I began this blog with one goal in mind: to share my story and the knowledge I have (and will learn) in hopes that some might be encouraged and inspired.  In the first email to my friends when I was letting them know what I was up to, I said Competing to Lose was my […]

I believe health is more than what you eat and how you exercise.  Although the primary focus of this blog is food and exercise I wouldn’t be staying true to myself if I didn’t bring up the spiritual side of health every once in a while.  So if you’re not fond of things of the […]

is no more. I made a list (grocery list) and checked it twice then ended up being more naughty than nice.  In other words, I ate enough butter yesterday to cover a pizza the size of a flying saucer.  That is, if you butter pizza and if there are really flying saucers.  Sigh.  I wasn’t […]

I’ve learned some lessons from Bob the Builder. I have to confess, I’ve been lazy with my time. I spend more time thinking than actually doing. We each are given 24 hours a day or 1440 minutes or 86,400 seconds. It makes me sad to think about how many hours of my life I’ve wasted. […]

I just got back from the gym and planned to only do 20 minutes of  cardio but when I was done I was surprised that I wanted to lift.  Why? After 5 months of intense training I thought I may want to take some time off.  But I realized I love it. At least today […]

I won. Go figure. Now, I what am I going to write about? I had this, what I thought was going to be , really great post on losing ready to go. I need some time to think about it so instead I post a few pictures which are probably more fun than my silly […]

I’m down to the last day. I’m a little nervous but also excited to be done. I’m ready to eat something other than chicken and asparagus which is all I’ve had for the last few days. For the past week and a half I’ve been working on my suits non-stop. Gluing over 2000 little 5mm […]

Remember the days of doing the “flex arm hang” in school for the Presidential Fitness Test? A few months ago, I decided I wanted to move beyond the “flex arm hang” so I set a goal that someday I would do a pull up all by myself. Pull-ups are fantastic for your entire upper body […]

Or in my case pants. So I’ve been storing about 6 pairs of pants for about 10 years in hopes that someday I’d be able to fit back into them. Well that day has come. Today I tried them on and low and behold they fit. But after 10 years they look more like “mom […]

Who? You’ll have to keep reading. 😉 I worked up the courage to step on the scale yesterday morning. I had gained 3 pounds. As I said the other day, under “normal circumstances” this would be okay. No big deal. But with the competition coming up it is a big deal. My body fat is […]