Wow. It’s hard to believe that 10 years have already gone by since I graduated from high school. In some ways, it seems like almost yesterday. In others, it seems like ages ago.

Now, I’m not one of those people who looks back at high school as being some of the best years of their lives, always wanting to go back and relive their “glory days”, but I do think it will be fun to see some of these people who I haven’t seen in 10 years. Even though I played both football and basketball in high school, I was never terribly popular. And even though I was overweight throughout high school, I didn’t really get picked on for that. Mostly, I just had a small group of close friends – some of whom I’m still in touch with, others not.

When I graduated high school, I weighed around 260 pounds. My reunion isn’t until August, meaning that I’ll likely be walking into my reunion weighing 50-60 pounds less than when I graduated, which will be a pretty amazing feeling. I certainly didn’t set out to lose weight specifically because of my reunion – it’s more like icing on the cake.

I don’t feel like I’ve got anything to prove, or that I need to show off to an ex-girlfriend, or anything like that, but I think it will be a great feeling to show up at that reunion so much healthier and happier than I was 10 years ago.

Photo by m00by

One of my favorite outdoor activities during the summer is hiking. I love to get outside, stretch my legs, and enjoy all the rugged beauty that Alaska has to offer. And we have TONS of hiking trails, so you’d be pretty hard-pressed to get bored hiking the same ones all the time. Anchorage is a relatively large city (about 280,000 people), and there are over 400 miles of trails within the city limits, with countless more within a short driving distance outside of town. The Coastal Trail (one of my favorites) alone provides 11 miles of amazing views that follows the inlet around Anchorage.

As much as I enjoy hiking, my weight has really held me back in recent years. I find I have a much tougher time going up steep hills, get winded more easily, and have to take breaks more often – all things that make it just that much more difficult for me to enjoy myself.

One of the things I look forward to the most in terms of my weight loss and new healthy lifestyle is being able to hike more, and being able to enjoy myself more when I’m out there hiking about.

About 10 years ago, my father and I hiked the Chilkoot Trail (33 miles through Alaskan & Canadian mountains over 4 days), a historic trail that follows the path taken by prospectors hoping to strike it rich during the Klondike Gold Rush of the 1890′s. I really enjoyed the hike, but it really kicked my ass at the time. And I wasn’t nearly as overweight then as I was when I started this journey January 1. But I was still probably 50-60 pounds overweight at the time, and when you’re also carrying a 40+ pound pack on your back, that’s a LOT of extra weight to lug through the mountains for 4 days.

Well, my dad recently informed me that for his 50th birthday (which will be in July 2012), he wants to hike Chilkoot again. This gives me plenty of time to continue to get myself in shape. I should have long-reached my goal weight at that point – the challenge, of course, will be maintaining my new healthy lifestyle and keeping the weight off. Considering the weight I will have lost, and the fact that I’ve learned to pack a little wiser since the last time we hiked Chilkoot, I figure that I’ll be carrying about 80-100 pounds less next time around. Combine that with the better shape I’ll be in from regular exercise, and this thing should be a cake walk! Ok, maybe not that easy, but definitely a lot easier than the last time around. I mean, did I show you the mountain that we have to hike up?

The longest, steepest climb on the Chilkoot Trail, called The Golden Stairs

What about you? What activities do you look forward to being able to enjoy more, where your excess weight has been holding you back?

(Note: I actually had this post written up and scheduled to go live today before I learned about national Wear Red Day last Friday – I suppose I should have posted this a few days sooner, oh well… I guess it still works since February is American Heart Month)

We all know that being overweight isn’t exactly good for us. But being overweight also greatly increases your risk for heart disease. Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death, but there is good news:

“Of all heart disease we experience, 80 percent is preventable.”

Dr. C. Noel Bairey Merz,
Director of the Women’s Heart Center and
Preventive and Rehabilitative Cardiac Center,
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles

While heart disease is largely preventable, it still effects far too many of us. My uncle (who’s always been a pretty big guy) had a heart attack in his early 40′s. It was a big wake up call for him at the time, but I’m sad to say that for the most part, he’s back to his old ways, measuring 6’6″ tall but weighing well over 300 pounds.

I’m not going to wait for a heart attack to be my wakeup call. I’m going to do something about it now. Obviously, losing weight and being active is a great start, but what else can you do to improve your heart health? Here’s a list of tips I put together from a number of different sources:

• Stop smoking. Quitting smoking is the single most important thing a person can do to live longer. If you are a smoker, you are twice as likely to have a heart attack than a non-smoker.
• Cut down on salt. Too much salt can cause high blood pressure, which increases the risk of developing coronary heart disease.
• Lower your alcohol consumption. Too much alcohol can damage the heart muscle, increase blood pressure and also lead to weight gain. However, drinking a little bit of alcohol—one drink a day for women, one or two a day for men—can raise HDL (good) cholesterol and reduce inflammation and blood clots.
• Eat plenty of fiber and good fat. New research suggests that inflammation of the arteries may be as big a risk factor for heart disease as clogging with cholesterol deposits. And a high-fiber diet featuring plenty of beneficial fats proved better at controlling that damaging inflammation than the standard low-fat diet, according to a recent two-year clinical trial. Good sources of fiber include fruits, legumes, nuts, whole grains, vegetables, barley, beans, and oats. As for fat, choose high-omega-3 but low-mercury fish such as salmon, sardines, and trout, and vegetable oils such as canola, olive, safflower, and soybean.
• Eat more lean meats. Cutting back on animal protein, including red meat — a source of cholesterol-boosting saturated fats and naturally occurring trans fats — is recommended in heart-healthy diets because it can increase artery-clogging lipids in the blood. Easy substitutions include fish, skinless poultry, beans, and legumes. Fish in particular is beneficial for your heart. Two servings per week of fish that is high in omega-3 fatty acids — for example, salmon and herring — reduces your risk of dying of a heart attack by a third or more.
• Calm down. Negative emotions, such as stress or panic attacks, trigger the release of hormones that can threaten your heart; studies show that people who experience those troubles have more heart attacks and strokes than calmer, more cheerful types. Curbing negative emotions is almost as good for your heart as proper diet and exercising.

Sources:

• Top 10 tips for a healthy heart (Guardian)
• Ten tips for a healthy heart (Consumer Reports)
• Tips for a Healthy Heart (Everyday Health)

Here’s hoping that everyone has a heart healthy February (and beyond)!

Me at the beach in Jamaica in 2005, when I weighed 30-40 pounds less than I do today (and likely sucking my gut in for this photo).

Let’s face it – nobody likes looking at a half-naked fat ass on the beach. It tends to churn the stomach, scare small children, make dogs whimper, or at the very least, cause people to uncomfortably look away.

While I live in Alaska and don’t exactly make it to the beach on a regular basis, we usually take at least one vacation a year to someplace warm that typically involves a beach. And while I enjoy going to the beach as much as the next person, I’ve always been pretty self conscious about taking my shirt off and just walking around in swim trunks. Often times, I’ll end up wearing a tank top around (even in the water), instead of going shirtless.

I certainly don’t need to have the most perfectly ripped and toned body with 3.7% body fat before I’ll feel comfortable going shirtless at the beach, but I do need to get down to a respectable weight before you’ll see me happily taking my shirt off in public.

I guess this isn’t limited to just the beach, but really any sort of social situation that calls for me to go shirtless – the pool, a shirts-and-skins basketball game, or helping my buddies spell out our team’s name on our bellies at a hockey game.

One thing I can promise you though – no matter how much weight I lose, and how good of shape I get in, you will never catch me in one of these at the beach:

When my wife and I got married in 2004, we both went on diets for about 6 months before the wedding to lose some extra weight. While we looked great in the wedding photos, there was one drawback that we hadn’t thought about before – the size of our wedding rings.

At the time of our wedding, I weighed about 220 pounds, which is nearly 50 pounds less than I weigh today, meaning that my fingers were quite a bit thinner back then when we bought our rings.

You can see in the photo above what my wedding ring looks like when I’m wearing it. On the left, you can see how tight it is on my finger. After only a few minutes, it’s left a nice impression on my finger, as you can see on the right.

I often have trouble getting my ring on and off. As a result, I don’t wear it as often as I’d like. My wife keeps telling me that I should just go and get it resized, but that feels like accepting defeat to me. I’m very much dedicated to losing weight, and keeping it off, by living a healthy lifestyle.

Having my wedding ring fit comfortably again will be a sure sign that I’m well on my way to a healthy weight.

Over the past 3-4 years, I’ve had a number of lingering issues with my back. During that time, I’ve had 4 “incidents” where I’ve been in so much pain, I haven’t been able to get out of bed for several days.

I’ve gone to see a chiropractor, and while they’ve been able to help with the pain, and help me to better understand how my back works and how to avoid these issues in the future, I truly believe one of the largest factors that is under my control is my weight. If I’m carrying around an extra 70+ pounds, that’s just that much more stress that’s being placed on my back. Every pound I can lose is an extra pound of relief to my back.

One of the hardest things for me to deal with when I’ve hurt my back in the past is not being able to pick up my kids. Seeing the look in my son’s eyes when I have to tell him no is heartbreaking. In the past, it usually takes me at least a week to 10 days to get back to feeling normal enough to pick up my kids. I hate that feeling, and it makes my wife’s life that much more difficult as well, since she has to pick up all the slack.

Being able to rid myself of back pain (or at least severely decrease it) is one of my biggest motivators to lose weight and get in shape.

I am the father of 2 – a 2 year old son, and a 1 month old daughter. They are my biggest motivation for wanting to lose weight and live a more healthy lifestyle.

I want to be able to more easily run around and play with them without having to say “sorry kids, daddy has to take a break”.

I want to set a good example for my kids, showing them by example how to eat healthy and live a healthy, active lifestyle.

I want my kids to grow up in a house where the whole family is active together on a regular basis, whether it’s hiking, playing sports, or just taking a walk to the park.

I don’t want my kids growing up eating junk food and sitting in the house playing video games or watching TV all day.

Most of all, I want to make sure that I’m always around for my kids. Obviously, I won’t always be around, but I want to increase my chances as much as possible of dieing of old age 50+ years from now.