Finding what inspires you.

     Everyone has that moment where they are hit with the reality that they need a goal and they need to reach it no matter what. For the past few weeks I have been thinking of my goal of getting down to 190lbs. Can I reach this goal, should I reach this goal? Well the answer is yes and YES! When you enter a race you sign up to finish! You don't get half way and say, "Well that's good enough." That coach inside you is screaming, "You can't stop now! There is much more in you and now is the time to give it all you've got and finish this thing!"

My buddy Greg after the Spartan Race.

     This past weekend my buddy Greg volunteered and ran in a Spartan race. In this same race there was a team with a few members who were multiple amputees. Below is a video of them completing one of the obstacles. I personally have never been faced with the type of challenge they are faced with, not just in the race but also this thing we call life. Watching them complete the challenges of that race and finish has inspired me to not just meet my weight goal but also continue to train so that I can complete one of those races! One thing to keep in mind is you must absolutely have a support system of people who will add giant amounts of positive support in your direction. Its hard at first but it is important to limit the amount of time you spend with people who say that you can't do something. If you have the mindset that you can and you have proper support then there is no doubt that you will!

     Now is the time to make some goals for yourself. Don't wait till New Years Eve to come up with a list. Make one now. What better time than now to get fit? Schedule an appointment with your Doctor and ask them what they think is a good plan of action for you. Have a list of programs with you and ask them their opinion on it. Last year I asked my Doctor about Take Shape For Life fueled by Medifast and he had nothing but positive things to say about the program and highly encouraged me to start on it, "ASAP!" So I did and you folks have been reading my blog ever since I started. This coming Sunday will be the 1 year mark for me and so far I have lost over 114lbs with Take Shape For Life.

     I know you can do it, no matter what path you pick! Just like you all I needed was that inspiration and a good dose of positive mojo. Just pick your head up, dust yourself off, and lets rock this thing!

All the best,

Mike

http://myroadtoweightloss.tsfl.com/explore

*Results vary. Typical weight loss on the Medifast 5 & 1 Plan® is 2-5 lbs per week for the first 2 weeks and 1-2 lbs per week thereafter.

Post by Operation Enduring Warrior Community Athlete - Brian Ugalde.

    

Reaching those goals!

     When I first started out on this road to weight loss I was not too sure I would be able to do it. Sure I had some lofty goals, but in the beginning they seemed so distant and out of reach. Right now I am at 112lbs lost in under a year and have gone down 10 pants sizes! Oh did I mention that I just ran in a 5k event here in Maryland? Did I also mention that I ran the entire thing in under 38 minutes?!? My official time was 00:37:50.3 that is right, my fastest time ever! Last year on this date it was still sinking in that I was 360lbs and only 40lbs away from being 400lbs again. I knew I had to do something, and I could NOT afford not to!

     This past weekend was the River Valley Ranch 5k & 10k Trail Run. My friend Greg and I had set a goal last year of running the 5k race. I am looking forward to being able to do the 10k trail race next year. As we were finding our place at the starting line, with the 10min per mile group. We noticed a big guy come walking up getting in line behind our group. As he was walking past us we could not help but hear him complain about how far he had to walk from his car to the starting line. He went on about how his walk was basically 5k already. I really hope he was kidding because it was only a few hundred feet at best. I looked at Greg, shrugged and thought to my self, "I bet you $20 we do not see him cross the finnish line." Both Greg and I were watching for him but he never showed up again. Then it hit me. Last year that was us. Both Greg and myself could not walk up the stairs from my basement without getting winded. Now we are running or walking 5k several times a week, and Greg is training for a half marathon!

Greg and I before the race. Me on the left. Greg on the right.

We had just left the starting line!

     I know what you are thinking. Right now you are saying to yourself, "I have got to get out and start running!" Well sure you could do that, but what you should really do first is take a good hard look at what you are eating and drinking. This is why I went with Take Shape For Life fueled by Medifast. Yes just like any other health program there is a cost, but this is the only one where I saw awesome results personally. All of my meals are provided and measured for me by Medifast, and the only meals I have to make are my Lean and Green meals. I am not buying groceries for myself, I am not spending money to go out to eat. In fact we are saving money with this meal plan! I needed a program that forced me to start thinking about what I was eating and how much. I used to just love eating fried chicken, and now just the sight of it makes me sick. The old me would go to a KFC and order a 6 piece meal and 2 extra biscuits with a large rootbeer and potato wedges. The new me would slap that out of my hands and pull me along by the ears!

     I strongly recommend finding someone who has been where you have been. This is why the free Health Coach from TSFL was worth it to me, a person that went through the program before me who could properly guide me along the way. Which is why I became a Health Coach myself! I want to help others, and I firmly believe in the TSFL program! No it is not the only one out there but it is the one that worked for me. I just have 58lbs till I get to my goal weight. So what is stopping you from starting down your own road to weight loss? For me I had to face the facts and stop looking for excuses. It is as easy as saying, "I want to do this, and I AM going to do this!" I am here and I can help you find the way to the path that I found last year, with some much needed help.

These are size 50 pants that fit me perfectly last year! I am now down to a size 40.

http://www.myroadtoweightloss.tsfl.com/explore

*Results vary. Typical weight loss on the Medifast 5 & 1 Plan® is 2-5 lbs per week for the first two weeks and 1-2 lbs per week thereafter.

I wish I could do that.....

     Now that I am beyond the 100 pounds lost mark, a lot of people have been reaching out asking me what I did. I tell them about the Take Shape For Life coaching program with Medifast meal replacements and how awesome the program has been for me. Then I get, "Boy I wish I could do that." At that point I keep my cool on the outside, but on the inside I'm saying, "Hello McFly! You CAN do that!!" I was there, I have been at that point. I remember my mom trying to get me to just try her meal replacements, she even planned out a sneak attack meeting between me and her health coaches! Yes, I learned my mom's tricks early on. I still remember the day she wanted to see a ballet at the Palace Theater in Manchester New Hampshire. I thought we were just going in to see what was coming up for the next month or so. Before me and my brother knew it, an usher was escorting us to our balcony seats. I was not happy that I had to watch dudes prance across a stage wearing tights that I am sure were 20 sizes too small for them! So when my mom wants me to be at a location at a certain time I ask lots of questions.

     It was the fear of losing out on something I love. Food. What I did not realize at the time is that I had the wrong idea of food and its purpose in my life. Before I could start on any weight loss program I needed to be in the right mindset. I needed to be in a place where I wanted to do this and that I knew I could do it. I may have mentioned this before but I had applied for an increase in my life insurance policy. That way if something happened to me, Steph would be able to pay off the house and have a place for her and the kids to live. Because I was over 360 pounds at the time I got a rejection letter. That got me thinking. If I croaked tomorrow Steph would not have enough money to keep the house and her financial future would be tight for a while. A few days after that I was reminded of a promise I made to a friend who was dying of cancer. It was a couple weeks before she passed after a church service. She said, "Mike take care of your heart." You see, she had lost her husband to a heart attack. This got me thinking as to why I thought food was so important. Why did I always have to have the biggest rib or the biggest steak, heck even the biggest cookie! I had an addiction, and I never realized it until that moment.

     I was a person that used to say, "Boy I wish I could do that." or "I could never do that." as I sat on the couch stuffing my face with chips and ice cream while watching The Biggest Loser. The last thing some one that lives with weight wants to hear is, "Hey your fat, why don't you do something about it!" Yeah I was pretty aware that my cloths didn't fit right, or that I lost my breath climbing stairs. What I needed to be reminded of is that I can do anything I set my mind to. Wait what? Yes that's right, you reading this can do anything you set your mind to! The key is having a plan to follow and then stick to that plan! Stay true to the plan, be honest with yourself, and do not go it alone. Accountability is very important! That is why I have done so well with the Take Shape For Life program. The Medifast 5+1 Plan is all I am eating to make sure my body remains in the fat burning stage until I reach my goal weight. My coach is available to me 24/7 in the case I am feeling weak or tempted. No matter what don't go it alone!

     I was a guy who could polish off a box of Little Debbies Oatmeal Cream Pies, a 12 pack of Mountain Dew, a bag of Lays Sour Cream n' Onion chips, a box of pop tarts, slim jims, a medium pizza with extra cheese, Swiss Cake Rolls, and Hostess Apple Pie and Blueberry Pie all in one night and still want to eat more. Wow reading that list in my head sounds crazy to me, but that is how I used to eat. I did not care and I did not pay attention. If those around me didn't plant that seed, I am not sure if I would of come to the realization that my eating habits needed to change. So as I get closer to my goal weight I will continue to share the struggles and triumphs of this road to weight loss, with the hopes that my message will plant a seed to help some one see that there is no such thing as impossible. You just have not discovered how to get there yet.

Your friend on this Road To Weight Loss,

Mike

www.myroadtoweightloss.tsfl.com/explore

Maybe I'm just supposed to be fat?

     Maybe I'm just supposed to be fat? That is what was running through my mind over a year ago after my last failed diet. I had tried just about every diet out there. Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, South Beach, Fat Smash, Slim-fast, Special-K, and even one where you just drank juice. For me I never felt good or ever saw progress (personally) with any of these diets. Sure I would have a friend or two where it worked for them, but for the money I was spending it was just a gut wrenching feeling to get on that scale after a month's worth of work and see a big fat zero. Two of those diets I actually gained 5 pounds resulting in a 10 pound gain instead of a much needed loss! Yes, that is the epitome of frustration.

     Any one who has known me since childhood knows that I have always been overweight compared to others in my age group. The biggest I ever got was 420 pounds following college. At this point (in my mind) the options for me to lose weight were scarce. I was looking into getting gastric surgery, man oh man I did not want surgery! Some of the physical challenges I was having started pushing me to that option though. I started getting a pain in my hip that shot down my leg to my foot. This was a constant pain that wouldn't go away. I had also slipped and tweaked my back, I was ok at first but later that day I went to stand and my legs just gave out and I fell to the floor. I remember some one had come to the house to pick up my daughter for the day to watch her and I had to crawl on my hands and knees to get to the door and she then had to help me into a chair. That's right all 420 pounds of me. It was rather humiliating. Later that year my wife got me a chair for my home office. I didn't even have the chair for 2 days and I broke it. My weight was just too much for it. What was I going to do? I could not go on living like this! My daughters need to have their daddy around and I was determined to do what ever it takes. Then I got a call that planted a seed.

     My sister Cindy called me informing me that my mom was in the hospital and things were not looking good. At the time all I knew was that my mom had a stroke and that her lungs were filling up with fluid. After a few days I was able to talk to my mom and found out that her kidneys were also failing. Her Doctor had made it very clear that she needed to do something about her weight and because of her condition along with her diabetes surgery was not an option for her. If she did not do something to get her weight down she would not be here. Woah. That is some heavy stuff, but that seed got a plant growing. He talked to my mom about a program with Take Shape For Life that uses Medifast meals to help people lose weight. Like any diet there is no guarantee and results vary person to person, but my mom gave it a shot. I took note and watched her progress. Before I stepped into the ring I wanted to see if it really worked.

     To my surprise it was working for my mom. 33 years of my life I watched my mom try every diet under the sun and finally one is working! Later that summer local morning radio personality Mike Alley announced that he to was going to give Medifast a try. That was it, that was the push I needed to call my mom's Health Coach and say, "Sign me up!" My mind set was right and I told my new Health Coach that I was ready to rock this joint! So here I am today. So far I have lost 105 pounds with the Take Shape For Life program and I just have 65 pounds to go till I reach my goal. Did I mention that they have asked me to join their team of Health Coaches? If you have found yourself asking the same question I asked, "Maybe I'm just supposed to be fat?" Then now is the time to do something about it! The link I have provided below has a contact form. If you fill it out with your contact information and hit submit I will personally call you and tell you how excited I am for this program and that you are not alone in this journey! I will be there every step of the way helping you on your path to Optimal Health!

http://myroadtoweightloss.tsfl.com/explore

Here is a current before and after picture of me with my girls! On the left I am currently at 255lbs. On the right is me at over 360lbs.

All the best,

     Mike

The mighty 100lbs has fallen!

     I know, it has been a few months since my last post. I have been trying to find different ways to stay on task I kind of forgot about this blog. It has been in the back of my mind, I was sure I was going to hit the 100lbs lost mark sooner but my body had other ideas! But yes as of this past Monday I have officially lost 101 pounds on the Medifast Program! Exciting as that is I still need to keep in mind the fact that I still need to lose another 69lbs to get to my goal weight of 190lbs.

     Now I have already had a few people come up to me and say, "Well you have lost 100 pounds so you can stop now." You want to talk about a struggle to keep your composure! Stop now?! I'm not even there yet! I mean who makes plans to drive to Disney World from New Hampshire, stops in Washington DC and says, "Well that's close enough." I am pretty sure there would be some kids in the back seat protesting! My goal is 190 pounds and I fully plan on meeting that goal!

     A few weeks back I had gotten some disappointing news in regards to my health coach Arnold with Take Shape For Life. I was informed that him and his wife elected to no longer be coaches with TSFL. I was really bummed. I liked Arnold, and I think him leaving kind of threw me off. I was not being very careful when it came to paying attention to what and when I was eating. When you are on Medifast you eat 5 Medifast meals a day plus a lean protein with vegetables and a healthy fat. Well I would lose track of when I was eating my Medifast meals and some days I would miss one......or two. Not even realizing it till I got home. Steph would always point it out to me though.

     To make a long story short I was connected with my new health coach Robin and boy has she done an awesome job getting that fire lit under my seat! I'm back to logging my meals, logging my exercises, and reading my Habits of Health book. I was stuck at 95lbs for a few weeks but Robin really helped me push through and man was it worth it! She has been so pleased with my progress that she encouraged me to become a coach as well. This was something I really had to think about. After talking with the wife and really putting some thought into it I went for it and signed up to be a health coach! That is why Arnold and I connected so well at first. Like me he was a big guy who had struggled with weight, and was able to lose it on the Medifast Program.

     If any of you would like to join me on the Road to Weight Loss please feel free to check out my website or share it with some one you know who has shared the same struggles as I have. myroadtoweightloss.tsfl.com/explore  

**Results vary. Typical weight loss on the Medifast 5 & 1 Plan® is 2-5 lbs per week for the

first 2 weeks and 1-2 lbs per week thereafter. 


Peace & Good Vibes,

Mike

Conditioning for Outdoor Sports

     Well it has been a few weeks since my last post. I have been super busy with work and being healthy! Any one who does not really know about my childhood and teenage years also does not know of my love for outdoor sports. Well sure bike riding and tennis I like well enough, but I am mostly talking about hiking, hunting, and fishing. Since moving to the Baltimore / Washington DC area I have not been able to do a whole lot of that. Mainly because there are so few forests left in Maryland.

     As kids my dad taught us to not just be good hunters or fishermen, but he taught us the importance of wildlife conservation and that it is ok to just go out in the woods some times and enjoy nature. I have to tell you, that at 360lbs+ it was tough trying to walk in the woods. Heck it was a chore walking up the stairs to the fridge! So far I have shed 84lbs and moving is a breeze these days! I have been doing a few different exercises to strengthen my legs and core. I have been giving the treadmill a break for a little bit but am planning to get back on that horse this week. I have been doing a modification to a workout Bob Harper had me doing where I go into a squat and then with 60lbs or more on a barbell do some reps. The squatting not only gives my legs a good workout but it also gives my core a run for its money!

     I know hunting is not for every one. I strongly encourage you to find something you like doing outside. Even if you are just starting out on your own weight loss journey you may find that your state is more beautiful than you realize! If weight is something you have struggled with and you need some one to talk to, I strongly urge you to give my health coaches Claire and Arnold a call or an email. Be sure to let them know Mike Case sent you!  They are very friendly and have been through the weight loss journey them selves.

All the best,

Mike

Sad to see you go 290's!

     Is it just me or does it seem like I just got to the 290's? I was exspecting to be there for another week but holy cow! I have been losing about 2lbs a week and really was not even dreaming of more, so to see -5lbs in one week is huge! One thing I am learning with Medifast is that they are trying to teach your body who to burn fat instead of store it. Which means exersise but not going all Rocky Balboa on the workout's!

     I have a gym membership and I go once a day and I take Saturday and Sunday off from that routine.  Last week I did things a little differently. Instead of walking and running on the treadmill for 45mins and then doing my upper body on the machines, I switched to doing the bike for 25mins, and then free weights for as long as I could bear! I backed my workout down a bit though because I found myself running out of gas. One of the other things I am learning about Medifast is that you are not really supposed to go full bore on the workout's! So a few weeks back I was working really hard but it seemed like I had stalled at the 300's. What I forgot was that I was building muscle and muscle weighs more than fat!

     For the next few months I am going to try maximizing my ability to get those bigger loss numbers, but if I manage a steady pace of just -2lbs a week I will still be ok with that. Because it sure beats a plus any day of the week!

-Mike