So..............Here I go again. Another weight loss journey. I've become a pro at this whole lose weight and put it back on game. I've had just about enough journeys to last a lifetime so I will make this my last one!
Hello!
My name is Mike Pope. I am a self prescribed food junkie. I love food! All food! In fact, food occupies a space in my mind with every waking moment and often when I am sleeping. I am also a fathlete, or fat athlete if you will. I know that under this mess I have gotten myself into still lies a 175 pound hockey player. A soccer player, tennis player, water polo player........I just have to shed some layers to release them!
I work as a Correctional Officer for the Correctional Service of Canada, which means shift work. That can be a blessing or a hindrance, but I am choosing to take it as a blessing moving forward. My current shift rotation basically goes like this; I work a 9 hour day, 16 hour day, then a 9 hour evening shift then off for two days. There are some weird things that go on in there but basically that's it and then every 35 days I get 7 off. So when I work day shift, there is plenty of time left in the day to get my exercise in. When I work afternoon shift, there is plenty of time to get my exercise in before work. When I work a 16 hour shift, that's a little tougher, but I have a plan for that.
I am going to use this blog as a way of motivating myself, keeping people up to date on how and what I am doing and hopefully motivating a few people along the way that are having the same struggles as I am.
My birthday is August 10. I turned 48 years old. I intend to turn 50 and be in the best shape of my life. My plan is to break the next year down into 4, 90 day sections.In each phase I will set a goal for weight loss and a path of how I plan to accomplish it. I will blog each week along the way with updates, videos, recipes, photos etc. Each 90 days I will have an in depth video to look at how the past 90 days have gone and look ahead to the next 90.
I'm pretty handy in the kitchen, so each week I will post a new recipe that I have used or plan to use. I may even shoot short videos to show the recipes. During the month I will share a breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert recipe.
Ultimately I am looking to once again become the athlete I once was. I know my days as a hockey player are over but I have a new challenge and goal for myself; Triathlon! I actually started training for a triathlon earlier in the year but got derailed when I tore both my medial and lateral meniscus in my right knee. As it is now August, I will have all fall and winter to train for next season. This is a good thing, as the first 90 day phase will really be about weight loss. Of course losing the pounds will make it easier for me to swim, bike and run. In the first 90 days my main forms of exercise will be biking, Nordic Walking and DDP Yoga. If you don't know about DDP Yoga, I will explain more later.
I live just off of a terrific biking trail that can go for literally hundreds of kilometers. It offers a great variety of terrain, flat surfaces, long gentle hills and steep climbs. This will be my home for the next 90 days. As for DDP Yoga, (www.ddpyoga.com) I have come to realize that flexibility is a key to health and wellness, not to mention injury prevention. DDP Yoga was developed by former professional wrestler Diamond Dallas Page. He originally developed it for athletes like himself who had been injured and needed a way to get back into top condition. It's a combination of exercises done in rehab, calisthenics, traditional yoga poses and the difference maker, dynamic resistance. As DDP says "This ain't your Moma's yoga" This is what I am really counting on to help me stay injury free as well as gaining strength and flexibility over the next year. Oh and remember I said I had a plan for those 16 hour shifts at work? Well, for the first 90 days I will do Nordic Walking on my lunch break. If you haven't heard of Nordic Walking, check this out www.keenfit.com .
So. I hope that you will follow along this journey with me. I am sure it will not be all pretty all the time. I will have failures and I will share them. But I know, I will have success! This is my time! This time I am doing it for only one reason.....me. Please feel free to make comments or ask questions. I certainly appreciate any interaction and feedback.
Stay tuned for the video series and the first weigh in on August 17.
In good health!
Mike
Good luck Mike!!
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