May 30th Weigh-In & THE PLAN

Sunday, our daughter was confirmed and we had an open house.  This meant walking tacos, meatballs, German potato salad, crackers, cake, etc...  On Memorial Day, we cooked dogs and brats on the grill along with left overs from the party.  I didn't even bother to record what I ate.  This was partly because it would be too hard to recall and estimate portion sizes and partly because I simply didn't want to hold myself accountable.

I wasn't as restrained as I planned to be.  I was more restrained than I would have been 2 months ago.  I figured that I would pay for it at the scale. 

I lost 2 lbs.  So did I pay for it?  Who knows?  I was thrilled that I didn't gain or even maintain, but lost.  Perhaps, I would have lost more had I not eaten so poorly.  The scale is a funny thing.  I think water retention can make it look like you haven't lost any when you have or like you have lost when you haven't.  Also, I think that your body's weight loss or gain isn't based on any one meal, one day, or even one week.  I believe that the body responds to consistency over time (If that makes any sense).  I weigh 14.5 lbs. less then I did two months ago.  That is the result of consistency over time.

THE PLAN
My plan is quite simple: 

Food
Record everything I eat which I do using "fitday.com".   I try to keep my fat consumption under 30%, my calories under 2200 (I am 6'2"), eat unprocessed foods, and eat lots of veggies. 

Exercise
Currently I run 3 days a week and weight train 3 days a week.  I plan to add three days of another cardio activity like bike riding. 

My over all philosophy is to behave like someone who is fit. After all...


Living Fit Is My #1 Job!

May 23 Weigh-In

I lost a pound this week.  I happy that it continues to go down.  Rationally, I know that this is what I should expect.    11.5 lbs. in six weeks is really good.  For the most part, I am fine with it.  I am not expecting to have "Biggest Loser" type losses. My frustration is with the overall time it takes to lose the weight.  I very much want to get under 300 lbs.  Psychologically, it would be a great relief.  I know I just need to keep plugging away, living fit, and letting the weight come off naturally.

I guess that it is partly that I seem to have tricked myself into thinking that I gained the weight very quickly, therefore I should be able to take it off quickly.  In reality, it did not put it on overnight.  I was just deluding myself.  When I finally started to look at my excess weight realistically, it just seemed like I went from gaining a few pounds to gaining a lot.

Still, I will take joy in the loss of one pound (especially knowing that there will be weeks that I will not lose any or even gain).  It's one pound less than I weighed last week, and 11.5 lbs. less than I weighed 6 week ago.

Living Fit Is My #1 Job!  

May 16th Weigh-In

Last Friday, we went to a wedding. I did not control myself, although I planned to.  I ate a big breakfast and a regular lunch.  I had snacks.  My goal arrive at the reception without feeling famished. It was a 5PM wedding.  The reception was nearby with a staring time of 7PM. We figured we would start eating between 7:30 and 8PM.  They did have some fruit, crackers, garlic bread, and cheese to nibble on.  When the couple hadn't arrived by 8PM, we had cleared out that table.  I was not as reserved as I hoped to be.  By the time we did get our food for dinner, it was after 9PM.  I was quite hungry.  I wasn't out of control, but I was far from reserved.  When I figured my calories later, I discovered that last Friday, I consumed more the twice what I normally eat.

One day, one night, one time out of the ordinary.  This is not an all or nothing proposition that I am on.  This is a lifestyle that I am living.  These sorts of things will happen.  There is no avoiding them. For all my plans, I can't plan for everything. 

This week, I attended a work related conference.  I had little control over the food served.  I did well.  Well, that is until the banquet on Tuesday night.  The salad they served was filled with blue cheese.  I hate blue cheese.  So I gave the cheese to someone else. Otherwise it was basically spinach and a tiny bit of some sweet vinaigrette.  There was a wonder dinner roll which I ate without butter.  Then diiner was served.  It was a large piece of steak, breaded fish, vegetables, and a mound of garlic mashed potatoes (no gravy).  I ate everything.  For desert was a delicious piece of chocolate cake with some sort of chocolate sauce that oozed out when I stuck my fork in it.  Later I had 2 beers.  I figured my calories for the day to me around one and a half times what I normally eat.

No use beating myself up over it.  It happened.  I go on living my fit lifestyle.

Today, was able to step back on the scale again.  After the two days indulgences, I hoped to remain even, but suspected it would be a gain.  Instead, I was down 2.5 lbs.

I don't think I will ever understand how the body works.  One week, I will eat healthy all week.  I will exercise all week.  Then, I will see little to no weight loss.  Then I have a week like this past one and lose an exceptional amount of weight.  I know there are all sorts of factors like water retention, muscle gain, muscle loss, etc.  I know it is the overall trend of a healthy lifestyle, not what I lose in a particular week or month or year. 

All that being said, it was a very welcome loss.  I had been feeling down.  Though my clothes are a little looser, they aren't all that much looser.  It's more like they are beginning to fit the way they should.  I don't look any different in the mirror.  I didn't feel like I was losing weight.  In fact, I felt like was gaining.  I know that is totally subjective.  Sometimes, I feel like I am losing.  Sometimes, I feel like I am gaining.  There is nothing objective about it.  I know I should take pride in living a fit lifestyle.  I shouldn't be too emotionally wrapped up in a scale.  But it was a great boost to see that number this morning.

Living Fit Is My #1 Job!

May 9th Weigh-In

This morning I weighed 317lbs. for a loss of 2 lbs. I completed another day running with my daughters.  I figured that we are in our 6th week of running.  I think I read somewhere that it takes 6-8 weeks to form a habit.  I missed running so much.  Even though I am nowhere near where I was before, I am thrilled to running.  Even more, I am proud of my daughters for their determination.
Living Fit Is My #1 Job!

Wow- Two and a Half Years

Where does the time go? Too much has happened to report it all. Suffice it to say that I did not maintain living a fit lifestyle. I never really gave up. Basically when I stopped running, regular exercise slowly slipped out of my life. I fell back into some pretty bad eating habits, interrupted by some attempts to get it under control. I have been exercising for over a month now. I get in cardio 3 days a week and strength training 2-3 day a week. Right now I have no goals in terms of running in races, triathlons or any other goals except to maintain this habit. I fear pushing myself too much will lead to another injury and another downward spiral.

I have my two oldest children to thank. Before Easter, they both came to me and said they wanted to start running. I decided to go with them, but take it easy. Hopefully my tendon won't sideline me again. However, they are a great motivation to me.

So what do I weigh now. My last official weigh-in was 319 lbs. I have lost seven lbs. in 3 weeks. I didn't check my at first. Thankfully, I have kept off over 50 lbs. from my original weight. More important, I am living a fit lifestyle once again. I can once again say, "Living Fit is my #1 Job!"