I learned about Farrell's through my wife's sister who went through the 10-wk challenge earlier this year. She kept a blog for much of her progress and I figured anything that helped keep me committed to the process would be a good idea so I'm kicking one off too.
I'm not starting Farrell's until this fall, my wife is on week 2 right now and doing great. I'm kind of worried about my hips and knees and back holding up because in the past when I've started into workout routines after having not been active for a while, I hurt something. So I plan to try to focus on my flexibility and core stability before I start up in probably October.
I've always been a big guy, but post-college I eventually ballooned. Chalk it up to being less active, having an office job, just getting older, etc. Whatever the reasons I went from being about 220 when I graduated college to suddenly finding myself around 280 at my 10 yr high school reunion and well over 300 not long after that. At 29 I was around 320 and decided to do a marathon. I didn't train especially well for it and it took me just over 6 hours to finish (Chicago, 2002) and I was at 304 pounds. In the ten years since then I'd gained back more over the years. My exercise was spotty at best, my diet didn't pay attention to portion control, I drank a lot... in 2009 I tried to donate blood but couldn't because my blood pressure was so high. Alarmed, I went to the doctor and his first immediate recommendation for me was to lose weight. I was 330 pounds at the time. In the immediate months after, I didn't do so well. My wife was pregnant with our twin sons, they were born in January 2010... and within a month, in a moment of clarity from the sleep-deprivation, I weighed myself and I was up to 349, the heaviest I've ever been. It was actually getting difficult getting into the car and tying my shoes. Now I had two babies to take care of... and I want to be there for them...
So I did the South Beach thing again. I'd done it a couple of years before and lost about 20 pounds, but then went back to my old habits and had gained it back. This time it wasn't difficult, maybe the boys distracted me enough. Regardless, I lost fast and kept losing until I was down to 289 which felt incredible. Just breaking 300 was fantastic, I couldn't remember the last time I was under 300 pounds. This was with pretty much zero exercise, just strictly following South Beach. My wife and I got married in the fall of 2010 and we went on our honeymoon a bit later, April 2011... which is pretty much where I mostly abandoned South Beach again. I started back in my old habits of eating what was around, grazing through the day, finishing up the kids' leftovers so I don't have to throw food away, eating a second plate even though I'm actually 'full', etc. The weight came back until about a month ago I was back up to 329... so I went back on South Beach phase 1.
About that time, my wife found out that her sister had done Farrell's... and she discovered a groupon or some similar deal for half-price on the summer Farrell's challenge, so she signed up. It sounds great and I'm planning (as I said) on signing up for the fall challenge in White Bear Lake, MN (close to my work). Other times I've focused on losing weight in the past, I hit a wall in loss... actually, that happened with I was down to 289, I kind of stuck there and in the 290s for a while and I think I got frustrated and gave up on the diet rather than starting to exercise... which would have helped. I think there's a point where once I've lost x-amount of weight, it won't fall off of me anymore without the exercise. Well, I expect 60 sessions of Farrell's should do it.
I'm at 320 right now, trying to keep on SB phase 2 and trying to get to the gym over lunch when I can, where I usually stretch, bench press and do 10-15 minutes of cardio on the exer-bike. Not very intense. I'm looking forward to Farrell's, but not looking forward to getting up early, obviously. I like my sleep...but with twin 3-yr olds and a puppy at home now, I don't sleep in anyway. ;-)
