Forks Over Knives

I enjoyed this movie that I saw on NetFlix. I makes a strong and compelling case that health problems are largely preventable and reversible.

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

Bravo to Michael Pollan for this important article on the western diet. Bravo to me for reading it a mere 5 1/2 years later.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

70 Pound Update

As of today, December 19, 2012, I'm down 70.5 lbs. That's 236 to 165.5. My goal is 160. My BMI was 36.1. Now it's 25.3. My goal is 24.5. (Healthy range is 20-25).

My waist went from 40-42" to a 32". I've been buying clothes at thrift stores as I dropped. I'm glad I discovered them. There's no real reason not to shop at the nicer ones all the time.

I'm not particularly active and have gone on some walks but do not have an exercise routine as yet. I just got "Habits of Health" as a gift and may take up exercise as I get through those parts of the book.

When I hit my goal, I will maintain some important aspects of my new eating discipline. I'll eat 6 times per day at 2.5-3 hour intervals. I'll continue to enjoy vegetables and lean meats/seafood, and will add fruit, dairy and a little whole grains (and the occasional bites of "bad" foods like pie).

I have come to terms with cutting out past favorites entirely including: Cheez-its, Oreos, frozen pizza, pizza rolls, Doritos, white bread, donuts, fast-food burgers and fries. I will never again sit down on the couch with a bag of potato chips.

I realize that patronizing food manufacturing companies got me into this mess in the first place. They don't care about my health, no matter what the packaging says. I wish I could change their ways them for everyone's sake. But all I can do is stop buying from them.

Congratulations to all for your efforts and successes with weight loss. Enjoy the holidays. Remember: the first two bites taste the best, so just stop there!

Thanksgiving

I went into the Thanksgiving holiday armed with many tools:

• Thanksgiving has lots of "Lean Protein" and plenty of vegetables.
• When it comes to pie, the first two bites taste best. Enjoy, then stop.
• Thanksgiving is a "meal," not a 4-day eating extravaganza

Well... for the first time since I started 4 months ago, I let loose. Completely loose. "Keep the M&M's in front of me" loose. "Two dessert plates" loose. "My stomach hurts" loose.

That said, it's over and I'm back. The penalty was 4.5 lbs at the scale. 2 are gone already, and based on past results, the other 2.5 should take a week or less. When I started I had broken into the 160's at 169. So I get to enjoy crossing that threshold again.

Guess how old this suit is?

I reached into the pocket and found the alteration ticket from Dillards. It was dated July 1988. I bought that suit 24 years ago and it fits me beautifully today. I haven't worn it much over the years, obviously, so it's as good as new!

In 1988, I was 27 years old and working for D'Arcy advertising,living in Soulard. I had not yet met Jody. My parents were in their 50's. And that suit was brand new.

Soon, I'll be in the 160's!

I can't express how wonderful it feels for me to wear 33" waist jeans and preparing to give my 36"-ers away. I'll soon break 170 - I'm pretty sure I was still single the last time I weighed under 170.

I recommend this program to anyone who's ready. It works, it's not difficult and the rewards are lavish!

60 Lbs!

This morning I weighed 175.5. I celebrated by shaving my goatee (such as it was).

The last time I weighed this much? Probably about 1990 (22 yrs ago). In 1996 I got down to 180 or so by running 3 miles a day.

New Flair

I'm headed over to http://reddit.com/r/loseit to get my 55-lb flair! It looks like this:

Last week...

Last week I lost 2 lbs. That's less than usual on this plan, Take Shape for Life. It was pretty frustrating.

Every day, I eat 5 of their low-calorie meal replacements, plus one 'regular' meal. Each of the Medifast MRs is about 100 calories, so I had maybe 550 calories there. The 'regular' meals are lean protein and green vegetables. The protein is typically chicken breast (6 oz.) or fish/shrimp (7 oz.). Sometimes we make a recipe (Sandy's Kitchen Adventures) and that protein might be eggs/cheese. The green vegetable is usually lettuce (3 cups), spinach (1.5 c), greens, like mustard greens or kale (1.5 c), or maybe zucchini or eggplant. We don't even have green beans because they're higher in carbs. Carbs are the enemy. We also have some fat with that meal, like dressing or a little oil for sautéeing.

So 550 for the MRs and MAYBE 500 for the lean and green meal. Now THAT'S a calorie deficit! And that deficit is why my average weekly loss has averaged 4.X lbs. So a whole week with 2lbs to show for it is frustrating. Especially given the up/down daily scale readings. In other words, for part of the week, it looked like I gained weight.

When this happens, which is seldom, I figure it's because I had something salty and I'm retaining water in the AM. A late-night pickle as a snack might do it. An extra ounce of lean protein in the form of cottage cheese has a nice little dose of sodium also. These items aren't enough calories to impact my results, and they don't have enough carbs to push me out of the fat-burning state. But they show up on the scale in the morning. Drinking plenty of water can help (the daily goal is 64 oz., but more is fine too).

The good news is this. The following week is usually a good one. Last week was 2. This week is 4 so far (Sun: 186, Fri: 182). That is motivating.

One last note: Sandy's Kitchen Adventures is a wonderful resource. The recipes are good. (Hey, nothing on this diet is 5-star delicious. I'll save the exuberant praise for the weight-loss results.) It's fun to be back in the kitchen slicing, chopping using the pots and pans. Her writing style is very personable. I love reading stuff from real people as much as I hate reading stuff from impersonal organizations. THE BEST PART is that she provides the counts of lean protein, green vegetables, healthy fats and condiments that we track on the plan. That makes it easy to record what we're eating. And it makes doubling or splitting recipes easy to manage and track. Thank you Sandy!

C'mon 50!

From 236 to 186.5 (this morning). Yeah! 26 more pounds to my goal!

It's been pretty easy to stay with this. The weight comes off so quickly - it's really motivating. And, as you may have heard many times before:
I'm not hungry all the time
I have more energy
I'm very happy with the way I look
...stuff like that.

And all I had to do was reject, wholesale, the American industrial food complex!

What you should know about Take Shape for Life

I started at 236lbs. I'm currently at 195lbs. (That's 41 lbs lost). IN TWO MONTHS!

Here are a few things you should know about TSFL:

• You start with a health coach. Mine is a guy named David. He's been working the program for a while and knows a lot about the why's and wherefore's. He's handled all my questions so far, and has been very encouraging to boot.
• TSFL is more than just a diet. But I'll tell you about the diet. Once I hit my goal, I'll learn more about other aspects. For now, I've been very focused on the diet part. And with excellent results.
• I never feel famished. I eat 6 times per day, about every 2.5 to 3 hours. Even though I'm eating about 1,000 calories per day (creating quite a caloric deficit), it really doesn't feel like it. And it's not hard.
• Five of those meals are low-calorie meal replacements.
• One of them is the Lean/Green meal. Lean protein (chicken, fish, veggie options) and green vegetables.
• I have to eat healthy fats every day. Apparently that's good for the gall bladder.
• I eat over 72g of protein. That makes me feel full.
• My carbohydrate intake is limited to about 80-100 grams per day. So I'm not using them for fuel. Rather, I'm burning fat. LOTS of it.
• TSFL is VERY STRUCTURED. That's a good thing, at least for me it has been. Bear in mind:
• My physician has been telling me, for a LONG time, to be more active, eat more healthy foods, stay away from high-carb, high-glycemic index stuff and so on. He told me to eat more of a Mediterranean diet. He told me to snack on nuts (just a palmful).
• That advice is well-intentioned and sound. But it's not very easy to follow. It doesn't tell me what to eat when. And it leaves many questions unanswered: What constitutes "high-carb?" How many carbs should I have per day? How about fat? How about protein? Can I eat at restaurants ever? How will I know?
• With Take Shape for Life, I know exactly what to do. And it is DO-able.
• My physician told me about it. He sees it as an extension of his practice. He told me something very interesting which I will paraphrase heavily:
• "I treat people for high-cholesterol, typically with prescriptions. A lot of them really need to lose weight. But I've never had a concrete weight-loss program to offer them. I'll continue to write prescriptions, but now I have TSFL to offer them as well. Many won't do it, but some will. And they'll lose weight, lowering their risk for ALL those related ills: high blood pressure, heart disease, type-II Diabetes, arterial disease, high cholesterol and so on. It's just another way to treat the same conditions. But in fact it's a lot better for most of them than simply taking medications." 

That's the gist. I'll add more as I progress.

I have lost 40 pounds so far

Congratulations to me.

Looking for Inspiration?

Visit http://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/

There, you'll see inspirational, unedited stories of weight loss complete with before/after photos. And the writers are mainly young people, teenagers and twenty-somethings who are transforming their bodies and their lives as they prepare for their futures.

And there are A LOT of them.

Read it. It will inspire you.

That was then, this is now

Oh how the weight loss has slowed.

In my very first week, I dropped 11 lbs! There after, I've seen 7 to 4 lb losses per week. I was weighing myself every morning and, more often than not, I'd see a new, lower number each day. That was then - this is now.

For the last couple of weeks, the losses have been more modest. I'm still sticking to the plan as well as I always have, but the results are slower to come. The Take Shape for Life plan promises 2-5 lbs per week. I'm getting around 2 to 2.5.

I'm pleased, of course. But I need to readjust my expected timeline. I had been thinking that I'd be at my goal by November or December. Perhaps it'll be January or February.

It's not a race. That's the advice I got from my health coach, David. He's right. Since the beginning I have been losing at a rapid rate. An attention-getting rate. That was fun. But that was then, this is now.

Today: 197 lbs
Loss to date: 39 lbs
Remaining: 37 lbs
Goal: 160 lbs

BROKE 200!

This morning, I weighed 199.5 and my BMI is about 30.5.

Currently: OBESE (per those confounded BMI charts)
1.5 more lbs: Half-way to my goal
4.0 more lbs: I'll be merely "overweight!"

What a Man(nequin)!

I'm not exactly a clothes horse, but I've got to do something.

My pants don't fit. But I don't want to buy new clothes yet. What to do?

Well, I went to Goodwill and St. Vincent De Paul (a thrift store in St. Louis). Here's what I got:

• $4, a pair of Levi's
• $3, a short-sleeve shirt with a button-down collar
• $5, a pretty nice polo shirt. Slazinger, I believe
• $3, a long-sleeve oxford button-down shirt

Plus a belt at Burlington Coat Factory and I'm good to go for another 20-30 lbs. When I pass 170, I'll get out the checkbook and take a trip to the real mall. December maybe?

Diminishing returns. But not the dreaded "Plateau"

Week 1: 11.5 lbs
Week 2: 4.5 lbs
Week 3: 5.0 lbs
Week 4: 6.0 lbs
Week 5: 3.5 lbs


The gains (losses) are coming a little slower lately. I'm sticking to the plan very well. I think some exercise will help. I've been taking occasional walks. Maybe it's time to run a little or start doing push-ups and sit-ups. I believe the term is "Thermogenesis." Let's heat things up a little!

Big day for my lovely wife

My dear wife has borne witness to my rapid weight loss and she's decided to give it a try herself. She signed up for the Take Shape For Life program and ordered her first month of food. It should be here by the end of the week.

Rather than wait for her order to arrive, she's decided to start tomorrow, 8/27 and just eat some of my food for now. So from time to time, I'll provide updates on her progress in this space also.

Good luck dear! I support you 100%

Did you hear that sound?!

It was the sound of me crossing the 30 pound threshold this morning. Yay! Feeling good today.

Dieting is like cleaning my house

Layers.

Cleaning my house

• First layer - continuously: throwing out clutter such as junk mail, old newspapers, unneeded receipts, empty bags, empty boxes.
• Second layer - every day or two: putting this where they belong including coupons, keys, books, bills, dirty clothes, putting food away, straightening the counter-tops in the kitchen, making the bed, pushing in all the chairs, setting the remotes in the basket, emptying all the trash cans, and so on.
• Third layer - weekly (ha! I wish): wiping down counter-tops, kitchen chairs, appliances, shaking out doormats, sweeping, mopping, dusting, vacuuming, cleaning the bathrooms.
• Fourth layer - seasonally: washing the windows, cleaning the baseboards, scouring floors, cleaning various hand-holds (door knobs and surfaces, light switches(!)), hosing down the deck, hosing down the siding, cleaning out closets, the garage...

Of course there's more; it never ends. But you get the idea.

Dieting

• First layer - takes a week: 5 pounds of water weight, the last day or two of fast food or a couple of big meals.
• Second layer - takes a 4-6 weeks (at least on Take Shape for Life, which is a rapid plan): 20 pounds. The fat-face weight. The "all my pants are too tight" weight. The "I've stopped tucking in my shirts" weight. The "some of my old clothes fit again" weight.

I've just completed this layer. My body wants to sit here for a while, but alas there's a lot more weight to go.

• Third layer - takes more months: This is the next 25-40+ pounds. This is weight that's been on there for a while, perhaps a decade or more. Since before my last lifestyle change. For some, it dates back to their youth. Or since they graduated college, or since their kids started school, or since they graduated. For me, this will take me back about 25 years. Since the time I got married. That's when all my current lifestyle's bad habits started layering on - literally - the pounds.

These pounds are stubborn. But so am I.

Digital scales - the only ones they have in hell

Each morning, I step on my digital scale. Then I step off. Then step on, then off. Then I move it to another place on the tile floor of my bathroom. Step on, off, on, off. Let it shut off. Move it again. Step on, step off. By now, I have two to four different readings,

Then I look in the mirror, pinch my cheeks, check my belly profile and decide what weight I'm going to record on my "Success Tracker."

What a pain. Has that ever happened to you? Is there a scale on the market (the popular-priced market) that won't give me this headache?

Eat Every 3 Hours

Eating all day long, sort of. It makes a big difference.

I've lost nearly a pound a day for the last 32 days (28.5lbs lost). That's remarkable. And it hasn't been very difficult - at least once I cleared the 3-4 day hump.

I'll tell you the secret, at least as I see it: They have me eating every 3 hours. So I'm not ever very hungry. Before I started with TSFL, it was not uncommon for me to skip breakfast, have a light lunch then a big 2-hour-long dinner. I thought that skipping meals was reducing my calories and helping me stay, um..., whatever.

Turns out that eating 6 small meals a day is an essential component to my recent success with the Take Shape for Life program.

And it's very "doable."

I guess I can start telling my story now

I've been at it for a month, so I guess it's safe to tell you.

The chart says I'm obese.

The Body Mass Index (BMI) charts I see around the Internet. I would have said "overweight," but since there's a technical definition obesity (BMI > 30), I'll reluctantly go with that label.

Today, I'm less obese than I was, but I still meet the definition. I don't feel obese at the moment. In fact, I'm wearing older, smaller clothes. And I'm tucking-in my shirt.And when I interlace my fingers, my hands don't feel puffy. I guess those measures are part of my personal standard for obesity. But I understand the value of objective measurements, having worked in manufacturing process improvement where measurements are king.

I'm currently losing weight with a program called Take Shape For Life (TSFL). My health coach, David, works for them and is a terrific resource. I heard about TSFL from my physician and he hooked me up with David. I buy the 'food' from a website that has his name in the URL.

In a word: Effective. That's how I'd describe the program. It's been 31 days and I've lost 27.5 lbs.

Results to date:

Date	Weight (lbs.)	BMI*
07/22/2012	236.0	36.1
08/21/2012	208.5	31.9

* BMI calculated by http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/bminojs.htm

My target BMI is 163 lbs or 24.9 (that's just inside the healthy weight band). I'd like to be there by November or December.

Wish me luck!