Fat Harry

Hi Everyone,

Here's my full disclosure post.

The Backslide

On January 2, 2018 I weighed 221 lbs. For context, my highest weight back in 2012 was 236. My lowest was 157 (hard to believe). It took some years, but I made it back over 200. Well over, in fact.

So this year, I got back to it. I'm doing a lot of what I learned from Take Shape for Life (TSFL), but I'm doing it without subscribing to their food. I have a protein bar at 6am, 9am, noon, 3pm, then I have a healthy dinner (lean protein like turkey, tofu, lean pork or the occasional something else). After dinner I may have a bag of skinny pop.

I eat more variety now, including some fruit and higher-carb veggies like green beans. I like Wasa crackers (35-50 cals each) and I eat them despite the fact that they're high in carbs.

I average about 1500-1600 calories per day. TSFL had me around 1200-1400 per day. I was losing around 2-2.5 lbs per week before. It was very motivating. Now I'm targeting 1 pound per week.

I track everything in cronometer (the android app and the website at cronometer.com. Note there is no 'H' in cronometer). It's a pretty awesome app.

My Current Progress

This morning I weighed 205. That's down 16 lbs from New Years. It's more than a pound per week, but those early pounds come off the quickest. I have already felt some of the satisfaction associated with losing weight -- some clothes fit better, tighten my belt one more hole. But I haven't dropped any sizes yet.

So here I am. My goal is to be in the 170s. 175 would be nice. A related goal is to not re-gain my weight like I did last time. I am older and somewhat wiser. When I get to my goal, I will not go "off" my diet like I did before. I will loosen up a bit, but there will be no 1/2 pizzas, unlimited chips/salsa or daily PBJ sandwiches. I do like a little ice cream now and again. I think low cal will satisfy me, and I'll indulge around special occasions and not keep it around. You get the idea. No more carte blanche.

I'm confident I'll get there. The first time around, I proved to myself that I can do it once I start. Starting is definitely the hard part. But after a couple of weeks, it gets so much easier.

I'll check in from time to time. And I'll visit reddit.com/r/loseit for inspiration. I recommend you do the same. There are some amazing people out there.

All the best,

Harry

It's April 22 - I'm still thin!

Hit a new low of 157 the other day. I've been at or below my goal of 160 since January. That's an important stat.

It's been 75 lbs

Still on track.

This morning, I tipped the scales at 161. That's officially 75 lbs below my starting weight of 236. And a scant 1 lb from my goal (although I've decided to dip into the 150s just for fun).

Yay me. Feeling and looking good.

A New Low

That's right. I've sunk to a new low. 161.5. The past 4 weeks have been a new experience for me. Some weeks ago, I hit 162.5. That was my low point at the time. Between Christmas and the boys being home over winter break, we ate a few really delicious meals out of the house. My weight responded by bouncing around a little bit, reaching 166 one morning following a family outing to Charlie Gitto's. by the way, they have the best Eggplant Parmesan I've ever tasted!

Anyway, I found it easy to have an oatmeal PCMR (portion controlled meal replacement) for breakfast, then stick with my 5+1 meal plan. So in a couple of days my weight came back down. In diets past, I believe that meal out would have been my turn-around-and-eat-like-a-horse-for'-months moment. But with Take Shape For Life, I have a ready, workable means to stay in control.

I am very grateful for that! I truly believe I can live the rest of my life near my current weight. I'd like to stay below 165. That's where the clothes feel nice and I feel best.

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?