Week 16 update, Milestones Galore (4 lbs. lost)...

329 lbs
40 down, 60 to go
36 weeks left
$14 per lb pledged
$560 raised

If you are new to loseforthefuse.com please read the first post or pledge here.

WOW! What an encouraging week. Three major milestones for me as we head into April.

- 40 lbs total
- over 10% weight lost
- In the 320s

It's that last one that gets me the most for some reason. There is something psychological that happens in the 320s that makes everything seem more realistic and possible. It just feels like this is really happening now, that 269 is possible, and that all the work is paying off. The only part that I still wish would go better is the money raising part, so if you haven't donated, and would consider doing so that would be awesome.

You may not know this, but I weigh every weekday when I workout, just as a way to keep track of my progress and see the little fluctuations here and there. Since starting my morning work outs I have consistently lost my weight on the weekend for some reason. Without exception, whatever I weighed in on Monday would be my weight on Friday within a pound (usually I would gain a pound through the week) until this week. This week, when I weighed in on Monday I weighed 336, a full 3 pounds more than the proceeding Friday, meaning if the pattern held I would have gained 3. This refocused me pretty hardcore and snapped my eating back into shape quickly (not that I had been horrible, just a bit lazy) . Yes, your math is correct, that means I lost 7 pounds since Monday and I feel great. I don't expect this to be the case every week, but it was nice to see in a week when I really needed the encouragement.

Stay tuned campers, this could get interesting.

Week 15 update, Back in the Singles Scene (1 lb. lost)...

333 lbs
36 down, 64 to go
37 weeks left
$14 per lb pledged
$494 raised

If you are new to loseforthefuse.com please read the first post or pledge here.

Here we go again, back on the pound a week train. I really shouldn't complain, at least it's heading down. My body is probably just getting back at me for what I did to it yesterday. Because of events beyond my control I wasn't able to get to the gym yesterday to do my cardio (I've been running a 5k (about 3.1 miles) every Tuesday and Thursday for my cardio workout.) So I had an idea. It's at least 28 degrees out, why don't I run outside, here in town? So what if I only have shorts to run in and I've never run outside in the real world yet, it can't be that bad, today's the first day of Spring, right?

So I put on my running shorts and shoes, grabbed my Ipod and headed to the rail trail. I set my Nike plus Ipod for 45 minutes (5k takes me about 40 minutes on the mill, but I wasn't sure how the outdoors would change that.) and took off heading east. Immediately I could tell the difference between the give of the treadmill and the "I'm bigger than you are and I'm not going anywhere" attitude of the hard hard earth. However, within a few minutes, my body adjusted and I felt great. It was morning and the sun was in front of me and the temperature felt perfect and the running seemed almost easier. Everything was great, and then the Nike Ipod voice in my head informed my that I had reached my halfway point. "Great", I thought, "I'll turn around and head back." And then, as I did so, it hit me, no, seriously, it really hit me. The wind was now blowing straight in my face hard enough that if you saw me you might have thought I was doing some sort of mime performance art. All of the sudden I went from thinking I could run outside every morning, to wondering if they would find my body before or after the wild dogs got to me. The combination of the wind in my face, the sun no longer shining on me, and the nice cover of sweat I worked up on the way out, added up to one of the coldest 22 minutes in a row I can remember. By the time I got home my legs looked like I had contracted leprosy and my facial hair was encrusted with some sort of frozen mucus combo that it's probably better that we not go into further detail on.

I know there are many runners that run in much colder temperature and that my wimpiness will likely be legendary but it's safe to say that I won't be running outside again until spring is more than just a date on the calender.

Thanks for reading and be sure and pledge, if for no other reason than you feel sorry for this pitiful, pitiful man.

Week 14 update, The long grind (2 lbs. lost)...

334 lbs
35 down, 65 to go
38 weeks left
$14 per lb pledged
$480 raised

If you are new to loseforthefuse.com please read the first post or pledge here.

There are a lot of ways to view the 2 pounds that went away this past week.

- As a let down after a nice 5 pound showing.
- As a blessing after the many weeks that 1 pd. was as much as I could muster.
- As a nice steady number that will get me to my halfway point in before my birthday.
- As another $28 raised for 101.7 The Fuse
- As something that doesn't even matter because really it's all about body fat %.

I think this week I'll go with that last option simply because I did my first body fat % test this morning since a started working out less than two months ago. The results? I have gone from 29% body fat to 27% body fat and my understanding is that 2% body fat is a fairly significant achievement for 8 weeks. It also puts me only 2% away from going from "obese" to "acceptable" and I'm not anything if not someone who craves acceptance.

In case you were wondering:

Classification	Women (% fat)	Men (% fat)
Essential Fat	10-12%	2-4%
Athletes	14-20%	6-13%
Fitness	21-24%	14-17%
Acceptable	25-31%	18-25%
Obese	32% plus	25% plus

So it's another exciting week, and I think I'm gonna set a little mini-goal to be down to 23% body fat and 310 by my birthday on May 26th. I know that's more than I did the last 8 weeks, but my birthday is more like 10 weeks away and as it warms up I think it's gonna happen even faster.

Thanks for tuning in and make sure and get your pledge in. Remember my goal has been to raise $100 per pound by December, but that's not going to happen unless more people get on board.

I should also mention if you are interested in losing some of your own weight for the station that we will be starting a small group of "Fuse Losers" on April 1st. You can click on the link above for that as well.

See ya' next week!

Week 13 update, The Breakthrough (5 lbs. lost)...

336 lbs
33 down, 67 to go
39 weeks left
$14 per lb pledged
$452 raised

If you are new to loseforthefuse.com please read the first post or pledge here.

Now that's more like it. After 6 weeks of working out and not losing more than 1.5 pounds in any of those weeks my body finally gave in. With a "Fine, Whatever" attitude it finally gave up and let 5 pounds out the door this week. I have to admit, it's pretty exciting and much better than the dinky 1 pound marks from the past month of working out. Let me be clear, I didn't change anything this week from last, I just kept at it. For some reason, it takes the body a few weeks of working out to give in, but it finally did.

I should also mention that I am about 3 pounds away from reaching the 10% mark. Meaning I will have lost 10% of my body weight (My over all goal is about 30%, so there is still a ways to go, but still.)

I still have about 9 months left on this thing and I am confident that if I stay with it not only will the weight come off, but because I'm doing it "the right way" it will stay off.

To make the overall goal of supporting the station through this endeavor work though I need your help. Please consider pledging a dollar a pound to encourage me and show your support for The Fuse. There is a quick easy form if you just click on the link above.

Thanks for checking in and tune in next Friday to see if it continues!