budrbean

Hello everyone!  I regret to write that this will be my final blog on buddyslim.  While I have met a few great people on here, I honestly feel that this website is lacking in support.  So many people just come through like the wind and are gone by tomorrow if you know what I mean.

I am HIGHLY motivated to make this change in my life and in doing so, I realize I need to surround myself by other highly motivated and positive people.  The people you choose to surround yourself with can have a huge effect on your own attitude.  I couldnt even begin to tell you the number of people who have sent me friend requests on here and discussed how they are ready for a change…then I hear nothing more of them.  And many of them never sign on again.  I hate to be so “to the point”, but this website is full of way too many quitters.

On the other hand, I have met a few good people to offer support.  Sheryl, you have been here through thick and thin.  We may be the only ones left on our little email list, but by golly we are melting those pounds away!  Also, Robert who I just met a week or so ago….dude, you so understand where I have been, where I am going and what it will take to get there.  Thanks for the support!

So with that said, I want everyone to understand that I dont mean this whole blog as negative as it sounds.  Its just time for a change.  I have found a new home at www.transformation.com, a community of highly motivated people who are not afraid to hold you accountable.

Wishing everyone the best in their weight loss journey!  I truly hope you all achieve what you set out to do!

Adrian

Well I have complained long enough about needing to change up my exercise routine because I am stuck in a rut.  Time for some action!  A friend let me borrow this book called “Body for Life”.  Its a 12 weeks program designed to kick your butt into some better shape.  Its pretty intense weight lifting for 3 days a week, then intense cardio for 3 days in between.  One day a week rest.  You can check out the program at www.bodyforlife.com (you dont really have to buy the book if you dont want)

So it all looks failry simple.  Which the actual routine and idea of it is.  But let me tell you, I had my butt whipped up in the gym today!  I deinitely couldnt do as much as I had planned to do.  And a 46 minute workout took me 61 minutes.  And I am whooped…..so that tells me that I have lagged around in my old routine long enough!

Part of this program is writing down your dreams….then taking those dreams and turning them into goals that you will achieve within a specific time frame.  So I wanted to share my dreams with you all as I work to make them goals (no specific order), all of which I WILL achieve within 12 weeks from now:

1. Lose 25 lbs of body fat

2. Gain some muscle definition

3. Be able to do 22 or more pushups

4. Gain more workout endurance

5. Incorporate more fruits and veggies into my daily diet

6. Improve my attitude

7. Be a more desirable person

8. Be even more of a person that others want to be around

9. Improve my posture

10. Improve my overall confidence

It said list 5, but I kept going lol.  I am to read these goals at least twice a day to keep them in mind.  One of the other things it asked me to write down was things that could routinely keep me from doing well in this program.  The ones I came up with are:

1. Lack of planning my workout (dont wander aimlessly in the gym)

2. Lack of planning a good daily sleep schedule (8 hrs a day)

3. High calories, low nutrient snacks and occasional cheats (ya know the mid week brownie where it doesnt hurt to just have one?  and a half? lol)

I also took a shirtless before pic that I have stowed away but I wont be sharing this because I am still really self conscious about my body.  But I am hoping that I look so good after this program that I wont mind sharing.  Its a lot of work ahead.  And depending on how you look at it, 12 weeks is both a short and long time.  For me, im sure it wont be a big deal since I have already made it a habit of going to the gym….and I would be going for the next 12 weeks anyways. 

Thanks for everyone’s help, advice and support thus far.  Here’s to an even newer me in the next 12 weeks and beyond!

Adrian

Hello Everyone!

Its been a while since my last blog, so before I get to whats on my mind, I’ll give a quick update on my progress.  Things are still going well, but the weight loss has slowed down tremendously.  But this is to be expected, since the less you weigh the harder it is to lose.  But Im still pushing!  To date, I have lost 106 lbs.  I dont know exactly where I want to get to, but I think im leaning towards losing about 29 more pounds…..that would put me at 210 lbs….a weight I feel I would be healthy and comfortable with.  Looks like it will take a while to get over this plateau and make it there, but hey I got nothing but time!  Just gonna keep working at it and keep my eyes on the prize.

Now on to something that has been bothering me lately.  As I have mentioned before, one reason I am trying to lose weight and get in shape is because I want to get into the police academy.  In order to do so, each candidate must pass a physical test.  The one thing I am having issues with is pushups.  I have got to be able to do 22 in under a minute….and on a good day I can maybe do half that.  Now one side of me is like….FREAKING CRAP THIS SUCKS!!!…..but the other side is like….this time last year I couldnt even do 1 pushup.  I try to keep my mind in the frame of the 2nd statement because I have come a long way, and I am very proud of that.  These things take time.  And folks the honest truth is that I am now 28 years old, probably around last December or January, I did the first full pushup I have ever done in my life!  So not so shabby now I guess.  Muscle gains dont come over night and its easy to get aggravated, but I gotta keep pushing for the goal.  If I dont make it past the physical test this year, there is always next year.  The key is dont give up!!!  Which I wont be doing!

So that brings me to the annoying people in my life (not everyone lol).  I understand that people are trying to help and offer their advice but in my opinion, you should be qualified to offer your advice.  For example, if you cant even do 1 pushup, please dont explain to me how to do 22.  There is one person I work with who really aggravated me the other day because she told me it was all “in my head”.  Ladies and gentlemen if you want to get me worked up, thats the 1 statement you can make to me.  She tried to tell me that I can do 22 pushups if I would just put my mind to it.  WHATEVER!!!  See, in my eyes we dont live in a fantasy world where everything you dream of will happen.  I can tell myself in my mind all day long that I will do 22 pushups, but when I get my butt in the floor and do them, I simply dont have the physical strength to do it…YET.  So she just kept on and on about how it was in my mind, so finally I told her to get in the floor and do me 1 pushup…..to which she replied, “I CAN’T”……I looked the other way and ended the conversation.

I want to make something very clear here.  I believe in my mind whole heartedly that one day I will reach the goal of 22 pushups….then after that I will surpass it with even more.  But there is a difference in keeping the right attitude and living in a fantasy world.  When you lack the physical strength to lift your body off the floor 22 times in a row, it dont matter what you are thinking….TRUST ME!  Some people need to get out of the fantasy world they are living in, keep the right attitude, and put forth a little hard work.  Hard work and believing in yourself will get you somewhere, not sitting around talking things up in your mind.  So please if you are gonna give advice, ask yourself if you are qualified to do so.

Ok rant over….I hope everyone is doing well : )

I just went through my friends list and noticed that about 80% of my buddies havent logged on in several months.  I really hope they are still succeeding in their weight loss journey and just decided not to use buddy slim.  If not, its a shame to see so many drop off the wagon.  Guess its time to look for some more motivated friends : )

So I just wanted to blog about somthing I have touched on before.  Im sitting here now 101 lbs down from my heaviest weight which was 355 lbs in October of 2007.  The plan is to keep going to at least another 24 lbs (but probably more).

The biggest issue I have had with this whole weight loss kick is that I still feel like I am the 355 lb person.  A coworker of mine brought me a picture the other day from a get together we had in February 2008.  It is probably about the closet picture documentation of me near my heaviest.  Now bearing in mind I worked at the same place when I was my heaviest, I now have people going “wow I dont even remember you like that”!  And others rave over the amount of weight I have lost.  Theres not a day that goes by that I dont get some sort of compliment, and that is great!  But for me I am still trapped….feeling like I am the fat person I was before.

Now this has not affected me to the point that I binge eat and put on pounds or anything like that.  I have come so far I cant imagine anything making me go backwards at this point.  But it still bothers me to an extent.  I guess because no matter how many compliments I get, I still feel like people look at me the same.  And most any fat person will tell you, people dont take us serious!  We are sometimes looked at as a failure.  So I dont know if its because I have lived most of my life dealing with those emotional issues or what….but I still feel like the old me deep down.  I mean heck I am even wearing clothes in sizes I havent worn since middle school.  So physically I can see it, its the mental part I am not coping with.

So here lies the question.  Is this something that I should maybe seek professional help for?  Or is it ok to be the inner “fat me” so long as it doesnt cause me to backslide in my weight loss.  Im sure there is someone else out there with these same feelings or maybe someone who has gotten over them.

Just a quick post to say that I weighed at the gym today and was down to 254……finally made it to 100 lbs lost and even an extra pound!  Grand total of 101 lbs gone…..24 more to go!

Well I can remember back a while ago when I went from 3x to 2x shirts, I was so happy!  Ill have to dig through my old blogs to see when exactly that was.  Well I was kind of expecting to have to stay in 2x shirts, mostly because of my large frame anyways.  This past weekend, JC Penny had a sale on clothing and I decided to go see what kind of bargains I could find.  I had picked up several 2x shirts when for some reason I decided to unfold one and get a good look at it.  I thought to myself “my this looks kinda big”.  So first thoughts were I guess they are making clothes bigger now.  So I unfolded the others, and they all looked big.  Now me being a guy, I hate and absolutely despise trying on clothes.  I will definitely play the man thing and buy it then if it dont fit, take it back later.  Yes ladies I know this makes no sense….but its how we work lol.

So after many thoughts and pondering I thought, well maybe it is indeed time to go down another shirt size even though I didn’t expect to be able to.  After all, I have lost about 45 pounds since I got into 2x.  I caught a glimpse in a mirror and noticed my 2x shirt was kind of bunching up in the back, I dont know why I hadnt noticed this until now.  And contrary to popular belief, loose clothing actually makes you look bigger.  So I put down all the big/tall shirts and went to the regular mens section and picked me out several XL shirts that I liked.  Lo and behold I get home to try them on and they fit!!!  I just dont feel like they should.  I am hanging right around 255ish pounds for now…..and I know others around that weight that wear XL…..its just hard to accept that I am finally there.  See, I have never shopped in the regular mens section as a grown man.  I can remember being a boy and having to shop in the mens section, then it was off to the big/tall.  So yesterday at Wal-Mart I decided to try the ultimate test.  I purchased some really cheap XL plain white undershirts……and they fit!  You know its good when you can wear the cheap clothes lol.  I dare say I havent worn a XL shirt since 6th grade.  Pardon if I offend, but DAMN I FEEL GOOD!!!

And on top of that I decided to try new pants, and now I am in size 40!…..4 pants sizes gone!   That leaves me just one size away from my goal waist line, and roughly 25 more pounds to lose!  Heck who knows I may even lose more.

Its just a good week for me.  I didnt lose any pounds, but the new clothes make me feel just as good.

Hope everyone is doing well!

So in celebration of reaching one of my weight loss goals, I decided to go skydiving yesterday!  It was by far the most incredible thing I have ever experienced.  Im pretty much convinced that if I can talk myself into jumping from an airplane at 14,000 ft, I can talk myself into doing anything. I promise you that once you experience these magnificent views with nothing under your feet, you will never look at life the same.  If you ever have a chance to do it, please do…..but its not for the weak at heart lol.

Pictures (password: airplane) 

 www.photobucket.com/adrian_sanders

Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0ZwRWc3dPY

So as many of you may have read in my earlier blogs, when I reached my first goal the plan was to go skydiving.  Unfortunately that goal was met in the middle of winter and I didnt wanna freeze my butt off jumping out of a plane.

So, next Monday at Noon, myself and 3 friends are travelling to GA to jump out of a plane at 14,000 feet!!!  I am so excited, I can hardly wait!

Stay tuned for pictures….and hopefuly no soiled underwear LOL!

Its been quite a busy past month for me so I havent had a chance to jump on here and update.  Last month I had to move from my rental house because there was a mold problem in one of the bathrooms.  After many attempts to have the landlord fix it, it never happened.  So I was tired of jeopardizing my health over it and decided it was best to move.  So since it was a health concern, state law only mandates a 2 week notice to the landlord.  Needless to say that caused a ruckus with her and we got into it pretty bad.  I almost didnt find a new place in time, but did just in time.  I moved to a quiet little town about 20 miles outside the city and I am loving it.  I have been here 2 weeks and already know my neighbors…something pretty much unheard of where I lived before.  Plus its a much nicer house for the same amount of rent….and no mold!

So yeah with all that going on, I kind of backslid with my weight loss program.  With all the moving and rushing around, I was pretty much forced to eat out several times the week of the move…..much more than I would have liked.  I even ate fast food twice!  And not to mention, with all the headache I gave up on my exercise plan because I had to quit the gym since I was moving.  I was afraid I had put on quite a bit of weight, but I am actually hanging around 263….not bad at all.

So this week began a new week.  I joined a new gym with 24 hour access, which I absolutely love.  And on Monday I began right where I left off and am getting back on track.  I just came in from my 2 mile walk/jog.  I am going back to my routine of gym/cardio on Monday, Wednesday and Friday….then cardio only Tuesday and Thursday.  With rest days on Saturday and Sunday.

Hope this find everyone doing well.  I enjoyed the break for a month but its time to get serious again.