but I should be grateful that I've only had one week where I lost less than 5 pounds.

This week we begin making our television appearances with PHC - I was up first, but Nandy asked if she could switch with me and do hers while she is off work next week. She will be on NBC Augusta this Tuesday morning during their 11:00 AM newscast with Donna from PHC and, I assume, either Liz Hill or Jay Jefferies.

I talk about Nandy a lot - she has been leading the ladies for five weeks now. She has been absolutely killing herself in the gym these last two weeks, and is getting her mile on the treadmill in under 9 minutes. I'm not there yet, but improving. Nandy is like me in that, on that first night in the TV studio when we found out we were selected for the competition, she figured she didn't have much chance at winning. She was the lightest competitor in the entire group, but in the ensuing weeks, she has gotten a taste of being in the lead, and now she's hungry. We got our names on the PHC sign last week - we still have to get our picture made in front of it. I'll have to see if we can show up at PHC at the same time in our red team ABL t-shirts.

I had another round of people telling me how good I look at church this morning. It's funny - people don't look me in the face now; they look at my mid-section when they talk to me. Makes me feel like I have something on my tie! It would still be nice to talk about something else every now and then, but I appreciate the support of my church family and my facebook friends so much. I could not do this alone, and I am grateful that I don't have to.

This week will be a light week around the church - I'm not planning to keep regular office hours, and I plan to take advantage of the opportunity to get a lot of extra work in this week. I can't afford to drive to the gym all the time, so I may have to get some Rocky-Balboa-style, no-equipment workouts in. Anybody know where I can go flip tractor tires across a field?

Christmas Morning

2009-12-25T07:03:00.000-05:00

Every family has their own traditions around the holidays, and we are no exception. Brenda baked Hello Dollies, a wonderful treat that some of you know as Magic Cookie Bars - little bundles of sugar, fat, and cholesterol disguised as graham cracker crumbs, chocolate, butterscotch, coconut, and lots of sweetened condensed milk. My buddy Jan sent us a box of her famous sugar cookies, which are THE best cookies in the world. We had Christmas Eve lunch at Pizza Hut with a family in our church - their family has been doing it for years, and they always invite us. It's always Pizza Hut, it's usually the buffet, and we usually end up griping about the lack of pizza and/or dessert on said buffet. So many of our traditions are built around food, aren't they? I haven't had any of these treats this year, and I don't intend to. I want to get through this Biggest Loser competition and be able to say, "I never cheated, not a single time." In two weeks, we will be a third of the way through the competition. Fortunately, I'm a third of the way to my goal, so I'm pretty much on track to hit my target weight of 190-ish. It's going to get harder - it takes more work to get my heart rate up these days because I'm in better shape than I was in November.

My Christmas list was a little different this year - a Reebok Step, a pair of 15 lb. dumbbells, and a stopwatch. I got 2 out of the 3 items - Brenda and Debbie couldn't find the Step. When the bank account comes back up a little bit, I will find one and treat myself to a post-Christmas Christmas present! Last week I picked up the Biggest Loser Last Chance Workout video, which is actually quite like some of the stuff we do at the gym with Johnnie. In fact, we have done most of the exercises on the video at least once in the last two months. I will work through that video at least once today, maybe twice, and will have to get my walking done inside the church, because it's pouring rain here, and because I usually make up my daily walking deficit in Walmart, which is obviously closed today. But I will also take the opportunity today to rest myself - while the muscles have gotten used to exercise, the ankles, knees, and hips are still screaming, even through daily rounds of ibuprofen. I consulted with my mentor, Kristy, and she felt like a day of resting would be a wise course of action, not only for the rest, but because the change in routine might kick-start my body into another intense round of weight-loss. I don't always take Sundays off from the gym - in my mind, the best day to take off would be the day AFTER weigh-in, and the worst would be the day BEFORE weigh-in.

I'm so grateful and pleased with what has happened thus far - I feel better, I look better, I'm faster and more agile, and I've managed to forge a slight lead in the competition (although the only day the lead matters is May 15, four and a half months from now). This has truly been a life-changing experience for me, and hopefully a turning point to a longer and more productive life.

I'm thankful also for all the people that God has brought into my life since we began, starting with those in my immediate sphere of influence - Kristy Youngblood, a former teen from my youth group in the 90's, whose own journey inspired me to apply for this program, and who gives freely of her time, guidance, and encouragement; our trainer, Johnnie; our nutritionists Mark, Donna, Savannah, Priscilla, and Patricia; my teammates Nandy, Lisa, Tammy, Bronnie, and Charles; our friends on the blue team Tanner, Tim, Colin, Laycee, Ashley, and Lori; their trainer, Barry Allison; and the many folks who stick their head in to encourage and congratulate us from time to time. I'm thankful for my church family who supports and encourages me week in and week out; I'm thankful for my friends on facebook who read my ramblings and lend their support from places as far away as Alaska and Korea. I'm thankful for my terrific wife, who gives me her love, support, and encouragement every day. I'm thankful for my pastor/boss, Don Stone, who fully supports me in this effort, and doesn't mind when I come dragging in late on those mornings when Johnnie has run us to death and the chiropractor has pushed my backbone through my chest wall. Last, but most important, I am thankful to our Lord Jesus Christ, who gives me the strength every day to walk in obedience to Him. "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:1-2)

To all of you who read this blog, may God bless you with a merry Christmas and a happy, HEALTHY new year!

Before And... During.

2009-12-23T12:19:00.002-05:00

This is for the benefit of those of you who don't follow me on facebook... the picture on the left is me before I started this journey, and the picture on the right is 47 days, 50 pounds later... I must have lost all 50 of it out of my face!!

Sunday Afternoon...

2009-12-20T17:31:00.001-05:00

So I have discovered that when I wear my old (and baggy, now) clothes, I notice the weight loss. But when I put on something new in a smaller size, that's when everyone else notices. We had our church Christmas party last night, and because I have "downsized", my clothes did, too. I felt very self-conscious because I know they are talking about me... I caught people staring at me all night long; when I walk up, it's the only topic of conversation. It's not that I don't appreciate the support - I do - but May is a long, long way away; it'd be nice to talk about something else between now and then.

I worked out Saturday morning with Nandy & Charles; then Saturday afternoon, I went to the gym to work out with Barry and his trainer, Vic. Vic is a very soft-spoken, very encouraging guy. The workout was pretty tough - of course, he gave me the heaviest weight to work out with, and I'm still feeling it today. The legs are killing me with DOMS, something I haven't experienced in several weeks. (For those of you who don't know, DOMS is Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness - it's when you finish work and say, "that wasn't so bad", and then the next day you can barely move.)

We have had a good weekend at church; the Keffers were at our party Saturday night, providing music and entertainment. They stayed over and sang in our morning service, as well. What makes this relevant to this discussion is the fact that Mrs. Keffer became my friend on facebook, and has been following my progress since the beginning of this process. It was nice to see her and talk to her in person - she is a very positive, uplifting lady, and the encouragement she offers is invaluable, as is that of many people across the country.

One other interesting thing happened last night at the church party; people were saying that they had seen my name on a sign... turns out that PHC put Nandy and me on their marquee sign - something to the effect of "Biggest Losers Ed & Nandy lost 60 lbs." I guess Donna put us up as their latest success stories!

A Pretty Good Day...

2009-12-17T22:34:00.001-05:00

My day started really early today - because I had some things I needed to help my wife with, my day started at about 3:45 this morning. I was in the gym by 4:45, left at 6:00, delivered a fake fireplace to my wife's workplace for a decorating contest, hit the chiropractor's office at 8:30, then off to work.

I was feeling pretty lousy today - my feet hurt, my knees hurt, my hips hurt; I'm starting to feel the effects of working out every single day and not sleeping much at night. I got a new pair of tennis shoes, and they are rubbing the tops of my toes raw - bleeding-through-my-socks raw. I decided to ask for the afternoon off - I took a little bit of time to run by a couple of stores for some pants. I grabbed a couple pair in the size I thought I needed and tried them on to make sure they fit... I had to go back twice for smaller sizes! I am now down to within 2 inches of my waist size when I got married 21 years ago. I got a pair of slacks for work, and a pair of blue jeans. I never weigh in at PHC in jeans, but today, I didn't care what the scale said... I wanted to show off my new size! When I got there, Johnnie was there with our official Biggest Loser t-shirts, very much like the ones on the TV show. I managed to land a shirt smaller than the one I originally ordered, thanks to Mariah at NBC.

Meanwhile, I got a "shout out" from my trainer on TV - Johnnie did an interview this morning with Liz Hill of channel 26, and mentioned me by name in the context of me leading the contest at this point in time. He then turned around and called me to tell me about it, and about the shirts coming in.

While at PHC, I weighed in, and on their scales, I had lost 3 more pounds since Tuesday. I never trust those numbers, because they aren't the ones that count in the contest. But progress on their scales means they don't bug me about what I'm eating, and everybody is happy.

All in all, it was a good day, in spite of the pain. Headed to bed now so I can get up in 6 hours and do more damage to my legs and feet...