Showing posts with label progress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label progress. Show all posts

Friday, August 1, 2014

Being Successful is a choice!

"Failure is necessary, success is optional!"



Today was supposed to be: "the day."
I was supposed to be ready to enlist by today.

Unfortunately I have failed, I have been in a funk since I went to see the recruiters back in June, I have not been motivated to push and have not been sticking to my diet or any kind of work out routine. I have actually gained 5 lbs since the recruiter which puts me further behind.




This was an inevitable failure. I was pushing my self really hard and driving too hard toward a goal that I knew was possibly unattainable (Seal training) and then when I failed my vision test I went into a tail spin of binge eating, laziness, and COOKIES!!! (lots and lots of delicious cookies)

I was told that I will be put into the assistant manager training at my current job so that I can go in front of the review board in December.

So here I was presented with two options do the hard thing and work my butt off (literally) and join the military by August 1st, or take the easy route and go through the training for Assistant Manager.

While each choice has its benefits and its costs there is only one choice where someday I can be awesome. I obviously made the wrong choice, and because of it I failed at my goal.

Now it is time to shift gears, revisit my goals, and make my failure a success. I need to follow my own advice and make a list of goals that I need to meet and move forward following a plan geared toward meeting those goals. Also I need to pick a goal completion date that I can realistically meet.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Obesity is a terrorist that does not work alone!

“Obesity is a terrorist that does not work alone!” <- Tweet This! - Don't be a twit


Depression and Obesity work together to take over your life and destroy you! You have to declare war on terror and fight back! The only way to defeat obesity is to lose weight, which is hard when you are depressed; but you can combat depression everyday.

Since I spoke to the recruiters at the beginning of this month I have been depressed and that has set me back. I know I need to lose weight and to reach my goals, but I had convinced myself that my goals were not worth the fight anymore since everything keeps getting in the way. It took me almost a full month to get over this depression.

What makes depression bad

If you Google what is depression you get two definitions
  1. Severe despondency and dejection, typically felt over a period of time and accompanied by feelings of hopelessness and inadequacy
  2. The act of lowering something or pressing something down.

So what does all that mean?

While if you translate definition one from geek speak to Standard English it says Severe sadness felt over a period of time and accompanied by feelings of hopelessness and inadequacy.

That is a little easier to track but still could use some clarification to explain why it is bad. To assist in this clarification I will use the example from my own life

I have been sad over the last 2-3 weeks because I am inadequate (not good enough) for the SEALs and my ability to do what I want seems more and more hopeless.

This is bad because it caused me to not want to do anything and become complacent. I have felt like I can never do anything better than my current job, despite my bosses boss thinking I am good enough for a promotion.

I stopped exercising, I stopped eating right, I stopped trying!

I had fun at my National Guard experience, and despite this I put myself in a state of perpetual failure.

How did I overcome this?

I was talking to my best friend that I have known since the second grade via text message while I was bored at work and his failed attempt to motivate me didn’t quite fail!

I commented to him that I was depressed to which he responded:
“Don't be depressed you can always go for corrections with me.”
I was like:
"How is that supposed to make me depressed? Instead of moving out of Arizona, seeing the world, shooting at evil, and generally just being awesome. You get to stay in Arizona be overheated and an overpaid babysitter.”
He of course took offence and said that I should slit my wrists now if I am going to think like that. Drama Queen!

I told him to think about it:
“If I were to become a corrections officer I could be a corrections officer or a supervisor of correction officers. If I were to go into the military I could be a helicopter mechanic, helicopter pilot, or I could go into some sort of computer field like cryptology or network security. Someday I could get vision correction surgery and become a jet pilot.”
At that point I realized that I was being stupid and that even if I can’t be a SEAL I can still be awesome, that I should not be giving up just because a physical issue pushed me out of my goal.

My Advice

Talk to someone: A true friend will never turn you away!
Anyone: Doctors, Teachers, Counselors, Priests, Mommy, Daddy, Security at Walmart!
Pick up the phone book and dial random numbers till someone is willing to help you if that is what it takes.

Don't give up! DO NOT EAT THAT DOUGHNUT!

Sometimes pushing yourself to be more awesome… to keep striving for the goal even though you cannot obtain it will still keep you motivated and push the depression out.

Keep yourself on track no matter how much you want to give up, cry, or die.

If you give up then the terrorists win!
Do you want to let the terrorists win?

If you said yes to that you are on the wrong blog!

Are you shaking a box of Chihuahuas? No? Then Follow Us!



Have a Happy and Healthy Week!

Thomas Gould!


Images provided by RaccoonGirlDesign

Friday, May 30, 2014

Where am I today?


Current
Before


Transition Progress

When I started this blog I looked like the picture on the left. On May 30th I look like the picture on the right.

I look and feel like a completely different person and I have been getting comments from my co-workers and mom about how much weight I have lost and comments from my wife about my muscle gain and weight loss.






It has been so hard to get to this point, before I started all this I would drink 6 x Mountain Dew, 20-Ounce  Bottles or I would buy a 52 oz QuickTrip cup and fill it with Mountain Dew or Sprite and then either way on my way home I would get a 52 oz cup and fill it with sprite. Also I would eat just about anything I could get my hands on especially Hershey's Chocolate Creme Pie's the whole pie by my self.


Also I would be on my ass as much as possible watching TV, playing on a game system, or working on my computer.

Since I started my nutrition and fitness programs I do not eat red meat or pork, I do not drink anything but water and juice, and I do not eat desert at all. I try my damnedest to not sit down unless I have been up on my fit all day. I actually get stiff and have to stand up so that after sitting for extended periods of time. I want to get a treadmill that I can use my laptop on so that I do not have to sit down when doing blog posts or playing video games.

I need to lose 2" in my waist to be able to qualify for the delayed entry program and 3.5 inches to qualify for basic.

My current measurements
Height: 5'8"
Neck: 17.5" or 1' 5.5"
Waist: 42" or 3'6"

Required measurements
Height: 5'8"
Neck: 17.5" or 1' 5.5"
Waist: 38.5" or 3' 2.5"

Formula for circumference
Waist - Neck = Circumference
42 - 17.5 = 24.5



Height (inches)
Circumference Value*

60
60.5
61
61.5
62
62.5
63
63.5
64
64.5
65
65.5
66
66.5
67
67.5
68
68.5
69
69.5
13
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
13.5
9
9
9
9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
14
11
11
10
10
10
10
9
9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
14.5
12
12
12
11
11
11
11
10
10
10
10
9
9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
<9
15
13
13
13
13
12
12
12
12
11
11
11
11
10
10
10
10
10
9
9
<9
15.5
15
14
14
14
14
13
13
13
13
12
12
12
12
11
11
11
11
11
10
10
16
16
16
15
15
15
15
14
14
14
14
13
13
13
13
12
12
12
12
12
11
16.5
17
17
16
16
16
16
15
15
15
15
14
14
14
14
14
13
13
13
13
12
17
18
18
18
17
17
17
17
16
16
16
16
15
15
15
15
14
14
14
14
14
17.5
19
19
19
18
18
18
18
17
17
17
17
16
16
16
16
16
15
15
15
15
18
20
20
20
19
19
19
19
18
18
18
18
18
17
17
17
17
16
16
16
16
18.5
21
21
21
20
20
20
20
19
19
19
19
19
18
18
18
18
17
17
17
17
19
22
22
22
21
21
21
21
20
20
20
20
20
19
19
19
19
18
18
18
18
19.5
23
23
23
22
22
22
22
21
21
21
21
21
20
20
20
20
19
19
19
19
20
24
24
24
23
23
23
23
22
22
22
22
21
21
21
21
21
20
20
20
20
20.5
25
25
25
24
24
24
24
23
23
23
23
22
22
22
22
21
21
21
21
21
21
>25
>25
25
25
25
25
24
24
24
24
24
23
23
23
23
22
22
22
22
21
21.5
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
25
25
25
25
24
24
24
24
23
23
23
23
23
22
22
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
25
25
25
25
25
24
24
24
24
23
23
22.5
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
25
25
25
25
24
24
24
23
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
25
25
25
23.5
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25
>25

My circumference is just off the the chart for my height but I am like at 26% bmi

Have a fantastic and healthy week see you next Friday!