Battle Update-26 January 2010

Once again everyone, I have to ask for forgiveness for not being timely on my updates.  I admit, I have been trifling.  Please forgive me y'all!!

Thank God that I am seeing progress.  I stepped on the scale today at the doctor's office and 414 lbs. was recorded!!!!  We are -13 lbs already and I have made my monthly goal already!!!!!  God is truly good.

Observations:

The Good: 1) I am doing well with portion size and time of eating. 
                2) I am being very consistent with my water intake.
                3) I have kept the junk to a minimum.
                4) I am starting to get into a groove with my workouts.  More on that in a minute.

Need to Keep Working On: 1) My workouts and bringing more intensity to the table.  My workouts have been really cool as of late and I thank      God for bring in the 5AM crew at the gym in my life.  This group of folk, which I am the youngest of the bunch, really push and encourage me as I workout.  It is really cool.  I have started to play basketball with these guys and I have found my shooting stroke.  Now I have to find my stamina.  I am going to take the advice of one of the group members and concentrate my running to basketball.  (I do want to play pick up again.)  Now I just have to keep bringing it.  Also, I am adding more movements in my weight work.

2) Continue to watch what I eat, but I need to EAT as well.  I am finding that being on this journey as a diabetic is not easy because my body is expecting something that it has been getting for so long and now it is not.  I guess I am a food junkie that is going through withdrawals. Thing of it is, it sometimes throw my body in a tailspin.  So I have to concentrate on keeping nutrients in me; whether it is fruit, a salad, something.  Right now, eating is not my life, I am eating to live.

3) Keep check on calories.  Stay true to my 2500 calorie a day limit.

4) Keep water intake up.  I had a diet coke on Sunday and it was horrible.  I may never go back to sodas.  I think I am done.

Well, that is enough from me.  Please keep praying for me and I will improve on my updates.  Much love to everyone.

Battle Update and Other Thoughts-15 Jan 2010

Please forgive me in the frequency of my postings.  I will work harder on getting the Battle Update out everyday. 

It has been a few days since I have made (in my eyes) some pretty drastic adjustments in my dietary lifestyle.  What I have done is this:
1) Eliminate ALL sodas. Diet included.
2) Drinking 96oz of water a day (need more)
3) Eliminate eating heavy meals after 8PM. (I eat fruit or drink water for snacks)
4) Up fiber content by a factor of 2. (This has had dramatic consequences to say the least.)
I will say that these adjustments alone, I have been feeling a bit different.  I don't feel as lethargic in the mornings.  Hmmm, I am wondering if my late night eating was covering some things up.  As I relearn my body in this new mode, I will put my observations here.

So far, I really need to improve on:
1) More intensity in the gym
2) Further improvement on my eating. (spreading calories through the day)

I got to keep working.  Please keep praying for me.

Now on my other thoughts.  The situation in Haiti is one of truly dire proportions.  The recovery effort will be and now is an effort that our country will own.  It is very important that the US is fully engaged in Haiti because:
1) This country didn't have but especially now has NO GOVERNMENT.  The prime minister of Haiti is out on the street just like everyone else there.  The ruling government in Haiti has always have been corrupt and tack on the centuries of poverty and neglect, now we have a humanitarian crisis of Biblical size.  This point goes into:
2) Who fills the void???  I am no fan of regime change, but this earthquake may have done it for the Haitian government.  Some where in the process, there will be civil unrest.  Chance are, when the people begin to get their feet underneath them, they will take the advantage of forcing changes in Haiti.  Who do we want to fill the VOID??? Al Queda??? Castro??? Chavez???  Which brings me to:
3) Haiti is an 90 minute flight from Miami.  Nuff said here.

I will comment on Rush and Pat Robertson later...Time for a nap...

Battle Update-11 January 2010

First off, I have to thank God for everything!!!  I thank God for His blessings and His challenges.  God has thrown His punk card on me and I have chosen to pick it up.  (I just love the way the Lord presses my buttons. Well, He did design me.)  I will say that since I have place my blog post here at my blog The Underground 88, (http://theunderground88.blogspot.com/) also being 'simulcasted' on Facebook, the love that my Facebook family has shown to me has been so overwhelming.  I truly want to thank everyone who has commented and those that are praying and watching.  You guys are truly gifts from the Lord and it only makes me stronger.  I also announced this journey to my church family at HHUMC and I want to thank them for the love and support that the are giving me as well.  I am so blessed to be at such a loving church and thank Dr. Sheron Patterson for allowing me to share.  (She is a breast cancer survivor and my senior pastor.  Check her out at www.drsheron.com and join her on the Patterson Pledge.)

I would like to take this paragraph to thank and address my family.  I thank God for the love and support that my family has given me with the start of all of this.  My blog post with my pic, truly stunned my wife and understandably so.  Even being stunned, she has been my biggest cheerleader and biggest foot in my tail.  She wields a mean size 9 and with our youngest has her attack dog, they make a mean team.  I love you Sweetness!!!

Now with all of that out of the way, now to business.  Today has been a great day.  I spoke with my doctor about my mission and she was ALL for it.  So now we have a standing date, every Monday morning for weigh in.  She is tracking my weight and blood sugar counts.  I checking in at 421.0 lbs.  DOWN 6 lbs.  Thanks be to God!!!!  I jetted over to Central Market and picked up some fruit and spent the rest of the day handling other personal business.  I took a mile walk through the neighborhood early this afternoon to get some cardio in just in case i wouldn't make it to the gym.  (I WILL BE IN THERE TOMORROW.)

I used a BMI calculator to attain what would be the caloric intake that I need to maintain my weight.  You can find a BMI calculator on the web using Google of course.  I plugged in my weight, height, age and activity level and to maintain my weight I have to eat 4,050 calories a day.  WTH???  I looked at those numbers and it frightened me because I have had to have averaged WAY over that to get to where I am now.  4,050 calories????  For the love of Jesus.  My attack plan is simply this.  I am a scientist by nature and the attack is in the numbers.  If I can get myself in the 2,000-2,500 calorie a day limit and increase my activity level by a factor of 2, this weight we go away.  Portion control and clean eating, the diet part will take care of itself.  (Oh, I am going to a diabetic nutritionist on 15 February.)  What I ate today:

Brunch: 7 chicken wings, orange and 32 oz of water

Afternoon snack: Fuji apple

Dinner: Jumbalaya and baked potato

I have drank 96 oz of water today and I need to up that.  I need to find a calorie guide so I can nail down numbers there.  The planning and journaling mealsis going to take some adjustment and perfecting but I will get the hang of it.  Keep praying for me guys...This journey is going to be fun.  See y'all tomorrow....

The Beginning of the Battle for My Life

Well, here I am in all of my glory. This is where I start the quest that the Lord has placed me on. What you are looking at is me. This is the result of years of neglect, years of poor maintenance, years of bad stewardship. The Scriptures state that our bodies are a temple of the Lord. Well this temple right here folks is not what God had in mind.

I am right now at 427 lbs. I have never been this heavy in my entire life. I am a diabetic. My back is not of the best shape. Knees are sore and I have flat feet. That is a simple description of the outside. What you see here doesn't compare to what is going on in the inside. Yet, they go hand in hand.

I have realized is that what you see in the picture has closed many doors for me. What I have realized that what you see in the picture has caused God to deem me as not being ready to take the next steps in my life and in the ministry He has called me to do. What I have realized is that what you see in the picture is a life of sin. Plain and simple.

The picture above has caused my to be really isolated from friends, family and even myself. I have become so stale because I don't want to really do anything. I press forward of course, but the hunger and drive has been so far extinguished because of what you see. I would be a fool not understand that my kids are probably ashamed of me because of this. I would be a fool not to understand that my wife may not look at me the same way as she did when we first met. I was no where close to being this big 12 years ago. I feel really empty on the inside because the temple is too big!!!!!

So here I am, at 427 lbs. When I went home last month, the Lord really worked on my spirit. More accurately, the Lord has been working on me for awhile now. God has shown me that He loves me right now at 427. God is wanting me to do what I have been designed to do and that is to be INCREDIBLE. (INCREDIBLE meaning the ability, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to do extraordinary things.) The picture above is the one battle that I have been scared to fight. Well no more...

This is where I will start. The direction and goal is to lose 100 lbs in 8 months. There is a whole lot of cleaning and changing that I will have to undergo. This is no diet plan, this is a God plan. I have to change from the inside of the temple, the renovations of the temple start from within. So as I embark on this mission, I will chart my journey here. I will post all of my weigh-ins here, my daily food intake as well and my workout. I will also track my life here in this journey. Maybe we all can learn from this.