I MADE IT!!! DAY 250

I HAVE MET MY GOAL!!!!

TODAY: 230lbs - goal: 230lbs

AUGUST 2005: 300lbs

NEW LONG TERM GOAL: DAY 450 (new years): 190lbs

short term goal: be in the 220s by the end of May

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HAVE BEEN READING MY BLOG AND FOLLOWIGN MY JOURNEY

Now the challenge begins as I move forward in my life and depart from college. Cheers to success and future endevours!

with much love to all,

John Storie

Day 237

These past few days have been rather liberal on the food side- besides having a fabulous easter dinner this weekend which included pretty much every imaginable food on my no-no list, I have really been lax the past couple of days. But the good news is that I just got back from the grocery store and Im ready to have another two weeks to finish out the school year - full of good decisions and portion control. Plus, my weight lifting is getting to be more important in my excersize routiene. I sorta killed my win streak with the weight as I hit 231 on friday, but today im well around 236!!! I know - you're thinking how do you go up 5 pounds in the course of a weekend?? The reality is that I didn't eat some 17,000 calories - that would have been awesome - just some carbs and fats coupled with water retention - and my number is pretty high. Im sure that by my recital Ill have returned to my normal low 230s and then settle into the 220s come May. Its an excititng time with graduation around the corner and to know that Im almost 70 pounds less than back in August is pretty inspiring to me!

Day 229

Today is actually 230, but Im writing about monday plus the weekend. - Things were good - I ate well this weekend, In-N-Out, Pizza (only 2 slices :-), some sugar too. But I nailed the excersize, even finding time on a busy sunday to work out.
My food is getting low here, I should go to the grocery store soon - probably next week.

Exercise wise, Im starting to get more of a workout out of my swimming. Im no longer going overdistance for 1500 or 2000 yards. Rather, im dividing the workout into several smaller sections which include overdistance, sprinting, and broken swims.

My weight training is pretty light, I seem to have less of a routiene other than somedays focusing on lowerbody and others on upper body. Im getting more toned in my arms which is good, but im debating how much weights I want to do since that could risk injury to my hands - which is the important thing here.

I cheated a bit this week and weighed in on friday, sat, and sunday. I was hitting anywhere from 232 to 235, so im gonna say that im 235 for this week. This is pretty huge for me, taking a look at the raw numbers here, my BMI for instance has gone from 38.7 back in august to 30 right now. All I need to do is take off another 10 pounds and Ill be classified as "overweight" from "obese". Such a great feeling and its so inspiring as a musician to have this sort of success in my life right now.

My goal is to be at 230 by the end of the month and i know its gonna happen - hopefully I can even get into the 220s before I leave to go on tour this summer. Then the challenge of course will be to keep it off and to watch what I eat. But im confident that ill make good choices.

So here I am in April, 8 months from when I started. Ive lost over 60 pounds, lost 10 inches around my waist, and gained a new wealth of knowledge about my body and how I can improve. I still want to lose 40 pounds and another 6 inches around my waist - but Im giving myself plenty of time to do so. Im no longer that person who entered on this blog on day one, I now have a greater respect and understanding for self-improvement and life in general.

Day 226

Didn't eat enough today- Here's what I had

PBJ
Banana
Nuts
Pretzels
Cottage Cheese
1 lowfat babybel cheese
apricots
1 luna bar
those candy jellies and dark chocolate

probably there's less than 1300 calories here, not a good thing

excersized: swam in the dive pool for the last time (its being closed for reconstruction) I have lots of memories in this pool, sad to see it come to an end. I hardly had enough energy to do much of a workout, but it was nice to hop in and go for it. Plus I danced today so that was some more excersize.

I cheated myself today and weighed on the scale. I got a 234 reading which is pretty incredible. Ill keep you posted. Im only 4 pounds from my mid-term goal. Here I go!

Day 225

Today was a good day, here's what I did:

Swimming class - really kicked my butt - sprinting, hard 50s pulling, back stroke, individual medeley

Food wise:

Cereal
Banana
Toast
water
5 pretzel sticks
some almonds
1 luna brownie bar
salad w/roma tomatoes and balsamic vinagrette
1 pizza bambino
lowfat cottage cheese
water

on the road to 230! to the state of 200 and the border at 190! kapow!

Day 224

This is getting a bit confusing becuase Im actually writing down what Im eating and excersizing the day after, but what the heck.

Cereal
Toast
Sushi - california roll w/cabbage & miso soup
tuna sandwich w/mayo and dill pickle relish
pretzels
dried apricot
almonds
soy bbq chips
4 jellies
1/4 dark chocolate

Had some fat in the diet today - mayo, almonds, chocolate - but thats like every day. I need the fat for my body, and with all the working out im doing, its getting burned up

Exersize wise, I didn't have a lot of time to swim today, so I sprinted for about 30 minutes. Plus it was freezing cold out and rainy which didn't help.

Day 223

Today, I had:

1. Kashi Go Lean Cereal
2. Toast w/jam
3. 4 jellies
4. pretzels
5. jerky
6. dried apricot
7. almonds
8. salad w/romane lettuce and roma tomatoes
9. balsamic vinegrette dressing
10. 1 pizza bambino (its okay, there on my good list)
11. Fruit
12. 16oz Powerade
13. 2+ liters water

Exersize: swiming class in the morning, weights in the afternoon

on the road to 230.

Day 222

Today I had a productive day, and my last Music History exam ever! Thats a great feeling.

In celebration I ate a twix and some M and Ms. Boy that was a real treat.

Then i made up for it and swam a brisk 1500 which included a 500 freestyle, 300 im, and 200 sprint plus a bunch of other stuff. Then I went to trader joes and spent my wad on a bunch of stuff that will now last me two weeks and hopefully take off another 10, or at least as close to 235 as possible.

im really glad I haven't been doing the caliper and measurement stuff - thats just one more number to have to worry about. Right now, its all about 190 and thats where its gonna be come new years!

Musically, I was quite inspired by Bjork today and some Vince Mendoza as well. Good stuff is to come.

I think that when I finally do get to that happy healthy place, im gonna shift gears and have a wake up call to myself to get my music career in gear. I need to apply the same discipline that I am applying in my health to my music and well see what happens. As for the rest, well I guess its all up to the lord!

Day 220

These past two weeks have been very good for me, Ive lost about 9 pounds to put me in at 238. Ive been eating my stock from trader joes, and it seems whenever i stick to those foods and avoid eating out, i always loose weight. Even better, im not weighing myself every day now, that was just getting way too compulsive. Now, its just on the weekends I weight myself - particularly sunday. While 238 isn't officially my number for this week, Ill count it as that since I was getting readings of 237.5 yesterday. With only four weeks to go until my recital, im pretty confident Ill reach 230 by the recital day. Its gonna be a push, but I need to make sure I am eating here and not out so much.

Im beginning to realize that I will have a big challenge ahead of me this summer while on the road. Considering I won't have a kitchen at my disposal all the time, ill have to make up for it by choosing small portion foods which keep me energized and not groggy. Probably, ill have to keep a cooler with me that has veggies and fruits in it along with protein bars.