I have returned from my vacation and I had a great time. I want to and need to thank Mirian for making this trip special and helping me travel in her fantastic homeland.  Her expertise, always looking out for me, helping with food, transportation and taking care of me was instrumental in making this a fantastic vacation. I owe her a huge thanks and muito beijos.

Overall after weighing myself and looking at my records I gained 2 pounds it looks like on this vacation or (1 kilos for you metric people) over the 2 weeks I was gone. Part of that success was the fact that Mirian kept me walking and I don’t mean casual walking to the store a few blocks away, I mean butt kicking walking that I will write about later.

I will work on this blog every night this week and get it all caught up (something that I have been talking about for a month now). I have been putting it off too long and I need to decide what I will do next with this site.

I will update this post later. Ken

This vacation that I am on is like I am starting a new life. Even though I am starting a new life, part of my old life still follows me around. I do carry some thoughts and mental picture from my old life of being overweight the past life that I am speaking of is my CPAP machine. The CPAP is the machine that helps me breath while I sleep. I was originally diagnosed that I had a sleep disorder in 2001 and we (The CPAP) have been friends ever since. Several weeks ago when I was still 10 pounds from my goal weight I revisited the Doctor to find out if I can stop using the CPAP machine. He told me to get to my goal weight and then I can start sleeping without and find out if I am getting enough rest through a questionnaire he gave me that is all about the quality of rest that I am getting.

Anyway back to my story, I have carried my CPAP to 30+ countries the last 5 years and it has as many miles on it then most people will ever have  but it is here with me in  Brazil. When I was leaving my home town I was going through our local airport and my local airport always makes me remove it and they swap it down looking for who knows what and then they return it to me and I carry on. I am use to this and always expecting it in my home town airport. So in my knowledge that I will need to remove it from my carry on bag I removed it and out it in the bin and went through the security line. As usually they inspector called out they they need a check and I proceeded through the lie and was waiting there but I didn’t see anyone with my bin that had the CPAP machine in it for me to follow while they test it. Finally after standing there for 30 seconds someone asked me if I had everything and I said no and they asked what was missing and I told them my CPAP was missing and the guy came over and said he had it and he was looking for the owner. Then I could tell my his face that he was embarrassed and he made a mistake. Some reason, not sure why I said to him that you are looking for a big guy aren’t you?   (Big guy* is the politically correct term for Big Fat Obese guy with a huge belly) and he answered yes he was and he commented that every CPAP machine he has seen always had a big guy* associated with it until this time. I told him that I am a recovering big guy* and he looked at me like I was joking with him so I pulled out my drivers license and showed him evidence of my past life and he didn’t know what to say. Maybe he is a little wiser now but most likely his perceptions of CPAP users has changed a little bit if only for one day.

This is not the first time that my old life and my new life has touched each other in this way, people see me now and assume that I have always been this way (skinny or fit) and like many overweight people know, we are treated by other people or by society by the way we look.

Hello – I’m currently in Recife Brazil and leaving for Salvador tonight.  Recife is on the northern east coast of Brazil and we are going South tonight to stay in Salvador and start exploring the area from here. Salvador is the 3rd largest city in Brazil. So far I have had more walking than I am use to, my legs are a little bit sore but ok. Tonight I will jog some and I am still getting use to the temperature here. It is in the 90’s and humid but not too bad. This is my first time in the heat with my weight loss and my body is handling it very well and I will write about that later. So far I have head pretty healthy food, lots of watermelon and just some minor snacks. My weakness here is a pastry called “Sonho” or “dream” in English. It is a pastry filled with a creme and you can get many different creams. I discovered this pastry the first time I came to Brazil and I have liked them every since. I could honestly say that I could eat 3 or 4 of these but limit myself to just one. The strange thing is that I do not buy pastries or eat them in the United States.

I will get my blog caught up over the nxt few days and I have several stories to teell that are related to weight loss and about getting use to the new me.

Today is day number 203 – last night was class number 29 and our last class for the Monday night group at HMR. A new class will start next week and of the original 18 class members only 3 of us are still standing. The 2 others will roll into the new Monday night class and continue their journey on but my journey is not over and I will go to maintenance for at least a year and maybe longer. I am way behind on my post and just so busy that I haven’t had time to get all my post updated. I leave for Brazil this Thursday night and guess what, I will be taking shakes with me to help me stay within my allotted calories each day. My journey is lose weight is over but the journey to keep it off has just begun and will never end.

Last week I went to the Thursday night maintenance class and I will blog about that later but the class was very good and interesting. I have a ton of things to get done in the next two days but I will get this blog updated and complete the areas that I had planned. I will be checking my email and blogging about the past 203 days and giving details about my plan going forward.

Scale update: Last night the HMR sclae was at 203.0 and my home scale is at 202.8. My goal is to keep my weight under 205 pounds and if I go over then make some changes and get things back into control.

Gym Update: I ran 6 miles last night and for the first time I did it under 1 hour at 59:35. I will be running while I am in Brazil but no strength training and of course tons fo walking.

Tonight I have my first HMR maintenance class at 5pm and then I go to my accounting class and I will update my blog later tonight. This I have been gathering all the info that I want to post on the blog and should have it completed this weekend. I leave for my vacation next Thursday night and will return in 12 days. I have decided that I will give myself a break after so many months of being strict but I won’t go crazy and eat everything in sight and in fact I will take along some HMR800 shakes and puddings to help keep my calories in check. I will continue to jog but will not do any strength training and I am sure that I will have lots of walking.

Food Update: Everything is going as planned, my weight I will find out tonight when I have my weigh-in but my home scale is consistently around 199 to 202 pounds over the past 3 weeks which is where I would like to be and I’m getting into a more consistent pattern now. My team at work had a luncheon for someone who is having a birthday this week and the first time I have been to a restaurant lately. I had a half salad and sandwich (vegetarian sandwich and it was quite good) and no dessert. Normally I would have something like a cheeseburger and fries or something fried but I enjoyed what I had and trying to build on more positive foods and making choices that are healthier for my body. Eating out is tougher since most restaurants don’t list calorie counts but I make an educated guess and try stay within my limits.

Last night I made 2 small pizzas from wheat pitas that I bought, they were the smaller size pitas but normally I just have one larger pita (160 calories for a single large one). This will be something that I will start to have on a regular basis and overall it satisfies my cravings to have pizza and a much better choice for me. I actually had a few bites of regular pizza at work a few weeks ago and I was amazed at how I didnt enjoy it like I thought I would have, my taste have changed and the veggies really taste good to me.

2 Wheat pitas – 260 calories (130 calories each)
1/4 cup pizza sauce 2×30 calories each pizza
1/4 cup Kraft shredded Mozzarella cheese 2×45 calories
Veggies – mushrooms, peppers, onions, garlic, etc maybe 25 calories

Both was around 450 calories total and I had a big salad with zero calories dressing to go with it and I was stuffed.

Gym Update: This week I did 4 days a week of running and last night while I was trying to complet 6 miles I only completed 5 1/2 as my left leg above my knee really started hurting so I stop and walked to complete my time. I later remembered when I was writing in my journal that I ran 5 miles the day before and it really wasn’t hurting from pain so much as just being sore and stressed and it didn’t help that I was pushing myself to run a little faster both days in a row so next time when I do a back to back days I will make the first day a lighter run instead of pushing myself on both days. My running is coming along and really just part of my new routine but I find the treadmill quite boring and I can listen to my iPod just so many times. I hoep that I have an area in Brazil near the beach where I can jog and be outside. I will run without my iPod and just take int he area as I jog. Hopefully when I return to the US the weather will be better and I can start jogging outside on a regular basis.

Tonight I decided to see what I am capable of in regards to running and decided to try and run 8 miles on the treadmill. I start all my runs at a pace of 5.6 MPH and the last two miles I moved it up to 6.2 MPH. I felt pretty good during the entire run except my gym has a 60 minute time limit on equipment and after 60 minutes (plus 5 minutes cool down) I have to get off and reset the treadmill and restart it and complete the last two miles. When it is warmer I will be able to run outside to complete the distance and won’t have to go through this. I am using my Polar Heart Rate Monitor for all my runs and I keep my pace between 70% and 85% of my MHR (Max heart rate). Go here to learn more about using the HRM for workouts. The main part of the run I kept it in the aerobic range and the last 2 miles in the anaerobic range. As I progress I will change the workouts up and right now I am running 3 times per week but will start this week with running 4 times per week. I will continue my strength workouts 3 times a week as I am until I return from vacation but then will switch my total body workouts to twice a week and focus on my running.

After my workout I was not sore but just worn out but after a few hours I felt fine and today I am a little stuff but not really sore. I have been looking to make a decision on what I will be doing with my workouts this year. Part of me would like to strength train and get bigger ands stronger muscles and the other part of me would like to work on my running and endurance. Both can be done but if you research his (Called concurrent training) the results come slow and impede with each other so my goal will be to work on my running and endurance and focus on gaining mass in the fall. The real reason I ran the 8 is I wanted to get an idea of I am capable of running a marathon if I continue to build up my running base for the rest of the summer and I wanted to do something to celebrate my weight loss and transition over to a new life. I want to be careful because if you read blogs like Pasta Queen or others that challenge themselves to half marathon it seems that once they complete that goal they are done and have nothing else to attempt. I want to make whatever I decide to do something I can focus on for this spring summer and early fall and work on my mass training later this year.

I am thinking about signing up to run the Columbus Ohio marathon in October 2009 and perhaps a half marathon in early summer or in spring. If I can do 9 miles I’m sure I can build up to 13.1 miles by early summer. I don’t know if running is something natural for me but when I was younger it was something that I did so part of it is reliving my youth. I was thinking last night that the last time I ran 8 miles or even close to 8 miles when I was in the military and that was in 1987 to 1991.

This week my goal is to finish everything that I need to post on this blog – basically I need to add all the info in the categories tabs and post some new photos before I leave on vacation in early March. My diet is still going well even though I have been over my 2000 calorie a day limit the last few days, the scale has not been going crazy and spiking up. I’m still hanging around 200 pounds but would really like to hit the goal I originally set of 195 pounds. I have no real reason to do that just to do something that I spoke about. I was very close at one point at 196 pounds but that was fleeting and I’m right at 200 now. Tomorrow is my normal HMR class but I won’t attend as I am going to check out the maintenance class on Thursday instead this week so I will post my update on Thursday.

Today the scale came up 198.0 pounds and I’m back under 200 pounds from creeping up to 201 over the weekend. It is amazing that I make some little changes in my food and the scale slowly lowers because I know I didn’t lose 3 pounds of fat since Monday. I did have some Ice Cream on Saturday (mentioned below) and a few little brownies at the Poker game I played on Saturday night for charity. I am on maintenance plan but the goal is to eat smart and not deprive myself. It is funny that when I eat something fattening or high calories the scale goes up and I return to my “normal” food it goes down. I know it is not fat weight but water weight and higher calorie dense food really puts the water on. I also felt guilty – ok I didn’t feel that guilty about it but I made add a little extra effort at the gym on Sunday to make up for it. I think the change in weight the last few days is because I ran at the gym last night and when I run I sweat like crazy for some reason and I know that some of the weight that I lost was water weight that I lost through sweating. I drink about 30 to 50 ounces of water and PowerAde Zero after I workout but I felt a little dehydrated this morning and the scale most likely adjust for tomorrows weigh-in. I still weigh myself daily as a gauge of where I am and keep a tracking point of my weight.

My jog last night was about 70 minutes in length and I increased the speed to 5.6 MPH and working my way up to 6 MPH before I leave for my vacation. Yesterday I did strength training in the morning before work because I have my class and on Tuesdays and Thursdays then I leave work and go to the gym, I jog and take a quick shower and drive back downtown and go to class. It is a tough day but I feel better when I can workout. My legs are a little stuff but it feels good to get a good jog done and I am slowly challenging myself every week.

As for my food, I am staying around 1800 to 2000 calories a day, I have added some new foods like cottage cheese, Oatmeal, Fiber One cereal and frankly I find that I like these foods. I find myself eating more fruits and veggies than I ever have and found out if I was at least 2 servings of veggies when I have dinner, I stay full longer and don’t get hungry. Last night I had a real craving for Ice Cream and I had double veggies and a nice omelet and I was full all evening and decided not to go buy Ice Cream. Ice Cream was a weakness of mine so it is an old habit that I still have. I have had Ice cream and based on some recommendations online and my experience this past weekend I think that I will stick with Breyers Double Churn French Chocolate. The wife of the person hosting the poker tournament is doing weight watchers and she gave me some of hers (she told me that it is only 1 point per serving). My tastes are not like they were since I have cut all high calorie foods out of my diet and since I have had any Ice Cream in 6 months my taste my bee off but I thought it quite good and not so unhealthy as the other choices I could have had. First I need to say that a single serving is not very big- only 1/2 cup but I had around 3 or 4 servings – so we are talking about 360 calories at the most. The details on the Ice Cream are as follows: Breyers Fat Free Double Churn Extra Creamy, Vanilla or French Chocolate – 90 calories per 1/2 cup – 0 fat and 3-4 grams of fiber

I still want to have some things that I use to have, tonight I will make a pizza at home but I will have fruit for dessert. This will be the second time that I will make a home pizza, I’m going to use wheat pitas this time with my home ingredients and have a nice salad with some veggies. I still haven’t ventured out for anything real fatty yet but I find that if I choose alternatives that are healthy and more filling then I can have items that I want and able to maintain this kind of eating long term.

Some lessons I want to pass on about veggies and new items: I have had a lot of broccoli lately, I simply love the stuff but be warned. If you body is not use to, you will get a serious case of the farts and I mean room clearing farts. Luckily I was at home most of the day on Sunday. Second – I love Fiber One cereal. I like the taste, the texture, etc. I start out with only ¼ cup every other day and now up to ½ cup. It will CLEAN you out, so you are warned. I didn’t experience any problems but when it passes you will know it. I don’t think that I need to go into details.

Another lesson is that sugar free gum causes GAS. Gas all day and night long (at least it doesn’t smell) – it is something in the chemical they use. If you chew Trident with Xylitol (new sugar free additive) it is much better than the traditional addictive they use and less gas. Sorry to be so open about gas but I’m passing on pearls of information to you!

Normally I would go into my weekly HMR statistics but now that I am in maintenance phase I will shift my weekly post about class and give some thought on how I can continue with this blog and what kind of info I can pass on. I will continue to blog on about my HMR plan and when the day comes that I leave maintenance I will figure out what I will do forward. The goal of this blog is to be detailed as possible in my experience and share with others what it is like to have all liquids for 6 months and my experience back into the real world with food, etc.

Scale Update: Since Friday where I weighed 199.9 (200 pounds) when I took my BOD POD body fat test I have decided that I would like to keep my current body weight around the 195 -200 pound range. This should keep me around 12% to 15% body fat percentage and I will readjust after 6 months in maintenance and take another BOD POD body fat test. If I hit 205 to 210 pounds I will cut back on calories and increase my exercise to get back to range of 195 to 205 pounds.

Tonight I weigh-in I came in at 201 pounds even, up a little bit from last week but overall holding within the 5 pound range of 200 +- 5 pounds as I have planned. Since I am back on real food I am glad that I have not gained a lot of water weight back and I am feeling very good overall and increasing my workouts as my calories have gone up to the maintenance level (2000 calories a day) I am currently doing.

Food Update: My menus are coming along nicely and I am slowly building my list so I can have a variety of items and still doing large amounts of veggies and fruits and so far no real cravings or issues. I made a home made pizza on Saturday afternoon and it was good and a good option if I have a pizza craving.

Gym Update: Sunday I did 5.5 miles on the treadmill at a 5.4 MPH pace and it felt good and I am slowly raising my speed up until I get to a comfortable place and still challenging myself. I am using my heart rate monitor and trying to keep my heart rate between 140 to 150 BPM (beats per minute). When I enter my sex, weight and age into the treadmill I usually burn around 800+ calories per workout. I will plug my info in my Polar HRM and test tonight to see the amount of calories it states that I burn. I still haven’t been consistent in my core training but will start it again tomorrow and see if I can get a plan together and follow up with it.

This morning I had my BODPOD body fat test and here are the results.

Percent Fat: 13.3% – Percent lean: 86.7% – Fat weight: 26.5 Pounds – Lean Weight: 173.4 pounds – Total Weight: 199.9 Pounds

From the last test I had was on 12/29 and from then to now I have lost 17.2 pounds. Fat weight went down 18.8 pounds and I have gained 1.6 pounds of muscle.

I stated in previous goals that I wanted to be around 12% to 15% body fat percentage – a mid point would be 13.5% and I am at 13.3% which is almost perfect.

I’m still going to weigh myself but the scale is just a tool and I won’t be posting many more blogs about my weight but I will do another BODPOD in 6 months to see where I Stand.

This week the scale has slowly been creeping up and I am right around 200 pounds again from the low of 196.2 pounds earlier this week. It is normal and what I expected from what other people who went into maintenance as I will gain water weight and my body adjust to having food on a regular basis. Tomorrow is my BODPOD body fat test and that will be the true measure where I stand and I hope it comes out as expected. I hope to be around 15% body-fat and I will post my results tomorrow.

Tonight at the gym I ran 6.2 miles or a 10K as it is called. It felt pretty good but my legs are a little sore along with my back right now. I will see how I feel in the morning but it felt nice to get a personal best. I have bumped the speend up to 5.4 MPH now and will slowly increase the speed and the distance. I did my strength workout this morning before work and I ran after work since I have class at 7pm on Tuesday and Thrusdays.