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!