February 10, 2008 05:57 pm

A learning experience

Thirteen weeks are over, and now we're going to be on our own! As I write
this, our final weigh-in will be tomorrow at lunchtime. I may be on the
treadmill instead of eating lunch! We haven't been told what criteria will
mark the winners of the competition, but Terri and I really feel strong
about our chances. We've been at the gym every day but two, we've lost more
weight than any couple except Patrick and Courtenay, and we've been great
competitors in the Saturday morning group sessions. Our trainer this past
Saturday did everything he could to tire us out, and we were still able to
give it 100%! Terri and I have successfully educated ourselves on good
nutrition, and calculated our fat, calories, and a whole bunch on other
numbers online for the last three months. It's been an amazing opportunity
for both of us, and I know that we will continue making our personal fitness
a priority in the future.


I've learned a lot about myself during this challenge, and I truly feel like
a new person! I've learned how to "just say no" to my comfort foods when
dining out. I've learned that, if I just take a few breaths, I can truly do
another set of exercises. I've learned that I actually can wear smaller
clothes! I've learned that prisoner squats are not in the least bit fun (oh
wait, I knew that already). I feel terrific about myself, not just because
of the physical accomplishments, but also because of the mental ones. I
never believed that I would run a mile, and I ran three the other day. I
didn't think I could keep exercising beyond my "I want to quit now" point,
and I have (every week, thanks Craig)! I'm looking forward to the next
Disney World mini-marathon, because I know that (while I may not be running
it) I will certainly be able to jog large parts of it. Losing 40 pounds is
quite possibly the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, but it has been
worth it. I've gained some terrific self-confidence, and been able to
surmount the greatest failure in my life.


I want to say one final thank you to Craig, Terri, the other fitness
challengers, and the Kokomo tribune for this opportunity! Thank you to all
the people in Scouting, at St. Joan and St. Pat's, and at school for
cheering us on and keeping us in their prayers! Thank you to all my
friends and family keeping up with us online! Now, I've got to win the
"Biggest Loser at Home" challenge. I may never be as skinny as my little
brother with the lightning metabolism, but I'm going to be in better shape
than I was in college-just you watch!

May 03, 2008 09:37 am

Coming to an end

Coming to the end…
There are only a few days left in the fitness challenge—one week, I think. I am very sad to see this experience come to an end. Even though Terri and I have had to put “real life” on hold for three months, this has been a completely life-changing experience for us. I’m looking at myself in a more positive way than ever before, I’ve got more energy, I have learned that I can achieve seemingly impossible goals, and I have accomplished things that I never thought I would be able to do.
Two quick stories to illustrate my state of mind after 12 weeks of the fitness challenge.
First, a few short weeks ago, I never thought I would be able to run a full mile, but I was even more nervous when Craig challenged me to run two by the end of next week. Yesterday, though, I felt great as we warmed up for our training, and by the time we were all ready to start, I had already run a mile and a half! So, I just kept going and achieved two miles more than ten days ahead of schedule!
Second, last night I volunteered as a waiter for the St. Joan of Arc Mom’s Ministry Style Show. I hadn’t expected to be available, so when I hurriedly went to grab my required white dress shirt, I realized that both of my white dress shirts were in the dirty laundry basket. I thought “oh, Terri is going to kill me!”
Then, I remembered the closet full of clothes down the hallway… you know, the ones that haven’t fit in three years. Taking an uncertain breath, I pulled a bright white long-sleeve dress shirt off the hanger, and slipped my arms through it. I pulled the buttons together, and it buttoned just fine! In fact, the collar might even have fit better than my larger shirt, which is really too baggy now. I’ve just gone on a $400 shopping spree that didn’t cost me a dime!
I don’t know how many more times I’ll be able to write, so THANK YOU to everyone who has offered their words of encouragement over the last few months. I really appreciate all the cheers and prayers you have all given Terri and I as you follow us on the Web site and in the newspaper. I’m nervous about being able to stay on track without the publicity of the fitness challenge, but my personal goal is to lose 100 total pounds by Christmas. As of this morning, I’m down 42, so I’m well on my way. Wish me luck!

April 26, 2008 12:40 pm

Pride

Pride
Craig has challenged me to be able to jog TWO miles by the end of the month, just two weeks away. That’s a really tough challenge, but I’m not as nervous as I was about achieving that first mile. I know that I’ve got to step up my training, though, so I added some more upbeat music to my MP3 player, and hit the gym!
If you watched this season of “The Biggest Loser,” you know that the guys’ team (the blue team) had “PRIDE” as their mantra. Today at the gym, I had my own brush with Pride. On the treadmill, I really got caught up in my music, and ran a mile at 5.0 mph, not the usual 4.5 I’ve done before. After jogging a full mile, I had to turn down the speed to 3.5, but I cranked up the incline to as high as 10! Before long, I turned the speed back up and began jogging at 5.0 again. By the time I stepped off the treadmill, I had burned close to a thousand calories! This was, by far the best workout I’ve ever had on my own! All my other 800+ calorie days were with Craig. As I sweat and strode on the treadmill, I really felt proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish. For the first time in my life, I felt like a fit-bodied person!
After the gym, I headed to a Boy Scout meeting with dozens of families from St. Joan of Arc. After completing my presentation, so many people came up and congratulated me on how loosely my Scout uniform fit. I laughed “I wouldn’t say it’s loose. I’d say it fits.”
But the truth is that I had to cinch my belt three to four inches tighter than I did back when this fitness challenge started. I know that measurement perfectly because back then, it was everything I could do just to get the “brass on brass.”
Yesterday, I wore my favorite suit to a business meeting, and my slacks rode a lot higher than they used to! I had to snug up my suspenders several inches! This afternoon, I realize that I used to be on the widest notch on my everyday belt. Now, I’m on just one notch from the smallest!
This entire fitness challenge has been a fantastic experience. I wish we had more than just two weeks left! Craig has taught us so much, and our workouts with him are miles ahead of what we can do on our own. If any of those high-paying jobs at Chrysler are available, I promise to put the money towards continuing with a personal trainer!
Just two weeks left, I’ve got a lot of work to do…

April 18, 2008 08:42 am

Leave it at the gym

It turns out that Craig doesn’t just have telepathic powers (see my blog below), he can also see into the future! Today really started out frustrating… Terri and I are cleaning the garage this week, and we made a lot of progress yesterday. This morning, we loaded up the Pacifica to take all our donations to the St. Vincent DePaul store… and the car won’t start. This is, of course, on top of the hundreds of dollars of service it required just days before Kokomo Chrysler went out of business. It sounded like a dead battery, so we jumpstarted the car (which took half an hour since the cables wouldn’t stay hooked to the battery terminals) and get it to Auto Zone. They sell me a battery, but the “free helpful installation” apparently doesn’t apply to guys who ought to know what they’re doing (that would be me). Of course, I don’t have a wrench that will fit the nut holding the terminal on (and neither does Auto Zone) and neither I nor the store has a screwdriver to pry the thing off. Giving up, we manage to get the car restarted (with the old battery half-uninstalled) and limp our way home. Five minutes later, we’re racing to the gym for our training with Craig! In the car on the way, Terri made me promise that I would “leave all my frustrations at the gym” and come home a cheerful person.

As usual, Craig snuck up behind us while we were warming up on the treadmill. Between strides, I related to him our day, as both he and Terri just grinned at me. I really needed something to take out some frustration. What did Craig start us out with today? KICKBOXING!!! It was the absolute *perfect* workout for me and my less-than-productive day. We did several rounds of kickboxing, mixed with some other things to give us our usual well-rounded workout.

I know I always leave the gym feeling better than when I go in, but today was especially worth it. Craig knew I was going to need the release of kickboxing, and Terri knew that I could cheer up with a physical release of my frustrated tension. I’m glad both of them have the gift of foresight… Craig to know the workout I’d need, and my wonderful wife to know that I could cheer up with a bit… wait, no… a *lot* of exercise!

April 11, 2008 08:25 pm

Crummy, but energized

I wasn’t planning on today being a good gym day. All afternoon, I was feeling nauseous, and under “gastrointestinal distress.”
I really didn’t feel like going to work out, and if it weren’t for the public aspects of the Fitness Challenge, I would have definitely skipped. However, I knew that if I let myself skip a day, one day would turn into two, and two would turn into a week.
Soon, I’d be back in the same boat I’ve been in for the last 20 years… I’ll go exercise “later,” because I can’t/shouldn’t/won’t go do it now.
And lo-and-behold what happened?
I started out jogging a mile, perhaps the most “comfortable” mile I’ve accomplished so far! I never hit that point where I felt I was struggling, and I never felt like I needed to stop or take a break. It felt great!
I was really surprised to feel like this, and it helped me gain a better understanding of just how much regular exercise can shape a person’s health. When Terri and I were done with our workout, I went back to feeling a little nauseous, but still really felt energized by the time at the gym.
I can’t believe I was able to go from feeling really crummy and not wanting to work out, to comfortably achieving a milestone that I had never in my life reached until two weeks ago.

April 11, 2008 08:20 pm

A true milestone

A literal milestone (blog entry for Jeremy Burke March 30, 2008)
For the first time in my life, I’ve run a mile! What a great way to start the week! As you can see from my previous blog entry below, last week was really tough—I felt like I couldn’t get a good workout, I was sick, and under a lot of stress from work. Well, after a TERRIFIC high school youth retreat weekend at St. Joan of Arc, I came back to training healthy and completely reinvigorated! Craig had challenged me to run a mile by this week, and even though I hadn’t done more than about three-quarters of a mile during my training, I knew I could make the full mile. Now, mind you, I’ve never run a mile before, at any speed. Not even back in fourth grade, on that one gym day where the teacher takes the whole class out to the football field and embarrasses the slow, fat kids. The best I’d done is alternating running and walking on the Old Ben 5K a couple of weeks ago… but the “jogging” part never lasted more than a minute at a time. Jogging a full mile was going to take me 12-13 minutes, which was well beyond what I’d ever done before.
So, a few minutes before our training session was to start, Terri and I got on our treadmills, and started our challenge. After just about 5 minutes, Craig came up behind me and straddled the treadmills between me and my neighbor. I turned my head slightly and saw his trainerly smirk. Grinning a bit on my own, I strode another fraction of a mile. I peeked back… and Craig was still there. Another minute or two… still there. Holy cow, man—he’s not going to let me go on this! As I approached a half-mile, Craig started sharing some inspiring comments. Truly, my legs were starting to tire when he pointed out that if I could get over the half-mile mark, my muscles would loosen up. What do you know? He was right! I got a sort of second wind after that point, and though I had to push myself, I knew that I would be able to finish the mile.
Terri, God Bless her, wants to know why she can’t inspire me the same way that Craig can. She says c’mon sweetheart, you can do it,” and I respond “I don’t know… I’m trying” Craig says “do this,” and I know he’s going to make me do it. So I’d better just do it. Craig would say “you’re making yourself do it, I’m just telling you what the goal is.” I say that he actually, telepathically, makes me do it. Anyway, I wanted to show Craig that I’m not a “minimum” sort of person, and I wanted to make myself, my wife, and my trainer extra proud, so I kept jogging through an additional quarter-mile before turning down the speed. Because Terri was two treadmills over, she couldn’t tell if I’d made it or not. One of the proudest things I’ve been able to do it to say “I made it!” as we both left the cardio area. “I actually pushed through a mile and a quarter.” I’m not sure who was smiling larger—she or I.
I’ve reached many milestones during this Fitness Challenge, but this is the first one that’s “literally” a “mile”stone. I offer my many thanks to Terri, Craig, and everyone who has encouraged, congratulated, and inspired me during this challenge.

April 03, 2008 02:19 pm

My gym partner

My gym partner
Terri is pretty amazing. She has always been more athletic and in better shape than me, but I can still see her improve as this fitness challenge progresses. This week, as I proudly finished my half-mile on the treadmill to Craig’s subtly-smiling face, Terri was jogging away right next to us. After another minute or two, I tapped Craig on the shoulder: “you know, she’s going to keep doing that until you tell her to stop. She’s not gonna wear out…” Somebody better not get any bright ideas about her husband jogging the Indianapolis mini marathon.

March 28, 2008 09:04 am

You are getting very sleepy

You are getting very sleepy…
I had another great workout tonight! Craig has challenged me to jog a full mile by the end of the month, so I had to turn things up a notch this week. My first problem is that I normally watch the treadmill timer and feel the length of my workout. So tonight, I just got on and didn’t look down at all. I was pleased to be able to jog a half-mile before having to take a break. For some that might just be a joke, but for me it was an accomplishment! I don’t think I’ve run that far since sixth grade… and I’m not kidding!
Because this isn’t just a “weight loss challenge,” but a “fitness challenge,” there are more things that Terri and I need to work on than just diet and exercise… like sleep. Typically, we get home about 8:30 p.m. or 9 p.m. at night, and there are many things we still need to tackle before going to bed—including everything a typical family has to do after leaving work at 5 a.m., plus volunteering at church, school, and the Boy Scouts in many different ways.
To accomplish all this, the only thing that we can sacrifice is sleep. I’ve recently taken on a new role with the Boy Scouts, and until I hire my replacement, I’m doing both jobs. Terri has to leave school right after the kids head home to meet with our trainer, and she doesn’t have the normal “prep” periods that most teachers have. So she arrives at school before almost anyone else in the morning. Thus, we get only six hours of sleep on a good night, and it’s mathematically impossible for us (Terri especially) to get seven. Craig, of course, wants us to get eight.
How unreasonable is this guy? I mean, first he wants me to walk up stairs with a 25 pound weight (yeah, I did do that, but it was hard), then he wants me to hold a plank for 30 seconds to a minute (I can almost do the minute now, with grunting and groaning), he wants me to run a mile (I suppose I’m halfway there with two weeks to go), he says we need to eat more protein (we did that), repeated sets of seal jacks, prisoner squats, and highland flings (not fun but very much routine)… hmm… maybe Craig is on to something here. He doesn’t seem to ask us to do things that we can’t do… but what would my life look like on 8 hours of sleep… okay, okay… we’ll try to get to bed at 10 p.m… BUT NO PROMISES!

March 28, 2008 09:03 am

It could be torture?

Craig passed the ski mask and cattle prod to his cohort Travis this week. I knew Terri and I were in trouble when Travis showed up with a notebook full of things to unleash upon us! I think he and Craig had conspired together about what terrible torments to enact. I quickly learned, though, that one real positive to having a substitute trainer is that he’ll give you different workout.
Whereas Craig has us do a lot with our legs, Travis put a lot more emphasis on our arms. We did a lot of rows on the nautilus machines and a bunch of free weights, too. Even for the full-body things we did, he had us with weights in our hands. It was also the first time we did dead lifts. Terri and I had to laugh… the dead lift bar (which is like a diamond you actually step inside of) weighs 45 pounds just by itself!
When you’re gripping and lifting it properly it’s not terribly heavy, but 45 pounds is a lot when you’re trying to pick it up and put it away!
Travis, with a gleam in his eye, motioned toward a pair of 20-pound dumbbells. I picked them up, expecting to squat or row with them or something. “Man,” I thought, “20 pounds is more than I’ve done. These are pretty heavy.” Much to my chagrin, I wasn’t going to be doing any such mundane exercise.
Travis directed me to raise my arms out to the sides, making a “T” with my arms, with the 20-pound weights in hand. Working our triceps (a new word I learned), we did three sets of 20 reps.
I’ve joked before about the gym being torture, but I now have a specific example… this exact “tricep scene” appeared in “Bride Over the River Kwai,” when British prisoners of war were forced to stand with buckets of water in the same “T” posture Travis had us in.
I’m not saying that Travis had torture in mind, but I’m not NOT saying it either… I know for a fact that a bucket of water doesn’t weigh 20 pounds.
Seriously, though, I am very happy working with Craig and Travis. One thing I really appreciate is that they don’t let you quit. If you’re going to do 20 reps of something, you do those 20 reps, no matter how hard it is. They never say “you’re really struggling with this… let’s just do 15.” They might give you a ten-second break, but you’re going to do all 20.
Personally, I might really struggle to get those 20 reps done, and you’ll hear me grunting my way through the last five, but 30 seconds after I’m done, I look up at the trainer and say “ok, what’s next?”
To wrap up this rather lengthy reflection, I’ll share with you, gentle reader, the closing exercises of our workout. Travis had us doing “core” work, which means variations on crunches and sit-ups. We had done many reps of “regular” and “reverse” crunches where you lift your chest and your trunk, respectively. We ended with “V” crunches, where you lift both. Well, I went to lift my feet and legs… and they didn’t move! I started laughing, and looked over at Terri… my abdominal muscles were so sore and so tired that I couldn’t get my legs off the ground!
Do you remember where I said Travis wouldn’t let us fail to complete a set? Grinning, he literally HELD my legs up for me and made me do the darned crunches!
Curse you, fitness challenge!

March 14, 2008 01:01 pm