Fat Guy Skinny Wallet

100 Push Ups Challenge: Round 2 – Jazzwife & Mica

Fat Guy — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:27:18 +0000

100 Push Ups Challenge: Round 2 – Jazzwife & Mica is a post from: Fat Guy Skinny Wallet. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

It’s time for another push up video! We are at the end of the second round, and I am really proud of the challengers for their progress. For those of you who missed it, here is a recap of how everyone did during the first round. We had 20 challengers sign up and send in an initial video, although, we had less for the second round.

Even if you are not one of the official challengers, you can still take part in the 100 push ups challenge and keep me updated on your progress via email. I am hoping to see a lot of people decide to “unofficially” join the challenge – especially with all of the New Year resolutions that people made this year.

So far we have seen YFS make a 20-push up jump from his first round performance, and then Alexis & Katy posted gains as did Roseline & Hypermommy. Even Fat Guy (that’s me!!!) was able to get a 213% increase from round 1!

Now we are going to look at two more ladies who had a lot of room for improvement after the first round .

First up we have Jazzwife. She did better than she expected in the first round, and I am hoping for an improvement in her 2nd video.

Name: Jazzwife

Height: 5’6″

Weight: Not Given

Reason for joining the challenge: “Strength Training and Weight Loss.”

# of Consecutive Push Ups in First Video: 12 (modified)

Here is a direct link to her video on YouTube.

Next up we have Mica. She was only able to do 4 modified in her first video, but she promised to do much better in this one. I’ll let you be the judge of that!

Name: Mica

Height: 5’5″

Weight: Not Given

Reason for joining the challenge: “Weight loss initially but I love this challenge and am looking for a support group.”

# of Consecutive Push Ups in First Video: 4 (modified)

Here is a direct link to her video on YouTube.

So I have to admit that I’m a little disappointed to still see modified push ups for the 2nd round, but at least she was able to do more this time.

Be sure to cheer all of the challengers on, and give them encouragement and tips.

Also, don’t forget that I have opened up the Fat Guy, Skinny Wallet Facebook page for your tips, trash talking, encouragement, advice, questions, and routines! Just go to http://fatguyonfacebook.com, hit “like”, and get a discussion started.

My Week 25 Weigh In…Is 250 Laughing At Me?

Fat Guy — Mon, 14 May 2012 16:16:16 +0000

My Week 25 Weigh In…Is 250 Laughing At Me? is a post from: Fat Guy Skinny Wallet. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

Last week was another great week. Even though we went to Moe’s Southwest Grill for dinner one day last week, we still managed to eat extremely well. I am still fine-tuning my vegetable/fruit juice mix (garlic, ginger, and lemons are so overpowering); but I am really excited to be juicing almost every day!

I also worked out and/or ran every day last week. I decided to stick with the 2nd DVD in the Debbie Siebers’ Slim in 6 series (Ramp it Up), instead of doing my normal “marine workout“ (ok, it’s not really a workout taken from the USMC or anything, but since my marine buddy showed it to me, that’s what I’ll call it). The workout is hard, especially because Debbie works your entire body, but that is why I enjoy it so much!

We have also been watching a bunch of documentaries about the food industry or just health in general, and they have kept us motivated to stay on track.

I am still extremely happy with my new job, and I actually feel as though I am making a contribution already. I haven’t done any push ups at work yet, so it will be interesting to see how they react to that (hopefully, no one will walk by my office when I do them) .

I have had so much energy this week, and it feels great to know that I am treating my body better than ever!

There have been some changes to our finances and financial management as well, but I’ll talk about those details later this week.

I didn’t get to do 100 push ups every day last week; mainly because the main workout works my shoulders and triceps so much. I want to do it this week, but I will probably wait until the evenings. I put up my 2nd push up video for the 100 push ups challenge as well; I managed to improve on my first round score of 8 (you’ll have to click through to the video to see how many I did this time ).

Since I set a pretty much impossible goal 2 weeks ago – to lose 22.8 lbs by Memorial Day weekend (approximately 21 days) – I am really thinking about breaking the scale! Instead, I’ll just work hard and see what happens (you can click on any week to see the details)…

Now On To The Weigh In

Week 0 (First Weigh In) – 287

Week 1 -280.0

Week 2 – 279.2

Week 3 – 278.0

Week 4– 276.4

Week 5 – 270.8

Week 6 – 269.0

Week 7 – 267.4

Week 8 – 266.6

Week 9 – 262.4

Week 10 – 261.2

Week 11 – 259.0

Week 12 – 258.6

Week 13 – 260.0

Week 14 – 256.2

Week 15 – 258.4

Week 16 – 256.0

Week 17 – 254.0

Week 18 – 257.0

Week 19 – 255.2

Week 20 – 258.0

Week 22 – 256.2

Week 23 – 259.8

Week 24 – 253.8

Week 25 – 251.4

As you can see, my extremely short-term goal of getting under 250 lbs has eluded me once again. I really think that 250 is sitting somewhere laughing at me! It’s a barrier that I haven’t crossed since I had my first (and only) Crohn’s flair up and lost 50 lbs in 6 weeks!

I managed to lose 2.4 lbs last week, so I don’t feel bad about my efforts at all. I am so close to being in the 240′s, that I can taste it. In order to meet my Memorial Day Weekend goal, I still have to lose about 14.4 lbs over the next 11 days! Again, it probably won’t happen, but that doesn’t mean I won’t push myself to meet my goal – in a healthy manner, of course.

This brings my 25-week weight loss total to 35.6 lbs, and 40.6 lbs from my all-time high. Being down over 40 lbs from my highest weight is a big accomplishment, and it makes me feel that all of this hard work has been worth it.

One of my best friends has lost nearly 10 lbs in 2 weeks, so please head over to her new blog and give her some encouragement.

photo by David Castillo Dominici

Welcome To Moe’s!!!

Fat Guy — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:45:00 +0000

Welcome To Moe’s!!! is a post from: Fat Guy Skinny Wallet. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

Some of you may know exactly what this post is about, simply from reading the title. If not, that means that you probably have never been to Moe’s Southwest Grill. They are known for using fresh, [mostly] healthy ingredients to prepare southwestern food (tacos, burritos, nachos, etc). If you’ve ever been to Chipotle’s or one of those “fresh taco” types of places, it’s pretty much the same thing. Whenever a new customer walks in, all of the employees yell, “Welcome to Moe’s” – something they all seem to dislike!

Well, that is where my wife and I went for dinner last night. There is one about 3 minutes away from our house. We are not 100% opposed to eating from a restaurant (even as I try to lose weight), but we try to make wise choices. It’s not just about our health, but also our bank account.

We figured that Moe’s would provide a break from what has become our normal routine – the ingredients are pretty healthy (except for the sodium), and it’s not too expensive. Unfortunately, we let our taste buds get the best of us, and we didn’t fully research our options.

I knew what I wanted, and I did an estimate in my head regarding the calories, carbs, and fiber. Since I only had about 600 calories before dinner, I figured that I would be fine with a meal that came in a little under 1,000 calories. Unfortunately, I didn’t consider the chips & queso that come with most meals. I just looked at the website, and I noticed a nutritional calculator there. It looks like I had about 1350 calories for dinner last night!!!

I won’t make that mistake again! Next time I eat a meal that wasn’t prepared in our home, I want to be sure that I have the best option. I still had under 2,000 calories for the day, but I am disappointed that I allowed my appetite to stop me from exercising more caution and control.

Oh, I just realized that I forgot to tell you what I had (maybe that was on purpose )! I had a burrito with ground beef, rice, sour cream, cheese, lettuce, black olives, and jalepeno peppers.

A New Job, Crazy Goals, A Ton of Energy, And My Week 24 Weigh In

Fat Guy — Tue, 08 May 2012 14:25:06 +0000

A New Job, Crazy Goals, A Ton of Energy, And My Week 24 Weigh In is a post from: Fat Guy Skinny Wallet. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

Last week was a very good week for me. I started a new job, worked out almost every day, a couple of my professional tax preparation clients received their returns, and I spent a lot of time with my wife. I had a wonderful weekend as well, and managed to get a lot done.

I had more energy throughout the week, and I managed to eat a lot better than I had in the past (even though I had made huge changes already). I feel like we are now refining our lifestyle to the point where we are able to make small changes, and see large results!

I made sure to do 100 push ups each day – it takes me about 12 or 13 minutes to do 100, and I am hoping to get that time down dramatically over the next week. I put up my 2nd push up video for the 100 push ups challenge as well; I managed to improve on my first round score of 8 (you’ll have to click through to the video to see how many I did this time ).

Since I set a pretty much impossible goal last week – to lose 22.8 lbs by Memorial Day weekend (approximately 21 days) – I am hoping that the scale is very kind to me. Let’s see what it says…

Now On To The Weigh In

Week 0 (First Weigh In) – 287

Week 1 -280.0

Week 2 – 279.2

Week 3 – 278.0

Week 4– 276.4

Week 5 – 270.8

Week 6 – 269.0

Week 7 – 267.4

Week 8 – 266.6

Week 9 – 262.4

Week 10 – 261.2

Week 11 – 259.0

Week 12 – 258.6

Week 13 – 260.0

Week 14 – 256.2

Week 15 – 258.4

Week 16 – 256.0

Week 17 – 254.0

Week 18 – 257.0

Week 19 – 255.2

Week 20 – 258.0

Week 22 – 256.2

Week 23 – 259.8

Week 24 – 253.8!!!

I managed to lose 6 lbs last week! Now, before I get yelled at for doing something extreme (yes, I’m looking at you, Kelly ), let me assure you that all I did was work out every day and become more selective with my meals and snacks. So in order to meet my goal, I still have to lose about 17 lbs over the next 16 days! Again, it probably won’t happen, but that doesn’t mean I won’t push myself to meet my goal – in a healthy manner, of course.

I feel just as motivated as I did when I first began this leg of my journey back in the middle of November. In 2 weeks it will officially be 6 months since I started…let’s see how far I can go by then.

This brings my 24-week weight loss total to 33.2 lbs, and 38.2 lbs from my all-time high.

photo by David Castillo Dominici

Having A Great Weekend, With No Temptations!

Fat Guy — Mon, 07 May 2012 02:09:00 +0000

Having A Great Weekend, With No Temptations! is a post from: Fat Guy Skinny Wallet. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

My weekend was great! We had a great day on Saturday – we pretty much spent the entire day together – and talked about our plans to get healthier and other things. Then on Sunday, we had a wonderful day in church worshiping God with our church family. Then we had a great time talking with a lot of different people as well.

Saturday

Today has been a great day so far. I woke up sometime between 7 and 8am, and read a few chapters in 2 Chronicles (about Solomon’s reign) with my wife. I am so happy that God has allowed us to remain faithful to our daily bible reading – we have failed each year of our marriage so far! We’ve been sticking to it this year, and we are committed to finish it (and then start again next year).

After that, we moved on to our daily workout. However, instead of doing my normal “marine workout“, we decided to follow the 2nd DVD in the Debbie Siebers’ Slim in 6 series (Ramp it Up). I had only done the 2nd DVD once before, and I remembered it to be challenging, but I felt that my normal workout was better.

We usually do the warm up from this DVD, and then go into my normal workout. However, as we were starting the warmup, my wife suggested that we do the entire workout. I agreed because I figured that it was a chance to give my body a little break from what I normally do, and then I would just run for two laps around the block (about .9 miles each lap).

The workout is about 48 minutes long if you include the 4.5 minute warmup. For some reason, it was much harder than I remember. I think that’s because I probably didn’t give it my all whenever I did it in the past. My body felt completely drained after the 48 minutes. It was so good that I decided to do it at least every other day, alternating with my own workout.

I then went outside and went around the block, doing intervals of running and walking. I didn’t think I’d be able to do it since my muscles really felt taxed, but I was able to do it. In fact, I even tacked on another 0.3 miles at the end!

After that, my wife and I watched a documentary about a guy from Australia, who decided to take his health into his own hands by drastically changing his diet. He traveled around the US for 60 days, having nothing but fresh vegetable and fruit juice for his meals. He was under the care of a doctor, so it wasn’t just a crazy, wild idea. Since we were planning on juicing (actually, my wife has been doing it for a while now) together, we felt that it would be nice to watch it. It was very motivating, and I plan to do a review of it in the near future.

We then had our fresh juice, which consisted of kale, spinach, beets, ginger root, carrots, apples, parsley, a lemon, and garlic. Here is a picture of it below…

I know it looks really good, but looks can be deceiving . Actually, it wasn’t that bad, but the ginger and lemon flavors were too strong for me (just a personal preference). I’m sure I’ll find a good balance over time.

After having our juice, we were able to help a very close friend set up her blog about losing weight and living healthy. Be sure to click through and let me know what you think.

What was so great about this is that my wife handled all of the design aspects, and I took care of the technical parts. We made a great team, and we were able to finish up the site in a couple of hours. My friend is such a great writer and communicator, but she has been so apprehensive about starting a blog because she assumed it would be a lot of work. I am really happy that we were able to set everything up for her, and now all she has to do is write!

We were so into the site, that we didn’t even eat dinner. Once we thought about it, it was much too late for us to eat.

Sunday

Today was another great day. We started off with a full breakfast (instead of juicing again), since we knew that we would be in church for a while today. We didn’t want to get hungry and give in to temptation. For breakfast, I had eggs with Spanish olives, spinach, cayenne pepper, and feta cheese. Here is what it looked like…

We then went to our church to worship God with our church family, and hear great expository preaching from our pastor. We just started in the book of Ephesians, and our pastor preached a great message today looking at “What it Means to be A Christian”. You can actually take a look at the church’s blog to read notes from the sermon, and you’ll also find an audio recording of all of the sermons, listed on the website.

We also had the chance to fellowship with a number of people after the service as well. It was great to have another chance to get to know some of the people better; especially since we’ve only been going to this church for about 18 months.

We then came home and ate an early dinner, and I’ve been writing and doing other things for my sites ever since then.

I love being able to work together with my wife. Even when we are working on separate projects, it feels great to have her in the office with me! I’m actually looking at her right now and she has no idea that I’m watching her .

Tomorrow morning is my official weigh-in for the week. I really hope to see a big change from last week.

100 Push Ups Challenge: Round 2 – Fat Guy

Fat Guy — Fri, 04 May 2012 12:43:10 +0000

100 Push Ups Challenge: Round 2 – Fat Guy is a post from: Fat Guy Skinny Wallet. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

It’s time for another push up video! We are moving along in this second round (there is only 1 more post left after this one), and I am really proud of the challengers for their progress. For those of you who missed it, here is a recap of how everyone did during the first round. We had 20 challengers sign up and send in an initial video.

Some people have made great progress, and I even have had people who are not officially in the contest tell me about their improvements!

So far we have seen YFS make a 20-push up jump from his first round performance, and then Alexis & Katy posted gains as did Roseline & Hypermommy. After this video, you will then get to see two more ladies who both made improvements from their first video.

Here we go with my video. But first, I want you to see my first attempt because it was so pitiful. I am hoping that watching this will make my 2nd video look better .

Name: Fat Guy

Height: 5’6″

Weight: 287 in first video, currently 259.8

Reason for joining the challenge: “Strength Training, Weight Loss, and to avoid running a 10k!!!”

# of Consecutive Push Ups in First Video: 8

Please note: If you are reading this through email or a RSS feed, you will have to click through to the website (or on the link below) in order to see the videos.

Here is the direct link to my first Fat Guy push ups video on YouTube.

I struggled so hard in that video and I couldn’t even get to 10. I am hoping to be able to at least double the amount from my first video this time.

Well, I won’t bore you with a whole lot of talk about how I’ve been sick and busy recently, or how I injured myself running; I’ll just show you my latest attempt at doing push ups…

And here is the direct link to the 2nd round of Fat Guy push ups on YouTube.

Let me assure you that my chest was going down pretty far. I know it was hard to see that because of the hoodie (that’s what I always workout in), but you can also take a look at the angle of my arms to tell (they form a 90 degree angle when I drop down).

So…what do you think? Are you disappointed because I didn’t do more? Should I have said something either before or after?

Two New Short Term Goals And My Week 23 Weigh In

Fat Guy — Thu, 03 May 2012 17:59:08 +0000

Two New Short Term Goals And My Week 23 Weigh In is a post from: Fat Guy Skinny Wallet. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

Last week was the first full week that I spent injury and sickness free in a couple of months! My wife and I started making a much stronger effort to remove refined sugars and other processed foods 2 weeks ago, and I feel much better about what I am eating.

I was able to work out a few times last week, but it still wasn’t as often as I would like. It took about 7 or 8 weeks for me to lose the first 20 lbs, and that was with working out 6 days a week. I want to get back to that level and knock the rest of this weight off.

One thing that I am now doing is making sure that I get in 100 push ups, each day. Whatever I leave off at in my regular workout (usually between 55 and 70), I simply make up after I come back from running. This way I make sure to get the most out of my new workout routine, and continue to try to win the 100 push ups challenge!

I’m not sure what the scale is going to say, but since I feel that I am finally back on track with both my eating and working out (this week I’ve done it every day), I’ll accept whatever the scale says and just look forward to the next weigh-in.

Now On To The Weigh In

Week 0 (First Weigh In) – 287

Week 1 -280.0

Week 2 – 279.2

Week 3 – 278.0

Week 4– 276.4

Week 5 – 270.8

Week 6 – 269.0

Week 7 – 267.4

Week 8 – 266.6

Week 9 – 262.4

Week 10 – 261.2

Week 11 – 259.0

Week 12 – 258.6

Week 13 – 260.0

Week 14 – 256.2

Week 15 – 258.4

Week 16 – 256.0

Week 17 – 254.0

Week 18 – 257.0

Week 19 – 255.2

Week 20 – 258.0

Week 22 – 256.2

Week 23 – 259.8!!!

It looks like I actually gained over 3 lbs (3.6 to be exact) from the last week. I really can’t identify any 1 thing that I did wrong – I was taken to lunch everyday last week since it was my last week at my old job, but I made sure to order pretty healthy items (except for the nachos ). My workouts are more intense since I have added more exercises and reps, and I will add weights over the next month as well.

This brings my 23-week weight loss total to 27.2 lbs, and 32.2 lbs from my all-time high. I am expecting a big drop this week (I already peeked).

New Short Term Goals

So, that new short term goal that I mentioned in the title probably won’t happen, but I want to put it out there anyway. I am going to see some family members who I haven’t seen in almost a year during the Memorial Day weekend. I would love to be able to say that I’ve lost 50 lbs since the last time they saw me.

In order for me to do that, I would have to lose 22.8 lbs from my last official weigh-in in 3 weeks !!! That would bring me down to 237 lbs. It probably won’t happen, but I will still give it my best efforts – within reason. Also, my uncle – who happens to be in great shape (very athletic, and a retired captain of a fire department in the largest city in the state) challenged me to another push ups contest. Whoever can do the most by the holiday weekend wins. I want to be able to do 100 by that time.

So, lose 22.8 lbs and be able to do 100 push ups (by the way, I only did 8 in the first round of my official challenge)…all in 3 weeks! I’m not sure if that will be possible, but I’m willing to try. I’m sure I’ll be healthier for it.

What that also means is that I plan to do more frequent updates over the next few weeks, so you can track my progress.

photo by David Castillo Dominici

Planning A Financial Diet – Eat Healthy And Spend Less

Fat Guy — Wed, 02 May 2012 01:32:28 +0000

Planning A Financial Diet – Eat Healthy And Spend Less is a post from: Fat Guy Skinny Wallet. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

The following is a guest post giving tips on how to eat healthy and spend less…

Eat Healthy And Spend Less

Losing weight can come with some great health benefits – but have you ever thought about how eating better could also slim down your food bills?

Ditching the takeout, cakes, fast food and fizzy drinks is the obvious first step in dropping inches from your waistline – but putting yourself on a ‘financial diet’ could help you save some much-needed dollars too.

Let’s look at some practical, straightforward steps for planning a financial diet.

Eating Healthy And Spending Less

It’s something of a myth that eating well means spending more. Although it may seem more convenient to grab a burger on the way home from work or live mainly off frozen pizzas, it could end up taking its toll on your bank account – not to mention your waist size.

You could cut down on your food bills and still eat well by:

Shopping for fresh fruit and vegetables at the local market. Many supermarkets stock more expensive organic products, but a decent market stall could help you get all the essential greens you need at a fraction of the price.
Replacing often expensive desserts with affordable alternatives. Why not choose frozen yogurt over ice cream, or buy low-fat cream and butter instead of their full-fat counterparts?
Planning meals in advance – and freezing them. If you make a healthy, nutritious chilli or curry, make enough to last and freeze the extra portions for easy-to-prepare meals in the weeks to come.

Getting Your Finances Into Shape

There are all kinds of areas where you could budget more effectively to cut costs and improve your overall financial wellbeing.

Reviewing your financial situation and making any necessary changes could help you take a much more disciplined approach to your money.

Here are a few ideas:

Draw up a budget. Well-thought-out budgeting can go a long way to helping you make the best decisions with your money, by working out exactly how much money you earn every month and how you spend it.
Pay off any outstanding debts you have sooner rather than later. The longer you leave it, the more interest will accrue on your debts – which could put your finances under more pressure.
Work out what items in your shopping basket you could cut back on – or even cut out altogether. It’s often the little things that can eat into your monthly budget and leave your purse/wallet looking thin.

Just following a few of these ideas could help you improve your health and your wealth – and get your bank balance fighting fit for the year ahead.

Photo by Worradmu

I’m Starting A New Job, And Rejuvenating My Workout Routine!

Fat Guy — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 01:38:49 +0000

I’m Starting A New Job, And Rejuvenating My Workout Routine! is a post from: Fat Guy Skinny Wallet. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

I guess the title says it all. I have been intensely searching for a new job for the last few months. It has been quite an exhausting process for me and my wife. She was relentless in searching for the perfect job for me, and submitting applications (which took up to an hour for some of them) on my behalf!

Within the last 2 months I went on 3 interviews and was called in for a 4th, but that one was after I had already accepted the first offer. I was beginning to get discouraged because most of the companies weren’t responding at all, and when I did get a response, it was to tell me that they choose someone else.

I wasn’t only applying to jobs with other companies, but I was also open to moving to a different department within my current company. In fact, all of the interviews that I had were with various departments within Rutgers University (where I currently work).

The funny thing is that when I had the interview for the job that I accepted, I was extremely sick! I assumed that I did terrible in the interview, and since I hadn’t heard anything in about a month, I just moved on to the next search.

The next search landed me an interview on a Wednesday, and I received an email regarding the interview from the month earlier – she wanted me to call her as soon as I had free time. So, after my extremely successful hour and a half interview, I called and was offered the job over the phone. I had been praying ever since the initial interview about what my response would be if I was offered the job, and since I felt comfortable that this was God’s will, I immediately accepted it.

Of course, later that afternoon, I was asked to provide references for the job for which I interviewed for that morning. I let them know that I was no longer in the running since I had already accepted another job offer a few hours earlier. I later found out that they were willing to offer the job to me, as long as my references were in order. Then the next day, I had another department within the university call me to schedule an interview!

I think it’s amazing that after I had begun to get discouraged (after looking for a job for at least a year), I essentially received 2 offers on the same day! All of this happened the day after I made a serious commitment to God to be content with my current job, while searching for a new one. I had been very dissatisfied and sinful in my reactions to the situation at work over the past year, and I knew that I needed to repent and put my trust in God.

I’ve written in the past (on my site about money and the bible) about ways to develop contentment, the sin of being dissatisfied with God’s will (this was actually a devotion by J.C. Ryle), and about honoring God at work. It is very easy to focus on ourselves or on our problems whenever we face difficulties, but we need to fight that urge and focus on God!

Anyway, I do find it to be amazing that I received these 2 offers after I had repented and made a commitment to honor God. I’m not saying that a worldly blessing will always follow obedience – in fact, many times the opposite will happen – but I do think that it is easy to see God’s hand in this situation!

Workouts!

I am getting back to having my full workouts in the mornings now. I been out running a few times and haven’t gotten injured, plus I changed a few small details in my workout and I can notice the difference!

It feels great waking up early again to read the bible, pray, and then workout. I really need to break through this wall or plateau or whatever you want to call it!

Tomorrow morning is my next weigh-in, and I am hoping for a drop from the previous week. I guess we’ll find out how that goes tomorrow.

photo by digitalart

My Week 22 Weigh In – Are All Of The Setbacks Finally Behind Me?

Fat Guy — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 12:05:36 +0000

My Week 22 Weigh In – Are All Of The Setbacks Finally Behind Me? is a post from: Fat Guy Skinny Wallet. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

Over the past 2 months I have been injured, sick, and then extremely busy. Because of this, I have been sitting in the same 6 lb range for that time. Well, last week I made a few small changes in my diet in order to kick-start my weight loss again.

Don’t worry, I’m not doing anything dramatic – I’ve already removed many unhealthy things from my diet, and my wife and I are hardly eating any processed foods or refined sugars! What we have done over the past week is limit our carb intake to 20 grams per day. Actually, we are not counting fiber in that total, so we are really just limiting our sugar intake to 20 grams per day. For this coming week the total will go up to 60 – I believe that the average American diet contains over 300 grams of carbs per day (mostly sugars)!!!

I had a few great workouts last week, including a 100 push ups workout which left me sore for two days! I am still running, but I have added it to the end of my workouts only (instead of both beginning and end). This way, if I hurt myself running, it will be after I got in a great workout!

Even though “tax season” has technically ended, I am still doing a lot of work for my professional tax preparation business. That meant that I didn’t get as much rest as I would have liked, but hopefully that will change over the next few weeks.

I didn’t really expect the changes in my diet to have an impact on the scale within the first week, but I do think that it should be a little bit lower.

I was so swamped with work last week, that I actually forgot to weigh myself . So you will notice that my weigh-ins go from week 20 to week 22.

Now On To The Weigh In

Week 0 (First Weigh In) – 287

Week 1 -280.0

Week 2 – 279.2

Week 3 – 278.0

Week 4– 276.4

Week 5 – 270.8

Week 6 – 269.0

Week 7 – 267.4

Week 8 – 266.6

Week 9 – 262.4

Week 10 – 261.2

Week 11 – 259.0

Week 12 – 258.6

Week 13 – 260.0

Week 14 – 256.2

Week 15 – 258.4

Week 16 – 256.0

Week 17 – 254.0

Week 18 – 257.0

Week 19 – 255.2

Week 20 – 258.0

Week 22 – 256.2!!!

I lost 1.8 lbs since my last weigh-in, and I hope this is the beginning of another downward trend. My workouts are going to get more intense as I add more exercises and reps, and I will add weights over the next month as well. I’m really looking forward to this.

This brings my 20-week weight loss total to 30.8 lbs, and 35.8 lbs from my all-time high.

photo by David Castillo Dominici

The Sickness Is Finally Letting Up, My Body Is Changing, But My Week 20 Weigh In Was Still Disappointing

Fat Guy — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 11:54:15 +0000

The Sickness Is Finally Letting Up, My Body Is Changing, But My Week 20 Weigh In Was Still Disappointing is a post from: Fat Guy Skinny Wallet. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

I’m sure that you are getting tired of reading about how being sick has stopped me from exercising and eating as often as I need to. Well, you can’t be as tired of it as I am! My weight has fluctuated within a 6 lb range for the past 5 weeks or so.

An Update On My Health

Of course, I wasn’t sick for 5 weeks, but it was trying to be a fat guy running that caused a couple of injuries which held me back early on! I started feeling better over the weekend, and I even got in a great workout on Saturday; so I am hoping that this difficult stint is behind me, and I can get back to consistently losing weight.

The only thing left is to find time to rest. Over the past 2 months I had increased teaching responsibilities at my church, had more tasks ~~dumped on me~~ assigned to me at work, had a lot of technical problems arise on a few of my websites, and have now been hit with 4 pretty difficult returns for my professional tax preparation business! This is on top of waking up during the night with these 10-15 minute coughing spells over the past few weeks.

Because of all this, my mind and body is fighting to get some rest. It is going to be difficult to get back into waking up at 4:35 every morning to read the bible and pray with my wife, and then to workout…but I have to do it!

With only 1 day of working out during the week, I was already anticipating bad news from my scale. Even though I knew that I didn’t lose weight, I was still hoping for a better number…

Now On To The Weigh In

Week 0 (First Weigh In) – 287

Week 1 -280.0

Week 2 – 279.2

Week 3 – 278.0

Week 4– 276.4

Week 5 – 270.8

Week 6 – 269.0

Week 7 – 267.4

Week 8 – 266.6

Week 9 – 262.4

Week 10 – 261.2

Week 11 – 259.0

Week 12 – 258.6

Week 13 – 260.0

Week 14 – 256.2

Week 15 – 258.4

Week 16 – 256.0

Week 17 – 254.0

Week 18 – 257.0

Week 19 – 255.2

Week 20 – 258.0!!!

I gained 2.8 lbs over the past 7 days. That is a disappointing number, because I have seen it before. My weight is fluctuating between 254 and 260. I guess that is still better than the 285-290 range that I was in a few months ago.

This brings my 20-week weight loss total to 29.0 lbs, and 34.0 lbs from my all-time high.

…But My Body Is Changing!

Despite this rough patch that I’ve been in over the past 5 or 6 weeks, I can still see my body changing for the better. When looking in the mirror over the last few days, I noticed that my body not only looks smaller, but the structure has changed as well. I can actually feel and see muscles making their way through the fat as well!

I’ve had a few people tell me that I look much smaller as well. I saw my mother for the first time in a couple of months and she thought I had lost 50 lbs!!! My clothes fit different than they did even a month ago – which is amazing considering that my weight hasn’t changed in that time.

I think this picture says it all…

Yes, that is a picture of my belt. You may not be able to tell from the photo (click the picture to see a larger version), but I had to create a new hole in my belt that is nearly 3 1/2 inches from the last one! The funny thing is that I actually need to create another hole to make it fit better, but since the waist on my pants is so large, there would be too much fabric bunched up.

Maybe after another 50 lbs I can start buying new clothes…I guess I should start saving now!

photo by David Castillo Dominici

Why Having A Mortgage Preapproval Is Important

Fat Guy — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 21:39:07 +0000

Why Having A Mortgage Preapproval Is Important is a post from: Fat Guy Skinny Wallet. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

There are many reasons why we haven’t purchased a home as of yet. For one, we are still in debt bondage. In fact, since we have a long way to go before we can pay off debt in full, we won’t try to purchase a house for a long time (if ever).

However, if and when the time comes for us to buy a home, we will definitely get pre-approved for a mortgage (or just buy with cash )!

There are several benefits to having a pre-approved mortgage when you are shopping for a home. Here are a few…

A Mortgage Preapproval Can Narrow Down Your Options

By already knowing what you can afford, you can save yourself wasted time and aggravation that comes from looking at homes which are not in your price range. This is not only true when it comes to looking at particular types of homes – condos, townhouses, single-family, multi-family, etc – but it is also helpful for deciding on a neighborhood.

Actually, you will probably have to consider both location and dwelling type when looking for a home. Knowing how much you can borrow beforehand can help you make this decision. You may find that a condo in one city costs the same as a single-family home in another.

One way to do this without visiting a bank is to go online to get a preliminary figure (or range). You can use a tool such as the mortgage calculator from emortgagecalculator.co.uk while you are waiting for more official numbers from your bank. That way, even your “window shopping” can be more fruitful and targeted.

You Can Focus On The Details

By giving yourself less homes to evaluate, you can give yourself more time to pay attention to the small details, which may have gone overlooked if you had a larger list of potential homes.

Even when we looked for apartments each Spring over the last 6 years, we realized that you glossed over a lot of details while rushing from place to place. It wasn’t until we went back to the places which made the cut that we started to notice the dead stinkbugs in the window, or the lack of a linen closet, or the myriad of other things that can escape a first glace. Focusing on these details even helped us to save money on moving costs!

You can avoid glossing over these details if you only have a small list of places to visit. Ultimately, this will save you time, and it can also preventing you from making a hasty decision that you will regret for the next 30 years.

You Can Increase Your Bargaining Power

When compared with someone who hasn’t been pre-approved for a loan, you are definitely going to be taken more seriously. Both sellers and real estate brokers are going to understand that you are a serious buyer, and not just some couple killing time on a nice afternoon by going to an open house (yes, we’ve done that in the past ).

Once you state that you have been pre-approved, they will understand that your financial situation has already been examined and one or more mortgage lenders want to make you a loan. A seller would be more likely to accept your first offer, even if it is below the asking price, since they know that accepting it will mean that they can take their house off of the market and move on with their life!

Hopefully, when/if it becomes time for us to buy a home (if we need a mortgage) there will still be a large number of people who fail to get pre-approved for a mortgage. That way we’ll have a competitive advantage .

photo by renjith krishnan

An Inside Look At the WIC Program Of NJ

Fat Guy — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 12:12:33 +0000

An Inside Look At the WIC Program Of NJ is a post from: Fat Guy Skinny Wallet. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

The following post is by Melinda Muller, who is a Dietetic Technology student. She is volunteering at several community organizations that provide nutritional food and education to the general public. As she visits these organizations, she will chronicle her time there and give us valuable information regarding their mission and how we can help!

Last week she gave us an inside look at the Community Food Bank of New Jersey. This week she is writing to us about her experiences with the WIC Program of NJ…

The Purpose of This Series:

As a second-year Dietetic Technology student, I have been given the opportunity to visit several organizations in New Jersey that provide nutrition education and food to the general public. I plan to participate in volunteer work and glean nutrition information from Registered Dietitians at the sites.

I am interested in learning how the study of dietetics tangibly intersects with my community and what the sites, which I am scheduled to visit, offer the public. Before I became involved with dietetics, I had not heard of some of these organizations, let alone been aware of their functions. However, as this semester progresses, I hope to be able to obtain valuable information about them, as well as obtain skill while visiting these places.

As I research and volunteer, I would like to take you with me on my journey and pass on some of the information that I believe you may find interesting.

Week 2: WIC Program of NJ

WIC is a federally-funded program that assists pregnant women, postpartum women, infants, and children younger than 5 years old. It provides supplemental nutrition, through the form of checks, to families with a low income. Checks are specific to food items and can be redeemed at authorized stores.

This program accepts into it women and children who meet specific guidelines. After they have been accepted, a nutritionist meets with the women to review their nutritional needs and determine what package of checks they will receive.

Benefits Of The WIC Program

As a federally-funded program, there are specific foods that are authorized. These include: milk, cheese, eggs, whole grade bread, brown rice, whole grain tortillas, dry or canned beans, peas, lentils, fresh fruits and vegetables, peanut butter, breakfast cereal, 100% juices, canned fish, baby foods, infant cereal, and infant formula .

Services of the WIC program are not limited to nutritional supplement checks. The program also provides members with referrals as needed for health care or social services. Participators in the program have the opportunities to become eligible for other programs, such as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families).

A nutritionist can also give women nutritional education and counseling. Breastfeeding education is additionally available to women in the WIC program. WIC encourages women to breastfeed rather than formula feed for a variety of health reasons. It rewards fully breastfeeding women with six extra months on the plan beyond the normal limit. They are also able to receive checks for extra food while breastfeeding.

Qualifications For The WIC Program of NJ

Only eligible women and children can be in the WIC program. WIC only provides services to people who are on Medicaid, have a gross income below a certain amount corresponding with the number of people in their household, and are at a nutritional risk.

Members of the WIC program must re-apply every six months to continue receiving benefits. If a woman is fully breastfeeding, she may be allowed to receive benefits up to her infant’s first birthday. Her children can receive benefits through the age of 4. WIC seeks to accept as many people as possible.

The US government funds the WIC program. As a result, the selection of food checks must meet the US dietary guidelines. The packages encourage women to buy fruits and vegetables, eat whole grains, avoid saturated fat, and drink naturally sweet beverages.

Since the workers at WIC are employees only and volunteers are not permitted to work in the facilities, I was only able to observe what happens at WIC and ask questions. The workers are more than sufficiently knowledgeable in their respective fields and seek to care for the members to the best of their abilities.

For more information, please visit the following websites:
http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/
http://www.nj.gov/health/fhs/wic/index.shtml

An Unrelenting Sickness, A Lack Of Sleep, & My Week 19 Weigh In

Fat Guy — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 12:46:42 +0000

An Unrelenting Sickness, A Lack Of Sleep, & My Week 19 Weigh In is a post from: Fat Guy Skinny Wallet. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

You may remember that I have been either injured or sick for the past few weeks, and I haven’t been able to work out because of this. Also, my appetite hasn’t really been there (some mild nausea took care of that), so it’s been hard to eat every few hours, as has become my practice.

I was shocked last week when my injuries (I told you that I am too fat to run) and illness only lead to a 3 lb gain. I felt just as ill last week as the week before – my wife wanted me to call out of work several times – so I am expecting another gain.

What’s really bad is that I haven’t been able to sleep much, because I keep waking up during the night with these 10-15 minute coughing spells.

I am really hoping that I don’t get back up in the 260′s. In fact, I was so worried about this that I actually worked out right before my weigh-in. Since I haven’t had a workout in about 3 weeks, it was difficult – especially running in the freezing rain. I was drained afterwards, and I am very sore nearly 33 hours later!

I just want to get my metabolism back to where it was before these setbacks. The Crazy Runner gave me a few tips today regarding my running, so I plan to give it another go before completely giving up. Well, let’s see how much the scale hates me today.

Now On To The Weigh In

Week 0 (First Weigh In) – 287

Week 1 -280.0

Week 2 – 279.2

Week 3 – 278.0

Week 4– 276.4

Week 5 – 270.8

Week 6 – 269.0

Week 7 – 267.4

Week 8 – 266.6

Week 9 – 262.4

Week 10 – 261.2

Week 11 – 259.0

Week 12 – 258.6

Week 13 – 260.0

Week 14 – 256.2

Week 15 – 258.4

Week 16 – 256.0

Week 17 – 254.0

Week 18 – 257.0

Week 19 – 255.2!!!

I am shocked that I lost nearly 2 lbs with the week that I have had. I guess forcing myself to eat regularly paid off. I am still not feeling well, and if this continues I will have to make a trip (or at least call) to my doctor’s office. I am going to try to keep working out – tomorrow will probably be a push ups workout mixed with some cardio.

This brings my 19-week weight loss total to 31.8 lbs, and 36.8 lbs from my all-time high.

photo by David Castillo Dominici

When Buying Things, Always Compare Your Options

Fat Guy — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 12:30:46 +0000

When Buying Things, Always Compare Your Options is a post from: Fat Guy Skinny Wallet. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

The following is a guest post about the benefits of comparison shopping…

I’m a big fan of shopping around. No matter what I buy, I always want to make sure that I am getting the best deal, and that is why I scour the internet and even brick and mortar shops to make sure that I am getting the lowest price.

Here are some common things you may be surprised that you can shop around for to get the lowest price.

Insurance

Believe it or not, insurance is such a competitive market. In most states, there are limits on what companies can charge, and to the competition for different insurance products can be very fierce. As a result, no matter what type of insurance you are buying: car, home, life, etc., you should look around online and call various in-town brokers to see who can get you the best price.

Household Commodities

A lot of people don’t realize that there are options beyond your local store to buy household products. Many online retailers, such as Amazon, have started offering products that you would normally buy at your local store, and they offer them at a much lower price. Having to deal with shipping costs and time delays can be an issue, but you can possibly save hundreds of dollars a year by shopping online versus shopping in stores.

Compare Your Discounts

Beyond just looking at prices, make sure that you look at any potential discounts you can get. First, start with your payment method – some credit cards offer higher rewards for certain types of purchases, like gas and groceries, so make sure you are using the right card at the right places.

Second, look for coupons or other discounts. Many retailers even accept competitor’s coupons or allow you to double coupons, just so that they can win over your business. These can even make the prices of stuff cheaper than online.

Finally, many places price match or price beat. Some will even beat online prices. This can be helpful because it can save you with the hassle of dealing with an online purchase.

photo by jscreationzs

Week 18 Weigh In

Fat Guy — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:16:27 +0000

Week 18 Weigh In is a post from: Fat Guy Skinny Wallet. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

I am really late in posting my weigh-in results from the past week. My official weigh-in day is Saturday, but I am just getting a chance to write about it now.

I got sick in the middle of last week, and that combined with my hip injuries I suffered while running stop me from working out. In fact, I haven’t had a workout in over 2 weeks!

The absence of workouts shouldn’t be enough to cause a weight gain – since diet actually has a greater effect – however, other things have been going on as well. Being sick has taken away my appetite for the most part, and since I am not eating 6 times a day as before, I believe that my metabolism is slowing down.

With no workouts, and less eating, my body is having a hard time burning fat. I’ve been dealing with a mild nausea during this period, and it actually gets worse when I eat. My doctor said that I have a sinus infection, and I am currently taking antibiotics and using a nasal spray. I’ve never had a sinus infection before, but all of these symptoms make me think there is more to this.

Anyway, because of all these things, I’m afraid that my weight might jump back up over 260! Even if it does, I will just see this as a small setback in the middle of a long journey. I knew that I would have some good weeks and bad weeks – trying to drop 80-100 lbs is no easy thing!

So let’s see how much damage I do to the scale!

Now On To The Weigh In

Week 0 (First Weigh In) – 287

Week 1 -280.0

Week 2 – 279.2

Week 3 – 278.0

Week 4– 276.4

Week 5 – 270.8

Week 6 – 269.0

Week 7 – 267.4

Week 8 – 266.6

Week 9 – 262.4

Week 10 – 261.2

Week 11 – 259.0

Week 12 – 258.6

Week 13 – 260.0

Week 14 – 256.2

Week 15 – 258.4

Week 16 – 256.0

Week 17 – 254.0

Week 18 – 257.0!!!

I can’t believe that I am actually happy with a 3 lb weight gain! This brings my 18-week weight loss total back down to 30 lbs, and 35 lbs from my all-time high.

Unfortunately, this week hasn’t been any better as far as my health is concerned – no workouts, and still trying to force myself to eat normally. I can’t wait until this is behind me so I can get back on track.

photo by David Castillo Dominici

Why A Roth IRA Is Better For Us Than A Traditional

Fat Guy — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 05:05:02 +0000

Why A Roth IRA Is Better For Us Than A Traditional is a post from: Fat Guy Skinny Wallet. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

Many of you know that we have over $100,000 in debt. That is why we are even using clever tricks to try to pay off debt – we are tired of being in debt bondage! One of the things that we have done as a result of our debt is to put a hold on contributing to our IRAs.

Roth IRA For Us?

Over at my site about the bible and money (and all things financial), I recently took at look at the Roth vs Traditional IRA battle. What I found is that there are situations in which either one of these retirement accounts would be ideal. With a few exceptions, there aren’t any “one-size-fits-all” solutions when it comes to personal finance. Every situation is different and may call for a different approach. The same is true when it comes to saving for retirement.

For us, I think it’s safe to say that a Roth IRA is best. Actually, the numbers bare that out as well, but I won’t put those up here. However, I can tell you some of the reasons why a Roth IRA is a better fit for our financial situation.

As I stated on my other site, I believe that the number one question to ask yourself when considering an IRA is, “at what stage in my life (either now or in retirement) will I be paying a lower tax rate?”. Since I believe that we are currently paying a lower tax rate than we will be 25 years from now, a Roth IRA is best for us. Here are a couple of things that I considered:

Levels of income – I believe that we are earning a lower income now than we will be in the future. We only have one income right now, and with the things that we both want to do, this may change. Also, since I am not able to work on KNS Financial as much as I would like, my income from the business is pretty low. Hopefully, I will be able to grow to the point of working for myself, and that should definitely increase our income.

Tax rates – Since our government has been on a spending spree and doesn’t seem to be slowing down at all, it is very likely that tax rates will increase in order to cover the increased spending. Since most of us are short-sighted, we will not be willing to go through spending cuts and/or lower our standard of living (as a nation) in order to fix our economy, so the next step will be massive tax hikes!

Roth IRA Provides More Flexibility & Freedom

Another thing that makes the Roth IRA a perfect choice for us, is that we both like to get through difficult parts of a process upfront. In this case, the worst part about saving for retirement (besides the unpredictable returns) is paying taxes. Therefore, if we can get that experience out of the way as early as possible, we’ll take it! Well, with the Roth, we get to pay our taxes immediately and then never have to worry about paying taxes from our IRA again!

Also, since I plan to work on my own business through “retirement age”, I do not want to be forced to take required minimum distributions. If we use a traditional IRA, then that is exactly what would happen.

Once we eliminate our credit card debt, then we will probably invest up to the IRA contribution limits each year in order to catch up! Whenever that day comes, it will be with a Roth IRA.

Of course, the best way to prepare for retirement is to be completely debt free and in control of your finances.

Photo Source: goodfinancialcents.com via Jeff on Pinterest

What About You?

Do you currently have an IRA? If so, which kind do you use?
Are you doing anything else to prepare for retirement?

This post is a part of the Roth IRA Movement that my blogging buddy Jeff Rose at Good Financial Cents put together. The last time I checked, there are almost 150 websites that will be posting about the benefits of Roth IRAs! Even though the information is pretty standard, I am confident that each post will be different, because of the voice of the individual writing it! Don’t forget to read my other Roth vs Traditional IRA post!

100 Push Ups Challenge: Round 2 – Roseline & Hypermommy

Fat Guy — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 14:18:45 +0000

100 Push Ups Challenge: Round 2 – Roseline & Hypermommy is a post from: Fat Guy Skinny Wallet. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

It’s time for another push up video! We are moving along in this second round, and I am really proud of the challengers for their progress. For those of you who missed it, here is a recap of how everyone did during the first round. We had 20 challengers sign up and send in an initial video. This definitely has me encouraged!

So far we have seen YFS make a 20-push up jump from his first round performance, and then Alexis & Katy posted gains as well! Now we are going to look at two more ladies who have both improved since the first round.

First up we have Hypermommy. She did alright in the first round, but I am expecting a big jump in this round. I hope she doesn’t disappoint me.

She has lost 10 lbs since joining the challenge, and I am really proud of her because I know that it hasn’t been easy for her.

Name: Hypermommy

Height: 5’4″

Weight: “Too Much”

Reason for joining the challenge: “Strength Training and Weight Loss.”

# of Consecutive Push Ups In the 1st Round: 4

Please note: If you are reading this through email or a RSS feed, you may have to click through to the website in order to see the videos.

So, there was a decent increase from the first round, but I was looking for more. I’m going to have to work with her on her form, but in her defense, she wasn’t feeling well when she shot this video.

Next up we have Roseline. She did a lot better than she expected in her first video – 28 modified (from her knees) push ups! Since that time, she has been hitting the weights in order to build up her upper body strength, so I expect her to be able to do normal push ups this time.

Name: Roseline

Height: 5’8″

Weight: 119

Reason for joining the challenge: “I want to build up my upper body strength.”

# of Consecutive Push Ups In the 1st Round: 28 modified

Although, she didn’t come down as far as I would like (2-3 inches off the ground), I am proud of her for moving up to doing normal push ups! She didn’t think she would even be able to do one before shooting the video.

Be sure to cheer all of the challengers on, and give them encouragement and tips.

Reducing Transportation Costs: A Look At Your Most Common Options

Fat Guy — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 12:31:47 +0000

Reducing Transportation Costs: A Look At Your Most Common Options is a post from: Fat Guy Skinny Wallet. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

The following is a guest post by Dale Cooper about reducing transportation costs…

Access to transportation is something many people take for granted when it’s easy to get from place to place. We have multiple transportation methods to get from Point A to Point B: Cars, buses and bikes all allow us to go to work, venture through town or travel to destinations far from home.

So when it’s time to make a daily commute of, say, 10 miles a day, which do you choose? Assuming you live in a city that has a reliable public transportation system, let’s look at the cost vs. convenience of driving, biking and riding the bus.

Reducing Transportation Costs By Changing Your Method

Car – Typical Method

Cost: In most cases, driving will come with the highest transportation cost. Owning a car comes with lots of extra expenses such as maintenance, auto insurance coverage and gasoline. And if you’re driving into a city, you could also be paying for parking each day. Even if you own a fuel-efficient car and have shopped around for affordable auto insurance rates, the total transportation cost could easily exceed $500 per month.
Convenience: The high price tag of owning a car comes with its share of perks. A car is the fastest mode of transportation of the three options—and much more flexible. You won’t have to align your plans with a bus schedule, and it’s easy to take a detour to visit friends or pick up groceries.

Reduce Transportation Costs By Bus

Cost: Bus ticket prices vary by city, but you usually won’t pay more than about $100 per month, which you would likely spend on car insurance alone. But what you make up for in transportation costs, you’ll spend in time. Buses stop every block or so and add time to your commute. They are also strictly tied to bus routes. If a bus line doesn’t take you where you want to go, you’ll either have to transfer buses (which can also be time consuming) or walk once the bus is nearest to your destination.
Convenience: Buses provide an affordable way to travel locally without some of the limitations that come from driving a car. While on the bus, you can read a book, email a colleague or do a crossword puzzle. Even though buses tend to extend your commute, they provide time to do things you couldn’t do while driving.

Bike – A Dramatic Step?

Cost: Bikes are great in that, aside from the occasional inner tube, maintenance costs can be minimal. Bikes are by far the most affordable local transportation method. Unfortunately, no matter how fast you pedal, bikes are almost always slower than cars or buses. They are also at a disadvantage in cold or rainy weather, when you have no protection from the elements.
Convenience: Though they’re not ideal for winter in colder climates, riding a bike whenever you can is a great way to exercise and reduce your carbon footprint.

The transportation method you choose will depend on your needs and your budget. Just make sure to consider all of your options before making a decision; simply owning a car may not make it the most economical or most convenient way to get around.

photo by Michelle Meiklejohn

An Inside Look At The Community Food Bank Of New Jersey

Fat Guy — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 11:07:08 +0000

An Inside Look At The Community Food Bank Of New Jersey is a post from: Fat Guy Skinny Wallet. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

Week 1: The Community Food Bank of New Jersey

The Purpose of This Series:

As I research and volunteer, I would like to take you with me on my journey and pass on some of the information that I believe you may find interesting.

Week 1:

Today, I was able to visit the Community Food Bank of New Jersey. This is a non-profit organization that collects donations and distributes food to smaller non-profit organizations in New Jersey. It acts as the main food supply center for other non-profit organizations.

About the Community Food Bank of New Jersey

The organization collects donations from individuals, schools, and religious groups and distributes it to: emergency food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, senior feeding programs, child care centers, after school programs, group homes, and summer camps. The Community Food Bank is dedicated to fighting poverty and providing people with nutritious food.

In addition to distributing food, the Community Food Bank also runs several other programs including the Community Kitchen, the Thrift Shop, and the Kids Division. The Community Kitchen is a service that provides family meals, catering, and culinary training. Family meals contain essential nutrients and feed families of four.

The Thrift Shop is located in the Food Bank’s warehouse. It provides teachers with school items and children with clothes. The Kids Division aims to improve the lives of children in poverty by supplying them with new clothes, food, and school supplies.

The Community Food Bank relies heavily on volunteers to sacrifice their time to help. Although the Community Food Bank is an independent, non-profit organization, the government helps to fund some of its programs, including the Kid’s Café, which currently provides after school meals and nutrition education to thirteen schools in New Jersey. Therefore, the program must follow specific guidelines for what types of food it serves.

How to Get Involved With The Community Food Bank of New Jersey

Employees at the Community Food Bank of New Jersey are pleased to accept volunteers. I had a rather pleasant experience when I went with a group of classmates to help them.

Prior to arriving on the site, we were given directions and a parking diagram. Once we got there, we were introduced to the Registered Dietitian, who gave us an orientation. She showed us the warehouse and explained various aspects of the organization.

Immediately after the orientation, we helped to pack bagged meals for the BackPack program, which gives school children, who have limited access to nutritious food, a supply of food for the weekend. The children receive the food in backpacks that are not distinguishably from a charity organization.

Another activity, in which I was able to participate, was restocking and organizing the teacher’s store. This store exists for teachers, who have 70% or more impoverished students in their classrooms. Teachers are allowed to shop in the store twice a year with an allotted amount of points to spend on products; most of the time, teachers do not need to spend as many points as they have been allotted. This program provides students with basic supplies and incentive items.

I am glad that places like the Community Food Bank of New Jersey exist to help impoverished people. This place would not be able to function, however, without the help of volunteers. I understand that there are always activities in which people can help. Some of these include: sorting and repacking food, preparing shipments, collecting food from donators, and assisting with fundraisers.

If you would like and are able to help, please consider volunteering at the Community Food Bank of New Jersey.

For more information about the Community Food Bank of New Jersey, please visit: http://www.njfoodbank.org/.

photo courtesy of the Community Food Bank of New Jersey

Nagging Injuries, New Motivation, And My Week 17 (4 Month) Weigh In

Fat Guy — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 14:51:17 +0000

Nagging Injuries, New Motivation, And My Week 17 (4 Month) Weigh In is a post from: Fat Guy Skinny Wallet. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

My hatred of running has been completely justified. Over the past few weeks I have managed to hurt both hips and my knee with running. There is entirely too much weight pounding down on my joints, and I know that it isn’t healthy.

So, I will probably try to reach my goal of running for a full mile and doing it under 10 minutes. After that, I’m done!!! My entire workout is a combination of strength training and cardio, so I won’t be missing much (except a bunch of injuries) by cutting out the pre-workout run.

I am excited about losing weight, and I really feel like it’s going to happen this time. I have made progress in the past and have fallen off each time; however, I have never gotten this far, nor have I been this motivated.

I just want this “fat phase” of my life to be over! I really love how I feel after working out – something that has never happened before. Overall, I just think this time will be different.

We kicked off the 2nd round of the 100 push ups challenge this past week, so make sure you take a look at the new videos.

I was able to get in a couple of dedicated push up workouts – I did as many as I could do in a 10-minute stretch – and I saw a good amount of progress.

I am a little late with this post (I wanted to put it up on Saturday, but didn’t have time), so let’s just get right to my progress for the past week.

Now On To The Weigh In

Week 0 (First Weigh In) – 287

Week 1 -280.0

Week 2 – 279.2

Week 3 – 278.0

Week 4– 276.4

Week 5 – 270.8

Week 6 – 269.0

Week 7 – 267.4

Week 8 – 266.6

Week 9 – 262.4

Week 10 – 261.2

Week 11 – 259.0

Week 12 – 258.6

Week 13 – 260.0

Week 14 – 256.2

Week 15 – 258.4

Week 16 – 256.0

Week 17 (4 Months) – 254.0!!!

So, after 3-4 weeks of little (and even negative) movement I had my second straight drop. I lost 2.4 lbs over the past week. Because of that, I’m now at my lowest weight since I lost 50lbs due to a severe illness in 2007!

This brings my 17-week weight loss total to 33.0 lbs, and I’m now down 38.0 lbs from my all-time high! I am starting to think that losing another 40 lbs will put me at a good place, but that will all depend on how my body looks and feels at that point.

10 Pound Challenge Update: Week 8

You may remember that during my Week 14 update, I gave my 4-week progress as part of the 10 pound challenge, which is being hosted by Newlyweds on a Budget!

The point of the challenge is to lose 10 lbs in 12 weeks. I started the challenge at 261.4 (and immediately gained a pound). That means that as of the 8-week mark, I am down 7.4 lbs with ~4 weeks to go!

You can see how Erika is doing at the 8-week mark as well. She posts what she is doing to lose weight and is also asking for advice, so head over to her site and let her know what you think.

I’ll be posting pictures and financial updates soon!

photo by David Castillo Dominici

Week 16 Weigh In – Back On Track Or Still On The Yo-Yo?

Fat Guy — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 19:37:54 +0000

Week 16 Weigh In – Back On Track Or Still On The Yo-Yo? is a post from: Fat Guy Skinny Wallet. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

So…this week was better this week regarding my workouts, eating out, and making healthy decisions. I definitely wasn’t perfect – I had something chocolate on several occasions last week – but I am getting serious once again!

I am still excited about being able to pay off one of our creditors recently, and we actually should be able to knock out another one by the end of the month.

I got in a couple of really good workouts, and on the days when I woke up late, I still got in my shorter workouts.

We kicked off the 2nd round of the 100 push ups challenge this past week, so make sure you take a look at the new videos.

I am a little late with this post (I wanted to put it up on Saturday, but didn’t have time), so let’s just get right to my progress for the past week.

Now On To The Weigh In

Week 0 (First Weigh In) – 287

Week 1 -280.0

Week 2 – 279.2

Week 3 – 278.0

Week 4– 276.4

Week 5 – 270.8

Week 6 – 269.0

Week 7 – 267.4

Week 8 – 266.6

Week 9 – 262.4

Week 10 – 261.2

Week 11 – 259.0

Week 12 – 258.6

Week 13 – 260.0

Week 14 – 256.2

Week 15 – 258.4

Week 16 – 256.0!!!

I’ll definitely take a drop of 2.4 lbs! Because of that, I’m now at my lowest weight since I started back in November.

This brings my 16-week total to 31.0 lbs, and I’m now down 36.0 lbs from my all-time high! I still think this was a good amount of weight to lose but I know with more discipline and better time management, I would have done a lot better.

The site is going to be very busy over the next few weeks! I am going to put up all of the videos from round 2 of the push ups challenge, I have a new series written from the perspective of a Dietetic Technology student, I plan to write a lot more about our finances, plus I have a lot to say about health, nutrition, and finances as well.

Stay tuned…

100 Push Ups Challenge: Round 2 – Alexis & Katy

Fat Guy — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 13:10:42 +0000

100 Push Ups Challenge: Round 2 – Alexis & Katy is a post from: Fat Guy Skinny Wallet. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

We are now moving on to round 2 of the 100 push ups challenge! For those of you who missed it, here is a recap of how everyone did during the first round. We had 20 challengers sign up and send in an initial video. This definitely has me encouraged!

Even if you are not one of the official challengers, you can still take part in the challenge and keep me updated on your progress via email. I am hoping to see a lot of people decide to “unofficially” join the challenge – especially with all of the New Year resolutions that people made this year.

So far we have seen YFS make a 20-push up jump from his first round performance! Now we are going to look at two ladies who have both improved since the first round.

First up we have Alexis – here are her stats…

Name: Alexis

Height: 5’4″

Weight: 115

Reason for joining the challenge: “Motivated by Khaleef!!”

# of Push Ups In First Round: 5

Please note: If you are reading this through email or a RSS feed, you may have to click through to the website in order to see the videos.

Alexis actually got into a skiing accident between the first and second round, so I am really proud of her for making a large improvement!

Next up we have Katy – here are her stats…

Name: Katy

Height: 5’3″

Weight: 115

Reason for joining the challenge: “I need to increase my physical activity and get back in the habit of exercising on a regular basis.”

# of Push Ups In First Round: 6

Katy is one of the smaller challengers, but she still mad an improvement over her first round video!

Be sure to cheer all of the challengers on, and give them encouragement and tips.

Nutrition Fix – A Quick, Easy, And Healthy Way To Get Protein

Fat Guy — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 13:48:30 +0000

Nutrition Fix – A Quick, Easy, And Healthy Way To Get Protein is a post from: Fat Guy Skinny Wallet. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

{The following is a guest post on behalf of NutritionFix.com}

How often do you get to the gym, climb on the treadmill, and feel completely deflated? If it seems to be happening more and more, then it may be time to add some protein to your diet.

Ask anyone embarking on a new workout regimen, fat or skinny, about staying well fed, and they are sure to tell you that it is easier said than done. Bottom line is nothing is sure to impact your performance like a starving body. Professional athletes and workout enthusiasts have benefited from the use of protein bars as pre-workout fuel.

Most of these bars are made up of high-nutrient ingredients like whey protein, nuts, oats, and fruits. Packed with several grams of protein, protein bars allow you to get the most protein possible without excess fat and sugar.

Accessibility and convenience are just a few of the reasons why protein bars can help you get from lunch, to your workout, to dinner smoothly. Protein bars, like those featured on NutritionFix.com, are packed with protein, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients for the best workout possible. Whether you are embarking on a higher protein diet or just trying to eat healthier, these protein bars offer you a convenient way to do that.

Don’t get stuck in a meeting or in traffic without a snack ever again. Grab a couple of protein bars to have on hand in your purse, desk, or in your car. An exceptional alternative to a vending machine candy bar, they can satisfy your sweet tooth without wrecking your diet.

Athletes and bodybuilders have also had a great deal of success with protein powders that can help build extreme muscle for the weight gainers among us, or boost metabolism for those looking to drop some weight. Nutritionfix.com features some of the protein powders on the market that not only deliver soy, casein, egg, and whey protein, but are also packed with vitamins and other nutrients.

Most of the protein powders available on Nutritionfix.com are easy to blend, and simply require a shaker cup. They take convenience and great taste to a whole new level as they can be actual replacements for meals and snacks.

Especially when it comes to building muscle, getting an extra 1000 calories a day from food alone can be a nausea-inducing thought, but with the help of a convenient shake you can get all the protein and carbs you need to leave the competition in the dust.

Feel empowered to take your workout to the next level, and achieve your fitness goals.

Fat Guy here: I haven’t tried the Nutrition Fix products yet, but I have benefited from protein bars in the past. They are a good choice when you are looking for a quick snack that is not messy (like most fruit)! You will be full much longer than with a carb/sugar filled snack, and you will have more natural energy (no crashing)!

100 Push Ups Challenge: Round 2 – YFS

Fat Guy — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 13:06:48 +0000

100 Push Ups Challenge: Round 2 – YFS is a post from: Fat Guy Skinny Wallet. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

Now it’s time to take a look at the leader of the challenge so far…YFS. His stats are listed below…

Name: YFS

Height: 6’1″

Weight: 178

Reason for joining the challenge: “I like a good challenge”

# of Push Ups In First Round: 65

As you can tell if you listed to the audio, his wife was apparently distracted while counting. I will not repeat the comment he made about her on Twitter !

YFS is also a Financial Advisor and a personal finance writer, who owns the site, Your Finances Simplified! Be sure to go over to read great content and to learn more about him.

Unfortunately, the challenger who I placed him with in the first round is injured (non push up related) and will have to sit out for this round. Actually, a few people got injured, so there will be a couple of changes from the previous round.

Be sure to cheer all of the challengers on, and give them encouragement and tips.

Week 15 Weigh In – At Least The Yo-Yo Didn’t Jump Up Too Far

Fat Guy — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 22:07:57 +0000

Week 15 Weigh In – At Least The Yo-Yo Didn’t Jump Up Too Far is a post from: Fat Guy Skinny Wallet. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

This past week was a little rough for us. I felt run down all week (probably just worn out from working two jobs and taking on a lot of projects) and my wife wasn’t at 100% either. What this meant is that we ate out a few times for dinner, rather than having home-cooked meals like we are used to. However, we still were able to pay off one of our creditors!!!

I was able to squeeze in a couple of short workouts (10-15 minutes) each morning, but nothing like what I’m used to. Since each circuit lasts for between 6 and 8 minutes, I can usually work one or two in even if I’m in a rush. I did that this week, and these quick 10-15 minute workouts have been great! I still put in a lot of work, and I have tons of energy throughout the day.

Also, I got in great workouts yesterday and today, which have really rekindled the fire that was growing a little dim recently!

As I noted last week, I still haven’t had a chance to start training for the 100 push ups challenge. I plan to use at least two days during the week to do an intense, dedicated push ups training, and then switch up my normal workout to accommodate. I plan to do my first dedicated push up workout on Tuesday morning.

I recently posted a summary of the first round of the push ups challenge – read it here: push ups challenge round 1!

I am a little worried about how high this yo-yo that I’ve been on for the past few weeks is actually going to jump this time. Will it bring me back over 260 lbs? Let’s find out…

Now On To The Weigh In

Week 0 (First Weigh In) – 287

Week 1 -280.0

Week 2 – 279.2

Week 3 – 278.0

Week 4– 276.4

Week 5 – 270.8

Week 6 – 269.0

Week 7 – 267.4

Week 8 – 266.6

Week 9 – 262.4

Week 10 – 261.2

Week 11 – 259.0

Week 12 – 258.6

Week 13 – 260.0

Week 14 – 256.2

Week 15 – 258.4!!!

Well, I didn’t jump up as high as I anticipated, but I am still 2.2 lbs more than I was a week ago. My sister suggested that it is from gaining a lot of muscle, but I’m not sure how much I buy that. It doesn’t really matter right now, because I am extremely motivated by these last two workouts, and I know that my weight will start dropping consistently (God willing).

This brings my 15-week total to 28.6 lbs, and I’m now down 33.6 lbs from my all-time high! I still think this was a good amount of weight to lose but I know with more discipline and better time management, I would have done a lot better.

Stay tuned…

photo by David Castillo Dominici

We Are Paying Off One Of Our Bills!

Fat Guy — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 12:51:00 +0000

We Are Paying Off One Of Our Bills! is a post from: Fat Guy Skinny Wallet. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

I haven’t written too much about my finances on this site lately. Especially since I became consistent in my weight loss efforts, and I kicked off the 100 push ups challenge. However, I just wanted to celebrate a minor (extremely minor) milestone in our battle to pay off debt!

I’ve openly stated that I have over $100,000 in debt. Well, we aren’t ready to drop under the $100k mark yet, but we are getting rid of a creditor in the next few days!

The amount of the debt isn’t large at all (around $150); but I am excited about the fact that we will have one less creditor to worry about. Also, what makes this payment sweet is the fact that we got this credit card with a “same as cash” promotion. We used it to pay for some unexpected car repairs, and as long as the bill was paid in full by the end of 6 months, we wouldn’t have to pay interest.

Yes, we are building an emergency fund, and we could have taken the money out of that account in order to pay the bill, but we didn’t want to go backwards with our EF. Of course, if we were not able to send in this final payment before the deadline, we could just use our emergency fund, but our hope was to be able to save up enough to pay it off from our income.

Hopefully, they will have received and applied the payment by the middle of next week! Removing $150 from our debt doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it does feel good to get rid of a creditor and have one less row to update on my budget spreadsheets.

I’ve talked about how celebrating small victories is important when trying to get out of debt…maybe I’ve gone too far?

photo by Naypong

Am I Too Excited?

What do you think? Am I too excited about $150?
Should I wait until I reach a more difficult goal before getting happy?
If you have or are in the process of paying off debt, how often do you reflect on your progress?

My Week 14 Weigh In & 10 Pound Challenge Update

Fat Guy — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:25:25 +0000

My Week 14 Weigh In & 10 Pound Challenge Update is a post from: Fat Guy Skinny Wallet. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

You may remember that I actually gained weight in week 13! I was at 260, which meant that I gained 1.4 lbs from the previous week. I wasn’t too disappointed because I wasn’t able to get in a lot of workouts, due to a few late nights.

Even though I am still dealing with some of the same problems in the evenings, I did a better job of managing my meals and workouts this week.

Since each circuit lasts for between 6 and 8 minutes, I can usually work one or two in even if I’m in a rush. I didn’t that this week, and these quick 10-15 minute workouts have been great! I still put in a lot of work, and I have tons of energy throughout the day.

I still haven’t had a chance to start training for the 100 push ups challenge. I plan to use at least two days during the week to do an intense, dedicated push ups training, and then switch up my normal workout to accommodate.

I recently posted a summary of the first round of the push ups challenge – read it here: push ups challenge round 1!

I am hoping that all of this hard work will help me to get back under 260, so I am a little anxious to see what the scale has to say to me today.

Now On To The Weigh In

Week 0 (First Weigh In) – 287

Week 1 -280.0

Week 2 – 279.2

Week 3 – 278.0

Week 4– 276.4

Week 5 – 270.8

Week 6 – 269.0

Week 7 – 267.4

Week 8 – 266.6

Week 9 – 262.4

Week 10 – 261.2

Week 11 – 259.0

Week 12 – 258.6

Week 13 – 260.0

Week 14 – 256.2!!!

That’s more like it! I lost 3.8 lbs since my last weigh-in. This is my lowest weight since I lost 50 lbs (in 6 weeks) due to an illness in 2007! Just like last week I won’t make a huge deal out of this, because of how much body weight can fluctuate. However, I am excited to see an overall downward trend since I began back in November.

This brings my 14-week total to 30.8 lbs, and I’m now down 35.8 lbs from my all-time high! I am hoping to be under 250 by my next weigh-in. I know it will be tough (I’d have to lose almost 7 lbs in 7 days), so I’ll just try my best and I won’t be disappointed if my best doesn’t get me there.

10 Pound Challenge Update: Week 4

You may remember that during my Week 9 update, I announced that I was joining the 10 pound challenge, which is being hosted by Newlyweds on a Budget!

The point of the challenge is to lose 10 lbs in 12 weeks. I started the challenge at 261.4 (and immediately gained a pound). That means that as of the 4-week mark (more like 5 now), I am down 5.2 lbs with ~7 weeks to go!

photo by David Castillo Dominici

Push Ups Challenge: Round 1 Stats And Recap

Fat Guy — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:13:36 +0000

Push Ups Challenge: Round 1 Stats And Recap is a post from: Fat Guy Skinny Wallet. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

We have completed the first round of the 100 push ups challenge! We actually had 20 people join in…a lot more than I expected.

I am really proud of all the people who took (sometimes embarrassing) videos of themselves and allowed me to post them on the internet for the whole world (all 3 of my readers) to see!

Below you will find all of the challengers, along with their stats and reason for entering the challenge. I didn’t even make the top 10; plus there are a few women who are beating me as well! Don’t they know that they shouldn’t embarrass me on my own website?

Anyway, you can find all of the videos here at the push ups challenge page. Be sure to give each challenger feedback and support.

Push Ups Challenge: Round 1

Name	Push Ups	Weight	Height	Reason for Entering the Challenge
YFS	65	178	6'1"	I like a good challenge
Mike P	50	195	5'6"	Motivation - Friendly Competition - Need to start losing weight.
Andy	41			Strength Training
Adam (I Was Fat N Broke)	41	376.6	5'8"	Weight loss and I like a good challenge.
Amin	35	241	6'0"	Weight loss & Strength Training
Ferd	20			Motivation for getting in shape.
Crazy Runner	20			Strength Training
Apple	11	225	5'9"	To get in shape , and become healthier, and become a more toned plus size model.
KL	10			GUILT! :-) Ok, ok... self-improvement.
Fat Guy (me)	8	287 (in video)	5'6"	Weight Loss & Strength Training
William	6			Trying to get back in shape
Katy	6	115	5'3"	I need to increase my physical activity and get back in the habit of exercising on a regular basis.
Alexis	5	115	5'4"	Motivated by Khaleef
Dannie	4	102	4'11"	I entered the challenged to see if I can really do 100 pushups in a row. I have always had very weak upper body strength and this challenge will allow me to change that.
Poobla	4	205	5'7"	Jumpstart exercise regime
Hypermommy	4	"Too Much"	5'4"	Strength Training and Weight Loss
Roseline	28 (modified)	119	5'8"	I want to build up my upper body strength.
Jazzwife	12 (modified)		5'6"	Strength Training, Weight Loss
Mica	4 (modified)		5'5"	Weight loss initially but I love this challenge and am looking for a support group.
Lisa	2 (modified)	203	5'6"	Weight loss, and I like to be challenged.

Name Push Ups Weight Height Reason for Entering the Challenge

YFS 65 178 6'1" I like a good challenge

Mike P 50 195 5'6" Motivation - Friendly Competition - Need to start losing weight.

Andy 41 Strength Training

Adam (I Was Fat N Broke) 41 376.6 5'8" Weight loss and I like a good challenge.

Amin 35 241 6'0" Weight loss & Strength Training

Ferd 20 Motivation for getting in shape.

Crazy Runner 20 Strength Training

Apple 11 225 5'9" To get in shape , and become healthier, and become a more toned plus size model.

KL 10 GUILT! :-)

Ok, ok... self-improvement.

Fat Guy (me) 8 287 (in video) 5'6" Weight Loss & Strength Training

William 6 Trying to get back in shape

Katy 6 115 5'3" I need to increase my physical activity and get back in the habit of exercising on a regular basis.

Alexis 5 115 5'4" Motivated by Khaleef

Dannie 4 102 4'11" I entered the challenged to see if I can really do 100 pushups in a row. I have always had very weak upper body strength and this challenge will allow me to change that.

Poobla 4 205 5'7" Jumpstart exercise regime

Hypermommy 4 "Too Much" 5'4" Strength Training and Weight Loss

Roseline 28 (modified) 119 5'8" I want to build up my upper body strength.

Jazzwife 12 (modified) 5'6" Strength Training, Weight Loss

Mica 4 (modified) 5'5" Weight loss initially but I love this challenge and am looking for a support group.

Lisa 2 (modified) 203 5'6" Weight loss, and I like to be challenged.

Here are the stats for the first round of the Push Ups challenge!

I will continue with the 2nd round of the challenge this week. Some of the challengers have made big improvements from the first video. I am excited to see people get serious about their health! I am hoping that many people will become inspired to take control of their health, even if it’s just small steps – such as doing five minutes worth of push ups throughout the day.

Injuries

There are a few people who have injured themselves in ways unrelated to the challenge. Two of the challengers have back injuries, one has carpel tunnel syndrome, another hurt her shoulder while trying to film the 2nd video (fortunately, it was just temporary muscle strain), and another challenger got injured in a skiing accident!

A couple of the people who are injured were still able to record their second video, however, for the ones who aren’t able to do push ups, I will allow them to sit out for this round but still be a part of the challenge once they heal.

Even though they didn’t hurt themselves by doing push ups, I still want to caution everyone to listen to your body. Please don’t strain yourself too hard (I know, I know…I have to listen to my own advice) – you don’t want to be incapacitated for weeks because you pushed yourself too hard over the course of a minute or two!

Unofficial Challengers

There were a few people who wanted to join the challenge, but they were not comfortable with posting videos. Also, I had some people comment about getting back into doing push ups. If you are “following along” at home, then please leave a comment letting us know your progress.

The point of this challenge is for me to beat my nemesis, avoid running a 10k, and to inspire other people to get off the couch and get active! If a fat guy like me can do it, then anyone out there can (don’t forget that one of the challengers is in a wheelchair…and has one of the best scores).

Let me know what you are doing to meet your fitness and other health goals, I am really looking forward to hearing from you!

photo by zirconicusso

Broken Websites, Late Nights, And My Week 13 (3 Month) Weigh In

Fat Guy — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 11:30:51 +0000

Broken Websites, Late Nights, And My Week 13 (3 Month) Weigh In is a post from: Fat Guy Skinny Wallet. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

I managed to get in a few more workouts toward the end of last week…which was an improvement. However, I discovered a serious problem across 3 of my websites (which hasn’t gone away yet), and I have had to stay up late trying to figure out what went wrong.

Of course, late nights mean no (or shortened) workouts. Because of these missed workouts, I haven’t had a chance to start training for the 100 push ups challenge. I plan to use at least two days during the week to do an intense, dedicated push ups training, and then switch up my normal workout to accommodate.

Since my daily workouts have been a bit sporadic, I’ve also slacked off when it comes to keeping track of my calories and nutrients (I have software that does all of this for me). It feels like I’ve been slacking off for the last 2 or 3 weeks, and I need to break out of this funk! Things have been happening, but I’ve been all too ready to accept them and forget about exercising discipline.

I jumped back into things today, and I probably had the most intense workout thus far! I didn’t add any extra exercises or reps, but I went as hard as I could…during my run and the actual workout. My stretching and warmup were intense as well!

I felt a little light-headed toward the end, but it didn’t last. Unfortunately, the urge to vomit did last for about 10 minutes…but nothing happened! I love knowing that I worked out as hard as I could.

Even though I was able to remain under 260 lbs for the past 2 weeks without much exercise, and without diligently tracking my meals, I had a bad feeling about this week.

Now On To The Weigh In

Week 0 (First Weigh In) – 287

Week 1 -280.0

Week 2 – 279.2

Week 3 – 278.0

Week 4 – 276.4

Week 5 – 270.8

Week 6 – 269.0

Week 7 – 267.4

Week 8 – 266.6

Week 9 – 262.4

Week 10 – 261.2

Week 11 – 259.0

Week 12 – 258.6

Week 13 – 260.0!!!

This means that I actually gained 1.4 lbs since my last weigh-in! This is the first time since I began three months ago, that I actually gained weight. I’m not upset about it at all, given everything that’s happened over the past few weeks. Also, my official weigh-in was on the 15th, and today (I’m writing on the 16th) my weight was much lower…I guess I just weighed myself during a big fluctuation, no big deal.

This brings my 13-week, 3-month total to 27.0 lbs, and I’m now down 32.0 lbs from my all-time high! I fully expect to demolish these numbers next week, and I also plan to update the site practically daily (I will mix in my debt repayment goals as well), so make sure you follow along.

photo by David Castillo Dominici