That Was Then, This is Now

As always, I would be remiss if I didn’t send a big THANK YOU to all the people who read the blog, email, Facebook, or face to face share comments on how happy you are, how proud, how inspired by the lifestyle changes I have made. It truly is humbling to realize the cheering section out there!

Chris Thomas-2002

I wanted to share my experiences from this week.  As many of you know I have been in software sales for 10+ years. This week was the 2011 kick off meeting in San Francisco. It was a tremendous experience and a reenergizing event…but let me provide some context.

These events while enjoyable for the camaraderie and spirit can be a wreck to your health, especially if you live like this guy --->

Remember, my 400 lbs was attained by a lack of self control and bad habits around food, drink, and sleep.  Now picture me at these events…Vegas, Orlando, New Orleans, San Fran, food of all kinds on buffets at all times, a bar (very often an open bar), any guess what happened?  You got it, I went after it like it was the last time I would see food and drink in my life.

I shared with a friend this week…a guesstimate for an event for the “old Chris”

• Breakfast Buffet-Croissants, eggs, bacon, more bacon- 1200 calories
• 10 am break- Cookie (or 8) and soda pop- 300 calories
• Lunch Buffet- Everything X2- 1800 calories
• 2 pm break- ICE CREAM!!!!- 400 calories
• Happy Hour- 2-3 beers and 6 dirty jokes-400 calories
• Sit Down Dinner with Dessert (duh)- 2000 calories
• Close Bar- 11 drinks, 4 rude comments and a partridge in a pear tree- 1100 calories
• 2 am Room Service- Wings- 800 calories
• No physical activity- the only thing I could say no to!

By my math that is a day of roughly 8000 calories, enough for a small village.  I am still not sure why I used to feel so bad at these meetings J

Fast forward to this week with the “new Chris”…connecting with friends via email to line out running not drinking, packing running shoes and running maps, a plan for food and drink.  Can I share my Monday?

• 4:30 am- 6 mile run with Shana- a nice young lady from the Omaha area, she was in town for a work event as well and she didn’t look comfortable running by the homeless people by herself at 4 am so I invited her to run with me, I guess I was a safer option that the homeless J  She is a career woman, a triathlete, and a great mom (daughter is a swimmer and she does the swim leg with her mom during the tri’s in support)…super good run.
• 7:00 am- Clear head, eggs and coffee for breakfast- 500 calories
• 10 am- snack- banana and bran muffin- 400 calories
• Lunch- Chicken and salad (skipped potatoes and desert)- 600 calories
• 2 pm-Break- Kind Bar- 200 Calories
• 5 pm-Protein shake- 200 Calories
• 7 pm-Share my story on 5K Company run with CEO and 2010 Hawaiian World Champion Ironman Chris McCormack
• 8 pm Dinner- Salad and Seafood- 1000 calories
• 9 pm- 2 sips of wine and in bed by 10:30 pm

I ate less than 3000 calories (not optimal as my daily goal is 2300, but I will take it). I ran 9 miles out in the great weather, a PR for the 5K (26.50 min).  Oh and did I mention I ran with a World Champion Ironman?

Our key note speaker on Monday was Chris McCormack, he shared a truly inspirational story about leaving his finance career in his 20’s to go train to be a professional triathlete.  He struggled with his body breaking down, lost his mother to breast cancer, but continued to push and persevere to become the only person to do 4 sub 8 hour ironman’s (2 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and 26 mile run). Look for him on a Wheaties box this Spring.

Chris and Chris- Taleo 5K

Our company in a great effort to promote a healthy lifestyle sponsored a 5K run, Chris asked to join us and he came down to the race.  As we are running our 1 mile warm up to the start line I am next to Chris, he tells me the Nike Free’s I have on will revolutionize running…I told him to stay out of my head…I was out to win (kidding). I shared with Chris that I picked up running 7 months ago, ran 2 half marathons, started a running club and lost 50 lbs in 2010 to bring my total weight loss to 180 lbs in 8 years.  He was very supportive, our CEO was running in front of us and heard me mention my story, thought it was great and I then held Q&A with our CEO and the current Ironman World Champion about my lifestyle changes.  Can’t believe I just typed that...what a surreal moment.  I will remember it forever; up until the moment Chris pushed me up against light pole so he could pass me (kidding again).

In all seriousness, a really special day/trip, connecting with a GREAT support network I have that are more friends than co workers, sharing with Mike, sharing with Chris…having control of my life, happy and healthy, not a bad way to start the 2011 work year.  Will see many of you at the meeting next year, I WILL be at my goal weight of 200 lbs, down a total of 205 lbs…half the man I used to be!

My best-

Chris “I ran with the World Champ” Thomas

Four Steps to Sustainable Peak Performance – Do More and Feel Better with Scott Peltin

An article so good, we stole it:

Four Steps to Sustainable Peak Performance – Do More and Feel Better with Scott Peltin

You can't build authentic, consistent relationships when you feel like $#%$. I know this well, which is why I eat right (veggies and meat) and make sure exercise is a part of my schedule almost every single day.

Scott Peltin, author of Sink, Float, or Swim, teaches companies and their employees how to think differently and take better care of themselves. Typically he finds that only 5 percent of any given company are sustainable high-performers who know how to maintain their peak over time.

Recently Scott lead an Relationahip Masters Academy masterclass around creating new habits in four key areas – mindsets, nutrition, recovery, and movement – so that brain and body can stay at their maximum capacity.

Peltin points out that you make 1000 choices a day and each of them either increases or decreases your brain’s performance. Many of us make bad choices out of habit; Peltin’s goal is to shake that up. Here are four ideas you can put into practice immediately.


1. Mindset: You have over 60,000 thoughts a day. Reframe thoughts that drag you down. Instead of thinking “I’m overwhelmed, “ think “I am present.”

2. Nutrition: FORTY PERCENT of how you feel right now is due to your last meal. Did you eat a meal that set you up for success? Make sure that every meal you eat fuels you properly for your activities of the next three to four hours.

3. Recovery: Take breaks! Plan small downtimes during the day. The brain can only work for about 90 minutes without needing a break. Plan your schedule in 90 minute blocks, and take a break at the end of every increment.

4. Movement: Add more movement to your schedule. It doesn’t need to be hard-core exercise, just anything that increases your body’s range of motion. For help, download 10 simple “daily prep” movements, all tied to breathing exercises, at tignum.com.

Original Post by Keith Ferrazzi on his blog 1/4/11  Four Steps to Sustainable Peak Performance – Do More and Feel Better with Scott Peltin

Choosing a Shoe

Out of all fitness attire and equipment properly fitting shoes is the very most important thing for an athlete (that's you!) to choose correctly. There has been a lot of advancement in the last few years in shoes. There are many aspects that you should realize when selecting which shoe to buy, but one major aspect is what type of activity are you going to do with the shoe. Many types of athletic shoes are better than your average sneaker, but athletic shoes have their own categories.

Walking shoes are manufactured in such a way that supports your foot more stiffly. Of course it can be worn for most other activities but walking shoes have a lot more cushion on the inner soles. Walking shoes are meant to be supportive while walking.

Many people ask what the difference is between running shoes and walking shoes. Running shoes have become quite the different shoe. They come in different widths and have different types of soles to help the runner out. Many running shoes have springs, air bags, and gels in them. Running shoes can vary from weight and the lightness of the material used. One of the huge differences you will see in running shoes will be the price range, which many of them can go into the hundreds.

There are many types of specialty shoes these days and the most popular today is the Shape-up type of shoe. These types of shoes create a definite curvature at the bottom of the shoe which allows the stress of each step to work out the hamstrings and calf region of the person's legs. Many people see this as a plus so they wear them in their daily activities which can give them a good work out.

Cross training shoes are a cross between running shoes and a good durable walking shoe. One of the biggest differences in these types of shoes is how it maintains its rigid structure. It will be useful when weightlifting, running, and general fitness. Most people often choose these types of shoes due to the fact they offer great comfort and are not as pricey as the top of the line running shoe.

The bottom line is that you should find a store that hires people who use the types of shoes they sell. For example, a Kansas City favorite Garry Gribbles' Running Sports (now in Lawrence and Topeka!) only hires runners. Although we don't endorse one store over another...we do try to keep it local. Members of TRR have had great experiences with the staff at Gribbles'. They evaluate your stride, let you take them for a test-run, and don't try to sell you the most expensive shoe on the rack! Best of all, they are always willing to share advice about running. 

PS - TRR is a registered team with Gribbles, so we're eligible for a discount day... coming in the Spring!

Food: The Drug You Can't Avoid

Thank you to all the people who sent kind words based on my last post “My Story”.  If it provided a bit of inspiration or ideas to use even better!  I have had a few requests for more detail about how I have made these lifestyle changes.   

Specifically, how did I change my diet?

This is very simple:  you want to lose weight? You want to feel better?  Want to get back to “your high school weight”?

Follow these two rules:

·         Never eat out, Never.

·         Only purchase foods at the grocery store your great-grandparents would recognize. 

That is it, thanks for checking back in and best of luck…(HA!!)

So as you can tell, these two rules work if you live in a fantasy world where Michael Jackson was normal (RIP) and the rivers flow of beer.  Unfortunately, we live in reality and the two rules are very, very tough to follow. So let’s look a bit deeper…

1. Never eat out, Never This has been a huge part of our lifestyle change and the hardest.  I love eating out, I love different types of food.  I once had a trainer tell me ‘Once you walk through the restaurant door, you have lost”

Remember this has been a 10 year journey for me.  I spent a long time justifying my eating out.  Oh, I just had the salad, I skipped the hashbrowns, drank water.  Any way you slice it you will inevitably have more calories and more options than you have at home.  Again, if you are like me and don’t have the most self control you have also walked into the restaurant thinking “I am getting the salad, I am getting the salad”…then you order the cheeseburger!  Sound familiar?   So where is the happy medium with this rule?

A few tips…

Be honest with yourself/Sacrifice this is tough with a bad habit but think twice; Are you really making a good choice going out? How many times do you eat out per week? Are you modeling good behavior for your family? Why are you going out?

30 Day Pledge Try to improve on this item with a 30 day pledge. The pledge may just be to track how many times you eat out for a month (be honest).  Or, cut back from 7 times a month to 4.  Whatever it is, make it attainable and reasonable.

If You Go Out Eat a salad beforehand, look up menu on line and order without looking at menu, drink water, split entrees, order items that don’t appear on the menu (One restaurant we go to I get 4 poached eggs and black coffee, nothing else!)…these are a few strategies to ensure the meal you have is not a full days worth of calories.

2. Only purchase foods at the grocery store your great-grandparents would recognize: Again, this has been a 10 year process and I still have a challenge with this…my cart 10 years ago was full of processed foods…soda, chips, little debbies, etc…you don’t get to 400 lbs eating arugula! I ate processed foods with little to no nutritional value.  Let’s be frank these items are awful for you and if you are like me and they are in your house you eat them, they taste good!  If your cart has vegetables and Doritos in it…tell me honestly what will you go for when you are tired? stressed? hungry?  I know my choice!

Had a trainer tell me to “Make your house a fortress”…if the bad food is there you will eat it!

I then started filling a cart where I bought “better” foods or at least tricked myself into thinking I was shopping healthy.  Let me know if you have said this “I am not sure why I am not losing weight?  I have replaced Doritos with Wheat Thins (Calcium fortified) and I no longer buy ice cream but I buy yogurt (enriched with Vit D).  My Little Debbie’s have been replaced with Nutri Grain cereal bars (low fat).”

Guess what?  You are still buying the same thing (in essence)!  If you really follow the "great-grand parents rule" your shopping cart should be a cart with fruits, vegetables, nuts, coffee, meat, items they would recognize 80-100 years ago.  Did Great Grandpa Albert know what a cereal bar is?  A wheat thin?  Not at all! Not to sound harsh don’t buy it.  Just don’t!     

A few tips:

·         Shop with a list and stick to it

·         Shop the perimeter (fresh foods)

·         Be honest (again)- what is in your pantry?  If an item has more than 5 ingredients, throw it out or quit buying it.  

·         Don’t shop hungry

·         Read Labels

So in closing, please don’t get discouraged, this is VERY hard…if it were easy people would be buying lettuce not ice cream.  But if you can try to remember a few tips and be honest with yourself hopefully you can make lifestyle changes that you will pass down for generations.

My Story - Chris "Russ" Thomas

I am a food addict.

So when you are addicted to food you can become 400+ lbs, I enjoyed eating.  I still enjoy eating but realize now the high you get from food (and it is a high) is not worth it.  To have a 15-20 minute time frame when you are happy eating and then feel bad both physically and mentally for hours after or until you get your next fix is crazy…but that is how I lived my life for a long time.  Here is my story.

In 2002, I saw my doctor and his scale went to 400 lbs, but I was bigger than that. I was off the scale; I was on blood pressure medication and cholesterol meds.  I was 30 years old. I realized at this point that I had to make changes; the food and booze in my life were out of control.  I began by working out regularly with some friends.  I was 325 lbs in 2004 when Jaime and I married.  So at this point I had lost about 100 pounds through regular exercise and a better diet, still not good, but better.

Between 2004 and 2008 my weight was constant (about 325).  I continued regular workouts but diet was still not good enough to see more change.  I considered a gastric bypass in 2008 but decided against it. What I didn’t like about this plan was that physically, I wouldn’t be able to eat as much, but emotionally, I might continue to have the urges to eat. This is why people who have these types of surgeries gain the weight back, and I didn’t want to be one of them.

 In 2009 I went to iFAST in Indy…an awesome sports training facility and found two great “health mentors”, Bill Hartman and Mike Robertson. These guys are spectacular at what they do; with their help, we were able to increase the intensity of my workouts AND improve my diet.  I lost 20 pounds in 2009 so I was 305 lbs when we returned to KC in Nov 2009.

At this point, while much healthier than I had been in a long time (had lost 120 lbs in 7 years), I still needed to “slay the dragon”; that is my crappy eating habits.  I at this point did a couple things differently (see below) and continued with high intensity workouts with college buddy, Scott Lee at Coach Rut’s Bootcamp Fitness KC.  Coach Rut is an amazing coach! I lost 20 lbs in the first 60 days (140 lbs lost if you are still tracking).  I then sat down with my wife, Jaime and training buddy, Scott and found another useful tool in the on- going battle, we set goals then shared them for accountability.  Mine were simple:

ü  Lose 10 lbs in next 60 days

ü  Lose 30 lbs in 2010

ü  Run a half marathon                     

 Sounds easy, huh? Did I mention I travel weekly for work?  And moved back to KC “the scene of the crime” where all my buddies/family are with whom I shared many of these bad habits?       

I am pleased to report I was 245 on the scale today (December 29, 2010).  I have lost 40 lbs in 2010,making my total weight loss 160+ pounds in 8 years.  This year, I ran two half marathons, started a running club and basically got a new life, while losing an entire person’s worth of weight.  Not a bad way to have a KC Homecoming in 2010!

I have mapped out some 2011 goals to continue with my success and am always looking for a new challenge.  Below are a few tips and advice I’ve gained over my continued battle. I’m hoping they can help you…

Have a Healthy Support Network- I think “healthy” is contagious.  If you read in my story the network of friends, family, coaches/trainers has been invaluable.   A special thanks to my wife Jaime and training partners Suzy Hay and Scott Lee.  You will be amazed what can happen when you surrounding yourself with positive, healthy people.

Set, Write Down, Keep, and Tell Others about your GOALS – Not only will a well-thought out goal tell you where you’re headed, but once you achieve it, you can look back and realize how well you’ve done.

Get Accountable – Pick a person you know who encourages you, but more importantly, is allowed to push you when you don’t really want to hear it, that you’re messing up on your goals. Better yet, pick a few people.

 “You can’t out exercise a bad diet”- Bill Hartman (IFAST)-  This piece is so critical; I was busting my butt at 5:00 am workouts but not seeing results, it all came down to eating less and eating quality foods, not “food like substances” (I am talking to you Pop Tart!)

Keep a Food Diary- I have done a two week food diary 4-6 times in the last 18 months.  When you start logging and measuring out your portions and food selections you can see how a diet you may think is good can really be crappy as it was in my case.

Thanks for taking the time to read. If I can be helpful, please contact me at chrisrussthomas@hotmail.com 

9 Tips to Finish 2010 Strong

Finish Strong!

The end of 2010 is coming, where are you at on your goals? Are you on pace to end the year strong?

Here are a few pointers that can give you your second wind!

• Sit down and write out 10 goals you want to accomplish for the next 2 weeks (by December 31^st)
• Remember goals should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic & Challenging, and Time-Specific, and Positively-stated
• An example might look like this: 
• I will do a cardio workout 3 times per week for 1 hour each time, through 12/31/10 
• I’ve decided to “Positively Stated” because most people tend to have a goal or two worded negatively… for example, “I won’t eat chocolate cake”.  Instead of this negative statement, it would be better to say, “I will eat healthy desserts”.

• Post them on your wall or refrigerator
• Tell someone else about your goals & ask them to keep you accountable
• This person should be someone who is allowed to push you!
• Check back in with them frequently
• Enjoy your success! Celebrate it somehow. Rewards of meeting goals are just as important as setting them in the first place. But plan ahead how you will reward yourself.
• If you were unable to attain your goal, it’s alright! You’re still a great person! Reflect back on why you were unable to meet it.  There’s a ton of information to learn here… Did you set an unrealistic goal? Was there something specific that got in your way? … More on this in a later blog post.

Good Luck! And let us know if you need a little help with writing your goals.

Groundhog Run 2011

Did you know that Kansas City is littered with cities underground? Me neither. As it turns out, there are more than 3,000 people who at work for 170 companies 110 ft. to 200 ft. below our city’s surface. The temperature inside “The Caves” stays at a comparatively warm 68-degrees Fahrenheit year-round. (Read more in - TIME http://bit.ly/hz6DQe)

Thus sets the scene for the next Thunder Road Racing Team. The Children’s Therapeutic Learning Center (Children’s TLC) will host its 29^TH Annual Groundhog Run.  This run is believed to be the only completely underground 5/10K in the US. Children’s TLC offers evidence-based therapeutic and educational services in a variety of settings to children with and without disabilities. Thunder Road Racing Team is proud to support this worthy organization. In fact, there are a handful of mental health professionals on the TRR team, who know the benefits of providing services at an early age to challenged individuals!

29th Annual Groundhog Run

REGISTRATION:  

Click Here or at Packet Pickup

DATE:  Sunday, January 30, 2011 (Time?)

LOCATION:  Hunt Midwest SubTropolis

8300 NE Underground Drive, Kansas City, MO 64161

This is near AmeriStar Casino

Call (816) 363-4800 For Directions

PACKET PICKUP: 

Garry Gribble’s at the Ward Parkway Shopping Center (KCMO)

Friday, January 28th from Noon – 7pm

Saturday, January 29th from 9am – 2pm

PARKING:  Ameristar Casino Parking Lot  

FAQs: http://www.childrenstlc.org/pdfs/GroundhogRunFAQ.pdf

  Rus

So far, TRR runners Kari Decker, Cara Rhoades, Suzy Hay, Stephanie & Joshua Holloway (he’s 7!) Jaime Thomas & Russ Thomas will be attending the 10k… let us know if there are other TRR’s running… especially anyone running their FIRST RACE!

Last year’s race SOLD OUT (3500 racers)! So hurry to register. 

Groundhog Run Fast Facts

• The 10k race is part of the Mid-America Running Association (MARA) Grand Prix series
• ChampionChip timing is used in both races to provide accurate and timely results
• The 2009 and 2010 races have sold out with over 3,200 registered runners each year
• The race has become one of Kansas City’s most fun corporate competitions with over 91 sponsors participating and 173 eligible teams last year
• Exclusive Corporate Hospitality Suite provides “team only” access
• Individual runners come from 7 surrounding states

HOPE WE SEE YOU THERE!!