Favorite Fitness Apps?

Well I think my day may finally come! I think I finally may be able to consider myself part of the "in crowd." That's right - I'm talking about being able to call myself an iPhone user!

Now sure, some of you who know me also may know that I OWN an iPhone3, but sadly I only really use it as an iPod. The wifi part of the phone is shot, the apps work when they feel like it, but it still serves up some mean tunes (and podcasts). But to date, I've never had an iPhone which I use for its intended purpose.

However, the tides seem to be turning and even though AT&T is trying their darndest to keep us from acquiring these spectacular phones, it seems that we may be able to find people who are looking to sell their current phones. And also, if you're reading this and are looking to sell your iPhone 4 or 4S, let me know! We may still be looking!!

Anyway, the reason that I'm letting you know about possible, future, technological acquisitions is because said item has VAST possibilities and many mobile applications that are available to possibly assist in my weight loss and fitness goals.

So at this point I ask a question - what sorts of iPhone apps do YOU use that have helped you find success or motivation in your running, weight loss and/or health goals? As of now, I also plan on purchasing a Nike+ Fuel Band which requires an app and tracks daily activity and calories (plus more), and while I have an idea for a few other health-related apps to get, I want to know what's worked for you.

So the bottom line is this - I love seeing numbers, graphs and statistics and some of these apps will givev me just that. I like seeing a visual chart of my progress and I think some of these apps will fill that need. Can't wait to see what you suggest! And once I get the phone I'll let you know which ones I decided on!

Battling Myself

I'm my own, worst enemy when it comes to losing weight and getting into good decent shape.

I'm really starting to think that I have two brains battling it out inside my skull for complete domination of the rest of the body. And these brains have two, VERY different goals in mind. For the sake of becoming familiar with the two of them, let's call them Ivan and Deion - trust me, this will make sense in a moment.

Ivan has one goal in mind - Instant Gratification. He wants what he wants, when he wants it. Fast food? NOW! Sleeping in? NOW! A liter of Mountain Dew? NOW! He has no concept of future ramifications and just wants to taste that burger or sleep that extra hour. He's convinced that things can be put off until tomorrow if it means having more fun today. He often tells me, "You can lose the weight in no time! So why not have a huge place of fettucini alfredo tonight? You can just take that off in a couple of days anyway!"

Deion, on the other hand, is quite different. He's all about Delayed Gratification. He's the one that gets me to choose water over soda, chicken over beef and treadmill over my soft, soft pillow. He knows the work that needs to go into losing weight and is willing to take the necessary steps - and use the correct amount of self-control - to get to the end goal of losing 80 pounds. He's the one who helps me lose 5-8 pounds in a week when all is done to perfection. Thankfully it seems he's here today at least!

My problem is that I give them equal attention. And equal attention = treading water.

Maybe it's more of a Jeckyll and Hyde situation where I don't necessarily have two brains, but just two different sides to my weight loss efforts. At night I'll go to sleep planning out my tomorrow with fantastic intentions in mind, only to wake up and not want to do any of what I'd plan a mere 7 hours ago. It's a cruel, cruel cycle I find myself in sometimes.

In your weight loss efforts, how have you put the pedal to the metal and knocked off the pounds? How did you react to minor setbacks and mindset issues?

Half Marathon Training - Week 1

Well I have one week of "training" behind me, and I definitely use that term loosely. Of the five days that I hit the treadmill (Mon-Thurs, Sat), I don't think I ran for more than 20% of the time. I feel like I gotta get this weight off in order to make the running a bit easier. But I know I need to get running in order to lose the weight - gotta love Catch 22's!

But as you can see by the text in the right sidebar, I weighed in this morning down 6.6 from last week! So according to this article, that means that I've taken 26.4 pounds of pressure off my knees! And as each new pound comes off, it only helps! I have, however, been bothered with a nagging Baker's Cyst on the back of my left knee, which is also the knee that I've had arthroscopic surgeries on (2001 & 2002). It causes my knee to get a little stiff and bugs me when I'm walking around during the day - we'll see if it comes to visit again this week.

Thankfully I started off this week with a great treadmill session - I knocked out about 3 miles running over the course of the hour I spent on the treadmill (4.25 total miles). Still finding it hard to get the endurance up enough to run for more than ten minutes at a time, though. But as long as I can keep knock out days like this, I'm sure I can begin to string together some decent spurts of running. But according to Bill Murray in What About Bob? - "Baby steps!"

Well I'm off and running in Week 2! My plan is to be able to knock out 3 miles straight by the end of the week. Everyday is one day closer to the big race, there's no time to waste!

Before I sign off, I just want to say "thank you" to everyone who's been reading these last few months. Your encouragement, support and words of wisdom are more valuable than you know and keep me moving forward towards my goals. While I don't quite consider myself a true "runner" yet - especially in comparison to some of you who knock out MANY races per year - I look forward to the day where I can feel even a little bit more worthy. :)

I hope you all had a great weekend! How many miles did you knock out?

Half Marathon Training - Kickoff

Oh boy...

I get the feeling that this is going to be a rough two months leading up to the race. It seems like I'm starting to pull away from the allergies (knock on wood), and therefore have no good reason why I can't be at the gym Monday-Saturday mornings to try to knock out my training miles. (I actually tried sitting up a little while sleeping last night to avoid all this snot funnelling into my nostrils. It worked!)

But anyway, according to my 12-week half marathon training plan (which I'm trying to cram into 8 weeks), I was supposed to run 5 miles yesterday. *GULP* Yeah...I didn't even break into a jog on the treadmill... With the late start to the training, I'm already 4 weeks behind - and I can barely run a mile!

Every time I start a new training program it's a giant wake-up call. I realize how far I've let myself slip since my last race. It's 11 months since my last race and I've completely undone everything that I ever accomplished physically, That's a hard pill to swallow! Sure, I've gained knowledge and experience along the way, but I couldn't even run a 5k right now if I had to!

But that's all about to change. My wife and I have constructed a great nutrition plan for me and this week is off to a blazing start! I'm also going to look into the possibility of scoring a FitBit. I know a few people who have this fun, little toy and I REALLY want to get one of my own A.S.A.P! I'm a complete sucker for statistics, graphs and numbers (I think I'm part O.C.D.) and this sort of thing is 100% up my alley! So we'll see if I'm able to score that in the near future.

But in summation, these first couple weeks are going to be an uphill battle until I can be able to knock out a few miles at a time. Once I get there, it's just upping mileage and gaining that endurance. But what am I saying? You all know how this works!

Currently training for a race? How is it going for you? What goals have you set for yourself?

FREE Half Marathon Registration Discount!

Wow, the good news keeps coming and coming!

If you're still on the fence about registering for The Allstate Life Insurance 13.1 Half Marathon in Chicago on Saturday, June 9th maybe this will persuade you to sign up! Not only was I able to give away one, free registration to one of my readers, but they've also given me a $5 discount code that ALL of you can use to register for the race!

So if you're interested, just visit the registration page at the 13.1 Marathon Series website and enter the coupon code 131BLG5 before you check out.

Let me know if you'll be running on June 9th! I'd love to meet you!

Happy 50th Post!

First off, I want to say that you all must be pretty special or something, because I don't think any blog I've ever started has reached this many posts! I have a bad history of starting something with good intentions - "Oh man, I have the best idea for a blog, and I can't wait to write everyday!" - only to fizzle out after a couple of weeks and leave it laying (lying?) in ruin - R.I.P. my sweet, sweet Xanga...

Either way, I'm glad that I've kept this blog up because health/fitness-related topics are things that have really caught and kept my attention as of late - mostly because I'm in the process of losing mucho poundos and are doing a lot of reading/research in the same field. It also helps that all of you are interested in the same thing!

Now if I were to head up a blog about the many uses of Post It Notes, this whole ordeal may or may not have been as successful - or maybe it would - who really knows? Maybe the Pinterest crowd would jump all over that! (I call dibs on PostItMagic.com!)

I actually also have a large passion for all things sports, and most things Netflix (currently watching River Monsters as I type this), so some of you may be glad that I've chosen to write about running and eating healthy rather than the latest Fantasy Baseball rankings or the addition of "Rango" to the Netflix Instant Streaming list. Shout out to my fellow Netflix junkies!

*Deep breath* But moving on to something pertinent to the health/fitness realm...

As most of you may know, this coming weekend is Easter weekend - a weekend not only known for remembering the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but also for the plethora of family get-togethers and delicious victuals. It's this imminent spread of food that worries me...a lot.

The whole "endless-food-cannot-NOT-be-in-my-stomach" tendency is strong in this one. Food that is free and plentiful is definitly my kryptonite. (How about that! A Star Wars AND Superman reference in the same post!) Easter at grandma's house is just one, long, 7+ hour grazing fest filled with ham, Jell-O, desserts, sloppy joes and endless candy. The only healthy redeeming quality of the day is that we usually run around outside (basketball, football) for a couple, good hours. But this year I'm going to be a good boy.

As I may have mentioned, my wife constructed some sort of present for me which I will receive if I can string together two weeks of healthy, controlled eating. I'm still going strong, and I don't want something petty like Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs (oh, yum!) to take that away from me! So you can count me on me making some forward progress on this day known for its food comas.

Spring Cleaning

For today's post I'm feeling quite scatter-brained and absent-minded. I feel kind of frazzled and unable to focus intently on a single topic for this post, so I think I'll touch on a group of things that I feel I need to update you on. Got that? Great. Read on.

1. As you may have seen, my weekly updates have not gotten off the ground yet. I know it just sounds like an excuse, but allergies have been whoopin' my behind these last, two weeks and I haven't been making any progress that warrants a legit 'update.' However, I PROMISE you that updates will be around the corner. With Easter weekend coming up I will be visiting my parents in Wisconsin, so you can plan on my first update coming to you on April 14th. Let's see what kind of numbers I can have for you in two weeks!

2. I mentioned that I have a goal of losing 40 pounds by June 9th. If I do, I get to sign up for the Chicago Half Marathon. My lovely wife has also just informed me that she has an awesome gift she wants to give me as well that she and her brother have been collaborating on. In order to get that, I need to string together two great weeks of eating and exercising. Can't wait to see what it is! (And don't worry, I'll fill you in when I receive it.)

3. Also in that same vein, I got an email this morning telling me that the aforementioned Chicago Half Marathon is 33% ahead of its 2011 numbers, and that it will likely sell out in the near future. That's a bummer for me because I won't know if I can sign up for it until June 9th... Thus, I will either have to just sign up for it now to guarantee my spot, hope it'll still be open by June, or just accept the fact that I won't be able to run it. Or maybe just sign up for the Chicago Men's Health Urbanathlon in October instead!

4. I've recently started a new job downtown and I knew things were going to be different than my last job. The commute is much longer, the hours are longer and the work is harder. What I didn't expect was for there to be a break room stocked consistently with chips, soda and lots of other snacks. Needless to say, that has been a major struggle in my first, two weeks at the new gig. I really wish I could take a lunchtime run outside, but I would come back quite sweaty and smelly if I tried that. Maybe just a nice stroll will have to suffice. And lay off the Sun Chips, man!

5. As a result of the allergies and work snacks I assume that I have made negative progress on the scale. It's pretty frustrating, to be honest. But it's more of a frustration with my lack of effort, discipline and self-control rather than a frustration with the scale or the snacks. I'm the only one who can control which way the numbers go, and lately I've been quite lazy, complacent and out of control. With each day I string together I gain more confidence, so I just have to put the work in and get the ball rolling. Easier said than done...

And finally, I'll have to admit that I'm a bit jealous. I've been reading a lot of posts or seeing a lot of 'after pictures' lately by great individuals who have progress to show for their efforts. And while I'm happy for them, it's just kind of hard to see everyone ELSE doing well while I continue to tread water and sometimes almost sink at times.

But like I said, that will only continue if I allow it to. And let's start making each hour of the day count! Tomorrow morning I'm making my 6:00am-7:00am count by hitting the gym! I'll post proof tomorrow