I have been working hard recently at getting myself in shape.  I have written about the successes and failures over the years on this blog.  Most recently with the support of my Biggest Loser group I have been pretty successful at losing weight.  I wanted that energy and momentum to continue over the summer.  My decision……to participate in a triathlon.

I know that this might not be the first option for anyone who weighs over 300 pounds but it has been enough motivation for me to exercise and stay active.

Now I am not totally crazy.  I want to start small with a sprint triathlon which is about an 800-yard swim, 14-mile bike, 3.0-mile run.  Exercise combined with my Chinch drinks (a new batch came yesterday!) I am continuing with the weight loss and getting ready for my triathlon

The first triathlon that I looked at was the Finger Lakes Triathlon.  I picked that because it was happening in mid-September so I thought that would give me enough time to get myself ready……to at least finish the race.

Well, I went online yesterday after I finished a 10 mile bike ride to register for the event but I found out that the event is closed!!! I was disappointed to say the least.

So I went online to look for more triathlons to participate in and the only other one in the area is Labor Day weekend!!!  It is called the Skinnyman (I hope they let me in) and it is a sprint triathlon.  This scares me because it is 16 days sooner so that is 16 days that I will me missing out on training.  I just hope and pray that I am ready!!

Since it is happening labor day weekend I would love to make a party out of it and hopefully get some support for the event.  Keep posted on the details!

Please take the time to read through this post and make comments below.  

Here is the topic for this week:

Topic: Oprah has popularized the phrase, “Best Life” with a series of shows centered around so-called “experts” talking about how to have, “the best life”.    What is your definition of a “best life” and how do you think you are — or are not— fulfilling your conception of it?

I honestly don’t think I have ever seen the “Best Life” series with Oprah.  Maybe being one of only two men in this blog-off (and the other one came up with this topic) that might put me at a disadvantage…I don’t know.  But I do think about what an “ideal” life would be, so I will go off of that.  

I hate to admit it but the ELCA does have a model of wellness that I would like to achieve one day.  It is called a “Wholeness Wheel.”  There are six areas of wholeness that I believe anyone can achieve and if they do; I believe that they will be living a better life if not the “Best Life.”  

Everyone wants to be healthy.  People get healthy physically not only to look good but to feel good and live longer.  As we get older we start to see that bright light at the end of the tunnel and we want that tunnel to continually get longer not shorter.  

I would give myself a low grade on my Physical well-being at this point.  But I am making strides to get healthier and healthier everyday.  As I mentioned on this blog earlier I have lost over 30 pounds in the last year and I am working hard everyday to staying on track and lose more.  I hope to participate in a triathlon this September with the goal of at least finishing.  I hope by this time next year  I will be able to say that I am in much better physical condition.  

From the ELCA website

“Being emotionally well means feeling the full range of emotions and expressing those emotions appropriately.”

I think there are four ways that I maintain emotional well-being

1. Spend time with my family – I love my family more than anything else in the world.  When I come home from a good or bad day at work my kids come up to me and give me hugs and kisses and it makes even the worst day seem bright.  I love my wife and the more time I get to spend with her the better I feel.  She understands me like no-one else can.  I feel lucky to have a great family.
2. Working out-  I love the feeling after a good work out.  I find that when I am starting to feel stressed and overwhelmed I need to hit the gym and spend a little extra time working out.  It helps me relieve all the built-up stress inside of me.
3. Music -  I am a musician at heart.  I love to turn the radio up in my car and sing along.  I also love to play my guitar for hours on end.  Music gives me that creative release that nothing else can.
4. Friends — I have the greatest friends in the world.  When something is wrong in my life they are there for me and I can’t ever thank them enough.  One of the reasons why I love facebook so much is because I am able to connect with my friends even more.  I believe that my friends are the smartest people I know and I always seek advice from them.

From the ELCA website

Whether we are introverted or extroverted, regular social contact is essential for health. 

This is one area that I feel like my wife and I need to improve on.  I am very extroverted and she is very introverted so the way we view our social contacts is different.  Like I mentioned above I love facebook because I am able to relate to my friends on a daily basis.  One thing that is hard for my wife and myself is that most of our friends do not live in the same area as us – so facebook, email and phone calls are our best form of contact.  My wife and I are also new to the area (we have lived here only a year).  We came to CNY not knowing very many people at all and it is taking more time than I would like on meeting people our age that we are able to hang out with on a regular basis.  We continue to work on this and I know that things will turn around sooner or later.

Intellectual well-being

 I can say that I have never been the smartest person in my academic career.  I have never qualified myself as a scholar.  But I do hold a bachelors degree and a Master of Divinity degree.  I am very proud of my accomplishments because I have worked hard for them.  I do like to keep up with my reading and studying, I think it is very important to keep your mind working, otherwise I believe it will start to shut down.  I will always be a student and seek to learn more and more not only professionally but in other ways as well.

Vocational well-being

I never really understood why people are in jobs that they hate.  I have had only one job that I really hated in my life.  I worked there for about 14 days and quit and found something else that I enjoyed much more.  I need to be challenged where I work otherwise I am not satisfied.  I realize that jobs are sometimes hard to come by — however do what you love or you will never be happy.

I do love the job that I have right now. I believe my calling in life is to be a pastor.  I love hearing faith stories from people, I love being there for people during their celebrations and during their more difficult times in life.   I can’t imagine doing anything else in life and being this happy.

I believe that we need to be spiritually healthy as well.  I have friends and family members that do not have a realigous base in their life and I do actually question that decision.  I do not understand what happens when difficulties happen in their life who do they put their trust in that things will turn out okay?  I put my trust in the one who I believe created me and who loves me and who promises me that things will be okay.  When I am having a crappy day I know I can turn to God and pray.  

I will never forget when I was at Luther College, I was having a tough time personally.  I prayed with a friend, we prayed for my family we prayed that God would take all my problems and place them on His shoulders and I believe God did.  That night I cried for 45 min.  It was all the pain, hurt, anger and sadness coming out of me. I felt as though that burdens that I had been carrying for so long were lifted off of me and I felt free once again.  It was a good feeling.

I think of that time in my life when I believe that I am not as spiritually well off as I would like to be.  Right now I think I am at a good place because the last few months have been tough in some ways.  It is when times are tough that I start to fall away from my spiritual disciplines and it is then that I realize that I need them the most and I am able to turn back and pick things up again.

Financial well-being

I can honestly say that money is one of the biggest stresses in my life and the lives of the people I come across everyday.  90% of the debt that I carry is in student loans.  I can honestly say that I am disappointed in the way that seminaries are structured in that regard.  Pastors are generally in the top 25% in education but in the bottom 25% in pay (or something like that).  But that is another blog post for another day.  

We work hard at becoming more and more financially secure. I know it takes time and that is the hard part.  We are at a point right now in our lives where we want to feel secure financially.  It is important — and I know I have lots to learn when it comes to financial success.  I read blog posts daily and I use the YNAB system to help keep finances straight and I abide by the philosophies of YNAB to help us think differently about our money.  

Overall I believe that things are going okay right now in my “Best Life” – I believe that overall I have a pretty good wholeness wheel.  I don’t think it will ever be perfect but I believe that it is a good way to think about your life and how you can have a “Best Life.”

I have I have written before, I gathered six other clergy in my conference for a “Biggest Loser Clergy Edition.” Well on May 31st our journey together ended.  I am proud to say that I won the whole event.  I am very excited about this!!!

I worked really hard and I am proud of the things I have accomplished.  In the process I lost 23 pounds!

I started out on this journey weighing 386 pounds.  Through this experience with  I have gained the confidence that I have not had since I was in high school when it comes to my health and my physical ability.

To be honest I was really worried last May (2008) when I started having chronic back trouble and my weight was creeping close to 400 pounds.  Now I have regained the confidence that I once had.  I have confidence that I can continue to get healthy and I can push myself to live a better life.

Inspired by my success I really would like to pursue a dream that I have had for a few years.  That is to participate in a triathlon.  September 20th of this year there is a triathlon in our area called the Finger Lakes Triathlon.    They have a sprint triathlon which is a shorter route.  The events will be:  swim .45 miles bike 13 miles and run 3.1 miles.  I believe that if I can commit myself to train for that event like I committed myself to this program I will be able to do it.

The final totals for our journey together as a group:   We lost over 50 pounds and we met our goal of walking 436 miles.  I would like to thank all those people who followed me and supported me in my weight loss journey.  Now I would like to invite you to join me in my journey in becoming a triathlete!!

One of the most popular “hits” on my blog is my list of 100 things to do before I die. I am not sure if people get past that list and read other parts of my blog but it is popular.  

I thought it was a cool thing to have and my intention was to really work on it.  I wanted to really work on the things in that list and if not do them, have plans on doing them in the future.  But for the most part that list has sat idle since I posted it. 

I now have a new list…..since there are so many parts of my life – personally and professional that I would like to improve I have created a list of 13 aspects of my life that I would like to focus on.  Each item I will focus on for a month and my hope is to get it to a place where I can feel like I am maintaining that part of my life instead of trying to make a change (if change is necessary).  

I will post the list in this post and then I will create a new page and I hope that you check in from time to time to see how things are going.  I am also going to look at my list of 100 things I want to do before I die and I will update it and see if there are connections that I can make to other parts of my life. 

The List:

13 Personal things to work on

1.        Weight loss

2.       Exercise

3.       Personal Organization

4.       Family Contact

5.       Friend Contact

6.       Budget

7.       Savings

8.       Spiritual Life

9.       Work on my Novel

10.   Work on my Devotional book

11.   Play my guitar

12.   Learn more about cheese

13.   Dog Training

13 Professional Things to work on

1.        Youth group

2.       Sunday School

3.       Senior Ministry

4.       Inactive Members

5.       Evangelism

6.       Community out reach

7.       Worship

8.       Read Two theology books

9.       Plan Grilled Cheese event

10.   Committee Organization

11.   Visioning

12.   Visitation

13.   Future planning

You can count me as one of those people who has tried many diets over the years. I have to admit that I have not had much success. I have lost a few pounds here and there but they never seem to stay off and I have not lost as much as I would like or need.

After much prayer and discernment I have decided to try a new “strategy.” I have decided that I am not only going to lose weight for me, but I am going to lose weight for other people! That’s right– I am going to lose weight for thousands of people, young and old who have Autism or Autism related disorders.  I hope that you will consider to sponsor me  (that is you who is reading this) during my weight loss journey.  I would like all the money to go to Autism Speaks.

There are many ways that you can do this.  The first way is that you can sponsor me for every pound that I will lose.  Another way is just to give a flat rate and sponsor me that way.  Either way the money is going to a good cause and I feel supported and challenged.

I have spent most of my life sacrificing myself for others.  I always put the needs of others before myself. This is most likely one of the reasons that I have ended up where I am with my weight.  I realized that’s who I am and that is not going to change, no matter how hard I try.  So why not build upon my strengths and challenge myself to do this –  not only for me but for the thousands of kids that will benefit from your donation.

Why Autism Speaks?

Well I realized that I have never connected myself with a charity.  All the money we have given has gone to the church or to Calumet.  So I researched different charity’s.  I found four or five charities that I really liked including this one.  I chose this one because it is connected to us in more ways than one.  See, the last year or so we have been working with our son “the boy” with different disabilities.  We are not sure if he has any or how deep they go.  There is a chance that he will be diagnosed with something on the Autism Spectrum.  Weather he is or not this money will go and help people like us with research to help uncover the to uncover the cause(s), prevention, treatments and cure for autism.  It is a long road and anything that can help will benefit  thousands of people.

Another reason that I chose this organization is that there is a walk in September that I would like to participate in.  I think September a good point to regather and see how this is working for me.

The walk is in Rochester, NY on Saturday September 27, 2008.  If you would like more information about it you can visit the Walk Page.

My hope is to lose at least 50 pounds by then which figures to be about 2 pounds a week from now until then.  I think that is a reachable goal.

If you would like to sponsor me please click on this link and sponsor me.  If you would like to sponsor me in another way either leave a comment here or send me an email.

I started a new blog called Pounds for People where I will update on my progress, how I am doing this and all the other ins and outs of my thoughts, feelings and progress about this.

Thank you for your support and I look forward to hear from you.