Matt's Weight Loss Odyssey: Part 11 (Heavy)

When I started this process 11 months ago, I was hellbent on losing weight. At the time, lifting weights wasn't even on my radar. Either I was on the elliptical for awhile each night, or I threw some basketball into the mix.

Well, I've lost almost 90 pounds. I still have quite a gut, but partially with the encouragement of friends, I'm taking the next step and lifting weights.

I started last Monday, getting a few reps in on the bench press. I wasn't able to get back to lifting until Friday, which should give you an idea of how little upper body strength I have. I ended up going back Saturday and continuing work on my arms with a few different machines. And you know what? It's not the day after that's bad -- it's the day after the day after.

So tonight, with my arms and chest still tight from Saturday, I went to work on my legs after a trip on the elliptical.

Thanks to 11 months on an elliptical machine and the fact that they've had to support all that weight all these years, my legs are pretty strong. Always have been. So on most of the machines, I didn't have to push myself too hard.

I rounded out the night with about 15 minutes of one-on-none basketball, and I was dismal. Still reeling from lifting weights on Saturday, a good portion of my shots airballed by six inches to a foot. Dusty, with whom I play basketball most often, will tell you that's normal. Well, he would be wrong.

And I ran around pretty well, retrieving missed shots from all corners of the gym. I even told Dusty as I came back to the apartment that my legs weren't that tired and that I could have pushed myself harder.

Then I sat down to check e-mail, MySpace messages and Blazers news. Once I got up from that, KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS THAT HURT, in the words of Ron Burgendy. My legs will not be liking me tomorrow. They're already grumbling. But while I'm getting trim and fit, why not get SOME definition going, right?

But that's my general goal from here on out. I adjusted my work schedule so I can adjust my workout schedule and give myself more gym time each night. Today is a model for how I'd like it to go at least three days a week -- elliptical, weights, basketball. The other two or three days, I'll stick with the elliptical or basketball (or both). I don't want to overdo it with the weights.

The last time I tried lifting weights in 2004, I did so for about a month or two, and I noticed, at one point, a small bulge pop up in my arm -- real live muscle! So I'm hoping to continue what I started two years ago the WSU Vancouver gym.

It's a little harder for me now, because I'm so new to this, and there are so many people around. When I worked out at WSU Vancouver, Brian and I usually had the gym to ourselves, and I was less afraid around one of my best friends. Now? Seeing kids five years my junior walking around with well-defined arms and benching more than I ... it's a little discouraging. But I've slowly realized that, at the gym: 1) no one is there to make fun of you, it's an encouraging enviornment, and 2) people don't pay much attention to you. So that makes things easier.

I also started doing crunches today. After 20 (4 reps of 5 ... 2 reps were with my legs kinda crossed and bending right or left on my way up), my abs are wow.

***

People ask me what weight I'm aiming for or what my goal is. And the most specific I can ever get is "healthy." See, I've never been skinny -- go back to kindegarten, and I was rockin' bigger shirts than most of my peers.

So let's say I lose another 50 pounds and get down to 230. I have no idea what I'll look like; I have pretty broad shoulders, and I am seriously just "big-boned" (hehe). So would I even LOOK healthy at 200 pounds? I don't know.

I don't quite know where I'm going with this lifestyle change I've embarked over the past 11 months, but my goals only get as specific as: lose fat, add muscle, live healthy-ish. I want to get comfortable enough to take my shirt off once in awhile. I want to be able to run up and down the court at the YMCA without getting pushed around or gasping for breath. I want to be able to ride my bicycle all over Vancouver.

When I started this process, I had a goal in mind for where I wanted to be at by January 2007, and I know I won't be there. But since starting, my priorities have shifted --- it's no longer about getting to a certain number by a certain time; that's ASKING for disaster, if you ask me. I've haven't been on that pace for a few months now, but once you lost 40-50 pounds, it gets harder to lose weight, because there's just less to lose.

And it's not like I'm eyeing a date or a milestone at which I can get off this high horse and go back to McDonalds. This is a lifestyle change. It's going to be with me as long as I live. I'll still be rocking the elliptical or playing basketball when I'm 30 and 40.

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One of the best feeling to come from this, aside the whole 'feeling and looking better' part of it, is that I've had a few people say something like, "well because of you, I've started walking more" or "After listening to you, I've been trying to eat less" or whatever. That kind of stuff makes me feel a little weird, but also good. I'm glad people are listening or reading and that maybe something I've said has been helpful. All I'm doing is talking about what helped me -- what worked for me might not work for anyone else. But for people to listen and become inspired, even if it's only a little bit ... wow. I mean, you don't even know.

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If all this seems a little to stream-of-concsious or whatever, that's because I'm getting all my thoughts down now, so when the time comes for me to do something else with this ... whatever that may be ... I won't have to scratch my head and wonder what I thought, say, when I started lifting. Because I don't know what will become of this, but I'm sure it'll wind up as something else someday.