OT: Proud dad moment

[duff_duffy]

So my 10 year old has been itching to run a marathon and I said let’s see how you do with a 10 mile race first...he ran on his own and finished under 1:16:01 or 1:14:59 chip time to be youngest finisher ever at race and first in age group, 20th out of 200+. Not bad! And that was with way too fast 6:38 first mile....he’s helped inspire me over last 4 months to lose 40+ pounds in a futile effort to keep up with him when we run together. I don’t think I’m ever going to catch him but I’m ok with that

Now back to biking!

[93KgBike]

Awesome!

[soulspinner]

Holy cow!

[weisan]

very cool, thanks for sharing!

When the motivation comes from within and not trying to meet some parental expectations, there's no limit to what one can achieve.

[JasonF]

Congrats to your son, but you lost 40lbs in 4 months....that's impressive too...how did you do it?

[dbnm]

Congrats to you both!

[duff_duffy]

Several things worked wonders for me:

- Eat only fish, meat, poultry and stuff that grows out of the ground. Gave up anything from a box. Water at all meals, no soda or milk. One off night a week. No limit on amount I eat it just healthy. Tons of protein!
- Park far from office, walk mile from car to office. Walk during lunch. Did this at start....after a week of walking added .5 mile jog at night and upped .5 mile each week. Now goal is 10 miles total of walk/run per day. Sounds crazy but if I can do it anyone can! Sometimes I’m running middle of the night or around ballpark while kids practice but 6 out of 7 nights it happens.
Time spent walking and running was not tracked, just the mileage. That way when my knees hurt, I slowed down but did not stop and did not worry that I’d have slow time. An amazing thing happened - my knees which have hurt BAD for over 20 years gradually hurt less and less. Now I can run 5-10 miles and they don’t hurt. Crazy, like miracle crazy. My knees hurt so bad before. Now I feel free again being able to run. Through in few bike rides but mostly ran.
- I weighed myself every morning and night at exact same time. Could predict to within a few ounces where I’d be based on what I ate and workout. Not sure if I’d recommend this step to everyone but I believe if your goal is weight loss you better track this daily. It motivated me.
- whenever possible got family involved with exercise and diet but don’t force the issue. My son loves running and typically runs to his practice with me. Once in a while joins me for run after work. He usually runs 1–2 miles day on his own. I just can’t keep his pace!
- tell everyone you know you are doing it, they will provide encouragement when you need it without you even asking.

I’m not a dietician but from my last four months believe it’s 80% diet, 20% physical activity. Many people I know just worry about exercise part but I’ve cone to realize it’s way way more diet...

Originally Posted by JasonF

Congrats to your son, but you lost 40lbs in 4 months....that's impressive too...how did you do it?

[jamesdak]

Gotta concur on the diet part. I've done pretty much the same thing since the beginning of March and have dropped over 30 miles despite still not being up to my usual weekly miles on the bike. Stopping breads, pasta's and simple sugars really has an impact. I'm doing more fresh veggies than meat but the lbs are melting away.

[duff_duffy]

Also, I use the heath app on my phone to track everything. If you flip my mileage chart over it looks like my weight loss graph!

Originally Posted by duff_duffy

Several things worked wonders for me:

- Eat only fish, meat, poultry and stuff that grows out of the ground. Gave up anything from a box. Water at all meals, no soda or milk. One off night a week. No limit on amount I eat it just healthy. Tons of protein!
- Park far from office, walk mile from car to office. Walk during lunch. Did this at start....after a week of walking added .5 mile jog at night and upped .5 mile each week. Now goal is 10 miles total of walk/run per day. Sounds crazy but if I can do it anyone can! Sometimes I’m running middle of the night or around ballpark while kids practice but 6 out of 7 nights it happens.
Time spent walking and running was not tracked, just the mileage. That way when my knees hurt, I slowed down but did not stop and did not worry that I’d have slow time. An amazing thing happened - my knees which have hurt BAD for over 20 years gradually hurt less and less. Now I can run 5-10 miles and they don’t hurt. Crazy, like miracle crazy. My knees hurt so bad before. Now I feel free again being able to run. Through in few bike rides but mostly ran.
- I weighed myself every morning and night at exact same time. Could predict to within a few ounces where I’d be based on what I ate and workout. Not sure if I’d recommend this step to everyone but I believe if your goal is weight loss you better track this daily. It motivated me.
- whenever possible got family involved with exercise and diet but don’t force the issue. My son loves running and typically runs to his practice with me. Once in a while joins me for run after work. He usually runs 1–2 miles day on his own. I just can’t keep his pace!
- tell everyone you know you are doing it, they will provide encouragement when you need it without you even asking.

I’m not a dietician but from my last four months believe it’s 80% diet, 20% physical activity. Many people I know just worry about exercise part but I’ve cone to realize it’s way way more diet...

[ultraman6970]

Your kid did 7 mins a mile average... or that is the same like 4.6 mins per km.... your kid can run pretty fast, 16 km is a very long distance for a kid his age, surprise me the have events that long for kid's his age but that's just me...

Congratulations!!!

[bironi]

Congrats Duff.
40lbs lighter and more fun with the family.
You're a good dad.

[djg]

Cool -- I don't need to tell you to enjoy his progress and running together, because you've got that.

[biker72]

Originally Posted by duff_duffy

I’m not a dietician but from my last four months believe it’s 80% diet, 20% physical activity. Many people I know just worry about exercise part but I’ve cone to realize it’s way way more diet...

Agree 100%. Back in my 30's I weighed 300+ pounds. Recent doc office weigh in was 170.2. Exercise is essential but the diet,(lifestyle change), is the key to weight loss.

[Tickdoc]

That is awesome and big time congrats to him! Nothing better than a monster achievement like that to build confidence. Thanks for sharing and tell him he is getting accolades from complete strangers for an achievement like that. I was still picking burgers and watching cartoons daily at that age.

[duff_duffy]

Just sharing the end of the story for this season...the season started with a 10 miler, and ended yesterday with a Junior Olympic Cross Country National Championship! My son PR’d by over 30 seconds in a 3k (10:36) when it counted!.....and ive managed to keep the weight off trying to keep up with him