Responsibility 199, what is it?

Responsibility 199 is a belief; I believe that to be healthy and to increase my longevity I need to weigh 199 pounds or less...
Responsibility 199 is a need; I need to reduce my weight, reduce my percentage of body fat, and the elevated threat of disease my present condition presents...
Responsibility 199 is a mission; I recognize that achieving 199 will be a challenge, perhaps the hardest I have ever undertaken...
Responsibility 199 is a commitment; I acknowledge that I must commit to action, commit to change, commit to myself and those I love to achieve this mission, to increase my longevity...
Responsibility 199 is ME.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Day 127 - 39% Progress & Oh Yeah's

Welcome to the 34th Sunday of 2010, is it just me or is this year passing by faster than corn through a goose?

My wife & I celebrated our 11th Anniversary this week. We did so low-key as she is still recovering from her recent surgery. We've given ourselves a pair of tickets to go see Bill Engvall & John Pinette perform next month. By then she should be fully recovered and we'll be able to get out and celebrate in style. Happy Anniversary to my gorgeous wife! 

As promised yesterday I was going to work in another cardio work out. Not wanting another walk, not able to hit Stanton Hill as the football team was using it for their workout, I drove around until I found something different; a soccer field. The local junior high field was looking a bit lonely so I paid it a visit. After arriving, I wondered what to do. I had no soccer ball. Walking around it seemed lame. I don't run, maybe a bad idea, I may as well leave. Then it hit me, sprint!

Well that notion woke up that evil hungry-demon inside me who drove me to obesity. "Huh, spring! That's running, no?" he jested gruffly. "You barely jog and look like a drunk armadillo when you do."

I grin and look at the field, it is a bit smaller that a regulation field, expected as 7th & 8th graders play on it. Regulation fields are 100-130 yards long, I paced this off at 88 yards (114 steps of my 28 inch stride), so figuring a bit of error in my pacing I considered this field to be 80 yards long.

"Seriously, lets go home and you can walk on that treadmill," said the hungry-demon, sniffing his jelly donut. "It has rails you can hold on to, much less embarrassing."

A freshly fried donut oozing with jelly puts off a strong smell, a smell that the healthy-alien in me does not like. "Sprints huh, that's the spirit," he encouraged boldly. "One, just do one 80 yard sprint, or one 80 yard jog, lets see if you've come far enough to do it."

One, sure I can do one. I really don't want to walk, treadmill or anywhere today. A little stretching, the IPod set, my watch in hand, off I went. Field was in good condition, flat, grass cut recently. Half way across, I stopped critiquing the field conditions, this is 80 yards? Seems like 80 leagues! Time, 33 seconds.

"Way to go big boy," the hungry-demon blurted through a chortle. "Too bad nobody is here to watch, I could charge $2 to watch this show."

Nice, that one stung a bit. As well that sprint had a bit of sting to it too. It was a sprint, not a jog; I was hauling this body as fast I could move it.

"Now walk, walk back," suggested the healthy-alien. "Walk and while you catch your breath."

And so I did, pondering my 33 second effort. Once upon a time I could sprint 40 yards in 7-8 seconds. Not really that fast, many of the high school athletes I hung with could do that in 5-6 seconds.

Back on the other side of the field now I was no longer listening to the healthy-alien & hungry-demon. They argued, the jelly donut hit the ground and those two locked horns like two ornery heartland tornadoes competing for the same trailer park.

While they went at it, I took off on another sprint; 32 seconds. A walk back, a check of the iPod, and another sprint, and another, and another, and...

Ten sprints later I had enough, my body was urging me to exercise some caution. Which I did, gladly and with a smile as I took note of that tenth and final sprint time, 21 seconds, that deserves an Oh-yeah!

Back at home, I left the healthy-alien & hungry-demon back at the soccer field; back at home I chit chatted with my wife for about fifteen minutes before I realized I was antsy and her attention was fixed on whatever was on television. We had a few hours before we would pack up the kids and head off to a family gathering. Bored, I went into the basement to do some crunches and push ups.

Once in the basement, I set up and did a set of push ups. Now crunches, but as I looked at that bench I smirked; I really didn't want to do any crunches. Too boring.

A quick pondering, I grabbed a mat and set it down beside the home gym. I got down, flopped onto my back, said a prayer, and away I went. Or rather I should say up I went, I did set of ten sit-ups. SIT UPS, really sit ups, not crunches - the real deal.

In all honesty, it has to be 15 years since I've got up the gumption to do a sit up. Yep, you guessed it, that also deserves an Oh-yeah!

Five sets of ten push ups and sit ups were completed before I called it quits, declared victory, and headed off to the shower.

It seems only fitting that I add being able to do sprints and sit ups to my NSV list. I'll do just that after I get this posted.


Ok, today is weigh in day, and I am pleased at the result. It very well could have been a 1/2 pound or a pound better but the family gathering yesterday probably cost me that much. It wasn't a a complete giving in to temptation, not at all. But there was some indulgence. A great time it was.

Brass tacks time, the scale reports that I have now punted 39% of the weight I want to lose. In all, 47.5 pounds have been kicked away in the past SEVENTEEN weeks; 1.5 of them this past week. Today I weighed in at 272.5 pounds. Oh Yeah!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

17 comments:

  1. OH YEAH for all of it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Happy anniversary too!!!! Glad your wife is getting better!

    I love the way you challenge yourself Patrick!

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  2. You are rockin the plan, Patrick! Great job on the sprints. I think I'll add them to my routine every now and then.

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  3. Oh Yeah!!! Good for you, Patrick! And a Happy Anniversary to you and your wife!

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  4. I don't know where to begin to say wow you did it. Because you did it all :) I'm so impressed!! Congratulations on beating that hungry demon up.

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  5. Sounds awesome. Funny thing, as John Pinette used to share my reflection in the mirror. Now, not so much for either of us.... All good things !! Your wife's recovery is inspiring !!

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  6. Great job on the sprints, push ups and sit ups!!! Congrats on the anniversary! Maybe I'll try sprints sometime soon.

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  7. GREAT JOB! I was tired of looking at 38% too, haha not really but it's so great to be at 39%! Good for you for knocking out some NSVs. Changing up exercise and pushing yourself is good for the soul I believe.

    For the next time you hit the soccer field you could try a drill I did in soccer practice. We had two little fields next to each other but you could do it around a large field as well. You walk from the corner to half field, then you jog from the half to the other corner, then you sprint the whole side behind the goal. Then walk, jog, spring, walk jog sprint. I haven't tried to do the drill yet but it sound like you're up for the challenge!

    Happy anniversary as well!

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  8. Congratulations! That is amazing. Once again, I love how you say your going to do something and you're doing it. So inspirational.
    I'm ashamed to say that my first meal in my new apartment was KD, blasphemy I know!!

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  9. Fantastic!!! And a big congratulations to you! Thank you very much for your comments on my blog today. Way to be consistent. Your blog post made me laugh today - thanks. BTW, I love your profile picture...looks like you are pondering thoughts to a serious question.

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  10. Happy Anniversary to you both! You are an inspiration with your exercise!!!

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  11. Congrats on the weight loss! Congrats on the situps!

    Happy Anniversary to you and your wife!

    And...I think I'm going to steal your idea to go to a local school for a workout instead of going to the gym.. Yes, I need to devise a bootcamp style workout for me and the hubby...hmmm...thank you for giving me the idea!

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  12. Patrick-Fabulous progress even with the family gatherings. That has to be one of my biggest challenges.
    Happy Anniversary

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  13. This is an awesome post! Happy anniversary! Congrats on defeating the negative self-talk! Congrats on the massive weight loss in the short amount of time! Congrats on everything!

    You are a machine, with tremendous discipline and I love your commitment to making your blogs so interesting.

    Thanks also for the constant support!

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  14. CONGRATS!!!! on all of it as Im fully aware (after 14 yrs) that the marriage is just as much work as the fitness!


    MizFit

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  15. Happy anniversary, to you and your wife! It was thoughtful of you to put off "official" celebrations until she is feeling better. Good job on the exercising too!

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  16. Happy anniversary, and way to go on all the victories, scale and non-scale!

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  17. Great job Patrick. I have been noticing that I can do more than I have been able to do in years. My advice is not to sell your self short. Take a chance and give things a try you will never know if you can do it if you don't try. You'll be amazed, you may not be 100% spot on, but you will be doing it. Sometimes it's just baby steps :0)

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