It’s time to resurrect the ol’ blog! Starting tonight, I’ll be posting more about my weight loss journey here and on Facebook! Stay with me!

Weigh in day!

Its Friday weight-loss-watchers, and that means weigh in day for Brent! This morning I tipped the scales showing a loss of 6.7 lbs since Monday and I’m feeling really good about it. I’ve been overly strict, not starvation mind you, but strict. I’m eating lots of fruits and raw veggies, (as much as I want) and some lean proteins (not quite as much as I want) and no sugar (not nearly as much as I want). Plus I am religious about getting in those brisk, daily walks and have added a few pushups and crunches to my regimen as well.
I’ve made some plans to eat less carful over potions of Easter weekend. There are a few meals/time periods were food is part of the celebration. During those specific times, I’m going to enjoy some of the treats and traditional foods that go along with the season. But, that does not mean I will let my nutritional hair down for the entire weekend. If breakfast isn’t part of the official celebration, then I’m going to eat light, same with diner, snacks and so on. I’ve worked really hard to turn this big, unhealthy boat in the right direction and it would be foolish to completely mess it up now, just for sake of a Holiday weekend.
I hope you are doing well, and have made plans to enjoy the weekend as well. Keep up the fight and may the Easter Bunny bring us all a few really chocolaty treats!

If it doesn’t matter, don’t eat like it does!

It’s been a whirlwind couple of days but the great thing is that I’ve managed to take time to eat right and exercise despite the hectic schedule. There were a few close calls, when I almost slipped, and there have been a few occasions where I almost justified cheating, but in the end I made good choices.
I’ve been thinking a lot about how strict we should be in our dieting and I think we need to be sure to cut ourselves a little slack on special occasions and extenuating circumstances. I’ve always said that I didn’t get fat from going to parties, enjoying the holidays, or eating too much while on vacation. I got this way by eating most every meal like it was a party. We’d all do well if we guiltlessly enjoyed food on those few occasions when food is part of a special event, so long as we were careful to eat nutritiously every other meal during the week. If there is a party, if your neighbor brings over homemade sweet rolls (Lisa), if you’re on a trip, or its Sunday dinner, I say go ahead and indulge a little, then just swear on your life that you’ll be good the rest of the time. I’ll say it again, I don’t think we got out of shape by enjoying special foods on special occasions; it’s the basic everyday food choices that effect us the most. If the meal matters, eat. If it doesn’t matter, don’t eat like it does!
I’m going to weigh in tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll nail double digit number because I’ve sure earned it, having said that, scales are not always fair, so if I don’t hit it big, I won’t be too worried about it.
I wish you well in your nutritional endeavors and I hope to hear more from you soon. Take care.

Calorically intact

Well, I was shooting for some “Biggest Loser” sized numbers and I guess I came pretty close. I am down 7.3 lbs in seven days, that’s enough that I don’t feel like a total failure, but I was really really hoping for something in the double digits. But, I also crashed a burned a few times over the weekend. Without going into detail I didn’t make it out of Logan calorically intact, nor was I on my best nutritional behavior at Mom’s b-day party last night, so all things considered, I ought to be ecstatic about losing 7.
The really great part is that I am back on the wagon and doing well today. Had a good workout dragging trees and branches at the cabin and then came to town and did my daily cemetery walk, even though it was raining. I’ve been munching vegetarian style all day and that seems alright as a temporary tactic. It’s weird for me to have a meal without meat, but I have learned that’s it is possible. Not preferred, but possible.
My next weigh in will be this Friday and I am going to focus a little harder on a double digit loss. That will be tough because its only five days away, but I still think I can pull it off. Please continue to keep me posted on your progress and let me know if you have any strategies on surviving Easter, or if you thing that’s one of those holidays that merits a 24 hour, free pass.

That too, spells danger

I’m sitting here sipping down a diet root beer and really enjoying it. I know carbonation is not the best but it tastes good to have something slightly sweet once in a while. It’s funny because I’ve noticed that once you cut out processed sugar from your diet, natural and artificial sugars taste so much sweeter and satisfying.
Didn’t make it for my walk today, but I spent about an hour at the cabin cutting trees and dragging the scrap branches over to the burn pile. I wouldn’t call it a total workout, but I’m sure my heart rate was up and I did break into a slight sweat.
I’ve got a couple of challenges coming up. Tomorrow I’m headed to Logan for the day and that town has some good places to eat. On Sunday, I’ve got my mother’s birthday party and all the ladies in my family are excellent cooks, so that too spells danger. My solution is to budget my calories, eating less on the meals that aren’t part of the festivities and saving more room for the meals that matter. I’ll keep you posted. Hope you’re all doing well. Please keep me up to date on your progress and I’ll do the same.

My body seems to appreciate it

Survived the concession counter at the movies last night. The lady behind the glass case looked quite surprised when I said I didn’t need any treats. I guess some of us look more prone to popcorn and drinks than others.
As a side note, the movie was good, but felt strangely foreign. I guess that’s because it was. Not an American actor or location in the whole thing.
So far I’ve been eating smart today. I arranged my schedule to eat my best meal of the day for lunch rather than diner. I did the same thing yesterday and my body seems to appreciate it. I sleep better on an empty stomach and I wake up feeling more refreshed.
In a few minutes I’m headed for a walk. It will be nice once the weather breaks so I can exercise when I want, and not when the wind and rain dictates.
My next big weigh-in will be on Monday and I feel pretty good about hitting a double digit number. Time will tell.
Until tomorrow…keep up the fight.

Concession counters at the movies

Another successful nutrition day. I’m not sure why, but I somehow have a handle on appropriate eating and exercise these days. I’m trying not to get overly cocky though, because sadly, I know from past experience that I could easily fall off the wagon at any time. I hope relapse will not be a problem for me, but I’d better make weight-loss-hay while the sun is shining because the further we get on any journey, the harder it is to turn back. I guess that’s true about all the unhealthy journeys we take as well. It can take so long to turn those massive, misdirected ships around.
My big temptation tonight will be Salt Creek Cinemas. I’m going to the movie with a friend and you know what kind of junk food awaits behind the glass concession counters at the movies. Wish me luck, and please ask me about how I did. Accountability to you is much of what gets me through these tough times.
Thanks again for the emails, texts, posts, and kind words when I run into some of you down town. Please let me know how I can help you with your battles as well. I feel like we’re in this together!

Today’s buffet! Yikes!

Dodged a bullet today! At noon I found myself lunching at the Golden Coral, which is exactly like an ex-alcoholic strolling into a bar at happy hour and expecting to stay on the wagon. This is not a temptation I recommend but it turns out the GC actually has a pretty decent salad bar. I guess I already knew that, but I can honestly say that I don’t ever ever ever remember having green salad at Golden Coral, or at any all you can eat buffet I could name. The really cool part is that I ate 100% healthy. Lots of cool greens, veggies, fruit, and some sliced grilled chicken breast. No hot, steamy rolls, no BBQ ribs and drumsticks, none of the usual fatty deep fried items, and certainly no dessert. I just ate plenty of salad and drank my sugar free lemonade and called it good. I left full but was hungry again in a few hours. That’s how I know I didn’t overdo. Usually after eating at a buffet, I feel stuffed for the rest of the day and into the next morning. Usually after a buffet I feel so sluggish afterwards, but today was so different. I hope to be this strong the next time that kind of temptation comes up.
The other part of my day that went really well was my daily cemetery walk. After seeing the weather forecast last night, I decided my best chance for outdoor exercise was first thing in the AM, so that’s what I did. I logged in my 1.75 miles early, which turned out to be a really good call because tonight when I got home from Orem it was raining very hard.
Well, I hope you’re having some similar victories in your own quest for a better, healthier life. Some of you have sent me encouraging emails and texts and I want you to know that hearing from you really helps, so thank you. I doubt I’d withstood today’s buffet without knowing you are counting on me to choose the right.

Sunshine—finally!

Sunshine—finally! Perfect day for a long walk in the cemetery. I got up this morning and cooked a full-on, bacon, eggs, and pancake breakfast for my niece and two nephews and I walked away without so much as a nibble. Why? Because today I have a plan, today I have set some nutrition goals and it does not include that kind of grub. A good friend and I have challenged each other to a perfect nutrition week, with specific weight loss goals in writing. There are no bets, no store bought prizes for the winner, just better health and personal satisfaction. We’re going for some Biggest Loser type numbers, just for this week, and then we’ll evaluate our progress before setting some less drastic goals for the next three weeks. Then we’ll reevaluate and set some longer term goals.
I hope you are all doing well with your health. It’s probably a shock to you that I’m posting on a regular basis, maybe you’re wondering if I’ll keep it up or just fizzle out like I have in the past. I’m wondering too. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. I do hope that you’ll join with me in becoming healthier. I’m interested in anything about getting healthy, Utah race dates, heath based websites, books, blogs, and so on. Please keep me posted if you find anything that might help and I’ll do the same.

Do you have one?

Okay, so Saturday kicked my butt, health wise. I won’t go into the details as to why, but I will say that I seemed to be looking for an excuse to eat-up and I took it. My problem these days is that I don’t have a plan. I’ve been losing some weight, but I don’t have a set daily calorie rule, I don’t have a “free meal” rewards system in place to look forward to or to defer to in case of temptation, so instead, I just crashed! Not the end of the world or anything, but crashes like this can quickly revert back to habits and that’s how I gained back some of my weight since summer. I need a plan. Do you have one? What is it and how do you stick to it?

Quest for a Better, Healthier Life Facebook page seems to work

Went for a brisk walk yesterday and ate fairly healthy but I really need to kick it up a notch. Having admitted a need to try harder, I have done alright. Some friends and I recently ended a weight loss contest where all of us seemed more content to lose a few pounds per week and not starve and sweat for those sensational Biggest Loser-type losses. In the end, I won two of the 6 weeks for having lost the most weight, and I won the overall prize for total weight lost. I ended up losing about 14 pounds over 6 weeks. Like I said, not impressive enough for television, but 14 lbs is 14 lbs! I wish I’d lost a few pounds per week for the last 52 weeks and I’d be happy as a clam right now.
Woke up to snow this morning and I can already guess that it’s put a literal damper on my outdoor exercise today. I’ll have to hit the Cardio Glide instead.
For some reason, my blog is not letting me make posts. Not sure why, but for now, The Quest for a Better, Healthier Life Facebook page seems to work very well. Hope to read comments from some of you soon, assuming there are some of you still following. Are you still in the fight? Are you doing well? Let us all know!

I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.

It’s been so long since I’ve made a post that I’m sure everyone’s forgotten all about me by now but no matter. I’ve got to get my butt back in gear and blogging about my progress and downfalls really does help.
I have not totally fallen off the weight-loss wagon as of late. I have not gotten back to wear I was last August in terms of weight, in fact, I’ve gained a bunch (not sure if I dare post how much) of my weight back, but the good thing is that I’ve quit gaining over these past few months and even lost a little.
My gym membership has expired, but I planned it that way so now that is warming up (supposedly) I can exercise outdoors. That’s where I’m headed now, even though it’s cold and rainy. It’s time to start walking the Nephi cemetery once again. No dogs, no traffic, and plenty of up and down hill roads.
I hope this post finds you all doing well and I hope that this is not my only post for the next 90 days! I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.

Make the most of it

Well, I know you’ll never believe this but I’m back online. I have to be back! I worked out a deal with the local fitness center and we traded some of my marketing skills for a 3 month gym membership. It’s a great place to exercise and they have all sorts of equipment and classes but for the past few weeks I’ve just been using the treadmill. It’s nice to have a jogging course that’s not covered in ice and snow.

It’s been a while since I jumped (more like lumbered) onto the scale and to tell you the truth, I almost don’t dare. To think that I weighed less than 300 lbs by this time last year and now I am probably right back up to where I started totally freaks me out. I’m thinking I’ll hit the scales in a week and see how bad my weight gain really is.



Lots of you have commented that you miss reading my blog, and believe me, I’ve missed writing it and my increased waistline has really missed the commitment I feel when I blog. Please wish me well and I’ll wish you the same. It’s a New Year and a new day lets all please make the most of it!

deer hunt: not traditionally a time for fruits and greens

I’ve had a couple of great nutrition and exercise days but my legs feel like rubber after so much jogging. I’m getting pretty old to be running around like this, and by like this, I mean huge!
We’ve still got lots of vine ripe tomatoes at our place so I’m eating them like they’re going out of season, which of course, they are.
Somehow I missed out on the fresh peaches but we have apples galore and are getting even more from my kid sister’s orchards tomorrow. This is a great time of year to be a fruit lover. Next will come the cases of Christmas oranges! Oh yeah!
Part of my recent motivation for getting my heart rate up each this day is because of the deer hunt. There are certainly worse places to kill over dead than on the mountain but I’d feel sorry for whoever gets assigned to drag my huge carcass out so I figured it’s better to get in shape and stay alive.
It’s going to be tough eating healthy on the mountain. The deer hunt is not traditionally a time for fruits and greens. I’m devising a plan which will most likely involve eating a healthy breakfast and lunch and regular deer-camp supper.
I hope all is going well for you in your quest for a better healthier life. Keep me posted on your progress, or even on the lack thereof.

Two new exercise challenges

I’m not sure of the significance, or if it has any special meaning, but today’s date is 10-10-10! Maybe it’s a great day for gaining control of physical appetites, a day for moving forward and not back. If it is, we’d best be sure and capitalize on it while the day last because it will be a long time before 10-10-10 happens again. Some experts say it might be as long as 100 years from now.
Yesterday I found two new exercise challenges that would be perfect for the Biggest Loser TV show. One is called, “Carry your neighbors two-year-supply up 25 steps and into the moving truck” and the other is “Spend 6 hours in the mountains pushing over dead oak trees and then dragging them into four piles until they are the size of a small house.”
Both activities proved to be terrific workouts. My arms and legs were totally rubberized by the time I was done, and I get to do the tree-thing again on Monday. AWESOME!
I hope you’re all making headway with your quest for a better, healthier life. Please keep me posted on your progress as I need your example and encouragement.

Someone to keep my promises too

The more I try and fail, the more I realize that if I’m going to win the battle of the bulge, I must have a continued source of external commitment. Be it a blog, weight loss support group or whatever. So, I’m back online and looking for support and someone to keep my promises too.
The past two months have been rough on my waistline. It’s crazy to think that I actually lost weight during one of my most stressful and normally junk-food-ridden times of my year and then actually gained weight during the ensuing period of peace and ease. My initial success all boiled down to my having a plan and my having made a personal and public commitment and even a commitment to God. Once the commitment period ended, so did my responsible eating behavior. The good news it, I’m not dead yet! There is still time to regroup and now is that time.
Yesterday was a good day. I’m tracking my calories again and it really does help. The weather was perfect for some outdoor exercise and I managed to order a green salad topped with grilled chicken while out to dinner with a friend.
Today is going to be awesome. The only trouble I see will come this evening when I will be traveling to Gunnison, it’s the kind of road trip that traditionally means excessive snacking. I’m going to take some bottled water and maybe some grapes or pretzels or something else along those lines. Please expect me to give a report on how I did because I’ll need your encouragement to succeed.
I’m also looking for another 5k to prepare for so if you have any suggestions or would like to run with me, let me know.

That’s the plan. I’ll keep you posted.

There are a few anniversaries from American History that cause a man to recommit and certainly 911 is one of them. It’s hard to sit here on this honorable day and make some statement about me being instantly perfect, so I won’t. I’m not feeling that strong, but I will say that for me to not persist at doing something as important as taking care of my health is complete foolishness. So better I must become.
The great news is that I have still kept up on my daily exercise; the problem the past 45 days has been my eating. So that’s my goal…keep up the exercise and drastically improve my eating. That’s the plan. I’ll keep you posted.

A "deal" with God

I mentioned the other day that I was proud/blessed to have made it through two very difficult times of year without gaining weight, in fact, I lost weight. The first period was during the pageant. Normally pageant time is also known as junk food time, or late-night munching time at my house. We don’t have time to cook and we don’t keep normal hours, so we always hit Wal-Mart and buy a bunch of snack foods to eat. This year I made a deal with the Lord that I would not partake in such unhealthy practices and for the most part, I was able to keep my end of the deal and I was blessed with health and strength to do all that needed doing during such a stressful time.
The next difficult health period was last week when I was the head Dutch oven cook for the Gunnison Bulldogs while they were at football camp. The coach wanted the boys to eat like kings and eat like kings they did…and I cooked it all. Three squares a day, plus snacks. All of it Dutch oven style or BBQ and all of it had bacon as the major ingredient. In short, I cooked for them all of the kinds of food I love. I made a deal with the Lord and he helped me to be that close to that much fattening food and I hardly ate a single bite of it. I had a few very small portions of a few of the less fattening dishes and that is all.
I will talk more about this tomorrow and more specifically, I will talk about the “deals” with the Lord, which was really more of a covenant that a deal, and maybe you’ll want to try it as well.

No rouge dogs

What a tremendous morning! I’ve found the perfect training ground to prepare for upcoming races. It turns out that two trips through the entire Nephi City Cemetery is just over 5k. Half the roads are uphill and half sloop downhill and I alternate my running with fast walking while carrying my 5 lb purple girly weights. The cemetery is great because there is no traffic, no rouge dogs to deal with and lots of shade trees…oh, and singing birds. I’ve been up there most mornings for the last month or so and I am loving it.

So far, I’ve lost over 80 lbs. The weight never comes off as fast as I would like, but what I am doing is working. I hope things are moving forward in your quest for a better, healthier life as well.

Keeping my promises

Bless me bloggers, for I have sinned. It’s been 5 weeks since my last installment!!! Can you ever forgive me? …Thank you!!!

I’m headed out of town again but I wanted to make a post before I go. I’ve made it through two of the most potentially fattening times of my year, coming out of it lighter than when I went in!!!

I will post the details when I get back on Sunday or Monday but let me just say I have been very blessed in keeping my promises!