“Your Questions Part I”
Commit to Fit | Week 41
Author: Commit to Fit 2011 Winner, Dave McKew
What is the most surprising thing about your weight loss?
My increased sex drive. Good Lord, I’m 38 going on 25. It’s insane.
Another thing, perhaps less predictable: my concept of how much space my body takes up has NOT adjusted to my decreased size. I keep saying “excuse me” to people who I *think* need to move to get out of my way, but it turns out I don’t need them to move. This happens almost every day, in the aisle at a store, on while standing on public transportation…everywhere. When I’m about to sit down between two people on the bus, I’m convinced I’m going to brush against and disturb both of them, and now I can sit between two people without even touching them. I am just so used to needing extra space that apparently I don’t need any more. What a relief!
Goal Setting for Buddha and The Modern Day Over-Achiever
The 6 DIAKADI Elements | Focus and Passion
Author: DIAKADI Founder and Owner, Billy Polson
I was at a family cookout in the East Bay last weekend relaxing and eating a big grass fed burger when one of my cousin’s turned to me and asked, ‘So what are your goals for next year?’ He knows about my often zealous goal setting history. Standing there chewing I could feel my stress hormone levels go up as I thought, ‘Holy cow, what the heck am I focusing on for next year?!’ A rush of ideas came into my head of the amazing things I would like to do in my workouts, travel, business, cooking, and life in the coming year. Until reality set in and I thought ‘how will I find the time?’
“The Incredible Shrinking Dave”
Commit to Fit | Week 36
Author: Commit to Fit 2011 Winner, Dave McKew
I own a ton of costumes because I’ve been writing and performing sketch comedy, doing plays, etc. for the last ten years. So every year at Halloween I usually just pull something out of my closet to wear to local Halloween parties. This year I decided to wear the “professional” Santa suit that I got not even two years ago, for one last time. I say “last time” because it’s simply too big on me now Last year it fit like a glove, but now, it’s embarrassingly large. I felt like it was bad karma to pad it, so I wore it “baggy style” this year. Frankly, I looked a little ridiculous but it didn’t stop people from sitting on my lap and telling me what they wanted for Christmas. Which, let’s be honest, is the whole point in dressing up like Santa.
“Meltdown”
Commit to Fit | Week 35
Author: Commit to Fit 2011 Winner, Dave McKew
I blame last week’s weight gain, in part, on Halloween candy. There was a ton of it in the office and it was hard to avoid. And this week was going to be worse, because it was the week leading up to Halloween. So I decided to get everyone in my office involved in keeping me away from the candy. I sent the following email to the company: “I have made a pledge not to eat a single piece of office Halloween candy this week.
“Gaining Weight”
Commit to Fit | Week 34
Author: Commit to Fit 2011 Winner, Dave McKew
I gained some weight this week. And I knew it was going to happen. ”Tomorrow’s going to show a weight gain, and I totally deserve it,” I said to Billy at DIAKADI, the day before my weekly weigh-in. Sometimes after a big drop, I get kinda cocky and I’ll indulge. This week was one of those weeks. Not that “living a little” is a bad thing, but I would say I “lived a lot’ this week. So the scale showed a 1.8 pound increase.
Year Long Transformation
Ashley McCumber recently passed his 1 year anniversary of working out at DIAKADI and using the Eating Free online tracking program and he has lost 83 lbs to date. Billy Polson and Ashley work out together 2 days a week and then Ashley does 2 strength homework workouts on his own at Gold’s gym, plus 2 interval cardio sessions a week.
“A Visit To The Emergency Room”
Commit to Fit | Week 31
Author: Commit to Fit 2011 Winner, Dave McKew
Off and on throughout September, I’d had some strange symptoms (stomach pain and loss of appetite, among others). On Thursday night, the pain became so severe that I had to go to the E/R. I was there from about 1am to 6am, getting a blood test, a urine test, and a CT scan, and of course waiting around for hours and hours. Luckily all the nurses were excited to talk to me about my weight loss during the down time. I’d only mentioned it to the one admitting nurse, but I guess she told everyone else. She was particularly excited to meet me because she used to work out at DIAKADI a few years ago.
“Looking Back And Cringing”
Commit to Fit | Week 30
Author: Commit to Fit 2011 Winner, Dave McKew
When you lose a lot of weight (and yammer on and on about it all over the internet), all sorts of people start coming out of the woodwork with their own weight loss stories. Recently I met three people who have told me they’d lost 60-100 pounds at some point in their lives. I asked them each to show me a picture of their previous selves; all of them said something like “I didn’t keep very many” and I found that to be an odd response even though all three said it.
“The Stupid Things People Say”
Commit to Fit | Week 29
Author: Commit to Fit 2011 Winner, Dave McKew
While I don’t want to seem unappreciative of all the positive feedback I’ve been receiving from everyone about my weight loss, there are moments where all the negativity people feel toward obesity really seems to come to the surface. Here’s a list of my least favorite things that I’ve heard people say to me since I started losing weight, and my reaction to them.
(1) You must feel like you’re getting your life back!
I had a life before I was losing weight, actually.
12 Pounds in a Week; 12 Inches of Waistline
Commit to Fit | Week 28
Author: Commit to Fit 2011 Winner, Dave McKew
I lost 12 pounds this week. It was shocking, but since I’d previously enjoyed 8.5, 9 and 10 pound drops in one week, it wasn’t exactly unprecedented.
Some factors that I believe contributed to this week’s huge drop:
- Over Labor Day weekend I drank too much and threw up several times. Not the healthiest way to lose weight, no question! But I’ll happily accept the benefits, since I suffered GREATLY for them. Trust me.
- For several days this week I had some sort of virus and one of these symptoms was appetite loss, so I simply wasn’t eating much.
- I was urinating a LOT while I was sick, clearly my immune system trying to flush something out, so I was hydrating even more than usual.
- My previous week’s weigh-in was in the evening, when it’s been proven that I am about 2 pounds heavier, so I think part of this 12 pounds was actually lost last week, not this week.