September 20th, 2011 | 12 comments | 3Ring Media, Getting Fit, Skydiving

No but really, as the title would suggest, Facebook has done a tremendous job of holding me accountable for staying on track with this new healthy lifestyle thing. Not kidding. I’d like to give you a demonstration.

July 9, 2011

September 10, 2011

I think it is abundantly clear that of the 18 (YES 18 HOLY SHIT POUNDS) pounds I’ve lost so far – a good chunk of that is in my face. Granted, I’m pretty sure I was even more fat in the face than I was in that picture because it wasn’t until the end of July that I was totally disgusted with how I’d let myself go and decided I need a change. But regardless, you can see the progress. Both of these photos, both horrendous and delightful, courtesy of THEE Becky Johns (see also: Becky Johns Photography).

I’ve been holding steady around 17-18 pounds lost for a week now. I had a few beers last Monday when we were in the city and it was crazy how much I could tell a difference on Tuesday. I’d never been able to actually see how bloated drinking makes me until earlier this week. Tuesday was ridiculous. I felt like absolute garbage and I was all puffy and gross. I had zero energy on Tuesday and skipped my workout – which made me feel even worse. By Wednesday I was still feeling bad about Tuesday, and we received some news about the boy’s best friend being in ICU up in New England, so I skipped Wednesday’s workout as well. Then Thursday morning, after a very long and emotional Wednesday night (his friend isn’t out of the woods yet, but making huge strides considering he was in a coma last week) I had a mini meltdown because our kitchen was a disaster and I had gotten off schedule with the workouts. Here I was, freaking out because two things I know I have control over in my life and I wasn’t doing either one of them.

So I got back on track last week. Surprisingly, the one thing that wasn’t really slipping was what I’m eating. I was still making smart choices on that side of things. This weekend, for the first time in months, I had some pizza, and it really just wasn’t as good as I remember it. It was delicious, don’t get me wrong, but I wasn’t splitting at 20″ “Party Pizza” with Barry in one sitting. #willpower

The Bucktown 5k is coming up quickly! Not this weekend, but the following, I’ll be headed out to the city for my first 5k. A couple people from the dropzone are racing as well, which will be awesome. And there is a ton of awesome stuff happening between now and then. Today is the 2nd Annual Freefall University Tattoo Party at Twisted Tattoo in Chicago. Our friend and fellow skydiver, Pete, owns the shop and shuts it down for skydivers only around this time each year. I have a super sweet design in mind and can’t wait to see how Ben takes it and runs with it. He does the boy’s tattoos as well as our friend Tim’s masterpieces, so I’m familiar with his style and I think he could really run with this. But I’ll let the suspense get to you, pictures to come after it’s done.

Next Thursday and Friday is the Freefall University Tunnel Camp, which also happens to coincide with the Great American Beer Festival. Coincidence? I think not. The boy and I and several recent graduates and experienced jumpers at CSC are headed out to visit our friends at SkyVenture Colorado to fly in the indoor wind tunnel. Wind tunnels are great for people who want to experience the feeling of freefall without the whole jumping out of planes thing, as well as a very valuable training tool for experienced jumpers. The boy and I will be flying together for 30 minutes, which is like doing 30 skydives. He’s working up a training program for us to go through during each of our sessions. I remember I went last year with 40-something jumps and it was absolutely amazing to see the progress I made after 30 minutes. I can’t wait to see that again, especially now that I’m more familiar with how to fly in the sky and I’ve already done some tunnel time so I don’t have to use the first couple of minutes getting used to flying in one.

18 pounds. That’s more than 1/10th of my starting body weight. When you put it into perspective like that, it makes it feel that much better. 30 pounds is the original goal, but after meeting with the doctor, she thinks an additional 10 is doable and would put me in my absolute best position ever. That’s why I like this doctor, she isn’t like “okay, drop 10 and you won’t be ‘at risk’ anymore” but she tells me, “okay, 30 pounds total is great, but make it 40 and you’re in optimal condition.”

Optimal sounds pretty awesome.

In other news, have you had a chance to see the beautiful 3Ring Media logos that Chris Peterson whipped up for me?

The "stand alone" logo that will be recognizable like the Starbucks lady. Right.

TA DAAAAAAA! - This is the main logo that I'm plastering all over everything.

So what’s new with you guys? I know Pat ran his first 5k, what is everyone else up to? If you’re on the weight loss train, how is it going? Even if you’re not, have you tried anything new lately? If you’re a runner, do you have recommendations for gloves and something to keep my ears warm?