This is a blog I have been thinking about since about July 24th. After my fight on July 23rd I wasn't sure this 'old man' had it in him to fight in a predominately 20 yo amateur mma sport. Anyone who knows me however knows I don't give up, nor do I quit. Never trying again with 1 loss has bothered me since that night. I would rather be 0-2 and say its not for me than to fight 1 time, lose and say it's not for me. I know not everyone will be excited with my decision but again if you know me, I'm sure you will understand.
So, right now I am looking for a personal trainer---someone with strength and conditioning backgrounds. Someone who can push me to be bigger, faster and better than I have ever been physically and mentally. Kinda like a Marine Corp boot camp I guess. I want to get back into a gym for the MMA training which will be tough considering the closest is in Wichita but I will see what I can work out there.
Not sure when I will be able to get where I feel I need to be to step back in the cage but at the latest I would like to try again by early spring 2012. If it happens sooner fine, but I will not walk back in there until I improve my cardio and strength. Mentally I feel like I was fine and now with one fight behind me I think I will be even stronger there.
I have started riding the bike again and getting the calorie burn going. Once it cools down I plan on running more. The running shoes feel great. I am always looking for people to ride or run with and hopefully soon hit the gym with. If you are looking to get outside and ride or run a few miles get in touch.
For anyone wondering since July 23 when I weighed in at 168 I have put on about 8-9 pounds since then. My current wait is exactly what I was about 2 weeks prior to my fight. I literally have eaten about whatever I wanted. The difference being that what I wanted was still healthy foods as opposed to McDonald's, Burger King and all the other places like that. I do eat bigger portions than needed but that's what I am working on again as of now.
Well that's it for now.
Enjoy your holiday weekend!!!
Darren
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Letter back from Corp of Engineers
This is the reply I got back from the Milford Lake, Corps of Engineers. If they hold up to this letter it shows they are definitely trying to fix the problem. Supposed to be hearing back from them in the next couple days again so we will see. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Albertson Family:
Thank you for your electronic mail you sent on August 8, 2001 regarding this issue. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sincerely apologizes for the frustrations you encountered with your recent camping trip. It has definitely been a tough summer for our customers at Milford Lake due to high lake conditions and the presence of the blue-green algae.
The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers works with The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) to test the lake for blue/green algae when conditions warrant. The State tests on Monday, with a conference call lead by KDHE on the following Thursday or Friday to discuss the testing results and recommended advisory status. The Corps posts the updates and news releases to our website www.nwk.usace.army.mil/mi. The Corps also calls local radio stations and papers so the public can be informed in a timely manner. Unfortunately we are unable to contact every user of the lake regarding this particular issue.
The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers contracts with Reserve America to provide reservable campsites through the internet and call center. The collaboration typically works very well, however in this case there were unfortunate circumstances that lead to the problems you encountered. The case is being reviewed by both the Corps of Engineers and Reserve America to ensure similar incidents will be prevented in the future.
Your reservations at Milford and Clinton will be refunded. Your time and frustration with this occurrence warrant the refunding of the reservations at both lakes. Refunds normally take 24-48 hours. Mr. David White from the Kansas City District office will follow up this letter with a phone call to Mr. Albertson to verify the refunds were processed and received accordingly.
In the future, if you encounter problems at any Corps of Engineer facility please contact the local lake project office and ask to speak with Park Manager or Operations Manager. In most cases they will be able to correct the problem, or come to an acceptable resolution, in a timely manner.
Our intent is service and customer satisfaction, we appreciate you taking the time to make us aware of the camping problem at Milford lake. We take pride on being open and responsive to our customer’s concerns and requests. If I can be of further assistance to you on this matter, please contact me at 785-238-5714.
Ken Wenger
Park Manager
Monday, August 8, 2011
Letter I sent to the Corps of Engineers, Governor, KC Star and Wichita Eagle
Headquarters, US Army Corps of Engineers
441 G. Street, NW
Washington, DC 20314-1000
441 G. Street, NW
Washington, DC 20314-1000
To whom it may concern,
My name is Darren Albertson and I have an unfortunate incident I want to pass along to you about a very frustrating series of events I am trying to get corrected. The events started with reservations I had made through the recreation.gov website.
This situation begins on or about July 16th. According to my reservation emails 3 of my reservations were made in the late hours of the 16th and 1 just after midnight on the 17th of July. On July 24th on my way back to Hutchinson, KS from Missouri I stopped in the park to check the reserved sites out and found out that the lake was closed due to blue/green algae. I made all 4 reservations online for a family trip. At the time I made the reservations had I known of the algae issue and the lake being closed I would never have made those reservations. After speaking to the camp host working the little office at the park she recommended I call the Corp of Engineers office for the Milford Lake area. Milford Lake was chosen by our entire party because it was centrally located for everyone convenience. The intentions of this trip were to camp, boat, swim and fish. On July 25th I did just that and spoke with a lady who explained new test results would be available on that Wednesday. At that time the lady and I decided I should wait until Wednesday to change my reservations in hopes the test results came back good. On Wednesday I called the Milford Lake office again and was informed they would not have test results back until Thursday. Thursday I called and they said they would not have the results back until Friday. So on Thursday July 28th I decided I couldn’t wait any longer for test results and elected to have the reservations moved to a lake that was open. We had 4 separate camping units coming and 5 children who would have been devastated had we not been able to boat or swim. We had 3 units coming from Chillicothe, MO and myself from Hutchinson, KS.
After speaking with the Milford lake office they informed me I would have to contact another phone # in order to CHANGE my reservations. I immediately called and was on hold for 30-45 minutes before actually getting a person to speak with due to high call volume. I spoke with a lady whom I did not write her name down but have since been told her name was Elizabeth by another person. Anyways this lady gave very misleading information about many different things. One of them being that she was cancelling my Milford Lake reservations and refunding my money. I was under the impression my reservations were being changed until almost the very end of a very lengthy call. She then required me to pay for the new set of reservations at Clinton Lake (Hickory/Walnut Campground). I explained to her I was unemployed and how important these funds were to me at the time. She assured me that I would have the funds back in my account for the cancelled reservations in 48-72 hours. Then and only then did I decide to continue and pay for the second set of reservations but only because I was assured that I would have my money back within the 48-72 hours for the cancelled reservations. I checked my account twice last week and still had no refund. After arriving back home from Clinton lake on 8/7/11 I again checked my account and still had no refund. I immediately used the ‘Contact Us’ link on the recreation.gov website. Then today I called again to the # I had used when I spoke to Elizabeth. I ended up speaking with a male by the name of Joseph I believe. Joseph told me that in fact the Milford Lake reservations were never cancelled and they were listed as a ‘no show’. Due to this I was told I would have to wait approximately 8 weeks for a refund because I hadn’t cancelled the reservations. I explained to ‘Joseph’ that I had in fact called as instructed and had requested my reservations be changed. Once I knew she wasn’t changing them but was making new reservations I asked specifically about the Milford Lake reservations. She assured me they were cancelled and I would be receiving my refund as stated above, however ‘Joseph’ stated that she had not cancelled them.
I had also asked about the $10 cancellation penalty at that time and was told I would get them back except for on one reservation. Elizabeth stated that since the lake closure was only through August 5th and one reservation started on August 5th that I would still incur the penalty on that reservation. The only reason we felt forced to make a change was due to the algae issue. If 4 reservations are made for a group it should be obvious they are wanting to camp together and all four should be allowed to move penalty free due to the algae issue. The reason for being told I could get the penalty fee back was due to the blue/green algae lake closure. After speaking to ‘Joseph’ he told me I would not be credited back that money because the campground was still open and that I could have still camped there. Again had I known that the lake was closed I would never have made reservations for Milford Lake. Yes he is right I could have camped there, but if I hadn’t wanted to use the lake I could also have made reservations somewhere without a lake to begin with. I wanted to use the lake at Milford and that was the very reason we picked that site to make reservations for so ‘Josephs’ reasoning is a bit ridiculous. I am sure ‘Joseph’ was only following some rule that you all have in place but common sense says that if you close down part of a Federal park/lake and people want to move reservations due to that it should be allowed penalty free.
If anyone were to look at the reservations for Milford Lake and the reservations for Clinton Lake it would be very easy to see the reservations were made for the same exact days and camping units. In this situation and with all the information stated above it is unbelievable that your ‘policy’ is to hold onto a customer’s money for a possible 8 weeks while everything is researched and going through the political paperwork that you all have in place. Upon clicking the pay button on the online reservation system my money was gone in a matter of minutes as well as the same thing happened when making the second set of reservations over the phone with ‘Elizabeth’. Now in order to correct a mistake you all made I am the mercy of your process and could possibly be without these funds for 8 weeks. I feel that it should not take much more than just a few minutes to resolve the issue at hand, but am being told it is absolutely impossible except to go ‘the process’.
At this point I have paid $176 for reservations at Milford Lake and $176 for reservations at Clinton Lake. Then also I am being told I will be charged the $40 now for the 4 cancellations. At this point I know of 4 family groups who no longer wish to do business with the US Army Corp of Engineers if this is the way you do business. I will voice my concerns and issues with family and friends and will be mailing copies of this letter to the local media. Copies are also being sent to the Milford Lake office and Clinton Lake office. As my father has already mailed a letter concerning everything I have dealt with to the Kansas Governor’s office I will follow suit with a copy of this letter being mailed there as well. I feel I need to voice my concerns in as many areas as possible in order to be heard. This ‘process’ is not fair to the paying customer nor a good business practice to keep customers coming back. As witnessed at the campground there were very few customers who spent their hard earned money to be there. The campground was at best ¼ full and just possibly it is this type of business practices that kept people away.
With that being said, I will say Clinton Lake and the Hickory/Walnut campground was a beautiful lake and campground. As a family we had an awesome weekend together and realized it has been almost 20 years since we had all camped together as 1 big family. I watched my nephew and niece kneeboard, tube and try to waterski for the first time. My parents and siblings camped for the first time in a Kansas park. I got to take my son camping for the 1st time. All in all we had a wonderful time however my issues have left me with a sour taste for the federal side of the parks system. This is the 1st time I had ever stayed in a federal park and may very well be the last.
I hope that you can see my frustration with your ‘process’ and although you might not care to get me my money back any sooner---I hope you can at least start the process to make the rules, policy, and process much better going forward for all those who use what tax money already helps to pay for.
Thanks for listening,
Darren Albertson
805A Old Farm Estates
Hutchinson, KS 67502
620-899-2780
darrenal2000@yahoo.com
Monday, July 25, 2011
So now the question is---Will you fight again?
Hello everyone!
Well as you know I fulfilled my goal of fighting an MMA fight on Saturday night July 23rd. I will say two things about the fight-#1 it was hot hot hot #2 I lost. No excuses the other guy won fair and square. I have watched the video a few times today and still not sure what I was doing but I gave the guy a clear shot to my face and he took it. With his foot. From what I was told and after watching the video it seems that I would have won the first round but winning a round doesn't mean anything when there are 3 rounds and you don't finish the 2nd round. I give my congrats to Michael Rivera on a good clean fight.
Now--the big question--will I fight again? If I answered that today I could possibly be lying. What I will say is I am a daddy first and foremost and that is my #1 priority in life. Secondly I have some very special people in my life who either don't want me to fight again or have even asked me not to. By MMA standards I am an old man. This is a young mans sport. Stepping in that cage Saturday night brought back many memories of walking out on the wrestling mat 20 years ago and reminded me of my competitive spirit however. Flying airplanes really doesn't give you that feeling. Skydiving neither. Fastest beer drinker is still just the fastest beer drinker. One on one competition is what I was raised on and I love it. When competing one on one there are no excuses. You either win or lose and no one else is to blame. So will you see me fight again---I don't know. Right now I am going to be a daddy. I will continue to work out and if the stars align just the right way maybe. Maybe not.
So thats the answer I have right now.
Again, I want to thank everyone who helped or pushed me along the way. I had awesome support from January all the way thru this fight from many family members and friends. Thanks again to a long time friend Levi Chappell for being in my corner. Thanks to all of you who paid money to see the fights and again to those who drove in from far away.
Til the next time,
I'm out
Well as you know I fulfilled my goal of fighting an MMA fight on Saturday night July 23rd. I will say two things about the fight-#1 it was hot hot hot #2 I lost. No excuses the other guy won fair and square. I have watched the video a few times today and still not sure what I was doing but I gave the guy a clear shot to my face and he took it. With his foot. From what I was told and after watching the video it seems that I would have won the first round but winning a round doesn't mean anything when there are 3 rounds and you don't finish the 2nd round. I give my congrats to Michael Rivera on a good clean fight.
Now--the big question--will I fight again? If I answered that today I could possibly be lying. What I will say is I am a daddy first and foremost and that is my #1 priority in life. Secondly I have some very special people in my life who either don't want me to fight again or have even asked me not to. By MMA standards I am an old man. This is a young mans sport. Stepping in that cage Saturday night brought back many memories of walking out on the wrestling mat 20 years ago and reminded me of my competitive spirit however. Flying airplanes really doesn't give you that feeling. Skydiving neither. Fastest beer drinker is still just the fastest beer drinker. One on one competition is what I was raised on and I love it. When competing one on one there are no excuses. You either win or lose and no one else is to blame. So will you see me fight again---I don't know. Right now I am going to be a daddy. I will continue to work out and if the stars align just the right way maybe. Maybe not.
So thats the answer I have right now.
Again, I want to thank everyone who helped or pushed me along the way. I had awesome support from January all the way thru this fight from many family members and friends. Thanks again to a long time friend Levi Chappell for being in my corner. Thanks to all of you who paid money to see the fights and again to those who drove in from far away.
Til the next time,
I'm out
Thursday, July 21, 2011
On the road again!
Hello and good afternoon from a very crispy Hutchinson, KS.
In just a couple hours we will be leaving for Chillicothe, MO. I am excited to get home and see family and friends and sounds like some of them are just as excited to see us when we get there. Should arrive in Chilli about 11:30 or so.
I got a good workout in this morning and a little over a mile walk. Weighed in this morning at 167.6. Probably going to give my body a rest tomorrow except may have to steal a bike from Denny and get a few miles in around Chillicothe.
Over the last week or so, I keep getting asked the same question. Are you nervous? My answer to that is NO. Anxious, maybe a little but nervous no. I know I have given my best effort to prepare for this. I have had obstacle after obstacle along the way that I neither let get me down or stop me from reaching this goal. In a way I feel like I have already won no matter what happens on Saturday but trust me when I get inside that cage I am going in with only one goal in mind.
Throughout this journey I have lost 50 lbs as of my weight this morning. I have increased my energy, strength, confidence and overall wellness. I have had cuts, bruises, bumps, scrapes and many a sore muscle. I have had people who have pushed me along the way and others who never thought I would make it. To those of you who thought that, YOU LOSE. Again I want to say thanks for everyone who has supported me from January until now in this goal I set for myself. Without those supporters I may not have made it to this point. Also, I say thanks to those of you who wish I wasn't doing this thanks for not trying to talk me out of it. It would not have worked and only have wasted your time and effort. Thats my stubborn side but also my side that allows me to dream and live out those dreams without letting anything get in my way. I challenge each and everyone of you to set a goal or live out a dream that you have had and make it happen. There are no excuses for not living out your dreams or attaining a goal. For anyone who watched the Espy's a week or two ago there was young man on there by the name of Anthony Robles. Some of you may have heard of him and many others probably not. Anthony was a wrestler. A very good one at that. Matter of fact he was an NCAA Champion in wrestling. Some of you say so what, several people have had that title. Well this is where it gets interesting, Anthony Robles was born with one leg. Do you think this man had an excuse? If he had chose to be in choir or band do you think his one leg would have been an issue? This young man not only had the courage to take up wrestling but set a goal to be a National Champion. No excuses for him. Now how many one legged NCAA wrestling champions do you know. Watching his speech brought tears to my eyes and realized he had many excuses where he could have given up. 2 fathers walked out on him and his family, born with what most of us would consider a handicap. This kid persevered though all that and stood there on his crutches a National Champion. NO EXCUSES.
Well thats all I got for ya, except I will attach a poem that Anthony Robles has written and read on the Espy Awards. Enjoy.
"Every soul who comes to earth
with a leg or two at birth
must wrestle his opponents knowing it's not what is,
it's what can be that measures worth.
Make it hard, just make it possible
and through pain I'll not complain.
My spirit is unconquerable,
fearless I will face each foe, for I know I am capable.
I don't care what's probable,
through blood, sweat, and tears, I am unstoppable."
I'm outta here,
Darren
In just a couple hours we will be leaving for Chillicothe, MO. I am excited to get home and see family and friends and sounds like some of them are just as excited to see us when we get there. Should arrive in Chilli about 11:30 or so.
I got a good workout in this morning and a little over a mile walk. Weighed in this morning at 167.6. Probably going to give my body a rest tomorrow except may have to steal a bike from Denny and get a few miles in around Chillicothe.
Over the last week or so, I keep getting asked the same question. Are you nervous? My answer to that is NO. Anxious, maybe a little but nervous no. I know I have given my best effort to prepare for this. I have had obstacle after obstacle along the way that I neither let get me down or stop me from reaching this goal. In a way I feel like I have already won no matter what happens on Saturday but trust me when I get inside that cage I am going in with only one goal in mind.
Throughout this journey I have lost 50 lbs as of my weight this morning. I have increased my energy, strength, confidence and overall wellness. I have had cuts, bruises, bumps, scrapes and many a sore muscle. I have had people who have pushed me along the way and others who never thought I would make it. To those of you who thought that, YOU LOSE. Again I want to say thanks for everyone who has supported me from January until now in this goal I set for myself. Without those supporters I may not have made it to this point. Also, I say thanks to those of you who wish I wasn't doing this thanks for not trying to talk me out of it. It would not have worked and only have wasted your time and effort. Thats my stubborn side but also my side that allows me to dream and live out those dreams without letting anything get in my way. I challenge each and everyone of you to set a goal or live out a dream that you have had and make it happen. There are no excuses for not living out your dreams or attaining a goal. For anyone who watched the Espy's a week or two ago there was young man on there by the name of Anthony Robles. Some of you may have heard of him and many others probably not. Anthony was a wrestler. A very good one at that. Matter of fact he was an NCAA Champion in wrestling. Some of you say so what, several people have had that title. Well this is where it gets interesting, Anthony Robles was born with one leg. Do you think this man had an excuse? If he had chose to be in choir or band do you think his one leg would have been an issue? This young man not only had the courage to take up wrestling but set a goal to be a National Champion. No excuses for him. Now how many one legged NCAA wrestling champions do you know. Watching his speech brought tears to my eyes and realized he had many excuses where he could have given up. 2 fathers walked out on him and his family, born with what most of us would consider a handicap. This kid persevered though all that and stood there on his crutches a National Champion. NO EXCUSES.
Well thats all I got for ya, except I will attach a poem that Anthony Robles has written and read on the Espy Awards. Enjoy.
"Every soul who comes to earth
with a leg or two at birth
must wrestle his opponents knowing it's not what is,
it's what can be that measures worth.
Make it hard, just make it possible
and through pain I'll not complain.
My spirit is unconquerable,
fearless I will face each foe, for I know I am capable.
I don't care what's probable,
through blood, sweat, and tears, I am unstoppable."
I'm outta here,
Darren
Monday, July 18, 2011
Progress of Michele Deviney---This is copied from her blog
The following blog was written by a friend and past co-worker of mine. Michele has followed my progress as well as I have been following hers. She has made great progress in her goals and if I know Michele she won't stop til she reaches that goal. For anyone that knows anything about Michele and I we started working together approximately 4 years ago. We both chose not to like the each other pretty early on. The reasons I know of was that I wasn't her 'old boss', I did things different, and I was a little rough around the edges. Really the only reason I didn't like her was 1 simple reason. She was PREGNANT. Now I know that sounds crazy and before you all persecute me let me explain. The stories you hear about pregnant women----you know the HORROR STORIES, well those stories are what I dealt with for about 9 months. Obviously since then we found a way to work together and even formed a friendship that for me at least is a friendship I wouldn't want to be without. Michele is a very dedicated woman, she will tell you her opinion but will listen to yours and when you need an ear to vent to she will be there til your finished venting. Now knowing what I know it wasn't the fact that she was PREGNANT, it was the fact that I obviously have a knack for not getting along well with PREGNANT women. Or maybe that is only 2 PREGNANT women.
Anyways please take time to read and if you will add her to follow her blogs. I am sure you will find many motivations and great tips following her. Congratulations Michele and thank you for finally getting this written for me.
Monday, July 18, 2011
The First of many to come
So I have had many of you ask for it, so here it really is. I am going to really do this. So read away and tell me what you think.
My journey begins back when we had our last snow of winter. I had been shopping with my mom all day and well to tell you the truth getting around Sam's was not easy. Pushing a cart full of grocery's, chasing down 3 kids. Looking into my cart know that pretty much none of what I was buying was really good for us.
We go to pay and I spent well close to $400 dollars. (we will come back to this) I was sweating not feeling well and generally tired.
I got to my moms and always see her scale and treadmill and always thought man she has it easy she can just work out here. No kids just peace right here. Look out on the yard. So I stepped on the scale. What I saw shocked me. Yup there it stared back at. 284. How in the world did I ever allow myself to get here. I started to cry, but very quickly made myself appear as I had gotten something in my eye. See my mom is really big on being sure to tell me if I didn't like to do something about it. I knew I had gained weight as all my clothes had gotten tighter, and being that my youngest was 2 now, I could no longer blame baby weight as the contributing factor.
So I got home after driving in the scary snow. Told Brent that I had gotten on the scale at my moms. See we had a scale but after I gave up last time, I hid it. I didn't want to see it as I knew it would remind me that I should be working out. We agreed to work on it together. However he reminded me that this time that I had to choose when to start and I had to do it my way. He wasn't going to help me it had to be for me and only me.
It wasn't that easy see remember the $400 I spent, well like I said not a whole lot of good food. More like frozen pizza, frozen pies, chips, salsa, pop tarts, cereal, etc. etc etc. I had to make the choice to get rid of these before I could start.
I am an avid watcher of The Biggest Loser. One of which I want to thank the other of what I want to curse. The books have helped me dearly, however it has always made me mad I couldn't lose the weight as fast as I wanted to.
So it started I had to get rid of the money I had just spent. I allowed my kids to eat most of it while I started my meal plans out of the 30 day fast start biggest loser book. The food in there is really good as well as you get nice servings to make you feel full. This is a big point I would like to point out. If you are trying to diet and can't get full it will NEVER WORK!!! Why you might ask because you have to have a life style change. A diet won't work. You have to follow a meal plan. One of my favorite apps on my phone is my fitness pal. It helps you plan your calories and you can put in food you eat. I will tell you getting to my calories has been my biggest battle. I feel like I am consuming too many calories, however I am not consuming enough. Odd right. However that's why diets don't work, you can not starve yourself. Well needless to say I felt like I wasted $400. However, the thought crossed my mind, I would $400 for my health any day.
I cant thank my husband enough for telling me what he did. You can ask him I got frustrated, and I wanted him to tell me when to start and in fact it made me mad. So to prove him wrong I set out to prove him wrong. I would do this and I would do it my way. I started out using the wii. Biggest loser and wii fit. Both are great so don't take this wrong and an outstanding way to start, but they aren't going to get you were you really need or want to be. Great filler though if you can't get outside, or to the gym. Do not try to solely use these. Month one went well. Like I said though I got upset when I saw the weight not coming off as fast as I saw on TV. Well hello Michele its TV. These people have no where to go but to the gym. And at that they can go 24 hours a day. Happened to be the same day that I got an email at work from a "coach". See I have been getting these emails for 2 years and to tell you the truth I have deleted each one without reading them. I happen to work for a very good company whom care about our health. So we have a coach that sends out health tips, work out tips and nutritional information. This one happen to say STOP, you are your own worst critic. You will do this just allow yourself to take the time you need and STOP beating yourself up. Needless to say every week when I get these emails I read them now and print them off. Great information is to be found in them and they keep me going. As well as many things do.
After my first month ALONE, I got Brent on board. There were many reason to him making me do a month alone. Many things had to change. I know men lose weight faster than women and this was one of his reasons. The other was he knew I wouldn't change my shopping habits for everyone if I didn't for myself. I have found out and as silly as it may sound, shopping for healthier food is so much cheaper and you can buy in bulk just like you do with your not so healthy or what I like to call worthless calorie foods. Another big struggle and still is starting my day out eating. I don't know why but it is so hard for me. With that being said I started drinking shakes. Not just any shakes, but with soy milk and fruit. You get full healthily calories this way. In another blog I will fully go into what a typical meal day looks for me.
Month one under my belt and I wanted more. I was still doing wii, biggest loser andwii fit plus. I wanted more and had already purchased books in the biggest loser line, why not some videos. That's what I did, purchased a few workout DVDS. Jillian's 30 day shred is no joke. It helped but after almost 2 months of doing it on my own and out of my own home. I still wanted more.
I was sick of paying full price for the kids to play y sports so Brent and I checked it out. A membership for our entire family was only $47.00, it was that easy. $47.00 a month and we can work out unlimited. Well during the open hours.
And with that we were y member and still are. Brent and I both work out. He is my rock and accountability. Without that person and my apps on my phone I would be lost. The trainers at the y(even though I have not hired them) are very helpful and willing to offer up help with just a simple question.
I know this blog is long and its getting late(really I have an almost 3 year old jumping off the couch.) I promise now that its really started to follow up as daily as I can.
I know many of you want to know my inspiration and how I do it. I know that almost 6 months into it I haven't lost as much as I was hoping for and I will also explain that. Feel free to follow my blog and stay up to date with me. I will begin training for my first ever 5k in Jan. 2012 and hope to run in Texas with my sister. Many great things are yet to come so follow be inspired encouraged, know that I will be there cheering you on.
~I can accept failing, what I can not accept is not TRYING.~
My journey begins back when we had our last snow of winter. I had been shopping with my mom all day and well to tell you the truth getting around Sam's was not easy. Pushing a cart full of grocery's, chasing down 3 kids. Looking into my cart know that pretty much none of what I was buying was really good for us.
We go to pay and I spent well close to $400 dollars. (we will come back to this) I was sweating not feeling well and generally tired.
I got to my moms and always see her scale and treadmill and always thought man she has it easy she can just work out here. No kids just peace right here. Look out on the yard. So I stepped on the scale. What I saw shocked me. Yup there it stared back at. 284. How in the world did I ever allow myself to get here. I started to cry, but very quickly made myself appear as I had gotten something in my eye. See my mom is really big on being sure to tell me if I didn't like to do something about it. I knew I had gained weight as all my clothes had gotten tighter, and being that my youngest was 2 now, I could no longer blame baby weight as the contributing factor.
So I got home after driving in the scary snow. Told Brent that I had gotten on the scale at my moms. See we had a scale but after I gave up last time, I hid it. I didn't want to see it as I knew it would remind me that I should be working out. We agreed to work on it together. However he reminded me that this time that I had to choose when to start and I had to do it my way. He wasn't going to help me it had to be for me and only me.
It wasn't that easy see remember the $400 I spent, well like I said not a whole lot of good food. More like frozen pizza, frozen pies, chips, salsa, pop tarts, cereal, etc. etc etc. I had to make the choice to get rid of these before I could start.
I am an avid watcher of The Biggest Loser. One of which I want to thank the other of what I want to curse. The books have helped me dearly, however it has always made me mad I couldn't lose the weight as fast as I wanted to.
So it started I had to get rid of the money I had just spent. I allowed my kids to eat most of it while I started my meal plans out of the 30 day fast start biggest loser book. The food in there is really good as well as you get nice servings to make you feel full. This is a big point I would like to point out. If you are trying to diet and can't get full it will NEVER WORK!!! Why you might ask because you have to have a life style change. A diet won't work. You have to follow a meal plan. One of my favorite apps on my phone is my fitness pal. It helps you plan your calories and you can put in food you eat. I will tell you getting to my calories has been my biggest battle. I feel like I am consuming too many calories, however I am not consuming enough. Odd right. However that's why diets don't work, you can not starve yourself. Well needless to say I felt like I wasted $400. However, the thought crossed my mind, I would $400 for my health any day.
I cant thank my husband enough for telling me what he did. You can ask him I got frustrated, and I wanted him to tell me when to start and in fact it made me mad. So to prove him wrong I set out to prove him wrong. I would do this and I would do it my way. I started out using the wii. Biggest loser and wii fit. Both are great so don't take this wrong and an outstanding way to start, but they aren't going to get you were you really need or want to be. Great filler though if you can't get outside, or to the gym. Do not try to solely use these. Month one went well. Like I said though I got upset when I saw the weight not coming off as fast as I saw on TV. Well hello Michele its TV. These people have no where to go but to the gym. And at that they can go 24 hours a day. Happened to be the same day that I got an email at work from a "coach". See I have been getting these emails for 2 years and to tell you the truth I have deleted each one without reading them. I happen to work for a very good company whom care about our health. So we have a coach that sends out health tips, work out tips and nutritional information. This one happen to say STOP, you are your own worst critic. You will do this just allow yourself to take the time you need and STOP beating yourself up. Needless to say every week when I get these emails I read them now and print them off. Great information is to be found in them and they keep me going. As well as many things do.
After my first month ALONE, I got Brent on board. There were many reason to him making me do a month alone. Many things had to change. I know men lose weight faster than women and this was one of his reasons. The other was he knew I wouldn't change my shopping habits for everyone if I didn't for myself. I have found out and as silly as it may sound, shopping for healthier food is so much cheaper and you can buy in bulk just like you do with your not so healthy or what I like to call worthless calorie foods. Another big struggle and still is starting my day out eating. I don't know why but it is so hard for me. With that being said I started drinking shakes. Not just any shakes, but with soy milk and fruit. You get full healthily calories this way. In another blog I will fully go into what a typical meal day looks for me.
Month one under my belt and I wanted more. I was still doing wii, biggest loser andwii fit plus. I wanted more and had already purchased books in the biggest loser line, why not some videos. That's what I did, purchased a few workout DVDS. Jillian's 30 day shred is no joke. It helped but after almost 2 months of doing it on my own and out of my own home. I still wanted more.
I was sick of paying full price for the kids to play y sports so Brent and I checked it out. A membership for our entire family was only $47.00, it was that easy. $47.00 a month and we can work out unlimited. Well during the open hours.
And with that we were y member and still are. Brent and I both work out. He is my rock and accountability. Without that person and my apps on my phone I would be lost. The trainers at the y(even though I have not hired them) are very helpful and willing to offer up help with just a simple question.
I know this blog is long and its getting late(really I have an almost 3 year old jumping off the couch.) I promise now that its really started to follow up as daily as I can.
I know many of you want to know my inspiration and how I do it. I know that almost 6 months into it I haven't lost as much as I was hoping for and I will also explain that. Feel free to follow my blog and stay up to date with me. I will begin training for my first ever 5k in Jan. 2012 and hope to run in Texas with my sister. Many great things are yet to come so follow be inspired encouraged, know that I will be there cheering you on.
~I can accept failing, what I can not accept is not TRYING.~
Why you working out with your phone?
Good morning everyone!
Just got in from my run/walk earlier. Weight is holding right where I want it at 170. I'm down to just a few days left before the fight. Looks like we will be heading to Chillicothe either Thursday night or Friday morning. Sounds like the show on Saturday should be a very good show. 15-20 fights and then the live band afterwards for anyone who wishes to stay. It's not to late to get your ticket if you still need one.
I wanted to talk a little bit about my phone now. Your phone Darren? Why the heck you blogging about your phone? Well this is why. If you have seen me running, or out riding my bike, or at the gym you notice my phone is right there with me. First off, yes I am addicted to it. I check facebook to often and text quite a bit. I said it I am an phone addict, but this is about more than that. On my phone I have numerous fitness apps. I am sure if your reading this blog you have seen one my many post from my workout sessions on Cardiotrainer. I use Cardiotrainer on every workout when I am running or biking. It tracks my calorie burn, time, distance and the exact locations that I ran or biked. Since I started using Cardiotrainer I have logged 135 workouts, 33,957 calories burned and 263.1 miles walked, ran or biked. Now the miles are not correct when you take into consideration the workouts on the stationary bike. Since I am not moving it does not track the miles. Cardiotrainer now has a new program out called Noom. I haven't started using it yet but it looks like it could eliminate a few of the other programs I have used. I have used myfitnesspal and Jefit and really like them both. I currently am in the process of using C25K in order to prepare myself for a 5k run. I recently downloaded a Push-up app that will help you get to 125 consecutive pushups. I downloaded Round One timer also which is a boxing/mma timer to use during training. All of the applications I use are free downloads on Android phones. Each of them have premium apps that add more features but cost to download. At this point I have had no need for the premium apps.
For music apps I use the standard music player and Pandora. Pandora plays a style of music based off of a song, artist, genre that you type in. I use this almost exclusively when I am at the gym. When I am doing my cardio outside I use music player with a preloaded song list that I have setup. Listening to music definitely makes my workouts seem to go quicker.
I think for anyone who is wanting to start working out you should check out some of the apps I mentioned above. I know there are many more out there but these are what have helped me and ones that I have liked. They are easy to use, help to hold me accountable and FREE. My phone has been a big help in my weight loss progress.
So when you see me out running/walking or on the bike with my phone---I promise I'm not facebooking. I'm just checking my distance or time or possibly changing a song.
Well I need to get so I can check my Facebook!
Darren
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