Jeff Dowdy's Blog

Back to blogging. I know you have been waiting for Part 3. Well here it is...
Over the last 4 years or so I have consistently been to the YMCA gym about 3-4 times per week. I would do arms and chest on Mondays and Thursdays. I would do Shoulders and Legs on Tuesdays and Fridays. I took off on Wednesday because of the long day at church on that day. I saw some good results going from 225 to 215 in about 18 months. I was firming up and getting in better shape.

I knew I needed to do more so I began to run. I have never enjoyed running, except when we ran in college as mentioned in part 2, as my knees ache and it is hard. I tried to develop a routine and went from 1 mile to 2 miles to running 3 miles a night 2 -3 times a week. I had a pretty good routine going in the Fall of 2007. Then I began to write my doctoral dissertation and all the running went out the window. I had to work each evening on my project so the running was gone. I still worked out in the mornings at the Y but left out the cardio portions of my routine. Even though I did not run as much, I saw myself go from 215 to 205 by the Christmas of 2008. I figured that I could lose another 10 lbs by the following Christmas.

By the time Thanksgiving 2009 rolled around I had lost 5 lbs and was looking squarely at 200 lbs. I had a fairly good routine going at this time. I was lifting weights each morning and running in the evening. Doing both 3-4 times a week. I was lowering my time each night for the 5K and ran my first 10K in October. I finished the 10K in under 1 hour (59:58!). I felt like this may be as good as it gets. I had toyed around with doing a triathlon or maybe a half marathon. I was getting increasingly frustrated though cause even with all of this working out I still had a pretty flabby mid-section and had not changed my weights to heavier weights at the gym in about 4 months. I had not seen a change in my body in about a year. I was very frustrated!!!

I did not want to be the pastor with the BIG gut that I saw at a golf tournament I play in for pastors every year. (more on that later). So I figured I would just keep pressing on and eventually I would see change. It finally donned on me that the one thing I had not changed in all of this working out was my nutrition. I still ate everything I wanted when I wanted it. The only thing I had cut out was the late night ice cream bowls but I did that because it messed with my stomach not so much for a nutritional benefit. I mean I ate burritos from Moe's with double meat and extra queso. I had the double cheeseburger meals at Sonic with cheese tator tots. I did not care about fat content or reading labels. By the way why is it that the fatty foods always taste the best?

So in November I decided to start a program that I had read about and seen on TV called P90X. I knew that this program had unbelievable results for people in just 90 days. I had my skepticism but I wanted to try something new. I also realized that the one thing I had to change was my diet. I could not simply workout more and eat the same. Luckily P90X has a full nutritional book to tell you what to eat. I am so glad cause I did not want to count calories or points or proteins/carbs. I just wanted something to tell me what to eat.

I am now on day 53 as of this post (started 12/7/2009). I weigh 188 lbs. of which I have not weighed in over 10 years. I am stronger and in better physical shape. I am starting to finally see the results that I have always wanted and I am healthier cause I eat better foods and less icky foods.

In future posts I hope to discuss some of the other ideas along these nutritional lines. I want you to know I am not a nutritional expert. My question is this...if we are to be used by God to fulfill His will in our lives, can we continue to be couch potatoes or eat like couch potatoes? What does it communicate to a community when the pastor preaches on staying away from excesses liked drinking alcohol or smoking, but he can't see his shoes for his gigantic belly? I think this is a real question we have to ask ourselves...