Week 32 - Get off the Couch!

Week 32 | August 21, 2012 | Weight 253.9 | Loss of 1.8 lbs | Total Loss: 56.7

OMG Where does the summer go?!  It's been way too long since I last posted and I'm such a bad boy for neglecting this blog.  I guess that just made me no different than many others who try this journey.  Anyway, after a couple of weeks off I'm now happily back on track.  I'm losing again and (yes I know late post for this week) as of this moment, I'm only a pound away from where I was before vacation started.

I've learned that 2-3 weeks of eating VERY badly takes almost double that amount of time to get back to normal (for me anyway).  My wife is already back on track and below her last weigh in before vacation.  Good job!

I discovered that during vacation it was just too easy to hit up fast food and overeat.  It was plain and simple.  I even recorded most of the days in Lose It and I can see it right there in RED - I ate TOO MUCH!  That habit is gone once again and I'm back to my regular routine.  The only part missing right now is the exercising which I must get into.  I've decided to not go hard like I did as that's not maintainable.  I'm going to workout 3-4 times a week which will be a mix of strength training and running.  I found that not to be too difficult to achieve vs trying to work out 5-6 days a week.  Now.. let the fat fly once again!

WEEK 29 - Vacation Ouch!

Week 29 | July 31, 2012 | Weight 255.5 | Gain of 6.2 lbs | Total Loss: 55.1

So we're finally back from vacation and wow!  Thinking back about what I ate during it and it was pretty insane.  Large bags of chips, chocolate bars, giant steaks, burgers galore and then the fast food.  A few trips to Wendy's for some triple baconaters and fries!  I can't even count the number of times we hit fast food joints.  Then of course there was the copious amounts of booze.  Yeah, 6.2 pounds after all that?  No shocker there.

That said, we had a fantastic time away and break.  My wife gained more than I did but it's starting to slowly come off again now that we are eating clean.  It wasn't too difficult getting back into the routine and even though we were not weighing ourselves during vacation, we knew it was time to stop and couldn't actually wait to get back to good clean eating.

Running on the other hand, now that's going to take a bit more effort.  I haven't had a run in a few weeks now and I've got myself another week of vacation but I'm just hanging home with the kids relaxing so there's no need for the fast food and eating clean is easy to do while I'm here.  That said, I plan to attempt a new run starting next week.  This coming weekend is our August long weekend so I can't promise I won't eat poorly this weekend as it marks the official end to my vacation but I am ready to get back at it full steam ahead!

WEEK 25 - Rebound

Week 25 | July 3, 2012 | Weight 249.3 | Loss of 0.7 lbs | Total Loss: 61.3


So it looks like I've lost the weight I gained last week which is great!  I didn't do so well this past weekend but I didn't mind.  It was a 4 day weekend for me and we celebrated Canada Day here so eating right wasn't a top priority but I didn't go overboard and probably still feeling some effects from last week's BBQ.

That said I'm doing my best to eat lean and clean this week because vacation starts next week which is going to be pretty much two weeks of gluttony LOL.  I won't have access to a scale on weigh in day next week nor will I have access to a computer the entire time (phone coverage if I'm lucky).

I fully intend to hit the routine hard when we get back but until then, it's going to be interesting to see what these next two weeks will bring.  I'm hoping the past 7 months have caused me to develop some good eating habits so I won't become the eating machine I once was.  We'll see by the extent of the damage this will cause but that's ok, it's what vacation is all about hehe!

WEEK 24 - Running and BBQ!

Week 24 | June 26, 2012 | Weight 250.0 | Gain of 0.7 lbs | Total Loss: 60.6


Well it's official - the first gain in 24 weeks!  Yes, I've had ups and downs and gains and losses but this is the first time a gain has appeared ON my weigh in day.  Funny how that happens LOL.  Anyway, after this past weekends events, I am not surprised.

This past weekend was my wife's first 5k race.  I never expected anyone in my family to be able to do anything quite like this.  It was exciting and fun and energetic!  Even though it was raining and I wasn't the one running LOL.   She placed in the top 10% of all the runners and I am so very very proud of her!  She is an amazing woman and pushes herself to her limits on a regular basis.  She motivates me to be better than I am!  Great job babe!

Afterward, that evening, we had a BBQ and it was the day my wife and I planned to take off from thinking about what we ate.  So let's see, what did I have?

• Smokies
• Meatballs
• Salami
• Cheese
• Ritz
• Ruffles Chips
• Doritos
• Salmon
• Steak Kabobs
• Cheeseburgers
• Strawberries
• Marshmallows
• Pineapple
• Bananas
• Peanuts
• Chocolate
• Beer
• More Beer
• Shooters
• Lots of other various drinks LOL

So yeah, it was a big party and it was a blast!  

WEEK 23 - Memory

Week 23 | June 19, 2012 | Weight 249.3 | Loss of 2.2 lbs | Total Loss: 61.3

What a wonderful milestone!  It's been 13 years since I've weighed this much.  I remember it well because it was a turning point in my life.  The last time I weighed in the 249 area, I was putting a wedding ring on the hand of my beloved wife.

It was a beautiful day and I had no idea what was ahead of me other than I was hand in hand with the person I wanted to travel the earth with.  I also had no idea the pounds I was going to put on over the next 13 years either LOL.  That said, I'm back to the weight from that day and I'm happy to say that I'm not done yet!  Nope - while I was a big boy even in my mid 20's during my wedding day, I still have more of this journey to take and I fully intend to keep going.

My ultimate goal will see me at a weight when I was 20 years old.  So, I hope you all find someone to travel with like I have and here's to the journey!

WEEK 22 - Summer

Week 22 | June 12, 2012 | Weight 251.5 | Loss of 1.8 lbs | Total Loss: 59.1

Wow!  It's only now that I am blogging I realize the amount of things that are going on in my life that keeps me busy and how the time of year impacts that so much.  Now that the weather isn't keep us stuck in the house as much, we're out and about doing things a LOT more often which also keeps me away from the computer more than I realize.  What can I say - another late posting!

Anyway, my wife and I discovered a habit that we've formed that really has to stop.  On the weekdays, we usually go to bed pretty early because we have to get up when the alarm goes off to get moving for work and kids off to school and all that stuff but on the weekends, there's really no time requirement for us to get to bed.  We'll get up when we get up sort of thing.  That said, it seems that it never fails that Friday and Saturday night, around 11:30 pm or so, we get the munchies.  This usually causes us to cook up something (happily this doesn't turn into a ordered meal like it did in the past) but it still turns into a second supper.  Of course we start off well intended to cut up some fruit and make a nice platter but then in walks the other problem - we have a few drinks on the weekend.  Now before you even say it, I'm a newfie which means don't bother asking me to give up my drinks on the weekend because that's just not going to happen, though at least I'm not downing calorie rich beers - I've kept it to diet soda pop and light rum.   Anyway, this means that preparing something that doesn't come out of a box and in the oven for 8 minutes (aka frozen pizza) usually falls to the wayside.

So for the next few weekends we've decided to try and prepare a fruit platter AHEAD of time.  Then, when the 11:30 pm urge hits, we just go to the fridge and grab the platter and instead of eating a bunch of pizza, we're eating a bunch of fruit.  Here's to hoping this helps with those uncontrolled weekend snack attacks.

Oh, and I'm still very pleased with my loss :)

WEEK 21 - Don't Starve!

Week 21 | June 6, 2012 | Weight 253.3 | Loss of 2.2 lbs | Total Loss: 57.3

Sorry for the late post.  I've been sick for the past couple of days and just hadn't gotten myself into it.  That said, I've been doing my very best to keep eating normally as per my regular routine and see another great loss.  I'm feeling much better now and did not put any back on which is great.

I wanted to dedicate this post to some people that are a little confused about this "diet".  First and foremost, I am not dieting.  I have "a" diet that I follow pretty well most of the time which consists of healthy eating with portion control but by no means am I hungry or starving or craving anything.  After 6 months now, I'm in a pretty good groove and my body is very happy with it.

The next point I'd like to make is that IF you are going to diet, don't starve or deprive yourself - doing so will only lead to failure.  Sure you're going to lose the first 20 from water and by going hungry, but your body WILL fight you on this.  Here is an example:  I eat over 2300 calories per day.  My wife, who is 5' 4" and less than 155 pounds, eats over 1700 calories per day.  We BOTH are losing weight regularly.  Why?  Because we don't cheat and go over by a ton.  It's easy not to cheat because we get plenty of calories each day to satisfy pretty much most things we want.  Heck, I'm having pizza tonight and I have it every Wednesday night LOL.

I'm seeing people who are 6 feet tall, over 200 pounds and a calorie limit between 1000 and 1500 each day.  Are you insane?  You're depriving yourself and you can't and won't sustain it.  Yes, you'll lose for a while just like every magazine cover you see at the grocery store on how to lose 20 pounds in weeks!  Yes you will do that very thing and that's how, BUT after that, you will be in for trouble.  You'll plateau and will just end up fighting your body, cheat due to the deprivation and fail.  Don't starve yourself - you don't need to.

My advice to you is before you even change your lifestyle is to just count the calories you are eating.  Eat the same way you always do, and just count them - accurately.  I find it amusing that I told someone recently to actually measure their food and find out the proper calorie and nutrition information rather than use someone elses database and sure enough, the next day, I see them log 5 ounces of chicken that was 75 calories wrong.  Sigh.  Yes, your budget is too low, but in your case it won't matter because you're not counting accurately anyway LOL.

Don't diet - change your life!  What I'm eating today, I'll be happy eating 5 years from now - you can too!