Jeremy's Fitness Revolution

Vacation and Weight Loss

Week 10

It has been a while since my last post and I have a lot to report. First, the steady progression of weight loss continues. I weighed in at 202.5 on March 9th – the end of week 10. The weekend that followed I made a trip to Iowa to visit parents. I had not seen any of my family or friends back in Iowa since I had started the program. The comments heard by both my wife (week 10 of her own program with Strength Fitness) and myself were uplifting to say the least.

“Wow – you have lost weight” was typical but the bigger compliment may have come in the form of age based compliments – a lot of people stated that we both looked younger. I know that I feel younger and maybe that is being projected, I am not certain, I just know that was a common perception and that feels good. By far the biggest reaction came from my mother. She actually got teary eyed and stated “you look like my little boy again”. Ok, my mom is a little dramatic but that was a huge reaction regardless.

It really made me think, did I look that bad before? I guess I cannot worry about before – cannot change before, all I can do is focus on right now and right now, I feel great.

Vacation

Week 11 was the biggest test of the program to date. We had a scheduled a mini-vacation right smack in the 11th week of my fitness revolution but that is real life. We left Crystal Lake on Tuesday after work and headed south en route to Memphis, Tennessee, home of world famous barbeque, for a night. Then on to Hot Springs, Arkansas, home of tons of southern fried food, for 3 nights.

I knew before hand that I would probably miss a workout or 2 depending on what facilities were available. I was right, I got in 2 workouts and missed 2 (one cardio and one weight workout). I was able to use a some sort of all-in-one weight machine in a hotel fitness center to complete one weight workout. It may sound like drudgery to workout on vacation but 15 minute workouts are hard to complain about. Plus, this was a driving trip – lots of hours behind the wheel, so it felt good to get the heart pumping.

Of course, the biggest challenge wasn’t the finding time for exercise but sticking to some semblance of a reasonable diet. I knew I would probably “cheat” a little and I was ok with that, I just didn’t want to go way overboard.

My strategy was to keep breakfast light, keep snacks to minimum and exercise a little portion control the rest of the day. You know the 12 ounce fillet instead of the 24 ounce t-bone. I managed to keep my approximated calories near my target zone – a little over a couple of days but not too bad. I still sampled the local cuisine, ate until I was stuffed and had a great time.

It worked, I do not have an official weigh-in on the strength fitness scale for week 11 but when I got home, according to my home scale, I was down 2 more pounds. Absolutely amazing, I didn’t feel like I had deprived myself in anyway shape or form. I had a great vacation, hardly thought about my diet or the exercise plan.

If I can continue to loose weight while on the road on know that maintenance once I reach my goal weight will not be an issue. This is truly a “lifestyle”.

Up next is my final weigh-in and post program evaluation , and of course, the requisite after pictures. I cannot wait to post those – the before pictures look more and more unflattering as I continue to see improvement. It will be nice to post the current physique.

posted by Jeremy @ 8:25 AM