The Face of Progress

This weekend I went out Saturday night to a friend’s birthday get together, what started as a relaxed night of hanging out turned into the drunkest I’ve been in years.  We basically went from 0 to drunk in an hour. 

We met up with the Birthday girl, and some mutual friends at Rock Bottom Brewery in Bethesda.  I had a couple of drinks just enough to loosen up, and have a good time, I was driving so slamming shots wasn’t the game plan.  Another by product of losing weight is the decreased tolerance to alcohol, so my radar is up high when I go out to drink about how I feel.

By the way I don’t advocate drinking and driving, but all guys have done it, and an hour before we left this particular establishment I stopped drinking, and all together over a few hours I probably had 2 drinks, being almost 300 lbs I knew I was ok. 

Driving home, I gave a high school friend of mine a ride back to Dupont Circle, once we got there we decided we would go to a bar and get another drink, as our third friend in the party was visiting from Denver and it was his last night in town.  We walked from near my high school friend’s apartment, towards the actual circle, and started to look for a place to go, everywhere we went had a long line at 1 AM.  You know you are getting older when you no longer want to wait in line at the busiest bars or clubs. 

We ended up walking to midtown, and went into the first place without a line.  This place was in the location of a bar that my friends and I used to frequent called the Madhatter.  The Madhatter has since moved into a larger space, and has taken their special brand of drunken stupidity to a new level.  Fortunately this new place has the same atmosphere as the old Madhatter, with one big change…I am too fucking old to go there now. 

We went to the upstairs bar near the bathrooms (another sign of aging).  As we stood there listening to the music, I leaned over to my friends and said “You do realize we are the oldest people in this bar right now?” they laughed in that “okay asshole” way that guy’s only share in a pack environment.  When I saw the girls who looked like they had just walked out of the senior prom dancing and singing songs from my high school days, I leaned over again and said “You do realize that when these songs were new, most of these people were in elementary school?” they laughed again in that snarky guy way. 

To order our second round of drinks we went up to the bar, and ordered a round of shots.  The first round of shots was Patron, as my friend from Colorado, Rob always has to show off his Mexican heritage when doing shots.  When I walked up to the bar after the Patron I started talking to the bartender, and realized that he and I know some mutual people from my drinking days in my twenties.

This was a blessing, and a curse.

The next three rounds of Grand Marnier were on him, and then he proceeded to pour us 4 more shots of some Orange Juice based shooter.  Did I say 0 to drunk, what I meant was 0 to slammed in under an hour.  At this point I was drinking doubles of Captain Morgan and Diet Coke, while my two friends were two fisting beers. 

We stayed at this bar and continued this pace until last call, my high school friend John who has spent many a nights puking in the toilets of this particular building, had to cap the night off by going and puking in the new bars toilets.  It wouldn’t have been a night of going out without John puking.

There was absolutely no point to what had happened other than wanting to feel young, or just getting slammed because the three of us hadn’t been drunk together in quite some time.  As we stumbled home, I pulled my car keys out and after tripping over the side walk decided I was staying the night at John’s in Dupont Circle.

Sunday was a bad day.  Recovery from alcohol consumption is apparently no longer a one day activity after the age of 28. 

I actually like the feelings I had at this bar, because it helps give perspective on where I am in my life.  I lost a good chunk of my mid to late twenties so a part of me has this need to go out and get shitfaced, but after this Saturday I realize that part of my life is long gone, and it really isn’t something that I want to do anymore.

Even with this night of stupidity I was able to keep my weight at 289 lbs.  The morning after I got back from Atlantic City I actually weighed in at 286 lbs, but clearly that didn’t stick. 

Through the moment of writing this post I felt I had blown an opportunity to make progress during my rest week, and then I happened to click on a video that I made last year.  It’s almost exactly 11 months from the date I made it.  When I saw myself, I realized that I’ve made substantial progress, and one night of personal release is okay especially when I plan on really stepping up my game this week. 

Enjoy the video, and compare to the photos from the Wedding last weekend.  If this video isn’t the face of progress I don’t know what is…

07/17/2011

Official Weigh In

289 lbs

31.3 % Body Fat

41.5 BMI

After a week of much needed rest, I’ll be back into a busy workout schedule next week.  My plans for the week are as follows:

I am ready to get back to work and push myself hard to get down to 250 lbs.  Hopefully by the start of the fall I’ll be close to 250 lbs.  I’m waiting until I get down to 285 lbs before I start throwing out all of my 3 xl shirts.  My pants are a bit big now, but before I jump down to size 42 waist from the 46 that I’m wearing now. 

I am also adding more cardio back into my workout so I can build back some endurance.  In the past two weeks I think part of my exhaustion was just not having enough endurance to last over the long term.  So I am planning on at least three make out sessions with the Arc Trainer.

Weight Loss Challenge

The weight loss competition between Kent, Dwayne, and Sherri is not going so well, but its okay I have to pretend like there’s an actual competition.  Sherri made the decision last week to come back from her three week vacation early so that she can get back into the game. 

She also decided that instead of spending the money to travel for the third week of her trip she could use that money for a personal trainer for an entire month, so for her it was a no brainer.  I believe its decisions like these that make the difference between a temporary emotional drive to lose weight, and a permanent lifestyle change.  

So the weekly numbers are as follows:

So far Kent and I both have won 2 weeks, and Dwayne and Sherri still have not been able to get one in the win column, come on guys let’s make it interesting, Kent’s NSX, and my Aston Martin are just looking like foregone conclusions.