jsing66

Send Message

Block

Add Friend

Hello,

As many of you know I have started doing endurance events to keep me healthy, active, and to celebrate my journey back to life.  What many people didn't know was that in preparing for my Bariatric Surgery, my pre-surgery blood tests had some abnormal results and after some more tests....two enlarged lymph nodes were removed from my groin...60 days after my bariatric surgery.  This early discovery saved my life and put into focus why I needed to take action and make the changes to improve the quality of my life.  It is with this in mind that I have signed up for the 2012 RCN NYC Triathlon in July and have joined the LLS TnT to raise funds to find a cure for blood cancers and in memory of my grandmother, Rose Rogers Singer who died from Leukemia just days after I was born....I never got to meet her.  I have a website and hope anyone who reads this would go to the link and donate to help me accomplish my mission to raise $5,000.

 
http://pages.teamintraining.org/ct/nyctri12/jsinger


http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer">

Greetings Members and Friends,

As the end of the year approaches I am beginning to feel those familiar feelings of aloneness and remembering how difficult the holidays can be....dealing with family.....the loss of family....and the need to fill the sorrow or anxiety by eating things I don't normally eat.  This year is my time of change....the 3rd year....the year that can bring a 10-30% weight regain....why because I can eat bad things again, I have the capacity to overeat or eat things that may not make me feel good, and I won't get ill or incapacitated.....I can eat an 8oz (precooked) steak and most of a baked potato.  I can eat a salad with chicken and dressing and finish it.  I can eat a chinese PuPu platter with fried foods and spare ribs till I feel slightly uncomfortable......depending on where and when I do this....it translates to almost 1000 Kcal meals not the 1000-1500Kcal days of year 2.

As of today I haven't......although the grilled chicken grinder with the roll I get for lunch once/twice a week is around 600 Kcal....depending on how much of the roll I eat.  I am still operating on the 1200-1800 Kcal day with an occational variation + or -.  So what does it mean to say I've lost about another 8lbs over the last 2 months while exercising 3-5 times a week on average?

It means I'm living as a Bariatric LTE- Lifestyle, Transformation, and Enrichment.  I have been changing the way I look without plastic surgery so far to be able to maintain/continue my weight loss.  The maintenance phase of Bariatrics is where we lose our personal battle...because we lose the day to day support of the active weight loss process and our bodies reach an equilibrium and it adjusts as we lose weight and our muscle mass....the dirty secret of this bariatric process.

We lose 100, 150, 200, 250+ lbs......but at some point we lose enough Muscle or can't workout 7 days a week 90 minutes a day....and our bodies are either at a low burn rate or we increase our food intake because our body tricks us into thinking we need more calories or stores the calories we do eat think because it thinks it needs them.  Our bodies adjust to our exercise or it changes to adjust to the bariatrics...no how much we get a band adjusted or we get a refill with the bypass....its just a stop gap until we make the lifestyle changes and transform our bodies to regain and maintain the muscle to keep our metabolism burning.  So its either Yo Yo dieting and exercise or it is changing what you do and how you live day to day without apologizing or feeling guilty.  This is LTE !!!  For me this is the Ying Yang, the centering that keeps me present in life and my own assertive life advocate.  I wake up everyday saying.....The definition of Insanity is doing the same thing everyday and expecting a different result.....I will not go unconsious, I will never go back to way I was!!!!!!!!!!!

Back to the moment...what does this mean?  My body is not perfect, I am not beautiful naked, but I am not the skin and bones I was 8 months ago.  I have about an 1-1.5 inch pinch under arms and maybe 2 inch pinch on the sides when my hand is behind my head...I have increased by biceps by 3.5 inches and my chest by 2.5 inches while decreasing my waist by 2inches.  I still have my lower belly jelly roll, but it is getting flatter....more like an apron or flap....I can lift at 190 lbs now as much as I was lifting at 460 lbs.  I was down to bicep curls at 20-25 lbs around 1 yr ago...this week 60 lbs.   I couldn't do 1 real pushup and now I can do 3 sets of 10 when I do a curcuit.  I have changed it up for winter 2011/2012.  I'm not preparing for Triathlons for next year yet....last year I was swimming and spinning and jogging.  Now I'm doing weight and strength training, spinning once a week on average, but I changed it up......I am now a member of USA Hockey and an officiating 2-4 games a week on avg.  I played for half my life, then a referee for most of the 90's, but was off skates for over 12 years.....well I'm back......and rekindling a lifelong passion.....and skating better than I did 15 years ago!!!!!   Better yet....I got playing equipment too!!!  Anyone know of a pickup game or fill in spot for an adult league....I don't have the time to commit to a full time adult league, yet......:) 

4 Next Time......did I tell you I'm set to do the RCN NYC Triathlon in July and a Half Ironman 70.3 Race in September 2012!!!!  OMG

See you at the meeting!!!

- Remember Live, Love, and Laugh Strong!!!

Jeff 

 

Hello everyone,

I'm posting this message a little late, but October 22nd was my second anniversary...and its been 24 months and it seems so close but so long ago.  We have definately made it past the first year and have now hit year 2...with a total of 270 lbs down....it hasn't been easy and I have been playing with the same 5-7 lbs for awhile, but overall I have maintained and done some transforming along the way....back in June we completed an Olympic distance Triathlon, done 3 other sprints(Farmington(Cancer Tri), Madison(Dave Parcells), Chester(CT Sprint Championships) . and now the ING 5K.  My next step has been to reclaim a part of my past...I have gotten recertified as a USA Hockey Referee after nearly 15 years and before that a Junior A/B hockey player.

I don't know how far I am going to get with this....but as I've said before.....I'm on a journey to see how much I can get back.  I do know this for a fact....the more you do....the more you can do......but at this age...you need to listen to your body and push it without injury.....meanwhile my winter goal is to increase muscle mass....and strength my core, do some corrective training, and work on anarobic exercise to burn calories.  The one thing I've learned that I need to increase muscle mass or commit to workout hours 5-7 days a week...which is not realistic being a father of 3, a working male, and husband......

I am looking forward to my re-introduction to officiating.....2011/2012.  I am signed up for the Quassy Rev Triathlon(Olympic) on June 2nd, planning on the RCN(Nautica) NYC Triathlon, another Tri(???), and lets hope I will be ready for my first Half Iron Man around September(Toughman 2012??) and maybe the ING Half Marathon.

Right now I'm managing my weight through an old business methodology...Management by Objective(MBO)....but I am beginning to formulate my own Stage 3.....I got the Bariatric Surgery(Stage 1), I lost the weight during the active period(Stage 2), but I am having problems with this thing called maintenance(Stage 3?)....

My answer is.......LTE - I call it Lifetime Transformation and Enrichment.....some want me to call it Lifestyle, Transformation, and Enrichment.  LTE- Its the next stage in the Bariatric Support Movement....and the one thing its not.......Maintenance.  Part I coming to a support group near you!!!!!!

Live Laugh, and Love...Strong!!

Jeff