A VERY Special Thank You

I wanted to send a very special thank you to all of the readers of this blog and my friends and family who voted for me in the Somae Challenge. As a result of your support, I received the most votes and will receive $1000. I also remain under consideration to win an additional $10,000 if my story is selected as the most inspirational--meaning that I have demonstrated the biggest change both inside and out.

While I'm not sure how they will judge it, your support has certainly made a difference for me. Thank you, all!

Sharing My Lessons

Since beginning my Somae journey in September 2010, I have shared my story not only with my adult friends and family but with many others through this blog. Just today I was able to return emails to folks across the country who have either already joined Somae or who are in the process of considering it. I have also been inspired to make sure that my own children and the many children I work with at a local public elementary school don't fall into the same pattern that I did later in life.

In the past 6 months I have successfully worked on grants to bring 2 salad bars into the 400 student school, ensuring that every child has access to fresh greens and vegetables everyday. Additionally we have received a grant to provide a fresh fruit or vegetable snack to every child each day in addition to a balanced breakfast and lunch. In partnership with a local food pantry, we provide 50 "power packs" each Friday for students to take home nutrient-dense foods for the weekend, a time in which healthy food options are unlikely to be available. Those children staying after school now receive a nourishing hot dinner.

All of this in a school with more than 85% student poverty and where it is estimated that at least 50% of our students' families do most of their home food shopping at a corner convenience store.

We have also instituted several school-wide initiatives to increase physical activity. Most notably, a partnership with the NFL and American Dairy Council entitled "Fuel Up to Play 60" which emphasizes the importance of both a healthy, well-balanced diet AND at least 60 minutes of exercise daily.

My Somae journey has indeed been a life-changing experience for me, and is far from over. If my story were to be selected in the Somae Challenge, a portion of the $10,000 prize would be reinvested to help continue the work already underway at the school where I work everyday.

One Month of Lost Time

I have no idea where February went, nor any idea how it can be a month since I've last posted to the blog.

It's been a rough month overall. The future of my job is uncertain--it's a grant-funded position and is set to expire on June 30--and as my mood has gone down, guess what has gone up. That's right, my weight.

I am mindlessly eating, just grabbing something to eat and snacking...and snacking...and snacking. At this point, I'm up about 15 total pounds from my set-point in November (still 30 pounds below where I started in September). I've noticed the weight creeping up, but have been able to hold stable now for about 2 weeks.

I'm frustrated with the weight gain and have definitely noticed that, in addition to my mood being down, I don't feel nearly as good physically as I did 2-3 months ago. I'm back on a Phase I menu (whole foods, organic if I can find them) with lots of veggies and fruit and water.

What has this proven to me? The Somae Plan helps, as long as you are truly willing to adopt it as a lifestyle and have the motivation to stick to it. I had thought (subconsciously, of course) that I would be able to slip back into some of my old habits without ramifications. My body craves salads, yet I've been grabbing a quick burger instead.

2 months until I run in the Flying Pig 5K, and I will be back down below my weight from Thanksgiving.

Back to the Trenches: Starting Over

Weight: 238.0 pounds

Well, I have now gained 10 pounds from my set point at Thanksgiving. Unlike the past when I would say "I don't know WHY I've gained the weight", I know exactly why I've gained it back. I've lost touch with the whole foods diet I had enjoyed (and I really DID enjoy it) during my time on the 12-week Somae Plan. The past couple of weeks of illness, a LOT of stress and too much ice and snow to run outside have gotten me out of my rhythm.

Excuses, I know...but the truth.

So, I'm getting back to it hard core tomorrow. I have reposted my goals and recommended meal planning guide ( I forgot how wide-open it really is). I'm going to hit Whole Foods Market for some of the staples (raw sunflower seeds, fresh made peanut butter, coconut milk) and plan a day or so ahead for my meals.

The other thing I'm doing is, in late February, I will be going back on the hCG injections and Very Low Calorie Diet. I know that some are still a little concerned about that decision (or will be when they read this), but there are both physical and psychological reasons for my decision. The hCG, in addition to curbing cravings and helping burn fat, made my sleep cycles much more regular. With regular sleep cycles, I was going to bed at 9 or 9:30 and sleeping through the night. Now, I'm sitting awake until 12:30 or 1:00 a.m. and, while watching tv or working on the computer, I'm munching on whatever snack I can find...and it has included some pretty odd things, none of them "healthy".

I'm also going to recommit to my running regimen once the ice melts, and will use the treadmill in the meantime. The Flying Pig 5K is just around the corner.

Being Sick is the Worst

Weight: 236.4 pounds

One of the benefits of my time on the Somae Plan is that I really only had one spell of being "sick", a sinus infection that cleared up pretty quickly. Since I finished the Somae Plan in December, I've been plagued with several head and chest colds, not to mention my fissure issue.

The past 9 days or so have been absolutely horrible, and my weight is reflecting not only my decrease in exercise but also my increased consumption of "comfort foods" in the form of processed carbs and a decrease in consumption of raw fruits and vegetables. I'm becoming convinced that I'm in a vicious cycle, and am trying to work my way out of it.

4 months and counting---confession time

Weight: 230.2 pounds
Total Weight Lost: 44.4 pounds

Today marks the 4 month anniversary of my beginning the Somae Plan. When I started at nearly 275 pounds in September, I was tired all of the time, unable to focus, easily distracted, and binge eating almost every night after my wife and kids went to bed. Today, I'm more productive at work and home, have a ton of energy and, as I type this, I'm ripping music to listen to while jogging in the coming week.

I've made some veiled references to an embarrassing medical condition I've developed over the past 2 months or so. When I moved from the HIGH fiber low calorie Phase 2 meal plan to the more substantial Phase 3 meal plan, I started to develop pretty bad constipation. I also developed a bad habit of "straining" during bowel movements, which ended up causing a literal "pain in the butt" that I thought to be hemorrhoids. I treated them as such with over the counter remedies, but nothing really helped and the pain only increased.

About 3 weeks ago, I was diagnosed with a fissure. Gross, I know, but nonetheless real. A fissure is a tear in one or more of the muscles that control the opening and closing of the sphincter. When healthy, the muscles loosen and constrict with bowel movements. When a fissure is present, the muscles tend to NOT loosen up and then OVERTIGHTEN, causing additional pain and tearing. SO, what to do....?

I'm now using a prescription ointment of nitroglycerin, yes the same thing used in explosives (insert joke here) and for heart patients. The purpose of the nitroglycerin, applied at the area of injury, is to dilate the blood vessels which promotes healing. It's working so far with less pain for the past several days.

I've also added fiber supplemets into my daily regimen which have made a WORLD of difference. More on this new discovery in a later post.

A Good Week of Training, but...

I actually had a good week of training this week on the Couch-to-5K program. My distances and times continue to improve. Despite some muscle pain during my interval sessions, I was able to stretch and avoid any post-run soreness. I'm breaking my new shoes in and getting used to the way they feel. I've also been doing some research on running form to ensure that I'm not running the "wrong way" (which I was), so I've been able to address some of those issues as well.

Unfortunately, my weight has spiked this week. In looking at it, I think the reintroduction of some particular carbs and a decrease in my sleep at night are taking their toll. I've also developed--or rather, redeveloped--a painful (and embarrassing) condition that will probably put a damper on my schedule. Let's put it this way, I can walk and probably run but sitting is a BIG problem. As of Saturday, I'm back on a whole foods diet with as much fiber and water as I can get. I purchased a stylish pillow to sit on today, and will be visiting the doctor sometime this week to see what my options are.

New Shoes for a New Me

As I've posted before, I'm training for the Flying Pig 5K race on April 30, 2011. Over the last couple of weeks I've been doing interval training through Couch-to-5K (C25K). It's a nine-week program, but since I have been so out-of-shape for so long, I'm easing into it by doing my interval walk/jog sessions 2 or 3 days a week. On New Year's Eve I actually walked a full 5K (3.1 miles) in just over an hour, but most of my sessions have been more like 30 minutes or so.

The one thing I've noticed, however, and as I've also been told by numerous runners...no matter how good of shape you're in, you MUST have a good pair of shoes. I had picked up a new pair of running shoes at the local "big box" retailer in early December, but my legs (and even my neck) were not doing very well with the added impact from the exercise.

Today, I broke down and went to a local running shoe store and had a professional fitting done. The sales staff was great and, after trying on probably 6 different pairs of shoes, settled on a nice pair, the Asics Gel-Cumulus 12. They were uber-comfortable in the store and even with a quick jog up and down the sidewalk at the store, I was convinced. Tonight, I took them out on the road for the first time...and OUCH. The shoes feel fine and the impact is certainly minimized, but the balls of my feet are KILLING me. I'll be going back tomorrow to see what may be wrong or if I may need an insert of some kind...I'm certainly open to suggestions.

hCG: Controversy or Control?

Just a post-Christmas update to get out of the way. I weighed in this morning (after not doing so on Christmas Day) to find that despite a bit of indulgence, I have dropped .4 pounds since Christmas Eve morning.

No on to the hCG.....

In the Somae Health plan, there is a 7-week course of taking a hormone known as hCG. I've posted about it a few times (click the hCG tag below to sort out those posts), but I wanted to take a little bit of time to reflect on the hCG treatments and whether or not I think they were helpful in my weight loss.

Before I started the Somae Plan, the hCG injections were one of the top reasons that I was hesitating. Giving up an unhealthy lifestyle was really the biggest hurdle, but nonetheless, the hormone injections did scare (and concern) me a bit. After all, inject female hormones into my body to lose weight. Sounded like quackery to me.

I read articles from the New England Journal of Medicine and other publications about the Very Low Calorie Diets (VLCD) and the use of hCG to combat fatigue and hunger while on a VLCD. The science was compelling, but still not widely accepted. In fact, in 1974 the FDA required doctor's to advise patients that hCG was not proven to help in weight loss.

That being said, I had seen the results first-hand when my personal physician went on the Somae Health plan (with hCG) and lost an amazing amount of weight. I was convinced to try it...what did I have to lose (other than the $1200).

I have to say, I think there may have been only 1 day in my 12 weeks on the Somae Plan where I truly felt hungry...and none of those was while on the hCG treatments in Phase 2. I did have some days where I had less energy, but they were few and far between and the weight kept coming off. In full disclosure, I lost more weight per day, on average, during the induction period of Phase 1 where I was basically cleansing and healing my digestive system than I did during the hCG phase (Phase 2) also known as "Accelerated Weight Loss".

I have a relative doing hCG treatments right now through a different company. She is using the sublingual (under-the-tongue) drops. She seems to be doing well, too, though I'm waiting for an update. I have a friend from high school who is now using the Somae Health plan WITHOUT using hCG. He hasn't gotten to the VLCD component yet, but I'll be very interested to get his take on how his energy and hunger levels do.

So, did I answer the question for you? Probably not. There is a lot of research out there, and this new weight loss "fad" is not as new as it may appear. The original studies on hCG go back more than 50 years. Did it work for me? I would have to say that it probably did. I'm working on trying to lose more weight now without the hCG but relying on the lessons I learned while on the Somae Health plan as far as eating and exercise. Are all hCG programs designed alike, probably not...but Somae Health and it's mentor program definitely worked for me.

I'm more than happy to answer specific questions about hCG or the Somae Plan in general.....just shoot me a comment or an email.

Support Me in the Somae Challenge

Once again, I'm asking for your support in the Somae Challenge. Please go to http://www.somaechallenge.com/?p=202 and cast your vote. No registration is required and it only takes about 15 seconds.