#opreclaim

[jbreclaim-blog]

It's Weigh in FRIDAY...'s post on SATURDAY!

Hey Peeps!

Happy Saturday! How are things? It's been a busy week for me, trying to get some ideas to come to fruition! First of them was to get a video edited and up on YouTube which I did and !THANK YOU! guys(and gals) for watching it and for the nice comments. They mean a lot to me and YOU (yes you) mean a lot to me! Today's post has weigh-in results, talks about YouTube and even gets a little poetic(and sappy!), so let's get to it!

Friday was weigh in day, so I set out to face the scale and find out what my new-found activity had earned me. I stepped on the scale and had come down 2 pounds. Now, if this was my first rodeo I may have been crushed. BUT, this is not my first time at this! (sadly, lol) The last time I went from being almost completely sedentary to active I noticed a reduction in my weight loss. Normally it picks back up within the next two weeks. I don't know why this is, but it's just how it has been for me before. So I look at it as HOLY CRAP! IM DOWN 2 MORE POUNDS! That's over 100 pounds a year if I can keep that up! Down is down, that's what matters. Now if I'm still losing 2 pounds a week and continuing to up my activity and watch my diet me and the scale are going to have a serious conversation! I've been keeping in line with my diet pretty darn well. (I know I cheat, you know you cheat, but hey we keep it in line right?) So hey, in the end, I'm down 2 pounds.

Now with the YouTube video I posted, I'm pretty excited by the reaction I've gotten thus far from people. The support system I have is amazing. My family is great and I have some really great friends who will support me no matter what. I think sometimes they can see the bigger picture better than I can. With future YouTube video's I'll be looking to go with less of a film-type style and for more of a vlog. I've been debating on just making my weigh-in posts via video format and keep the rest to text. We'll see how it goes. I was a fan of Tout and will probably get back to using it, but we'll have to see how I can figure out the format I want to go with in the future. Did you like the video? Let me know!! Have you seen the video? No? Go see it! >!HERE!< Did you dislike it? Well, let me know that too! I'm a novice at this video stuff and I need feedback!

Now, before I finish up, I'm going to get a little poetic, because this is how I feel. Like everyone else on this long journey I've struggled with my weight loss, my diet, motivation, anxiety and numerous other factors. But when I was looking for motivation and inspiration to get back on track, man it's depressing out there. The blogs of many people on the weight-loss trek are long dead. I know that people have their ups and downs and hey, OpReclaim was on hiatus for a few months. It's just sad to see. I look at these blogs and I see this graveyard of broken dreams, like pillars of ash. These once great monuments built to inspire and motivate crumbling from doubt. I refuse to let my dreams turn to ash. I won't let the tears of my regret wash away the progress I've made. Ok, that's it for my sappiness.

So as always, !THANK YOU! (no, REALLY, THANK YOU!) for reading and giving me motivation. I hope that in the next few weeks I can get some more cool review posts up (I have two Intake posts in the works!) and have a new video up possibly. Make sure to share/reblog/like/fav/comment/draw a picture of, this post and get my story out there. Like always if you want to drop me a line, send me an email to [email protected] or shoot me a TWEET @TheJoshBrooks.

[jbreclaim-blog]

My first OpReclaim video! Pretty stoked to finally get one up. I'm no fancy editor or anything, but hopefully these will get better as I make more! Check it out and let me know what you think! Thanks to my buddy Matt Ratleph for the use of his song in the video. 

[jbreclaim-blog]

Is it? Could it be? No... Oh man, it is... an OpReclaim Update!?

Hey Peeps!

After a long hiatus, too long, I am back in the mix! As some of you know, I had some family issues late last year with my father having open heart surgery and then after that had staph infection. It threw me for a loop and knocked me off track; which was all too easy to stay off of! I've been working back towards this for awhile and I'm glad to finally have some stuff to post and get everyone back in the loop! Fear not, I am not dead! To the contrary I'm feeling more alive than ever before!

Over the next few weeks and months I have some plans on how I'm going to change things up around the blog, starting with some of the content posts. The first thing I really want to touch on is the events I'm a part of. I'm planning my next and 5th EVER! 5k event, which is going to be in Chicago on March 30th. I'm pretty excited to get back out there and throw myself back into the deep end. Next up I'll be posting about some different supplements I'm taking as well as the Weight Watchers plan I'm following. I'm working on setting up my YouTube channel and have some ideas for video content to post up so I can get a deeper experience with OpReclaim. I'm also going to be talking tech! The devices and hardware I'll be using to get off the pounds. One thing I'll be talking about for tech is the Philips ActiveLink which is a FitBit like product!

I have a ton I want to cover, but for sake of your sanity (and mine) I'll break it up and make this pretty short and just finish up with my weigh-in. I -DID- weigh in on Thursday. I wasn't sure what the scale was going to say, but I knew it was going to be bad. I knew I had gained quite a bit back of what I had lost. I knew I could only get myself back on track by facing up to where I'm at so I can set up my plan to get back to where I was and then to where I need to be. My weigh-in for this week was 488.4. Not good. That means from the 50+ pounds I lost, I've gained about 45 of them back. Not good. I'm going to have a dedicated weigh-ins page once I have a few more weigh-ins in the next few weeks!

It was fitting that yesterday was supposed to be my “ReLaunch” day, as my beautiful nephew Ben was born and I hope that when he grows up he'll never see me as a defeated and weak person and will see me as the man I'm striving to be. I will fight for this weigh loss, continuing to reclaim other parts of my life on the way and hopefully inspire and be inspired on my journey.

Okay! I promised to keep it as short as possible, so this is where I'll leave off! Thanks for reading! Really, it means a lot to me! Make sure to like/fav/share/comment/give props/high-five or w/e it is you do to show me you're reading and get my story out there! As always, follow me on twitter @TheJoshBrooks or drop me an email at [email protected] to contact me!

-JB

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Relaxing morning after some much needed sleep. Great song to listen to while I write.

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First weigh-in for quite some time coming up tomorrow. Renewing my Weight Watchers program and going to get back into the groove. Already making plans for my first 5k back, which will be my 5th 5k overall! Very excited to get things rolling again. Bigger post and some fun stuff up tomorrow and I have some BuluBox reviews coming up this week! Stay tuned!

[jbreclaim-blog]

This is an amazing film by Shane Koyczan about bullying and how it breaks you down but can make you stronger from overcoming it. Watch and spread! It's an amazing video.

[jbreclaim-blog]

From Bulu to Waxa, 2013 is going to be an interesting year.

Hey Peeps!

How has everyone been? I thank those of you who have stuck with me here and keep pushing with me to Reclaim Life! I fell off track with some personal issues after my fathers heart surgery and just never got back in the groove.

My first step this week was stocking my house with some good food again. The easiest pitfall to succumb to in my opinion is fast food. This option is rarely healthy and is more of a convenience. My friend Courtney made a suggestion on Facebook and gave out a code for a free sample box from BuluBox, which sends out sample sizes of different diet and fitness supplements as well as for other things. It has a few different subscription plans, but time will tell once I get my first box.

This coming Wednesday will be my first weigh in since September. I'm mildly nervous as I know the results aren't going to be good and I have nobody to blame but myself. I'm going to face it like a man and work on it to get myself back down and push for my goal for the year of a minimum of 100 pounds down before Jan 1, 2014. This is going to be a hard road and I never expected it to be easy. The hardest part is often getting started, so once I get things back in swing it should be like riding a bike. (Which I will be doing!)

It's still pretty cold but I'm already looking into some event calendars for some upcoming 5k's, last year I did 4, but hadn't started until late July to do them. My goal for 2013 is do get 10 5k's down. I'll keep you updated with when/where/how/why etc. etc. as I figure out my event schedule for the year. One thing I definitely know is I would love to attend Faith and Fitness Week in May, which is out of Waxahachie, TX. It's facilitated by RetroFit Ministries and has some great people attending as coaches, including Austin Andrews, his father Ken, Courtney Crozier and her mother Marci, all former Biggest Loser contestants and many more on this big lineup. Check out RetroFitMinistries.com for more info for the event. 

Well, that's all for now! Thanks for sticking with me and if this is your first time reading, thanks for joining in with me on this journey for us all to reclaim our lives! Start today, take the reigns and move forward! Remember to like/fav/share/reblog/point at/stumble upon/tweet/make a finger-painting of this post to help grow the movement!

Until Next Time,

-JB

[jbreclaim-blog]

Getting Back on Track!

It's been awhile peeps! Figured it's about time to throw out an update and say I'm working on getting back on track! I let some personal stuff derail me on this journey, but I have not forgotten my goals or the hard work I've put into this journey! I'll be weighing in next week and should be back to regular updates again as I get back into the groove of things.