February Fit Challenge!

So what have I learned????

2009-02-28T08:32:00.000-08:00

So, The Fitfeb challenge is over and done with today. I've lost a total of four pounds.... What have I learned?

* I learned I really need to define goals in order to meet them.

* I learned not to be disheartened when I see other people doing well.

* I learned I like to run!

* I learned I can’t count on having a consistent workout schedule.

* I learned that running alone won’t lose weight.

* I learned that sodas are fattening.

* I think daily blog entries would have helped me stay with the program.

Important ideas.. So, maybe if there is another challenge I’ll try a little harder. I’ll make sure I stick to a daily posting schedule. I’ll be sure to document everything I ate.

I hope other people have had a great time doing this challenge!

Day 3: More Running

2009-02-03T19:01:00.001-08:00

Well, another day has passed. I mainly stuck to my diet, except for the "Butter Dips" Gretchen cooked for me. And I managed to run another 5K at lunch time. If you were to have asked me a while back if I would be running 5Ks at my lunch time I would have thought you were insane.

Speaking of lunch time and insane.. I got to eat a nice, cold turkey sandwich, along with an apple.

But, I only had one thought on my mind…

Chicken Wings…

Maybe next month.

Day 2: Groundhog Day

2009-02-02T17:12:00.001-08:00

A quick note – I’ve got some work I need to be doing. But I managed to squeeze in a 5K run at lunchtime. Thanks for saying hi, Eileen and Victor! A little encouragement goes a long way.

I managed to MOSTLY stick with my diet changes. Dinner was, well, pork ribs.. And very good too…

And I’ve found a nice compromise snack – only 100 calories..

More as time goes on!

Day 1

2009-02-01T18:10:00.001-08:00

Today was the first day of the February Fit challenge. I’m really looking forward to doing well this month.

For those people who don’t know, this challenge is developed to help us geeks who are overweight to lose a few pounds. There are some really cool prizes available. Obviously, not all geeks need to lose weight. I used to think we geeks came in two sizes: Super-sized and pencil-thin. Fortunately, as more coders came into the scene, there has been more of a variety.

So, today I started a diet. It’s not any famous diet or anything (Atkins / Zone / Jenny Craig / Kirstie Alley), but it should help me lose a few pounds. It’s mainly increasing my meals, cutting out some (but not all) fat and switching to a higher-carbohydrate percentage. This might go contrary to most people’s idea of a diet, but there is a method to my madness. And it’s worked before for me quite well.

This afternoon, I went to the gym and ran four miles, successfully. And weighed myself in. That didn’t go as well as planned. I actually thought I was a little bit lighter.

229 pounds. I guess that means I’m the fat guy at the gym who can actually run. :)

More to follow later – I’m likely going to take a “before picture”. And have something to compare it to at the end of the month. I’ll comment on my diet and my rationale later.

Inaugural Post

2009-01-31T19:38:00.001-08:00

This is my FIRST post regarding the February Fit challenge!

Some of you might know about this, but basically it's a bunch of geeks getting together to lose as much weight as possible over the month of February. We get all sorts of points for different things: blogs / pictures / tweets /etc.. So, I needed a blog to handle this all.

Stay tuned.. Tomorrow is the first day. I hope to have a picture, a tweet or two, and a description of everything I'm doing.

And, yes, I want to win the grand prize - A VSTS subscription!