Vectors to Final: My Diet

[CTIgrad]

Just thought I'd drop off a new chart. I got some new software, so now I have prettier one for ya'll.



Doing pretty well I think. I need to keep this going, I'm hoping to be under 250 by my birthday, which is in about 2 weeks.

[CTIgrad]

Hey all, since this week marks some what of a mile stone, it deserves an update.

As of this week, I am now half way to my final goal. Also with now being under 253 I am into my VFZ which is a good thing. 10 more lbs and I'll be less than what I was when I graduated high school a couple of years ago!

Here is the most recent chart:



Pretty impressive eh? Well I thought I has completely sabotaged it when this last weeks activities rolled around. My best friends 21st was Thursday, and I went out for a full night of drinking. Add to that the girl friend and I ate a whole pizza by ourselves afterward. The next day we had root beer floats, and over the weekend ended up have BBQ ribs. I thought I had really screwed myself over. I have NO IDEA how I posted a 6 pound loss this week, especially after all that mess. All I can say is that all that good karma I've been putting out, sure came back in a hurry.

Update on the job look; the FAA finally sent me an email last week, for my initial paper work. Filled out a Federal Declaration of Employment and faxed it in along with my official UND transcripts; which set me back 30 bucks. You think after I fork out 80 grand in an education, they could give you a couple free ones. NO! Ugh. Still waiting on my tentative offer, I'm guessing from talking with other people, that I should have it within a week or so. Fingers crossed.

Add to that mess, my phone crapped out on me over the weekend, so I've been without a cell phone for a few days. My new one should arrive tomorrow and the process of trying to get everyones phone number back will begin, yet again.

I'm out, and off to the gym now. Lata.

[wall]

nice going on the overall goals: health and job...and gf

keep that metabolism kicked up so you can burn through bday weekends
it sure is nice not to gain and enjoy a cheat night occasionaly

[CTIgrad]

So after almost 3 months at my new job, I thought I had finally snagged a break. There are two of us in the mornings that unload/load inbound freight to the Grand Forks area. Two weeks ago the other guy turned in his two weeks notice ( I literally did a back flip when I heard this, I cant stand this guy) and my boss asked me if I knew anyone looking for a job. My best friend had been, so I suggested him. He got hired and started this week.

Since he is new and has never driven forklift, I assumed that he would be trained in like I was, learning paperwork first the, the lift. No. Today the boss comes in, and I am to give in a 4 day crash course in forklift driving and I am to then continue doing what I've been doing, and he is going to take over for the old guy. This makes no sense to me, and I am extremely PO'd right now.

1) He has no experience driving fork lift, I have almost 3 months. Logic would dictate that you give the job to the most experienced person, that being me.

2) This is kind of a cushier job, as there isn't as much manual labor, and less risk of getting hurt. Although not really a promotion, I viewed it as one, and he is going to put a new guy into a spot I've been waiting for now for almost 3 months?

3) It pisses me off that, for 3 months now, I have come in and I do probably 80-90% of the heavy lifting, moving a pallets, 100% of the paper work, and am generally responsible for knowing where 200+ pieces of freight are, and where they are going at any given moment. I've earned it, and I'm still stuck doing the b**** work.

It wouldn't be so bad really, but every morning I go, I have to lift/move 100-300lbs pallets by hand, drag stuff off the trucks, and I'm slowly getting beat up. I can feel it on my body, there are more aches and pains, and stiff joints than before. I really cant take much more of this.

Given all this is happening, and it looks like my offer for the FAA isn't to far off I'm actually quiting at the end of May, and going home. I could live at home rent and food free (which would save me almost 700 bucks a month), I'm sure I could find some Mikky D's job for a couple of months while I wait, which would cover car payment etc. The downside to that is im 1500 miles away from all my friends, and my girl friend of almost a year now. I could handle leaving my friends but I dont know about leaving her yet.

I think its the accumulation's of a lot of crap right now, and Im stressing out. I really dont know what to do.

[CTIgrad]

Small update. A couple of days ago, I fell between the loading dock and a dumpster. Long story short, my right leg is all bruised up and scraped up, hurts like.. well you know. I think there is some massive swelling going on but I cant really tell since my leg is the same size. The reason I think so, is that in 2 days I've gained almost 6 pounds and have no idea why. I've stuck to plan (save that I have one beer last night) so I dunno.

I finally decided to quit my job, and move back home to Washington. I'll be turning in my two weeks at the end of May and plan to be gone from ND by mid June. The girl friend isn't to happy with me, and Im equally distressed about leaving her. I hope it works out. We've been together now for almost 8 months and it would be a really crappy thing if it were to end.

[CTIgrad]

Took some pictures not to long ago at an air show I went to. This is me at graduation time from college and me about two weeks ago, roughly 1/2 way to my goal.

Me about graduation time. Roughly 320 lbs. I was in the radar lab working some traffic and my buddy got me....






This was a couple of weeks ago. my girl friend, and my best friend are with me. Also the last one is at an air show I went to about a week ago.




A before and after:



Keep in mind, I have a min of 50 lbs to go before I'll be happy.

[NewYorkGiants32]

Your weight loss really shows...good for you!

WA is a great place to live, I am sure it will work out w/ your girlfriend. Good luck to you.

[CTIgrad]

Well its Wednesday morning and I'm killing time before work so lets write a bit.

Last weekend was my first true cheat of my diet since I started. Between my birthday Saturday, and getting my tentative offer Thursday, I figured it was necessary to celebrate a bit and let loose. Started out by drinking all day Saturday, we were at the bars at 8am for all you can drink till noon. Ended the night with dinner, movie, and a few more bar hops. Over all good weekend, and only gained a couple of pounds which I've already lost so no biggie.

As I mentioned I got my offer last Thursday, since then it's been a mad rush trying to get all the paperwork turned in as fast as possible. Since then, I have finished the security packet and drug test. Tomorrow I go in for my psychological exam (make sure I'm crazy) and also my physical. Should be interesting to see what they come out with on my physical. Kinda worried as they do a diabetes test via a keto stick, and since I use them to determine is im in ketosis, im worried that it will give a false positive and then I'll have more tests to do.

With all that, I'm just waiting on my finger print cards, and also someone from the DOT to call me so I can release my credit reports to them and I'll be in line then for a class date. Im hoping that if my background check goes smoothly I should see Oklahoma sometime late June/July. Thats probably a long shot but there is hope yet.

Off to make some lunch; eggs and bacon, and then to work. Have a good day.

[CTIgrad]

So here's another update for all your reading pleasure.

As of this morning my weight has reached 244. That is a total of 71 pounds lost! That puts my weight at less than what I graduated high school at, and also within 5 pounds of my roomate. Since I found that out, my new mini goal is to weigh less than him when I move out in 2 weeks.

Had a good workout today, used some muscles I hadn't in awhile and over all feel good. Right now I have some ribs grilling and it looks like im back on track from my Twins weekend hiatus.

[CTIgrad]

I forgot one more thing. Last weekend the girlfriend, her roomie, and I took a trip to MSP to see a twins game. We stoped by the mall of america and they wanted to go on a roller coaster ride. The last time I tried to, I had to get off, as the latch would not close on me. After a couple min of debating it with her, I finally bought the ticket. Low and behold, the bar shut, and there was even a bunch of room in there. I honestly wanted it to shut further. So another small victory!

[CTIgrad]

I cross posted this in the main forum, but wanted to put in here too.

I’ve noticed that it seems that I am a victim of my own success. This will be the third time I have attempted to use Atkins to shed pounds, and I always seem to reach the point where I am right now, and I fail. Instead of falling off the horse and getting back on, my horse seems to just have a heart attack and die on me.

The first time I was in my early teens, freshman year of high school, and dropped 60 pounds almost effortlessly. By graduation I had steadily gained back enough weight and entering college above the 250 mark. I spent the next couple of year toying between 250-300 and last year I decided at 305 pounds it was time to drop the weight. As a reward, I was going to purchase a motorcycle I’ve wanted since I was a kid. Once again, within 5 months I had dropped 60 pounds and was below 250. By the end of the summer I had gained back the weight, and by graduation from college last December, had even ballooned to 315 pounds, my highest ever.

Realizing it was time to shape up, as my future life/career depended on it, I started back on Atkins in January of this year. Literally within four months, I have dropped 70+ pounds and two weeks ago, weighed less than when I graduated high school four years ago. However, it seems my curse has struck again.

I’m not sure why, but I always seem to reach this point and I give up, throw in the towel, and revert to my old ways. If I had to analyze myself and my environment looking for the causation of this, I would say that the culprit of my sabotage is my own success.

My friends, family, coworkers, everyone around me is so amazed at my weight loss, and are so “proud of me” I think in my sub conscious it feels like I’ve already hit goal. I’ve already gotten that positive feedback that we all crave so why work for it anymore? I would almost rather them treat me like they did and not see me as being different. The positive reinforcement is doing me a disservice. I need that negative message to piss me off to the point where I have to prove them wrong, that I can do this.

It saddens me to report, that after 5 months of domination I had posted my first serious gain in weight. As I mentioned, two weeks ago I was at 243, the lowest I’ve been in years, today I weighed in at 251 a nine pound gain in a week. I realize my problem, and am trying to take a proactive approach to fixing it, however due to my nature of needing instant success, I’m afraid that if I don’t see the poundage start to melt off again, I will once again be headed towards 300 land.

Today I started an extremely strict induction plan in hopes to jump start me, and put me back on track. So far today; chicken wings, bacon, scrambled eggs & cheese, water, and a small handful of nuts, threw in some supplements to make up for the lack of vitamins. A few days of this, and then slowly back to what I was doing before.

I hope I have nipped this in the butt and I can move past this point. If I do, it will truly mark a mile stone that I haven’t been able to accomplish in many years.

[wall]

Originally Posted by CTIgrad

I cross posted this in the main forum, but wanted to put in here too.

hey dude...

nice write up. i believe its an issue many of us have...

its a mental game

decide what you want for yourself
decide that this time is not going to be like the last
decide that youre not wasting this opportunity to be the healthiest in life youve ever been

i have to repeat those phrases to myself everyday

and from reading what you wrote...i can see the commitment in you to do it

good luck!!

[NewYorkGiants32]

Very well said Wall.

[CTIgrad]

Well its Sunday and I'm trying to kill some time before the MotoGP race starts so I'll write a bit here.

The last week or so has seen a real upset, and turn around in my diet progress. After a horrible week after my girlfriends birthday, and a ten pound gain, I hit the gym hard and have ended up 10 pounds lighter in one week. I revamped my whole workout routine and over all increased one of my lifts by ten pound, ran almost 15 miles this week, and over all feel really good.

I again am in new territory at 241 pounds and have never felt better. My knees used to hurt, my back ached, and in general I felt like sleeping and doing nothing all day. I find myself actually looking forward to going to the gym now, and getting out and doing physical things. I know its a fairly lofty goal, but I am seriously shooting to be less than 200 pounds by Christmas. My new mini goal, weigh less than my roommate when I leave for home next week.

I might have forgotten to mention that I am headed home at the end of the week. I am still waiting for my psych test to come back from the FAA, it looks like I might hear tomorrow though if it clears. As soon as that clears, I'll be put in line for a class date for the FAA academy. Until then, I'm heading home to live with my parents, I plan on spending a lot of time at the gym, and riding my bike a lot.

A side effect of that is that I'll be leaving my girlfriend of eight months behind. I'm fairly broken up about this and I really dont know whats going to happen. She has several years left at the University of North Dakota to finish her engineering degree and that means 2+ years of being away form each other. My rational self has already come to terms with the fact that our relationship is most likely doomed, yet in my heart I hope it isn't. Only time will tell.

Im off to watch the race. I'll check in later.

[CTIgrad]

PS, here is a new chart for the week.

[CTIgrad]

So I got some big news the other day.

I got my psych test back, and also got my firm offer for Seattle Center!

What that means; all of my medical stuff passed, my initial security clearance was granted, and they are now able to schedule me an initial training date. I will report to Oklahoma on July 10 for three months on initial training. Pending successful completion of that, on or about Sept 23rd I will be assigned to Seattle Air Route Traffic Control center in Auburn, WA (about 10 miles from where I grew up). Pretty excited about this as I've been working towards this point for the last 5 years of so.

The key now is to survive training and get certified.

On the weight front, I entered the 230's today. However I dont think my mini goal is going to be obtainable. I wanted to weigh less than my roommate by the time I moved out. Found out yesterday that he went back on his diet, and now is down to 235, don't think its going to be possible to overtake him by Saturday. Oh well.

[CTIgrad]

It's been a long while since I wrote anything here, so I figured I should put some thoughts down to maybe help clear my head.

In the last month or so, a lot has happened. I went home for three weeks before I started my new job and had a blast. Saw a ton of old friends that I hadn't seen in a few years and spent a bunch of time camping and fishing. Long story short, the diet suffered over the month or so, and ended up gaining a bunch of weight back. Went back to GFK for the 4th of July and had a great time. From there I headed down to Oklahoma to start my new job with the FAA.

So far its been a blast and I'm loving my job. A TON of class room work right now, but in a week or two we will head into the lab and start working on some problems. Started my diet when I got down here, and so far it seems to be going well. My first official weigh in is Monday so we shall see.

On the down side today my GF and I of almost 11 months broke up. I think distance and the paths we're heading in life played a major role. I'm sad to see her go. I was already having a hard time down here not knowing anyone, and now this is making it even harder. I just hope this isn't an omen to how things are going to go here. Being so far from home is hard enough.

[CTIgrad]

Forgot, here is a recent picture as well. My first Northern Pike I had pulled out.

[CTIgrad]

Well since it seems I have a lot of time on my hands, I'll put some more up here.

Today was disappointing. Monday's are weigh in days for the challenge group I'm apart of, and after a week of some hard core workouts, and being pretty strict on the diet, I saw no budge. I guess its to be expected, this weekend I had a couple low carb beers, probably not a good idea but the total carb count for the day was under 15 and they've never impacted me before. I dunno.

Kinda down in the dumps, I didn't think that Angie and I breaking up would have this big of impact on me, but it has. My mind today in class was all over the place. I nailed the map test ( 99% ) and also a practice problem in front of the class, but during lecture I couldn't focus. This couldn't have come at a worse time. I really need to focus and get my basics down, my whole career will be based on what I learn here. It's almost that lost feeling, evening taking the bike out for a spin didn't seem to cheer me up. Its strange, I haven't been alone in almost a year and I don't know what to do with myself.

Logically, this is probably for the best. If I can get over this and move on, it will allow me to focus for the next couple of years on getting checked out. Also will probably help me financially as I was planning on flying her out as often as I could. I guess that wont come to pass.

[NewYorkGiants32]

I am sorry to hear about the breakup, those are never fun even under the best of circumstances. My unsolicited advice......keep as busy as you can!! Even if it is just walking around your neighbourhood, going to the local book store, coffee shop, go see a movie, heard The Dark Night is amazing! Just keep busy and before you know it, you will wake up one morning and you will be okay!

[CTIgrad]

So this is completely non-dieted related, however I was so impressed I had to write it somewhere.

Since I got this job I've kinda been car shopping. I think I've settled on either the Infiniti G37 (previously the G35 coupe model) or the BMW M3. However since I'm probably a month or two out from picking one up I am still keeping my eye open for something else.

Today on the way home from Buffalo Wild Wings (yes dinner was good) I noticed something way up in front of my that kind of resembled the new Mustang but the back end was all wrong. Trying to figure out what it was, I sped up and pulled up next to a brand new Dodge Challenger. HOLY #&$! Talk about an impressive car. Looks like nothing else out on the road, has a really nice sports car stance, and really reminds me of the muscle cars of yester-year. I honestly didn't think they had them out on the lots yet or else they would have been on my list. Sure enough this bad boy is on the streets and is making me rethink what I want for a new car.

Unfortunately for Dodge, I think this car will flop and only remain in production for a few years. High gas prices and the new eco-friendly mentality of people today are pretty much firmly set against massive engines like the 6.1 liter 425HP one that sits under the hood of the Challenger. Its sad as there are some really nice new/old muscle cars out there and I had to say that next to the 'Cuda and the Goat, the Challenger was one of my favorites. The true test will be next year when Corvette releases their next gen of the corvette to outpace their new sports car, the 2009 Camero.

[CTIgrad]

Originally Posted by NewYorkGiants32

I am sorry to hear about the breakup, those are never fun even under the best of circumstances. My unsolicited advice......keep as busy as you can!! Even if it is just walking around your neighbourhood, going to the local book store, coffee shop, go see a movie, heard The Dark Night is amazing! Just keep busy and before you know it, you will wake up one morning and you will be okay!

Thanks for the advice. I've been trying however not knowing anyone down here its hard going out and doing things alone. It makes studying and concentrating in class difficult as well.

Hopefully with time things will turn around.

[CTIgrad]

Just wanted to say that I had a good day today. Probably the first 'good' day post break up.

Slept in late, drank a whole pot of coffee, went out riding, looked at some new toys (motorcycles), had dinner at Toby Keiths bar. Not a bad day over all, thinking about putting a movie on and curling up on the couch.

Side note about Toby Keiths bar; I honestly thought it would be bigger. Thank god I'm legal or else I would have been waiting well over an hour to get a table. Walked right in sat down in the bar and had a prime rib. Also I gotta say having a motorcycle has it hidden benefits. Parking there was horrible, I saw some people walking blocks to get here. I pulled up, front row parking for bikes only. So nice!

[ll__raine__ll]

wow

very impressive stats. keep up the great work.

[atcgirl42]

Hey Chris! Your thread title caught my eye immediately. I've been a controller for 18 years. I was out in OKC in 1990. I was a controller at ZDC (Washington Center) for 13 years and I've been at PHL Tracon for 5 now. I loved the center and I hope you do too. It's kind of a bad time for controllers right now with the current administration and our lack of a contract, but things will turn around eventually. This job has provided me with a great life and I'll have a decent pension to retire to in a few years. I'd strongly suggest you check out the union when you get to Seattle. They are the only thing we've got going for us right now and they're working hard to get a ratified contract worked out.

Congratulations on your weight loss. You're doing great!