The Pound I found

Not sure where exactly but yesterday, somewhere, maybe in Burbank, CA or maybe somewhere in West LA, but sure enough somewhere along the way I found 1 pound. I went the the gym in the morning weighed myself and while the last time I weighed myself I was 260, which represented a 15lb loss so far, I was now weighing in at 261. I’m sure it was just what I needed because I worked extra hard at the gym, burned off almost 500 calories just in my cardio routine. My goal is to actually reach 500 calories burned while I am on the elliptical or the Precor machine. Then I go and lift weights. Some people say you should lift first, others say you should do the cardio. I have fallen into a routine where I do cardio first and that seems to work for me. I think mainly because that is my priority – to get my heart rate up and keep it up at a consistent rate for an extended period of time. That is how I will burn fat during the workout. Then I lift weights because building lean body mass is how I will burn fat at other times. At least this is the tiny little bit I have come to believe is true about losing weight.

I don’t want to lose 10lbs/week. Whenever I see people lose a lot of weight really fast they actually look unhealthy to me. Their heads seem disproportionate to their bodies somehow and they actually look like they’ve been starving themselves. They look emaciated. I love what the Jenny Craig program is teaching me. The goal is to lose 2 lbs/week, 20lbs in 10 weeks. I am right about on target with that. So the other thing that The Pound I Found did for me was that it kept me motivated. The phrase that comes to mind is the same concept that has kept me off Drugs and Alcohol for over 11 years now:

I’m not going out like that.

So yesterday I was good. For the most part. I wanted to make sure I was back on track with losing weight at a healthy rate. I had an appointment to meet with a new client and I knew I had to be in West LA to see my therapist and the appointment would go for about an hour. It didn’t make sense to drive all the way back to Burbank, CA so I planned on staying in West LA and working at a coffee shop called Insomnia.

Not as one of their employees – I brought my laptop and did some Nerd work. Based on this my incredible wife helped me pack up a salad and some fruit and suggested I get a sandwich at the coffee shop, but a healthy one. And that I did. I ordered a Turkey & Swiss sandwich that came with a small salad and was served with a vinigrette dressing. I had 2 fruits and my Jenny Craig Anytime bar. I also had a Cappucino and an Unsweetened Iced Tea which I sweetened with some equal. When it was time to go to my therapist I headed out of there with some time to spare so I parked and paid the Beverly Hills Parking Meter for the time. Then I walked around the corner about 1/4 mile to The Coffee bean and ordered another Cappucino. By the time I was sitting in my therapists office I thought I had relapsed on cocaine my head was spinning so fast from all of the caffeine. After therapy I did succumb to the temptation to stop at Mulberry Street Pizza, but here’s the thing. Instead of my usual 3-4 slices including a slice of “White” pizza which is loaded with Ricotta and mozzarella cheese, I just had 2 slices. One Cheese and one Pepperoni. I sprinkled on a little Garlic powder and a little oregano, nodded hello to the owner who recognizes me because I’ve become a regular there on Friday evenings, drank a Hawaiian Punch and I was on my way. It’s all about portion control. You can eat the things you love, just eat less of them and enjoy it more when you do. I really believe now that this is the whole secret to losing weight. As Americans we have been trained to be gluttonous. So let’s re-train ourselves to be moderators. Then we fill in the blanks so to speak with plenty of fruits and vegetables. I am really starting to love my fruit. They taste great, fill me up and I actually feel REALLY good when I am eating that stuff!

So I made sure I got home at a decent hour after a little partying with some coke and hookers. Just kidding I wanted to see if you were paying attention . I was home and in bed by 10:30 pm. This enabled me to get up at about 7am, do some writing, set up a new group on LinkedIn, send out a bunch of tweets – you know the usual things people do for an hour before going to the gym. And there I was again today weighing myself and guess what! I was actually 258. That’s right, 3 lbs less than yesterday. Of course there are many factors, but the point is that when I am focused, I can even cheat a little (like I did with the pizza) and still move things in the right direction. I don’t have to be rigid – it doesn’t have to be a “struggle”. In fact it shouldn’t be! It should be exciting. I have been focusing my thoughts, not on what I can’t do or on what I can’t eat, but on what I CAN do. For starters, I can lose weight. I can also fit into some close I was no longer able to fit into a couple of months ago – I had gone back to dressing more casually when I see clients and I don’t like that. I like dressing up so I can charge more! Most importantly I FEEL GREAT! Anybody who knows me knows I always feel great even before I lost any weight, but now, beleive it or not I feel even better. I really do have more energy and now I have officially weighed in below 260 which means 250 is coming really soon! I’m so happy and excited about weighing only 250!

So The Pound I Found was actually a good pound. Even though I found it, it was exactly what I needed to get me to want to push on and continue  on a good path. Most journeys are never straight up the mountain. Sometimes we go sideways, and sometimes we even have to take some steps down in order to move over and find the best path up – the one that helps us stay up on top and get the most out of the experience.  I hope you were inspired by this. I was and I had a lot of fun writing it and incorporating the pictures! Please post a comment about what you plan on doing today to balance and improve your life. And if you run a business and you are interested join my new group on Linked In called “The Well Balanced CEO“.

See you on the web!

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