Business Trip Highs and Lows

For my job, I sometimes get to take 2-5 day long trips around the country. Who knew being a webcasting engineer was so posh? Well, before you start ooh-ing and aah-ing, let me tell you that this latest trip was to the 'metropolis' of Bloomington, Minnesota. Hold your applause, please.

While the short trip (Wed - Thurs) was mostly work (who woulda thunk it?) - setting up cameras, checking microphones and testing our webcast stream, my coworker and I were able to get out of the hotel and visit the Mall of America for a whopping 5 hours! We walked around for the first two hours simply looking at all the different restaurants, shops and amusement park rides and logged almost 12,000 steps! Makes me wish I would have thought ahead and worn my running shoes rather than flip flops...

But unfortunately, the temptation to eat crappy food was prevalent due to the fact that we get a $50 a day just for meals - not to mention that one of the two lunches was paid for by a separate client... So while we were at the mall we stopped at Famous Dave's for some nice BBQ and  then moved onto Buffalo Wild Wings for some beverages - and sports, of course! And don't get me started on how tasty (and probably unhealthy) the other few meals were...

We also stopped at the Nike Store so I could check out a few things and drool uncontrollably over the running gear they had stocked to the celing. I could have walked out of there with a few, full bags of shoes, shorts, shirts and everything else they had! They also had a sweet decoration on their ceiling - dozens of racing bibs from all over the place. So cool!

But now I'm home and back to reality where I don't get to sleep in a king-sized bed by myself and my meals aren't paid for. And I'm also getting back to the gym! I'm looking to have another 365-Day Transformation update to you later this week! See ya then!



Update + Camping Trip

So if you've "Liked" my Facebook page, you've already seen that I posted a picture today showing yesterday's read-outs from my Nike+ Fuel Band, my LiveStrong calorie counter, and my WeightBot app as well. This is something I want to do on a daily basis to keep myself accountable and also to show people my progress. I'll probably only be posting these pictures on my Facebook page (so all my Facebook friends don't get uber annoyed after a week and a half).

I've decided to do this because I have a tendency to avoid calorie counting on days that I mess up. I don't want to put numbers to the amounts of snacks I'm eating and the ounces of soda I'm downing. This way, I feel that I'll be forced not only to count my calories everyday, but to keep me more disciplined (since I have to report!). If you missed it, here's the picture:

I have a daily goal of 3,000 "Fuel Points" set for myself. Fuel points are more or less just a measurement of movement that Nike made up. (The band also counts calories and steps.) For me to hit my 3,000 goal, it usually needs a 30-60 minute jaunt on the treadmill in the morning, a couple pointed walks around the office and maybe a little extra walk or something at night. With a desk job, I feel this is a good number.

As for calories, I currently have my goal set at 1,800 calories per day. If that's averaged out over my three meals and snacks, it comes out to be about 450 calories each - not too shabby. Add in some burnt calories from exercise, and I'm in good shape! Definitely a number I can stick with.

Also, I get the privilege of going CAMPING this coming weekend! It's going to be fantastic to get away from the city and work for a while and just enjoy the great outdoors with my wife and some of our friends. Unfortuantely, the temperatures for the Indianapolis area are forecasted to be between 95-100 everyday...guess we'll be swimming a lot!

I'm really looking forward to being outside and utilizing the opportunity to be active and burn some major calories. A great majority of my workouts have been in the gym (except for a few outdoor runs), so it'll be nice to take advantage of it. I'm bringing a football along, we'll be swimming, and hopefully some hiking as well! Once I get back I'll make sure to share some pictures and stories! And the amount of weight I lost in the process!

P.S. Stay tuned for another HUGE giveaway today or tomorrow!

15 Down, 65 to Go!

Let's say you're on a cross-country road trip. It's a long drive, right? So naturally you find little things along the way to make the trip feel shorter. For me, I would celebrate whenever I crossed a state line. A few summers ago I took a three-month road trip for my alma mater and covered 18 states and one Canadian province. And along the way we took pictures of each, new state sign we encountered. It broke up the trip, made it more fun and made it MUCH more manageable.

And there's something to be said about this for weight loss as well. When you're staring down the barrell of a huge number of pounds that you want to lose, it's quite easy to feel intimidated, hesitant and scared. But when you set checkpoints along the way where you can celebrate, it makes the journey (as I said in the last paragraph) more manageable.

Which is why I'm writing this post! I hit the 15 pounds lost mark this morning, and it makes me feel really, really good. Sure, I've been lighter than this before during my weight loss efforts, but it's very affirming to see that my hard work is paying off once again. Now I just can't wait to see 20! Hopefully I'll have a good update for you on that number again next week.

Every five pounds lost is definitely something to celebrate, and I hope you're able to do that as well if you're on a weight loss journey. Heck, every pound is a success! What are some of your checkpoints and 'state signs' along your way? How do you celebrate these smaller accomplishments on your way to your final goal? Or if you've already reached your goal, what tools and rewards did you use to keep yourself motivated and moving in the right direction?

Back from a Business Trip

Don't worry, I haven't left you. Sure, it may be customary of online/YouTube weight loss participants to suddenly go all Ghost Protocol when they've had a bad week, but I'm a seasoned veteran - I've had many of those weeks and therefore no longer fear the backlash.
Last week I found myself in Richmond, Virginia on a business trip Tuesday thru Thursday. Now thankfully, the metropolis of Richmond isn't known for any, particular, mouth-watering, belt-busting foods. Rather, it's known more for its history, which isn't really up my alley, but was directly up my coworker's alley. Therefore, we needed to 'see the sights.'

Visiting the Virginia State Capitol

Thankfully, that entailed lots of walking around the city. Even more walking was added as a result of his shoddy navigation skills (and the pathetic, illustrated map of downtown Richmond). Like I've mentioned, I do have a Nike+ FuelBand on the way (tomorrow?) and I really wish I would have had it for the trip. LOTS of walking.

But unfortunately, the company's $50/day per diem just "HAD" to be used! We didn't have breakfast any of the 3 days due to early call times for the conference we were videotaping. One day I grabbed a bagel w/ cream cheese & a piece of coffee cake from the in-hotel Starbucks around 10:00am though. Lunch was usually a $15 burger or sandwich of some kind with the hearty dinner to round off the day - chicken sandwich one night and ribs the next. I definitely could have been more careful...
The scale 'only' showed me a three pound gain this morning, and I think I have the downtown walking to thank for that. This week my goal is to get to the gym before 5:30am so I can knock out a good hour and a half of training miles. Hopefully I also have a normal work schedule this week so I don't have to move that workout time around much. I like a routine and structure. Start shaking that up and all goes wrong.

Watching the over 2,000 runners take off!



Men's winner flies by me on his way to the finish line!

Also was able to watch the First Midwest Bank Southwest Half Marathon in Palos Height, IL on Sunday. It's a race I've run twice ('09 & '11), but this year I was there to watch my sister run it for a second time. Before the race she said she hadn't trained as she'd wanted to, and her fiancee agreed. However, she managed to knock it out in 2:27:21 and I'm real proud of her! I'm sure we'll be running another one together some day - I just need to get faster so I can keep up! (Her half marathon PR is around 2:12 while mine is at 2:20:20)