Author Archive
My Little Boy is Growing Up…
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on September 1st, 2010
I tried going to bed earlier tonight but I don’t see sleep coming anytime soon. I’m not in a funk. Things are great. My son Rex starts school tomorrow and I am so nervous. OK it’s only pre-school, but it’s a big deal to me.
When I sent him off to bed he suddenly looked older. Knowing that he is beginning formal schooling is quite shocking. As I drove to the gym for my last workout of the day I couldn’t help but think of how it seems like just yesterday that we brought him home from the hospital.
In his short three years of life he has already shown limitless potential. He has this drive that I see that assures me he is going to be a fighter. He loves exercise and being active and now he is going to start learning the skills that are going to help him the rest of his educational career.
Tonight as he sleeps, I am completely aware that each day we spend with our sons is critical in helping them to learn healthy lifestyle habits. As we turn over the reigns in part of his education to a perfectly capable teacher, I know that ultimately, as parents, we are responsible for making sure that we set the example to be followed.
As nervous as I am, I am so excited. Tomorrow is huge day for my little boy and I hope that he loves to learn as much as he loves to play.
Finding Inspiration In Finishing Last…
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on August 30th, 2010
It seems more and more that winning is based solely on the position you finish. Anything less than first is considered sub-par. That is great for those who have the ability to achieve that high of a standard; but what about those people who no matter how hard they try, will never finish first?
Last weekend Suzy and I hosted a super sprint triathlon. It was fun and intended to introduce the sport of triathlon to those who may have never considered giving triathlon a try. The distance was relatively short, 400 yard swim, 8 mile bike ride, and a 2 mile run.
The race is over, but the memories I gained that weekend will forever be present in my mind.
My job at the triathlon was to be an encourager. It was also to come in dead last. We promised every person that entered our wave that they would absolutely not be the last person to finish the race. True to the promise, they weren’t. I was.
Nearly the instant the race started a noticed a woman struggling. I swam over to her and could hear her repeating over and over “I can’t do this, I can’t do this.” I assured her she would be fine and asked if she would like some help getting to shore. She said no and I treaded water with her for a while wondering what was going to happen. She regained her composure and began swimming again. A few strokes later she stopped and started telling me again that she couldn’t go on. She said she couldn’t breathe.
I know that feeling. When I first started doing triathlons, I experienced the same fear. Calmly I gave her advice that my coach last year, Jim Vance, gave me. “If you ever feel like you can’t breathe, lift your head out of the water and breathe. All the air you need is above that water.”
Again she got it together. Sure enough after a few more strokes she started telling me how she couldn’t go on. At this point I told her that we were half way done and it would take just as long to turn around and go back to shore than it would to finish the course. She kept going.
For the first 300 yards of the 400 yard swim, this lady was convinced that “she couldn’t do this”. When we rounded the last bouy she relaxed and began to enjoy herself. She swam the last 100 yards easily. She did it! We were the last out of the water but she finished. She just needed to relax and change the way she was talking to herself.
As I left the transition dead last, I thought about her swim and how awesome it was to watch someone do something they were assuring themselves that they couldn’t. I also figured that that moment was going to be my inspiration for the day. It wasn’t.
I started out on the bike figuring I would have a nice little ride. I turned around at the half way point and headed back to transition. On my way back I saw a teammate of mine named Sheryl. When I met her I turned around to ride with her. Sheryl holds a special place in my heart. On one of our first team rides of the year she caught my eye. She was riding a recumbant bike and didn’t look like a typical triathlete. That day I learned that she had lost a significant amount of weight and still had a couple hundred more pounds to go.
It had taken her hours that day to go 8 miles but she stuck with it. It was great catching up with her on our ride together at the triathlon. This lady, who could barely ride her bike, let alone walk, when I first met her had accomplished alot this summer. She had gotten up to riding 20 miles non-stop, ridden the Seattle to Portland bike ride, and was now doing a triathlon!
We rode the last half of the bike leg together. I watched her struggle up the hills and then bullet down the other side. At one time when I looked down at my speedometer, we were riding over 30 miles an hour down one long hill. As we were flying down that hill she let out a squeal like a school girl on a playground. I almost started crying. It was a moment of pure joy for her, and I must admit for myself as well.
Near the end of the ride I let her ride ahead of me and again I came in dead last. On the run I was all alone. I had time to think about that morning and what it had taught me. I caught up to my wife and together we finished in completely last place.
Being dead last that day was one of the best things I have ever done. It made me understand how hard some people work to achieve the same things that I often do with little effort. I learned that it isn’t always about finishing first, that it’s about finishing. Perhaps the most important thing I learned is that we should never take for granted our abilities.
Every now and then things may seem impossibly difficult to finish. Just remember that there is someone out there who is having an even harder time finishing the same thing you are doing. It isn’t about finishing first, it’s about finishing what you start!
See you tomorrow!
Where is Your True Starting Point?
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on August 16th, 2010
Yesterday I was out on a bicycle ride with a good friend of mine. As we were riding we started talking about the progress I’ve made over the past year in the sport of triathlon and how I am feeling as I prep for next Ironman in November.
I told him I felt unbelievably different. I am down several pounds, my cycling has improved, and so has my running. Most importantly, my mindset has improved. Last year when I took on the Kona Ironman I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t know that carrying around extra weight could affect me as much as it did.
Last weekend I was flipping through the channels and caught the replay of the Kona Ironman on NBC. I watched the race and saw my brief segment once again. When I saw myself, I wasn’t disappointed, I was a little sad. The reason I was sad was because I knew that I had a false sense of how I looked and felt physically.
I was big, not as in pre-Biggest Loser big, but I was carying more weight than I should have been to be competing in a race of that magnitude. The thing is, is that at that time I didn’t realize it. I felt like “I can move 140.6 miles in one day. I am in pretty good shape.” That statement was partially true.
True in the sense that you have to have a pretty good level of fitness to do that race and make the cut-offs. Not true, in that I was definitely carrying too much body fat and failed to realize it. I saw myself as being better off than I was. It wasn’t until I saw myself on television that I realized just how big I was.
I am convinced that had I weighed then what I weigh now, I would have finished that race in under the cut-off time and would have been an official Ironman. That is neither here nor there now. I didn’t finish in time. Heavy or not, I have yet to become an Ironman in the true sense.
What does this have to do with the title of this post? As I was talking yesterday, I came to the conclusion that many of us have a false sense of where we are when it comes to weight. Some of us can think we are smaller and better off than we are, others think we are bigger and worse off than we really are.
In order to know where we really are, we must give ourselves a true starting point. By true starting point I am talking about where are TODAY. I don’t mean 5, 10, or even 20 years ago. The only way to gauge our progress is by having an official starting point and then using that point as a gauge.
For example. If I weigh 240 pounds today, that is what I weigh. In a year from now, if I weigh 200, I will say I lost 40 pounds. If on the other hand I weigh 245, I will say I gained 5 pounds this year. Here is why this is important. I could use my pre-Biggest Loser weight of 353 as a gauge and in turn be able to say that I have lost 108 pounds. Although this is true, it isn’t necessarily the whole truth.
I lost 157 pounds on the show then gained weight back. I then lost weight again. The reality is that If I use the 353 pound number than I am really just losing and gaining the same weight over and over again. This is why I am now using 240 as my starting point. By doing this I can have a clear number and place to begin.
What this allows me to do is wipe the slate clean. I can no longer play games like the “I use to weigh… and even though I have gained…. I ‘ve still kept off….” I know what I weigh and will use this as my starting point and lifelong marker. By doing this, I will have a realistic perception and gauge of how I am doing on this lifelong journey.
In essence, our true starting point is TODAY. Now, lets get started!
See you tomorrow.
Drop the Anchor…
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on August 11th, 2010
Yesterday I shared how I had been in a little funk. It amazes me how the simple act of “coming clean” can improve how you feel so quickly.
Sometimes the things that we are carrying around as baggage seem like a giant anchor that is just holding us back. Most people that have ever boated know that in order to move you have to pull up your anchor. It is possible to move the boat while it is still anchored, but it takes a lot more power and you won’t get any place to quickly. Once that anchor is pulled up, however, that boat will cut through the water with relative ease.
Why is it so hard to pull up our own anchor? Once we do, things tend to go easier. Unfortunately, many of us choose to simply walk around dragging that anchor around like it is attached to our body like an arm. It’s time to pull up anchor and move forward.
The things that have been holding us back or dragging us down are only able to do so when we give them permission. Pull that sucker up and go!
See you tomorrow!
Breaking the Funk….
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on August 10th, 2010
I’ve been gone for a while. Some people will have noticed, some will not. I haven’t really been gone, I just haven’t felt like blogging. It’s ironic that one of the things that I enjoy doing and something that gives me accountability is one of the things that I felt like I didn’t want to do.
When compared to my past, this little funk has been mild. I didn’t go on any huge binges, I didn’t stop working out, I didn’t gain 30 pounds. I actually lost weight. I wish I had some great reason as to why I took some time off, but I don’t.
What I have realized is that when I slide into a little funk the first thing that I do is stop doing the things that I know help me to be successful. Blogging for one, being visible for two. What do I mean by being visible? For me, it means letting people see what I am up to, both physically and on line through social media. I
It seems that when I slide back I try to cover it up. I am in a place where people look to me for advice and at times inspiration. When I am not feeling 100% mentally I feel like I am letting people down. Recently, I have decided that I may be letting people down by not letting them see my personal struggles.
We can all learn from each other. I am human, with all the faults and hang-ups that many of us have. When I share my struggles, I am able to let others see how they can make changes as well.
Here is the most important thing that I learned from my hiatus. Many times when things are rough in our lives, we stop doing the very things that we know we need to do in order to put a stop to our slide downward. I think we do this because it gives us a reason for why things may be less than ideal. It gives us something to blame.
Rather than acknowledge our true feelings and examining them, we cover them up with a superficial reason as to why things are the way they are. More than that, we don’t allow ourselves to feel our feelings and learn from them. If we are feeling a certain way there is probably a reason for it. It could be fear, anger, disappointment, or any other negative emotion that we have been programmed to feel are “bad”. Feelings and emotions aren’t “bad” sometimes it is the way we deal with them that is.
I am going to focus on the root of my feelings and what I need to learn and change. I will end this cycle of stopping the very things that I know I need to do in order to work through my feelings and use those tools to stop the downward slide that we all go through from time to time.
I WILL see you tomorrow!
Road Trip Time…
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on July 6th, 2010
I will be heading out soon for the San Francisco Triathlon soon. I love road trips so I volunteered to drive the equipment down from Seattle. The trip is scheduled to take 12 hours. That is a long time to be in the car alone; especially when you consider that in the past, that is where I turned my eating common sense off.
I have been doing really well. I have found that the more I plan the easier it is for me. Wow, what a revelation! Planning works! I will be packing my food and drink so that when I stop at the gas stations all I have to do is fill up and leave. Rest stops will be at the ever so clean confines of the interstate rest areas.
Gas stations make sense, but why the rest areas? Because for me, there is little enjoyment in stale candy from a vending machine. I know that if I stop at the rest areas I will be in a safe zone as opposed to stoping at a convenience store or restaurant. I’m not avoiding; I’m planning.
Another thing that I will be doing is listening to T.Harv Eckers Millionaire Mind CD’s. I have listened to them before and it is time to brush up on some things. What a better time to do it than alone in the car with no distractions. Car trips don’t have to be wasted time. I am going to use this time to make my mind sharper.
I feel like I have a pretty good plan in place now it is time to execute it. I will let you know tomorrow how it goes.
See you tomorrow!
Back to Work…
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on July 5th, 2010
The holiday weekend flew by. We went camping and had a pretty good time. I have to say that after spending two weeks in Utah, my tolerance for cold weather has greatly diminished. As soon as we got our campsite set up, Suzy and I headed out for a bike ride. It was a great way to start off our weekend.
For some reason I thought it was a good idea to have smores on the campfire that evening. I don’t even like smores, but when I get around a campfire it sounds like a good idea. It wasn’t. I had 2 of them and proceeded to get a violent stomach ache before going to bed.
The next morning was pretty chilly. I had planned on going for a swim but when I felt the water I decided against it. Instead we went for a little walk. Saturday was a pretty lazy day. I felt like I ate too much but considering my past trips to the mountains I did pretty good.
The thing I noticed when I got home was how my lack of structure over the weekend affected me mentally. I was a little growly and just didn’t feel like myself. It seemed like because I wasn’t planning my days as I have been lately, that I felt like I could easily slip back into old habits. I definitely don’t want to do that.
So today I am back at it. Planned meals, planned workouts, and a planned schedule. I feel better and more energetic. For a guy who always thought of hiumself as just being able to “roll with it”, I am really liking this structure thing. I feel more productive, I value myself more, and I especially am valuing my body and the way I treat it.
Big Weekends Don’t Have to Mean Big Weight Gain….
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on July 2nd, 2010
I can’t believe it the 4th of July weekend already! The timing of this holiday couldn’t be better for me. I have now been home for a week from The Biggest Loser Resort and it has been great. One of the lessons that I learned was the importance of planning ahead. In the past, our 4th of July camping trip was a guaranteed 15 lb weight gain weekend.
What’s going to make this one different? I have come to realize that having a good time doesn’t have to revolve around consuming mass calories. I have a plan. Today I am going to share my plan with you in hopes that is will help you have an enjoyable and successful holiday.
For me camping has been a weekend of snacking aimlessly on Chex mix cheese snacks, eating a burger or hotdog whenever the urge hit and drinking cases of pop. Yes pop, I know for some of you your choice of beverage may be different.
It may sound like a bummer, but this year we actually planned a menu. Last year we went to the store and bought whatever sounded like we might want to eat. We had a ton of food and of course we couldn’t let it go to waste so I tried my hardest to eat everything. Waste not want not right?
I have discovered that the coolers that we have that work so well at keeping our junk food cold also work well for fresh healthy foods. We have chicken, steak, stuff for salads and will be able to eat the same way we eat at home. We are bringing our almond milk and cereal for breakfast, we will omelets one morning as well. For lunch we got things to make turkey sandwiches.
Suzy and I talked about how and whn we would do our workouts and specifically what those workouts would be. I am confident that this weekend will be one of the best we have had as a family. We intend to stay active with our little boys and take them hiking and swimming in the lake as often as they can handle. My goal is to have the boys completely exhausted when it come time for them to go to bed.
Lets make this weekend an active one. Regardless of where you live there will be tons of activities to stay active. Maybe this is the year you hit a July 4th fun run or start an annual whiffle ball tournament. You might be surprised at how willing people are to join you in doing active things if you just mention it.
If you know you are going to be going to an event that is focused on food and imbibing, get your workout in ahead of time. One last thing, make sure and revisit your health goals this weekend before heading out and ask yourself if you are doing what you need to to reach them. Holidays are not a free pass. Take some time this weekend for yourself and do the things that you know are going to keep you moving forward.
This weekend doesn’t have to be one of weight gain and overeating. Make it a great time and enjoy.
See you on Monday
Are You Living Out of Fear or Without Fear?
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on June 30th, 2010
Researchers have diagnosed over 2000 known phobias or fears. That is a huge number of fears that people struggle with everyday. Here is the interesting part. Guess how many of those 2000 diagnosed fears we are born with. Think about it for a minute, the answer may surprise you. Those same researchers have found that humans are born with 2, that is right, TWO innate fears. The fear of loud noises and the fear of falling are the only fears that we are born with. The rest are learned.
So the question is, how do we learn to overcome our fears? We have to do exactly that, learn to overcome fear. Any habit that is learned can be unlearned. Unfortunately, sometimes unlearning habits is harder than learning them. Often it takes longer and come sometimes be physically uncomfortable but it can be done.
The thing about fear is that it must be faced. We will never overcome fear by running from it. The first step in overcoming a fear, or fears is to identify that fear. Second we must acknowledge that fear and third we need to develop the steps we need to take to beat that fear.
Our minds are like a giant storage cabinet. Inside those files are all of the experiences we have had throughout our lives. When we face a situation we draw form those files to decide how we are going to react. That is the key. WE decide how we are going to react to a situation. If we have operated out of fear most of our lives, we will more than react with fear.
In order to stop living out of fear we must reprogram and refile our reactions. It starts with one act of courage. It starts by decidng that we are going to react to situations differently than we have in the past. After we react positively enough times those old negastive files will be replaced ant thrown out with the trash. It will become easier and easier to react in the way that will move us forward toward where we want to go.
As I said earlier fear and old habits can be unlearned. The process does take longer than initially learning something because we must first unlearn and then relearn the new habit. The act of unlearning takes work. We have to commit to our new thought patterns and choose to implement those new ideas at the appropriate times rather than reacting as we have in the past.
This can be difficult because even though we may know our habits haven’t been working they are familiar to us and therefore easier even if the results we have achieved have been less than ideal. In essence, we may have to be uncomfortable as we begin facing our fears. As we relearn our new habits, that uncomfortableness will subside and will become easier and more natural.
Today is a great time to start facing our fears and stop living out of that fear. become fearless!
See you tomorrow!
Home Sweet Home…
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on June 28th, 2010
I am home! After an amazing two weeks in Utah at The Biggest Loser Resort, I am now on my own. Let me tell you there is nothing like jumping right back into real life. While I was gone Rex turned 3 years old. We had a party before I left, he went to a Mariner’s game for his actual birthday and yesterday was his party for everyone.
I got home late Saturday night. Sunday I made breakfast from the resort cookbook. After breakfast, Suzy, myself, and the boys walked to the store to get the things I would need to prepare meals for the week. One of the benefits of me going to Fitness Ridge is that Suzy now has an extra chef in the kitchen. This week I am making all the meals.
We got back from the store and put the boys down for a nap before the big party. I had been preparing myself mentally all morning for the birthday party. I knew that there was going to be food there that wasn’t that great for my calorie count but I knew I could survive.
I am writing down all my food so I can track my calories now. I knew that I had budgeted in for the hot dogs that were going to be served as well as any other “incidentals”. I did pretty good compared to my past bbq antics. This time something felt different.
Rex blew out his candles, for the third time in a week, and the cake and ice cream were served. I had a small piece of cake and a little ice cream. When that was done I grabbed a cupcake and bit the top off it and threw the bottom away. When I was done eating, I went and sat by my brother in law to talk a little bit. I had been sitting there about 5 minutes when my eyes started to water and my stomach started churning.
I jumped up and ran to the bathroom because my cake, cupcake, and ice cream were on their way up. I got in there and it was all over. I vomitted. About ten minutes after that I had another round. This time there was someone in the bathroom so I had to go throw up outside.
I’m not telling you this to gross you out. When I sat there afterward, I realized that I had only been putting healthy and nutritious things in my body for the last 2 weeks. My body had gotten use to those things that quickly and that is what it wanted. My body was telling, and showing me, that it doesn’t enjoy the cake and ice cream like it use to and that it would rather have the nutritious food I had been fueling it with the previous 2 weeks.
That is what I will be doing. It is definitely not worth it to me to feel how I did yesterday. To top it off, I woke up this morning feeling like I had a hangover similar to the ones I use to get when I spent a night out drinking. Will I never have cake or ice cream again? Of course not. I will eat those things again just not like I have in the past.
My body learned how to crave healthy and nutritious foods while I was at the resort. I am going to give my body the foods that I know are going to help me reach my goal of being lean and fit. To do anything else is a disservice to myself and my body.
See you tomorrow!
