2.24.2007

"Seemingly Lax"

Those words have stuck with me since yesterday, when Billy wrote them in my comments box.

I know that adverb "seemingly" allows for some wiggle room, so I'm not going to get too worked up, but essentially, "seemingly lax" means "I view you as being lazy". Honestly, I take some offense to that.

I'm a firm believer in "No Excuses". And I think that goes both ways. I went two weeks hovering between 324 and 326 on my 5-day average. I made no excuses for my plateau. I was eating badly, and my workouts were half-assed. But then, out of nowhere, I drop to 323, then 320, and now, my 5-day has dropped to 319. And instead of being happy and celebrating, I find myself having to justify my weight loss.

And just like I made no excuses for myself for being stuck in the mid-320's, I also make no excuses for dropping to 319.

And then to see that it's a possibility that people might take some joy out of my "uppance coming" soon? Again, allow to me translate: You're uppance will come = you'll get what you deserve.

People, I AM getting what I deserve.

I spent the last five years of my life eating 6,000 calorie dinners. Four double cheeseburgers, a medium fry, maybe a shake, and 1/2 - 1 box of Little Debbie snacks. I did that easily 8-10 times per month. I'd eat a whoile large pizza for lunch, and a family size chinese dinner for supper.

Then, in November - with no money for a gym, no money for a trainer, no weight set, staying at home with two kids, working two jobs, looking for more work - I started the process of rectifying my previous mistakes. Was I perfect all the time? Hell no. But I ALWAYS picked myself up, dusted myself off, and went back at it. My eating habits are 150% better than what they were five months ago. I am more active now than I've been since September of 2004.

And I'm seeing results.

I may not be doing it the way everybody else is. I might be seeing some quicker results in certain areas. But I'm not pissed at any of you for having resources that I don't have. I'm not pissed at any of you who aren't married with kids and two jobs. I sure don't sit here thinking "Well, when the money for the gym membership runs out, THEN his uppance will come!"

We're in this together. Either be happy when one of us makes a stride, or be pissed and "jokingly" wish ill on their transformation.

I make absolutley NO apologies for losing 41 pounds since January. And I make NO apologies for losing 28 since Thanksgiving. You might not like the way I'm doing things. And you might view me as "lazy" because I can't go to a gym. But I view it as a minor miracle that I have done what I've been able to do.

Now, excuse me as I list my new weights:

Today's Weigh-In: 319
5-Day: 319.9

Total Weight Lost Since January 2006: 40.1 Pounds
Total Weight Lost Since November 2006: 27.1 Pounds

7 comments:

Rob Tucker said...

All I'm going to address is the weights. That's a great number, and you should be proud of it.

I'll let others touch the rest of this post, Kev. Nice work.

Anonymous said...

Kev, you said it best yesterday: No two dieters are alike. What works for one doesn't necessarily work for the next. I've got to say, I'm completely jealous of Billy for the drastic changes I'm seeing in him in the time since he's started working out. I'm jealous of Rob because A) he's got a kick-ass trainer and B) his drive and motivation are intense. I'm jealous of Dave because he's got a gym in his basement and he can work out despite bad weather or long work days. I'm jealous of Kevin because he loses weight despite not having the ideal tools at his disposal. Even though others have something we want, I'm pretty sure that each of us have something the other wants. That's what makes us a good team. We can all feed off of the other members' strenths. Rob's motivation, Billy's advice, Kevin's will to lose weight, Dave's, Whyves', Mark's and Carl's encouragement...we can all benefit from everyone else's strengths.

We didn't pull "coalition" out of the hat and say "Hey, that looks like a cool name for a club."

Coalition
1. a combination or alliance, esp. a temporary one between persons, factions, states, etc.
2. a union into one body or mass; fusion.

We're a team, guys. There's no "I" in team. (Ok, I've always wanted to say that.) Anyway, we've all got a common goal - we need to continue supporting each other to help each of us reach that goal. ;)

Rob Tucker said...

After reading everything again.. I think you might have taken Billy's comment out of context. I read it a few times, and it seems as if he was just being playful with you.

As Beck said.. we're a team with a common goal, and Billy's been instrumental with helping us all get there (aka: the 5 day average). I can't imagine he meant anything more than jesting with you.

Take that anger/energy, and do some push-ups. Utilize it!

Kevin A. said...

Just so I'm clear, this isn't a Billy rant. He was just the most recent to make a comment, so I went with his words and built on it.

The post is based on a feeling that I've had recently that I'm being seen as lucky in this whole thing. It's been more than one person, on more than one occassion. In most of those cases, I can see it being a joke. But I also believe that if several people "joke" about it, then there is most likely some truth behind it.

I just wanted to lay it all out.

Billy, I apologize if it seems like a call out. It's not how I meant it at all.

billy said...

Hey Buddy,

Sorry I'm just responding now, I didn't have internet all weekend.

Anyway, I think you know that I was joking, just a bit of a prod (you had written "Rob is plotting my death" or something like that).

Anyway, you had written that for the last couple of weeks you had only worked out 2 or 3 times, and had a few bad diet days. And despite this, you lost some weight. It's not that we aren't happy for you, but we're jealous!

Anyway, I'm not sure where all this is coming from, but it's cool, we all need to vent sometimes. I surely didn't mean for you to take offense.

We're here to support each other. Sometimes we need to push each other. If I posted something about only working out 2 or 3 times a week and cheating a lot, I'd want someone to make a comment. That's how we keep on each other.

Anyway, I hope we're cool.

Kevin A. said...

100% cool.

Just had to vent, like you said.

Rob Tucker said...

You two should get a room.

I keed, I keed :)