GOAL!!!

Although I've mentioned it a couple of times, I haven't made a huge deal of it. But anyone reading this who knows me knows that in 2006 I had bariatric surgery. I had the surgery after a lifetime of yo-yo dieting, losing weight then gaining more back, then losing again then gaining even more back, and so on and so on and so on. By the time I finally decided to have surgery I had gotten up to a whopping 440 pounds. The surgery was successful and I dropped 200 pounds within a year. I was eating better and I found that I actually enjoyed running for exercise and some stress management.

But something happened. I became one of those people you hear horror stories about. I was the guy who had the surgery and gained back the weight. Now to be clear, I did not gain back nearly the amount of weight that I'd lost. But I did gain back more than I should have.

In April of last year I noticed a couple of people at work who had dropped some weight.  When I mentioned it to one he showed me an app on his phone called myfitnesspal.  The app allows the user to log all calories they take in during the day as well as the calories they burn through activity/exercise.  

One of the things I learned during my bariatric surgery process was that logging of the calories I take it will help me be more successful in the weight loss process.  So I started using myfitnesspal, as well as going back to the basics of using the tool I got through my surgery, and once again began losing weight.  My goal was to get back down to at least the 240 pound mark.  I picked that number for a reason.  That was basically what I weighed during the majority of my time in the Army.  

As of last weekend I had reached that goal.  I was able to do it without sacrificing the foods that I love.  I have reset my allowable calorie intake to continue to lose more weight, but if that doesn't happen and I stay right around the 240 mark, I'll be ok with that.  

I'm running again, as anyone who reads my blog knows.  I am currently registered for five half marathons in 2013.  I set a goal of logging 1000 miles of running during this year.  That would mean that I would have to run 83.3 miles each month.  For January, I've already accomplished that, having logged just over 85 miles this month so far (with plans to tack on another 4-6 miles in the next couple of days).

I know that in order to keep from gaining again I will have to continue logging my calories in and calories out each day.  That's going to be a life long commitment.  The good thing is that this has taught me that I do not have to go without those foods that I love.  I can still eat the candy bars on occasion.  I can still have pizza, apple pie, ice cream....I just can't allow those things to be my meals, snacks and deserts every day. I also have learned how much I have to walk or run in order to work off that extra candy bar, slice of pizza, apple pie or ice cream.

Now to more about my running.  In a couple of weeks I will be heading down to Myrtle Beach for my first half marathon of the year.  I'm setting two goals for myself with regards to this run.  The first goal, as it has been for nearly every half I've run so far, is to finish the race without any walk breaks.  I've come pretty close once, but haven't run an entire 13.1 miles without stopping to walk for at least 5 minutes.  My second goal for this run is to record a personal best time.  My current best time for a half marathon is 2:16:29.  In order to run a 2:15:00 or better, I have to average a little better than a 10:18 per mile pace.  

My "push it" goal would be to finish is 2:11:00, which would require averaging a 10:00 per mile pace for the entire 13.1 miles.  I'm sure you know that I'll let you know how I do.