And so it begins

Well here we go again. I weighed in this morning and I am right where I was when the contest ended. So I have maintained over the past few weeks. Here is a picture of the scale on day number one:

I was hoping it would be a little less but I guess this means that I will be able to lose a few more pounds and raise a few more dollars for MS.

I will be keeping this Blog more up to date then I have over the past couple of weeks. I will be writing at least every other day. And I will be posting weekly pictures of the scale on Thursdays. I figured we weighed in on Thursdays during the Big Loser I might as well keep it up.

Well I need to go and work on a progress chart to hang on the wall of my office. That way everyone there will have an idea of where I am at. Again thanks for everyone's support.

Hello

I have been a little busy and a little sick as of late. I am maintaining my weight but I am not losing. I have been sick more this winter then I can ever remember. But I am not the only one. Just about everyone at the clinic where I work has had several sick days this winter. There is a bug out there that just won't go away.

I am going to be heading back to the gym tomorrow. Everyone in my family is sick so I am going to give it one more day for us all to rest and then we are getting back into it. I am starting my weight loss challenge tomorrow. I have raised about $6.00 a pound in pledges. All the money will be going to the MS Society. I would like to have raised a little more but there is still some time. My goal is still to lose 70 more pounds by July 12th. That will get me into a territory that I haven't been for many years. I also have a personal challenge for myself. I have been saving my monthly fun money allowance and if I can break the 300# mark by March 15th then I get to buy a home theater system. If I don't then all the money I have saved goes to the MS Society.

I am really looking forward to the weather getting nicer. I want to get out on my bike. I am getting tired of riding on the bike at the YMCA. I really want to feel the wind in my face and breath the fresh air. I have been able to increase my riding time on the recumbant bike by a considerable ammount. I have also increased my time on the treadmill. My wife and I are planning a trip to Disney World in September so I need to be in shape so that we can do a lot of walking while we are there. I don't want to be tired and cranky every day while we are there so I want to be able to walk all day without getting tired. I try and do at least 70 minutes of cardio when I am at the gym. I break that up with some weights. I can feel myself getting stronger and stronger. I am noticing muscles in places where there used to be only fat. And it is only going to get better.

I am going to be better about posting on here. This is where I am going to direct the people that have pledged money towards my weight loss challenge. I was hoping that KQ would have picked up on it an helped me get a little more in pledges. Well since I am at work I guess I should do something.

I've been away.

The past week or so has been tough. I haven't been good about going to the gym and I have been craving cookies. I actually gained 2.2 pounds. So I have been thinking of ways to motivate myself. I came up with a great plan. For the past 2 years I have participated in an event called the Crawl 4 the Cure to raise money for the Multiple Sclerorsis society. Well I have come up with a plan to raise a little more money. I would like people to pledge money for every pound I lose between February 8th 2007 and July 12th 2007. I will start it off with a pledge of $1 per pound. I am hoping to lose another 70 pounds so that can give you a gauge as to how much your pledge will be, and I would like to collect at least $20 per pound that I lose. 100% of the money raised goes to the MS Society. And all the pledges are tax deductible. If people want to make a pledge email me at davidwesterberg@msn.com . If you are interested in the event check out www.crawl4cure.org for more information. This event is growing each year and the media coverage is growing as well. If there are businesses out there that are willing to make a pledge I am not above placing advertising on the side of my Jeep. I am very excited about this challenge. I am looking forward to losing even more weight and raising money for a great cause. Over the past 2 years we have raised about $46,000 for the MS Society. If anyone wants to come up and check out the event from the passengers seat of my Jeep (I might even let you drive), let me know and maybe we can work something out. I will have the dietician here at the clinic where I work certify the starting weight and ending weight, and I will take pictures of the scale just to make sure everything is on the level. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at the email address above.

I am confident that this will give me the motivation to lose those 70 pounds. I am very excited about this.

I've been away

Sorry I haven't written much for the past few days. I went up to my Mom's for the weekend to work on some projects around her house and when I got back I got sick again. This has been about the worst winter for me getting sick. I just get over one cold and another one hits.

I stepped on the scale the other day and I was down about another 4 pounds. The scale said just over 36 pounds lost total. I have given my body a break, I haven't worked out in a few days and I can tell. I am going to go on Thursday and work out. Then again on Friday and then the family will go swimming.

I am so thankful for all I learned through the contest and all the support that I have gotten from everyone. I really missed going up to the gym last night and seeing everyone. I like the YMCA and all that but it was nice seeing all the contestants there and knowing them and being encouraged by them.

Well supper is ready then I have a date with my son to watch Return of the Jedi, or as he calls it the Green Star Wars.

It's all over. (the contest that is)

Well it is over and I didn't win the big prizes but I have won so much more. I won back my self respect. I won back my health. And I have won a better life. I don't look at it as losing anything other then 32.4 pounds. My wife and I are making plans to keep this up. We have decided that 3-4 nights a week (depending on schedules) we are going to be going to the YMCA and working out. I sent in my request for an entry form for the William A. Irvin 5K this summer, we are going to run it together (maybe some of you will join us). Then on weekends we are going to get out and enjoy life. Hiking, biking, snow shoeing (if we ever get snow), there are just so many things that I want to get out and explore. We are also planning on enrolling in one of the YMCA's Cardio Boot camps this spring, they look pretty intense. I am really looking forward to warmer weather. I am getting tired of riding bike and not feeling the sun on my face, and looking at the same thing and not going anywhere. If anyone wants to ride bike this spring or summer let me know. I have an almost new bike in the garage that I have only riden a couple of times.

I will be keeping this blog up and running as long as I can. I am going to be keeping up to date on my weight loss. My training for the race and I will start putting some pictures up of the progress. I would really like to get the full picture that Bill took on the first night. I would like to put that in here and put a current picture in so people can see how I have changed.

I am hoping that we can all stay in touch. It would be nice if we could all get together at the Super Bowl party and fill each other in on how we have been doing. It would be nice to get together every few weeks and keep in touch.

Well I guess since I am at work I should do something work related. Congrats to Chris for being the big loser. You worked hard and you deserve it. And to the rest of you. I am proud of all of you. Team Bill stuck together and pulled it out in the end, we lost a little more then 9 pounds more then Team Jason. Hopefully Bill will come up with some kind of team prize. Thanks again to Bill, Jason, and especially Matt for all that they have done.

Last Weigh-In

Well it is all done. Tonight was my lowest weight loss of the contest, only .8 pounds but I will admit it is because I have not worked as hard as I could have this past week. I took it easy this weekend and I used my ankle as an excuse to not go and work out. I could have gone and done something but I decided to spend the time with my wife and son. I have missed a lot in the last 8 weeks and I decided that spending some time with them was important.

I don't know if my metabolism has kicked up a little more or what but I have been a lot hungrier this week. So yes I did eat more and work out less, that is why I only lost .8 pounds. But it was a loss and that is what counts.

I am very happy with the 32.4 pounds that I have lost over the course of this program. I am at a weight now that my wife has never seen me at. And I am only going to weigh less and less. I have found something that is working for me and I am happy. I know that there are going to be more .8 pound loss weeks and there may even be a few gains along the way. But I am going to get to where I need to be. My goal is to lose another 67.6 pounds. That will bring me to 100 pounds lost. But I am going to do it my way. I have found a lot of different exercises that I am going to continue doing and I am really loving the cardio workout. I have lowered my resting pulse down to 62 bpm, and my blood pressure has dropped about 20 points. I have increased my cardio workout from about 10 minutes to about 90 minutes. I have increased all my weights by a minimum of 25 pounds and some as much as 70. I have maxed out on some machines and I have moved to free weights and to doing abs and lower back on the exercise ball with free weights. I am pumped and getting more and more fired up about the changes in my body.

I want to thank everyone that has been in the program for all the support. Bill and Jason for getting us all together. Matt for everything he has done. If you are reading this and looking for some place to work out. 24 Hour Fitness is where it is at. If you want to get in shape talk to Matt he will get you there. And I want to thank everyone that has bee reading along with me and lending their support. Especially the people that don't even know me that have encouraged and supported me. We are going to be able to keep our blogs and I am going to find a way to keep a page going to keep all the blogs in one spot. I have a couple of ideas that might work.

Well it is late and I am tired. So again thank you everyone and to all you big losers congrats on all you have accomplished and all you have done.

Lets Celebrate

Hey everybody. The last day is here and in a way I am glad but I will certainly miss the people. I would like us to all keep in touch and keep each other posted as to what is going on good or bad. Thank you Kim for gathering all the information so that we can do that.

I would also like us all to get together after the weigh in tonight. Bring your spouse or significant other or your biggest supporter to the weigh in and we will figure out what we are doing from there. I will stop and tell Matt because he said he would like to meet with us after it is all done. I am not suggesting we go to the OCB and pig out. But someplace that we can sit and celebrate our accomplishments. So put your thinking caps on and lets do this right. We can all celebrate equally since we won't know who won until Friday morning.

I am so proud of you all. We have all done so much through this program. We have lost a lot of weight. Walked/run/peddled hundreds of miles on the treadmills/elipticals/bikes. And lifted thousands of pounds of weights. We all should be proud of what we have done. We have lost all this weight in what most consider the season to gain weight. We have shunned Christmas Cookies, Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie, and countless other delights from the holiday season. We have all shown that we are big losers and you are all winners in my book.

Congratulations to you all. I hope we can all continue to support each other for a long time to come.