Project David 2.0: Lessons Learned

July 17th.  My birthday and the go live date for Project David 2.0.  Can't really call it the go live date since this project really went live on the day I started it, August 14th, 2011.   It's really the project completion date.  The target date to deliver all of the results scoped for Project David 2.0.   This project has been a huge success.  We came in under budget, we finished a head of schedule, and we delivered more to our shareholders then we committed to last year.  :-)

Let's recap.  There were two primary areas of focus - Professional Transformation and Personal Transformation.

Let's start with Professional Transformation.  The goal was to determine what I wanted to be when I grew up.  What my professional aspirations were, and how to attain them. Could my professional goals be reached if I continued down the path of a consultant? If not, where could I find what I was looking for?  This goal moved much quicker initially than I expected.  By the end of August I was interviewing with Best Buy for the role of Program Director for Global Business Services.  The focus was on IT, specifically Infrastructure.  My sweet spot, having spent the last 20+ years working in various IT roles, usually around Infrastructure.  In this role I would be able to achieve what had been missing for me as a contractor.  Being able to help define the strategy, implement the solution, and be able to mature and refine the solution.  That is, release 2.0 and so forth.  I accepted the offer and joined Best Buy on November 28th.  It's been a challenging and rewarding experience so far, and a lot of challenges and opportunities a head of us.

The Personal Transformation.  It started out simple.  Lose 61.6 pounds in 11 months.  That was it.  Then came scope creep.  With success came the desire to add to the requirements.  First was to increase the total loss to 71.6.  I hit 72.8 on June 22nd.  At the end of September I started walking 6-7 days a week, 3-4 miles a night.  In January I was up to just over 400 miles, and I started the C25K program.  I added a goal to walk or run 1,000 miles.  In March I ran my first 5k. In June a 4 mile race, and so far in July I've completed a 5 mile and a 4 mile race.  Another 4 mile coming up this weekend.  I've also entered the lottery for the TC10 in October.  As for the 1,000 miles? 1,001.32 miles on July 15th. Two days to spare.  One other goal I set was to get off of the medications for my Type II Diabetes.  I'll know where we stand with that next week when I see my doctor to review the results on my lab work later this week.

Always nice to bring a project in under budget, and a head of schedule.

I could not have done this without my wife and kids, who provided support all along the way.  They have been my fan club at each of my races.  Their words of encouragement and their excitement as I bought each 10 pound sack of flour, representing my weight loss progress.  Nothing offers more encouragement than a 4 and 7 year old saying "daddy, you're getting healthy." Thank you Deb, Anna and Jacob.  I love you and I couldn't have done this without you and your support and encouragement.

I also want to thank my friends who offered their encouragement and support along the way, particularly my good friend Bob Stanke.  He inspired me to share my story through this blog and through Twitter.  Last year Bob set a goal to run 1,000 miles.  He shared his journey on his blog and other social media avenues.  Sharing created accountability which helped drive him to reach his goal.  I found the same thing.  When I didn't update my blog I heard from people asking how the progress was going. I was already driven to reach my goals, but the added accountability helped provide incentive. It has also given me the opportunity to share my story and help others start their own journey. To those that are on their journey, I wish you success in the pursuit of your goals.

It's been one heck of a journey.  I never imagined what the end state would feel like.  All I can say is it is an amazing feeling.  I look forward to the next phase of this journey.  As with any project there are release updates, maintenance fixes and enhancements.  This next year will be about building on the results of David 2.0.  Maintaining my new weight, improving my running - longer distances, faster times, and overall fitness, and continuing my professional development.

Thank you to all of you for your support, words of encouragement, and just listening to me tell my story.

12 days to go, and only one goal remains

With 12 days to go, I am down to just one remaining goal - run/walk 1,000 miles before the end of Project David 2.0.  Since I started walking on September 30, 2011, that gave me 9 months, 17 days to complete that goal.  With 12 days to go I have just another 38.12 miles to get there.  Since I carry a Fitbit tracker, people have asked if I was counting the miles that it reflects on a daily basis.  The answer is no.  I've only counted the running and walking miles from my workouts.

The last goal you ask? Yes.  But wasn't there another goal to be completed? When I wrote my last entry there were two remaining goals - 1,000 miles and my revised (upward) weight loss goal of 71.6 pounds.  Well, happy to report that on the morning of June 22, as we were getting ready to leave for our road trip to Oregon, I stepped on the scale and learned that I had lost - drum roll please........ 72.8 pounds!!!  An extra 1.2 pounds!!  10 months, 7 days.  More to come on that as I am preparing my Project David 2.0 "recap" blog entry for July 17, my "go live" date.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

30 days to go!

There are 30 days left in Project David 2.0.  How have we done? There are two key goals remaining - run/walk 1,000 miles, lose 71.6 pounds.  Are we going to make it? Well, we have 100.73 miles and 0.8 pounds to go.  I have no doubts that I will make these two remaining goals.  This nearly year long project has been about success!  And we're not stopping short!

If you've been following along with me, you know these are not goals that I set last August when I started this journey. If you are new to my blog, let met tell you where these goals came from.  The weight goal was 61.6, but I decided along the way to increase it by 10 pounds. Why? Because as I got closer to my original goal, I thought there was room for an extra 10 pounds. The 1,000 miles? Yeah, not in the original plan either. In fact I had no exercise goals when I started. At the end of September I started walking every night.  I logged all of my walking sessions. In January I decided that maybe I would try running. Walking 4 miles a night was taking about an hour. If I could run, I should be able to cut that down. So I started the C25K training program.  This is designed to get a non-runner ready to run a 5k in 9 weeks.  The 1,000 miles? Inspired by my good friend Bob Stanke.  In 2011 he set and achieved a goal to run 1,000 miles. I decided that take that one on - but in a combination of walking and running.  Since I wanted to hit my original goal date, July 17, I only had 9 1/2 months to complete the task.  Kind of aggressive for someone who was not a runner.

So how has the running gone? On Saturday I ran my second race.  This one was a 4 miler.  Beat my goal by 2 minutes, running it in 35:53.  I'm working towards a 10k, and a co-worker is trying to talk me into a 10 miler.  I think I am ready for the 10k.  Tonight was a 5.25 mile run.  It felt good.  It was my longest run to date. Adding another mile shouldn't be an issue.  Up next is a 5 mile race on the 4th of July, a 4 mile race on July 7th, and another 4 mile race later in July.  And I'll be entering the lottery for the Medtronic TC 10 Mile in October.  I have time to get from 5 miles to 10 miles by October. Keep your tigers crossed that I can get in.  It's very popular. Some will say that once I get to 10 miles, I am probably ready for a half marathon since I'm only 3 miles away.  Pretty amazing that a guy who has never been a runner, and 6 months ago just started running, could be working towards running 10+ miles.

I'll keep you posted on my progress!!

Thanks for reading!

Last bag of flour!!

Another accomplishment today.  I reached the 7th and final bag of flour.  70 pounds.  That leaves 1.6 pounds to go to hit my revised goal.  39 days to go and reach that mark.  Pretty sure I won't need that much time!

Additionally, I am 864.37 miles towards my goal of 1,000 miles walking/running.  This was a goal that I added in January, about 5 months into Project David 2.0.  I started with walking on September 30, and then started the C25K program in January because walking 3-4 miles a night was taking too long.  :-)  Since that time I've done a combination of walking and running to get this far.

More goal updates as they occur!  Thanks for following along with me on this journey.

With 2 months to go......

Thursday marked two months to go in Project David 2.0.  It also marks one month since I hit my original goal weight.

So what's happened in the last month? Well, we continue to drive to our final (David 2.1) goal of 7 bags of flour.  That would take us to a total of 71.6 pounds.  Over the last month we've lost another 4 pounds.  (There was an amazing Mother's Day brunch in the mix that might have had an impact on the weight loss. Might have had something to do with dessert. A chocolate layer mousse cake.) So we have two months to lose the last 6 pounds.  Pretty sure we'll get there.  And once we do we'll continue to focus on toning and strength.

What about the other goals? Well, the running continues, sort of.  I am planning on 2-3 5k runs this summer.  Schedule has been such that it's been limited, but we are continuing to walk.  I am up to 758 miles since I started walking/running on September 30th. That's like walking from Minneapolis, MN to Knoxville, TN.  In January I decided to see if I could get to 1,000 miles by July 17th.  I'll need 242 miles over the next two months.  Going to be tight since I am averaging about 100 miles a month.  Need to pick up the running to increase my daily totals.

People frequently ask me how I did it.  Did I use one of those commercial weight loss programs? Nope. I did it by diet and exercise.  I tracked everything I ate using MyFitnessPal, working against a reduced calorie diet.  I tracked all of my activities with a FitBit tracker.  The really nice thing is the MyFitnessPal app and the FitBit tracker sync together.  My activities log on MyFitnessPal and calculate my net calories letting me know how I need to adjust my diet.  And as you can see on my blog page, MyFitnessPal updates my blog with my total weight loss.  Great tools.  Check them out!  I highly recommend them.

You've lost how much?

How much weight have you lost? I hear that question pretty frequently. So how much have I lost? Well, let's just say it's....

more than a 4 yr old, more than a 6 yr old, and more than 6 bags of flour.

As of today I have lost 60.6 pounds. 1 pound away from my original Project David 2.0 weight goal, and three months ahead of my goal date. But I'm not stopping there. I've decided to go for another bag of flour. Why? I still have some work to do to get to where I want to be. And I am still working on bringing down the body fat number as well. That has some room in it.

I am feeling great. I can't remember when I've felt this good. I am enjoying the running. Really enjoying how it feels when I finish up a 4-5 mile run. For me, an amazing accomplishment. Two reasons. I never had the desire to run, and with all of the walking and running that I've been doing since the end of September, I've not had any problems with my knees. Something that has been an issue for 30 years. Maybe it has something to do with dropping 25% of my body weight. Now that I've got my first 5k under my belt I am "training" to do a 10k. I'll keep you posted on how that progresses.

Each day I continue to be amazed at what I've accomplished in the last 7 months. When I started Project David 2.0 I just hoped that I could come close to my goals by July 17th. Today I am celebrating another milestone in a growing list of milestones and accomplished goals. I wouldn't have gotten this far without the support of my family, friends, and the vision I have for myself.

Milestone Day: 50.2 pounds!

Today marks another milestone - 50.2 pounds. It's flour time. Took a little longer to get to the fifth bag of flour. I think a number of things need to be taken into consideration on why it took a little longer to hit the next milestone. But considering we went through the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Holidays, and during the holiday window, I only gained 0.6 pounds. I have to consider that a win. To have enjoyed the feasts of the holidays, in moderation, and basically come out at the weight I went into them, that's a win.

During the past month I also made a couple of other changes. First one is that I started the C25K - Couch to 5K - program in an attempt to become a "runner". My goal, to run my first 5K in mid March. The second is that I started strength training on January 3rd. Don't know if that has had any impact on the slow down in my progress, but I do know it is making a big difference in how my clothes fit. So while the pounds aren't coming off as quick as they did during the first 40 pounds, the inches are. The Wellness Zone on the Best Buy campus has a fitness contest called Drop it Like it's hot. I signed up for it. It's a 12 week contest. Next week is the 6 week check in and I am very curious to see how things have changed in 6 weeks.

Next week marks 6 months of Project David 2.0. It's been an amazing journey so far. Hard to imagine what can happen during the remaining 5 months of this project. I know I can't wait to find out!

I'm running? What's up with that? It's about the shirt.

I've never been a runner (well, there was soccer in junior high), and I never planned to be one. Of course I never planned on Project David 2.0. That all changed 4 weeks ago when I decided I was going to run a 5K before my project goal date, my next birthday.

4 weeks ago I started the C25K - Couch to 5K - program. I had seen tweets about it, and decided to check it out. The concept, for those that are not familiar with this program, is a running program that takes you from the couch, or a non-runner, and in 9 weeks gets you ready to run a 5K or 30 minutes non stop. Since I've been walking 60+ minutes a night since the end of September I jump straight to week 2 of the program. My wife asked me why I wanted to run since I've never shown any interest. Told her it was about the shirt. You always get a shirt when you participate in a 5k. The real reason was that I wanted to shorten the amount of time I have to spend on the treadmill each night, so I needed much a faster pace. I was already walking at 4.2 miles per hour, so I was going to have to start running. Tonight was workout of 2 week 5:

00:00-5:00: Warmup walk

5:00-13:00: Run

13:00-18:00: Walk

18:00-26:00: Run

26:00-30:00: Cooldown Walk

I continue my usual walking for another 30-40 minutes beyond the C25K program. I don't have the speed there yet. More focused on actually being able to sustain a run. I figure the speed will come once I can reach a sustained 30-40 minute run. So far in a combined run/walk on a treadmill, I can cover a 5K in 42 minutes. That's with 16 minutes of running in that 42 minute window. The next workout, on Friday is a 20 minute run. Crossing my fingers that I'll be able to make it!! In a little over 3 weeks I'm supposed to be at a 30 minute run. That will be amazing. My first goal will be to run a 5K in under 40 minutes. There are two in St. Paul around St. Patrick's Day, and I am thinking that maybe that will be my first. I think I need to commit to that in the next week before they close registration.

So that's my story and I'm sticking to it - another goal added to continuing to be successful Project David 2.0.

402.97 miles down, 597.03 to go.

I am 22 1/2 weeks into Project David 2.0. 6 weeks after I started I added cardio to my plan. For me, someone who was not a runner, that meant walking on the treadmill. Tonight I went over 400 miles. I don't count all of the walking that I do during my work day, just the miles from my focused treadmill sessions. As of tonight I have walked 402.97 miles. That's the equivalent of running from Minneapolis to Kansas City.

I didn't not set a mileage goal when I started this project but having watched my friend Bob Stanke set and achieve a goal of running 1,000 miles last year, and now setting a goal of 1,200 miles for 2012, I thought maybe I should consider a goal. So tonight I am announcing my goal of walking/running 1,000 miles by the end of Project David 2.0 on July 17, 2012.

"Small" victories in David 2.0

Today marks 7 weeks since I launched David 2.0, my personal and professional transformation project. I am well on my way towards my goals. As of this morning I have lost 17.4 pounds. This has translated into me dropping a shirt size, getting close to running out of holes in my belts, and an overall increase in energy. This past Friday I finally introduced a key component - exercise. Blew the dust off of the treadmill in my office and started walking. Boy did that feel great!

Another small victory is that for the first weekend my weigh in this morning was the same as it was on Thursday. Usually on Monday's I weigh in 1-2 pounds more than I did on Thursday/Friday. This puts me behind for a couple of days while I work that off.

Three things occurred this weekend. I walked 45 minutes each night, made "better" food choices, and did a better job of drinking. Water that is! To come out even this morning was huge. Saturday night my wife and I enjoyed the company of some good friends and had dinner at McCormick and Schmick's followed by drinks at The Local. Now my wife and I did share an entree, I did skipped the calamari - hard to do, and did enjoy a glass of wine and a fabulous upside down apple pie with ice cream (shared as well). This was followed at our next stop with a couple of high calorie, high carb beers. All enjoyable - friends, food, and drinks. Part of what helped was making wise choices through out the day on Saturday, knowing that I was going out that night, and making fairly wise choices at the restaurant. The shared entree was a perfect portion, supplemented by a salad.

Overall a great weekend that showed me you can enjoy when doing it smartly, making wise choices, and planning for the bump in intake through out the day.

Small victory on the path to an overall new David 2.0

Fair food not fair game: Updated

Over the weekend we took the family down to Spencer, Iowa to go to the Spencer (Clay County) Fair. This is something my wife's family has done for years. One of the nice things about this fair is that they have a good sized machinery hill (John Deere, Case IH), and the tractors are open so that you can climb on and in them. This is a big draw to my 4 year old son. He can't get enough of the tractors. He's a John Deere boy thanks to his Papa who retired from farming a couple of years ago.

One of the other things about the fair is the food. 3 weeks ago we went to the Minnesota State Fair. I went conservative at the state fair, only had 3 mini donuts, but did have about 3/4 of an order of cheese curds. Add in 3 glasses of milk at the all you can drink milk stand (2 white, 1 chocolate) and just 2 Sweet Martha's cookies. Needless to say, for the day I was over on my calorie goal by 50%. It could have been much worse. That calorie violation fhad a negative impact on my weightless for the week. For whatever reason I hit that Monday up 2 pounds, resulting in a week that was spent getting me back to the previous week's loss total. A price to pay.

This weekend I knew going in I was going to have one of the Nutty Bars that they sell at the Spencer Fair. Vanilla ice cream on a stick, dipped in chocolate and covered in peanuts. This was going to be a given. No mini donuts this time. No cheese curds. I did have a gyro for lunch. Not very calorie friendly either (it's the pita). I haven't figured out yet how bad I violated my calorie limit for the day, but I know I went over. Sunday added another challenge. A church potluck. You know how those country church ladies like to bake. So many salads and desserts to choose from. I tried to do as best as I could given the temptation. But there was a cherry cobbler that was to die for. :-) Dinner was very sensible tonight. Chicken breast and spinach. Like I could really balance this against the cherry cobbler!!

So what does all of this mean? I've been working on my weight loss for 5 weeks. I've been very dedicated to controlling my food intake to honor my daily calorie goal. As of Friday morning I've lost 13.4 pounds. A good pace. I'm not sure what the scale will say on Monday morning. Going into this weekend I expected to take a hit. Why? Because I was going to allow myself a little food pleasure. Now I know that I will never hit my goal if I continue to take these little holidays from the calorie control. But I also know that to completely deny yourself some of these treats creates the risk that you will go overboard at some point and over consume. Don't get me wrong, this is not something I plan to do every 3-4 weeks. And I'm not beating myself up for the extras this weekend. I just know that I've got to stay true and continue with the overall discipline that I have been working under and stay focused.

My goal is 60 pounds by August 14, 2012. (I'd like to hit that by my birthday in July). My second goal was 25 pounds by Christmas. I have 3 months to get there, and there is no reason that I shouldn't be past that - that's a pound a week. And there are no more fairs between now and Christmas!

UPDATE: On Monday morning the scale told me that I over indulged on the cherry cobbler and other things. Weight was up 2.4 pounds. Now I know I didn't eat that many more calories. One other thing I left out was the fact that I didn't drink near the amount of water that I usually drink on a daily basis. Guessing that also had an impact.

Thanks for stopping by and reading.

Day 30 of David 2.0: Progress update

Day 30 update

Today marks day 30 of my journey to physical transformation. As of this morning I have lost 13 pounds. So what is my goal? Have I set one? The answer is yes. I've set a goal to lose 60 pounds in one year. I set an incremental goal of 25 pounds by Christmas, and am well on the way there.

Why 60?

The short story is that when I looked at a Body Mass Index (BMI) I found that even in losing 60 pounds I was still classified as overweight, but only barely. Now I know that this is not a very good indicator as it does not take into consideration muscle mass, but it is a general indicator. 60 is a round number, and one that I honestly believe I can hit in 12 months. My starting weight was 246.6, so actually I plan to lose 61.6 to get to an even 185. In 2003 I was diagnosed as Type II Diabetic. At that time my weight was around 290-295. Over the next 12-18 months I lost 50 pounds through mostly diet changes. I've maintained that weight loss plus or minus 5-7 pounds since. Now its time to take control and take the next step.

How am I doing this?

The tool. To accomplish this I have been following a reduced calorie diet. To manage this I am using the myfitnesspal application and recording everything that I eat. I've also tried the very similar livestrong app, but just like the myfitnesspal one better. I've found it easier to use, easier to add foods not found in the database, more accuracy on the nutrition values of the foods in the database, and one of the nice functions is that it can scan barcodes on food packaging and then pull the nutrition information from the database. I've logged every meal and snack for the last 3o days and it just becomes automatic. I know meal by meal how I am tracking for my daily calories, and can adjust my eating based on this. Myfitnesspal also looks at my calorie intake, activities, and weight loss and recommends changes to my daily calorie allowance to help manage my weight loss in support of my goal.

Food choices. Since I am recording everything I eat, I am really paying attention to food values - calories, fat, protein, fiber, and carbs. I find I talk myself out of eating certain things because I know it will have a negative impact - too many calories or not enough substance to fill me up, and don't want to risk going over my daily allowance. If I know I'll be having something for dinner that might be a little heavier in calories, I can work backwards and adjust through the early part of the day to help keep me on track. It's the little things. Eliminate the cheese, or skip the sauce, or sometimes skip the bun. It's looking at what makes up the calories in a meal and determining what you really want to eat. I'm not claiming perfection in this. I went to the state fair and paid the price. Cheese curds, mini donuts, a couple of Sweet Martha's cookies, and the all you can drink milk pushed my over my daily calories but almost 50%. Amazing how that impacted the weight.

Water. Water is key. I am averaging 12-16 glasses a day. I've found that by drinking the water I've reduced those hunger feelings that I experience in the evening.

Exercise. I have not added exercise yet, but that is the next step. I've dusted off the treadmill. I'm not a runner. In the past I've typically done 30-40 minutes of walking every night, gradually increasing the pace. That's the plan, and my 60 day progress update will include how I've done with exercise.

That's where I stand today. I am fired up about this. I did not expect to see the results that I have in the first 30 days. I don't believe I will continue to see the same pace of loss, but believe it will be close, especially adding exercise. Each day it gets easier and the results really help drive me.