Battle of the Bulge, Part 5: Results

Last November, I chronicled my attempt at weight loss, and at the time, I reported some success.  You can see the recaps here.

Likewise, I recently wrote on using an app named 10k Runner to get me into shape for an upcoming 10k run this summer.  

It's time for an update, as some milestones have been reached.

First, my diet has been maintained.  I'm eating much differently now, and it appears to have paid dividends.  Gone is any kind of junk, and not much goes into the pie hole without a good understanding of the calories and nutritional value associated with it.  A recent trip to the grocery store reflected the change that has been made:

  
Second, my running has progressed, but not without a lot of hard work.  Two weeks ago I completed a 5k - basically running for 35 minutes at a good pace.  At 3.1 miles, it was the longest I had ever run.  Upon completion of that run, my 10k Runner app had me running the following twenty minute run, three minute walk, and twenty minute run:

I felt this would be easy.  My 35 minute run was doable, and this new challenge was basically just tacking on another 5 minutes to the run - and even had a break in the middle!  However, for some reason, I could not finish this run.  In the second stage something would always start hurting me - quad, ankle, knee, hip - and I'd need to back off and walk.  It was frustrating and depressing.  

However, I had a discussion with a buddy that is a self-proclaimed running superhero (you can read about that here) and he advised a change in my gait and foot falls.  While it took proactive thought and dedication, the first time I applied them I knocked this run out.  I even put in an extra minute at the end to ensure that it was truly dead.  I've since progressed on, and have not run into any other walls, although I know they're out there.  I'm knocking on wood right now...

The third milestone reached is on the scale:  

For the first time since my senior year in high school, my weight starts with a "1."  I seriously thought the only way I'd see this again would be if I lost a limb or two.  When I first met my wife, I weighed 225.  On the day that we married, I weighed 230.  She's never known me like this.  And for once in a long, long time, the guy that I see when I look at a picture of me or when I look in the mirror looks like me, and not some fat version of me.  

It has been a long road:

But the road has been a successful one.  

I'm pretty much where I want to be from a weight standpoint.  Given my physical frame, it will be tough to drop a lot more.  I know, from a BMI perspective, I'm still considered "overweight," but when I weighed in for football my senior year, in the best shape of my life, I was 187 - still "overweight" from BMI standards.  To get to "normal" I'd need to get to 178.  That's not going to happen, at least not in the short term.  I can't afford to change over my wardrobe again.

It's been a nice problem to have.

Now I'm at maintenance.  But while the battle may not be a full fledged war, it is still a fight, and it still is being waged.