The scale has not budged this week except for this morning when it went up a half pound. I know that it doesn't really count until my Monday weigh-in, but it's still frustrating. Psychologically, I want to cut my calories back. Logically, that doesn't make sense. In fact, I wonder if I restricted my calories too much to begin with and now I am feeling the effects of screwing around with my metabolism. On the other hand, I have been putting in the exercise. 1-2+ of cardio every day. Weight lifting 3 days a week. In the end, it's not really about the scale number. It's about being as ready as I possibly can be for this marathon. The less weight I am lugging for 26.2 miles, the better off I will be.
Living Fit Is My #1 Job!
Weight Loss Ticker
Friday, April 10, 2009
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
How Not To Diet
Throughout my life, I have been on many diets. I sort of thought of myself as a dieting expert. Funny, I was about 380 lbs. and thought of myself as a dieting expert. In one sense, I did know what to do. I knew what healthy foods were. I knew about portion control. I knew about having a well balanced diet. I knew about avoiding restaurants, highly refined and processed foods such as sugar, white flour, pepperoni, hot dogs, etc... I knew to avoid high fat foods. I knew that it needed to be a lifestyle. I knew all that, but there I was 380 lbs.
In truth, I didn't think of changing my lifestyle, but making temporary changes to achieve a certain weight at which point, I wouldn't feel guilty for eating all those terrible foods. When you are thin and eat horrible, people look at you as a role model, an example of what they want, and of course someone to envy. Therefore, my goal was always to get to a certain, to look thin, to appear healthy and fit so that I could eat unhealthy.
When I started this journey of fitness, I did start with a weight goal. I wanted to lose half my body weight. However, there was a bigger goal in mind. I was going through a lot of stress at the time (and still am). I have seen a lot of people end with nervous breakdowns, panic attacks, heart attacks, and even death because they weren't fit. All things bringing so much stress in my life couldn't be dealt with if I was sick, in the hospital, incapacitated, or dead. I knew that I had start living fit or I was going to bring a lot of hardship on myself and the people around me because I was refusing to take care of my health. So the weight loss was only a sub-goal in the grander scheme of things. Though I think it was more important to me at the beginning than it is now. Anyhow, fitness is the grand goal.
Having fitness as my goal is a wonderful goal. It's not some far off, pie in the sky dream like reaching a certain weight on the scale always seems to be. I can achieve fitness every day. Each day, I can eat healthy. Each day I can be active by exercising, playing with my kids, going for a walk, or just getting my butt up and doing something. Weighing less does play a part in living fit. The closer to a healthy weight I get, the more active I can be. The closer I get, the more opportunities I have. For example, could you imagine a 380 lb. person trying to go up a rock climbing wall, competing in a triathlon, or even fitting in a single seat with no extender on an airplane? When all is said and done, I can live fit every day.
Living fit each day, doesn't mean perfection. It doesn't mean I won't eat a cookie, or skip some exercise or just veg out on the couch. It doesn't mean that I will always eat the best things at a potluck or at a restaurant. I doesn't mean that I will lose weight every week until I am at a healthy weight.
Living fit means making making a pattern of eating healthy and staying active. It means accepting that you will not be perfect, but not using that as an excuse to live unhealthy. Before, I lived unhealthy with a few healthy aberrations thrown into the mix. Now, I live healthy with a few realistic, less-healthy moments thrown into the mix. Living fit means living in a different world. It means living in the same world, but with a different world-view/paradigm/outlook/model (not sure which word fits best).
Therefore, I do not consider myself to be on a diet (with the exception of my current calorie restriction for the purpose of preparing for the marathon). For me the word diet means a temporary way of eating. Diet are what you go on. Normal eating is how you live. Therefore, I believe that diets are not the answer for long term fitness and health. Making a new normal is the key. With fitness as a goal, the scale numbers will follow as a bonus. The numbers may not be high or dramatic or quick, but they will be real.
WebMD had an interesting article on how not to diet. They say to avoid the five following dieting techniques:
1) Diets which focus on particular foods or food groups like the cabbage soup diet, some of the low-carb diets, or any diet that forbids a particular food. On one hand, they can be unhealthy because of what you miss out from certain foods or food groups. On the other hand, having something restricted can cause us to crave those foods leading to binging.
2) Detox diets are simply hokum. The body is well equipped with any toxins in the body.
3) Diets with "miracle" foods or supplements don't cause weight loss.
4) Fasting and very low-calorie diets will slow down your metabolism causing you to gain weight on fewer calories. This is the culprit behind the "yo-yo" dieting.
5) Diets that sound too good to be true ARE. This is where those slime balls on TV tell you about some secret to weight loss that the government, food industry, farmers, or aliens are trying to keep you from knowing so that they can have control over your life and make more money. They tell you that shoving a dozen donuts in your pie hole every day and eating a bucket of fries as a snack isn't cause of your weight gain. No, it's some evil organization that is making you fat. the truth is that it is these charlatans are the ones who are trying to make money off of us being fat.
My conclusions: 1) All of these diets probably show results at first, but I suspect that they are not sustainable over the long haul at best and may hurt your health at worst. 2) The only way to lose weight is if the calories you take in are less than the calories you use. So instead of finding some gimmick to achieve this, we should find a way to make healthy eating habits with slightly less calories than needed coupled with expending more calories with increasing our daily activity. This, in my opinion, has the best chances of being sustained for the long haul. 3) There are psychological factors that will aren't addressed by any diet that need to be addressed to make healthy living a lifestyle. 4) As I said earlier, fitness is a better goal than the number on the scale.
Living Fit Is My #1 Job!
In truth, I didn't think of changing my lifestyle, but making temporary changes to achieve a certain weight at which point, I wouldn't feel guilty for eating all those terrible foods. When you are thin and eat horrible, people look at you as a role model, an example of what they want, and of course someone to envy. Therefore, my goal was always to get to a certain, to look thin, to appear healthy and fit so that I could eat unhealthy.
When I started this journey of fitness, I did start with a weight goal. I wanted to lose half my body weight. However, there was a bigger goal in mind. I was going through a lot of stress at the time (and still am). I have seen a lot of people end with nervous breakdowns, panic attacks, heart attacks, and even death because they weren't fit. All things bringing so much stress in my life couldn't be dealt with if I was sick, in the hospital, incapacitated, or dead. I knew that I had start living fit or I was going to bring a lot of hardship on myself and the people around me because I was refusing to take care of my health. So the weight loss was only a sub-goal in the grander scheme of things. Though I think it was more important to me at the beginning than it is now. Anyhow, fitness is the grand goal.
Having fitness as my goal is a wonderful goal. It's not some far off, pie in the sky dream like reaching a certain weight on the scale always seems to be. I can achieve fitness every day. Each day, I can eat healthy. Each day I can be active by exercising, playing with my kids, going for a walk, or just getting my butt up and doing something. Weighing less does play a part in living fit. The closer to a healthy weight I get, the more active I can be. The closer I get, the more opportunities I have. For example, could you imagine a 380 lb. person trying to go up a rock climbing wall, competing in a triathlon, or even fitting in a single seat with no extender on an airplane? When all is said and done, I can live fit every day.
Living fit each day, doesn't mean perfection. It doesn't mean I won't eat a cookie, or skip some exercise or just veg out on the couch. It doesn't mean that I will always eat the best things at a potluck or at a restaurant. I doesn't mean that I will lose weight every week until I am at a healthy weight.
Living fit means making making a pattern of eating healthy and staying active. It means accepting that you will not be perfect, but not using that as an excuse to live unhealthy. Before, I lived unhealthy with a few healthy aberrations thrown into the mix. Now, I live healthy with a few realistic, less-healthy moments thrown into the mix. Living fit means living in a different world. It means living in the same world, but with a different world-view/paradigm/outlook/model (not sure which word fits best).
Therefore, I do not consider myself to be on a diet (with the exception of my current calorie restriction for the purpose of preparing for the marathon). For me the word diet means a temporary way of eating. Diet are what you go on. Normal eating is how you live. Therefore, I believe that diets are not the answer for long term fitness and health. Making a new normal is the key. With fitness as a goal, the scale numbers will follow as a bonus. The numbers may not be high or dramatic or quick, but they will be real.
WebMD had an interesting article on how not to diet. They say to avoid the five following dieting techniques:
1) Diets which focus on particular foods or food groups like the cabbage soup diet, some of the low-carb diets, or any diet that forbids a particular food. On one hand, they can be unhealthy because of what you miss out from certain foods or food groups. On the other hand, having something restricted can cause us to crave those foods leading to binging.
2) Detox diets are simply hokum. The body is well equipped with any toxins in the body.
3) Diets with "miracle" foods or supplements don't cause weight loss.
4) Fasting and very low-calorie diets will slow down your metabolism causing you to gain weight on fewer calories. This is the culprit behind the "yo-yo" dieting.
5) Diets that sound too good to be true ARE. This is where those slime balls on TV tell you about some secret to weight loss that the government, food industry, farmers, or aliens are trying to keep you from knowing so that they can have control over your life and make more money. They tell you that shoving a dozen donuts in your pie hole every day and eating a bucket of fries as a snack isn't cause of your weight gain. No, it's some evil organization that is making you fat. the truth is that it is these charlatans are the ones who are trying to make money off of us being fat.
My conclusions: 1) All of these diets probably show results at first, but I suspect that they are not sustainable over the long haul at best and may hurt your health at worst. 2) The only way to lose weight is if the calories you take in are less than the calories you use. So instead of finding some gimmick to achieve this, we should find a way to make healthy eating habits with slightly less calories than needed coupled with expending more calories with increasing our daily activity. This, in my opinion, has the best chances of being sustained for the long haul. 3) There are psychological factors that will aren't addressed by any diet that need to be addressed to make healthy living a lifestyle. 4) As I said earlier, fitness is a better goal than the number on the scale.
Living Fit Is My #1 Job!
Monday, April 6, 2009
Week 110 Weigh-In
Last Week's Weight: 237 lbs.
Today's Weight: 232 lbs. (-5)
Total Lost: 148 lbs.
Fat Ratio: 20.7%
Lean Mass: 184 lbs.
Fat Mass: 48 lbs.
Waist: 44.5 inches
The biggest problem I have had with calorie restriction is dealing with hunger and weakness. I have been adjusting and adding calories each week has helped. Today, I can eat 1800 calories. Woohoo! Anyhow, the way I have dealt with the hunger is drink coffee and tea. Coffee during the day and no-caffeine tea at night. Plus, I have kept in mind my training. In training, you must do what is hard, uncomfortable, and even painful. For now, this includes suffering through hunger pains.
Living Fit Is My #1 Job!
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Back on Target
Wow, my last post was a real downer. I am doing much, much better. I think that I do have some form of S.A.D. Anyhow, I didn't eat quite as healthy during that time. I kept up my running, but was not enthused. If I hadn't signed up for the marathon, I might have stopped running. I think it all fed off each other in a downward spiral of feeling down, poorer eating, and less exercise. I did gain a little bit of weight which also played into the whole mix.
I think I am back on track now. Again, I have signing up for the marathon to thank. I looked at how little time between now and Memorial Day weekend there was to get ready. I thought about how best to use the little time left to get ready especially in light of my flagging enthusiasm for running. I came to the conclusion that losing as much weight as possible by the end of April would be the best thing I could do. Less weight means less wear and tear on the body. In turn, that means more endurance.
In order to lose the weight fast (not my normal modus opeerandi), I have done what I refused to do from the beginning of my journey of fitness; I am counting calories. The first week, I ate 1200 calories a day. The second week which ends today, I have eaten 1500 calories a day. The next 2 weeks will be 1800 calories. The final week will be 2000 calories a day.
In addition, I will make sure that I do 1-2 hours of cardio each day. Also, I started lifting weights again. On March 30, I weighed 237. This morning I weighed 231. I am shooting to weigh 215 by marathon day.
The reason I am not restricting my calories in May is because I don't want to risk losing muscle during my hardest training days. I don't plan to go wild. I will just eat sensible as I have most of the time during my journey of fitness.
I am not sure if my plan makes any sense, but there it is. I guess time will only tell if it works.
Thanks everyone for your encouraging words.
"If you don't know where you are going,
you'll end up someplace else."
Yogi Berra
Living Fit Is My #1 Job!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
What's Wrong With Me!!!!!
I don't know what is going on, but over the past month or so, I have become more and more down. I don't know if it is depression, S.A.D., or what. Over the last week or so, I haven't cared too much about eating healthy, and my exercise routine has decreased. I am still running, but just about everything else has come to a halt. I am quite busy at work and have lots to do at home, but I have no energy or drive to do any of it. I feel like I am in a downward spiral. I hope I come out of this soon.
Sorry that my post is such a downer, but that's where I am at.
Living Fit Is My #1 Job!
Thursday, January 29, 2009
2 Years and Still on my Journey
It's been 2 years since I began my Journey of Fitness. I figure since I have been so lax in my blogging that I ought to give a little update.
1. Weight has not changed much. I am hovering between 229-231.
2. I am busier than ever with lots of stressful things happening--thankfully, I am better able to deal with it because of my fitness level.
3. I gave a talk to a local TOPS group. I had a lot of fun doing it, and I am thinking about marketing myself to give more of these talks. My basic message is that of striving to live fit by eating healthy and exercising.
4. In Dec. I ran a 10k in 54:49 at a 8:50 pace. When I signed up, I thought I might be under 220 by the race, so I didn't sign up for heavyweight category. If I had, I would have taken first place in that division. Doh! Also, My oldest daughter ran the 5k, my wife walked the 5k, my second daughter ran the 1 mile kids race, and my 3rd ran the 1/4 mile kids race. Seeing my family get involved was much better than running the race in under 9 minute miles.
5. My oldest and I are running in a race this Saturday called the Frozen Blueberry Race. Brrrr!
6. I think I am insane for signing up for a marathon. I am in my third week of training and already ran a 15 miler. This is going to be tough!
7. I think I might have S.A.D. but I still can't bring myself to buy one of those outrageously priced lights.
8. I miss blogging, and I do check other sights out, but I just don't seem to have the time to blog regularly these days. I hope that changes soon.
Carpe diem--Homer
Living Fit Is My #1 Job!
1. Weight has not changed much. I am hovering between 229-231.
2. I am busier than ever with lots of stressful things happening--thankfully, I am better able to deal with it because of my fitness level.
3. I gave a talk to a local TOPS group. I had a lot of fun doing it, and I am thinking about marketing myself to give more of these talks. My basic message is that of striving to live fit by eating healthy and exercising.
4. In Dec. I ran a 10k in 54:49 at a 8:50 pace. When I signed up, I thought I might be under 220 by the race, so I didn't sign up for heavyweight category. If I had, I would have taken first place in that division. Doh! Also, My oldest daughter ran the 5k, my wife walked the 5k, my second daughter ran the 1 mile kids race, and my 3rd ran the 1/4 mile kids race. Seeing my family get involved was much better than running the race in under 9 minute miles.
5. My oldest and I are running in a race this Saturday called the Frozen Blueberry Race. Brrrr!
6. I think I am insane for signing up for a marathon. I am in my third week of training and already ran a 15 miler. This is going to be tough!
7. I think I might have S.A.D. but I still can't bring myself to buy one of those outrageously priced lights.
8. I miss blogging, and I do check other sights out, but I just don't seem to have the time to blog regularly these days. I hope that changes soon.
Carpe diem--Homer
Living Fit Is My #1 Job!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Don't Fear Christmas
Sorry that I have had so little time to blog lately. I do miss it. I will catch you up after the New Year. Right now, I have a few thoughts about Christmas and living a healthy lifestyle.
Not only is this time of the year filled with all sorts of unhealthy foods, but everyone is encouraged and expected to indulge again and again. Now, I don't ban any foods. I don't tell myself that I can't have this or that. I do indulge now and then. However, the atmosphere this time of the year produces an dull itchy sensation in the veins in my forearms. I feel the need to nosh on every cookie, candy, mixed drink, nuts, chocolate goody that comes my way. At times, the urge seems overwhelming. A voice tells me that I have done so well, it will be okay. I exercise a lot. I will burn the calories. Besides, you can make up for it after New Year's.
I believe the cravings to be psychological. Any physical cravings are the result of my psychological weakness. Therefore, I am challenging myself to live and eat health during the Christmas season instead of fearing it. I will not simply try to minimize the damage or give in until January. I plan to use the following psychological tactics to fight my psychological shortcomings:1) Remind myself that if I don't eat or drink that sumptuous treat even if it only appears once a year, my head will not explode; I will not die; the earth will still rotate and spin; my life will not be diminished; the party/dinner/family time will not be ruined.
2) Remind myself that a treat for my body is to eat healthy and in moderation. Overindulging leaves my body tired, uncomfortable, and cranky. Eating healthy fuels my body to do what needs to be done, to train, and to feel good physically.
3) Remind myself to respect myself. Giving over to abandon shows that I have little respect for myself. Why should anyone else respect me if I don't respect myself. I am worth treating my body with special care.
4) My happiness and joy are not defined by the foods I eat, but by who God has made me. I don't need to eat that Christmas cookie in order to enjoy myself.5) My children watch and learn from everything I do. What do I want to teach them about food and holidays?
6) I will not fear the temptations of Christmas, but embrace the challenge of eating healthy and exercising.
This is my plan. Unfortunately, I did not start the month out with this in mind, but it is never too late.
One final thought: There are plenty of Christmas specials that decry the greed associated with Christmas. What about the gluttony associated with Christmas? I think we can decry that too. Celebrating Christmas is not about gifts, nor is it about cookies, cakes, mixed drinks, eggnog, stollen, chocolates, etc... Don't fear them! Christmas is simply about the birth of Jesus to a poor family. Somehow, I think his birth can be celebrated without over-indulging ourselves.
Merry Christmas to all my blogging friends and a happy, healthy New Year!
Living Fit Is My #1 Job!
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