Economic Downturn leads to Weight Downturn

This story starts way before January 2009, but that's where we will be picking it up.  The economy had taken a turn for the worse, the manufacturing plant I was working at had to lay off almost 1/4 of its employees.  I was supervising the 3rd shift. 

Since most of my shift was laid off, and because production was so slow all the employees were moved to the 1st shift.  This was the impetus for change in my life.  Being on a normal schedule allowed me to start working out on a more regular basis and I decided I was going to do the River Run in Iowa City and the Bix 7 in the Quad Cities.

I started training for both runs at the same time Ultimate Fitness, the gym I use in the quad cities, started a Biggest Loser competition.  I weighed in for the competition at 220 pounds and 33% body fat, a very impressive starting figure for a guy who is 5'8" tall and used to wrestle at 145 pounds and 5% body fat. 

Over the 2 months of the competition I got my lungs and heart used to working hard again and got my muscles to stop aching when I spent an hour lifting weights.  I also got my body weight down to 205 and my body fat down to 25%. This was good enough to earn me 3rd place in the contest!

I ran River Run, I ran Bix, I did 3 days of RAGBRAI, I ran Run with Carl, it felt like a good year but my weight loss had leveled out.  Going into the Hawkeye's Historic 2009 football season I was 207 pounds and 24% body fat.  I had maintained the results of the previous winter but hadn't made much for gains.

Football season is not an opportune time to lose weight and nothing really kicked in until my sister introduced me to The Daily Plate a wonderfull FREE website that allows you to track your calories consumed, track your calories burned, and to set weight loss/gain goals for yourself on a weekly basis. 

Food journaling has been the key to my success since then.  Over the fall I competed in another Biggest loser competition at my gym with very little success. I did finish 10th, not amazing but still placed.  I decided I had one last big push left in me and on November 30th I weighed in.  Thanksgiving had just ended, Christmas, New Years, and the Hawkeye's Bowl game were around the corner.  I knew the first 4 weeks were going to be extremely crucial to form habits that would carry through the holidays and beyond.

I started at a weight of 205 pounds and a body fat percentage around 24%.  I focused on cardio using the elliptical at the gym and riding my road bike on a trainer in the basement.  As of today, according to my scale at home, I'm 180 pounds and around 16% body fat. 

I've decided that I will be running River Run, Bix 7, Moonlight Chase, Run with Carl, doing the entire week of RAGBRAI, and completing my first triathlon this year.  I've set my weight loss goal at 170 pounds and 14% body fat. 

I've also entered another Biggest Loser competition at the gym  I weight in at 188 pounds and 26% according to their scale.  Currently their scale is reading me around 180 pounds and 20.3% body fat.  I should have a great showing in this competition.

Links to all these races are posted to the side along with a link to The Daily Plate.   Thanks for coming along with me on this journey, its going to be a blast!