Greetings everyone! The weather can’t seem to make up its mind here in the beautiful Ozarks! We have had warm days, storms, snow, tornados, and extremely cold days! Mother Nature is in turmoil and she is taking out her moodiness on the Ozarks. Each new day seems to be directly connected to her every whim as her bipolar mood swings rock on a pendulum with no predictable or sustainable pattern.
Friday was the final day of Phase One of the Slique in 60 challenge. There has been no leader board, so I have no idea where I fell in the rankings yet. It is my hope that they will announce the winners soon! However, for now, I will share my results:
Weight: 378.8 – 348.6
Waist: 67.5 – 62
Chest: 55 – 52
Hips: 58 – 56
Right quad: 36 – 34
Left quad: 35 – 33
Right calf: 22 – 22
Left calf: 21.5 – 21
Right bicep: 21 – 19
Left bicep: 20 – 18.5
There will be 12 winners in Phase 1. These 12 winners will be the top 2 people from each division with the largest total body transformations based on both pounds and inches lost. There are 6 different divisions based on gender and age (Women 18-35, Women 
36-50, Women 50+, Men 18-35, Men 36-50, and Men 50+). I fall into the first age bracket for men: 18-35. Winners of Phase 1 will receive a $200 Young Living product credit, a Select 30 Oil Collection, and an Apple Watch 2. All in total, these prizes carry an approximate retail value of about $1000! For me, the $500 set of oils and the $200 product credit are the most exciting!
Monday started Phase 2 of the weight loss competition and it will all end on May 11, 2017. This phase of the competition is the big one for me as they are only giving awards to the very top total body transformation for each of the six divisions. The top overall winners from their division will be awarded: an Apple Watch 2, a Premier Aroma Collection, and $3,000! The grand prizes come to an approximate retail value of $6030.84.
As you can see, the stakes are higher and I have a lot of incentive to kill this fat as fast as possible over the next two months! During the first phase of the competition, I walked 3-5 miles every day as I worked to shed these excess pounds. For this phase, I have joined a local gym and have added the elliptical and lifting weights to my arsenal of tools to help me win that $3000 and the $2000 set of oils!
Before I end today, I wanted to switch gears and share that this last few weeks have been completely chaotic. However, over the past few days, 
my wife and I got thrown a curve ball we couldn’t have seen coming. On Sunday night, our dog began to cry as we attempted to go to bed. My wife stayed awake with him all night Sunday night, but things only continued to get worse over Monday and Tuesday. It became painfully obvious that our beloved dog, Magnum, was preparing to make his exit from this world.
It was with overwhelming sadness that I shared on Facebook this morning that Magnum died during the night. My wife shared that Magnum clung to her side as he came closer and closer to taking his final breath. Having no kids, Magnum has been our shared responsibility over the past five years and his passing has been surprisingly difficult as we experience a complex mixing of conflicting emotions with his passing. We appreciate all of our friends, family, and readers that took the time to grieve with us in our loss. He was the meanest, cute dog you will ever meet, but he loved his family and friends. Who knew a dog could impact your daily life so much?
For now, though, it’s back to taking my life back…
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celebrated my 100th pound gone, I was overtaken by an overwhelming feeling of depression. If you have been following me, I experienced a similar depression after the loss of my 
the most difficult part of this change. I feel myself growing and I feel myself changing… I’ve even posted about it. If I my mind were an overgrown plot of land, I have been hacking away at overgrowth and vines for months. There’s no way that my mindset has remained unchanged. However, this week, I found a ROOT by finding that subconscious expectation. Now, I have to deal with that root. When the root is gone, the plant is gone. If the root were to remain, the full plant could come back in time.
they are the ones that light the way back to truth and keep it safe during those times that I forget it. It will take time and persistence before the lies that plagued my reality have less control in my mind. Until now, my mind has been their kingdom… their breeding ground. It has been in my mind that these lies have bred themselves and taken such a stronghold that they crippled my life and pushed me to the edge of disability. Today, I am purposefully embracing the journey of taking control back from these lies. This won’t be an easy process, but We CAN do this! We CAN win! We CAN live our lives on purpose!
We have some very good news to share this week! We have been excited by the fact that my wife’s plateau has finally given a little bit and she officially lost her 50th pound. This accomplishment has been just out of reach for almost two months, so to see the scale FINALLY reflect a number that shows her progress has been exhilarating. We have both experienced frustration as she has struggled so long without losing anything on the scale. However, she struggled with temptations to give up on the changes we have made as it felt like her efforts have been in vain and she has been depriving herself of her favorite foods for no reason.
passed my fourth 25-pound goal! Today is day 171 of our journey towards improved health and, in less than six months, I have seen 100 pounds melt away!! I thought that I would cry when I reached this point, but that is not what I am feeling. I want to skip my adult responsibilities and CELEBRATE!!! I want to go play pool, head to a casino, watch a movie, or just see the people I love.
on a two-hour walk in shorts DURING THE MIDDLE OF FEBRUARY!!!! There are so many ways that I could view this weekend and I’ve probably viewed it from each of the different angles as the weekend progressed. As I have shared before, it is one’s mindset that creates the most significant impact upon how that individual proceeds into their future.
It also put me into an active neighborhood during the time that people are waking up and having their morning smoke.
his life that have come with losing weight. However, I may also be a human that enjoys a night on the town filled with choices that I don’t regularly make anymore. To me, it seems like a very dangerous place to walk. Maybe that is why so many fail at losing weight. Maybe it is safer and more effective to live one way or the other. I don’t have any answers, but I want to be me and I want to be free to make choices for myself without experiencing pressure that I am letting myself or anyone else down.
Good Lord, I can’t get enough of these beautiful weekends! I relish every minute outside in these absolutely gorgeous Spring… er… Winter days. I can’t even believe how that sentence needs to be typed. It’s WINTER and the temperatures got into the 80s yesterday! I would love to have a situation where I worked two days of the week and had the other five days off (and make the same paycheck… or more… of course!). I simply can’t get enough time to spend outside doing what I love the most: exploring nature and getting healthy!
led them to the jogging/running lifestyle! Given the content of my last blog post, you can bet your prized goat that I wanted to talk to them about SHOES and, boy, I found my way to the right people!
First, we went to Lake Springfield and hiked around the park for at least two hours. We may not have walked very far (three miles), but we did a lot of off-road hiking and A LOT of steep, large hills. The change up was exhausting and exhilarating at the same time! Our neighborhood has slight hills, but we can also choose how to take the worst ones. However, at the park, there was no foreknowledge of what was coming or how to take it… we just went. I was blown away at how far my body has come. I wasn’t nearly anything close to fast, but I did it without dying or having to stop for a break. I felt so empowered.
overcome with similar feelings of embarrassment and shame. We were daunted and, honestly, believed that we would be laughed out of the store by the people that really should be in there. So, as I walked to the building, I decided that I was going to document our journey. This blog has been started by a man that knows very little about what he is doing and I have been learning in front of you readers from the moment I launched the site. If I feel daunted and silly going into a store targeting runners, I know others that find their way here will experience those feelings, too!
had ever been in a shoe store where there were NO boxes of shoes on the showroom floor! While we were there, our sales agent evaluated our feet, examined our stride and detailed how a shoe needs to fit our feet to meet our specific needs! After this very invasive feet interaction, she began retrieving specific shoes that met the criteria we had discussed. She accepted our feedback and retrieved items we requested, but both of us ended up going with the recommendation from our salesman as they truly felt the best on our fe
et! It was a new and empowering experience as our sales agent educated us about the characteristics of a walking shoe that will meet our needs and improve our walking experience. Our sales lady was so observant that she confirmed something I had began suspecting, but never had evaluated, for a few years – I have one leg that is shorter than the other! She also found out I have been wearing a size 12 shoe and I should be wearing a size 10.5!
making the progress that I have been making! Coming from a guy that has NEVER spent more than $30 – $40 on a pair of shoes, I can tell you that I experienced an entirely different type of step today. The wonderful pair of shoes I had been wearing weigh than twice what these shoes weigh and feel nowhere near as comfortable for walking! After getting home, I took a quick 1.3 mile walk in them so that I could get an immediate feel for them. I literally felt like I was gliding as the cushion, which adds to my height substantially, absorbed every step and my feet began to develop a new relationship with the harsh pavement that has been beating the hell out of my feet and ankles!
250pounds2forever 