Hit bottom or hit the top

Early in June I hit the bottom or should I say the top. The top of the scale on top of a mountain - an all time high 326 lbs! In early June I went on a 4 mile hike with my daughter and her church group for a practice hike - up Rattle Snake Ridge in North Bend WA (2 miles up hill and 2 miles down). The crazy part of this - was it was considered a beginners hike (what – beginner? I don’t think so). About half way up I wasn’t sure if I’d make it. At a few points along the way I started to wonder what would happen if I went into cardiac arrest on this winding trail. I would have really felt bad for those guys that would have to attempt to move me down the hill dead or alive. I started to think about my family and the mess I’d leave them with if I was gone. Allot of things crossed my mind – many points along the way the thought came to me to just stop and turn back and go down the hill. Something deep inside kept pushing me up that hill – maybe it was that pioneer spirit of those in my family that walked across the plains from Illinois to Utah by foot in the blazing heat and in the freezing cold. Maybe they supported me – who knows, the end result is I made it. I made it to the top and it was an amazing view. I felt a real sense of accomplishment when I arrived at the top.

When I reach my goal I will go back up to the top and take an after photo.

Over the past 8 month I have watched my wife Cyndi pushing herself to lose 55 lbs and get into amazing shape. She has always been a great example to me in many ways. It’s been very impressive to watch and the sad part is I sat on the couch and watched when I should have got myself up and run next to her. Instead I just sat there unable to emotionally get my butt off the couch and do something. The sad part of putting on the pounds – you become very, very sedentary, depression sets in as well. Seeing myself in the mirror was becoming very depressing. I really don’t see myself as that person in the mirror. In some way’s I think that is good. I see myself (when not looking in the mirror) as that young 21 years old @ 215 lbs. However when you put the measuring tape around and you are almost at the end - something needs to be done!


I decided on that ridge I need to put aside whatever it was that was holding me back from making a move and decide to live! So I made a commitment that I was going to make a change and get off the couch. I gave up soda pop – specifically mountain dew (funny that mountain dew was the first to go). Replacing the pop with water.


With the help of my son Tyler we set up an eating plan. I started to do a little walking. Near the end of June I was still not making the progress I wanted to make and needed to step it up. I had watched the Jillian Michaels show and noticed a device the people were wearing on their arms – called the “Bodybugg”. I started to look into what this thing was and what it could do. I made the commitment to try it. What did I have to lose - $190.00 and 101 lbs. Making that small investment helped me be motivated not to just buy it and put it on the shelf. I also joined the Redmond Athletic Club.


With the Bodybugg I am now on day 30 as of July 26th. I have lost since I started this journey 40 days ago 15 lbs. 11 of the 15 lbs using the bodybugg. It may not be the numbers you hear about on TV reality shows – it’s steady progress in the right direction and I am feeling better and my clothes are starting to fit better. The Bodybugg device monitors the number of calories you burn in a day and the number of steps you take, the amount of time spend perform physical activity. With the device comes a 6 month membership to a website. Without it the device is of no value. The website myapex.com allows you to keep track of the food and calories you consume, the number of a calories burned (using the bugg) the site calculates the deficit of surplus calories. For me, it helps me to see my activity to know if I need to step up the pace that day and or cut back on my intake of food. Keeping track of my intake has also helped me see that it really doesn’t take much to eat more calories than my body needs keeping me at or above my goal. The program also allows me to set my goals and track my progress including measurements. I have also found out that too few of calories causes your body to not burn fat or go into what is called starvation mode in which your body stores what is consumed because it thinks your starving even if you are actually showing a burn.


I am 6 feet 4 inches tall and my goal weight is to be 225 lbs. I have a long way to go to reach my goal, but seeing the progress and having the ability to monitor my activity is really helping me stay motivated. I want to thank my family for keeping me going and motivated. They say if you make it 45 days doing something it becomes a habit. I am almost there.


Putting this out on in front of everyone will become a little harder to give up and go back. I am not the best at posting to this place, but I will try and update on occasion.