In an effort to keep accountable for my habits to try and break this cycle, I'm going to post my food log here daily as well as any exercise done (if any).
Breakfast:
Jalapeno Hot Dog (Quiktrip) - 5 pts
Lunch:
Mellow Mushroom Pizza (2 slices) - 10 pts
Dinner:
Szechaun Shrimp w/ Rice - 7 pts
3/4 Cup Fried Okra - 6 pts
Anytime Foods:
Apple Cinnamon Cereal Bar - 2 pts
Mixed Berry Cereal Bar - 2 pts
Banana - 2 pts
Rice Krispie Treat - 4 pts
Kroger Light Yogurt - 1 pt
1/2 Cup Vanilla Ice Cream - 3 pts
Total Points: 42
Available: 44
Exercise: Carrying poker tables (neglible)
Friday, November 5, 2010
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Owning up to reality
Over the past couple of months, I've completely fallen off the wagon. I've also acknowledged the fact that I'm an addict. There is a history of alcoholism in my family, and I've done everything I could to avoid falling into that pit. Instead of doing so, however, I'm simply substituted food for alcohol. While the term 'comfort food' gets thrown around, it's very much the truth for me. I eat due to being addicted to the feelings elicited while eating, and I suffer the same crashing guilt after I'm done.
In the past few weeks, I've gained back almost six pounds. While in the grand scheme of things, it's not a lot, it still represents a significant backslide in my mind and something I need to stop in its tracks. My stress level has gone way up in the last few months, which is a direct cause for my weight gain. I've been eating because I just didn't care anymore and just wanted the momentary joy of eating whatever I wanted to eat, weight be damned.
I went to lunch today at Mellow Mushroom (5 WWpts per slice of pizza, so it's actually a fairly good choice--it'll be even better once I get to doing a salad and a slice rather than two slices). On the way back, I stopped at the convenience store as usual and spent five or so minutes deciding on a snack option to finish off lunch. I picked up and discarded a couple of candy bar options and did the same with a rice krispie treat. In the end, I picked up a banana.
That, to me, represents a solid step in getting back on track with controlling my eating and making healthy choices. The trick is maintaining it and balancing it with the fact that 3-5 nights a week, I'm surrounding myself with restaurant/bar food that is a solid temptation. In a lot of ways, I'm like a drug addict who is constantly going to a drug den and trying to stay straight It's much more of a willpower fight for me, especially given that the addiction is primarily psychological rather than physiological.
As of today, I'm back to tracking points (currently at 23/44 for the day) and getting myself back on track to drop weight. I fully recognize that going into the holidays this is going to be a bit more difficult, but I can do it (I had a net loss of weight during the holidays last year). While I've conceded that my goal of two hundred pounds in two years is not going to happen now, I fully believe that 150 is well within my grasp still. I simply have to find my initial willpower, tap back into it, and continue moving in the correct direction.
In the past few weeks, I've gained back almost six pounds. While in the grand scheme of things, it's not a lot, it still represents a significant backslide in my mind and something I need to stop in its tracks. My stress level has gone way up in the last few months, which is a direct cause for my weight gain. I've been eating because I just didn't care anymore and just wanted the momentary joy of eating whatever I wanted to eat, weight be damned.
I went to lunch today at Mellow Mushroom (5 WWpts per slice of pizza, so it's actually a fairly good choice--it'll be even better once I get to doing a salad and a slice rather than two slices). On the way back, I stopped at the convenience store as usual and spent five or so minutes deciding on a snack option to finish off lunch. I picked up and discarded a couple of candy bar options and did the same with a rice krispie treat. In the end, I picked up a banana.
That, to me, represents a solid step in getting back on track with controlling my eating and making healthy choices. The trick is maintaining it and balancing it with the fact that 3-5 nights a week, I'm surrounding myself with restaurant/bar food that is a solid temptation. In a lot of ways, I'm like a drug addict who is constantly going to a drug den and trying to stay straight It's much more of a willpower fight for me, especially given that the addiction is primarily psychological rather than physiological.
As of today, I'm back to tracking points (currently at 23/44 for the day) and getting myself back on track to drop weight. I fully recognize that going into the holidays this is going to be a bit more difficult, but I can do it (I had a net loss of weight during the holidays last year). While I've conceded that my goal of two hundred pounds in two years is not going to happen now, I fully believe that 150 is well within my grasp still. I simply have to find my initial willpower, tap back into it, and continue moving in the correct direction.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Quick Update
I just wanted to let people know I haven't forgotten about this. I've just been so busy of late that I keep forgetting to take time to update it. This past week, I was in New Orleans, which of course meant that good eating habits went out the window and I picked up a little weight. I knew this was going to happen, though, so it wasn't any sort of shock. As of yesterday morning, I was at 315.4.
One thing I do want to note, however, is that before New Orleans I'd been in the doldrums about everything related to weight loss. After over a year on this journey, it had started to drag and feel like a diet finally, which is part of what sapped my motivation. However, I saw a number of friends in NOLA that I'd not seen in a long while, and their commentary about my weight loss really helped. There were a number of double-takes as well as a couple of outright 'I didn't recognize you' moments. It really helps to have that reinforcement (not to belittle the positive reinforcement from my wife at all) to remind me that it is worth it and it is working.
So to everyone in New Orleans who said something, thank you. It was very appreciated and definitely helped remind me that I should stay on this road.
One thing I do want to note, however, is that before New Orleans I'd been in the doldrums about everything related to weight loss. After over a year on this journey, it had started to drag and feel like a diet finally, which is part of what sapped my motivation. However, I saw a number of friends in NOLA that I'd not seen in a long while, and their commentary about my weight loss really helped. There were a number of double-takes as well as a couple of outright 'I didn't recognize you' moments. It really helps to have that reinforcement (not to belittle the positive reinforcement from my wife at all) to remind me that it is worth it and it is working.
So to everyone in New Orleans who said something, thank you. It was very appreciated and definitely helped remind me that I should stay on this road.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Slacker: the story of me
As the few of you who pay attention to this probably noticed, I haven't exactly been that posty when it comes to this. The main reason for this is simple: I hit a wall. For a year or more, this didn't feel like a diet, it was going well, and things were processing the way I wanted them. Then, just as I broke the 80 lb lost line, it started to drag.
I've spent the last six to eight weeks plateaued, bouncing around between 315 and 320 (I'm currently at 317, down from last week's weigh-in of 318.4). It suddenly turned into a drag of tracking points, keeping on target, and all the rest. Throw into this the fact my daughter was born on 8/10 and I'm working two jobs, it all adds up to slow things down.
Week before last, I spent a week not bothering to track points. I ate what I wanted, didn't worry about it, and went with the idea I was going to shock my system to break the plateau. I still didn't make massively horrible decisions, but I did pick up a couple of pounds when I did it. I started back tracking points last week, and I got 1.4 pounds to come off. I'll feel better that I'm back on a losing trend once I see the scale below 315, but this is a good start.
The gym, due to my schedule, has fallen by the wayside. In addition to my full-time job, I have a second job that has me working 4 nights a week at this point. It's not hard work and for what I'm doing, the pay is pretty good, but it's still having me out of the house and working in bars and restaurants, which means I'm eating out far too often. Thankfully most of the places I work have decent menu choices and the one that doesn't has some choices that aren't horrible (though I'm likely going to start stopping at Subway on my way over there instead of eating there).
At least this didn't come off as whiney as it could have a week or two ago. I know that my issue right now is a mental one, and I'm the only one that can break through it. So that's what I'm going to have to do right now.
I've spent the last six to eight weeks plateaued, bouncing around between 315 and 320 (I'm currently at 317, down from last week's weigh-in of 318.4). It suddenly turned into a drag of tracking points, keeping on target, and all the rest. Throw into this the fact my daughter was born on 8/10 and I'm working two jobs, it all adds up to slow things down.
Week before last, I spent a week not bothering to track points. I ate what I wanted, didn't worry about it, and went with the idea I was going to shock my system to break the plateau. I still didn't make massively horrible decisions, but I did pick up a couple of pounds when I did it. I started back tracking points last week, and I got 1.4 pounds to come off. I'll feel better that I'm back on a losing trend once I see the scale below 315, but this is a good start.
The gym, due to my schedule, has fallen by the wayside. In addition to my full-time job, I have a second job that has me working 4 nights a week at this point. It's not hard work and for what I'm doing, the pay is pretty good, but it's still having me out of the house and working in bars and restaurants, which means I'm eating out far too often. Thankfully most of the places I work have decent menu choices and the one that doesn't has some choices that aren't horrible (though I'm likely going to start stopping at Subway on my way over there instead of eating there).
At least this didn't come off as whiney as it could have a week or two ago. I know that my issue right now is a mental one, and I'm the only one that can break through it. So that's what I'm going to have to do right now.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Gym - Day Two
Since I'm working from home today (2nd shift, have to watch the Doomling, so here I am), I went to the gym this morning after running some errands. It got off to a somewhat shaky start as the heart rate grips on the treadmill I was using were flaky at best. By the time I realized it (because, really, my heart rate isn't going to be 100 when I'm at 3.3 mph on a 9.6 incline), I had been going for five minutes. I stopped it, switched to manual (3.3 mph/2.5 incline, increased by .2 mph every 10 minutes), and it showed my heart rate near to 150, not the 125 target I'd set. I ended up doing about 30 minutes on the treadmill between the abortive Fat Burn cycle and my manual settings.
I switched over to weights afterwards and did the following (all 2 sets of 15 reps):
Back extension (200 lbs)
Abdominal Extension (150 lbs)
Bicep Curl (50 lbs)
Tricep Extension (50 lbs)
Fly/Rear Delt (70 lbs)
Delt Pull (90 lbs)
Yes, it's a far cry from when I was benching close to 250 in high school, but you have to start somewhere and my upper body doesn't keep near the muscle mass of my lower body (I can still push 600-700 lbs with my legs).
Regardless, day two accomplished. Day three is Saturday, and I will not skip it just because it's my birthday.
I switched over to weights afterwards and did the following (all 2 sets of 15 reps):
Back extension (200 lbs)
Abdominal Extension (150 lbs)
Bicep Curl (50 lbs)
Tricep Extension (50 lbs)
Fly/Rear Delt (70 lbs)
Delt Pull (90 lbs)
Yes, it's a far cry from when I was benching close to 250 in high school, but you have to start somewhere and my upper body doesn't keep near the muscle mass of my lower body (I can still push 600-700 lbs with my legs).
Regardless, day two accomplished. Day three is Saturday, and I will not skip it just because it's my birthday.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Recipe: Shepherd's Pie
I made Shepherd's Pie for dinner tonight and for a meal in one dish item, the point value really wasn't that bad (~10 pts per serving as I dished it up). The instructions are below along with notes regarding calories/points.
Shepherd's Pie
Ingredients:
- 2.5 pounds of 90%/10% Ground Sirloin
- 2 packages of Betty Crocker 80 cal Instant Red Mashed Potato's
- 1 package of brown gravy
- 1 Package of steam in bag mixed vegetables (corn, carrots, peas, and green beans)
- 7/8s of a package of Kroger brand 2% Milk Shredded Sharp Cheddar
Instructions:
- Somewhere in here, pre-heat your oven to Broil
- Brown the ground beef in a large skillet, seasoning to taste (I'm a big fan of ground black pepper, so that's what I used).
- Make the gravy in a separate pan, allowing it to simmer while you're cooking
- Prep the mashed potatoes (I've had really good luck boiling the water in the microwave and then adding it to the potato mix, as per the "stove top" directions)
- Cook the Mixed Vegetables
- Drain off the excess fat from the ground beef, leaving at least a little bit in the mix
- Mix in the gravy and then the mixed vegetables to the beef in the skillet
- Pour the mixture into a 9x13 baking dish.
- Cover the ground beef mixture with the mashed potatoes
- Cover the potatoes with the shredded cheddar cheese
- Place the pan in the oven for 3 minutes
- Remove from the oven and serve
Serves approximately 8
Calories per serving: 436
Fat per serving: 21g
Fiber per serving: 5g
WW Points per serving: 10
Notes:
- I used 90/10 Ground Sirloin. You can go with a 93/7, but given the nature of Shepherd's Pie, the extra moisture is a good thing. Plus, you end up draining off a lot of the fat before actually putting it in the oven.
- The amount of fat per serving is based off the packaging for the ground beef and not off of the finished amount. Therefore, the actual amount is probably closer to 5-6g, but I had no real way to calculate that. Given this, the point value is actually closer to 8 rather than 10, but I would rather err on the side of recording too many than too few.
- In a 9x13 baking dish, you could likely make 9 servings out of it rather than 8, which would bring the point value down a bit more, but that's entirely up to the person eating it and what they want to do. Eight servings still leaves plenty for left overs after the entire family eats. This will likely be my lunch on Thursday while I'm working from home.
As far as total for cost, it was about $15 or so for all the ingredients, which to feed a full family plus have left overs really isn't a bad deal.
Shepherd's Pie
Ingredients:
- 2.5 pounds of 90%/10% Ground Sirloin
- 2 packages of Betty Crocker 80 cal Instant Red Mashed Potato's
- 1 package of brown gravy
- 1 Package of steam in bag mixed vegetables (corn, carrots, peas, and green beans)
- 7/8s of a package of Kroger brand 2% Milk Shredded Sharp Cheddar
Instructions:
- Somewhere in here, pre-heat your oven to Broil
- Brown the ground beef in a large skillet, seasoning to taste (I'm a big fan of ground black pepper, so that's what I used).
- Make the gravy in a separate pan, allowing it to simmer while you're cooking
- Prep the mashed potatoes (I've had really good luck boiling the water in the microwave and then adding it to the potato mix, as per the "stove top" directions)
- Cook the Mixed Vegetables
- Drain off the excess fat from the ground beef, leaving at least a little bit in the mix
- Mix in the gravy and then the mixed vegetables to the beef in the skillet
- Pour the mixture into a 9x13 baking dish.
- Cover the ground beef mixture with the mashed potatoes
- Cover the potatoes with the shredded cheddar cheese
- Place the pan in the oven for 3 minutes
- Remove from the oven and serve
Serves approximately 8
Calories per serving: 436
Fat per serving: 21g
Fiber per serving: 5g
WW Points per serving: 10
Notes:
- I used 90/10 Ground Sirloin. You can go with a 93/7, but given the nature of Shepherd's Pie, the extra moisture is a good thing. Plus, you end up draining off a lot of the fat before actually putting it in the oven.
- The amount of fat per serving is based off the packaging for the ground beef and not off of the finished amount. Therefore, the actual amount is probably closer to 5-6g, but I had no real way to calculate that. Given this, the point value is actually closer to 8 rather than 10, but I would rather err on the side of recording too many than too few.
- In a 9x13 baking dish, you could likely make 9 servings out of it rather than 8, which would bring the point value down a bit more, but that's entirely up to the person eating it and what they want to do. Eight servings still leaves plenty for left overs after the entire family eats. This will likely be my lunch on Thursday while I'm working from home.
As far as total for cost, it was about $15 or so for all the ingredients, which to feed a full family plus have left overs really isn't a bad deal.
Gym - Day One
For the past couple of weeks, I've been plateaued right around 320. Stress is building up, which means I'm falling back into the old habit of stress eating, and this means I'm using up more of my points, so I'm not losing weight the way I was. In part to combat this and in part because I needed to do it anyway, I hit the gym today for the first time in a long while.
My routine for today was the following:
- Walking (3.3 mph, average incline of 2.0) - 25 minutes
- Abdominal Press (150 lbs, 15 reps) - 2 sets
- Back Extension (200 lbs, 15 reps) - 2 sets
- Tri-cep Extension (50 lbs, 15 reps) - 2 sets
The walking was actually a very good experience. A year ago, I would have been wiped out from that portion of things. Instead, when the 25 minute mark hit, my first thought was 'damn, I should have set it for longer.' Of course, the fact I'm going on my lunch break limits how much time I can commit to it, but still.
The weights were picked for two reasons and will expand a bit as time goes on. First, I wanted to work on my mid-section, hence the ab press and back extension. The other is my legs have plenty of muscle, but my arms are seriously lacking. So much of what I'll be pursuing in that arena is going to be purely based on my upper body. Walking will keep the musculature on my legs, but I don't want to add anything to it simply because I'm going to have to shed some of that muscle mass as I lose the weight it was built up to support.
The current schedule is going to be Tu/Th/Sat. The eventual goal will be 5-6 days a week, but I have to build up the habit first. Journey of a thousand miles and all that jazz.
My routine for today was the following:
- Walking (3.3 mph, average incline of 2.0) - 25 minutes
- Abdominal Press (150 lbs, 15 reps) - 2 sets
- Back Extension (200 lbs, 15 reps) - 2 sets
- Tri-cep Extension (50 lbs, 15 reps) - 2 sets
The walking was actually a very good experience. A year ago, I would have been wiped out from that portion of things. Instead, when the 25 minute mark hit, my first thought was 'damn, I should have set it for longer.' Of course, the fact I'm going on my lunch break limits how much time I can commit to it, but still.
The weights were picked for two reasons and will expand a bit as time goes on. First, I wanted to work on my mid-section, hence the ab press and back extension. The other is my legs have plenty of muscle, but my arms are seriously lacking. So much of what I'll be pursuing in that arena is going to be purely based on my upper body. Walking will keep the musculature on my legs, but I don't want to add anything to it simply because I'm going to have to shed some of that muscle mass as I lose the weight it was built up to support.
The current schedule is going to be Tu/Th/Sat. The eventual goal will be 5-6 days a week, but I have to build up the habit first. Journey of a thousand miles and all that jazz.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
One year done
As of yesterday, I've been on Weight Watchers for one year. As of Monday, I was just over 320 (bad week, not going to dwell on it), which puts me at approximately 80 pounds lost in the last year.
One year. 80 pounds. Approximately 10 inches off my waist (maybe more, I'm estimating based on my belt where I've had to cut new holes). Approximately 4-6 inches off each of my thighs.
I bought new pants in January, going from a size 60 waist to a size 56 waist. Those pants now fall off me without a belt, no unbuttoning required.
If I keep to this pace, this will put me at 240 pounds this time next year. I haven't weighed that little in over 20 years, and though it means I won't have made my goal of two hundred pounds in two years, I think I can deal with the short fall. I do know that provided I keep to what I've been doing, I will get to where I want to be within the next two years.
One year. 80 pounds. Approximately 10 inches off my waist (maybe more, I'm estimating based on my belt where I've had to cut new holes). Approximately 4-6 inches off each of my thighs.
I bought new pants in January, going from a size 60 waist to a size 56 waist. Those pants now fall off me without a belt, no unbuttoning required.
If I keep to this pace, this will put me at 240 pounds this time next year. I haven't weighed that little in over 20 years, and though it means I won't have made my goal of two hundred pounds in two years, I think I can deal with the short fall. I do know that provided I keep to what I've been doing, I will get to where I want to be within the next two years.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Update and Recipe
On the weight front, I'm down to 318.8 now. This puts me at a total of 81.2 pounds gone off of me and getting closer to breaking my 2nd major goal of 300 (the first was 350, which had been my lower limit for several years now). For weight tracking and consistency, I like having shifted to Saturday for my weigh in. Now I just really need to start getting to the gym. One of the big things stopping me right now is the simple fact that none of my gym shorts/pants really fit at this point, and I don't really have the money to be buying new outfits for the gym. I'll work out something, though, and get my ass back in there to trim some more off of it.
On the recipe front, I gave a shot at making fish tacos the other night. As my base, I used what I had picked up eating the ones at Marlow's. I used tilapia for the fish, and since I didn't have the time or inclination to make a roumalade sauce, I used Kraft's hot and spicy mayo in place of it. All in all, it turned out rather well and it's something I'll be working on refining as time goes on. I baked the tilapia this time and I think it would have had a better texture to it had I pan seared it like I'd originally planned.
Marlow's Style Fish Tacos:
Ingredients:
3 Tilapia Filets (separated into two pieces each)
Emeril's Fish Rub
Ground Red Pepper
Kraft Hot & Spicy Mayo
Black Bean and Corn Salsa
Chopped Hearts of Romaine Lettuce
Whole Wheat Tortillas
Directions:
- Coat the Tilapia filets to taste with the fish rub and ground red pepper*. Place in a baking dish, cover with aluminum foil, and refrigirate for an hour.
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the filets (still covered) in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Turn the filets after 20 minutes and cook for another 5-10.**
- Remove the filets from the oven, separate them into halves.
- Spread the mayo on the tortillas, lay down half filet, then add hearts of romaine and salsa to taste.
* The taste of the fish rub was good, but it surprisingly had no red pepper in it, hence the inclusion here.
** As noted above, I will likely pan sear the filets next time just to get a bit of crunch on them rather than the texture from baking them.
All in all, I was happy with how it turned out. There are minor tweak I'll make to it the next time I make them, but it's definitely something I'm going to keep in my recipe file.
On the recipe front, I gave a shot at making fish tacos the other night. As my base, I used what I had picked up eating the ones at Marlow's. I used tilapia for the fish, and since I didn't have the time or inclination to make a roumalade sauce, I used Kraft's hot and spicy mayo in place of it. All in all, it turned out rather well and it's something I'll be working on refining as time goes on. I baked the tilapia this time and I think it would have had a better texture to it had I pan seared it like I'd originally planned.
Marlow's Style Fish Tacos:
Ingredients:
3 Tilapia Filets (separated into two pieces each)
Emeril's Fish Rub
Ground Red Pepper
Kraft Hot & Spicy Mayo
Black Bean and Corn Salsa
Chopped Hearts of Romaine Lettuce
Whole Wheat Tortillas
Directions:
- Coat the Tilapia filets to taste with the fish rub and ground red pepper*. Place in a baking dish, cover with aluminum foil, and refrigirate for an hour.
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the filets (still covered) in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Turn the filets after 20 minutes and cook for another 5-10.**
- Remove the filets from the oven, separate them into halves.
- Spread the mayo on the tortillas, lay down half filet, then add hearts of romaine and salsa to taste.
* The taste of the fish rub was good, but it surprisingly had no red pepper in it, hence the inclusion here.
** As noted above, I will likely pan sear the filets next time just to get a bit of crunch on them rather than the texture from baking them.
All in all, I was happy with how it turned out. There are minor tweak I'll make to it the next time I make them, but it's definitely something I'm going to keep in my recipe file.
Monday, June 14, 2010
The Process marches on...
Another week and another couple of pounds dropped. As of the last weigh-in, I'm at 321.4, putting me down a total of 78.6 pounds from when I started.
One thing I did do this week, though, was shift when I was weighing myself. Since day one, I'd been doing it on Mondays, primarily because, like most Americans, I started this process on a Monday. One thing I'd noticed, however, was a good amount of variance between weighing myself on Saturday morning (when I had more time to get up, get moving, and weigh myself after I'd been awake for a little bit) and Monday morning (when I was rushing more, had usually blown most of my flex points on Sunday, etc). So after thinking about it, I moved to Saturdays for my weigh-in, since that would mean I would use most of my flex points (which usually get used on weekends) at the beginning of my week rather than right before weigh-in and hopefully avoid some of that variance.
One thing I have to do this week is get back to the gym. I need to do this if, for no other reason, I'm paying for it and it galls me that I'm not using it. My goal is to hit the gym Tu/Th/Sat each week, eventually getting to the point I'm in the gym five, if not seven, days a week. Right now, my schedule is fairly packed. I work my main job 5 days a week, including working 2nd shift on Wednesdays. I have a 2nd job that I work on Friday and Saturday nights. I then play poker 3 days a week (Sat afternoon, Sunday evening, and Monday evening), one of which is a money making night at it. This means my time is rather cramped, and I may just end up going to the gym by work on my lunch break again in order to fit it in as well as to be able to avoid eating out as much as I do right now.
I've started following the 100pounds2lose community on LJ, which is a community solely for those with 100+ pounds to drop and is closed only to those who fill out the survey and are in that same boat. So far, it's been good to read posts from other people in the same boat I'm in, including one today from a woman who has gone from 300+ to 180, and is now within spitting distance of her goal of 160. That gives me definite hope that it can be done from a source that isn't media driven (Jared, mmm-kay?).
As the old adage goes, slow and steady wins the race, and my goal is simply to keep chipping away at it until I get to where I need to be. Having to wear a pair of my slacks this morning, though, has shown me I need to buy some interrum pants, though, so they don't look like crap when I wear them--not to mention I already need to replace the jeans I bought back at the first of the year. Good thing my birthday is coming up.
One thing I did do this week, though, was shift when I was weighing myself. Since day one, I'd been doing it on Mondays, primarily because, like most Americans, I started this process on a Monday. One thing I'd noticed, however, was a good amount of variance between weighing myself on Saturday morning (when I had more time to get up, get moving, and weigh myself after I'd been awake for a little bit) and Monday morning (when I was rushing more, had usually blown most of my flex points on Sunday, etc). So after thinking about it, I moved to Saturdays for my weigh-in, since that would mean I would use most of my flex points (which usually get used on weekends) at the beginning of my week rather than right before weigh-in and hopefully avoid some of that variance.
One thing I have to do this week is get back to the gym. I need to do this if, for no other reason, I'm paying for it and it galls me that I'm not using it. My goal is to hit the gym Tu/Th/Sat each week, eventually getting to the point I'm in the gym five, if not seven, days a week. Right now, my schedule is fairly packed. I work my main job 5 days a week, including working 2nd shift on Wednesdays. I have a 2nd job that I work on Friday and Saturday nights. I then play poker 3 days a week (Sat afternoon, Sunday evening, and Monday evening), one of which is a money making night at it. This means my time is rather cramped, and I may just end up going to the gym by work on my lunch break again in order to fit it in as well as to be able to avoid eating out as much as I do right now.
I've started following the 100pounds2lose community on LJ, which is a community solely for those with 100+ pounds to drop and is closed only to those who fill out the survey and are in that same boat. So far, it's been good to read posts from other people in the same boat I'm in, including one today from a woman who has gone from 300+ to 180, and is now within spitting distance of her goal of 160. That gives me definite hope that it can be done from a source that isn't media driven (Jared, mmm-kay?).
As the old adage goes, slow and steady wins the race, and my goal is simply to keep chipping away at it until I get to where I need to be. Having to wear a pair of my slacks this morning, though, has shown me I need to buy some interrum pants, though, so they don't look like crap when I wear them--not to mention I already need to replace the jeans I bought back at the first of the year. Good thing my birthday is coming up.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Recipes and Food Finds
First off, since I don't think I mentioned it, I'm down to 323 at this point. The last couple of weeks have been slow, mainly because I wasn't watching what I was eating as much as I should have. I really need to find the time to start making the gym again, and may make a point of doing that starting tomorrow. Working two jobs right now plus a paying avocation on the side makes time a little tight.
Now, on to the recipes and food finds. I have two things to put out here right now. The first is a food find. Skinny Cow now has a line of single serve ice cream cups. To this point, I've tried three of the varieties: Dulce de Leche (2 pts), Strawberry Cheesecake (2 pts), and Caramel Cone (3 pts). Each of them has been very tasty, doesn't have the aftertaste that annoys me so much with the Weight Watchers brand ice creams, and was a good does of satisfaction for my sweet tooth. This also means I'm not going to be hording points anymore to make room for a pint of Ben and Jerry's Froyo Cherry Garcia on any sort of semi-regular basis. Kroger has been running these on special with four of them for $5, which was part of what prompted me to try them.
On the recipe front, I made the following for dinner last night: Cream of Mushroom baked Chicken w/ herbs and spices, Roasted Asparagus, and Red Potatoes with Green Beans. All total? 7.5 points. I will admit that I short cutted on the potatoes and green beans, using one of the Green Giant steamer packs. It had 2.5 servings in the bag, which was perfect for myself, my wife, and our son, and it weighs in at 1 pt a serving. The asparagus, roasted with black pepper, kosher salt, and olive oil weighted in at the wonderful amount of 0 pts, and the chicken came in at 6.5 pts for a whole breast.
To give you a brief rundown of preparation, here are the ingredients for the two prepared dishes:
Cream of Mushroom Baked Chicken:
Ingredients:
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 cans cream of mushroom soup (condensed)
Mixture of spices and herbs (the ones I used last night were cracked black pepper, kosher salt, and thyme)
The Asparagus is 0 points for a cup, so this covers a good bit and provides you with your free dash of good oils for the day as well.
I will also note this was just as good reheated the next day as I had the left overs for lunch today.
Now, on to the recipes and food finds. I have two things to put out here right now. The first is a food find. Skinny Cow now has a line of single serve ice cream cups. To this point, I've tried three of the varieties: Dulce de Leche (2 pts), Strawberry Cheesecake (2 pts), and Caramel Cone (3 pts). Each of them has been very tasty, doesn't have the aftertaste that annoys me so much with the Weight Watchers brand ice creams, and was a good does of satisfaction for my sweet tooth. This also means I'm not going to be hording points anymore to make room for a pint of Ben and Jerry's Froyo Cherry Garcia on any sort of semi-regular basis. Kroger has been running these on special with four of them for $5, which was part of what prompted me to try them.
On the recipe front, I made the following for dinner last night: Cream of Mushroom baked Chicken w/ herbs and spices, Roasted Asparagus, and Red Potatoes with Green Beans. All total? 7.5 points. I will admit that I short cutted on the potatoes and green beans, using one of the Green Giant steamer packs. It had 2.5 servings in the bag, which was perfect for myself, my wife, and our son, and it weighs in at 1 pt a serving. The asparagus, roasted with black pepper, kosher salt, and olive oil weighted in at the wonderful amount of 0 pts, and the chicken came in at 6.5 pts for a whole breast.
To give you a brief rundown of preparation, here are the ingredients for the two prepared dishes:
Cream of Mushroom Baked Chicken:
Ingredients:
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 cans cream of mushroom soup (condensed)
Mixture of spices and herbs (the ones I used last night were cracked black pepper, kosher salt, and thyme)
- In a bowl, mix the two cans of soup with one can of water until smooth.
- Pour approximately 1/4 cup of the soup into the bottom of a baking dish and spread to cover the bottom of the dish
- Rinse each of the chicken breasts and coat to taste on both sides with the spice/herb mixture before placing them in the baking dish
- Cover the chicken breasts with the remainder of the cream of mushroom soup
- Pre-heat over to 375 degrees and cook for 40 minutes
Roasted Asparagus:
Ingredients:
1.5-2 pounds of fresh asparagus
1/4 cup of Olive Oil Mixture of cracked black pepper and kosher salt (I reused the mixture I used to rub the chicken breasts, so there was thyme mixed in as well last night)
- Pour the olive oil on a baking pan
- After rinsing the asparagus and breaking off the stems, place it on the baking pan
- Sprinkle liberally with the salt/pepper mixture
- Using your hands, rolling the asparagus through the olive oil and the spices until it is appropriately covered.
- Pre-heat the oven to 375 and cook the asparagus for 15 minutes, rolling the asparagus once during the cooking period.
The Asparagus is 0 points for a cup, so this covers a good bit and provides you with your free dash of good oils for the day as well.
I will also note this was just as good reheated the next day as I had the left overs for lunch today.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Bounce Back
Part of the reason why I didn't get too down about going back up last week is because of what happened this week. As is my usual bit when I take a slight step back, I take a big step forward the following week. This week, it was dropping 5.6 pounds and hitting the 325 mark.
I'm certain part of what helped this week was having a full mouth scaling done over two days which essentially limited me to eating soup on those days followed by my sleep schedule being so wonky that I only ate one meal on Sunday with a couple of snacks. I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, though.
So to summarize the path to this point:
Starting Date: 7/6/09
Current Date: 5/24/09
Starting Weight: 400# (minimum--could have been more)
Current Weight: 325#
Total Loss: 75#
Goal Weight: 200-225
% to Goal: 37.5-42.8
I'm accepting at this point that I am unlikely to hit the 300 mark by 7/6. That's essentially six weeks left until that point. If I lose at the recommended level of two pounds per week, that will put me at 313 on 7/6. I would have to double that plus a little extra to get that point, and that isn't healthy weight loss, opening me up to other health problems and the potential of rubberbanding. On the good side, however, I had a good chance of hitting the 300 mark by the time my daughter is born, and that's good enough for me.
I'm certain part of what helped this week was having a full mouth scaling done over two days which essentially limited me to eating soup on those days followed by my sleep schedule being so wonky that I only ate one meal on Sunday with a couple of snacks. I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, though.
So to summarize the path to this point:
Starting Date: 7/6/09
Current Date: 5/24/09
Starting Weight: 400# (minimum--could have been more)
Current Weight: 325#
Total Loss: 75#
Goal Weight: 200-225
% to Goal: 37.5-42.8
I'm accepting at this point that I am unlikely to hit the 300 mark by 7/6. That's essentially six weeks left until that point. If I lose at the recommended level of two pounds per week, that will put me at 313 on 7/6. I would have to double that plus a little extra to get that point, and that isn't healthy weight loss, opening me up to other health problems and the potential of rubberbanding. On the good side, however, I had a good chance of hitting the 300 mark by the time my daughter is born, and that's good enough for me.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
New Orleans caught up with me
I had a bit of a disappointment yesterday morning when I weighed in and found myself up two pounds. I have to chalk it up to the extra eating in New Orleans along with the lack of exercise lately as well as the extra eating I did the last week. I've been unmotivated in general, which has all bled into the back slide.
One change I'm making is I'm going to be looking at limiting my points on a daily basis. While I'm allotted 44 on any given day, I'm going to limit myself to 40 just as a personal trimming measure. While it's not a huge deal, it's going to hopefully help me make a difference mentally.
Part of me is very tempted to start parking my car at the MARTA park and ride in the morning and taking the bus up to the park and ride lot across from work just to help me avoid the temptation of going out for lunch. I'll likely end up not doing it, but I might go back to going to the gym at lunch as a different measure.
Regardless, I need to get back on a solid downward trend and off of this episode of doldrums on the seas of weight loss.
One change I'm making is I'm going to be looking at limiting my points on a daily basis. While I'm allotted 44 on any given day, I'm going to limit myself to 40 just as a personal trimming measure. While it's not a huge deal, it's going to hopefully help me make a difference mentally.
Part of me is very tempted to start parking my car at the MARTA park and ride in the morning and taking the bus up to the park and ride lot across from work just to help me avoid the temptation of going out for lunch. I'll likely end up not doing it, but I might go back to going to the gym at lunch as a different measure.
Regardless, I need to get back on a solid downward trend and off of this episode of doldrums on the seas of weight loss.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Point Friendly Discovery
One of the things I'm always on the lookout for things that are easy and quick to make, especially that can be nuked at work. Given that I'm a huge fan of Chinese food, I always look for things of that cuisine to see if there is anything that would work for me. My favorite Chinese dish (at least that I can find easily) is General Tso's Chicken. Unfortunately, the dish as normally prepared isn't very points friendly (try about 18 WW points a serving).
Last night, however, I found a little bit of the holy grail when it comes to this dish and weight loss.
Tai Pei makes microwavable Chinese food (they're the ones that come in the little take-out Chinese food style containers). Looking last night for something quick to fix for myself and Bradley, I noticed the photo of their General Tso's Chicken has the chicken unbattered. Looking at the back of it, I pulled out my iPhone and the pulled up the WW points calculator.
The entire container? 3 points. This beats the Healthy Choice version of General Tso's (5 points), notably because of the rice in the HC version.
So now I have another option for one of my favorite Chinese dishes that is easily taken into work and won't kill my points for the day.
Last night, however, I found a little bit of the holy grail when it comes to this dish and weight loss.
Tai Pei makes microwavable Chinese food (they're the ones that come in the little take-out Chinese food style containers). Looking last night for something quick to fix for myself and Bradley, I noticed the photo of their General Tso's Chicken has the chicken unbattered. Looking at the back of it, I pulled out my iPhone and the pulled up the WW points calculator.
The entire container? 3 points. This beats the Healthy Choice version of General Tso's (5 points), notably because of the rice in the HC version.
So now I have another option for one of my favorite Chinese dishes that is easily taken into work and won't kill my points for the day.
Monday, May 3, 2010
A bit of progress
It's kind of ironic that I had more progress this past week than I did the week before. I didn't make it to the gym at all this past week, primarily because I had a corneal abrasion and I really dislike going to the gym in glasses. When I weighed in this morning, though, I was at 329.4 pounds, putting me down below 330 for the first time in this journey.
One thing I did do this week, though, was cut down on how much I was eating out for lunch. I've gone back to eating the Healthy Choice Cafe Steamer meals for lunch most days, limiting myself to one or two days eating out (generally Monday and Wednesday). In addition to saving me money, it also means I'm only using 5-6 points for lunch instead of 10-12.
This week is going to be interesting because I'll be in New Orleans starting Thursday night through Sunday morning, staying in a hotel and playing in a poker tournament. This means I'll be around the rather rich food in New Orleans as well as a casino buffet during breaks in the poker tournament. Granted, I only have two 'must hit' restaurant things while I'm in NOLA this time: Cafe du Monde for breakfast one morning and then the Green Goddess in the Quarter for lunch or dinner at one point. The trick is going to be avoiding gorging myself at the buffet, especially if I get frustrated during the tournament.
At least while I'm in New Orleans, I'll be walking most of the places I'm going. This also means if I get frustrated I can take a walk, get it out of my system that way, and then head back to the tables while grabbing a snack or a light meal.
All in all, I'm happy with the increased loss this week. While it's unlikely I'll hit 300 by 7/6/10, I'm should be very close to it and on track to make the top end of my goal weight (225) by 7/6/11.
One thing I did do this week, though, was cut down on how much I was eating out for lunch. I've gone back to eating the Healthy Choice Cafe Steamer meals for lunch most days, limiting myself to one or two days eating out (generally Monday and Wednesday). In addition to saving me money, it also means I'm only using 5-6 points for lunch instead of 10-12.
This week is going to be interesting because I'll be in New Orleans starting Thursday night through Sunday morning, staying in a hotel and playing in a poker tournament. This means I'll be around the rather rich food in New Orleans as well as a casino buffet during breaks in the poker tournament. Granted, I only have two 'must hit' restaurant things while I'm in NOLA this time: Cafe du Monde for breakfast one morning and then the Green Goddess in the Quarter for lunch or dinner at one point. The trick is going to be avoiding gorging myself at the buffet, especially if I get frustrated during the tournament.
At least while I'm in New Orleans, I'll be walking most of the places I'm going. This also means if I get frustrated I can take a walk, get it out of my system that way, and then head back to the tables while grabbing a snack or a light meal.
All in all, I'm happy with the increased loss this week. While it's unlikely I'll hit 300 by 7/6/10, I'm should be very close to it and on track to make the top end of my goal weight (225) by 7/6/11.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Frustrations
As of my weigh-in this morning, I'm at exactly 332 pounds. For those playing along at home, that's a loss of .6 pounds. Yes, it's still a loss and that's a good thing, but it's a bit frustrating to be losing less than a pound this past week and to continue to be down from what had been my usual 2 pound per week average.
I do appreciate that I'm still losing weight, and I also ackowledge my body is still shrinking since the jeans I bought at the first of the year are into the same fit state as the ones they replaced (notably they're very loose, to the point I could likely smuggle a midget in the seat of them right now).
Part of this, I completely release, is due to my eating habits and I need to get back into the groove I'd had earlier. Part of this will be accomplished by picking up some of the Healthy Choice Cafe Steamer meals rather than going out to lunch five days a week. Five to six points for lunch compared to ten to twelve will go a long way to helping with getting back on the weight loss track.
The other thing I need to do is look at moving to going to the gym five days a week instead of just three (or two). Part of the hold up there has been the need to buy more work-out clothes. I have three pairs of sweat pants that I wear, and I really need to buy new shorts for the gym.
Yes, this post is a bit more of a whine than I've had in the past, but I figure I'm allowed now and again. I do recognize that I've come a long way at this point (68 pounds to date), but another part of me is impatient to reach my final goal and move into simply maintaining a healthy lifestyle. I just have to control that part of my mind, though, to ensure I don't derail myself in frustration.
I do appreciate that I'm still losing weight, and I also ackowledge my body is still shrinking since the jeans I bought at the first of the year are into the same fit state as the ones they replaced (notably they're very loose, to the point I could likely smuggle a midget in the seat of them right now).
Part of this, I completely release, is due to my eating habits and I need to get back into the groove I'd had earlier. Part of this will be accomplished by picking up some of the Healthy Choice Cafe Steamer meals rather than going out to lunch five days a week. Five to six points for lunch compared to ten to twelve will go a long way to helping with getting back on the weight loss track.
The other thing I need to do is look at moving to going to the gym five days a week instead of just three (or two). Part of the hold up there has been the need to buy more work-out clothes. I have three pairs of sweat pants that I wear, and I really need to buy new shorts for the gym.
Yes, this post is a bit more of a whine than I've had in the past, but I figure I'm allowed now and again. I do recognize that I've come a long way at this point (68 pounds to date), but another part of me is impatient to reach my final goal and move into simply maintaining a healthy lifestyle. I just have to control that part of my mind, though, to ensure I don't derail myself in frustration.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Life Insurance and Weight Loss
Given that I have a young son, a wife, and a daughter on the way, I've been looking at upping the amount of life insurance I'm currently carrying. One of the interesting things I've found at this point is how insurance companies look at weight loss and how it impacts coverage.
Many people tend to yo-yo on weight loss. They'll lose a lot and then gain back half of it or more in a short period. I've done this before as have many other people. This time around, it's been a slow and steady decline for me and the weight is staying off. Regardless, until you've gone a year with the weight off, most insurance companies will only credit you with half the weight you've lose when looking at their coverage charts. For instance, at this point, I've lost 67 pounds. I am only credited, however, with 33.5 of that, so I'm actually shown for life insurance purposes at 366.5 rather than the 333 the scale shows.
I just talked to the agent at Select Quote, and it looks like all we have to do is wait until my one year anniversary of starting Weight Watchers (this would be the first week in July) and they'll be able to credit me with the whole amount and move forward.
While it's a little annoying not to be able to get the coverage now (since what I get through work is minimal at best)--especially after the car accident on GA400 last week, I find the whole process amusing. Of course, the Insurance business is all about providing coverage while minimizing losses. They're a business and out to make money, which they can't do if they give policies to obese people who then keel over from a heart attack two years later.
Regardless, the agent is on the ball, has a plan, and we can keep rewriting my policy as I keep losing weight until I get to a steady "good" weight, at which point we can lock in a rate for 10-15 years. It's kind of amusing at times to watch how other things shift up and down as you drop weight, even when they're not something that's directly related (like my need yet again for more pants is a directly related thing).
Many people tend to yo-yo on weight loss. They'll lose a lot and then gain back half of it or more in a short period. I've done this before as have many other people. This time around, it's been a slow and steady decline for me and the weight is staying off. Regardless, until you've gone a year with the weight off, most insurance companies will only credit you with half the weight you've lose when looking at their coverage charts. For instance, at this point, I've lost 67 pounds. I am only credited, however, with 33.5 of that, so I'm actually shown for life insurance purposes at 366.5 rather than the 333 the scale shows.
I just talked to the agent at Select Quote, and it looks like all we have to do is wait until my one year anniversary of starting Weight Watchers (this would be the first week in July) and they'll be able to credit me with the whole amount and move forward.
While it's a little annoying not to be able to get the coverage now (since what I get through work is minimal at best)--especially after the car accident on GA400 last week, I find the whole process amusing. Of course, the Insurance business is all about providing coverage while minimizing losses. They're a business and out to make money, which they can't do if they give policies to obese people who then keel over from a heart attack two years later.
Regardless, the agent is on the ball, has a plan, and we can keep rewriting my policy as I keep losing weight until I get to a steady "good" weight, at which point we can lock in a rate for 10-15 years. It's kind of amusing at times to watch how other things shift up and down as you drop weight, even when they're not something that's directly related (like my need yet again for more pants is a directly related thing).
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Little set backs
Weigh in this week was a bit of a set back, with the scale showing me going up 1.6 pounds. This isn't horrible and it's something I've come to expect now and again, but it doesn't make it any less of a downer. I am, however, able to look back over the last week and see where I made my mistakes. My usual pattern has me hording my weekly flex points to use in one swoop (usually about half of them). Last week, though, I nickle and dimed my way through them, meaning I was eating more on a daily basis than usual. I stayed within my points for the week, but the extra on each day built up.
Not to be a complete downer, I did make it to the gym three times again last week, which is good. My right knee, however, started aching about 2/3s of the way through my cardio on Saturday, so I cut it short to keep from sparking an injury that would take me out of the gym completely. Regardless of shortened workouts, I made it all three days, even though I had to force myself to go on Saturday. I need to find the time to start working my weight circuit back into things as well as getting the gym to reactivate my Fitlinxx account to help me with tracking things.
Right now, I have three months to drop 36 pounds to stay on target for my goal. That's twelve pounds a month for the next three months. It's doable, but it's on the top end of doable. We'll see if I'm able to make it and break the 300 pound barrier by my one year Weight Watchers anniversary. It would certainly be nice to be under 300 by my birthday.
Not to be a complete downer, I did make it to the gym three times again last week, which is good. My right knee, however, started aching about 2/3s of the way through my cardio on Saturday, so I cut it short to keep from sparking an injury that would take me out of the gym completely. Regardless of shortened workouts, I made it all three days, even though I had to force myself to go on Saturday. I need to find the time to start working my weight circuit back into things as well as getting the gym to reactivate my Fitlinxx account to help me with tracking things.
Right now, I have three months to drop 36 pounds to stay on target for my goal. That's twelve pounds a month for the next three months. It's doable, but it's on the top end of doable. We'll see if I'm able to make it and break the 300 pound barrier by my one year Weight Watchers anniversary. It would certainly be nice to be under 300 by my birthday.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Monday Update
For those that aren't aware, Monday is my weigh in day for Weight Watchers. As a general rule, I try and publicly update my weight on Mondays along with my progression toward my goals and the like. All measures are, of course, in pounds, because I'm a dirty American.
Current Weight: 334.4
Last Weigh-in: 337.8
Net Loss: 3.4
Total Weight Lost: 65.6
Current Goal: 300
Percent to Goal: 65.6%
Final Goal: 200-225
Percent to Goal: 32.8-37.5%
One of the amusing things is the weight tracker on the WW website will wag a virtual finger at you if you lose more than two pounds in one week. This week and last week, I've gotten the finger wag and the admonition not to lose weight so quickly. Having watched my body since going on WW, though, I'm not terribly worried about it as it all balances out in the end. I tend to go in fits and spurts as I go down the scale. I'm just in one of the spurt modes currently.
I did, however, make it to the gym three days last week, which was a big deal for me. As my left ankle bothers me on and off to varying degrees, it often limits my ability to exercise. This past week, though, I did three sessions of cardio, walking for 35 minutes each time at between 3.3 and 3.8 mph at a 3.0 incline. Each of those netted me 4 activity points, which I didn't touch (nor did I use all my weekly points, though I did dip into them heavily on Saturday for some of Marlow's heavenly carrot cake).
My standard goal now is going to be hitting the gym Tuesday and Thursday afternoon and Saturday morning. I know the optimal time to push my metabolism is to go in the morning, but I've accepted now that I'm just not going to get into the gym before work (at not unless I find a racquetball partner that wants to get up that early). Having dropped over 65 pounds, I did notice a difference in my endurance when I was on the treadmill. I was able to keep going at a higher pace for longer than in the past, which gives me a very meaningful gauge of the good the weight loss is doing me. My resting heart rate is also at 64 currently (having just checked it), which is a marked improvement over the past.
All in all, it was a good week on the weight loss and general health front.
Current Weight: 334.4
Last Weigh-in: 337.8
Net Loss: 3.4
Total Weight Lost: 65.6
Current Goal: 300
Percent to Goal: 65.6%
Final Goal: 200-225
Percent to Goal: 32.8-37.5%
One of the amusing things is the weight tracker on the WW website will wag a virtual finger at you if you lose more than two pounds in one week. This week and last week, I've gotten the finger wag and the admonition not to lose weight so quickly. Having watched my body since going on WW, though, I'm not terribly worried about it as it all balances out in the end. I tend to go in fits and spurts as I go down the scale. I'm just in one of the spurt modes currently.
I did, however, make it to the gym three days last week, which was a big deal for me. As my left ankle bothers me on and off to varying degrees, it often limits my ability to exercise. This past week, though, I did three sessions of cardio, walking for 35 minutes each time at between 3.3 and 3.8 mph at a 3.0 incline. Each of those netted me 4 activity points, which I didn't touch (nor did I use all my weekly points, though I did dip into them heavily on Saturday for some of Marlow's heavenly carrot cake).
My standard goal now is going to be hitting the gym Tuesday and Thursday afternoon and Saturday morning. I know the optimal time to push my metabolism is to go in the morning, but I've accepted now that I'm just not going to get into the gym before work (at not unless I find a racquetball partner that wants to get up that early). Having dropped over 65 pounds, I did notice a difference in my endurance when I was on the treadmill. I was able to keep going at a higher pace for longer than in the past, which gives me a very meaningful gauge of the good the weight loss is doing me. My resting heart rate is also at 64 currently (having just checked it), which is a marked improvement over the past.
All in all, it was a good week on the weight loss and general health front.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
High Fructose Corn Syrup
More and more, I'm becoming one of those people who points at high fructose corn syrup as a contributing factor to obesity in the US. I'm not saying it's the sole cause (after all, we're a nation of lazy fat asses), but it's definitely a contributing factor. Apparently researchers at Princeton University agree, however. The following portion of the article was quoted on Creative Loafing's article about it:
I will freely admit there have been times where I've wanted to throw things at the TV screen when one of those commercials from the corn industry came on trying to claim that high fructose corn syrup was a-ok because it was made from corn. After all, corn is natural, so it's okay, right?
As a general rule, I avoid HFCS as much as possible. I have to give major kudos to Pepsi for bringing back sodas made with cane sugar rather than HFCS, at least in limited quantities. It means if I want to indulge in a non-diet soda, I can grab a Mountain Dew Throwback or a Heritage Dr. Pepper. It's also nice that Kroger carries the imported Coca-cola from Mexico that's made with cane sugar (if you ever get a chance, compare the ingredient labels on one of the cane sugar sodas to the HFCS variety if you want to see more of the differences).
It's good to see research coming out to support the idea that we're making things harder on ourselves by chintzing out on the sweetener in our food.
A Princeton University research team has demonstrated that all sweeteners are not equal when it comes to weight gain: Rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same.
I will freely admit there have been times where I've wanted to throw things at the TV screen when one of those commercials from the corn industry came on trying to claim that high fructose corn syrup was a-ok because it was made from corn. After all, corn is natural, so it's okay, right?
As a general rule, I avoid HFCS as much as possible. I have to give major kudos to Pepsi for bringing back sodas made with cane sugar rather than HFCS, at least in limited quantities. It means if I want to indulge in a non-diet soda, I can grab a Mountain Dew Throwback or a Heritage Dr. Pepper. It's also nice that Kroger carries the imported Coca-cola from Mexico that's made with cane sugar (if you ever get a chance, compare the ingredient labels on one of the cane sugar sodas to the HFCS variety if you want to see more of the differences).
It's good to see research coming out to support the idea that we're making things harder on ourselves by chintzing out on the sweetener in our food.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Back to the Gym
In line with starting up this blog today, I decided I needed to stop being lazy and go back to the gym. After getting home today, I got my son, and off we went to the YMCA. It's wonderful they have child care there, and he really enjoys playing there while I'm in the gym. As a sign that it had been far too long since I'd been to the gym, my Fitlinxx login is deactivated, so I need to get that fixed at some point. My goal today, though, was just for some cardio to get back into the swing of things.
My original intention had been to do 30 minutes plus the 5 minute cooldown period. Instead, I made it 21 plus the cooldown period. The main reason for this wasn't my getting tired. It was, instead, my right knee starting to hurt.
Just from walking, I can hear people exclaiming. The trick, though, is that I set it to the cardio routine. For my weight and age, it decided the proper heart rate for me to maintain was 147. The issue, however, is that even for as much as I weight, I'm in generally good shape, including my heart rate. So in order to keep that 147 heart rate at a 3.8 mph walk, it was cranking the incline up to between 7 and 8. After 15+ minutes of this, my knee wasn't exactly pleased with me.
The important thing, though, is that I made it to the gym. My intention at this point is to go on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and then Saturday mornings. I'll keep things posted here about how well I'm doing on that idea so this will hopefully keep me honest. Just doing weight watchers will only get me so far. There has to be more physical activity than sitting at a desk all day for me to reach my goal.
My original intention had been to do 30 minutes plus the 5 minute cooldown period. Instead, I made it 21 plus the cooldown period. The main reason for this wasn't my getting tired. It was, instead, my right knee starting to hurt.
Just from walking, I can hear people exclaiming. The trick, though, is that I set it to the cardio routine. For my weight and age, it decided the proper heart rate for me to maintain was 147. The issue, however, is that even for as much as I weight, I'm in generally good shape, including my heart rate. So in order to keep that 147 heart rate at a 3.8 mph walk, it was cranking the incline up to between 7 and 8. After 15+ minutes of this, my knee wasn't exactly pleased with me.
The important thing, though, is that I made it to the gym. My intention at this point is to go on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and then Saturday mornings. I'll keep things posted here about how well I'm doing on that idea so this will hopefully keep me honest. Just doing weight watchers will only get me so far. There has to be more physical activity than sitting at a desk all day for me to reach my goal.
So how did I get here?
This morning, I received an email from a friend asking how I got the point that I needed to lose this much weight. She was very polite in her prying and openly admitted she was prying. Obviously I didn't mind the question since I'm responding here publicly rather than privately just to her. I think in the long run doing it here could help someone else in a similar situation, if for no other reason than to give an idea of how someone could get to where I was.
At my heaviest, I was somewhere between 420 and 430 pounds. The majority of the standard scales you can find won't read that high and it took adding a counterweight onto the scale in the doctor's office to get an adequate reading, hence the approximation. How I got to that point was a combination of factors. To get the big one a lot of overweight people will hide behind out of the way, it definitely wasn't just genetics that got me to that point. Yes, I come from Northern European stock that tends to bulkier sizes. I cannot, however, blame my weight simply on genetics. Over the years, I had myself checked for thyroid issues, hormonal issues, and the like in some vain hope of finding a silver bullet to deal with it in a meaningful fashion, none of which came back with anything.
At the end of the day, it was a combination of lifestyle, laziness, and poor choices. I was raised in a Southern Family where 'clean your plate' was the order of the day. Given there was very little portion control, this lead to massive overeating on my part. It's taken years for me to break this habit. I still have problems at times not cleaning my plate due to that ingrained conditioning. It's taken me putting much smaller portions on my plate or, if I'm at a restaurant, asking for a box from the get go to make any dent in this part of this problem.
Laziness was another big issue. The first twelve years of my life, I lived outside of Winston-Salem, NC. I was a reasonably active kid, though I was always tending toward being "husky." I actively played baseball, rode my bike, and did various things to keep me moving that helped somewhat. When I was 12, my family relocated to Atlanta due to my Dad's job. Once I was down here, I lost touch with a lot of the things I'd done to stay active. Instead, I turned into your standard gaming geek who would rather site around a table all weekend playing RPGs rather than being outside doing anything. Add this to a natural proclivity to being lazy and the 'clean your plate' mentality mentioned above and you have someone who is going to start packing on the pounds.
The only time in my life other than the last few months where I made any concerted effort to do something about my weight was the second half of my college years (I phrase it that way only because I graduated from college in 3 years rather than 2). I lived on campus at UGA, walked pretty much everywhere, and played racquetball three to four days a week. I didn't get into good physical condition by any stretch of the imagination, but I was certainly in better physical condition than I'd been at any other point in my life. Once I graduated from college, however, that went by the wayside as I moved back to Atlanta and rediscovered the world 'you can't walk everywhere.'
At various times since then, I've made some sort of effort to lose weight. The issue, at the end of the day, was accountability. I really had nothing that kept me accountable for what I was doing and how I was doing it, so eventually I'd drop it and fall back into old habits. I had good success on phase one of the South Beach Diet a couple of times, but I would also stumble when I transitioned to phase two. There was no real daily accountability to it and as I pursued it, it was more along the lines of 'feel free to each however much you want as long as it's within these categories.' Therefore it simply compounded the issue and led to much more rebound weight gain and the like.
At the end of the day, it was my own laziness and willingness to put up with being overweight that got me to this point. It's going to be finally having enough and getting off my ass that will get me out of it. I still struggle with parts of it. There are some days when I really crave a specific thing (for instance, General Tso's Chicken is a major comfort food for me) or when I just don't want to worry with this. This happens, I accept it, and I move on without letting it derail me. If I give into a craving, I make a note of it, and stay on the horse past that point. Keeping myself accountable, even if it's only to myself through the Weight Watchers app on my iPhone, is a large part of this. The structured way I'm approaching this helps me out much more than the loose 'eat less, exercise more' mantra of past years. It's just a matter of keeping to this until I reach my goal.
At my heaviest, I was somewhere between 420 and 430 pounds. The majority of the standard scales you can find won't read that high and it took adding a counterweight onto the scale in the doctor's office to get an adequate reading, hence the approximation. How I got to that point was a combination of factors. To get the big one a lot of overweight people will hide behind out of the way, it definitely wasn't just genetics that got me to that point. Yes, I come from Northern European stock that tends to bulkier sizes. I cannot, however, blame my weight simply on genetics. Over the years, I had myself checked for thyroid issues, hormonal issues, and the like in some vain hope of finding a silver bullet to deal with it in a meaningful fashion, none of which came back with anything.
At the end of the day, it was a combination of lifestyle, laziness, and poor choices. I was raised in a Southern Family where 'clean your plate' was the order of the day. Given there was very little portion control, this lead to massive overeating on my part. It's taken years for me to break this habit. I still have problems at times not cleaning my plate due to that ingrained conditioning. It's taken me putting much smaller portions on my plate or, if I'm at a restaurant, asking for a box from the get go to make any dent in this part of this problem.
Laziness was another big issue. The first twelve years of my life, I lived outside of Winston-Salem, NC. I was a reasonably active kid, though I was always tending toward being "husky." I actively played baseball, rode my bike, and did various things to keep me moving that helped somewhat. When I was 12, my family relocated to Atlanta due to my Dad's job. Once I was down here, I lost touch with a lot of the things I'd done to stay active. Instead, I turned into your standard gaming geek who would rather site around a table all weekend playing RPGs rather than being outside doing anything. Add this to a natural proclivity to being lazy and the 'clean your plate' mentality mentioned above and you have someone who is going to start packing on the pounds.
The only time in my life other than the last few months where I made any concerted effort to do something about my weight was the second half of my college years (I phrase it that way only because I graduated from college in 3 years rather than 2). I lived on campus at UGA, walked pretty much everywhere, and played racquetball three to four days a week. I didn't get into good physical condition by any stretch of the imagination, but I was certainly in better physical condition than I'd been at any other point in my life. Once I graduated from college, however, that went by the wayside as I moved back to Atlanta and rediscovered the world 'you can't walk everywhere.'
At various times since then, I've made some sort of effort to lose weight. The issue, at the end of the day, was accountability. I really had nothing that kept me accountable for what I was doing and how I was doing it, so eventually I'd drop it and fall back into old habits. I had good success on phase one of the South Beach Diet a couple of times, but I would also stumble when I transitioned to phase two. There was no real daily accountability to it and as I pursued it, it was more along the lines of 'feel free to each however much you want as long as it's within these categories.' Therefore it simply compounded the issue and led to much more rebound weight gain and the like.
At the end of the day, it was my own laziness and willingness to put up with being overweight that got me to this point. It's going to be finally having enough and getting off my ass that will get me out of it. I still struggle with parts of it. There are some days when I really crave a specific thing (for instance, General Tso's Chicken is a major comfort food for me) or when I just don't want to worry with this. This happens, I accept it, and I move on without letting it derail me. If I give into a craving, I make a note of it, and stay on the horse past that point. Keeping myself accountable, even if it's only to myself through the Weight Watchers app on my iPhone, is a large part of this. The structured way I'm approaching this helps me out much more than the loose 'eat less, exercise more' mantra of past years. It's just a matter of keeping to this until I reach my goal.
Starting something new
After receiving a question from a friend via email today, I made the decision to start up this blog. The intention here is to chronicle my weight loss in one place that isn't cluttered by other things in my livejournal and to be able to keep things in one place for later use.
The title of the blog describes what my goal is. In July of 2009, I find the final decision to lose the weight that I'd been carrying around for years, totalling in the range of 200 pounds. My intention is to drop half my body weight in two years, putting me losing weight at a rate of approximately 8.3 pounds a month (or just shy of 2 pounds a week).
I have a young son and a daughter on the way. The way I was a year ago, I didn't have the energy I wanted to be able to play with my kids and was on a fast track to developing some sort of health ailment that would likely have had me dead before either of them reached adulthood. That was something that simply wasn't acceptable to me and finally pushed me into doing something about it.
At the same time, I'd seen the success two friends of mine had had using Weight Watchers. As this was something I hadn't tried before, I wanted to give it a go to see how it worked for me. Going forward here, I will likely have commentary on Weight Watchers and it may come off as a commercial for the program at times, but this is simply because, for me, it works. Since July of last year, I have lost 62.2 pounds (approximately since I may have been above 400 at start). This has all been done primarily just on Weight Watcher with very little added physical activity.
If you're reading this, I hope you find something here that will peak your interest, inspire you to do something similiar, or just to stick around to read now and again. At the end of the day, this is just my way of chronicling this journey and keeping myself honest during the journey.
The title of the blog describes what my goal is. In July of 2009, I find the final decision to lose the weight that I'd been carrying around for years, totalling in the range of 200 pounds. My intention is to drop half my body weight in two years, putting me losing weight at a rate of approximately 8.3 pounds a month (or just shy of 2 pounds a week).
I have a young son and a daughter on the way. The way I was a year ago, I didn't have the energy I wanted to be able to play with my kids and was on a fast track to developing some sort of health ailment that would likely have had me dead before either of them reached adulthood. That was something that simply wasn't acceptable to me and finally pushed me into doing something about it.
At the same time, I'd seen the success two friends of mine had had using Weight Watchers. As this was something I hadn't tried before, I wanted to give it a go to see how it worked for me. Going forward here, I will likely have commentary on Weight Watchers and it may come off as a commercial for the program at times, but this is simply because, for me, it works. Since July of last year, I have lost 62.2 pounds (approximately since I may have been above 400 at start). This has all been done primarily just on Weight Watcher with very little added physical activity.
If you're reading this, I hope you find something here that will peak your interest, inspire you to do something similiar, or just to stick around to read now and again. At the end of the day, this is just my way of chronicling this journey and keeping myself honest during the journey.
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